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RapperD
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Fruit Flies! Yikes?! 1
#26657312 - 05/08/20 12:14 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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So, I went in to mist this morning and noticed about 20 fruit flies in the SGFC. Thankfully I have had one flush so far, but...
Is this bad? How bad?
Fruit flies are very common and frustrating where I live. I do a good job of keeping them out of my apartment but I cannot do much with the moisture in the SGFC.
Is there any treatment or additive that can help?
Does this same problem occur in monotubs? I am switching to that tek after this run is done.
Any people with similar experiences I would love to hear from. This is not ideal and like I said they are unavoidable in this area so they are a gardening battle year 'round.
When they I do occasionally notice them in the sink if I forget to dry it I use the cider vinegar/soap bowl tek to attract and kill. Can I put these same bowls in my chamber?
-------------------- Growing is for fun, everything else is the trip!
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alaskappalachian
Entitiologist


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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD] 1
#26657387 - 05/08/20 12:50 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Probably fungal gnats, but either way the traps are good (just not IN the chamber becasue you're actively drawing them in instead of getting them before they get in. Keep an eye on any infested sub. They arern't too hard to control becasue of the turnover time of mushroom grows. You can add a drop of peppermint oil (even that cheaper shit at Walmart by the care products/pharmacy) to your misting bottle as well and helps quite a bit. Some sticky tape/yellow sticky fly cards are cheap and work very well. Highly reccomend the oil for five bucks a bottle that'll last for a loooong time. Works with any flying buggery. Best of luck.
-------------------- "First we build the tools, then they build us." THE 49th MYCOJOURNAL: Exotics, Auroras, and Entities
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Roger Clemency
Smile


Registered: 03/23/20
Posts: 2,005
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Man I used to live in the country with farm land surrounding me. Whenever they grew watermelon I’d have 6 million fruit flies in my house every day. It didn’t matter if I didn’t have an ounce of food in the house they were just everywhere. All up in my tubs, in my eyes, nose, on the cabinets.
I tried traps and cups of vinegar and several times I spent 10 hours murdering them with a spray bottle and paper towels. Nothing stopped the swarm.
Every tub I grew during that time got to smelling sweet and funky and I harvested what I could from them but then I just took a break until they were gone. Hopefully your situation isn’t as dire.
I didn’t know about the peppermint oil but it sound hip
-------------------- Sour grapes, sweet revenge Heaven starts right where hell ends
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trip_hazard
Lost in thunk



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Sorry about your plight - I went through the same thing two years ago. +1 on the sticky traps and peppermint oil. Also might want to put ramekins of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap placed strategically around the room/house (makes it so they can't fly away). Good luck!
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RapperD
Time Traveler


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THANKS GUYS! I have to go to the store in a few so I will grab both. I thought about the strips but I always find them unsightly lol.
-------------------- Growing is for fun, everything else is the trip!
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FunnyFungiName
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD]
#26657631 - 05/08/20 02:42 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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alaskappalachian
Entitiologist


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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD]
#26657675 - 05/08/20 03:04 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
RapperD said: but I always find them unsightly lol.
Yeah... they're kind of fugly...
-------------------- "First we build the tools, then they build us." THE 49th MYCOJOURNAL: Exotics, Auroras, and Entities
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Crime Pills 4 Kids


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I managed to get rid of a fungus gnat infestation at my parents house with peppermint oil. They drown their plants and then their pots get moldy... Misting the surface of the planters every day for 5 days made them completely disappear.
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mushpunx
Fungus Punk



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Oh God fungus gnats. One gnat lays like 10,000 eggs in your substrate. I tried everything to get rid of these guys, the fly paper I would hang up turned black with them and it didn't make a dent ? I was literally using a vacuum hose to try to get all of them in my tubs that I could
They eat the sub and lay eggs and make them vulnerable to contams (and they eat pins and fruits).
The only way I got rid of them was after my first flush I dumped all my tubs. An entire room full of tubs.
Then I waited about 3 weeks before spawning anything new. That solved it.
--------------------
 Amateur Mycologists United AMU Q&A
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LogicaL Chaos
Ascension Energy & Alien UFOs




