Gnats! Wanna sterilize soil

SaHt420

SaHt420

Well-Known Member
I love organic but now ima fighting gnats like a bastard with fabric pots! I wanna sterilizer my soil sense I’m switching to a cocoa promix and lotus fertilizer from now on! How would y’all go about getting rid of the gnats and eggs I have sticky traps to keep them in check for now!
Soil is LM-ap with coast of main mixed and have been top dressing.
 
compassionateExotic

compassionateExotic

Well-Known Member
TCH said:
Bmc microbe lift can be picked up easily and works great.
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liquid 8% BTI aka microbe lift bmc works ( but it’s only the prevention and control for larvae stage of FG ) , use .5ml-1ml per gal of water once a week, but to kill ur adults I suggest getting some rove beetles and h mile predators. These will eat the adults and being organics also eat organic material when no pest pressure . Also use yellow trap/sticky traps to also catch adult fliers and give ya a pest pressure radar/awareness . you’ll def noitce if u are daily looking at ur traps if ur adults and stages of the pest are getting bad easily. another part of IPM for FG and plant health is not to over water , but with organics and alive medium to not let it over dry also. I highly suggest using straw ontop of medium also as a deter but also pro,ption to worms to predators to have a easy ecosystem and this promotes these things to chow down if FG or other pest are occurring

also a good defense and good thing for ur medium and living things there but also to deter the pest from applying its eggs easily by having a good airflow onto ur medium 24/7
 
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DCcan

DCcan

Well-Known Member
SaHt420 said:
https://www.amazon.com/MICROBE-LIFT-Biological-Treatment-Medium-Sized-Decorative/dp/B007UTE55A?th=1&psc=1 is this the stuff I only ask because it’s labeled for mosquitos
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That's the stuff, Bt-i targets most double winged flies.
Other varieties are mostly for outdoor, different bugs.
  • Bt israelensis takes out insects of the order diptera (two-winged “true flies”). The israelensis strain has been instrumental in fighting mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnat larvae.
  • Bt aizawai targets lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). This strain is used in honeycombs to fight off wax moth larvae.
  • Bt kurstaki is another lepidoptera fighter. It hones in on the population of gypsy moth, hornworm, cabbage worm or cabbage looper, tent caterpillar, spruce budworm, and many other common leaf-eating caterpillars and vegetable pests.
  • Bt san diego and Bt tenebrionis will take out certain coleoptera (beetles). These types come into play when battling the elm leaf beetle and Colorado potato beetle on potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, or elms.
  • Bacillus popilliae kills off Japanese beetles with milky spore disease. It was the first botanical Bt product developed for commercial use.
 
SaHt420

SaHt420

Well-Known Member
DCcan said:
That's the stuff, Bt-i targets most double winged flies.
Other varieties are mostly for outdoor, different bugs.
  • Bt israelensis takes out insects of the order diptera (two-winged “true flies”). The israelensis strain has been instrumental in fighting mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnat larvae.
  • Bt aizawai targets lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). This strain is used in honeycombs to fight off wax moth larvae.
  • Bt kurstaki is another lepidoptera fighter. It hones in on the population of gypsy moth, hornworm, cabbage worm or cabbage looper, tent caterpillar, spruce budworm, and many other common leaf-eating caterpillars and vegetable pests.
  • Bt san diego and Bt tenebrionis will take out certain coleoptera (beetles). These types come into play when battling the elm leaf beetle and Colorado potato beetle on potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, or elms.
  • Bacillus popilliae kills off Japanese beetles with milky spore disease. It was the first botanical Bt product developed for commercial use.
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Thanks
 
OneHitDone

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
SaHt420 said:
I love organic but now ima fighting gnats like a bastard with fabric pots! I wanna sterilizer my soil sense I’m switching to a cocoa promix and lotus fertilizer from now on! How would y’all go about getting rid of the gnats and eggs I have sticky traps to keep them in check for now!
Soil is LM-ap with coast of main mixed and have been top dressing.
Click to expand...
Leaving soil to eliminate gnats is a fallacy. Trust me, I did just that - went 100% back to water culture hydro for a bit. Started great with massive bushy white root system till the gnats decided it would be a great place to set up shop.
Hydro is not exempt from gnat pressure.
Cover the top of your soil in the fabric pots with landscape weed block fabric and sand or fine rock. I've been using chick grit. Gnat problem handled :peace:

IMG_3708.jpgIMG_3748.jpg
 
SaHt420

SaHt420

Well-Known Member
OneHitDone said:
Leaving soil to eliminate gnats is a fallacy. Trust me, I did just that - went 100% back to water culture hydro for a bit. Started great with massive bushy white root system till the gnats decided it would be a great place to set up shop.
Hydro is not exempt from gnat pressure.
Cover the top of your soil in the fabric pots with landscape weed block fabric and sand or fine rock. I've been using chick grit. Gnat problem handled :peace:

View attachment 5396946View attachment 5396947
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I read if I run coco with a sterile fert should be ok? Either way I wanted to try coco and need to clean up the setup and mothers. Imm try my hand at cocoa will probably move back to soil some day but I heard coco grows bigger plants more space per container compared to soil.
 
