Afraid to buy soil - What kind should I get?

Last time I bought soil, not sure what kind but I usually get miracle grow, but may have gotten something else... anyway, last time i potted plants, threw the bag away, and in about a month i had a fungus gnat infestation... i'm afraid they came ffrom the soil. now i need to do some serious repotting of healthy plants, and am afraid to buy soil.

what kind should i get? thanks for your help. stephanie

You might want to read through this thread that Al (Tapla) began regarding soils: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/796311/
He offered some really good information. I use Miracle Grow soil but I add orchid bark mix and perlite to it for better aeration and a fast draining soil. My plants dry out quickly but that's okay. I would rather have to water a bit more often than have plants with soggy roots. I think fungus and the gnats come from soil staying too wet.

I would recommend keeping things a little drier--it doesn't really matter too much what sort of soil you start with, if you keep it too wet you can end up with the gnats. If your only problem is the fungus gnats, you don't necessarily need to repot all your plants--I'd cut back on the watering a bit, and do a search around here, there've been several threads about controlling fungus gnats. But you should definitely be able to get rid of them without repotting. However, plantladylin had a very good suggestion about checking out tapla's threads, if you're OK with putting a little more effort into getting the soil right your plants will be healthier in the long run.

Go get a package of "Mosquito dunks" at the garden center. Put 1/4 of one in your watering can. It'll kill gnat larvae in the soil. Harmless to human and pets, it contains BT. Works. Usually used to stop mosquito larvae, works great.

I don't have the gnats anymore, i used the hydrogen peroxide/water mixture and it worked well. i was afraid the gnats were in the bagged soil i bought, and brought them into my home....

so i was looking for a trustworthy soil.

I think it has more to do with how wet the soil was kept vs what came in with it. None of the potting mixes that you can typically buy are sterilized, but I've never had problems with the gnats unless there's too much moisture around. I usually use Miracle Gro mixes, but I've tried others too and the common denominator when I get the gnats has always been too much moisture. Al's recipes drain much better than commercial potting mixes, so if you want something that's a bit more foolproof I'd try some of his suggestions on how to make your own potting mix.

thanks. i'll give it a try

Fungus Gnats can definitely come from bags of potting mix. We have a local brand here in VT that is so bad I won't use it any more. I had literally thousands of Gnats when I used this soil at the place where I worked, and believe me it came from this bagged soil. I tried every solution under the sun including dunks, and peroxide methods, and the only thing that really worked for me was a product called Gnatrol. It is fairly expensive, but worth every penny. It has a much stronger BT than the one used in the dunks, and within a few weeks of using it, I was Gnat free.

Doug

Walmart has a brand that I just swear by. It's called perfect gardeners soil. I use it both indoors and outdoors.

If the soil is infested, are there little pale yellow spheres in it? I've got some in a bag of Scott's potting soil. If you squeeze them they pop and there's a little fluid inside. Only gnats I have, if that's what they are, were in a little terrarium I made for a small fern. But I drowned it and took the top off so it would dry and now it seems ok.

What is the hydrogen peroxide/water mix. I just found a group of them in a small banana plant that I have. TinaA