insects

Is there anyone out there that can help me ID a certain, tiny, black, flying insect? They mostly fly around my plants and sometimes I see them buzzing around my face. these things are real tiny. I've also had some of my seedlings die off unexpectedly. Anyone have a solution?

I would say these are fungus gnats. Try to search for it with "search forums" you will find lots of posts.
Here is one of them:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/473962/

ewdy,
thank you, thank you!!!
these bugs are driving me crazy.
thanks again,
sal

Ha! Fungus gnats! DH came to my office one day and while sitting there talking with me got a fungus gnat up his nose! The subsequent jumping around, hollering, yelling, arm flinging and swatting at his face had me in STITCHES....I very nearly wet my pants! We now call it the "Gnat Dance". I crack up every time I picture that in my mind! (and if you knew my "man's man", deer hunter, outdoorsman-type husband you would crack up too!) Excuse me, I have to make a run for the loo. LOLOLOL!!!

K

Sounds like the beer commercial (though I can't remember the brand) where the guy is dancing around swatting at a bee/wasp,hornet/other while his buds look on in obvious shock and disdain. Suddenly, a giant can of beer falls from the sky & crushes the guy. There are a series of these commercials, all quite funny, that try to reinforce the idea that "no girly mannerisms allowed in drinkers of our brand".

Al

It was VERY much like those commercials! (but without the beer can!) LOL

K

Yes, It sounds like the dreaded Fungus Gnat! Good luck trying to kill these suckers! They are a severe nuisence. After months of doing the gant dance myself, I finally was able to find help at my local nursery by buying BT (Bacillus thuringiensis). I got the liquid form. It helped immedietly but still find myself occasionally doing that dance.

http://www.pestproducts.com/fungusgnat.htm

Ah the dreaded Fungus Gnat - can I tell you all...I CAN'T WAIT TILL SPRING!!! I have my own personal swarm of those nasty things and they LOVE the plants that need to most water (which come spring are going IN the ground OUTSIDE) - go figure. lovethydog - I'll have to see if that BT is carried around here anywhere. I just bought a huge bag of sand as I'd heard repeatedly that covering the soil keeps those demonic bugs from laying eggs - thus ending the vicious cycle. Is the BT sold under a certain name and do you spray it or add it to the water?

Wow! Great idea w/ the sand Chantell. I hadnt heard that yet! The BT is sold in powder or liquid form. I bought the liquid form to soak the soil real good. Plus I was worried about my doggies getting into the powder form. You should be able to find any brand like: http://www.saferbrand.com/landscape/landscape3.htm which is what i bought at Home Depot or Lowes etc. Just look at the ingredients for the BT. I also bought those pest glue traps and cut them in small squares and attached toothpick to hold them in the soil. This helps catch all the escapees. Have fun!!

I will be back at Lowes tomorrow to look for it..thank you so much. Yes those fashionable glue strips - are all the range aren't they? LOL Seriously thought - they've caught many more of the swarm then my "clap on - clap off" attempts. :)

Oh and one more thing, if you have pets they might also be interested in the sticky traps as my hound dog was. He pulled it out of my plant and got it stuck to his lips. Pulling it off was like pulling out porcupine quills. YYYOOOUUUCCCHH! Wish I had a pic of that to share. hahhaa.

Forgot to ask you Chantell! Hows your weather out there? I am from Marshall born and raised and my dad tells me you guys got snow. Lucky you! ha ha ha

lovethydog,
Ok now...see (between my typos I just noticed in prev. responses) and imagining my Rottie w/her face smashed on one of those...LOL!!! Now THAT'S funny! Marshall, eh? Don't be jealous of the snow...think of all the plants you can grow all the time - not mention outside!! It was very pretty though, I must admit - esp. if you DIDN'T have to drive in it. You wouldn't be Denise who I was talking about succulents with off of GW would you?
Chantell

This chatter reminds me of the time DH hid a sticky mouse trap behind my plants on my plant rack. When we came home the trap was gone. The cat was holding her paw at a weird angle (like when they get their feet wet) with a thoroughly annoyed look on her face. We searched for the trap and found it behind the shelf.......with a mouse on it.........and a hundred gnats. DH figured it was a very good trap; it caught a mouse, a cat and a passel of gnats!

(the adhesive eventually wore off her paw, but she walked weird until it did.....LOL)

Ah - "a two-fer"...traps insects and deterrs (ha!) animals from certain areas...or not. I love it! Yeah...too bad no one has pics. I CAN tell you my teenagers are highly annoyed at me for the sticky traps as they keep putting forearms and elbows into them...the look on their faces as they realize their skin is surrounded by bugs. Revenge is sweet...LOL

I have to chime in about the pesky fungus gnats. I tried every solution I could find.. sand, gnatrol ..and the best thing I found is scanmask.
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/beneficial-nematodes.html

I haven't had fungus gnats in two years. It may seem expensive but I only used about half of the tub the first year, I have many many many houseplants,the rest can be refrigerated. Mine was still viable after 10 months in the fridge. It's super easy to use too, one application when I bring everything in for the winter usually does the trick. You'll never find me without it again.