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Quote:
trip_hazard said: Sorry about your plight - I went through the same thing two years ago. +1 on the sticky traps and peppermint oil. Also might want to put ramekins of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap placed strategically around the room/house (makes it so they can't fly away). Good luck!
Great advice!
Ive had them before but didnt think about a fly trap.
Fungus gnats are weird. Do they come from inside the BRF like fruit flies and fruit?
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mushpunx
Fungus Punk



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I tried all sorts of fly traps but it did nothing to stem the tide
I think if he is just using BRF cakes in an SGFC once this grow is spent should just wait a couple weeks before fruiting anything else, maybe wash out the perlite with some hot water
They lay eggs in the substrate and feed on it
--------------------
 Amateur Mycologists United AMU Q&A
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LogicaL Chaos
Ascension Energy & Alien UFOs




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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: mushpunx]
#26658122 - 05/08/20 06:38 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Oh I see. Damn. Weird little creatures.
A vacuum cleaner would probably work well to at least get rid of the current ones.
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InfraredRick
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Jesus fuck. Flies and eggs? How filthy is your scene?
-------------------- Inspiration move me brightly.[gradient:#C7C7D4,#CFD4C7]y[/gradient]
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brikogen
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Pest control is easy. To capture and kill adult gnats you can use mechanical methods such as flytraps, to get rid of the eggs you can use Hypoaspis miles which are a natural predator and can be bought in most garden stores. It's really cool (and satisfying) to see a little army of insects search and destroy these buggers
Edited by brikogen (05/09/20 12:46 AM)
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MH5109
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--------------------
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mushpunx
Fungus Punk



Registered: 04/20/14
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Quote:
InfraredRick said: Jesus fuck. Flies and eggs? How filthy is your scene?
Fungus gnats dude, they look just like fruit flies, they're tiny. They come in on houseplants and stuff too, they eat the fungus in the soil
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 Amateur Mycologists United AMU Q&A
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RapperD
Time Traveler


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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: mushpunx]
#26660738 - 05/09/20 07:47 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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I dumped my tub, and dunked my cakes. Gonna get peppermint oil and traps tomorrow.
-------------------- Growing is for fun, everything else is the trip!
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Kizzle
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD]
#26660804 - 05/09/20 08:19 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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You might try moving your FC somewhere else. I like to have my substrates near a window for light but I've noticed there are a couple windows where they always seem to get attacked by gnats if I put them there.
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RapperD
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Kizzle]
#26661277 - 05/10/20 12:24 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Kizzle said: You might try moving your FC somewhere else.
Good call. I've been thinking of doing that since the outdoor Temps gave gone up. Relocating that is.
-------------------- Growing is for fun, everything else is the trip!
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mushpunx
Fungus Punk



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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD]
#26661294 - 05/10/20 12:30 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
RapperD said: I dumped my tub, and dunked my cakes. Gonna get peppermint oil and traps tomorrow.
If you don't have house plants and wait 2 weeks to 1 month before spawning anything new, they will go away. They have short lives.
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 Amateur Mycologists United AMU Q&A
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RapperD
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: mushpunx]
#26666273 - 05/12/20 10:54 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
mushpunx said:
Quote:
RapperD said: I dumped my tub, and dunked my cakes. Gonna get peppermint oil and traps tomorrow.
If you don't have house plants and wait 2 weeks to 1 month before spawning anything new, they will go away. They have short lives.
So far so good. I dumped the perlite, washed the tubs, re-dunked the cakes and started a new. I used the peppermint oil spray on the outside of the container as well as all indoor plant containers and the plats on the balcony. Put a trap next to the tub. Fingers crossed.
If this keeps up I might just get a green house tent thing
-------------------- Growing is for fun, everything else is the trip!
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Rapjack
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD] 1
#26666461 - 05/12/20 12:33 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Fungus gnats are the devil. Have watched many perfectly healthy tubs develop trich or bacterial infections because their dirty little feet. The best way I've found to manage the bastards is by killing off their larva using bacillus thuringeinsis israelensis (BTI) dunks. They're sold to put into ponds and such to kill off mosquito larvae but they also work for any kind of gnats and blackflies.
I put one dunk in 16 ounces of water and let it sit for 24 hours then strain it into a spray bottle and mist every single substrate in your room heavily with it, it should smell somewhat like pee. You don't need to soak it but try to cover the entire surface area in beads like regular misting, 16 ounces treats roughly 4-8 tubs. The fungus gnat larva eat the mycellium which is covered in BTI. It has a protein in it that basically ruptures their digestive system and they die a horrible death. Usually one treatment is enough to make them disappear, at least for a while.
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RapperD
Time Traveler


