I grow in fabric pots and let the topsoil dry out, about a pinky deep and water from the bottom.
Yellow sticky traps and put mosquitto bits on the top of the pots so you can water in the BTI. Iāve started using wettable sulphur as an all purpose bug destroyer in veg.
Along with some of the other suggestions, nematodes are also an option.
So when water from the bottom that means you flood the table and drain when the pots are wet enough? Or filling the table with a certain amount of water they soak up?
I have the mosquito bits and maybe itās time to use them, but never used them with just nerves in the back of my mind like how would these not effect my plants or mess with ph over time lol never scared based on any actual knowledge
I wish I got those when I ordered some other bugs. I got assassin bugs and adult green lacewings from Arbico as a safety for what was in Late flower during these warmer times with more bugs around in general. I was nervous with the nematodes I believe it says mix in water and spray the eggs onto the soil, you donāt think any spray bottles would build up/prevent any of the eggs from coming out at the tip? Just wanted to make sure I did it right before I used those.
I sprinkle Aquabac (pellet version of mosquito dunk) on as a top dressing.
I went hardcore. In a bin, on a table out in the sun, wrapped in a black grill cover I had laying around. I should actually take a temp on it to see what it is getting up to in there. Iām assuming it killed all the microbes I had going in there too, but I can probably find some more
Iāve used mosquito bits and I think all I did was feed them. Yellow sticky traps work, but you will change them out quite often if the infestation is bad. What works for me is a layer of coco on top of the soil about an inch to two inches deep. They wonāt burrow down in an inert medium that far. The challenge is I top dress, so I have to take the layer of coco off the top when I amend the soil and replace it when Iām done. I usually only have to do this a couple of times for the run. I changed EWC brands and my gnat problem disappeared.
Mosquito bits did nada for me as well.
Same here, they were useless for me, the thing isā¦ you need to water it in, further creating optimal habitat for them: wet soil.
@Weedison I recommend using big saucers that are a bit wider than your pots, you fill them up and the soil absorbs the water through the fabric.
It helps prevent overwatering as well.
You can pre-prepare the soil and spread ground mustard seed on top and water it in. Youāll wipe out the majority of them and a few fungus gnats are no big deal most of the time.
Fungus gnats are my biggest pest. I have beneficial nematodes and rove beetles and they keep the population so low that I hardly ever see them.
I havenāt had an issue with moquito bits doin anything. They might get some mycelium from whatever decides to eat the grain bits or corn husk bits or whatever it is theyāre made of. Iāve put them on top as seedlings all the way through and half way through flower. I donāt even measure I just grab a handful and sprinkle it over a couple pots and the trays theyāre in. I put the dunks in the earthbox reservoir and my sump pump pits in the basement.
@Coda what brand did you have issues with?
Iād be concerned about iron toxicity with that method. Weed is really good at pulling metals out of soil and those Brillo pads rust fast.
I switched to straight peat/perlite with salts and stopped having them. Think they just kinda come with organics
yea this is one of many reasons i wont go back to organic indoors. coco or peat + perlite and salts only.
i suppose you could take a fine micron screen and cover the soil with it to trap the gnats in there and then spray them dead regularly, it would at least keep them out of the buds maybe.
Itās too bad. Theyāre concentrated and worked really well.
They really arenāt that hard to deal w in organics. Bottom watering alone can eradicate them. BTi works well, mosquito bits, etc, and then beneficials if you want to really go after them.
I tried bottom watering and could never get the water to wick to the top of the bag. In all fairness, I use the tall 10 gallon bags and top dress.