They work great, but don’t form a lasting population. I inoculated my beds with nematodes, soil mites, and rove beetles. I see the occasional flyer, but nothing I need to treat. My veg room, however, could use a dose of nematodes.
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Put one of those down, I think you can see in the photos, it’s definitely collecting them well enough but I was still noticing some scurrying around on the tops of the soil, hence the move towards additional measures. I think I want to try to get some of the smaller ones I’ve seen on Amazon though to put in the soil, no reason not to have them in there as an additional passive reassurance right?
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@CornbreadJunior Okay, that’s all very interesting. I’d imagine that the “one teaspoon as a preventative” that I do when I transplant is probably pretty safe. I am, however, wondering about the first time I used it, when I had a serious infestation that would NOT go away with just the nematodes and diatomaceous earth etc etc. For heavy infestations, gnatrol recommends three times the amount, if I remember correctly, so a tablespoon per gallon of water. And I had to do that three times, as well, spaced eight days apart, to finally get rid of them. I dunno. There didn’t seem to be any adverse effects, but how would I really know?
Usually, about a week after I water with the gnatrol, I’ll water with some OG Biowar Roots and Foliar packs. I dunno why haha. I feel like doing that sorta “balances” things out? Who knows?
Yeah, with the recent relaxing of “organic” classification in the last few years, I take anything labeled “OMRI” with a huge grain of salt. But the gnatrol is the only thing I use, so… I dunno. What’re you gonna do? I mean, besides use river rock? Haha.
I have. A couple times, actually, before I found out about gnatrol. The nematodes will get the population under control, but it doesn’t eliminate them. Or they never did for me, anyway. I’m thinking specifically of my Silver Mountain/Larry Lotus etc etc grow. Watered with nematodes three times, I think about five days apart or whatever the directions said and the gnats seemed to be gone. And then like a week later, I started watering and a huge cloud of gnats flew up out of the mulch. I like the gnatrol better haha.
Yeah, I forgot to mention that I always put a couple of those in each pot, too. They’re definitely not enough on their own to eliminate fungus gnats. Or they never have been for me. But the traps plus a little gnatrol preventative has been working really well for me the last year or so. I found like seven gnats total on my traps last grow.
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Do you still have any of the big ones? Just cut them haha. I’ve got a box of, like, 6”x8” yellow traps that I cut into nine different pieces and then I put them in the little plastic holder things, two or three to a pot.
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ya man, its all good, for me its just saves me money and time since i can just put the gravel on there and forget about it for the whole grow. no fuss and no mixing of anything every watering or every other or giving anything to them that is questionable.
ya man - those are great, i slap those in there at the same time i do gravel when i get an infestation. i get rid of them when the issue goes away cuz i cant stop geting them stuck all over me 
lol - i even sit in there with my vacuum and suck the little bastards from the air
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I bang on the sides of my pots to stir them up and vacuum them out of the air. I also have the rolled fly traps stuck to a 2x3 to pick off the ones I miss. But I think drowning them when I water does the greatest good. I dump a 2L pop bottle of water as quick as possible and have the coco drenched. Very rarely do I see one fly up afterward (as I wait in hiding with the end of my vacuum cleaner). I have them mostly under control but it only takes one to start the cycle all over again.
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hahahahaha - sounds so familiar!!!
(in my camo)
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Knife between clenched teeth.
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are you watching me???
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I have your back buddy. Those little buggers can be ruthless.
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@LegsMahoney not sure how I missed this one, but I’m tagging along for the rest of the journey!
I asked Mrs B last time I picked up some seeds from the Bodhis, if there were any Good Medicine still available, and unfortunately had no luck finding anything.
If you do make some f3s from these, I’d love to do a trade when the time comes.
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For sure! I’m not ready to step to a proper seed run just yet, although I think it’s coming in the future. Didn’t want to put it out there and jinx myself but I’m definitely going to try to make seed and if I’m successful will be down to share and trade and all that good stuff. Happy to have you along!
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I need to change out my sticky traps more than once every 3 or 4 grows. 
They end up getting covered in dirt, carpet and dog hair. Sticky traps, predator mites > nematodes, lots of air movement (fans), and BTi of some sort is my regimen. Gnatrol being the most economical and effective delivery method if you got bombed by a bad batch of compost that was stored wrong.
Of the boutique retail options, Malibu Bu’s Blend compost and that Coast of Maine Lobster Compost have both burned me with gnat infections in the past, but Oly Mountain never done me wrong. If you have good compost, good EWC, and recycle your soil, you get an active culture of rove beetles and hypoapsis miles or whatever they’re called now. Those both prevent thrips and gnats.
