Gnat flys all over indoor hydro system. fly swatter isn't working

highonbud

highonbud

Active Member
I've had gnat flys for 4weeks now in my hydro system they haven't been to bad I was getting about 5-10 a day...now there is just more and more over 40 of the little f*cks fly swatter won't kill them all. the hydroponic store has stuff for a few bucks its a red pepper oil spray. i don't get paid til wednesday and I need a fix like yesterday tonight anything i can use from around the house to hold them off? they keep comin from somewhere like out of nowhere
hit me back if you know of anything this is my first grow system/grow :leaf:
 
Antigen

Antigen

Well-Known Member
Is this the thing that you have?

View attachment 922407

It is a lot smaller than that of course, they are called fungus gnats, so you can look up the name and all the numerous ways of killing them. The adults do not cause any damage to your plants, they are just annoying flying all over and they lay eggs which hatch into larvae. The larvae feed on the roots of your plants, I've heard that a hydrogen peroxide solution can help get rid of them but I would check out some other sites about fungus gnats before you do that, especially on a hydro system.

For the adults you should buy a few of the yellow sticky card traps. Put them around the soil level of your plants, where the adults like to come to lay their eggs. The yellow attracts them to it and they get stuck and die, so they can't mate and lay more eggs. It also helps keep they from flying all over and bugging the shit out of you. :D
 
Touchet

Touchet

New Member
yes yes get the yellow sticky traps, its what I use and they work great. My wife brought a plant in that was using miracle grow, well say no more we got gnats now.
 
highonbud

highonbud

Active Member
yes that is what I have way smaller they move semi-fast as well. not to sure what the peroxide would do I'll be doing my homework tonight!
Thank you I think I'll make it to the store tomorrow for papers. miracle grow? dang I bought a few bags of that but they where sealed? see if I can't rip a few hits at them..slow em' down for the night!
 
Antigen

Antigen

Well-Known Member
korbinian zavier said:
is there anyway to know if there are larvae in your soil? or will it be blatantly obvious?
Click to expand...
You can put a slice or two of peeled potato on the top of the soil and if there are larvae in there they might come up to eat at the potato. Once they are up at the top of the soil you can see them and remove them. You can also take your plant out and look around near the roots, but that will stress it out and/or maybe kill it if you don't get it back in the dirt properly and I don't recommend it.
 
Antigen

Antigen

Well-Known Member
highonbud said:
miracle grow? dang I bought a few bags of that but they where sealed?
Click to expand...
The eggs are already sealed up in the bag with the soil, when you use it and start watering it, they hatch. One reason among many that I don't like MG soils.
 
highonbud

highonbud

Active Member
okay my neighbor told me to baked the dirt for 2-3hours in the over at 200 in an aluminum tray to sterilize the soil..good tip for the future I guess. I may have found a permanent solution as I took a spotted salamander from the window wells and put let it loose in my sprouting box of dirt put the top on with breath holes that the gnat flys cant get out of and so far this lil guy is having a meal fit for a lizard! this is working so far. got yellow strips also working great around the hydroton. gonna pick up red pepper spray maybe a pesticide on wednesday
 
Antigen

Antigen

Well-Known Member
Be careful not to use too much poison just for fungus gnats. The lizard idea is a pretty cool, non-poisonous way to get rid of the adults. :)

Just be careful, if you took that lizard from outside and put it in with your plants it could have other, worse bugs like spider mites on it that could potentially infect your plants. You REALLY don't want to trade a fungus gnat infestation for a spider mite infestation.

Also, if you buy good, organic potting soil and you cook it in the oven like that, you kill off all of the good stuff in there that will help your plants. Baking it will sterilze the soil, but that means it kills everything, good and bad. Just don't buy MG soils for growing MJ, buy something better like Fox Farm Ocean Forest.
 
i81two

i81two

Well-Known Member
If u got Fungus gnats fling around u got a shitload of them in ur soil. They will devour ur young stuff and clones if u dont nuke them fuckers.

Use an Azamax drench at full reccomended dosage. I think its like 3 tsp per gallon. Then repeat 2 weeks later. It will kill them and ur plants will be fine. Trust me. I use Azamax as a deterant every month.
 
Wolfrick

Wolfrick

Member
yeah man, I had the same prob back last summer dude. I actually had to keep my mouth closed or the little assholes would get in my mouth. It was a total infestation and I needed a fast solution, because if the gnat problem is allowed to fester they will begin to attack the roots to your girlies. Most of the time the most simple solution is the best, so what did I do? I went down to the local hardware store and bought dozens of fly traps. The type i bought are hangable and have an adhesive that not only attracts the gnats, flys, etc, but it also causes their demise! muahahaha Well, anyway it worked wonders. Now I keep a few up all the time and replace them when too much real estate is taken. Now I never have more than one or two flying around if even! Good luck man

Oh, I almost forgot the fly traps are non-poisonous - in our line of work we don't wanna poison our medicine so I wouldn't recommend any sprays. Also, to take care of the breeding cover your soil with about two inches of sand to completely exterminate the subsequent generations and eggs which may be lingering underneath your medium.
 
highonbud

highonbud

Active Member
hell I washed that lil dude in cool water first but i hope he didn't bring any..if not payday came hydroponic store was closed by the time i got my check though...tomorrow they should be open though :D
 
Antigen

Antigen

Well-Known Member
As far as spider mites go, just make sure you really look at your plants for little tiny white spots on the top of the fan leaves or little tiny moving black specks on the underside of your fan leaves. The mites live on the underside and will look like slow-moving pepper. The white spots on the tops of the leaves are where the mites sucked out the juices from the bottom. You want to check them every day for the next two weeks to make sure you never see any damage or mites.

If you start to see any signs of them it is important to act fast, a spider mite infestation can get really bad really fast.

And like I said, no need to use harsh poisons just for fungus gnats, get the yellow sticky card traps for the adults and you can use the sand trick as Wolfrick suggested to kill larvae. Don't just use some sand from outside though, buy some in a bag so you don't end up adding other unwated pests. ;)

Edit - You could also sterilize the sand using the method you were talking about earlier, since there is nothing beneficial living in the sand that would get killed.
 
meetzu

meetzu

Well-Known Member
Older post but i'll throw this on here because no one else did and if someone happens across it in a search looking for a solution..
In soil you can thro about 1/2-1" sand on the top of your pot. This keeps the gnats from being able to get to the soil and reproducing and will eventually kill the larvae in the soil because they cant get out (with exception the drain holes in your pots). I used this method once for a couple house plants and it worked great.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
Cover the tops of your containers with something. Card board, paper plates, plastic sheeting, anything. No soil access, no knats. Also cooler roots
 
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