Note: I know this isn't news to seasoned growers, but I think many newer growers like myself overlook this wonderful product so I thought I would share my experience. I tried all the other organic solutions for pest control (other than neem cake because it wasn't available locally, but I did try a neem extract), and nothing worked on my fungus gnat problem. Some things seemed to get their numbers down, but they were always back and in more numbers after a few days. Then I stopped fucking around and bought a 10 pound bag of DE (100% food grade, sold as an animal feed additive locally). It was much cheaper than I thought it would be- what amounts to a couple years' worth at least was $12. There hasn't been a single gnat flying since I put it down (about 2 cups on top of each 3 gallon pot), and there is something uniquely satisfying about seeing hundreds of them in little pits of death.
they look like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyrTJPNfuQM Info first INFO ON Not only are springtails harmless to the garden, but their presence indicates good soil health. Their diet consists of decaying matter, fungus, & bacteria, & their activity helps keep nitrogen in the soil. A radical explosion in their population might be an indicator that something in the organic balance is out of wack, though it probably means only that there are excesses of mushroom spoors which can increase springtail populations since springtails go after the mushroom spoors like kids after halloween candy, & a black springtail called "snowflea" even hops around after snowfall gathering up fungal spoors from the surface of the snow. If springtails vanish that means the microflora is probably also missing or that soil is never sufficiently moist to support either springtails or microflora. In which case the plants will be at great risk too. Attempting to get rid of them by drying out the garden would be equally harmful to microflora, only the springtails would weather the drought better by moving to moist areas & estivating, or in unusual cases "heading for cool shelter" which will mean the house, where they will accumulate in bathrooms & kitchens, & not leave until it's moist outdoors again. A large indoor infestation without an outdoor drought can be a warning-sign of mold problems inside the structure or leaky plumbing somewhere undetected. Insecticides won't get rid of them if there are condensation or moisture problems in the house, but correcting leaks & moisture problems or installing a dehumidifier gets rid of them. Some springtails are so small they will never be seen by the even moderately farsighted. Tinier-than-average varieties are encountered in potted indoor plants, but they restrict their activity to the soil & don't spread elsewhere in the house, & are not harming houseplants. There is ONE North American exception to the general harmlessness of the genus. A rounded stumpy flea-like springtail (Bourletiella hortensis) eats the delicate roots of evergreen tree seedlings, so if you are growing evergreen seedlings & had a population explosion of this flealike pest, that could be bad news. Few are the gardeners with lots of tree seedlings, so the primary bad history for this critter is in tree farms & ornamental tree nurseries of the Pacific Northwest, where their feeding habits reduce emergence or cause deformities of western hemlock, sitka spruce, & other evergreens, & cause lesions in developing bark where harmful fungus can be established. They are most active in summer & would be dormant now. When present & active they are easily detected by laying a white piece of paper on the soil & then blowing on or fanning the soil around the edges of the paper; if they are present in sufficient numbers to be harmful to evergreen seedlings, several will jump onto the white surface of the paper. But if what one sees are ELONGATED springtails (& most of the numerous species are elongated) then these are invariably harmless. A similarly primitive insect (far older than true insects) is the jumping bristletail. They're very nocturnal & feed primarily on the types of algae & lichens that grow on forest floors in leaf & needle litter. They can be very common in moist coastal forests where fallen leaves & debris are thick, which material jumping bristletails help turn into topsoil. They are rarely numerous in gardens. If there were many, you'd see them by turning over a piece of lumber or flat piece of bark. As with springtails, bristletails are harmless, & though they do eat living plant matter, it's only algae & lichens, not higher plants. Although springtails are a sign of good healthy soil & ideal plant conditions, many vendors of various pesticides recommend getting rid of them. Because chemical vendors don't care to distinguish between what is helpful & what is harmful, they just want to sell more of their products. Even if there were an imaginary reason to control them, the method would be to clean up the leaflitter from the garden. I'd never do this because springtail activity in leaflitter is a great source of garden nutrients that helps do away with the need to artificially fertilize. But if I had a phobia about springtails I'd sweep up all the leaves & that would automatically lower the springtail population. Cure Cover the soil with 1 inch of fine sand. This should alleviate your problem. The sand will dry out faster than the soil so they cannot live/make new generation and it will also cut them on a microscopic level and they will die. I did this when my grow got fungus gnats and it stopped them in a couple days.
Oh ya same thing to sand helps they live in the soil i grow organically and always used to get them sands good to man i hated them had 100 of them :0 but ya never tried this will put it down on things to do Thanks for the tip
No problem I never actually tried sand, although I've heard that works too. This is much less dense (pretty similar to corn starch really) so I imagine it lets more air into the soil. Of course, I have no idea if that's true or just my imagination. Either way, a very thin layer is all it takes to kill em- as soon as they touch it they lose their ability to fly, then they just twitch around until they're dead.
i hate fruit flies and any kind of flying pest Expecally fungus gnats and no see ems And defiantly FRUIT FLIES GRRRRrrrrRRRR Happy Growing
agreed. It always seemed like a few would escape and pester me when I was trying to sleep too. Really irritating.
Really. Its called DE? I like this (100% food grade, sold as an animal feed additive locally) Short form for what ? " There hasn't been a single gnat flying since I put it down (about 2 cups on top of each 3 gallon pot), and there is something uniquely satisfying about seeing hundreds of them in little pits of death." I hear ya man there is nothing satisfying than that
dichotomous earth, it's sold for a ton of things, including as a pesticide by safer and a few other companies. Don't bother with those- they cost a ton more and some of em have additives you don't want anyway. Food grade is cheap and safe.
Yep we have a 10 pound bag ourselves. My woman puts it in our food and our pets food, on our pets, on our chickens. All over the place.
In your food? I can't imagine that it tastes good, does it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dFDslmyP4o
Just a trace, like in bread or cookies or a cup of Cinnamon and honey tea. We do all kinds of weird shit around here,,,, The one thing you don't want to do with DE is breath it. Also we use is sparingly so we are not trashing our bee's or earthworms.
Any good solutions for hydro. I am switching from soil to hydro and have been dealing with fungus gnats for a while. Controled them well but now they just attack the fuck out of my hydro buckets. Dissclaimer: they may be root aphids. Not totally sure.
Liquid Gnatrol along with sticky traps always wiped them out for me. Gnatrol now comes in powdered form. Although it is cheaper than the liquid, I find it to be VERY ineffective. I can't find liquid anymore (maybe they don't make it??). The powder IS crap, though. I hated the staggering price of the liquid, but have used the powder 4 times with terrible results. Anyone else notice this? Please share your thoughts on this. I'd like to know if it really sucks or if it is just me. Tetonka in Minnesota.