Fungus gnats and coco coir

xtsho

Well-Known Member
If you're using liquid nutrients it's a preventative measure to keep nutrient build up and salts down. How long have you been growing this is common knowledge
How long have I been growing? Probably longer than you've been alive.

I don't follow charts. I grow weed and dozens of other kinds of plants. All grow healthy and are fed what they need when they need it. Not according to some chart. Plants don't care about some chart someone made.
 

GroBud

Well-Known Member
How long have I been growing? Probably longer than you've been alive.

I don't follow charts. I grow weed and dozens of other kinds of plants. All grow healthy and are fed what they need when they need it. Not according to some chart. Plants don't care about some chart someone made.
I don't anymore either but as a beginner and not knowing anything, everything is confusing. Having something to look at to let you know what you're doing is okay helps.
 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
When I used liquid nutrients I went off this scale I didn't use ec. Never became toxic using that scale. Some plants can take more but it's a good scale to go off of for beginner's.
I would highly recommend experimenting with lower PPMs (ppms using the 500 scale are just 1/2 of EC, so 1 EC would be 500 ppms, 1.2 ec = 600 ppms, etc) all the way through-if you feed coco multiple times daily, you can get away with quite a low EC, because you constantly replenish the nutrients the plant consumes with fresh feed. That's the beauty of coco. Personally, I'd rather grow in soil if I wasn't committed to feeding at least twice per day in coco. Ideally, I'd set up an automated system and experiment with feeding more than twice per day, but it's not necessary to get good results. Next time you grow in coco, see how your plants respond to 1.2 ec (600 ppms on the 500 scale) all the way through flower. This is a great article on the chemistry behind coco that will give you some good info on why we can feed it this way: https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijuana-growing/growing-in-coco-coir/308425-the-chemistry-behind-coco-coir-a-strange-journey-from-ferts-bottle-to-to-buds?t=307683. I'm getting good results in my current soil grow, but I miss the versatility of coco, and how you can instantly fix any nutrient deficiency or ph issue, so I'm going back to coco next month. It's good to listen to these different viewpoints, there are many roads to success with any media, and Xtsho and Tint are both awesome growers.
 

GroBud

Well-Known Member
I would highly recommend experimenting with lower PPMs (ppms using the 500 scale are just 1/2 of EC, so 1 EC would be 500 ppms, 1.2 ec = 600 ppms, etc) all the way through-if you feed coco multiple times daily, you can get away with quite a low EC, because you constantly replenish the nutrients the plant consumes with fresh feed. That's the beauty of coco. Personally, I'd rather grow in soil if I wasn't committed to feeding at least twice per day in coco. Ideally, I'd set up an automated system and experiment with feeding more than twice per day, but it's not necessary to get good results. Next time you grow in coco, see how your plants respond to 1.2 ec (600 ppms on the 500 scale) all the way through flower. This is a great article on the chemistry behind coco that will give you some good info on why we can feed it this way: https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijuana-growing/growing-in-coco-coir/308425-the-chemistry-behind-coco-coir-a-strange-journey-from-ferts-bottle-to-to-buds?t=307683. I'm getting good results in my current soil grow, but I miss the versatility of coco, and how you can instantly fix any nutrient deficiency or ph issue, so I'm going back to coco next month. It's good to listen to these different viewpoints, there are many roads to success with any media, and Xtsho and Tint are both awesome growers.
I grow organically now I used liquids for almost 4 years tho. Following any nutrient schedule provided by companies will be excessive. Beginner growers use that recommended dose or too much. Which is why that's recommended. Using that ppm scale I never ran into issues. But I didn't add that much every time only what I thought I needed by getting run off readings alot in the beginning and only giving my plants what they needed to get me back to that recommended number. Rather it be 50ppms or 500ppms


They maybe good growers but you can't talk to newbies like their experienced. Everyone learns through trial and error to reach a grow style that benefits them. You can give advanced information but it's also helpful to beginner's to give information that's easy and effective that'll help them get to harvest without issues. A few grows they'll learn. Like something as simple as saying feed less, to a beginner what's feed less. Half of 1/4 of its confusing. Then if you haven't used their nutrients that may not be accurate information to just feed less they'll be back in 2 weeks with a deficiency. Its more viable to give information that'll help regardless of what their using or whatever. Giving 20% runoff will help regardless of how much nutrients their using, then once they complete a few grows they'll be more aware of how much or how little they can get away with. With that said I gave that information on runoff with the impression op was already using 1/4 of the recommended amount. Everyone knows you don't want coco to go dry after a well developed root system sometimes it does take 2ce a day. So if 1/4 the amount is causing build up a 20% runoff would correct that
 
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Teag

Well-Known Member
20% runoff in soil? Why?

I can go an entire grow in coco with zero runoff.

If you're getting salt buildups then you're feeding to high of an EC which most people do.
Well this topic strayed away from gnats but that's ok.
I'm using Jacks at 1/4 feed right now in late flower. But I also am using tap water with a starting EC of 300-400. Which gives me an EC of around 900. If I had 3 or 5 gallon pots I could most likely get away with feeding once a day or less. But, these 1 gallon pots are pretty finicky for my setup. I wanted to keep the plants small due to mold last run so I flowered them after 3 weeks growth and left them in 1 gallon pots.

