i think i have GNATS and im almost at the end of week3 flowering is there any safe was to get rid of these lil bastards?? im using COCO, and have down clay pebbles, but still have the lil flying fuckers about... havent seen many but have seen a few i hung up sum fly catchers but need a permanent solution...
If its fungus gnats, you will want to treat the soil. As its the larvae that cause the damage to your root system. You might have to fight it through the rest of your cycle, but it shouldn't cause any serious damage. I would avoid pyrethrin, it will most certainly effect your buds. You can get a soap spray to try to kill the live population, and they make numerous products to treat the soil. A fellow blade posted this information, using hydrogen peroxide. http://forum.grasscity.com/sick-plants-problems/544536-how-kill-fungus-gnats-hydrogen-peroxide.html Be sure to try to keep your soil nice and dry, do not over water.
Mix a little bit of dish soap in your water and water with just that. Dont use molasses or anything because gnats obviously love sugar. Also some of those sticky fly traps that you can hang up, I have laid those across my pots above the soil and it caught a bunch of em. But dish soap works nice and this early in flowering should have no adverse effects.
Gnatrol works the best I've found. It will kill the larva within a day but your roots will take awhile to recover. The flys lay up to 2000 eggs each but don't cause any direct damage, it's the larva you need to kill. Contrary to the previous post, this is a serious problem that will get exponentially worse every few days, especially if you are only In week 3.
Treat heavy with Gnatrol for two weeks then do light weekly doses for the rest of the cycle. It kills larva soon but eggs will keep hatching and flys will keep laying till the cycle is completely broken. Gnatrol is a bacteria so it's an organic fix and as far as I can tell doesn't hurt your plants even with more than max doseage.
fuck all that noise.. hang some hotshots hangables in your grow area and be rid of EVERYTHING! Ive rid a spider mite infestation with nothing but these. And best of all, NOTHING ON THE PLANTS!
His problem is gnats not spider mites. Use Gnatrol, trust me I have battled these fuckers off an on for years. Kill the larva! Also neem is a preventative not a reactive pest control. It didn't work for you because it needs to be used regularly to build up in the plants system before pests attack. Neem has other benefits also and should be a weekly spray up to 3-4 weeks of flower. Also I admit I've never tried hot shots but I recommend spinosad for spider mites, it's also organic and works.
i understand that, but hotshots kill all bugs, including flyin.. I used to get em really bad when i used FFOF soil. so i switched to Advanced sunshine mix #4 and still had gnats. hung hotshots solids hangables and havent seen anything fly or crawl in my grow in a year. Just tryin to pass along helpful info, not argue what worked for you. have you tried hotshots? And with my fix no need to spray anything on plants so can be beneficial upto harvest! Also no need to stop using anything your plants desire (you said stop molasses)
Remember it's the larvae that do the damage, and any deterrents or pesticides sprayed or hung in the air really won't do jack-squat to them. Methods external to the medium are more useful in keeping the adults away before an infestation occurs. The adults only live 5 - 7 days, and do little to no damage to your plants (except that in higher numbers, they tend to die on buds, causing mold and bud rot) but the larvae live 3 to 5 WEEKS in your medium depending on temperatures. The cooler it is, the longer their overall life-cycle. If you have adults right now, then if you don't treat your medium, you're at least 3 weeks away from being clean even if you do irradiate the adults. I'm not sure I would want Dichlorvos (the toxic poison in those hot-shot hanging pest strips) in my house, let alone in my grow room leaking fumes all over my buds. Dichlorvos has been banned, brought back and almost-banned constantly since the 80's, due to its ability to damage human DNA, and the plethora of health ailments it causes in even low doses. According to HotShot's product description, they are meant to be used in non-living spaces. Most people who've done their research won't even use it near their pets, although it's unfortunately all too often marketed, as a flea deterrent. You're best off applying a non-systemic solution of insecticide directly to your soil or medium where it can be contained... if it is non-systemic, it won't be taken up by the plants and can't make its way to the buds, and it's left there to treat the effected area; ie. your medium! It also won't be hanging in the air for you, and your family to breathe. Cyfluthrin is one such insecticide. It's a non-systemic, synthetic pyrethrin, and it is VERY effective against fungus gnat larvae. If you were earlier into your crop and not so close to harvest, imidacloprid (a synthetic nicotine) would have been beneficial as well, but it IS systemic, and should not be used any later than 3 months from harvest... the good news is that fungus gnat larvae are particularly sensitive to imidacloprid, while we and most mammals are not (it was fed to dogs daily for a year, in a ridiculously dense solution above 1,200 ppm, with no adverse health effects even after continuing to study the animals for five years), and a qaurter-strength mix is more than enough to kill them off. Still, you should never use it except during early veg, and only when absolutely necessary. And if you don't like the idea of synthetics insecticides (and I don't blame you, I avoid them myself!)