Need help dealing with the situation!


Yesterday, I noticed these annoying black flies running over the soil in one of the cups, and upon closer inspection, the thing flew like afid, so I think I have 'gnats', so I quickly got my 'safer' soap and spray the soil and where I saw the creatures.

No more flies running or flying, but my leaves all wilted!  OMG I am so stressed out.  What do I do?  I tried rinsing the plant and dumped most of the top soil (supposedly their eggs are on the top 1"), the plants are traumatized, and so am I.

Any immediate help to this unruly situation?

Those fungus gnats are evil.  Search the forum for fungus gnats.  Many threads on it.  I use Thuricide AKA BT that can be purchased at Box stores and nurseries.  Organic people have other solutions.  Try peroxide and water?

The larvae of the gnats love to eat roots!  Spray the leaves and drench the soil to kill both adults and larva.

Sorry.  No fun!

Suzi

It's tough to kill the gnats themselves unless you use poison, but it's the larvae that do the damage to young/baby roots.  To kill the larvae, I use BT  (Bacillus Thuringiensis Israeliensis)... I got it in a product called "Mosquito Dunks"  (at Home Depot).  There are lots of references if you search on "fungus gnats" (as Suzi suggested).  Here's one of the references:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Fungus-Gnats!-5937507?highlight=fungus+gnats
(OK, that link won't work because the title has an exclamation point in it... when people use those in thread titles (topic subjects) it messes up links... just search on "fungus gnats" and you'll find that thread and several others).

Unfortunately if you've got tops wilting, you may already have damaged roots.  I've got a similar thing happening right now but without root damage yet... they came in on a plant I got from another member, and while I'm getting rid of them it's holding me off from sending some trees to other members on here who I was planning to send trees to... I just don't want to spread these little buggers around.  (So any of you out there who are awaiting plants from me, I'm killing these $*#@$*#  bugs before I send you your trees... sorry for the delay but you're better off getting clean ones than gnatty trees).

Good luck with the bugs Grasa... there are probably other less organic ways of killing the larvae too (I don't know them though, but those other threads probably tell).

Mike   central NY state, zone 5

I get fungus gnats every fall/winter/spring. About 2 months ago I had about 30-40 flying around at any given time. I started using sand to combat them. This only works if you also deny access to the drainage holes.  They will crawl right up the bottom and lay eggs. I put my planted cups into an identical sized cup to keep the suckers out of the bottom. Sand is a real PITA to use, gets all over everything especially when you tip the cup to check the roots. It also makes watering little more of a chore. Sometimes soil will mix with the sand so I replace the sand. The only thing I hate more than using sand is fungus gnats. Sometimes when you pull a cup out from its barrier cup a gnat will fly out. They are now completely under control. I see maybe 1 or 2 now and then. I boil my sand before use.

I’ve been growing my veggies in the basement every spring under lights for about 15 years and get gnats every year. About 5 years ago I tried the Dunks from Home Depot in the watering containers to combat them. Maybe I used too much because my plants ended up stunted. I'll never use them again. I bought the veggies that year.

I’ve had some pretty bad infestations and never noticed plant wilting.

using those gross fly traps get the adults... I  am going to try that, without  them eventually the matter should improve- this is very bad, Ithink I will re-pot everything and start all over.  I have no idea how I got them - I've never had them before. hate to use poison, already used the soap, my house is small and the plants are in my only bedroom... sucks!

As you already realized the soap has a high concentration of potassium and that may have caused the immediate wilt.  Rinsing it was the right thing to do.  Whether it's too late or not only time will tell.

Some of my most precious figs starters, I almost killed with the stupid soap, I caused more damage than the little creatures, for sure..some leaves came back alive, but with some 'burn' spots. I feel pretty awful...  the baby leaves are so tender... good thing is today I have not seen any of the bugs... will monitor them very close.  I put outside the local varieties that I know can handle the cold, so I don't have to deal with them, and I am focusing in saving my most precious... I treasure so much all these amazing cuttings I received- I am not letting them die on me. tomorrow, I am getting new soil and I am repotting all and doing a serious cleaning around here. I am not going to live with creatures that don't pay my rent.

I had a big fungus gnat problem last year.  Tried the mosquito dunks, not sure it helped at all.  Used the sticky tape, the little yellow rolls they sell at the Home Despot.  Filled up the sticky tapes, but they were able to do their mating and egg laying before getting stuck, apparently, since it didn't resolve my problems.  If I had to do it over again, I'd probably use a lot more sticky tape, much earlier in the process.  But once you have them, I don't think you can be completely rid of them without burning everything and killing the patient, so to speak.

