How do you avoid fungus gnats when over-wintering....?

I tried the hydrogen peroxide as an additive to the watering water and still waiting to see how it did...

On the other hand, I also used a peroxide mix in a sprayer bottle, and sprayed a lot of different plants. Most took it just fine, some are pretty "burned" by it, and the thunbergias seemed to be especially sensitive to it. They look just horrible, lol...

I'd still recommend it, I'd just recommend trying it on a leaf, or two, before dousing any plant entirely. Some are obviously more sensitive than others...

I finally just set a bug bomb off in the greenhouse. No more fooling around! lol...
-T

can I get the ratio of h.peroxide to water and spray the brugs. I have both gnats and aphids.

thanks,
Chris

I'm not big on using peroxide on leaves, etc, I've had it burn too, but it should never be sprayed, IMO, when the sun is out and will be shining directly on the plant. Some times a burnt plant is better than no plant and that's how I looked at it when it happened to mine. how did your bomb do in your green house...

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/571392/
This is what I finally resorted to. It works for me and is easy and cheap.

I put 1/2 cup of H202 in a gallon of distilled water . This is the 3% stuff they sell at the dollar store .
I also buy the measuring cups and turkey basters there .
The turkey basters are good for getting into tight spaces .
I put a piece of tape on the things I use .
IE - turkey basters 1 has H202 , 1 has orchid [ food ] , 15 [15-15-15 ] , acid [ for azala's , bouganvilla's , Rododen , etc ] - when I water the plants in pots there is allways runoff in saucers under plants . I use turkey basters to suck it up and put on another plant .
The people at a nursey told me Bt is great but-BUT - BUT - almost anything kills it - The stuff that kills bugs in grass , almost any spray that reaches them , to hot - to cold even the stuff in your drinking water - chorine and the new stuff that kills fish . They don't use it .
To properly use you should spray dirt , then turn over [ rototill ] into dirt [ but not on sunny day - the sun kills it too ]or mix in distilled water when it rains heavy and pour on ground and hope it sinks in and doesn't run off .

SherryLike-

I tried the bomb because my nurserywoman said that is what all the big growers do...I also had a friend down the street bomb her greenhouse, and was amazed how clean and bug free it was the next day...

I set it off yesterday afternoon, and the bomb killed just the right stuff...

My "live-in prince charming (a toad over wintering in the greenhouse and who lives right behind the heater, lol), was unharmed, and didn't seem to affect any of the plants. (I was really happy the toad made it...I had forgotten all about him, until the bomb was already going off...) :0{

All the knats in flight were killed. I only now have a few pots that have the knats in their middle stage(nymph? stage). I have some BT on the way, so will continue to water w/ the h202, until it gets here,and then use it. I use the knat stuff from Gardens alive.

I also hung some new sticky traps, so I could monitor if any flying knats survived. So far, ...none.

I also filled up a new spray bottle with soapy water and a tiny bit of h2o2, to sprits the nymphs...

There were a few white flies still alive. They seemed totally unaffected, but I only have them one one plant, so removed the plant.

There were still some snails alive, and some fats grubs I didn't realize were in there, were belly up.

Weird to me what survived, and what didn't...

It is a pretty large area, so looking back, I think I should have used more than one bomb. Next time, I'll use two. The greenhouse is 15 x 60, so probably didn't use enough, but it still worked really well.

I've never used a bug bomb, before. I have always been too "natural", and too afraid of them, for some reason. I didn't want to poison myself, and my family, nor did I want to blow up the greenhouse, lol...

I did turn the heater off, and closed the gas line levers. I also made sure the pilots were all out before I bombed. That stuff is highly flammable...
-T

Tony you are so innovative with all your solutions! I bet your wife loves having you around as Mr. Fix It.

You know I remember Patricia saying whe used a bug bomb in her GH and it worked on everything!! So much easier than spraying I would think. I toss one in my shed every year to kill the black widows and the brown recluse spiders.

