What bug is this and is it bad for my plants?
- Thread starter jimdaworm
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I agree and a couple things you could do to prevent them from multiplying like crazy is keep the pots not as wet and adding a layer of sand on top of the soil to prevent the buggers from getting into the soil. get some sticky paper cards too.
I hope some of this helps.
good luck
I hope some of this helps.
good luck
Its a fungus gnat... do a search here for fungus gnats and you will find a bunch of info how to get rid of..
Need:
yellow sticky cards
mosquito dunks
azamax or azatrol
let soil dry out between feedings
Need:
yellow sticky cards
mosquito dunks
azamax or azatrol
let soil dry out between feedings
Bigpappa1983
New Member
Fungus gnats yay! Ok No Pest Strips check, helps kill adults. Mosquito Dunks(you can find them at home depot and any garden center) plop half of one in a cup with water/apple cider vinegar/ sugar and set a few cups around your garden, Adults will feed off it, many will drown, the ones the live will become sterile and not able to breed 
Those are ways to not have to touch your plants with stuff. SNS also carries a great all natural soil soak for fungus gnats.
Those are ways to not have to touch your plants with stuff. SNS also carries a great all natural soil soak for fungus gnats.
The mosquito dunks go in your nutrient waterings/soil, not in the vinegar. the purpose of the mosquito dunks is to provide BTi (a bacteria) that destroys the larvae in the soil. Putting the mosquito dunks in the vinegar will do nothing for the problem... the dunks don't keep the fungus gnats from breeding, but it kills the larvae when they hatch and try to feed. I use a 1/4 of a mosquito dunk every other feeding with organic soil, best way to make sure that they don't come back..
Bigpappa1983
New Member
I beg to differ, i had a TERRIBLE issue with fungus gnats. plopped the dunk in cups with the apple cider vinegar/water/sugar and it attracted the gnats to feed, and within 2 weeks my TERRIBLE infestation was gone and never has returned(a year later)...by terrible i mean the moved into faucets near by too shit was bad. I am speaking from first hand experience and recommendation from the store. And yes when the adults feed on the dunk it makes them sterile(or and this is possible, they take it back to the larve and feed them too making the new larvae sterile, there is a possibility that is how it was explained a year ago) but never the less the cups did work!
Not saying you are wrong in the use of them either...but you don't need to put them in your res thats all.
Not disagreeing with you about the apple cider vinagar, it is known to attract the fungus gnats and drown them, however, the mosquito dunks are meant for soil or for standing water that (mosquitos, not fungus gnats) breed in. It attacts the larvea, I am just correcting on what BTi is used for... it may have worked in your apple cider vinigar, but it ALSO should be added to your feedings.
An adult fungus gnat can lay 300or more eggs at once, and once these eggs are laid in your soil... a few weeks later out comes hundreds of fungus gnats, so if you have the BTi (mosquito dunks) in your soil, they the larvae will die before they become adults.. This is what the dunks are for. To break up the life cycle for the fungus gnats.... Cider vinigar and yellow stickys are great for the flying adults, but do nothing for eggs and larvae in the soil.. thats why you want to add the dunks to your feedings... Not disagreeing with ya, but just adding additional info to what there uses are for...
Bigpappa1983
New Member
I wont lie, i didnt know that you could break them up in the soil, thats good to know. Could be why it took a couple weeks to kill everything off and not days
. Should i come into the issue again my self I will do both, fucking little bastards!I was thinking the dunks might not be good for your plant and I didn't want to smoke it LOL, good to know though.
Though I would take a fungus gnat infestation to deal with over spider mites any day! LOL THOSE bastards refuse to die i swear.
I wont lie, i didnt know that you could break them up in the soil, thats good to know. Could be why it took a couple weeks to kill everything off and not days
I was thinking the dunks might not be good for your plant and I didn't want to smoke it LOL, good to know though.
Though I would take a fungus gnat infestation to deal with over spider mites any day! LOL THOSE bastards refuse to die i swear.
I hate fungus gnats with a passion...i smile everytime I see one of those lil buggers dead..lol... they actually have a 30 day lifecycle so that is why it takes so long to kill them... because even if you killed an adult gnat, it may have already laid eggs and they take about 5-7 days to hatch, and spend about 14 days in larva stage, before becomming adults with wings... I once had such a bad infestation that literally my plant leaves were crumbling up and looking all contorted, from thousands of larvae tearing up my roots... Since then I always use about a 1/4 mosquito dunk, crushed up between my fingers, into every other compost tea feeding. Since I have been doing that I rarely will see a fungus gnat, and if I do, usually its dead in the yellow sticky cards the next day
I have also used AzaMax as a soil dunk and it works really well the best thing is a combo of vinegar, beer or wine in glasses around your grow area, mosquito dunks in the soil, and yellow sticky cards everywhere (especially in the dark shaded areas and under the foliage). I never had spider mites yet...(thankful) but I just got done dealing with a PM issue (not fun at all)....
Bigpappa1983
New Member
I have had to deal with a little PM here and there, never got out of hand, mainly because at home depot of all places i found this Organic Miticide, it also kills PM and a lot of eggs too. Since i have gotten that if i see the first signs i give the plant a spray and its all good....wish i had the brand to share, but i was amazed 12-15 bucks for a bottle to make like 30 or 40 gallons. And can be used all the time since its organic.....I have yet to be able to need to try the SNS stuff but i imagine it would work well...they have a fungus gnat soil drench too actually.
For the PM i used some all natural ways I found online... one was with 1:10 ratio of milk to water, I also added cinnamon that is a natural fungicide, also added garlic powder which is also a natural fungicide. It seemed to work well.
I also tried a few foliar sprays with potassium silicate/potassium carbonate (GH PH up) and baking soda which also is known to work, but this was much more harsh to my leaves and I burnt a few in the process with all the salts, so far the garlic/milk/cinnamon/neem oil worked well for PM...
I wish I had the money for the SNS, I have read that it works extremely well
I also tried a few foliar sprays with potassium silicate/potassium carbonate (GH PH up) and baking soda which also is known to work, but this was much more harsh to my leaves and I burnt a few in the process with all the salts, so far the garlic/milk/cinnamon/neem oil worked well for PM...
I wish I had the money for the SNS, I have read that it works extremely well
