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Fungus Gnats and African Violets?

MrPNW

MrPNW

New member
Just curious if anyone else notice if fungus gnats are attracted to certain types of plants more than others?

During my first grow which started in October I had 4 cannabis, one basil and one African Violet. All are planted with the same soil. A few weeks ago I noticed fungus gnats on top the AV’s soil. I immediately ordered and applied neem oil and the yellow fly sticky traps. Wow those sticky traps are great!
Many more gnats have been sticking on the AV trap when they were all together.

Last weekend when I moved the mother (1 of the 4), basil and AV into a Propagator tent I replaced all stickies. This weekend the stickies on the 3 in the main tent are practically clear. The AV in with the mother and basil in the small tent has many, MANY more gnats, the others just a few. There aren’t many left now and I think I will do another neem treatment next weekend.

So are AV a fungus gnat favorite or just a starting point for the gnats and I stopped them from getting to the others? You can clone AV and I thought I might start my second grow with one in the big tent again just to experiment.

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Why those little $!&%, I was wondering where they came from. Every other insect is dead outside and inside now.

From Wikipedia;

Hardiness
Some fungus gnats are exceptionally hardy, being able to tolerate cold conditions through their possession of antifreeze proteins. Typically, overwintering organisms can either avoid freezing or tolerate freezing, but Excechia nugatoria can do both. For E. nugatoria, the production of noncolligative antifreeze proteins (NAPs) protects the head and thorax from freezing, but they do not protect the abdomen. Freezing of the head and thorax in other insects tends to have adverse effects on neural tissue, so it is not surprising that these protective mechanisms have been observed in certain species, but E. nugatoria is the only insect known to semi-freeze through the winter. By allowing the abdomen to freeze, evaporative water loss is reduced over the course of the winter.
 
I do notice that I'll have one or two plants that will have the majority of the little bastards almost to infestation and just a few in the others, all mj. I think once they find a place they just all get together for a cookout I guess.

I think I've found an answer for the bastards though. It's been two weeks and my yellow cards have gone from hundreds to under twenty on each, I've actually lowered the number of cards in my tent and only see a couple here and there.

Mosquito bits but don't put them in or pots, soak them in water for an hour or so and water your plants. Probably not necessary but I strain the bits out of the water, just using the water. I have the shaker that the bits come in and I use one capful of bits per gallon of water. I know what you're thinking "what's the difference in putting them in or soaking them" I can't give you the answer but I though the same thing but figured why not I've tried everything else. Two weeks and it's working I don't know about next week
 
My wife has two massive African violets plus several starts off of them and I’ve never seen any fungus gnats on them. I do have a few in my tent but they leave her stuff alone....she only uses AV soil too that may make a difference. IDK?
 
I saw on the Pro-Mix and Black Gold sites the African Violet soils. After what you’ve said maybe the soil does have something they don’t like. I’ll check out the ingredients.
Do you know the brand she uses?
 
Xena Tell your wife thanks. I looked up the Shultz AF page and it was bare on information.

I use Black Gold Organic Potting Soil with Nature’s Living Soil. I get it at ACE Hardware. They carry most of Sun Gro products and their site is full of information. There soils are top of the line.
Please let your wife know they have an AV soil. http://www.sungro.com/retail-product/black-gold-african-violet-potting-mix-0-1-0-0-0-0/

They even have a Hemp/Canna mix. I might look into this on a future grow.
http://www.sungro.com/professional-products/hemp-mixes/
 
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Thanks for the link I've looked into different beneficial critters without really knowing what I needed and found some but they were a couple hundred bucks so I stopped looking until I could learn more about what I actually need.
And those sticky guys are big and should catch alot of the little bastards 😤 I like to include the other ones that stand in your pots at soil level they seem to catch more than the ones that hang. Of course the old lady ordered the little pineapples 🍍 lol
 
I ordered some of the metal sticky card holders with the top ring you hang them from. These sheets have a non-sticky edge strip. I’m going to cut them in half, hole punch it and hang on the holder. I’ve been using the little flower/butterfly shaped ones which are a pain to pull off the paper. All the angled cuts in them cause the paper to rip, they even state this in the instruction. Manufacturer malfunction just to make it cutesy. LOL
 
I have actually tried putting them in my grow room, if you have seen my tent now with the yellow cards my old lady did the same thing but with bounce sheets. The bounce smell overtook the weeds smell. The woman gets obsessed with pests we have a pocket gopher in our backyard right now, it looks like she's doing Chinese symbols in my lawn with a damn shovel. Tractor Supply knows her by name I guarantee she'll spend $500 or more every summer on insect control and I only have an acre. I don't even want to guess on how much she spends on cleaning supplies, I think she bathes in bleach since this virus showed up
 
Update;
Since moving the AV, basil and mother to the small tent I have basically empty sticky traps in the big tent (3 flowering clones). When I made the move I placed all new traps in each pot. The traps in the small tent continue to fill with gnats. I noticed the AV the most, basil 2nd and mother 3rd. I don’t see a single gnat walking on the mother soil like I do on the AV. I looked up what is in my NLS and it has Neem Meal! I’m pretty sure it’s doing it job fully.
i think the gnats were from the root ball of the AV even though it’s was surround by the same NLS mix when I repotted it. I’m wondering if it could handle a new repot, removing all soil and use fresh NLS mix.

Nature’s Living Soil Blend
The base ingredients for our living soils are;
Organic Earthworm Castings
High Quality Bat Guano
Blood Meal
Bone Meal
Fish Bone Meal
Neem Meal
Humic Acid
Rock Phosphate
Dolomite Lime
Azomite
Alfalfa Meal
Kelp Meal
Coco Coir
Crushed Oyster Shell
Humic Acid
Epsom Salt
Coconut Water Powder
Aloe Vera

In addition to the microorganisms that are found naturally in our guano, earthworm castings and compost we introduce the following bacteria and fungi;
Glomus Aggregatum, Glomus Etunicatum, Glomus Intraradices,Glomus Mosseae, Pisolithus Tinctorius, Scleroderma Cepa, Scleroderma Citrinum,Trichoderma Harzianum, Trichoderma Koningii, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae,Azotobacter Chroococcum, Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus Azotoformans,Bacillus Coagulans, Bacillus Licheniformis, Bacillus Megaterium, Bacillus Pumilus, Bacillus Subtilis, Bacillus Thuringiensis, Paenibacillus Durum,Paenibacillus Polymyxa, Pseudomonas Aureofaciens, Pseudomonas Fluorescens.
 
My gnat planet killing Death Star has arrived!

Wow, that was fast! I ordered on the 4th, it said it would arrive Saturday, Amazon now shows it arriving tomorrow the 7th, yet it was on my porch by 5pm today, the 6th. Two days from order.

Will apply it tomorrow. I wasn’t expecting a globe.

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It looks and feels like a bag of cooked tapioca.

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Sounds simple enough, put bag on soil, keep moist.

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The Devil in the Dark
Some of you might remember that the crew was scared of the Horta, but once all her spheres hatched they were most delighted. Me too!

I sprinkled them on today. I read online in reviews that many people cut open the packets and sprinkle them, so I followed suit. You just need to moisten them daily. I’ll just use the squirt bottle for that.

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Keep us updated I put some on my Amazon wish list. But I'm still amazed by how well the soaked mosquito bits are working. I saw a few Monday when I was top dressing so I added some juice to today's water but didn't see a single gnat today 🤞
 
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