Ted, LOL. Black flag for $2.00. You know there used to be a member here named Arlene who swore by Raid. She would just spray it above her brugs. No fancy, expensive sprays for her. She said it worked on eveything. Sometimes I think we almost like things to get so involved. LOL

Seedpicker, I am so glad your frog made it!! I bet he is mad at you. LOL

Kell-
Yep...no kisses for me, today, lol...
-T

new dirt-- make sure its moist and put in a gallon ziplock seal up and cut the edge a half an inch on each side microwave for 5 min on high twice then take most all the dirt off the the plant and plant it in that dirt or plant seeds in it or put in a pan and bake in oven-- it sterilizes dirt also helps with green growth on surfafe of spagum rich mixes

Last year I used plain old Raid flying insect spray. As soon as I saw any, I sprayed over all my plants. Then occassionally I would set of a bug bomb inside my greenhouse. I had very little trouble with them after using the Raid several times.

Patricia

Good luck I use crumbled up mosquito dunks and the yellow sticky traps keeps them to held in check,along with the neem oil etcetc etc it sems to keep them in reasonable numbers

I've sprinkled Diatomaceous earth on the soil around new seedlings, and have used Scanmask on my older plants. I've never seen a fungas gnat, so I have no idea if it works or if they just aren't around.

Don't feel envious. I may not have fungas gnats here, but the mites love me and mine.

I used the raid, like Patricia. It worked really well, but still had to keep up with topping the soil with sharp chick grit, or lava sand.

I also did soil soak once a month...

The knats can be really bad here, so I have to attack them on all fronts.
-T

I'm glad I read this to be reminded that I have to use my mosquito chunks...

Hi Sherry,

Do you have any of your plants inside? How is your weather there that you have to use those? We just got 6 inches of snow and it is still snowing. I have a Magic Mountain Brug growing inside and having a problem with it. I am going to show you a picture of it and maybe you can tell me my problem. I did find one FG on it.

Please see if you know what it is. Jeanette

Hi Jnette, great to see you!!! I've seen that and i know it's not good but I forget what causes it. I'm going to take Shredded inside and root you one, and send it when the weather is warm enough for you to pot it up, it's my fav ever, I love her, Tiara too!! Someone will come along to tell you what that leaf thing is, I have just forgotten what to do about it. I'm heavy into roses now, they are my new brugs, my new addiction...happy Monday!!!

The gnat problem for me use to be overwhelming, but no more. I learned gnat eggs come with all peat moss, so I bake my pro-mix for 30 minutes at 350 degrees for all seed starting and potting up mixes. Before bringing in pots from the outside in the fall, I drench the pots with Merit. No gnats - gone! The extra work involved is minor compared to the misery of gnats flying everywhere and diminishing the health of my plants. I so love my system, I bought a huge new pot from Walmart that just fits into the oven so I can "cook" lots of pro-mix at one time. Lol.

Tussee

I bought Gnatrol and have never used it because the mosquito chunks apparently take care of the gnats...

I have used the BT with good results but will a general systemic like Hi-Yeld kill the larve?
Caren

I have heard spreading chicken grit on the top of your potted soil will stop them.

Sharp grit on the soil surface will deter them from laying eggs in the soil, but if there are eggs already in the soil, it will not stop them from hatching...

Hi everybody, it was fun reading this information again.

In the gh, I keep about a dzn gal jugs for watering. I put about 1T mosquito granules in each jug then fill with water. As it sits there, the granules disolve and the chlorine dissipates. When I use it, it does the job, I rarely see gnats in there. When I do, I hit them with some spray.

For snails and slugs, the best thing I've found is 1:10 ammonia:water. Kills them on contact. I spray pots and ground around pots, even the leaves.

Inside, at Shirley's recommendation last year I used scanmask. It worked great, glad I found this thread I've got to look in the back of the fridge and find it (hope I haven't served it by mistake).

I have heard that BT will get the larvae that eats the roots also. Just to water with it. And it would get whatever ones are in the soil or on top.

