DOGGONE, PESKY, CREEP CRAWLY insects!!!!!

[215zealot]

Yea, we have been having pretty bad fungus knat problems in our hydro tray. They seem to spring up from the hydro clay and coco coir. Sticky traps were installed and there are literally about 60 dead knats stuck to them. Neem oil was also liberally sprayed all over the pots, hydroclay, and base of stems. Plants do not seem to be too affected right now and are flowering nice.


Also, yesterday we noticed some large tick looking insects crawling around the hydro tray (not on plants). They look like spider mites, except black and about 3x bigger? We also found where a small spider had set up shop and had captured about 6 fungus knats in her web. WHERE DO ALL THESE BUGGERS SHOW UP? First off, the entire room is layered with mylar, no shoes are allowed in grow room.


Anyways, plants were pulled out, tray was hit with Raid, washed off, hit again with bleach solution, washed off and dried. Raid was applied to the base of the pots (i hope to get tangle foot soon). All visible insects were eradicated.

Im sure theres a few more hiding in the hydroclay or somewhere, thats why i intend to perform another "sweep" again next week, maybe with some of your ideas? Is Raid bad to use around plants? I took care not to spray any foilage.

 

[ArtVandolay]

Yikes. I hope some people here a lot smarter than me tell you to be careful with that RAID stuff, but I grow in soil, not hydro.

Good luck to you, though! Sit tight, the brains of the forum will be here shortly

 

[JBonez]

def throw away the old hydroton, use a bleach and water solution on any and every solid non porous service in and around the grow room. any laundry should be washed on hot, and be careful when you go in the grow room, i have a set of "lab" clothes i wear just because of that. But gnats are going to be tricky in hydroton i suppose, what are your temps, and do you have a nice bit of air blowing on your plants?

 

[JBonez]

just seems that the gnats dont like lower temps is why i asked about your temps.

 

[ArtVandolay]

I told you some smart people would be here shortly

 

[215zealot]

My temps are around 60-70 lights off, a little higher with the lights on.


Im not too worried about things, I am hoping that continued Neem Oil dosings, along with tangle foot and occasional bleaching of the tray will work fine.

I dont know about washing all the hydroclay, because they are already holding established root systems and changing will cause severe shock.

 

[215zealot]

And yea we got alot of air circulation, got a oscilating pointed directly at them, along with a couple dehumidifiers and mini fans that also create airflow on the plants.

 

[whiterussian]

Yea, we have been having pretty bad fungus knat problems in our hydro tray. They seem to spring up from the hydro clay and coco coir. Sticky traps were installed and there are literally about 60 dead knats stuck to them. Neem oil was also liberally sprayed all over the pots, hydroclay, and base of stems. Plants do not seem to be too affected right now and are flowering nice.


Also, yesterday we noticed some large tick looking insects crawling around the hydro tray (not on plants). They look like spider mites, except black and about 3x bigger? We also found where a small spider had set up shop and had captured about 6 fungus knats in her web. WHERE DO ALL THESE BUGGERS SHOW UP? First off, the entire room is layered with mylar, no shoes are allowed in grow room.


Anyways, plants were pulled out, tray was hit with Raid, washed off, hit again with bleach solution, washed off and dried. Raid was applied to the base of the pots (i hope to get tangle foot soon). All visible insects were eradicated.

Im sure theres a few more hiding in the hydroclay or somewhere, thats why i intend to perform another "sweep" again next week, maybe with some of your ideas? Is Raid bad to use around plants? I took care not to spray any foilage.

Listen bro, no matter what ANYONE SAYS it doesnt matter, the best way to get rid of those gnats, is a ORGANIC FOGGER, there about 10 bucks at any hydro shop, it will kill every bug, and it doesnt harm the plants what so ever, set it off in your tent/grow area, and come back about 2 hours later and if you want wipe down the text/room, or just let it dry it doesnt hurt anything, and i know this works because i have like at least 40 fungas gnats crawl out of the soil every time i blow on it, and those sticky traps will not solve the problem because the larvae is still in the soil and will continue to produce more fungas gnats, but the fogger will take care of the problem, good luck man i hate those gnats too

 

[BUDISGUD]

geeez id cxxp myself if i saw that lot in a grow lol

 

[4u2sm0ke]

Not sure of the setup my friend but know that knats like moist area to bread..i grow in soil and also cocco coir..try adding an inch of perlite to top of container..this will keep them burgers from reaching the mosist stuff..hope this helps:bolt::bong:

 

[pimpdaddycoolz]

For one, NEVER USE RAID. Its toxic.

also, A bomb is fine, but you have to realize that there are eggs in your coco coir. You should come back two or 3 days later and fog em up again.

