how to combat flies

[ross]

Hi i was wondering if anyone had a good way of combating those little fruit fly things that live in the soil besides the sticky pads? Is there a spray or something? Thanks!

 

[sawhse]

Hey Ross, I got some stuff called yardsafe, it is a granulated product made with cedar oil and it works pretty good. I got it at lowes hardware. Also I have read that letting the soil dry out good helps. More people will chime in fer sure.

 

[Hick]

an inch of 'clean' sand helps. Diatomaceous earth is excellent. not a pesticide or chemical. Totally organic

 

[Locked]

Yeah I wld try DE....works great and it's not a pesticide.

 

[7greeneyes]

simple sands always worked for me

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Not to ruffle any feathers (LOL--or to sound like Clinton), however, it somewhat depends on what your definition of a pesticide is. I'm not sure it is actually considered a pesticide, per se. If you consider anything that repels insects a pesticide, then it qualifies along with other things like soapy water and garlic spray.

It basically acts by drawing moisture from the insects body, causing dehydration. From Wiki:

Diatomite is used as an insecticide, due to its physico-sorptive properties.[8] The fine powder absorbs lipids from the waxy outer layer of insects' exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate

 

[BackWoodsDrifter]

Yup I use sterilized play sand on me soil makin fur a great berry er ifin yual gets me meanin.

Good luck yur trails walkin friend

BWD

 

[Hushpuppy]

I don't know for sure :confused2: but I would think that the "cide" part of the word means to kill something, and the DE kills the bugs that try to burrow into it so I would think it is better identified as an "insecticide" rather than a "pesticide" as "pest" infers more than insects.

 

[Hick]

DE in your pool filter is a pesticide..:confused2:.. DE is also taken internally. Must have worms???
It is used for things other than fleas, ticks, and fungus gnats.. but I SUPPOSE.. to save an argument over the "logistics", in this case, it would be used as an insecticide.,,but then, that would also make bwd's playground sand an insecticide woudn't it..

 

[BackWoodsDrifter]

Yup reckon hes right

BWD

 

[Time4Plan-B]

Its digested by the flies larvae as they eat whatever is in front of them thus it cuts their internals to ribbons thus works as an insecticide yet is a naturally occuring product nothing is placed into it by man nor beast.
T4

 

[ross]

i bought some tanlin today.

 

[Hick]

hXXp://lifehacker.com/5835163/kill-bugs-with-diatomaceous-earth

Kill Bugs With Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a substance made up of the fossilzed remains of plankton; it looks like an off-white talc powder. It can kill any bug with an exoskeleton easily, but is safe for any mammal to eat. It is a popular way to kill bugs without using insecticide.

Permaculture web site Rich Soil explains how DE works:

Diatomaceous Earth is almost pure silica (with some beneficial trace minerals); under a microscope, it looks like shards of glass (glass is made from silica). On any beetle-type insect that has a carapace, like fleas and cockroaches, the DE works under the shell and punctures the body, which then dehydrates and the insect dies. DE is totally nontoxic. There is no buildup of tolerance like there is to poisons because the method of killing is PHYSICAL, not chemical.

They don't need to eat/digest it. It slices and dices and dehydrates and kills as the crawl through or over it.

 

[Roddy]

Great info and THANKS all for the friendly discussion!!