Fungal gnats!

[creamyB]

I had an invasion about 2 weeks ago, i noticed alot of activity around the rims of my pots and on the surface of my soil.The heat wave had just kicked in and i was yet to rig the intake fan up ( i use an oil filled radiator during the winter).Then, the next night there seemed to be huge presence in the grow box and i began to trawl the forums.
Thats when i found out i was dealing with fungal gnats.
Im relitivly new to this so i popped into my local hydro shop and spoke to the guy there who reccomended GNAT OFF and some sticky fly traps.
Two feeds later they are practically non-existent, the sticky traps caught a bunch too, so im more than happy with this product.
The thing is, my plants seemed unaffected, all the gnats stayed at soil level, and never seemed interested in my plants, do these little fuckers harm your plants? i was just glad to turn the volume down as i can imagine they can grow in numbers very fast.
any other tips or products out there id like to hear about them.
peace.

 

[Lester Freeman]

They multiply very fast in the root zone, and if not taken care of promptly they can completely diminish the growth of a plant. Sticky traps are a good way to catch the mating adults. The larvae is born in the top few inches of soil, and the eggs hatch in the hundreds. Some people use DE Diatomaceous earth - Wikipedia on top of their soil because of how finely particulate it is, it will cut and kill them as they try to travel through it.

Although, mainly, I just use one of our sponsors products that has been working fantastic for me SNS 203 Soil Drench Spray | Sierra Natural Science