As far as the gnats go, Personally id use GNATROL or whatever its called. im actually having a similar issue right now. only im manually watering so i can let the medium dry out (which is your best line of defense). Its good to let your medium dry out if possible after every watering.

And its sounds that even though you take precautions to keep your room sanitary that there is another means for the bugs to enter the room.

Another good idea is adding about and inch of sand to the top of your medium.


Id say try letting it dry out first, put about an inch of sand on the top, DONT USE RAID, and use a fogger if the problem persist. thats my take.

 

[kalikisu]

Dang gnats! cant stand em. I got the same problem and grow in soil. I got the sticky tape stuff and some organic bug spray that takes care of spider mites it says and numerous other insects but not gnats. I thought since it would kill spider mites a gnat wouldnt be nothing...go figure. I dont even have spider mites.LOL how much damage can gnats do? since they eat fungus dont they help alittle?

 

[215zealot]

I am still trying to identify these little mite looking things that i find crawling around on the bottom of the tray. I dont think they are spider mites, i examined a dead one under microscope and it only has 6 legs. it is dark brown colored and about 2-3 times the size of spider mites. I have not found any on the plants, they seem to be falling out of the hydroclay through the bottom most of them dead already.

 

[kasgrow]

I use lady bugs to keep my garden clear of gnats, mites, white flies, and other plant munchers. They cleaned up my garden and keep it that way. My only unwanted insects now are ants, the lady bugs don't eat them. All the chemicals and stuff never worked this well for me.

 

[Motor City Madman]

gnats are very harmful to you plants they eat the roots

 

[kalikisu]

eh zealot if you ID the buggers please give us an update. I'm just curious as to what it can be. They sound freaky as edit

 

[215zealot]

Im interested in the organic fogger and maybe gnatrol. and yes i am worried that these little bastards are eating my roots.


I still have no idea what these little 6 leg mite looking things are. Are they predatory? I still have not even seen one on the plants, but i see a couple crawling on the hydrotray and they are usually dead already.

 

[newgreenthumb]

Once you see the gnats they at their harmless stage the problem is below at the roots. It was suggested to me by the owner of a hydroponics store that mosquito dunks work real well because the micro-organisms in the dunks will kill the larvae which are eating at the roots. Take a mosquito dunk and soak it in water until it dissolves and strain the water through cheesecloth and water the plants with it and repeat 7 days later. As for the mites you can try neem oil extract as stated earlier but again must be repeated after 7 days to help with re-infestation. Also any insecticide containing "pyrethrins" (extracted from chrysanthemums) will kill them also. What ever you do please avoid anything containing "piperonyl butoxide" as this chemical has been known to clog the stomata on the bottom of the leaves basically choking the plant itself. I hope this helps. :farm:

 

[noneedforalarm]

the sand thing posted earlier works wonders.i put some sterilized sand(i suggest buying play sand from home depot or such)from the beach on my plants and the very same afternoon no more gnats,and its been a few days or so since ive added the sand and nothing dares going into the sand and laying eggs with my ladies.completely destroyed they were.haha.also it saves from having to use pesticides n such eliminating the cause for concern about affecting you plants.the reason i advise against beach sand is its salinity.as i am not sure how much stands after watering/filtering and then baking at 400 degrees for 3 hours.

 

[215zealot]

Hmm, the sand idea sounds interesting.

Whats weird is that all these bugs are definatly living on the roots and below the coco coir. I have done extensive neem oil spraying on the hydroclay and bugs are dropping out dead by the dozen. These little mite looking bugs are not on the plant itself, but seem to crawl up from the roots. When you pop them open, they are reddish-purple just like the color of my nute solution. I am starting to think they are aphids of some kind, because they have six legs. I examined under microscope and they appear to not be spider mites.