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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Rapjack] 1
#26672498 - 05/15/20 11:43 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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This won't harm the fruit or the cakes? I feel like dying insects is asking for contams too.
-------------------- Growing is for fun, everything else is the trip!
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PinkStormtrooper
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD]
#26672558 - 05/15/20 12:21 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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protip: if you see one fly fucking kill it with fire or else
once one is in the tub like the next morning when you open it 50 fly out its fucking silly.
very interesting post good stuff
from the H.D> Mosquito Dunks biological mosquito control contains Bti, a natural mosquito larvicide, which kills mosquito larvae, but is harmless to birds, fish, wildlife, and pets. Simply place a Dunk in any standing water to control mosquito larvae for up to 30 days. Each Dunk treats up to 100 square feet of surface water regardless of depth. Perfect for Koi Ponds, Hydroponic systems, animal watering troughs, rain barrels, birdbaths, stock tanks, planter saucers, or any other standing water.
-------------------- "say, you got a little astroglide on your moustache"
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Odo
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I'm glad I saw this post. I have some of the little buggers in my tub. I am going to take a break in growing after this tub for a while and hope they go away. I did notice some mean green on the sub this morning in two spots. I scooped some of the offending sub out and hit it with iso. The tub was started 3/21 so it is about spent anyway but has a dozen or so pins just starting sooooo, Will make an outside planter out of it in a few days.
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RapperD
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Rapjack]
#26705084 - 05/29/20 04:22 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Had to dump the tub. A week later they came back and then they just overwhelmed them. Tried all of the above. Nothing worked. It did make them reduce in numbers but eventually I just couldn't keep up.
Tried:
Peppermint Oil Traps, Made my one with cider vin. Bought some little apple looking things that were supposed to help. Dumped the perlite and redid that portion.
Did good for about a while but when the showed back up this time I just gave up and am moving on to monotek, hopefully the polyfil will keep them buggers out.
-------------------- Growing is for fun, everything else is the trip!
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FeedYourMind
indiGlo



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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: RapperD]
#26705096 - 05/29/20 04:27 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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When I had gnats, I tossed everything and restarted. The best thing I did was double up on my window screens and now not a damn thing gets in. Hell, I leave my tubs open and the suckers can't get in and I live by a bunch of water where they love to breed. Tossing and restarting was the best thing I did and everything bounced back like clockwork for me. Feels. Hope everything gets better!
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BmShroom
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Rapjack]
#26934623 - 09/14/20 07:13 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rapjack said: Fungus gnats are the devil. Have watched many perfectly healthy tubs develop trich or bacterial infections because their dirty little feet. The best way I've found to manage the bastards is by killing off their larva using bacillus thuringeinsis israelensis (BTI) dunks. They're sold to put into ponds and such to kill off mosquito larvae but they also work for any kind of gnats and blackflies.
I put one dunk in 16 ounces of water and let it sit for 24 hours then strain it into a spray bottle and mist every single substrate in your room heavily with it, it should smell somewhat like pee. You don't need to soak it but try to cover the entire surface area in beads like regular misting, 16 ounces treats roughly 4-8 tubs. The fungus gnat larva eat the mycellium which is covered in BTI. It has a protein in it that basically ruptures their digestive system and they die a horrible death. Usually one treatment is enough to make them disappear, at least for a while.
But it says on the packaging that BTI is essentially a poison. I don't see how I would be spraying that on the pins or even while it has just hyphal knots still... Any thoughts?
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Tweeq
Tweeq of Nature


