Anyone use Hypoaspis miles for fungus gnats?

[Hackerman]

About a year ago, I got a bag of Happy Frog from a less than clean grow store (regular store was out) and it must have had fungus gnats in it because I suddenly was infested.

I tried a number of remedies like diatomaceous earth, mosquito bits, sticky cards and a couple other things. I got them well under control and from then on, would only see a few stuck to the sticky card.

Since I do a continuous grow cycle, I always have clones (which are usually in moist soil) and I water a lot since I use pretty small pots. Given the style of my grow, I seem to always be battling these darn fungus gnats.

Any kind of pesticide is pretty much my last choice. That doesn't leave a lot of choices.

I started looking at Hypoaspis miles as a predatory mite.

Maybe it's just me but the thought of introducing ANY kind of bug to my grow room, freaks me out. Especially a mite. If I let mites go in my grow room, I will feel them in my bed every night. I just know I'll itch non stop. LMAO

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with Hypoaspis miles.

Thanks

 

[Hackerman]

Just jotting down some notes.....

Killing the Adults
1 Fill about the bottom one-half of a deep bowl with apple cider vinegar. Adult gnats will be attracted to the apple cider vinegar's odor.
2 Add five drops of liquid dish soap to the apple cider vinegar. The soap breaks the surface tension of the vinegar and provides enough resistance so that gnats cannot escape the mixture.
3 Place the bowl near your houseplants. The fungus gnats will drown when they investigate the mixture. Empty the bowl and replenish it with a new batch of the mixture periodically.

Killing the Eggs
1 Remove all decaying plant material from the soil of your houseplants. You may need to remove some of the top layer of soil as well to get all of the decaying plant material.
2 Let the plants' soil dry to a depth of about 2 inches.
3 Mix 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap and 1 teaspoon of white vinegar with the water you will use to water your houseplants.
4 Give your plants' soil the water containing liquid dish soap and white vinegar every other time you water the plants. Let the soil dry to a depth of 2 inches before you water the soil again. Eventually, the mixture will kill fungus gnat eggs and larvae.

 

[Hackerman]

Is this crazy....... ?

Since the gnat's larvae live and breed in the first inch or two of the soil, I was thinking of placing 2 tubes, about 2" in diameter and half the depth of the pot (about 4" to 6") into each pot when I transplant.

When I water, I can just feed the water into the tubes and the plants will water from the center out instead of the top down.

This should keep the top inch or so of the soil dry almost all the time. Kind of like bottom watering only a little different approach.

This sounds logical but sometimes my logic is... well, not so logical. LOL