TCH

TCH

Well-Known Member
SaHt420 said:
I read if I run coco with a sterile fert should be ok? Either way I wanted to try coco and need to clean up the setup and mothers. Imm try my hand at cocoa will probably move back to soil some day but I heard coco grows bigger plants more space per container compared to soil.
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You can definitely still have gnats in coco. That said, I'm in coco and love it.
 
F

F_T_P!

Well-Known Member
Gnats can get much worse in coco, if you let coco dry out you can get some heavy nute burn. Organics in smart pots is an easy fix for fungus gnats. First follow the advice of using bti treatments, then get some DE and sprinkle lightly over soil and mix in good into top 1/2 inch of soil. At this point fill smartpot on top with a 1/2- 1 inch of sand, done. Do this and fungus gnats will never be a problem again.
 
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SaHt420

SaHt420

Well-Known Member
F_T_P! said:
Gnats can get much worse in coco, if you let coco dry out you can get some heavy nute burn. Organics in smart pots is an easy fix for fungus gnats. First follow the advice of using bti treatments, then get some DE and sprinkle lightly over soil and mix in good into top 1/2 inch of soil. At this point fill smartpot on top with a 1/2- 1 inch of sand, done. Do this and fungus gnats will never be a problem again.
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I’m was able to pick up some 203 organic gnat killer and it worked amazingly after I left my soil dry completely on the one I overwatered! Not a gnat in sight in weeks
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
SaHt420 said:
I love organic but now ima fighting gnats like a bastard with fabric pots! I wanna sterilizer my soil sense I’m switching to a cocoa promix and lotus fertilizer from now on! How would y’all go about getting rid of the gnats and eggs I have sticky traps to keep them in check for now!
Soil is LM-ap with coast of main mixed and have been top dressing.
Click to expand...
cover the top inch and a half with horticultural sand, put a small reciprocating fan pointed near the soil to help keep them away. set the fan on "rotate' gnats are poor flying insects so fans they hate
you also may be watering too much, ideal soil moisture and gnats don't typically coincide, it's usually when it's not being allowed to dry out on the top, which is what you want.
the sand will work though, sand is too dense for them to get at the organic material underneath, also the sand breathes better than soil so it also helps to act as a desiccant for the top soil.
stays in place, and is reuseable
 
SaHt420

SaHt420

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
cover the top inch and a half with horticultural sand, put a small reciprocating fan pointed near the soil to help keep them away. set the fan on "rotate' gnats are poor flying insects so fans they hate
you also may be watering too much, ideal soil moisture and gnats don't typically coincide, it's usually when it's not being allowed to dry out on the top, which is what you want.
the sand will work though, sand is too dense for them to get at the organic material underneath, also the sand breathes better than soil so it also helps to act as a desiccant for the top soil.
stays in place, and is reuseable
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Thanks I might try sand next time I run into those bastards again haven’t seen a sign in weeks!
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
greasemonkeymann said:
cover the top inch and a half with horticultural sand, put a small reciprocating fan pointed near the soil to help keep them away. set the fan on "rotate' gnats are poor flying insects so fans they hate
you also may be watering too much, ideal soil moisture and gnats don't typically coincide, it's usually when it's not being allowed to dry out on the top, which is what you want.
the sand will work though, sand is too dense for them to get at the organic material underneath, also the sand breathes better than soil so it also helps to act as a desiccant for the top soil.
stays in place, and is reuseable
Click to expand...
Well hello and welcome back. I've missed you.
 
S

Smokenpassout

Well-Known Member
SaHt420 said:
I love organic but now ima fighting gnats like a bastard with fabric pots! I wanna sterilizer my soil sense I’m switching to a cocoa promix and lotus fertilizer from now on! How would y’all go about getting rid of the gnats and eggs I have sticky traps to keep them in check for now!
Soil is LM-ap with coast of main mixed and have been top dressing.
Click to expand...
Depends on what stage your in. If veg I like to spray with an organic product called Trifecta. Leaves, underside of leaves and too of soil. If flowering, Id get some flypapers and hang them up by lights not able to touch plants. Then add a layer of washed rocks, plastic pebbles, river stones and cover the entire tops of soil to snuff out eggs and breeding.
 
laddyd

laddyd

Well-Known Member
I battled gnats a few years ago. What worked best of all was mosquito bits in solution weekly for 3 weeks. Then for preventative, garden pumice screened to 1/8, works like sand but better drainage. A good layer of that will keep them out for good. That in conjunction with sticky traps will eliminate them.
At one point my wife was going to kill me if I didn't get them under control. They were everywhere, in the house plants flying around the kitchen. They will damage your plants and must be eradicated.
 
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