Indoor gnats

Those things suck! Ran into problems with few of my grows... I used sticky traps hung em everywhere to trap em woukd shake plants Lil bit to draw em out onto it. I forget what it was called but went to my hydro shop talked to the guy he had some stuff told me to apply right away I did and within week it was under control and had very very few unfortunately still would see one or two here and there and I went on a gnat killing spree when I did hope that helps!

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Ladybugs, mantises, lacewing larvae, sulfur burner, or various suspended essential oil products like MantisBe...

Any one of these will help with the gnats every bit as much as with spider mites.

I tend to use a combination of predatory insects and MantisBe or another rosemary and lemon grass oil based spray.

 

Indie has given you a bunch of good suggestions.  When it comes to gnats, they are the easiest to rid yourself of.  If you have them, you are giving your plants too much water.  Let the soil dry out and they will just naturally go away.  You can also get some play sand and cover the top of the soil.  It is like little razor blades and will cut them to shreds if they try to dig in/out of the soil.

 

White flies? Capt Jacks if you are not full flower. spray under leaves and top of soil.

 

Even if he's in flower, a $15 bag of ladybugs will gt them off the buds safely.

 

Lady bugs are an awesome option for those who can have them in the grow room. My 3 yo would take them as pets or eat them like skittles.
 
i use a Bonide product that prevents the larvae from developing. I mix it with the top 3in of soil. never an issue.

 

My dogs eat them, and they do get treated like pets when they get out...lol.

But I like ladybugs and mantises....my family grew up with the same attitude, some bugs is just nifty.
I sympathize, though...I don't miss the toddler terror days, much.

 

She would cry if one died. I would have to give them 16 gun salutes, a casket and proper burial. Stay away white flies!

 

MantisBe is a rosemary oil and lemon oil product from DominionOrganics designed to be suspended in water. Smells WONDERFUL, but don't put it on flowering plants. D. O. has a site...look them up.
Honestly, using this product covers the weed smell pretty well, and makes it smell more like you're a herbal-scented cleaning product nut.

Play sand he's talking about is normal "white" playground sand. Breathes quite well. Downside is it also has a tendency to filter down into the soil after a while, but it still drains well, so no, no issues while watering. It's a good tip (and one I'm going to start using, as I think that 1/2 layer of fine sand would actually be pretty, too).
 
Keep dish soap away from your plants. No, not all of them are detrimental to them, but dish soaps are BUILT to destroy oils, greases, and waxy stuck on foods....what's this going to do to the protective oils and waxy coatings the plant extrudes to protect itself?
 
Vinegar, I don't know about...risk to pH strikes me as a reason NOT to use it (it is relatively acidic, will drive pH down).
 
"Hot sauce", no. A hot sauce with capstacin (sp?) in it will keep MAMMAL pests off a plant (or out of birdseed from a feeder, or off the veggies in your garden)...doesn't do diddly squat for bugs that I know of, and know for a fact it's useless for birds and reptiles....so up to you if you try it or not (most have a fairly high vinegar content, and many have a lot of heat contributed to by the presence of naturally occurring low molar sulfuric acid...again, pH concerns would have ME avoiding it).

Sesame oil...I wouldn't be surprised if it smothered live pests, but I would have doubts about it preventing egg hatching or killing larvae. Which many of the essential oils do.

Another option is diatomaceous earth. This one is one ANY organic grower can get behind. Absolutely harmless to any animals, death on bugs. What it does to bugs is prevents them from developing the protective coating on their chitin, so it gets brittle, and they don't retain moisture...the bugs die of dehydration or trauma from their exoskeleton cracking, eggs dry out and never hatch, grubs die the same way the adults do. And it's HARMLESS to humans, animals, birds, and plants. It's a fine dust, basically like talcum powder, smells kind of musty. But DE DOES cause drainage issues as it filters into the soil, so higher than normal pearlite content may be advisable.

 

Sometime I have to tell you about a double hamster funeral...one got loose, killed the other, then the dog thought the second one was a self-propelled furry toy....

 

hahahah

 

Home depot will have it for sure.  The very worst thing play sand will do is mix with the soil and help promote good drainage.  So, it is one of those things that you just can use and not have to worry about ANY adverse effects.  And yes, it does make the top of the pots look pretty.  The diatom earth I have heard is another great option but is less easy to get ahold of and I don't have any experience with it so I can't comment either way, but I know you can eat it.

 

Diatomaceous Earth purchased here. Or off Amazon. Or many other places. Not as cheap as sand, but works better, as said.


Sand tip...do you think mixing in sterilized aquarium gravel would function at all, as far as keeping "wet packing" from happening?

 

Yes. The bottle I get with each crop is 1 pint. Like $25, and it lasts a full crop.