I have little flies all over my soil, what should I do

[eyezombie]

Hey everyone,

This is my first time growing pot, and it was going well until I noticed some yellow stains on the leaves (picture below). There wasn't any apparent bug problem at first but a few days later, there is a bunch of little flies all over the soil of my plants (video below).

What can I do to try and stop this? I've already tried a few things but nothing has worked so far.

 

[Trash_2002]

do a 2 inches perlite cover it should help.
cheers

 

[GrowForMe85]

Fungus gnats. Diatomaceous earth and perlite. Maybe look into some sticky traps

 

[ccoki]

Nematodes, mosquito bits, h.miles in your medium works great for this. Expensive tho. But it's my go to.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Before I began my growing adventures, I never thought I'd get to know fungus gnats as well as I know them now. What I think I know is they have a 17-day life cycle, starting with eggs, then nematodes, then the flying adults. When they fly, they mate and start the process again. They may be easiest to kill when they're in the larval stage. They live near the surface, so letting the top inch or two of soil dry helps control them. A quick and inexpensive way to kill the larvae is to sprinkle baking soda and spray it. It has a high pH, though. I understand Mosquito Bits work very well, but it's expensive. Because the gnats have a long lifecycle, treatments likely will need to be repeated until no more gnats can be seen.

 

[TreeBee]

Before I began my growing adventures, I never thought I'd get to know fungus gnats as well as I know them now. What I think I know is they have a 17-day life cycle, starting with eggs, then nematodes, then the flying adults. When they fly, they mate and start the process again. They may be easiest to kill when they're in the larval stage. They live near the surface, so letting the top inch or two of soil dry helps control them. A quick and inexpensive way to kill the larvae is to sprinkle baking soda and spray it. It has a high pH, though. I understand Mosquito Bits work very well, but it's expensive. Because the gnats have a long lifecycle, treatments likely will need to be repeated until no more gnats can be seen.

I know they are harmless at some stages but being you know them so well are they harmless at all stages? Just more of an annoyance/signal of overwatering?

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I know they are harmless at some stages but being you know them so well are they harmless at all stages?

I don't believe they're harmless and wouldn't make that assumption. Some of the more experienced folks here say they are, so I go with that, even though I haven't seen them cause problems in my own crops.

Just more of an annoyance/signal of overwatering?

They're definitely an annoyance. I wouldn't say their presence signals overwatering. It's probably more accurate to say overwatering supports their lifecycle. Letting the soil dry creates an unsupportive environment for their larvae.

 

[TreeBee]

I don't believe they're harmless and wouldn't make that assumption. Some of the more experienced folks here say they are, so I go with that, even though I haven't seen them cause problems in my own crops.


They're definitely an annoyance. I wouldn't say their presence signals overwatering. It's probably more accurate to say overwatering supports their lifecycle. Letting the soil dry creates an unsupportive environment for their larvae.

Kay thanks

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

being you know them so well

Ha Ha Ha

Getting to know them wasn't my preference. It simply that it's best to know the enemy.

 

[Beachbumm]

Nematodes, mosquito bits, h.miles in your medium works great for this. Expensive tho. But it's my go to.

This

You MUST use Sticky yellow cards too.

I flush w/ mosquito bits on a regular cycle as part of my IPM

 

[Sunin]

One year when Thrips and Gnats gave me fair fight all over my grows I was thinking about buying one of them

but they hard to get

yellow stickers, diatomaceous earth- there's loads of ways for Gnats. Drying plants out properly keeps them and mites at bay.
Greetings

 

[Beazy]

I had a fat ass toad hangin in my outdoor garden last year n it was cool to watch him slurpin up every little bug that crawled by

 

[Oldchucky]

That Was not a very clear video! Just make sure they are not white flies! Just helps to know what you’re dealing with.

 

[juanderer]

spray the heck out of them with a 50/50 iso/water mix. got that from @GNick55 and it works wonders. those suckers love a damp environment so let your soil dry completely between waterings to control their population.

 

[zack991]

I use large sticky traps from amazon, i rotate my plants inside and out. I just changed them out this weekend. It catches alot of flying critters.

 

[Novaracer69]

For me to get rid of fungus Nats it's a 2 part approach I watered in bt and Dr bonners and then I mixed DE and cinnamon in a duster that I dust to top of the soil. It helped me a ton

 

[Sunin]

For me it's special magic that makes root zone so hostile that stuff that I grow there basically kills, pick apart and feed on any fungus that Fungus Gnat would like to eat. Sorry gnats lol restaurant is closed
Trichoderma- saprophytic fungi. Cannibal among funguses but eats only ones that you don't want there

Frontiers | Trichoderma and its role in biological control of plant fungal and nematode disease

Trichoderma is mainly used to control soil-borne diseases as well as some leaf and panicle diseases of various plants. Trichoderma can not only prevent disea...

www.frontiersin.org

I recommend to apply it with other compost/brew additions as regular baby feed in all veg at least 3 times remembering that any chlorine and chloramine kills what you want to grow in medium.
so once from the tap when you get really stoned does change the game as I have seen people growing in living and killing it at the same time with city pipes water, wondering what the...
But approaches to get rid of gnats are many

 

[Farmville]

Get captain Jack neem oil and spray the soil. Drench it until the first few inches is soaked. Repeat every few days until infestation is gone. This will work please listen and try. It’s easy. Otherwise get some lost coast plant therapy. They have a free sample size that’ll make 2 gallons of spray.