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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: BmShroom]
#26935263 - 09/14/20 01:58 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Yes. Use a few drops of essential peppermint oil in your plant mister and the gnats are gone in a day or two. No need to chuck or anything
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BmShroom
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#26936176 - 09/14/20 11:40 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Tweeq said: Yes. Use a few drops of essential peppermint oil in your plant mister and the gnats are gone in a day or two. No need to chuck or anything
Yes peppermint oil is what I'm going to use. It may add some flavor to the tea later, who knows lol. But I was questioning the use of "bacillus thuringeinsis israelensis (BTI) dunks". And I don't mean dunking the sub into solution of that little tablet and water. "Dunk" is just the word company uses for their little tablets that you dunk into still water. Dude a few posts above me said he would spray the sub with solution of that BTI, which is what I thought was terrible for human consumption.
-edited in favor of properly conveying my thoughts-
Edited by BmShroom (09/15/20 12:49 AM)
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Tweeq
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: BmShroom]
#26936268 - 09/15/20 01:44 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Idk about BTI.. I would never use ANY chemicals at all..
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bodhisatta 
Smurf real estate agent


Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,889
Loc: Milky way
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#26936362 - 09/15/20 04:41 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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You could eat one of those dunk things no problem is my guess. I live a mile away from a huge lake. lake michigan. Never had fly problems. Keep your house clean.
On the other hand people think essential oils are safe and not chemicals for whatever reason. Maybe because they're all natural. Though they're far from natural made in labs, they're no different than any other chemicals we extract from plants. Like pyrethrins that come from flowers and are far less safe than the man made counterparts. Although flower derived pyrethrins can be considered organic though they pose a far bigger risk to humans and ecosystems. Essential oils are no different. Harsh chemicals made with no quality standards.
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BmShroom
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: bodhisatta]
#26936758 - 09/15/20 10:22 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
bodhisatta said: You could eat one of those dunk things no problem is my guess. I live a mile away from a huge lake. lake michigan. Never had fly problems. Keep your house clean.
On the other hand people think essential oils are safe and not chemicals for whatever reason. Maybe because they're all natural. Though they're far from natural made in labs, they're no different than any other chemicals we extract from plants. Like pyrethrins that come from flowers and are far less safe than the man made counterparts. Although flower derived pyrethrins can be considered organic though they pose a far bigger risk to humans and ecosystems. Essential oils are no different. Harsh chemicals made with no quality standards.
Bod, sorry I'm a noob, but your post seems to offer nothing but 'guesses'. For example - does peppermint oil pose any risk? Well I 'guess'. Does BTI dunk pose any risk? Well 'I guess not. I guess you could eat one'. You have a lot of knowledge, which should give people direction, my friend.
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bodhisatta 
Smurf real estate agent


Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,889
Loc: Milky way
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: BmShroom]
#26936762 - 09/15/20 10:25 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Tweeq said: Idk about BTI.. I would never use ANY chemicals at all..
Mint oil is a chemical BTI is a microorganism. Not a chemical
Quote:
BmShroom said:
Quote:
bodhisatta said: You could eat one of those dunk things no problem is my guess. I live a mile away from a huge lake. lake michigan. Never had fly problems. Keep your house clean.
On the other hand people think essential oils are safe and not chemicals for whatever reason. Maybe because they're all natural. Though they're far from natural made in labs, they're no different than any other chemicals we extract from plants. Like pyrethrins that come from flowers and are far less safe than the man made counterparts. Although flower derived pyrethrins can be considered organic though they pose a far bigger risk to humans and ecosystems. Essential oils are no different. Harsh chemicals made with no quality standards.
Bod, sorry I'm a noob, but your post seems to offer nothing but 'guesses'. For example - does peppermint oil pose any risk? Well I 'guess'. Does BTI dunk pose any risk? Well 'I guess not. I guess you could eat one'. You have a lot of knowledge, which should give people direction, my friend.
I would just clean my house. And use neither
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Tweeq
Tweeq of Nature


