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Question on applying homemade insecticide...

Discussion in 'Plant Problems: Pests, Disease & Deficiencies' started by jinks, Apr 6, 2006.

  1. #1 jinks, Apr 6, 2006
    Hey folks!

    I have a serious gnat/fly problem that I just can't shake. I've been spraying with a fruit and vegetable insect spray about once every two days, but the darn things keep coming up out of the dirt. I want to soak the dirt somehow to kill the larvae, but not sure how to do it.

    I mixed up some of the homemade insecticide from a recipe found on this site (clove, chili pepper, garlic, soap). I'm just not sure how to apply this properly to kill the larvae.

    Any help is much appreciated!
     
  2. #2 unoit, Apr 6, 2006
    HIGH All, what I would do is get some fine sand and put about an inch or so on top of your soil...this will stop the Female from laying eggs in the soil and if you get some of those Sticky traps those will catch the flying ones.

    After doing this you should see the population grow down.

    Edit: if you get sand from outside bake it in the oven first to kill anything that is in it...and of coarse let it cool down before putting it in.
     
  3. #3 up4anything, Apr 6, 2006
    mix up some a gallon of water with a half cup of H2O2 in it and pour it into your soil. then put the sand on top like unoit suggests. you'll need to repeat the hydrogen peroxide treatment after your next watering. the H2o2 should take our any larvae and the sand should prevent reinfestation.
     
  4. #4 jinks, Apr 6, 2006
    Cool. I have sand that I mixed with my soil, so I can use that!

    Last night I removed the top 1/4 inch of soil and applied my homemade mixture to the soil.

    I'll use the H2O2 and sand treatment and let you all know how it goes!
     
  5. #5 jinks, Apr 7, 2006
    I flushed them, put h2o2 and sand on top.

    I'm wondering if the sand will prevent, or slow, the drying of the soil? (My pots DO have holes and soil is mixture sand, perlite, soil)?

    I'm kinda trying to resolve 2 probs together. See in addition to the increasingly worse flies, I fed some bloom formula food to them for the first time. The plants - which were very healthy - started getting brittle, plastic, brown tips that pig-tailed around. I had watched for like 2 days before deciding I had a prob.

    So I figured I shocked the little darlings. Ph is between 6.5 and 7. I doubt the flies caused this problem. This is why I flushed them also. I just worried that by being over soaked with a flushing, will the sand on top keep them from airing out?
     

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