Can’t say I agree with that one, that’s my biggest complaint with majority of the Lowe’s and home Depot bagged soil, wood chips/shavings take 3-5 years to even start breaking down enough to be soluble to any plant, usually only good for in ground as a top layer of mulch to help with water retention but to mix it in the soil isn’t giving any nutrient benefits, if anything that’s the source of why u have fungus gnats hanging around, locking in to much moisture and fungus. I stay away from wood chips in my medium like it’s the plague and haven’t had any fungus gnat issues since the first month I started growing from making the noob mistakes of watering everyday, highly recommend reconsidering adding wood to your mediums cuz I think ur doing more harm than good.
I def second the bananas and banana peel recommendation though, I get the rotten ones about to be thrown out and give em to my worms 
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Are you sure about this. It depends on the wood IMO. Cedar mulch gonna last longer than hemlock. I see degradation of Cherry shavings within the first round of usage. But more than plant nutrient (though I do suspect there is some small amount of that), I think the microbes like it more than anything. I see the way the roots grow massively intertwined specifically around the shavings, that’s where I base my opinion from:)
As far as fungus gnats, and whether you can just “use less water” to get rid of them, I suspect that depends on where you live regionally and whether fungus gnats have a local stronghold of a population, ie the humid wet northeast where I live vs say Arizona. I have had plenty of fungus gnats show up when I have not added any wood mulch, so I don’t think that’s the main contributing factor.
When I use small pots of soil 1-3ga I fight them more cause I have to water more frequently. When I use bigger 7-20 ga then yes I can go 4-6 days without watering and there may be less. Ultimately I just control them ahead of time, as soon as a few start to pop up, I kill them and it’s not a prob:)
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I guarantee it 100% it takes that long, they are gonna intertwine with it cuz it’s an abundant source of moisture and roots don’t wanna dry out, just because they hugging it doesn’t mean it’s nutrition though
Look at the coir growers, there is no nutrition in coir but the roots grow abundant in the medium cuz there is still nutrients all around from the daily feedings, doesn’t mean the coir fed them just cuz it was in the medium with a root ball on it
Wood in general just takes so long to decompose, I’m sure there’s a fair argument that some may break down faster than others but even that faster ones still gonna take years to actually benefit a plant ( I’ve tested these theories even with sawdust since my neighbor has a woodshop) tried feeding sawdust to my worms even and that was a disaster, don’t recommend that one bit
When it comes down to fungus gnats, they absolutely love and are attracted to a stagnant soil that an unbeneficial fungus took over regardless of how that was accomplished, could be lack of airflow, could be overwater/high humidity conditions, could be not enough aeration and drainage in the soil, could even be to much coir and peat in the mix, not just woodchips but ultimately is the end result of stagnant conditions and to much moisture/humidity whatever caused it
" When I use small pots of soil 1-3 gallon I fight them more because I have to water more frequently"
That comment right there just reinforced that it’s a " to much water issue" associated with it. Could be as simple as adding more fans/airflow in the area vs less water though. Whatever water is there and hanging out is going stagnant and letting fungus grow. If I was in a high humidity area wood chips is really bottom of the list to add, u don’t need more water retention u need more aeration and drainage if there’s plenty of moisture in the air, I’m on the other end of the spectrum in the hottest and driest part of country and I still don’t see a need for wood chips for extra water retention. Fungus gnats don’t care about the climate were growing in, just the conditions it thrives which is wet and stagnant
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I don’t really worry too much about fungus gnats, they are fairly harmless really, mostly an annoyance, with one big exception…when popping seeds. I do take great care to make sure there is no gnat larva around my soil at that stage of the game.
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Well just trying to help u improve on your soil medium, I’m stubborn to and don’t always take others advice either thinking I got it figured out, I just spent years learning a lot of these lessons the hard way unfortunately so least I can do is share my findings in hopes someone doesn’t follow the wrong path I was on, now I’m growing better stuff than the dispensaries getting twice as much for mine then they are, must be a reason for it.