Not sure how soap kills.  We use soap/water spray on our roses to discourage aphids.  I think what killed your cuttings was the larvae of the fungus gnats munching on their roots.

Bummer this happened to you.  Happened to me a couple years ago with my figs and grapevine cuttings, and it is pure devastation!  I learned to use that BT often and early!!

Suzi

Hope all goes well for you! Looking forward to good news on the status of your babies!

    Growing fig trees is like raising children, you watch, you worry, you protect, you hover,and yet something unexpected gets past all the defenses. And right away you feel like you did something wrong, that you were'nt a good "parent", that it was your fault.
    So don't beat yourself up. From all the posts you put up on the forum, it sounds like you give
 excellent care and oversight to your little charges. And just like our kids, things get better, and life goes on.

I tried the very,very warm water today . I noticed that a couple larger pots had them. I first sprayed the flying ones and the ones at top of pot with extra hold hair spray - DEAD !! I'll most likely have to repeat for a few days or more. Hopefully the eggs in the pots will be killed by the almost hot water. If not the hair spray sticks 'em up pretty good when they get larger!
I don't have any fels naptha soap here , but will look for some at Ace to make a light soapy solution too.

Fels naptha soap is hard to find, but I got my hands on a bar when my kids were little, and that and a stiff brush got those grass stains out of those white uniforms they make those little kids play in!!  I love the BT for the fungus gnats!  I just don't mess around on serious stuff!

Suzi

Grasa, Any luck with getting rid of those horrible gnats?

I thought I die, Jeff,  but today I took a cup outside to inspect...and there they were inside deep in the cup, so I cut the bottom of the cutting out, soap it, rinsed it and put in to root in chamber, where the lid is tight and these nasty creatures are not present. I first saw them in the spagnun moss, so I dumped that. I am rooting them in plain air and a cover of newspaper, no more moss for me, here. I also broke my spirit and got a spray, and pour a  lot of cinnamon on them.. not sure what to do... but I am fighting. I am thinking and starting all over and dump their soil completly.. they are so small, that likely inside the cutting they can easily penetrate.

Newbie question about root gnats. Does the infestation occur while rooting in bags or shoe boxes with spahgnum peat or is it prevelent in the rooting cup stage? If this can occur at any stage why not pretreat the bags, peat, pearlite/vermiculite, potting soil or whatever medium is used before hand? It seems that the preventatives (Gnatrol and others) are so inexpensive it would be a regular part of the rooting process. 

Rich makes a good point.   Another way would be to use a sterile product without adding any contaminants to the mix such as compost or commercial potting soil. 

They seem to like warm damp anything!  I've never had them in my sphagnum moss, but certainly have had them appear in damp perlite/pete moss.  They have only appeared when there was soil exposed to the air, like after I've potted something up in a regular pot.  The double cup is sealed on with masking tape, and there is only a small air hole or two, and they don't seem to figure out how to get inside those cups.

I learned the hard way when rooting figs and grape vines in plant bands.  I had a whole forest going, all green and pretty, then one day I noticed all these gnats.  Then the forest shriveled and died.  The gnats have never been allowed to get such a foothold ever again!  At the first sign, I get out my BT!

jSuzi

Keep up the good fight Grasa!

BT is what saved my vegetable garden this past year. i was having such a terrible time dealing with cabbage worms till i was introduced to BT.

I think it's great to have different suggestions of how to control or eliminate a fungus gnat infestation. 

I just wanted to make the point that sometimes, the gnats start off as a symptom.  For example, if you're watering your cuttings too much, one might get moldy and decay, inviting a stray fungus gnat to lay eggs there, which then leads to more gnats, etc.  In this case, the fungus was the first organism to attack the plant, which opened up the floodgates for the fungus gnats.  Then, once established, they will move on to healthy cuttings. 

I mean, there is a reason they are called fungus gnats.  I believe that is their preferred food. 

So, if there if a fungus gnat problem, certainly try to eradicate them, but also consider whether there may also be some other problem, such as overwatering, or lack of ventilation.  This might help success rates in the long term. 

In my case, I think the problem got started from some potting soil I was using.  So making sure you have clean potting soil, free of FGs, is certainly a good start.