After a month with NO gnats I noticed the leaves were dropping, and drooping on some of my bigger plants, , I repotted all of these brugs with sterile dirt and cant beleive the gnats are back are back
Darn, not again
Gnats never seem to effect the way my leaves droop or not.....mostly for me they are just an annoyance. My leaves droop when I get mites, and aphids :-)
Good luck with your droopy leaves :-(
I've got the stuff Shirley recommended from Planet Natural on the way. Hope it gets here soon. Look at www.planetnatural.com/fungusgnat_control
Okay....gnats are new to me.....what do you look for?
Doris...I'm so sorry....it's like with my mites!
Jackie
I have never had mites, the gnates are like fruit flies, I know they lay eggs in the soil and that is what eats the roots, no roots were damged that I could tell. only other thing I did was change from my soft water to reg water, maybe they don't like the change, but I have seen the gnates flying around.
Ah, thank you Doris. I think maybe my big hanging philo might have them, cause when I go past, sometimes I see little winged bugs a-flying.
If you'd like to try some mites, I have extra, I can send for sase....LOL
Doris, I think someone mentioned using mosquito crumbles on the soil. I did it and I haven't had gnats, but I cannot swear that did it...(it's possible that it was not gnats but a different bug)
What are mosquito crumbles???
You mean the crumbs from pond mosquito dunks? Man if that really works I will be THRILLED!
Okay gnats here I come!!
If that what it is...I have some and will try it. Just spring on the soil or mix in? I usually don't have a problem that "RAID" can't cure with knats when I see them they are dead. But I do have some of these dunks laying around so will try them.
I don;t know if that's what she meant.......hopefully she will drop back in an clarify 'crumbles' for us.
Sorry for the hi-jack kareoke :-)
Wait, wait, wait, I'm not POSITIVE they were used for gnats (fungus?), but YES it is the same as the mosquito dunks (which can also be crumbled) and you can buy them (Lowes, Walmart) crumbled and since I had some on hand, I used them when I was potting up plants to winter inside & the GH. Maybe someone will come along and verify, if I'm correct, and gong me if I'm wrong...it could be Bayer Mosquito Preventer...
Well It can't hurt to try them, as the dunks are simply a bacteria that attacks mesquito larva....may work on gnat larva too. I'm gonna try it.....................
Thanks Sherry :-)
Kareoke,
if you are talking about fungus gnats, there are a couple of natural things you can try. Take some yellow plastic, like the back side of a lunchmeat container, and smear it with vaseline & stick or hang near the problem. The adult gnats are attracted to yellow & will get stuck on it. As for the young maggots, cut a potato and lay on the soil, don't let it dry out, and when the maggots come to feed on it, you can eliminate them.
I have heard that keeping a layer of sand on top of your soil fools the gnats into thinking the soil is dry & they only like it wet. Hmmm. Well, worth a try, but not sure I buy that one. LOL
Hope that helps,
Donna
I tried a search Marc, but apparently the DG search is now working through or with Google and it sent me to locations where to buy mosquito dunks/crumbles, instead of the threads where it was mentioned. I'll keep trying, but surely someone will come along and straighten me out if that isn't correct...
I use the hydrogen peroxide, palmolive soap and distilled water. I spray it whenever I see one flying. I spray the top of the soil. I have not had any gnats, knock on wood, since I started doing that.
Jeanette
I use the sand myself, but every time I water I desturb the sdand in places and the adut gnats get back in and lay more eggs. Gonna try a bunch of things in serperate roms and see which works better.
Thanks Sherry.....
Hope you find your solution Kareoke
Marc,
When you use sand it is to keep the top DRY. In order to do this you need to bottom water ONLY.
Hope this helps.
BTW, I'm still using Ag strength flying insect spray cans once a week and still no gnats or mites .
I think I will try to use a combination of suggestions here too, to see what works on my philo.
I will have to be vigilent with the other plants in the same vicinity.
I'll start w/Jeanette's cocktail and go from there.
Lots of good information here. I'll be sure to mark this thread for future reference. Jnette, I saw that MaVie also uses the palmolive and H202. Must work well.
Well it was explained to me that is wasn;t so much to keep the top dry as it was to divert the adult gnats from seeing the plant as soil and a good place to lay eggs.....I will try bottom watering, but don;t see that working for my big ole huge house plants (trees and such)
Thnaks for the tip none the less :-)
I had the same problem back in the summer and it was so so bad. I would put up fly paper and they would fill it up in a couple days. I also used some of the chemical products but it did not work for me either. Then someone told me to use diatomaceous earth. DE is a light-colored porous rock composed of the shells of diatoms. It is very sharp to the little critters, and it kills them by removing the waxy outer layer of their shell causing them to dehydrate. It will not hurt the plants but it will kill all of those nasty little pests. What I did to make it easier to use was I bought a sugar shaker at the dollar store and then used it to sprinkle a good covering over the top soil. It did not take long and no more gnats. I have never had them since. And if I do, I will sprinkle another light coating of the earth on the top soil of the plants. After a while, it will all dissolve so a new coating may be needed but so far I have not had to do that. I hope this helps.