Whether the gnats are harmless or not, it’s still a sign of a bigger issue, microbes aren’t gonna be in full swing if things are stagnant
That’s like ppl seeing ants crawling all over their plants and saying it’s fine they aren’t hurting anything, well no u prob have an aphid prob sucking all the sugars from your plant
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In soil systems, water retention does serve the purpose of helping soil microbial colonies survive. They need water at all times. It’s all about balance. If my soil mix was feeling too heavy I wouldn’t add mulch. But it’s not generally. It’s also about how it’s done. I’m not adding a lot of wood and I’m not mixing it all throughout.
What I have done w success in my climate is to leave a coating of wood dust around the hole I make when transplanting. Then after harvest when I dig up the roots and I check them out, based on what I see, they appear to like it.
I wasn’t looking for help tweaking my systems btw. I was sharing some of them with you.
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Your absolutely right, water retention is important for microbe populations! But ur describing red flags of stagnant conditions and to much moisture which encourages anaerobic cultures to take over which aren’t anywhere near as beneficial as aerobic cultures and in some cases can be harmful like these situations with a bad fungus in the soil attracting the gnats
So naturally when ur throwing up the red flags I have to examine the mix and found exactly what I suspected would be in it as a culprit of some ingredient locking in moisture.
Weed will grow in just about anything, but REALLY good weed knows what it thrives in best and would be happy to share pics of my cultivars that made it over the 30% mark this last year as maybe something to validate my methods off of as I’m prob " just some random guy on the internet to u" but I assure u the many years I’ve been growing organically and learning the tricks of the trade haven’t been in vain
I totally get your intentions, just see things that can be improved on for ya, whether u take a bite is up to u
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I use azomite for my “rock dust” and trace minerals, absolute must for cannabis imo flowering I throw in some bee pollen for aminos and enzymes
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Fungus gnats are a normal part of the living environment, just cause they visit me from time to time doesn’t make my soil stagnant. Lol.
Your soils stagnant.
Ha ha jk, appreciate the tips, maybe it’ll be a useful convo for someone.
Azomite is $$$ here, I like to find alternatives. River sand is nice here.
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Lol if I could put more fans in my greenhouse I would haha got 2 duct fans without the ducting on the top of the loft a box fan on the bottom and a swamp cooler for the sunny parts of the day forcing air out the top leaving a 2x2 panel out, my plants have a nice healthy dance all day long with lots of airflow and still only watering about every 5 days with the spring weather haha:)
I get my azomite in eBay, company out of Utah sells it, last time I think I got it last year. Was 20lb( four 5-lb bags) for 40 bucks, still not even halfway through the first bag and grew 50 cultivars and 5+ lbs with it last year. Shouldn’t have to get more for at least 5 years
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My main flower tent has shelves to keep the girls up off the floor, a fan running below, sometimes a small mid one, and my big hurricane up top w a 6” temp and humidity controlled exhaust fan so yeah I hear you on the fans being important, just not lacking any here
Is your shelf solid or grated? I’m having issues this year with my autoflowers on the loft, thought raised up would be fine but since they are sitting on osb up there my soil isnt getting proper drainage from the bottom and fighting some stagnant issues consequently myself with em, I’ve been having to put them on the ground for a day or two following my waterings
Grated, those metal wire shelves that homedespot and others carry.
Saucers off for the summer when I fight moisture / humidity constantly. Use the saucers for the winter / heating months when my place dries out way faster.
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Lol with the saucers trapping water!!! Dammit! Haha just for kicks bro, take the saucer off one and see if the gnats dont show up or if it appears to thrive better. 
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That’s interesting on moisture levels with the seasons, I’m completely opposite here
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Yeah i prefer my grows in the drier, winter months, always so much less issues. From bugs to disease to heat stress, all gone
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Well u def got some nice lollipopping going on for lower airflow!
Here’s my greenhouse explosions this year, veggies were all started middle of Jan, autos on the top end of Jan/beginning of Feb and the 3 white rhinos in the back corner are the seed run I did for the community started begin of Dec
Since I got a greenhouse with a swamp cooler on it I can grow year round as long as I don’t mind battling the heat, prob gonna put a 2nd swamper unit on it this year too to handle it
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BT or Mosquito dunks work well too…
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I’ve always had trouble finding a source of Mn and Greensand has came the closest to it. Then, I got my JADAM solution tested and it was showing 3x too high in Mn which was a nice surprise.
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