It’s smart to be cautious and I’m no cheerleader for Gnatrol or OMRI, but it’s a well understood and studied natural product containing only the strain BT Israelensis (BTi) and is not toxic to bees or much of anything beside a few fly larvae, specifically drain flies, black flies, fungus gnats, and mosquitoes.
Generally safe for small scale use and consumption, but needs to be used as directed. As with any bacterial product, you probably want to limit your exposure. Just like you would septic bacteria, LABs, etc.: some is good; too much is not as good. Organic doesn’t mean you should eat, breathe, or bathe in it.
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good to hear, thnx. since i did not see on either of the 2 products pages linked in this thread show what strain they use i could/did not research it like i said. it might be because i did not look hard enough but i did double check just now
yep, agreed like i wrote. and when not used as directed it has issues. more aquarium rocks vs less rocks i dont worry about immune response issues or skin allergies.
good to hear its a product that works for you @nube, i got no issues with that at all, and thnx for the info on the BTi, i do hope all of those products are actually using that strain like you say they are.
as far as im concerned all the other reasons for me to not feel personally comfortable using it still stand.
but thanks again for the info on the BTi, my little rocks work great for me in my little personal grow 
Edit: and hey man, im a fan of your work, you got some great stuff! nicely done!
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Man I feel lucky you guys all dropped in on this thread, tons of helpful info in the posts above. So far after laying down the rice hulls as mulch on the first four seedlings I have noticed a decrease in activity, so I think I’ll keep all the suggestions given here as a back pocket option if things get worse in the near future. Probably pickup some gnatrol just to have in the reserve arsenal in case things get out of control again.
@nube that’s interesting to hear your issues with the coast of Maine lobster compost. I’ve never used the compost specifically but the COM products are all readily available here, I use their stonington blend almost exclusively as well as their kelp, alfalfa, and crustacean meal amendments, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on future bags of soil though to see if I’m bringing in gnats like you said, don’t know that I’ve seen it so far in the soil, with the exception of this go round, and this time the soil was pulled from a tote In my shed, not direct from the bag, so those gnats could have been my fault as opposed to trucked in from thier facility.
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UPDATE: not a whole lot to report. The first four seedlings got their first proper drenching about 2 days ago and the cups are still holding weight, so they’re just drinking at their own pace and chilling under the light. The other two seeds I dropped later are still getting thier roots set, I mulched them this morning with rice hulls since the stems are now long enough, hopefully that helps eliminate the lst couple gnats I’ve had flying around. Other than that not a lot to report, I’ll probably wait till they have at least one set of side branches established before they get any kind of top dress feeding or anything. Will be looking to do the first IPM spray, probably just Dr. Bronners peppermint soap (nice and mild for the little ones) at some point in the future, but overall still just waiting for everyone’s engines to warm up before things really get moving. 
I think I just figured out how to make sure photos upload in the order I want, tedious but worth it for organization sake, also just discovered the preview function. Very helpful. 
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looking great man! do they have a little stretch?
and yep your rice hulls should work fine, hopefully those pesky bastards will be gone soon!
i have been watching this thread added below about the benefits of malted barley. i bought some but am waiting for my next run to give it a try. some folks on there use it as a top dressing as well as a tea and from what they say it would provide more benefits for your plants than the rice and prolly do the same job against gnats. just something else to consider down the road.
good luck, i’m looking forward to your updates and i promise I wont preach about gravel beds for gnats anymore… 
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hey man preach on, im here for everyones info that they’re willing to share, thats how we (I) learn, and i know ive got a ways to go before i feel confident in knowing better what im doing in any given situation. ive heard of adding malted barley as a top dress amendment, but always understood that it needed to be worked into the top layer of soil like any other dry amendment. never heard of using it as a mulch or barrier layer, but thats wicked cool! add it to the list of shit to try out, maybe next go round. thanks for taking the time to pop in and check on stuff here. fun to have some good heads in the room along for the ride. all the best!
Edit: to answer your question, yea they stretched out a little bit, seem to have mellowed though now that I’ve got the light right on top of them and the fan going though
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Yeah, I was gonna say they look a little, uh… tall haha. I’ve got some seedlings that’re about half that size on their third set of leaves already. But sounds like you got it under control. Those two seeds you planted later sprouted pretty quickly, huh? Nice.
I’ve also never heard of people using malted barley as a mulch. Learn something new every day… Although, personally, I wouldn’t use it for that haha!
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I noticed you asking about malted barley prices in that thread you linked to. Thirty bucks for five pounds is really expensive. If you can find a home brewing store near you, you can get five pounds for about $12. Added bonus: you don’t have to order from Amazon when you buy it locally.
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