think i messed up (microbes)

hey everyone , think i messed up. i had fungus gnats, and was told that if i dried out the new soil, it would kill them. but i took it to the extreme and dried it to dust. did i just kill all my microbes? If so, how do i build them back up? i use great white mycorrhizae , is that enoungh ? thanks,everyboby for being here. Krusty

Water it with this:

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Yes thank you, but did I kill the microbes?
Or do they go dormant?

Some will go dormant and will come back once you bring the moisture levels back up and some probably died if your soil is super dry.

However, it is fairly easy to recharge your soil by adding new microbes and/or adding some compost or earthworm castings.

What if I had the wormcastings already in the soil. Any Thoughts on recharge

Add more to the top,water in.Sand is really effective at killing gnats,they cant go in or come out and acts as a mulch to keep the top moist.

did it get rid of all the gnats at least? try topdressing or liquid chelated iron that has microbes in it

Next time you have fungus gnats, get some nematodes and BTi, use those instead. I had a pot with like 200+ fungus gnats flying all over, 2 weeks after I started alternating those two and now I have none.

yes, it did get rid of them, I've been using diatomaceous earth, green clean and got some mosquito dunks . and of course sticky traps for pest control. have any of you every tried recharge? (just curious) I am using great white mycorrhizae @ transplant And with watering every 2wks.
Thanks everyone

well, google says Recharge contains humic acids, molasses, kelp and "the strongest microbe package available anywhere", they really went all out with that last statement xD. Im sure it's all good stuff if you want to use it.

From what I understand microbes reproduce very fast, and they are everywhere, im sure that if you top dress compost or earthworm castings and water your pots untill they are fully saturated avoiding runoff your soil will be back on track in no time. Using rechange will help too. The important thing is that you get your medium moist, and that you provide a source of microbes (compost/ewc/the microbes in recharge)

I find that gnats like swinging soil moisture levels. Instead of drying out the dirt, as most people will preach, I would water more often. Maybe less volume in total but start watering everyday no matter what.

beneficial bugs and soil nematodes which combat gnats like the same consistent levels of moisture.
Watering around the edges of containers to get an equal watering practice is key.
This works In soil at least. Can’t speak to coco or bottles fed grows.

Got it. thanks, think i understand now, been doing a lot of research, and with all of your help I'm confident that I'm on the right track. thanks everyone