what do fungus knats do? can we live with them

[keepleft]

ok my last grow i had pythium BAD! and fungus knats too.

 

before my latest grow i bleached everything. and i let off a mortein bomb in the room. and i have been using MICROBIAL at 1ml per litre. i also reduced my watering times substantially.

 

6 weeks into veg they are they best ive ever seen them. no pythium and very healthy scrog

 

BUT i just noticed today i have scarid fly. its back. is it a big problem? ive been told that the larvae eat the roots which leads to pythium. so im doing the usual spray with mortein, drench with microbial.

 

asuming that the microbial and reduced watering means i dont get pythium. are the scarid fly's actually that bad? im trying to avoid using azadrench basically.

 

and a final note - MICROBIAL DOES NOT prevent fungus knats. just want everyone to know that. i use it in all 3 of my Grooms, and i have stockings over the vents etc. MICROBIAL may kill the larvae but it doesnt prevent the bastards coming in

 

i might try oxyplus after i finish the microbial bottle. just to compare whats better.

[thc24]

try Mavric from bunnings, its not that strong but fixed a members room a few weeks back, if you want them dead NOW look for lorsban at grow shops normally $10 for 10 ml about 20 1lt worth, i use it on everything tomatos, strawberries, capsicum, roses and more and there is nothing that seem able to live though it except maby a rat that steels tomatos daily.

[Tom]

ok my last grow i had pythium BAD! and fungus knats too.

The fungus gnats strip the protective coating off the roots leaving them open to pythium, fungus gnats/scarid fly.

 

 

MICROBIAL DOES NOT prevent fungus knats.

DM's Guardian does, it will even clear up light infestations.

 

[Guest Eikel]

Mycorrhizal fungi are root-inhabiting, symbiotic fungi that colonize

the fine absorbing roots of more than 95 percent of the land plants in the world.

 

Fungus Gnats eat this "fungi" hence the name "fungus gnats" - this is the "procective coating" that Tom referrs to.

(They eat the roots too, but not enough to directly cause damage).

 

The mycorrhizal fungi occurs in organic mediums, the reason that alot of indoor growers don't like coco and or soil, less attraction for the gnats in a "hydro" medium. (Although the fungi can still exist there - canna's products make great use of symbiotic relationships between different fungi/bacteria/enzymes and plants).

 

Anyway yeah - fungus gnats are also the bane of mushroom growers, because they essentially eat the mushrooms 'root-system' they eat the plant root-systems generally because that's where the fungi has colonized.

 

Yeah so, err, dunno what my point was - but that's what fungus gnats do.

[Pa-uul]

Fungus gnat were terrible for me. Almost killed the plant. I believe that's the scarid fly? Looks like this:

 

It feeds off pythium then the plant root hairs. Since I moved off of using straight coco peat or coco and neem coir mix I've barely seen a scarid fly. The plants grow a little slower than with the organic mixes before the fungus gnat sets in but it's worth it to not have them. Now I'm using clay balls, there haven't been as many scarid fly, but it may be also because there haven't been as many around Brisbane lately. I have tried every non-toxic spray there is on coco peat and it hasn't busted the scarid fly. I've tried Masta microbial (now called just "microbial"), I've tried goopy "pest control" stuff, I've tried neem oil, pyrethrin, Dutch Master Guardian, you name it. Every non-toxic spray wouldn't work. (And of course, you don't want toxic.) There are two methods I still have hope for including one I've tried which works. The first is a mite. It can be seen with the naked eye and a hydro store in South Australia has it. Sorry, don't know the name. I didn't want a mite in my room so I went for the second non-toxic option of a microbial nematode called Steinernema Feltiae. It's expensive; grown by the CSIRO in Canberra, and licensed to a Sydney hydro store called EcoGrow. Their website ordering didn't work last time I tried it, so I called them. You get a small take-away container of nematodes in an iced, styrofoam pack delivered by courier. It costs $33 + $22 postage and handling for 12 million nematodes. It's looks like fluffy parmesan cheese and you mix it with water and pour it on wherever you like. It worked for about 8 weeks for me then the scarid fly started coming back.

Edited January 28, 2006 by Pa-uul

[Frazz]

Every spring scarid flys are bad in my area, last year i used DM Defender from day one for first time and it prevented them from getting a foot-hold in vermic-perlite medium :thumbsup

occasionally i would see one or two staggering around on the g-room floor, they couldn't get airbourne and it really fucked them up which was great

previously i have been completly wiped out with those little f*ks

 

[keepleft]

tom do u use dm guardian? im thiniking of switching from microbial to something new and was thinking oxyplus but dm guardian sounds good. does it also prevent pythium and scarid fly. thanks

[Tom]

tom do u use dm guardian?

Yeah, at 2ml per 10L in every reservoir, if there are lots of bugs around I step up to 4ml, it is as much a part of the system as the water is.

 

[keepleft]

hey frazzle im doing a search on google for dutch master defender and all im getting is stuff about dutch soccer players ha ha

 

is this stuff still around or is it same as dm guardian.

[Frazz]

Sorry i meant to say DM Guardian is what i use