Dwc

[grizzly3327]

I started another DWC again and notice gnats in my STG medium when i turn my pump on they come out does anybody know what kind of gnats they are and how to get rid of them

 

[JJ Bones]

Most likely fungus gnats. I recommend SNS-203 from one of 420mags sponsors. You can add it to the reservoir to kill them and/or foliar with it.

 

[decrimCA]

I started another DWC again and notice gnats in my STG medium when i turn my pump on they come out does anybody know what kind of gnats they are and how to get rid of them

Sounds like fungus gnats to me too.

The key is prevention when it comes to gnats, and you can do this two ways: The first is to avoid overwatering your plants. Overwatering, to fungus gnats, is like laying a big steak on the floor in front of a starving dog — they can't resist it. The second way to prevent the problem is to inspect the soil of a plant before bringing one home. Do you see gnats buzzing around it? If so, that's not a good sign. Put the plant down and just walk away.

Some good monitoring methods can help cut down fungus gnat issues, too. Yellow stick cards (small, yellow cards with sticky adhesive on both sides) often do the trick. These can be purchased online. Many insects, including flies, are attracted to the color yellow. So upon seeing the yellow stick card, they'll mindlessly fly right into it, and SPLAT! The adult fly is stuck. Ta-da! These cards are most effective when placed horizontally near the surface of potting soil. You can use popsicle sticks or straws to hold the cards, or some come with sticks in the package. Keep in mind, however, that this control method only traps adults — not the larval stage of fungus gnats.

Another way to control these plant invaders is with the potato trap method: Cut chunks of potato into 1 ½-inch-square pieces. Place them on the surface of your potting soil. This is like a chuck wagon call for fungus gnat larvae! They'll head straight for it and start munching. Leave the potato for a few days and then lift it up — you'll quickly discover if you have larvae in your soil. (And obviously remove the potato once you're finished with it — no one wants rotting potatoes in their pots ... or anywhere in the house, for that matter.)

Controlling fungus gnats through biological means is a relativity easy thing to do as well. Currently two different biological control agents are available: beneficial nematodes and predatory mites.

There are several species of beneficial nematodes that can be found through the Internet. These nematodes are so small, they can't be seen with the naked eye. (If you get real close and look hard enough, you can see them with a 10X hand lens.) Steinernema feltiae is the most commonly used nematode species for fly larvae control. Nematodes are simple to apply — just water them into the soil.

One predatory mite you might like to try is Hypoaspis miles — a brownish soil-dwelling mite less than 1 millimeter in size (now that's really small). This predatory mite inhabits the top layer (at a depth of 1-4 centimeters) of the soil and feeds on harmful soil insects, such as fungus gnat larvae and thrips pupae. It takes an average of 18 days for this mite to reach adulthood. Adult mites can kill up to seven fly larva per day. One of the favorable characteristics of this particular mite is its high tolerance to starvation. Newly emerged adults can survive for three to four weeks without food. (If fed, adults can be active for four to five months.) These, too, can be purchased through the Internet.

 

[grizzly3327]

thanks for the info on fungus gnats great if you are using dirt but these gnats are in a DWC .Dirt i don't have that many gnats but i have my dirt and my DWC in same room and i think they are going for the water i think iam going to try what JJ Bones said to try that i can put right in my DWC

 

[Caregivers]

If you are using a bubbler (sounds like you are) then you can place some of those sticky traps inside your bubblers for a few hours up to a couple days depending on how many gnats ya have. The trick is to place the trap high enough so that it doesnt touch the water. I have used this before and it worked for me. I was using a 5 gallon bucket that had a gnat infestation. So I bought some fly traps but these were the ones that"roll" out into a long thin strip. I removed the lid on the bubbler and placed the strip across the top. Make sure there is some "hang" on the strip then replace the lid (be careful not to break the strip). I didnt think a one time gnat problem was worth shelling out some bones.

Good Luck!

CGs

 

[grizzly3327]

Iam using a 3.5 bucket (to save on nutes) this is second time it has happen to me my gnat problem isn't bad yet that is new with DWC (bubble)i put 3 gal nutes in bucket so that leaves 1/2 gal room left i have 4" air stone and put sub pump in bottom of bucket that i use to pump nutes to top if you got any way i can make this better or something you think i am doing wrong a could use all the help i can get

 

[preprodigy]

hows the grow going? it must be close to finished by now???

 

[grizzly3327]

yea she all done

 

[preprodigy]

shit looks nice! i got the same issue going on, mother f'ng bananas!... ohwell she still smokes!

how did you go about getting rid of them? just plucked right off? thinking about tweezers and how much of a bitch this is going to be..

 

[grizzly3327]

had it happen to me again i put a plant into flower that was stressed out to much.it hermi on me and pollen from hermi plant made 1 of my other plants start growing seeds i hope it doesn't seed out to much.the 1st plant had about 100 seeds off it.the only good thing is the seeds are female seed and are worth keeping

 

[preprodigy]

had it happen to me again i put a plant into flower that was stressed out to much.it hermi on me and pollen from hermi plant made 1 of my other plants start growing seeds i hope it doesn't seed out to much.the 1st plant had about 100 seeds off it.the only good thing is the seeds are female seed and are worth keeping

ehhh, the whole female thing is still a 50/50 shot, but not with being males... being hermaphrodites. only because it was pollinated by a hermaphroditic plant. but you never know until you grow it

 

[HydroManster]

You defiantly do not want to grow seeds from a hermie plant. The trait will get passed.

 

[Trunk5]

sorry to say but id just trash the seeds, and all fem seeds for that matter..

 

[HydroManster]

I would also get rid of the STG medium as that stuff is garbage and seems to attract the gnat problem. Seen several grows go to shit using that STG crap. It stays way to wet for starters and it does not hold up well. Grow Stones is like the best medium to use in DWC or RDWC, that shit works amazing and is totally resuable and easy to clean.

The owner of the company that makes STG is a prick also. We tried to get help with our issues and the owner of the company is just a prick, dont know how else to put it. Awful experience when we tested it from BOTH product and owner!!

They should rename it from "Sure To Grow" to more like "Sure To Suck" instead.