JesseK
Fungus Gnats are a big problem with growing brugs from seed. Since the seed takes a week or more to germinate, the gnats lay the eggs and the larva drill into the seed and chow down. No brugs then. To eliminate this, sterilize your soil and plant the seed, then bag the whole pot in a clear plastic bag and tie it shut so no gnats can get in. Don't open until you see several seeds have germinated and are a couple of inches tall or even more. I put a rose cutting in a zip loc bag and I can see gnats flying around in there. I'm positive they are in our soils we buy, just waiting for the chance to get out and make our lives miserable.
Jesse,
I had read that about the diatomaceous earth but they were quick to point out that is was not the heat treated swimming pool type. I was not aware there were different types, but found it interesting. I have plenty of access to the pool type, but did not know where the other type was sold. Where did you find yours?
Marc, You're close , the gnats will not attempt anything on the dry sand protective layer. So far this is what I believe.
For bigger plants ( Brugie knows what to use ) I think I would drench the plant with a solution that will kill the gnats. Someone here on DG said they soak mosquito dunks in water and use that.(forgot who it was , grrrrrr )
Brugie, did you ever notice flys when you open the top of a big bag of pro mix after you opened it a couple days earlier ? I have.
me ................ I'm keeping on with my air spray insecticide. I'll just worry about killing anything that crawls or flies.
Beyond that , what will be will be.
Yeah, Scoot remembers that the mosquito crumbles/dunks on the soil, watered in got rid of fungus gnats. Like Scoot, I cannot remember who said it. DianeK??? That's just a guess...
I remember someone talking about them too. Kell talked about using the big dunks and soaking them, but I don't remember who mentioned the crumbles. This getting old isn't easy. LOL!
Hey Sherry ........ the crumbles are exactly that .... crumbled dunks.
The "Dunk" factory prolly sweeps the broken dunks off the floor LOL
LOL Scoot!
I use the pool dunks, I crumble them myself! LOL. And it does work. If I could find the already crumbled ones I would buy them. I found the gnats in my just opened supersoil. Last year I was at a nursery and the gnats where in the thousands hovering over the plant flats. It was so gross. I asked about it and was told it was normal and not to worry! ICK!!
YEAH!!!! Thanks everyone....I'm soaking one now and will use the water tomorrow.
I bought both the DE and the mosquito dunks. The DE came in a yellow bag and I got it from Home Depot. After using it, I did not need the mosquito dunks so I took them back and got my money back. The DE has worked great for me and I have not had the gnats since. Plus I have the DE in the sugar shaker and if I see a gnat, I will just treat the plants that they are flying around. The DE has worked wonders for me because I had a massive gnat infestation and I think I got it from the cheap soil that I got from the dollar store. I have sinced learned to buy better soil and to keep it in a 5 gallon bucket and keep a lid on it. What I did was buy some soil and then mix it with some peat and perlite and vermiculite or whatever I need for certain types of plants. I mix this up in a 5 gallon bucket that I got from Home Depot and then I keep the lid on it to prevent anything from getting into it. So far it has worked fine for me. I also keep my cactus/succelent and my AV soil sealed or in its own container. One other thing that I noticed is that the cacti and succulents at Home Depot or some of the other places usually have the gnats flying around them so when I bring them home I sprinkle the DE on them right away. Sometimes the cacti and succulents at these places are way over-watered therefore attracting the gnats. I hope this helps.
JesseK
we will always have bugs indoor or outdoor. learn more about gnats to get better understanding of why we have them http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2114.html , http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7448.html
i do not use DE cuz i learned the hard way that DE killed the redworm on either potted or plant on the ground. i try to grow organically grown plants. i always incorporate redworm in my plants cuz they help aerate the soil and the root zone of the plant, and other benefits derived in their presence on my growing plants.
peat moss and damp soil is good breeding ground of any bugs. bugs are the part of the vicious cycle of growing plant. we can keep close watch on them for control, i doubt very much we can have full control over their presence. not unless anyone will forever be slaved into sterilizing the potting soil use for planting.
yes, i only use Palmolive dishwashing soap cuz it is the only soap in the market that is 'wetter than water' my understanding of that is Palmolive soap is the only soap that does a squicky clean job. the hydrogen part H2O2 is cuz help eliminate fungus. jmo.
I always keep the yellow sticky paper on all my Brug plants, the kind you buy, I cut them in half then cut the bottom off to make 4 strips, and I also spray with Bug Stop, like kell, I got them in new soil about six months ago, all of that soil I sterilized, these must be a few that managed to hatch.
I used the mosquito crumbles on all plants potted following the post about using them. I haven't had any bugs, with exception of a single, minor aphid problem. Of course, when I found the aphids, I accidentally sprayed 7, small, recently rooted brugs and all their new leaves fell off, but those sweet brugs forgave my stupidity and are all putting out new leaves...