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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: bodhisatta]
#26938234 - 09/15/20 11:59 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for the info Bod. I for one had no idea these oils are not natural.
Our house is always clean af btw. We do have over 100 houseplants tho. With no countermeasures, we have gnats. We live in what used to be a swamp so..
Maybe you don't have flies/gnats where you are at but to state if there's gnats you need to clean more simply doesn't hold up for everyone, everywhere.
All I know is our gnat problems are over and all it took was a few drops of peppermint oil.
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BmShroom
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#26941604 - 09/18/20 01:03 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Tweeq said: Thanks for the info Bod. I for one had no idea these oils are not natural.
Our house is always clean af btw. We do have over 100 houseplants tho. With no countermeasures, we have gnats. We live in what used to be a swamp so..
Maybe you don't have flies/gnats where you are at but to state if there's gnats you need to clean more simply doesn't hold up for everyone, everywhere.
All I know is our gnat problems are over and all it took was a few drops of peppermint oil.
I used 6 drops of pure peppermint oil in a spray bottle. It smells like peppermint when I spray the sub - but gnats seem to only get briefly bothered by it. They're all still there. It's been like half a day since I first sprayed.
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lookintolearn
Stranger becoming Strangest



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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: BmShroom]
#26941611 - 09/18/20 01:21 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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I wouldn't particularly spray my sub directly with it, but, I bought some neem oil concentrate and mixed a few ml with water, lemon oil, and rosemary oil. I used that spray outside the grow room and it has been doing a good job at keeping flies/beetles/cockroaches/ect away if I spray like twice a month.
While the oils aren't natural for say they do have effectiveness for keeping them buggies away.
Like Bod said though, clean your house then take preventive measures but if they are already in the grow room there's not much you can do besides clean and try again. I wouldn't spray any chemicals inside the room much less directly on the sub.
-------------------- Don't be afraid of feeling the feelings Lookin to LAGM 2021    Looking to start growing? Read through Bod's Introduction to Everything Looking to start agar? Start with Alien's Holy Grail Looking to perfect your transfers? Start with D3monic's Perfect Transfers Looking for easiest prep to Coir ever? Eat's UNBUCKET Tek Looking to start LC? Try LI first! Munch's super easy Blenderless LI
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Tweeq
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: BmShroom]
#26941655 - 09/18/20 03:04 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
BmShroom said:
Quote:
Tweeq said: Thanks for the info Bod. I for one had no idea these oils are not natural.
Our house is always clean af btw. We do have over 100 houseplants tho. With no countermeasures, we have gnats. We live in what used to be a swamp so..
Maybe you don't have flies/gnats where you are at but to state if there's gnats you need to clean more simply doesn't hold up for everyone, everywhere.
All I know is our gnat problems are over and all it took was a few drops of peppermint oil.
I used 6 drops of pure peppermint oil in a spray bottle. It smells like peppermint when I spray the sub - but gnats seem to only get briefly bothered by it. They're all still there. It's been like half a day since I first sprayed.
Tomorrow most will be gone
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BmShroom
Stranger

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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#26942423 - 09/18/20 01:16 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Tweeq said:
Tomorrow most will be gone
Yea they seemed a bit more out of it today. I have to dunk this sub for the second flush though lol. Can't quite confirm effectiveness at this time. And that's something I noticed - not a lot of people report back in their threads if something helped or not. They just seem to forget there was ever a thread they started. I've been guilty of that too in the past.
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Tweeq
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: BmShroom]
#26942480 - 09/18/20 01:39 PM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
BmShroom said:
Quote:
Tweeq said:
Tomorrow most will be gone
Yea they seemed a bit more out of it today. I have to dunk this sub for the second flush though lol. Can't quite confirm effectiveness at this time. And that's something I noticed - not a lot of people report back in their threads if something helped or not. They just seem to forget there was ever a thread they started. I've been guilty of that too in the past.
I know this helps for sure. After dunk you need to respray of course bc most will be flushed out / disseminated (is this a word?) too much.
For real, in a few days most your gnats are gone if you maintain this.
I'm not bullshitting you. We had some really nasty gnat infestations and this was the solution.
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BmShroom
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#26948738 - 09/22/20 01:51 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Tweeq said:
I know this helps for sure. After dunk you need to respray of course bc most will be flushed out / disseminated (is this a word?) too much.
For real, in a few days most your gnats are gone if you maintain this.
I'm not bullshitting you. We had some really nasty gnat infestations and this was the solution.
Yep, they are almost all gone. Still there, but oil helped a whole lot.
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Tweeq
Tweeq of Nature


