Gnats and Streps Q's

I want to move some of my new plants upstairs, where I have a few begonias and other houseplants- BUT I have fungus gnats up there! What can I do about them? Should I repot everything and put sand on the top of the soil? (I can't do that now since the soil reaches nearly the top of the containers) I really HATE those tiny, hopping gnats!!

One more question, since I'm so new to gessies- do streps bloom continuously like AV's do, or are they seasonal or intermittent bloomers? I'm thinking of buying Jim's leaves in the marketplace!

Thanks,

Ellen

Hi Ellen;
try the yellow strips for fly's works real good, usually can find them at walmart or hardware stores. Yes streps bloom all year long like violets. jim has a nice selection..
mrsbonnie

Gessiegail has an ad in the Market place too, if I had the room I would get some. I have only had problems with fungus gnats when I bring plants in from outdoors, and sometimes with new plants. When I bring in plants from outdoors like I am starting to now I use a mosquito dunk in a 5 gallom bucket of water to water the plants with after I move them onto the enclosed back porch and let them dry out good. I also bottom water. Sand will work, but it eventually finds it's wat to the bottom of the pot. I have read that powdered cinnamon sprinkled around the plants and watered in will discourage gnats from laying eggs in the pots. I have used the yellow whitefly traps, and they work well for the flying gnats, which helps control the numbers of maggots in the pots.

Thanks for all this info.

I've tried the yellow sticky cards, but after 2 weeks it had only 4 gnats on it, so I threw it out since it was so ugly! And there were still so many gnats flying around!

Cinnamon- that sounds easy.

What's a "mosquito dunk"?

I can't bottom water right now, since I put Styrofoam at the bottom of my planters to help with drainage, so bottom-watering won't work- I'm thinking that I need to repot and bottom-water from now on- but it seems time-consuming to place each planter in a big pot of water for 20 minutes at time!

Thanks again- I really HATE these gnats!

Should I buy from Gail or Jim- choices....!!!

mosquito dunks are made of a type of BT and they kill them as they hatch. My mom uses it in her bird bath and there are other products too that do the same thing. My mom used to use the dunks and break them in pieces but now she buys some drops.

Jim and I are the best of friends and both trade and buy from one another. In fact, I bought 50 leaves from him on ebay but am waiting until spring to get them. I don't have space right now. We both have sent free leaves, bought leaves .........with each other.

Goldleaf who hasn't posted in a long time told me to get Hartz flea and tick shampoo and mix it with water in a sprayer bottle for gnats. I have some gnats, too.....they won't hurt anything but are very annoying. It is time for me to get the dog shampoo out and start spraying. It also doesn't hurt your plants as long as you don't intend to turn the lights on until they are dry.

Thanks, Gail and Anna!

Where do you buy that Hartz shampoo?

What's Jim's ebay id?

What I really want is a big selection of mini-AV leaves, as they take up less space than streps, but I do love streps! They are so elegant!

How long does it take a strep leaf to become a flowering plant? A year?

Jim just called me so I asked him if he was still selling leaves. He said he is out of leaves and has no more ads. He was on his way to work and wanted me to save him the strep leaves he had wanted.

A strep is the same as an african violet but much faster in blooming. Many of them start blooming when they have two leaves and haven't even been separated from the mama leaf.

A strep in a year's time would be so large you would have to divide the plant at least once.

I bought the Hartz shampoo at Walmart.

I have sent so many boxes of av leaves out, I have to wait about a month to cut on them again to sell any.........well.........that is not true if I keep buying blooming plants on ebay! (LOL)

I don't have Jim under favorites as I always know when he is going to sell...........I think it is the same as here which would be BigOldBuck and some numbers...........

His ad is not on ebay as I looked before he called and it was gone. He sent out something like 20 boxes and said he was exhausted..............besides, he said he couldn't cut anymore right now.

So, guess what I just bought from Gail?!?

