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Babylon
Shaman


Registered: 05/15/11
Posts: 442
Last seen: 2 years, 9 months
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gnats
#26822191 - 07/14/20 12:07 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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So I've been growing for a few months now and I've been noticing more and more gnats in my tubs, and also my house. I'm growing in shoe boxes. I am wondering if other people have run into this issue and how you've dealt with it. I have tried burning a citronella candle, that cleared the gnats out while it was burning, but that's all. I am considering adding citronella oil to water and giving them a bath in it, as I fill the boxes with water and let them soak a bit when I harvest.
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mushpunx
Fungus Punk



Registered: 04/20/14
Posts: 13,394
Last seen: 10 days, 10 hours
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Do you have house plants? It's a common source, they lay eggs in the soil and eat the fungus. That's what they do in your substrate too, one gnat can lay 10,000 eggs I've heard. They can cause contamination in clean subs and eat holes in primordia and pins.
I've tried the red wine/red wine vinegar in bowls + plastic wrap method, didn't do a thing. I hung fly paper literally everywhere (even in tubs) and it would turn black with gnats but didn't make a dent in a bad infestation.
I've found, once you have an infestation the only solution, dump your subs after the first/second flush, + stop spawning new tubs for 2-3 weeks. Spawn is okay but I have found gnats can work their way thru polyfill if it's not tight enough.
If you don't have a huge infestation try fly paper first, but it has the potential to turn into a nightmare if not dealt with!
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livingmagic
るんるん



Registered: 12/03/13
Posts: 3,015
Loc: Big Green Amore
Last seen: 45 minutes, 43 seconds
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I've been wrapping my shoe boxes with some grade 90 cheesecloth as a preventative measure. One of these days, I'm gonna get a roll of some no-see-um netting to play around with. edit:heard bout dat queen sized panty hose 4x
For battle: Yellow sticky cards and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis
Edited by livingmagic (07/15/20 01:17 AM)
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ItsaMeShroomio
Shell Parkour Artist

Registered: 05/27/20
Posts: 69
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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Peppermint oil also helps repel them. You can put a drop in your misting water and/or soak some cotton balls in it and put them in a glass next to your shoeboxes.
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LadysKnight
Hello Ladies


Registered: 10/09/15
Posts: 1,755
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Quote:
ItsaMeShroomio said: Peppermint oil also helps repel them. You can put a drop in your misting water and/or soak some cotton balls in it and put them in a glass next to your shoeboxes.
How does everyone not know this yet?
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CrashTest
Stay Learning


Registered: 06/21/20
Posts: 623
Last seen: 7 months, 17 days
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My lady has house plants in another room and won’t give them up so we occasionally get a gnat in our bedroom where my closet/lab is. I have the apple cider vinegar traps in cups and also a very small essential oil diffuser with peppermint. Im only doing BRF cakes and haven’t tried fruiting anything yet but I’m hoping for the best.
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this account is automated, any posts related to activities or advice thereof are strictly opinions from numerous online sites and are for informational purposes only - CrashTest2020
Edited by CrashTest (07/14/20 08:39 AM)
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noodles-uk


Registered: 10/08/16
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Loc: Scotland
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Pastywhyte
Say hello to my little friend



Registered: 09/15/12
Posts: 37,810
Loc: Canada
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I agree with mushpunx, only way I could get rid of them for sure was to get all fruiting substrates outside. I remember harvesting 24 tubs that were immature on the first flush just to get them outside. It sucks but nothing else worked.
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Doyledozo
Humble student



Registered: 10/22/19
Posts: 156
Last seen: 8 months, 6 days
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Yup. I'm finally getting decent melmaks coming up and that's the tub the bugs chose. It's going outside. Luckily I chose to do my PEU is myco bags so those may be ok.
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Babylon
Shaman


Registered: 05/15/11
Posts: 442
Last seen: 2 years, 9 months
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I put some peppermint oil in my spray bottle and am refraining from starting any new jars for a little bit, until my tubs are done. I figure that gives me a chance to up my agar game.
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sacredgeomancer
Ehh?

Registered: 01/20/18
Posts: 52
Last seen: 1 day, 17 hours
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+1 to peppermint oil. This really helped for me. Had a bad problem with them, but adding some oil to the spray bottle did the trick within a few days.
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
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You can drown and kill the fungus gnat larvae and eggs in houseplants by soaking the plant's soil underwater for 24 hours.
The gnats are usually harmless in your mushroom boxes unless you have stale air and/or a too-wet substrate, which slows down colonization. Healthy mycelium will colonize a properly hydrated substrate faster than fungus gnats can cause any harm.
The gnats don't eat. They only lay eggs. As said, this shouldn't be a problem if your substrate is properly prepared. Git rid of them in your houseplants so you won't be bothered any more. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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sacredgeomancer
Ehh?

Registered: 01/20/18
Posts: 52
Last seen: 1 day, 17 hours
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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/mushpunx and some others recommend a 2 week grow hiatus (as mentioned in this thread). 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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Sleepingstar
Stranger
Registered: 10/20/20
Posts: 124
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Sand in the top of my houseplants worked to get rid of them.
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Thundershroom
Another Human


Registered: 09/26/18
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Long time follower RR, probably since 2010 ~ Glad to see you're still posting around 
When it comes to gnats, are you possibly saying that once a substrate is fully colonized that they should move on? Or is it moreso because of nearby plants?
It's funny you talk about household plants and Gnats. And here I thought my new trashcan with an actual sealing lid was doing quite the job; I happened to simultaneously remove 3-4 plants out of the kitchen because they weren't doing the best and noticed my pest problem went away almost immediately in the area.
Thanks again!
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Sleepingstar
Stranger
Registered: 10/20/20
Posts: 124
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My sister said she had a few different smelling candles burning and they liked to fly into her fruit scented one.
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jcm4620
Stranger


Registered: 05/26/19
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Last seen: 2 years, 2 days
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psilopsychin just jad results keepin gnats at bay usin pantyhose. maybe hel see this and chime in
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Sleepingstar
Stranger
Registered: 10/20/20
Posts: 124
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That’s a really good idea & I would like to hear more about the pantyhose. I never had a problem before until I bought new potting soil.
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ButtFace
Registered: 08/06/08
Posts: 1,552
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Post deleted by ButtFace
Reason for deletion:
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the_chosen_one
On the Darkslide


Registered: 09/11/06
Posts: 2,937
Loc: 1984
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Quote:
ButtFace said: The Katchy (https://www.amazon.com/Original-Indoor-Insect-Trap-KATCHY/dp/B07B6RZP4H) emits UV light. I like to take spore prints for future grows. Will the UV light screw up my genetics if I use it in the grow room?
It's likely. I would avoid UV.
Mosquito Dunks work great for plants. You can also lightly filter the treated water to get the particles out and use it in your misting bottle. The bacteria in the dunks is mycelium friendly so you can even dunk your sub in dunk solution but misting works fine.
-------------------- "Luck favors the observant." - Workman
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