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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: BmShroom]
#26948911 - 09/22/20 07:57 AM (3 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
BmShroom said:
Quote:
Tweeq said:
I know this helps for sure. After dunk you need to respray of course bc most will be flushed out / disseminated (is this a word?) too much.
For real, in a few days most your gnats are gone if you maintain this.
I'm not bullshitting you. We had some really nasty gnat infestations and this was the solution.
Yep, they are almost all gone. Still there, but oil helped a whole lot.
Thanks for confirming!
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sacredgeomancer
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#27032214 - 11/10/20 07:45 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I must also confirm that peppermint oil works extremely well... I'm amazed.
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Tweeq
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sacredgeomancer
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#27059068 - 11/26/20 05:31 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Just an update to temper (my) excitement.. The peppermint oil worked well in mitigating the masses of gnats that were swarming the surface of the substrates. 6 drops in a 4oz spray bottle made them recede after 2 days.
But.. having multiple tubs going, even with the addition of peppermint oil in the substrate and casing, they're still present. They jump from tub to tub.
I bought a katchy as recommended by ShaperDreaming, but this only gets the loose adult gnats in the grow space. Starbones recommends a rigorous regimen of BTI and fogging (whole house), while Pastywhyte and some others recommend a 2 week grow hiatus. It saddens me to have to halt my process, but this looks like the route I have to take right now. I have houseplants too, so I'm praying this is not a perma-problem going forward.
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eLeSDenes
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I use to have those fuckers when I grew in SGFC. The problem is that they can hide in the substrate really well, so harvest everything and just clean your fruiting chamber. You have to do a hard reset cause they will come back. They also like rotten food and probably good idea to empty your bin more often  They won't do do much though, they can't really do any harm - just annoying
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sh4d0ws
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Even with a several month growing hiatus my gnats still came back.
They find their way into my house from outdoors, and then multiply from there. It isn't nearly as bad in the winter time, generally goes away a few months...but it always comes back. I gave up on doing any hiatuses from growing due to the gnats. It isn't worth it for me.
As eLeS said, they won't really do any harm they are just annoying.
I tried peppermint oil but had massive pseudomonas outbreaks afterwards - I can't be certain the peppermint oil was in anyway related to that but I've never had pseudomonas outbreaks prior, I think the oil/water mixture may have made it more difficult for water to evaporate from the caps and substrate surface. But it's completely possible there was bacteria in my peppermint oil extract in the first place...
Also possible it is completely unrelated but ever tub I treated with peppermint oil had pretty damn severe outbreak, and ones that weren't treated had none
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sacredgeomancer
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: sh4d0ws]
#27059245 - 11/26/20 08:18 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Thanks for the heads up on this... Do you hold out for multiple flushes with gnats? Seeing a whole swarm of them on the surface makes me uneasy to try to hold on to the sub any longer than 1 flush...
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sh4d0ws
LSx


