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Do you have any epsom salts or molasses available? 2 tablespoons of either one or both dissolved in a gallon of water, and use this mix to foliar spray the plants.. it may help.

I think Epsom salts can be picked up at the grocery story for like $1.99

Peace
MC
 
we dont have any molasses in my house at all, i already checked. i dont kno what epsom salt is but i work next to a giant so if they are that cheap i can spare a few dollars. ill go there and search for it, do u kno what aisle it would be in? if i cant find it maybe ill just get some molasses. also while im at it, isnt pineapple juice good for plants too? i think i saw it several times in a couple threads. i work at papa johns and we have pineapple as a topping, so it will be free. if it is good for them ill start bringing it home. anyway thanx for all the advice.
 
MC said:
Fungus Gnats are annoying, but not harmful really if your plant is healthy. Certainly don't scrap the whole grow over it!
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This is not 100% correct. Yes fungus gnats don't do too much damage by themselves. Just a little sucking at your leaves is all they do. Their larva on the other hand destroy the root systems of plants as they eat the roots. This affects the ability of the plants to feed which added to the small damage the gnats do can kill a healthy plant if left to fend for itself. Yes gnatrol works but you need to put up pest strips to catch the adults as well. You need both forms of attack to stop the cycle quickly. It takes for ever for the gnatrol to work alone. I've fought these bastards in every system made and the hardest was the drip system as the damn things collect in the feeder lines. The easiest to beat was the NFT. I just dumped two full strength bottles of peroxide on the propagation mat and ran it for 15 minutes. It destroyed all eggs and half the adults as well. I wouldn't recommend anyone else do that though.
 
Thanks for the heads - up Racefan.. those dang gnats are really annoying. And truely a pain in the a$$ to get rid of..

And 4iLLEsT2bTCH0, I did a bit more checking, and it sounds like it could also be an iron deficiency. Molasses will help take care of it - just make sure to get darkest kind of molasses they have at the store. Blackstrap Molasses is best, but anything in the baking isle will do.

Epsom Salts can be found next to the Peroxide and Rubbing Alcohol in the personal care/First Aid section of the grocery store..

Peace
MC
 
thanx mc. so i really do have to worry about the gnats huh? what should i do to get rid of them since i dont have any cash on hand to go buy something? and do i just foliar feed with the molasses? or can it be fed thru the roots too? and does anyone kno about the pineapple juice thing? i dont want to do it if its bad for them.
 
fungus gnats are atrracted to wet rotting material. Keep things (especially your medium) drier and make sure you keep your room as clean as possible. Take duct tape and reverse it so that sticky side is out and circle the outside edge of your containers. It won't really stop your problem but every adult caught is one less flying and if caught early enough it doesn't get to lay eggs. You might consider using some peroxide to sterilize your medium and destroy larva but it also destroys roots and if too strong will kill a plant faster than the gnats would. Gnats are a pain in the butt and hard to beat. Second to mites IMO although I had a bout with thrips recently that really took a toll. All pests are bad or we wouldn't call them ..pests.lol
 
I've also read that putting 1" of sand over the top of the soil will stop fungus gnats from reproducing. I guess sand is a terrible environment for them to lay eggs in. Haven't tried it myself yet, but it can't hurt anything..

And the molasses can be fed to the roots and as a foliar spray. Molasses contains sulfur which acts as a mild natural fungicide also.. :smoke2:

Pineapple juice... I've never used it myself. But if you're going to use molasses, pineapple juice is not necessary.

Peace
MC
 
Good suggestion! I forgot about the sand. I used really well crushed perlite myself and it helped some. Sand would have been better. Yes it keeps them from being able to reach the medium to lay their eggs. They can't bury through the heavy sand. You need some sort of covering to keep them from entering through the drain holes as well. I used window netting and some duct tape to hold it on.
 
^^ Hey Racefan, have you tried Cayenne Pepper or Garlic Powder sprinkled heavily onto the top of the soil? If yes, any opinion on how well it works? I've read that garlic/cayenne helps slow their reproduction down..

I'm going to try it today on my mother plants and see if that makes any difference...

Peace
MC
 
what im about to do is a combination of both. i have a HUGE bag of sand bc i have alotta hermit crabs. corny i kno for a 20 year old to have hermit crabs but its an obsession, kinda like weed. if garlic works too, ill mix garlic(i have no ceyenne pepper) into the sand. ill have to see if there is anything laying around the house i can tape to the bottome to keep them from comin out. i killed a bunch of them the other day and didnt see any yesterday, but im sure they laid eggs so. also, is it a good idea to foliar feed at this stage? i stopped foliar feeding bc i heard that it isnt good for my buds. i dont want to get mold. thanks for being so helpful!
 
