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rainbowgardener
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Re: HOW TO GET RID OF FUNGUS GNATS

Not at all meaning to beat up on you Malray. Just because I'm bored at work and looking back at old posts. Seeing this made me think. So for other people that may find this thread in the future.

Malray is right that if he (?) only uses the permethrin indoors, it can't directly harm bees and other beneficial insects. However, if people keep buying the stuff, companies will keep manufacturing it. In the manufacturing, bagging, shipping, etc processes, chemicals get released in to the environment. And other people may not be as careful with it. And then if you use it in indoor potted plants with saucers under them, what happens to the water in the saucers? Do you dump any down the drain? Then you are releasing permethrin in to the environment. What about the container the stuff came in? How do you dispose of that?

The earth is a closed system. There is no "away" or "out" to throw things (as in throwing it away, throwing it out). Everything we use, along with all of its packaging, comes from somewhere, goes through lots of places and processes and then goes SOMEwhere after we are done with it.

So those are some of the reasons I don't buy any of that kind of stuff.

Gwenivere
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:-() :-() :-() :-() :-() :-() I'm so excited about finding something that works to kill fungus gnats!!!
I have been searching for a few days and this is what I have found. Many people use sand to top their dirt and that seems to help but I don't want sandy plants. I read about hydrogen peroxide mixed with water so I experimented. I put 3 fungus gnat larvae in a glass and added the H2O2 mixed with water. They looked fine. :evil: Like they were swimming when I expected them to appear to be in great pain, wiggle and stuff.
So H2O2 is excellent for aerating the soil and I will do that every now and then but fungus gnat larvae were fine. (I watered all my plants with mix and checked them the next day and the larvae were fine :(.

Ok so I found the perfect solution!!! It's called Beneficial Nematodes!!!! They are tiny little microscopic worms that eat fungus gnat larvae as well as any other larvae for breakfast lunch and dinner!!!
They have a video on YouTube about use of the beneficial nematodes in greenhouses and it's all they use. They put it everywhere since it's safe for humans and animals. There is a short clip in two of the ones I watched where you can see a fungus gnat larvae being eaten alive by the BN!!! It looks awesome :) I looked online and you can order them from Home Depot for $13 with gives you two treatments. (You just mix the BN with water and water them once and then again 7-10 days later a second time). I suppose you would want to not water your plants for a few days prior to receiving the BN so the soil is ready for a good BN watering. I am super excited to get mine!!!
I would suggest maybe watching the YouTube vid of the greenhouse use because it really shows how to mix it up with the water carefully and store the BN in a colder temp because they are alive and if you kill them before you water your plants with them ... It won't work bec they are dead lol.
I have to say I jumped the gun last night before I found out about BN and I took away all my houseplants soil and put them all in water. I was just so fed up with the evil little things!!!
Since you have to mix up the BN with water I will just repot the plants and water with BN water. ((Also the H2O2 mixed with water (1 part H2O2 4 parts water I think) kills the ugly looking fungus that forms on tops of houseplant dirt. So that looks much better as well as killing a source of fungus gnat food. But you still need the Nematodes because the FG will just eat roots instead.)) I will let you know how it works!!! :D

Gwenivere
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Check out Beneficial Nematodes!!!! They eat Fungus Gnat Larvae!!!! And it's Eco friendly safe and cheap!!!

MI Gardner
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Location: Michigan Zone 5 (Mid-MIchigan)

I was plagued with these gnats. Here is what is working for me for the second year:

A biological solution

1. Bonide 803 Thuricide BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) Insect Killer - This thick liquid mixes with water to apply to plants. Within 72 hours the gnats are gone. Reapply in a cycle to prevent them coming back.


2. Bonide Mosquito Beater Water Soluble Pouches. If using a seed propagation system with expanding fiber disks and water in trays with a water conducting mat. Drop one of these granule packets (the packet will dissolve) into the water tray. I did not have any gnats this year.

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Countryladiesgardens
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We just put cinnamon on the tops of some of our vegetables, will let you all know how it goes in a few days! **Fingers crossed**

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Countryladiesgardens
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We tried the cinnamon fix and it didn't work. Any other natural methods? Thanks!

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rainbowgardener
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I'm not sure what you mean by putting cinnamon on "tops" of your vegetables. You mean on the leaves? That would not help anything. What you really care about are the larvae in the soil. For me it works very well to put cinnamon in the water I water with (and then water the soil, not the leaves). Alternatively you could fork a LITTLE bit into the soil and water it in.

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Countryladiesgardens
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By the tops I mean on top of the soil. Seems like they enjoy the cinnamon to be honest with you. On to the next remedy I guess! :)

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Countryladiesgardens
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Seems like the cinnamon method worked on our latest hot pepper seedlings! Excellent! :) :)

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grrlgeek
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I haven't tried cinnamon water yet, but a small contingent of these little guys have been controlling the fungus gnats remarkably well:
2014-05-08carnivore.jpg
2014-05-08carnivore.jpg (24.12 KiB) Viewed 2597 times

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Countryladiesgardens
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What little guys are you referring to grrlgeek? They look great! :) :)

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grrlgeek
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The ones in the picture are Octopus plants. https://carnivorousplants.wikia.com/wiki/Octupus_Plant. Specifically, Cape Sundew - Drosera capensis. Drosera is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundew .

They sell them at the bigbox home improvement stores as novelties, and that's originally why we bought one, until I noticed they were actually catching bugs! Now, every shelf in the light racks has one. Planted in peat and perlite, fed distilled water, they catch fungus gnats and then occasionally bloom like the two in the pic.

This one is a tropical, native to south Africa, but does great indoors for us. Amazon sells them too:

https://www.amazon.com/Cape-Sundew-Plant ... opus+plant

Cheers,



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