25 Strep leaves! I'm so excited! Keep me posted about when you'll be ready to send it! I'm really excited! Hope I take good care of them and they grow lots of babies!

(I'd seen Jim's ads on DG for a while, so I assumed they were still there, but they're gone.)

Is it ok to kinda squash strep plants next to each other, so their leaves are touching- or should they be spread out?

Did you see how squashed my strep plants are? I have answered your order and will walk you through to a lot of excitement. Look at this little baby only planted up a few weeks ago and she has a bloom.

She is also still in the same room with my african violets where it is warmer........but she is on the bottom shelf to keep her cooler.

What a beauty!

Yes, I'm excited that you'll walk me through this process- what fun!

I just hope I can get rid of all these gnats so the new plants don't get infected. I know they don't harm the plant, but they really BOTHER me!

Thanks!

I forgot to order those yellow sticky paper things from Cape Cod. Wish I knew someone else i could get them from as I just got my order of pots and capillary matting today from Cape Cod. bummer.............

Some people also say to use Lysol spray and spray the room and above the plants.............it helps anyway............it is really a fine mist. Goldleaf even told me that she watered her plants with a solution of the tick and flea shampoo. (just every once in awhile if the gnats got bad)

Gail,
Try your local feed and seed or garden center. I get them at the feed and seed place here.

I'll probably try some Streps next year, I have to cull Clivia seedlings in the spring so until then I really can't get anything else. I did order some leaves from Cedar Creek last weekend, but I'm finished now.

Just don't use the Hartz crap on your pets, spend a few dollars more for a better product, and above all DO NOT use their SPOT ON flea products, they have killed and severely injured some dogs and cats.

I take my pet to the vet and get all her flea stuff, etc from the vet..................

How cool that you grow clivias!!! Did you see that orange one that plant_maniac is selling on ebay?

Thanks as we have a feed store close to home..............

Gail, I try not to look at the Clivia listings on ebay, since there is always some good seed offered. Like I said in another thread there are 500 seedlings and a fair number of grown plants. They take up a lot of room. I have mostly Chinese and Japanese varieties now, but still have about 50 plants from South African seed.

Wowser!! I am impressed! I love those clivia plants.........

I'll have plants that will need homes in the spring. I'll probably sell some on ebay, but I would be open to sharing some with forum friends.

Please let us know in the spring that you will be selling and where!

They will be mostly variegated plants of Chinese origin. There may also be a few Sparrows, but they are so hard to get seed of and the plants are expensive I may keep all of them (there are not many). I will probably keep most of the Japanese plants.

What I really like to do is pass some of the better culls on to friends to grow. Like I do with Daylily seedlings, there are quite a few that can be seen in the gardens of the elderly ladies on my street. I get to watch them that way, and they really enjoy them. I invite them all for a visit during peak bloom, and if they see a seedling I'm on the fence on they usually leave with it. It's kind of sneaky, but I can't keep them all here.



This message was edited Sep 23, 2009 9:52 AM

I used the mosquito dunks last year, just broke a little chip off of one and stuck it in a gallon of water overnight. I think it helped, but really the best option is to let your plants dry out a little more,

Do y'all think I should totally REPOT all the plants that have gnats, or just spray them with something?

I want to put new plants out, but I don't want the new plants to catch the gnats!

theres a product called gnatcontrol or something like that,anther thing you can do is get some of those yellow sticky pads
a nother thing that helps is dont use miracle grow soil,so many fungus gnats in that,use promix ,you can also use a dish liquid in a yellow colord dish maybe a drop of oil in that mx too ,that will help get rid of them,i dont have nearly the gnats i used to when I used miralce grow
gnats can be controled.just takes times,

JIM
i personally have those yellow strips up and hiding but the bugs find them lol

Thanks, Jim!

I appreciate your advice. I'm going to repot into promix.

when you repot- do you totally shake all the old soil off the roots? Doesn't that shock the plant?

take off as much as you can with out totally destroying the root ball, odd are they wont go into shock,but they might,
JIM