Jeanette, when I had a problem (major) with mites this past summer, many of my infected leaves curled inward, just as your MM is doing. I could visually see the spider mites, if I looked closely, but I had to use a magnifying glass to see the broad mites. The majority of leaf curl was due to broad mites.

Tussee

Thanks Tussee, I looked for spider mites 'cause I have had such problems with them. I didn't look with a mag glass. I will do that tomorrow. I talked to the fellow who gave it to me and he said it looked to him like it had too many minerals or something. The peralite was orange. So, I then remembered that I had put Root Blaster, Lava something, and one other thing in the soil prior to planting it.

I took it out of that stuff, the roots were beautiful, white, and rinsed them off then repotted them in the only thing I had which was Whitney Farms Seed Starter. Seemed like a lot of sand in that. Anyway, hopefully I don't have the Broads. I sure do not need mites!!

Thanks again, I'll check. Jeanette

BTW Tussee, how did you get rid of the broadmites? Jeanette

I don't think you ever get rid of broadmites. They just get tired of being sprayed and go away for a while, but they always come back, or at least at my house they do.

Jeanette, after trying every remedity I could find for broadmites, and still not winning the war, I broke down and bought Forbid. So pricey, but I probably have enough to last for a number of years as it comes as a concentrate. Several DG people have talked of sharing a bottle so the cost is more affordable. One spray and the broadmites were gone and my plants recovered nicely. Before the Forbid, a couple of my brugs. were so infected and prone to mites, I put them in the trash.

Tussee

Tussee Avid will work just as well for a fraction of the cost of Forbid. Avid is about $89 for 8oz (also highly concentrated) on ebay where as Forbid is $269 for 8 oz. The problem with all of them is that repeated use of the same insecticide results in a resistant generation of future mites. Try to rotate remedies or you will find a resistence problem. I use Ortho systemic ( about $13) with alternate Avid treatments if i find i have a real widespread problem. My big problem here in south florida are the broadmites which attack the new leaves. The key to eradication is early detection. Learn exactly what to look for and catch them early on. Usually two treatments at a two week interval takes care of it.

For fungus gnats, I'm with Shirley. Scanmask takes care of them biologically by providing soil soldiers that feed on the larvae of the fungus gnats thereby breaking the lifecycle.



This message was edited Dec 2, 2006 12:09 PM

Gary, thanks for bringing up the switching of chemicals to ward off the resistance problem that can develope. I was in such a rush, it slipped my mind. I did buy Avid also but did not need to use it. I feel totally ready to take on the mites in the early stage next year, and kill them all, lol. No point in gardening if you cannot control the insects. They were here before we appeared, and they will be here when we are gone.

Tussee

What about Gnatrol?? I'm not boasting, and I'm whispering, but I've never had much trouble with Fungus Gnats. I also have Avid, never used it but once, a couple of years ago. I had two Harlots, about 5 feet apart. One did not have a single mite & the other had them so badly that I put it outta it's misery. Odd how stuff like that happens. My neighbor says mites catch rides on pollinators and if you use enough to kill the hitchhikers that the good bugs are killed too...

I have heard good things about gnatrol as well. The next time you have a problem as bad as you describe, instead of "putting it out of it's misery" which i assume means you destroyed it. Try isolating it, then defoliate it. Wash the trunk with soapy water and see if it comes back for you. I have done that with great success. That way your plant gets a "whole new leaf on life!!" LOL!!

Hahahaha, funny!!! x, my attitude has changed about brugs. Within reason, I've lost interest in playing doctor to pouty, spoiled plants, of any kind...but I have tried your remedy and it does work!!!

Have any of you tried Floramite? I got some from another DGer but haven't used it yet. The literture says it does not work on Spider Mites, but does not mention Broadmites. I think I got that right. It has been a bit.

I don't think I have them. I just looked using my reading light (broad spectrum) or whatever it is and a magnifying glass and not a thing on them. Not even the underside. Hopefully, just changing the soil will help.

It doesn't appear to have the FGs either. Just the cupping of the leaves. Maybe it will out-grow them.