fungus gnats

Not fungus gnats. There are many kinds of gnats.

i did not they bite too.dam it

Last year we had the endangered California Gnatcatcher bird visiting near our main greenhouse. The bird was pretty small. seems like he could be pretty large around here during Gnat season..but maybe just can't eat fast enough..

I'd sure hate to live on Gnats, they seem pretty slow compared to how fast the little bird could move.... I guess the Gnatcatcher is pretty important. They stopped building a freeway near here for 10 years because of the little bird and a tiny hopping reptile..

Unemployment is apparently more important than Gnat catching...since construction unemployment is so rampant..the powers that be finally started up the freeway project last Fall. This Winter we haven't seen our little Gnatcather friend. Sad really. Wonder if he moved to another location..must not be many bird homes like the San Luis Rey River valley for Gnatcathers to hang out and have babies.

I expect next year to be a huge gnat season. (no gnat catchers) I think we will stock up on yellow sticky mosquito dunks and gnat larvae eating nematodes.

Bayer systemic works for keeping gnats off succulents..but it takes a day or so for the systemic to affect new growth.

So for the day or so during the interim between treatment and effectivity we have been using Dr. Earth organic. It is very odiferous..Pleasantly..A great greenhouse deodorant...he he he!!

Bob
Thistlesifter

I realize this is an old thread, but I just wanted to add that Gnatrol IS still being made--just in another form (water soluble granules) which is supposed to have a longer shelf life anyway.

Description and explanation:

http://www.valent.com/professional/products/gnatrol/index.cfm

To buy:

http://www.google.com/products?rlz=1T4GWYE_enUS316US316&q=Gnatrol&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=hMzES5brHIW8NqCNjJ0O&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQrQQwAA

I purchased these Gnatrol granules and they are pricey but worked very well. As for the mosquito dunks (which, as stated above, contains the correct strain of Bt), I read on another forum that someone put the doughnut dunk in a baggie, took it out in the driveway and pounded it to little pieces with the side of a hammer. The idea seemed to be that the closer he could get it to granular form, the more Bt would dissolve into the water.

I also read on another forum that someone made homemade sticky traps by rubbing Vaseline onto yellow cardboard.



This message was edited Apr 13, 2010 4:10 PM

$29.00 with shipping!

OUCH! Go with the mosquito dunks! They have instuuctions on the package for how much to use. I don't think the bran, or whatever medium that is, ever breaks down completely, but you can crumble them up before adding them to water, and those little grains wouldn't be noticable in your pots. I use them outside in my waterlily tub, rain barrels, a humidity tray, and my Earthboxs. They work

For potted plants, after you crumble up a mosquito dunk,do you mix the granules with water or just put them on top of the surface of the soil?

I would let them disolve, as best they can, in water for a day or two, then water the plant with that.

I got an interesting suggestion from my favorite orchid grower this morning...mix a few carnivorous plants among your plants. Seem like that ought to work. LOL

After I do my taxes tonight, I am going over to Lowe's and get some of that Mosquito Dunk. I watered my plants yesterday so it will be a while before they need more.

I had someone come in my apartment a few days ago. A gnat flew up to his face and he had to swat it away. How embarrassing!!!

its being hit be gnat.HELP

I tried that mosquito dunk back then. Didn't work. However, once I took all those tropicals outside -- NO GNATS!!!

So my advise for gnats in the house is -- get rid of the plants!

i have to much money into all my christmas cactus .at just trash them

I didn't mean to trash your plants. Just put them outside!!!!

I did put my Christmas cactus outside with the rest of the tropicals. Here are just some of them. I still have some house plants inside like ivy, types of philodendrons, and MIL tongues, but no gnats!

they are all outdoor and still have them.

Ahhh! So sorry! They only thing I hate more that those gnats are the Japanese beetles. I don't have any flowers that are fragrant that they like the most. So I haven't see any except for my neighbor. I picked half a dozen out of her roses.

Before I thought the gnats were breeding in the drains because I saw them in the bathroom. Also, I had some flowers stems in water that I was starting. I am sure they liked being there also.

I don't know what to tell you that might help. I tried everything to get rid of them. I did hang up one of those long sticky strips that come in a container about the size of a film canister. I put tiny pieces of sweet red grapes on it with tweezers. It is so sticky that it is hard to get off anything it touches. But that got rid of over 12 of them. And I did swat them when I saw them. Those are quick little things!

All I can say is good luck!

i have the fly paper.but there in the root of my plant to.

The Gnatrol really did work. Maybe it would be an idea for a co-op to save money. Or maybe there is a generic substitute.

I have what I think are gnats on my outdoor in-ground plants (when I water they swarm), so I'm not sure putting them outside would help get rid of them. It would certainly get them out of the house, though.

I was growing beets in a pot outside. They weren't growing well so I pulled them up. But I found a ZILLION of these very tiny things crawling all over in and on the soil and round the edge of the pot. Very, very gross! I think they were gnat larvae!!!!! I am sorry if you have an adversion to Raid. But this pot really needed it! Then it went in the trash.

imidacloprid will get them (Bayer Fruit and Vegetable chemical). though there are many things not on the list...that have not been tested as required by FDA, this is reportedly one of the safest and most effective for nearly all pests except thrips and mite. It has cured our fungus gnat problems..Even though we've had a damp spring and early summer, the gnats are absent...along with just about every other pest that has plagued us inside and outside our cactus and succulent green houses.

Thank your Bayer!!

bob

Bob, I have used the Bayer Rose and Flower Insect Killer. I put the name of the Bayer product you use in my flower folder. I might have used the Raid for the Garden and most likely not as environmental friendly as that Bayer product.

The reason why I had Raid in the first place was because sometimes we have the large black spiders inside. They scare me, make my skin crawl, and I can't help but scream when I see one. They are so hardy and it takes a lot to kill them. I don't want to get close enough to squash them. And I definitely am not going to catch them and put them outside. I know some people who do that.

I only have small strips of garden around my patio. I have been very lucky this year. No Japanese beatles and not any of that white stuff. But I do have tiny ants. No Raid on those either?

I can't praise Bayer enough for Imidacloprid.

We use it in many forms. A Phd biochemist (semi-retired) acquaintance who is a grower/succulent seller, answered this way whenever I ask him if about the safety in using Imidacloprid. (DW, Carol, was drinking a Coke Zero -- Caffeine Mucho). Friend scientist, looked at Carol and smiled.. Quietly stated, It is safer than caffeine. Then he added it is the same chemical that is the effective ingredient in the high priced flea treatment we use on our dogs every month. I then asked if I could spray it (Imidacloprid) on my dogs safely, he indicated it was safe (assuming it is used at the same application rate as the flea treatment). So we have been using it on our two dogs..instead of the $45/month treatment. The dogs are happy, they show no indication of flea or tick issues.

Back to the gnat or gnat lookalikes. Imidacloprid is effective against these bugs (may be black aphids) that like the Echeveria and Aloe flowers that we spend 2 hours a day pollinating this time of year late summer thru early Fall. Before we started using Imidacloprid, these tiny black creatures could infest a table of flowering succulents in two days if we failed to see them start. The systemic Imidacloprid has stopped that cold and we don't have to do anything but treat the nursery stock once in early Spring and again in Early Fall. Treatment for 4000 square feet of potted plants is less than $100 per year.. We keep a couple of bottles of the Imidacloprid Bayer spray for the rare occasion infection on a pot we somehow missed last spring.

Go Bayer... uh...hummingbirds...no issues.. they are happy happy and we have more this year than ever, because the plants are healthier!

Cheers!

Bob Weeks
thistlesifter