... BT/Bacillus thuringiensis works wonders on larva, and cedar chips on your medium surface will prevent and deter the adults from egg-laying, and dishes of water with a drop or two cedar oil extract on the floor in the corners of your room will help as well. Cedar chips near the drainage on your pots or grow bags will prevent their access from there, as well. But most importantly, you can also blend cedar oil at a rate of 5 - 10 drops per gallon with a teaspoon of natural dishsoap or Dr. Woods/Bronner's soap (I use the tea tree soap, for its additional deterrent effects ), and give your root system a soak. You could do this several times a week for the entire duration of your grow if you liked, without it effecting your plants in any way... but two or three applications over the course of a single week to ten days, will do the trick. You can buy cedar oil for aromatherapy purposes, for $5 - $7... a little bottle of essential oil would likely last you several years. I'm only on my second bottle in years, and years of growing, and it hasn't even been opened yet, although my infestations have been few and far between. It's not just a deterrent, cedar oil kills insects it comes into contact with... however, birds, and reptiles and other cold-blooded animals are also sensitive to cedar oils, even cedar chips marketed for pet-use should NEVER be used to house reptiles or amphibians. Pet owners have killed their snakes within 24 hours this way. People use the chips for rodents and rabbits to prevent pest infestations and cover odors, but its dust can be harmful and allergenic even to mammals (in gardening however, the proper use of cedar chips is generally considered safe, because they should be dampened before application, and once applied the chips aren't moved about very much and they are frequently soaked with water, which pulls any chip debris into the medium, preventing it from becoming airborne). Hope this helps... good luck, and I hope you manage to get rid of them!
No argument from me, I'm just strongly suggesting something that I know works fast and is very effective. From what I see about hot shots it kills/repels the flys? That will ultimately work in getting rid of gnats but in the mean time the larva will still be eating your roots. For fast effective results with an infestation kill the larva ASAP with Gnatrol, and maybe use hot shots to for the flys. As I stated though the only issue with the flys is that they lay eggs they don't cause any direct damage. I also agree that FFOF sucks for gnats, and I recently switched to advance 4 coco also, which I love.
Just a tip... Gnatrol is just an expensive name-brand BT (mentioned above)! Meaning that if you search for BT/Bacillus thuringiensis, you'll be able to find more affordable and often more concentrated options.
you should really avoid hot shot strips during flower. they are fine during veg, and i've even used them during veg. But dichlorvos is a seriously bad chemical and your buds will absorb it. it's toxic and it's not good to even touch let alone inhale. it's a dangerous chemical and i'm sure you share your smoke with friends, not good. there are better methods out there. besides most damage from gnats is purely in the roots which those pest strips dont do anything for at all. they cause more harm than good. try a natural solution and get a pack of hanging sticky traps. I agree gnats can turn into a major problem with roots, and even reducing yield, but is it worth smoking such a destructive chemical? a quick google search will tell you all you need to know about dichlorvos. it's best to stay organic when treating for pests while your buds are developing. * Do some research on harmful effects of Dichlorvos and you will never want one of those strips hanging around your buds *
[quote name='"BadKittySmiles"'] Just a tip... Gnatrol is just an expensive name-brand BT (mentioned above)! Meaning that if you search for BT/Bacillus thuringiensis, you'll be able to find more affordable and often more concentrated options. [/quote] Thanks for the tip, I actually knew this one though and tried mosquito dunks first. For some reason they didn't work for crap. Gnatrol was amazingly effective so that's what I stuck with, I'll pay a few extra bucks for peace of mind, I don't need another learning curve. Also, local shop started selling it by the pound so it's really not that much of a hit now that I can buy it as needed. I fully endorse your earlier post though, sounds like you know your gnat shit, also thanks for the hot shot info, Sounds nasty, I won't bother with any further research on that.
ive bought gnatrol can anyone giving me the proper usages for it preferably one thats been used b4 and worked, IE, how often and how much? thanks.
Didn't it come with directions? Go heavy for a week or two, it won't effect the plants at all. By memory I believe they recommend 1-3 tsp per gallon. Also I wouldn't mix it with things like hydrogen peroxide since its a bacteria and that can kill it.