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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Advanced Mycology
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gnats!!
    #773453 -

What do they live off of.Is is just the mushroom or do they eat mycelium too?
How do you get rid of them???

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Re: gnats!! [Re: XOCHI]
    #773518 -

I think? They go after moist dung, compost & decayed type material to procreate in. Like lay eggs, that hatch into tiny larva (maggots). The larva eat the compost or whatever. To each his own. These little bastards can smell hot dung from 50 miles away. Keep a tight lid on things, they can get through holes so tiny you can't even see them. Not long ago the Raccoon pasturized some dung / straw combo & left it to cool in a big tub w/plastic bag over the tub & a rubber band holding it closed over night. Fecal matter happened & the Coon had to delay using it for a day. Opened the bag, out flew a swarm of gnats.

Repasturized and used. But, doing things twice is a PITA.
SixTango


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~whiskey river rafting, hot tubbing, dirty dancing & spending money on - wild women - having fun & just gonna waste the rest~

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Re: gnats!! [Re: XOCHI]
    #773603 -

I too have had an encounter with flies, for me when I was growing some Agaricus Blazeii. They won the battle, although I did and will not use chemical agents against them.
I admit the fault is entirely my own, mostly due to extreme negligence and laziness.
According to TMC they eat the compost, dung, some other substrates, mycelium, and carphaphores.
Little bastards
You get rid of them by not getting them in the first place
jk.
Take a vacuum to them, that has worked for me - IF you catch it early enough.
If it is past that point, safely discard the infected casings or, if uncolonized, repasteurize/sterilize.

good luck.


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If I made affront, I apologize.
If I made affirmation, I apologize.
I merely came to listen, came to say.

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Re: gnats!! [Re: XOCHI]
    #773969 -

Buy a few venus flytraps. They will love the gnats and the humidity.


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"I tried to put it all behind me, but my redneck past is nipping at my heels.." -- Ben Folds Five

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Re: gnats!! [Re: XOCHI]
    #774699 -

Heard you can use a tobacco water and spray that a little in the container. Had this problem however it didnt effect the flushes at all...

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Re: gnats!! [Re: mickey_rourke]
    #774710 -

In reply to:
Buy a few venus flytraps. They will love the gnats and the humidity.

Yes, they make a terarrium look pretty also. Yet they are unsufficient in eliminating the flies. Its the larva that do the damage. Once you have the flies you are already fucked. The larva have been in your substrate for some time before you notice any flies. The larva will accually tunnel through the fruit. TMC cover this too. There are a few different species of mushroom gnats(sp?). That is battle that cant be won once it has started.

I had probs with flies too. The best thing I can think of the avoid any pests is a more sufficient pasturization time and keeping flies out of your house. They can just as easily enter a casing as already be in the dung at collecting. A casing is a perfect breeding enviornment for flies/gnats. Ideal conditions. All in all it is a rare occurance.

So when your infested...give up hope for that casing


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pleezr

"Tell me about the fucking golf shoes!!"

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Re: gnats!! [Re: XOCHI]
    #778582 -

In orchid growing we use the coir and it is a common occurance to get fungus gnats from the coir. They look for a moist environment to lay their eggs as the larvae eat fungus. The problem is that the flies also spred fungus and contaminations into the mushrooms. I feel like the eggs are in the coir when you buy it so I have made up my mind to sterilize it from now on. Every time I soak a batch of coir I get flies. I cased some PR on grain in coir and I could see the larvae through the Glad containers. It seemed like they were eating the mycellium. Garden centres have little yellow sticky-strips that attract the flies and trap them. I put a yellow margerine container with water in it and they seem to drown in it. The best traps are sundews. The US Dept of Agriculture last week recommended an organic pesticide and herbicide. Vinegar. I haven't tried it yet but you could sterilize your room while you sprayed the gnats. Just don't get it on your mushrooms or on any plants or fish. They claimed it would kill the most stubborn weeds even those resistant to normal herbicides. I don't know how it will do against the gnats but at least you won't be poisoning yourself with it.


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I've been having psilly dreams lately

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Re: gnats!! [Re: Orchidman]
    #778594 -

I don't think flies can survive the long times that coir is dry/packaged. Have you tried placeing fresh coir in a sealed container and monitoring it?


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If I made affront, I apologize.
If I made affirmation, I apologize.
I merely came to listen, came to say.

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Re: gnats!! [Re: DinoMyc]
    #811250 -

I rehydrated a brick of coir, sterilized some in the pc and had some left over unsterilized in a container. I forgot about it and went back to it today to pc the rest and store it;I opened the lid to the container and flies flew out.Now i can't say for sure that they didn't get in after i opened the brick...But i think it's better to assume they can survive the dry and vacuum sealed conditions.

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Re: gnats!! [Re: staindblue]
    #811899 -

I always wash my coir 3 times to get rid of the salts. I use steaming hot water from the tap and the whole pail is steaming. The eggs still survive. My friend Anita got some other nasty little insect from her coir. It's a kind of a little flea thing that jumps. She just can't get rid of it even with chemicals. It's destroying many of her orchids. I've made up my mind to go after the flies with a vengence. If you kill all the flying ones eventually they will die out. They have a very quick life cycle so kill every fly for a couple of weeks and you will be rid of them. I'm also going to boil the coir as I am washing it. Right now I'm suffering another outbreak.


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I've been having psilly dreams lately

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Re: gnats!! [Re: Orchidman]
    #811911 -

Anita's suggestion was to put all your unused coir outside in the winter as these are tropical insects they would not be able to survive the winter. So I thought why not just put small batches in the freezer. Perhaps freeze dried maggots would be very nutritious for mushrooms. I'm going to try it as I just soaked a new batch of coir. I will put some coir in a see through container and watch for the maggots then freeze them. If it works it is a simple way to avoid problems.


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I've been having psilly dreams lately

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Re: gnats!! *DELETED* [Re: XOCHI]
    #812025 -

Post deleted by nonsence

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Re: gnats!! [Re: Orchidman]
    #812906 -

I'm glad you mentioned this. I just used an insceticide on some of my casings called "Hot Shot Kitchen Bug Killer" --it's less than $3 a can at walmart. It's a little weaker than the concentration you showed and I figured hey, if it's safe for food prep areas--why not? It looks like it was effective, and my casing still looks healthy...


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*******

Psychics will lead dogs to your body.

-Alleged fortune cookie message

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Re: gnats!! *DELETED* [Re: nonsence]
    #814509 -

Post deleted by nonsence

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Re: gnats!! [Re: nonsence]
    #814959 -

Me too, me too.



This stuff is really great; Nothing works perfectly against gnats and other crawlers, because they can just intrench themselves deeper in the casing or substrate. The active component is limonene, whatever the hell that is Smells very nice and is a little better for indoor work, IMO.

What about THIS for gnat control. . .take some ?advantage? or other pet flea control product [the stuff that you just dab a spot on the back of the neck]. That stuff is extremely insect-specific, and could most likely be diluted into an effective spray. It spreads over the cat/dog body through the fatty parts of the dermis [very effectively], so it?s questionable whether it would spread as well in a casing. The mechanism involves neurochemical-blocking that only insects [?arthropods?] are vulnerable to.

All that crap aside, the best gnat control is to dump everything, bleach, bomb, swear and cuss. . .then start over.

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