I've tried to let the top of the coco dry out as some suggested but it hasn't worked out for me in the past. Again if I had larger pots this would probably work for me, maybe.

This is an example of 5 ways to skin a horse. But my setup, as much as I've tried, really isn't that great. I don't have a climate controlled closet.
 

Teag

Well-Known Member
As for the fungus gnats. Just spray the top of the coco with neem or sesame oil and call it a day. Gnats are easy to control.
Do you turn your fans off when you spray the neem oil? I'm always worried I'm going to get overspray and get some nasty tasting buds.
 

Richalpha

Well-Known Member
Gnatrol will help or u can add some diatomaceous earth and water it in. I suggest both one to irrdiacate the larvae and the other kill the adults
 

Yohimbe2

Member
Thanks Tint! I'll give it a try. Do you only use this when you see gnats pop up or as a preventative as well?
What is the dosage?

Hi all, brand new here and I'm on my first grow. I started off with fungus gnats and after hours of YouTube research and a visit to a few garden centers, all advice pointed me to the product Mosquito Bits.. You make a "tea" with the mosquito bits and water with it once a week. My problem is solved, apparently fungus gnats are very easy to cure if you use a BTI product.

Side note: it kills the larvae and is completely safe...no poisons or chemicals. This is my first post here, hope it helps.

The woman in this video tried everything !


 
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twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
Hi all, brand new here and I'm on my first grow. I started off with fungus gnats and after hours of YouTube research and a visit to a few garden centers, all advice pointed me to the product Mosquito Bits.. You make a "tea" with the mosquito bits and water with it once a week. My problem is solved, apparently fungus gnats are very easy to cure if you use a BTI product.

Side note: it kills the larvae and is completely safe...no poisons or chemicals. This is my first post here, hope it helps.

The woman in this video tried everything !


I crushed up mosquito dunks and fed. The fungus gnats couldn't have cared less about it. Fed the plants with added spinosad and they disappeared.
 

Yohimbe2

Member
I crushed up mosquito dunks and fed. The fungus gnats couldn't have cared less about it. Fed the plants with added spinosad and they disappeared.
It worked great for me,(and for many others) keep in mind I'm more concerned about the larvae in the soil than I am about a few adult flies. Did you happen to make a tea? Apparently just adding the bits isn't nearly as effective. The mosquito bits packaging even changed the instructions to include the tea recipe.
 

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
It worked great for me,(and for many others) keep in mind I'm more concerned about the larvae in the soil than I am about a few adult flies. Did you happen to make a tea? Apparently just adding the bits isn't nearly as effective. The mosquito bits packaging even changed the instructions to include the tea recipe.
Nope just crushed up mosquito dunks and fed. The adult flies were out of control. Sponsored destroyed the larvae and yellow sticky traps caught the adults.
 

Yohimbe2

Member
Nope just crushed up mosquito dunks and fed. The adult flies were out of control. Sponsored destroyed the larvae and yellow sticky traps caught the adults.
The tea worked magic for me, I was at a point were I couldn't even sit at a computer screen without having them landing on it all night long. I would estimate 10-20 gnats landing on my screen every night. Finally, I smashed one and looked at it through a jewelry loop to confirm that it was a fungus gnat. I was horrified (don't laugh, I know there are much worse pests but this happened to me just starting my first seedlings.) The folks at the garden centers chuckled at me, I guess fungus gnats are not a death sentence and very easy to cure.

When you make the tea, the bacteria that kills larvae gets into all the water. After watering, the larvae have no way to get away from it and if adult flies lay more eggs, they die. There are no more flies landing on my screen ! I do see an occasional adult, but know that if it lays eggs, the eggs won't make it. I'll have to get the yellow sticky traps you mention as well just to trap any new adults that make it in and to monitor them. I don't think I'll need to use BTI for all of my waterings, but it's a great way to prevent them from starting back up.

Fingers crossed that I won't have spider mites, powder mildew or something worse to deal with later....I may be a newbie but I got those pesky fungus gnats under control.
 

Fahn2k

Well-Known Member
I had an infestation on my first grow. I bought a 1 gallon sprayer, neem oil and cheap dish soap.Since I was in flower I would water and follow up by soakjng the top layer of the soil with the Neem and Soap. That helped to get good control. Then I added a stronger fan, gnats dont like a lot of wind. from there I was able to ride it out. I blamed the soil and the way it was stored. I used FFoF and Great Lakes water only, I dont know which to blame but 0n the second grow I looked around at a lot of different shops before I bought. If the soil was stored outside I kept going to the next shop. Even then I looked at the shop for cleanliness. I finally went with Promix HP from a clean looking shop and havent seen them little bastards since. Lollipop your lower growth and hit the top of the soil with a blast of wind. Then add clip on fans to keep the canopy in motion. Don't spray your buds with anything unless its the last resort.
 
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