Is there a natural way to kill fungus nat larvae

lol dude i have used AACT to control bugs in conjuction with medical grade DE (which is edbile and some people use it in their diet, i cant remember what its good for) if its a bad outbreak and this works against fungus nat larvae, perhaps im not utilizing the protozoa i think i am and it could be certain beneficial bacteria, but as far as i know the tea recipe im using contains protozoa colonies that eat fungus nat larvae, so it is an effective method i HAVE USED, creating organic bug remedies is pretty easy. DE if used properly is a great way to get rid of bugs/larvae because if they come into contact with or eat the DE they get ripped to shreds because of what DE is.

 

Is there something special about pressing your own neem oil vs. just buying cold pressed neem oil? I've mixed the ready made stuff according to spray directions and knocked the hell out of fungus gnats with it using a surface drench.(along with allowing the soil to dry 1st). Although I'm no indoor expert, I've been growing for over 2 decades and have started thousands of plants indoors to be moved outdoors later, and the 2 major factors of infestation IMO, is transporting them into the room via infested soil and the medium being too wet for too long at a time. Get those 2 factors under control and the battle is half won before it starts.

 

You are correct that DE pierces exoskeletans but not correct that protozoa eat gnat larvae. I observe various protozoa which are found in soil, compost and ACT quite often and can assure you that they (larvae) are too large to be eaten by ciliates, flagellates or amoebae found in these environments. Because I do believe that anyone can be wrong about anything, I'll try to check it out further and provide some visual aids.

 

Thank you W. I joined up because I heard about this thread through the usual grapevine.

 

Maybe they just nibble on them? You should check out the work of Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Food Web and Chief Research Scientist at Rodale.

We never did hear if the original poster got the problem solved!

 

Here are some fungus gnat larvae on a 1 mm grid. As you can see they average around 2.5 mm each, 1 mm equals 1000 microns and a very large sized ciliate in compost tea is about 300 to 400 microns in length x around 100 to 150 microns wide. They generally eat through small openings....so I guess you get the picture.
International Carnivorous Plant Society

Here is an article which describes the larvae at 5 to 6 mm but also suggests controlling them with nematodes.
Fungus Gnats and Shoreflies in Greenhouse Crops

Bounce anyone?
https://sharepoint.cahnrs.wsu.edu/b...-it’s-not-just-a-fabric-softening-sheet-.aspx

I suppose there may be protozoa which are parasitic to larvae (eg. maybe eat them from the inside out)

 

Oh ya, The noble nibblee paramecium! I forgot about them. I'll hafto check out her work.

 

Anyone try a soil drench with Gognats? I did, now my plants look totally stressed. It's my first indoor grow, and im flipping out. What can I do? they are all kinda leaning to oneside. I dont wanna loose my white widow super skunk and bubblegum. Please help

 

Maybe Bertrand Russel's definition of Occam's Razor applies: "Whenever possible, substitute constructions out of known entities for inferences to unknown entities"

Prevention is far easier than eradication. Getting your soil dialed in will go far to prevent fungus gnats and any number of problems.

LD

 

Ummmm, I hate to do it right now, but maybe best to just transplant i guess. The widow just went from seedling to veg, and the others are still in seedling. I gotta do something here

 

OK, transplant was successful. All My girls came outa shock with no problem, and OMG do they ever smell so goooood. Went to the local hardware store, and got some fly strips, garden safe pesticide, new soil, and a new spray bottle for my clones (had that gognat stuff in my other, and refuse to use it again). I'm gonna wait before i use the pesticide, but did notice a couple adult fungus fucks flying around. I will monitor the situation, and refuse to buy miracle gro organic soil again (full of GNATS, or the larvae or whatever). Wish me luck, and thanks for the thread.

 

I just dont know. After lights on last night, They looked and smelled scrumptious. After 7 hrs of light, they are showing signs of shock again. Not sure what to do. Please someone with advice.

 

OH MY BAD, sorry i was baked and was thinking of the word Protozoa when i was meaning to say Nematodes. I meant create a tea high in nematode populations, water the plants, then apply the DE to the soil surface 30 minutes after watering and try to prolong the next watering as long as possible to not give the fungus nats a chance to reproduce or for the larvae to develop due to the DE and nematode inoculation from the organic tea.

 

Yes certain nematodes is an excellent way to fight gnat larvae but unfortunately nematodes only survive a couple of hours (normally) in ACT so better to purchase the right species of nematodes and apply immediately.

 

Hmm, not the answer i was looking for. Thanks for the help there killa. I'll figure it out I guess.