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Depends on the variety. I have a TOC and RW culture that both put out decent second flushes so I usually keep them around. PE are done after 1 flush.
By the time an outbreak gets bad in a particular tub, it's usually not until 2nd flush for me (sometimes not even until well past a 2nd flush). And I dump all my tubs outdoors. So what effectively happens is the worst tubs get opened outside where the gnats get released. The outbreaks never get that bad with this method. Yeah they suck, it's a but unnerving to see gnats inside a tub...but I've never had it get to the point where I had to vacuum them up before like I've seen pasty and RR both suggest in the past.
I do use sticky traps. People seem to hate the idea I guess but they do work pretty effectively for the adults...especially the yellow tinted ones, the gnats love yellow surfaces. These helps reduce any of the ones that actually escape tubs.
One thing I will mention - I would be worried if I had a lot of house plants or an indoor marijuana grow...fungus gnats can really fuck up a plants root system, but the only thing I grow indoors is cacti and they haven't ever touched my cacti pots...probably because I let them dry out and don't water them that often. I started some weed plants indoors earlier in the year and the fungus gnats started to go after those...not a big deal cause they were moved outside when the weather warmed up but just something to keep in mind, if you have house plants that are important to you, maybe you need to take a gnat problem a little more seriously than I am suggesting. Maybe you will find they aren't attracted to your houseplants though. They are definitely attracted to the smell of mushrooms.
The worst gnat outbreaks I have ever had are from working 60+ hours a week and just not ditching tubs soon enough, so like...tubs that are on a 5th or 6th flush that should have been tossed....then you might see hundreds of adults in a single tub. But most of people can avoid that by being proactive and ditching tubs regularly.
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sacredgeomancer
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: sh4d0ws]
#27059305 - 11/26/20 09:11 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Just went around after reading your post checking the plants, giving them a peppermint oil spritz... The gnats don't seem to be going for them (*knock on wood*)
I feel like I'm in a middle-ground situation from the ones you've described. I'm having to ditch tubs after the first flush. It becomes prime time gnat turf around this point.
Considering putting a pair of pantyhose over any newly spawned tubs. I read that somewhere on here in passing... Figure it might be worth a shot.
The longer work at this hobby the more obstacles and learning experiences I'm faced with.. Grateful for all of it though.
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Tweeq
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Peppermint oil is certainly not 100pct effective against gnats but it sure helps a lot.
Have never had any outbreaks of anything as a result of using it but then I use store bought essential oil with absolutely no contams. We have over 100 houseplants in the same room with our tubs so a grow-hiatus is probably not going to help (and also, I don't want to).
There are always a few gnats present (at best) in the house. For me, having their numbers in check is enough as long as they don't affect my yield and/or cause contams.
If I ever experience a huge outbreak of gnats again I might resort to using BTI as a few members have reported having good results with it.
RW myc seems to be the greatest attractor of gnats. My other varieties usually have way less of them in and on the sub. Weird.
Let's keep sharing that info and we'll find a way to live with(out) them!
Cheers
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FeedYourMind
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Re: Fruit Flies! Yikes?! [Re: Tweeq]
#27060736 - 11/27/20 07:56 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Tweeq, what's BTI? Interested but I might try the oil with some water for a spritz and see how that does it. I swear they come from the jiffy mix I use.
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starbones
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It's Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis bacteria.
It kills two things. Gnat larvae. Mosquito larvae.
If things are minor, sticky traps and the occasional air burst of insecticide in the grow room will keep them in check.
If things get bad.. Abort their unborn children with BTI, get your cat and fish out of the house and fog shit down with a pyrethrin based insecticide like Raid Max Flying Insect to kill the living adults.
Enjoy the genocide while it lasts. They WILL be back someday. Treat any plant that comes in your home with BTI as a preventative. They'll come in from outdoors when the temperatures right for them to fly so use BTI granules in any areas of standing water outside, in areas with poor drainage and soil saturation, shady wet areas.
Or build the ultimate gnat trap.
I posted a study from Penn State the other day where they were using testing to see what scent pregnant females went apesehit for as their laying grounds. It's trich, trichofuckinderma drives the pregnant ones nuts and why not? Their babies hatch and eat it, thrive on it and when they're adults and emerge they drag trich with them spreading it. It's a good relationship. Take an old shitty trich'd out substrate you were tossing out anyway and toss it in a covered bin with holes poked in it. Pour a few inches of water in it with some BTI granules. Laugh at the pregnant ones flying to bring their eggs to your Rubbermaid Abortion Center.
Or just use sticky traps while there's only a few airborne, probably a better idea
-------------------- Listen, I'm steel fisted with the iron lung Heavy metal ballads out the guitar where lions run.
 
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