Local garden shops are worthless

I don't know what has changed locally but I cannot seem to get clean soil. I've tried a handful of shops but they're all selling buggy soil. I won't buy soil from someplace with gnats flying around. Does anyone have any suggestions? I might start treating the soil with heat before I use it but I'm on a quest to find a clean shop without bugs. Thanks.

bitch at them, take a photo of the gnats flying around their products and post it on social media, dox them fookers if they dont clean up their act. post the first photos and name of the place here of course, or it didnt happen

You just have to treat your soil when you use it

Or go hydroponic

Yeah It started many months ago and it was at Greenthumb in Ferndale. When I went back in there for a gnat remedy, I was swatting them away from my face. Then I tried HydroGiant in Detroit and I just bought small bags this time and sure enough I found gnats again. Fortunately I expected it this time and I started the clones in the new soil, in a different room,three floors away so the bugs didn't reach the garden. I stopped at a shop in Roseville because I just happened to be passing by and I was only inside for a minute before I saw my first gnat and just walked out. I understand that it's probably difficult to store soil and not have this issue but they should be going out of their way to do anything possible to prevent it and something tells me that they don't.

Heres the response I got from pro mix:
Fungus gnats can become problematic with any soilless growing medium. They, along with shore flies, need a very moist / wet growing medium environment in order to lay their eggs and allow the larvae to develop in the growing medium. It is unusual for them to occur in PRO-MIX, especially in the compressed bale format; however if there are holes in the packaging and the product is very moist, they may contaminate the product. We have seen growers have problems with these insects and in every case, the growing medium was kept too moist. In fact we have even seen a serious infestation in 100% sand medium in which the customer watered multiple times a day. Is it possible that there have been residual populations that transferred to new crops? Is the growing medium staying wet for extended periods? We have found that if the top ½ inch of the growing medium can dry out, then this reduce their populations. The best way to do this is allow the medium surface to become a light brown to tan color between thorough waterings. As far as how to buy the product, we do not sell direct, but through a distribution chain. We would suggest looking for product that does not have holes in packaging nor is wet from rain intrusion. This should help. Again we would also look at the dry down rate of the product as this can really help reduce problems with these insects too. We are not sure which product you are using, but using PRO-MIX HP might be better than using PRO-MIX BX because it does dry out more rapidly. Thank you!

313Jeff said:

Or go hydroponic

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I do prefer to grow in water but due to certain reasons I have to stay in soil. What do you think about finding soil direct from a manufacturer, not promix but someone else? Also, how would you treat it, with heat?

Mix your own nutrients in. Kelp, neem meal, karanja, and crab meal will keep you going strong for months. Enzyme tea and compost tea to push full expression

There is no way around getting fungus gnats in soil short of buying dried compressed bricks of coco and even then, you may get something. Particularly during this season, warmer months with rain. I was having a hard time with fungus gnats awhile ago, they were nver an issue untili started flood/drain in rockwool blocks and pots of rockwool chunks, the. They became a major issue, especially when trying to clone. A buddy of mine mentioned using bti to treat them..sure enough-no more gnats.
You can use the mosquito bits and sprinkle them on the top, that was my initial treatment. It worked but took about 3 weeks to irradicate them..it is a time released product. A more hardcore and faster attack is using liquid bti, like microbe lift-bmc. These are all organic treatments and wont cause any other issues. Aside from heat treating...i would just do an initial water with the microbe lift and then sprinkle the bits once you pot. There both cheap products...about 50 bucks total for basically a lifetime supply of microbe lift and a hundred or so potting of the bits. Good luck.

Couple yellow sticky cards here and there to monitor is always good too.

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't have any bugs to eradicate. I haven't bought soil in a couple months now but I need some and I am doing my best to be sure I don't reintroduce them this time.

Still looking for suggestions on clean and trustworthy sources for soil or soilless. Thanks

The little bastards are annoying as fuck, but relatively harmless in the big picture.
I found they are dangerous only for new plants where their larvae will eat the stem just below the soil line and kill the young plant. Once the plant has around a 1/4" stem and an established root system, they are harmless actually.
Get some yellow sticky traps, because once they are in you room, it is pretty much impossible to get rid of the little fuckers, but at least you can have some vengeance.

rzza said:

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't have any bugs to eradicate. I haven't bought soil in a couple months now but I need some and I am doing my best to be sure I don't reintroduce them this time.

Still looking for suggestions on clean and trustworthy sources for soil or soilless. Thanks

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Fox Farm on Amazon.
It's as good as it gets

Jimdamick said:

The little bastards are annoying as fuck, but relatively harmless in the big picture.
I found they are dangerous only for new plants where their larvae will eat the stem just below the soil line and kill the young plant. Once the plant has around a 1/4" stem and an established root system, they are harmless actually.
Get some yellow sticky traps, because once they are in you room, it is pretty much impossible to get rid of the little fuckers, but at least you can have some vengeance.

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Using what i listed, will eradicate them, and keep them gone even if new ones are introduced.

rzza said:

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't have any bugs to eradicate. I haven't bought soil in a couple months now but I need some and I am doing my best to be sure I don't reintroduce them this time.

Still looking for suggestions on clean and trustworthy sources for soil or soilless. Thanks

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Plant paradise in Ludington. Never seen any bugs. They have as large warehouse everything kept dry and clean.

I buy my pro mix sometimes by the pallet. Hundreds of pallets sit in the rain day and night at the greenhouse supply yard, been that way for years. Some bags are ripped, many are wet depending on the weather.
I never saw an insect until I potted, planted and watered the stuff. I'm the luckiest pro mix buyer around I guess.

People are still using promix"fake dirt" sad coco is [emoji817]% organic and yields more but what do I know. I show people the BEST not the cheapest


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I use promis for fungus gnats every watering for first 3x on any newlynused soil. No issues when I follow this.

I've been to 6 stores. All have fungus gnats in ffof soil.

DirtyEyeball696 said:

People are still using promix"fake dirt" sad coco is [emoji817]% organic and yields more but what do I know. I show people the BEST not the cheapest


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Oh man, sunshine advanced is organic dude, peat moss....organic, vermiculite....organic, rice hulls, perlite.....yup. he doesn't do it your way, so what? We get it.....youre the best. Congrats. How many cups have you won?

rzza said:

Thanks for the suggestions but I don't have any bugs to eradicate. I haven't bought soil in a couple months now but I need some and I am doing my best to be sure I don't reintroduce them this time.

Still looking for suggestions on clean and trustworthy sources for soil or soilless. Thanks

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Htg has been fine, horizon hydro was fine, h20 hydro, someplace in Ferndale was straight, peat moss bundles from nurseries have always been fine. Add neem meal to your mix and that should stop them. Otherwise those discs or whatever probably work based on what others have experienced.

..microbe lift bmc. Organic and wont harm anything else. Its liquid suspended bti-isralisnis strain or however u spell it. Highly concentrates. Same thing as them disks..just way more potent and not time released.