How far along in flower are your ladies? If you're foliar feeding only once or twice to correct a deficiency it shouldn't hurt anything as long as there is good airflow around the plant.

I believe fungus gnats have a 3 day life-cycle. So if they can't reproduce they should be gone in a week or so.... Please let us know how the sand works out...

Peace
MC
 
madamecrash said:
^^ Hey Racefan, have you tried Cayenne Pepper or Garlic Powder sprinkled heavily onto the top of the soil? If yes, any opinion on how well it works? I've read that garlic/cayenne helps slow their reproduction down..

I'm going to try it today on my mother plants and see if that makes any difference...

Peace
MC
Click to expand...
I never tried to actually sprinkle the spices themselves onto the soil but have made several sprays utilizing those ingredients. There are a couple of homemade rememdies at the end of "pigtrotters definitive pest list" thread. Thankfully it's been a couple of grows since I've dealt with any bugs at all (kocking on wood now) and hopefully I won't see any for quite a while. My last infestation was thrips and I beat them by turning a inside grow to a outside one and starting over inside after a complete cleaning/steralization.
 
I've been lucky enough so far to not have to deal with mites or thrips... (knock on wood!) But I'm sure my time will come.. sigh...

But I did sprinkle a bunch of garlic powder on top of the soil of my 4 mother plants this morning. Went and checked on them about an hour ago, and WOW! ... Big improvement... I only saw 1-2 adult fungus gnats flying around the entire area, and NONE crawling around on the top of the soil.

Just a few hours before they were swarming!

Peace
MC
 
ok guys... i went to the giant when i was at work and i got a small thing of epsom salt for 99 cents, and a thing of brer rabbit full flavor molasses. the only thing about the molasses is unsulphurized... thats all they had in EVERY brand. is it still ok? also, mc confirmed i can feed the molasses to the plant via the roots, but is epsom safe to feed to the roots? it just seems bc its salt... that it wouldnt be good. mc my plants are about 17 days into flowering, counting from the date they showed sex. im already getting trichomes too, which i think is a lil weird. so i have a few questions before i do the molasses thing. do i mix the molasses and epsom salt together? how much of each do i use? is this ok to feed to both plants, or only the one with the problem? is this safe to do everytime i feed them their normal ferts? ok thats it!! thanks guys... im not going to do anything till i hear back from someone cuz i dont wanna do anything wrong. im also going to do the sand thing tonite. hopefully someone answers before 12 .
 
Okay - here's how to mix it..

Take 1 tablespoon of Epsom Salts and dissolve it in hot water - add to 1 gallon of water. To this add 1 Heaping tablespoon of Molasses and shake well.

Foliar feed with this mixture the plant with a problem 2 times in 1 week, and add the remaining contents of the gallon to your fertilizer mix next time you feed all of the plants.

From there on out, you can add the Molasses with every feeding if you want to, but don't use any more Epsom Salts for the rest of the grow.. (unless necessary to correct deficiency)

I hope that made sense.. lol.. :hmmmm:

And Trichrome production at 17 days flowering is a sign of all the good care you've been giving them. :cheesygrinsmiley: :allgood:

Peace
MC
 
ok thanx mc... everything made perfect sense. i wasnt sure if it was a good idea to water the plant today anyway bc i just watered two days ago. but ill foliar feed the one, & in about 2 days its feeding time.. so ill add my ferts to the gallon of molasses & epsom salt. && thanx for the compliment, its an honor coming from a grower like yourself.
 
ok... so i did everything you said. i filled a gallon jug.. thoroughly washed out of course, and a small cup with some hot ass water. i disolved a tbsp of epsom salt and poured it in, then a HEAPING tbsp of molasses. i foliar fed baby #2 who is the problem plant. i hope she likes it. also when i was adding the sand to the top of the soil two gnats flew up... i killed em, and made sure the layers in both buckets were nice and thick. tomorrow i will sprinkle garlic powder on top. question tho. will this affect my watering at all? i dont think so im just curious. hopefully this works!!
 
I don't think the garlic will change anything with respect to watering. I'll let you know in a day or two when I need to water my moms again if it hurts them. The water will drain right through the sand.

Just remember to keep the top cola bud for yourself come harvest time for all your hard work.. :cheesygrinsmiley: :cool: :smoke2:

Peace
MC
 
well, i hope the mix worked... the plant still looks the same, but i didnt think it would b an overnight thing. i added another light in there too. i think there is plenty of light, my space is SMALL and i only have 2 plants.
 
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