Wow this did get funny! No Chantell my name is Becky and I am laughing like crazy at everyone and the sticky traps. Soo funny! The scanmask sounds pretty good, might have to try it if the BT doesnt continue to work. Below is Gavin my hounder! He's the unlucky guy who had sticky trap lips one day. ahhahaa He does sometimes deserve what he gets as today I walked by him while he was casually nibbling my wandering jew plant. Oh what a brat! Any dog nibbling control ideas anyone????

Now Becky THAT I can help you with...having 2 Rotties and an Akita mix in my household AND having animals that actually like Bitter Apple. I used to swear by Tea Tree Oil till I heard it was toxic...yikes!! But the smell was enough to keep them from even daring to put their mouth/tongue near anything with THAT smell. Brushing Aloe "goo" on things or on their pots seems to help...the taste is horrible. If you can brush the aloe goo on say the pot and not the actual leaves...I mix the aloe goo (yes I'm sure there's a better word for it) with ground red pepper or (sorry had to break...swatting at Fungus Knats...no laughing...puh-lez!!!) one of the ultra hot sauces and brush it around the areas that it won't effect. Generally the smell is enough to keep them away...you may need to re-apply every now and then...but they get the idea sooner or later.

Oh btw...here are my "other" children....

Ok..."and one more thing" I don't mean to sound "stupider" then I've probably already come across but would someone PLEASE tell me what the heck "DH" stands for...I keeping seeing it and am sooooo clueless!!!
Signed: Clueless in Stafford

ok, ok no more of this! You have given me the hiccups from laughing. I use the tea tree oil on my face to prevent pimples and its so funny to watch my Gavin walk by the bathroom and look at me then kinda "smile" cause he hates the smell. Literally it makes him back up and whine. Its histerical. I cant wait to try the Aloe goo on him though. Sounds like a great plan. Ok, must go push him off my side of the bed now, Tah Tah for now.

DH = Designated Husband, Darned Husband....depending on your day I suppose.

Likewise, DD = Darling Daughter, etc.....

K

K - bless you for enlightening me...felt like the first time so many years ago on IM's...LOL? ROFL? Felt like I was in a foreign land! Honestly thought you all were saying Dumb Husband...course "mine" is an ex so maybe that's why my mind went that way. Very biased and unfair of me.

The prefix letter can stand for anything your mood can come up with! Don't worry, I sat my niece down and had her make me a list of IM abbreviations! What the heck, we're not born with this type of information, right?

K

A few weeks ago, I had a problem with fungus gnats, too. Then I ordered yellow sticky traps and Knock Out Gnats from Gardens Alive, and I have seen maybe one flying around every other day. It has cut the gnat population considerably!! They ARE annoying. They were flying around my computer monitor and I was constantly smushing them. They are easy to smush, as they're slower than most other insects. UGH!

Has anyone tried watering with a peroxide mix? I heard this works great to control gnats and I just started trying it last week. I also have sticky traps but I knew my curious cats would get into them. We noticed a lot of gnats hang out in the corners of the windows so we cut the traps into small pieces and taped them in the windows. They're out of paw range and we catch quite a few gnats.

If your seedlings died and there were a lot of fungus gnats around it's probably because the seedlings had a fungus and the gnats were feeding on it. Often the fungus is in the soil and you don't notice it till the plants die.

I have just started the perioxide treatment by spraying the top of the siol. Next I'll try the watering idea. Thanks Katlain!

Hey Becky!
Let me know if that works...personally I ran to HD and picked up the sand...not really noticing much difference. Those ole sticky traps do the trick though...too bad they don't "get" the eggs too!
How's the hound doing?
Chantell

Hi Chantell! I too went out and got sand at Wally World. They only had orange. hahahha. Looks kinda neat though. We'll see how it works. I am tempted to buy that Scan mask stuff since its free shipping http://www.planetnatural.com/cgi-bin/planetnatural/beneficial-nematodes?prod_group=Natural%20Pet%20Care
The hounders are great. He's been a very good boy lately which is aking me very nervous as that usually leads up to a major distruction. hahahaha. How are your hounders?

Becky

This message was edited Feb 22, 2006 6:01 AM

Becky,
Just an FYI (b/c I'm a major cheapo) - I don't know how much you paid for Wally World's sand or how many plants you needed it for BUT if you don't mind natural colored - you can pick up a 50 lb bag (it's good for mixing in your soils for and C & S) at HD for under $5.00 and as I've been told NO to play said - YES to contractor's sand. Just for future reference. Cuz those little bags add up after a while!
The canine tribe is doing fine..itching for the baseball season to start up. Makes you feel SO bad when you walk to the door and they follow you, sitting there as if "Hello...ummmm, you've not brought me along in months!!!" :(
Chantell

Oh man! Next time I will. I figured the playsand type would be better! I dont know why I just did! hahaha. DO you know why the other type is better?

I, in my "wisdom," thought that play sand would be cleaner. Don't ask I know it sounds lame now that I type it. Plants live in dirt and I'm looking for "clean" sand...OMG!!! Easy answer (as I was told) the plant sand does not allow for drainage (SP?) the way the contractor grade does. Play sand is a much finer grade - where as the contractor is courser (hmmm, is courser a word?). I use the sand with a lot of my plants - mixed in with their soil so it has to be able to drain properly. There you have it! PLUS it's SOOOO much cheaper then the wee little bags. LOL