I've lost the war and my plants are dying because of fungus gnats. Fucking. Fungus. Gnats!!!. Of all things. Those little cunts. Most people don't even consider them a real pest, just a nuisance. But they have actually beaten me. I'm so ashamed. I was so excited to build my stealth cupboard and finally go organic. I spent hours upon hours reading the organic section. I literally read both no-till threads start to finish. Every single word. Didn't skip a page. And I still lost. This is my second grow in the cupboard. I had the bastards on my first grow but was just about able to keep them under control mostly from predator mites and nematodes I bought but I had some unpaid sick days last month at work so now I'm broke and can't afford any more so that's out the window now and electric prices have gone up again so probably will be for the foreseeable future . And I don't care what anyone says, BTI is bollocks. I've gone through 2 packs and it's done absolutely fuck all and now I'm about to run out of this current pack, and again I'm broke so can't get any more, not that it's even done anything. I even started using it before they got out of control just to make sure this didn't happen but it's done nothing. I've tried so many things, predators, bti, mulch, a fan blowing over the soil but nothing is helping. And now my plants are dying. They're yellowing and wilting like they're thirsty but when I put my hand in the soil it's still moist even when I leave them for ages between watering so I know I'm not over watering them. I admit I did over water on my first grow in the cupboard but I learnt pretty fast how much to water and they recovered fine so I'm pretty certain it's not that. I've gone over all the plants with a fine tooth comb and I can't find any other pests or mites or anything. Just these wankers, so I'm convinced it's the larvae fucking with the roots making it so they can't drink and absorb the nutrients. My soil is also really good so I know it's not run out of nutrients. It's full of amendments and worms and I regularly add handfuls of amendments just to make sure (mostly kelp, neem meal, comfrey and malted barley powder). My grow cupboard is in my living room and now they've worked out how to get out they're everywhere. And they're not even scared of me anymore. They're mocking me. One has literally walked across my laptop screen as I type this and I've killed 2 more that have just flown past me since I started writing this post. They've even learnt to fly straight at my because they end up fucking with my depth perception and I lose them. Or they fly towards the light and then blind me. I'm sure I'm breeding super gnats as well because they're getting faster. It's like all the fast ones I miss are fucking and making even faster babies. They're actually fucking with my life. I'm seriously considering just throwing my grow out, but I'm on the first day of week 6 of flower today so I don't know if I can bare to just literally throw all that time, effort and money away. I literally spent over £100 on building my soil from scratch and now it's fucked. I kill hundreds every day. It's got so bad I've started use the hoover and just suck them up. I'm walking round like a fucking ghostbuster carrying it it one hand sucking up these pricks with the other. And I still end up squashing so many with my hands because I can't just leave my hoover on all the time. I'm just done. I can't do this anymore. If I can somehow make it to the end of this grow I'm bug bombing my whole flat then going back to coco. I never had any problems with that. I actually had so many really good grows with it and never had a pest. Literally the only thing I ever had was springtails. But I'm gonna have to buy everything again because I sold all my equipment when I decided to go organic but as I said before, I'm broke, so that's another issue in itself. FML. I genuinely want to cry but I'm too fucking dead inside to even bother. Rant over.
3 drenches with Gnatrol for the larvae and yellow stickies for the adult flyers..........always worked for me.
and you are positive that your soil is not too rich and killing your plants? are the tips burnt by chance? any pictures? i had spider mites my first grow them little fuckers about killed me too sorry about your luck
I also have Fungus Gnats but you can contol them, 1" of sharp sand at the bottom f the pot, don't use any pots with holes in the sides like air pots, fabric pots etc, put 1" of sharp and on top of the soil. Mix 20% sand in your soil mix ( gnatts don't like sharp sand, it cuts the larvey up) alway lollipop the plants you need airflow between the soil and the canopy even if its 3-4", you need fly paper on the sides back and door, if the infestation is that bad I would start again or wash the soil off the roots and repot in new soil/sand Use bleach to wash the cabinet and pots. Pot up and they should be fine, only do this as a last resort, takes a week to pull around.
Definitely don't give up, get shit to kill the gnats. Those plants look fine. No battle has been lost yet! Sent from my LM-X420 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Oh my bad That's a crazy amount of gnats caught though! Plants look good! Sent from my LM-X420 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I feel you mate, I lost a plant or two to fungus gnat infestation, I think its like most things, now that you have seen first hand how they can get out of control, you can take additional steps or precautions in future grows. I've got about 2oz of cured smokable bud left in my shelf atm, and several plants about 6 weeks out from harvest, I too would be losing my shit if anything happened to the ones almost ready. Sucks mate, but as posters above have said, as long as you learned from it, its not a total loss. I'm not too proud to admit I've had to "be gifted" some from other growers in my area when I screwed up my own plants, or worst case actually go see a plug to re-stock until I can harvest dry and cure.
The fly paper is very effective, I really have to look and often i can't find any alive, so it works, I also have a small light leak going into the flower room, it reflects off the ceiling, lights too weak to effect the plants but its like a magnet to the gnats and the traps take care of them. Thanks, I am happy with the plants, there in 6.5ltr pots, still have another 3 weeks, so i will keep topping them and thinning the canopy out, keep the stems thick and healthy.
forgot to say, most the eggs/larva lives in the top 2-3" of the soil, so you can remove this and replace it, quick way or cutting the numbers down, high airflow makes it difficult for them.
often its not the flies are a issue but the worms/grubs for that lay uncooked French fries/ or potato slices on the soil the unhatched flies/worms are attracted to the starch, replace daily cheers
Good idea, I have used potato and vinegar trap, there so many things you can do that helps, there a soil drench that kill gnatt larve(can't remember the name)
