Prior to moving to our new home, I had dozens of cuttings, all rooted, fully leafed out, and ready to be repotted.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice until too late, the many fungus gnats circling the group. 

Today, I finally took a deep breath and am paying respects to those that died in "The Mother of All Fungus Gnat Infestations."

Grasa's Unknown
Coll de Dama Negra AKA De la pera Negra, Coll de senyora, Col de Dame Noir, Col de Signora
Longue d'Aout
Baud's Sucrette
Sicilian Red
Colasanti Dark
Unknown Rooted Cuttings from Spain, from Marius on Ebay
Galbun cuttings from landscapewitch
Figo Preto, Unknown Portugese
Unknown Italian AKA Calabria No. 2
Unknown Italian AKA Calabria
Bataglia
Ali's Unknown
Unknown OC, "Hearty Flavor"
Binello
Vernio From Luke on the forum
white genoa Sent from Daydream Figs
Desert King
Blue Celeste
Hunt
Tena
LSU Hollier (being replaced by a kind member)
Bayernfeige Violetta
Florea
Smith
Qalaat al Madiq fig
Sultane SULTANE SYN: SULTANA (016), GROSSE DE JULIET (016), DARK SULTANE (089)(016), NOIR DE JULIET (016)
Maltese Beauty
Maltese Falcon Syn GM-5
Calabria from Italy
Unknown Dark
Unknown White
white genoa
Baud's Madeleine de deaux saisons
Blanche De Deaux Saisons
Monserrat Pons Coll de Dama Blanca
Monserrat Pons Cucurella
Baud's Noire de Barbentane
Figue d'Or AKA Doree
Weeping Fig
Latarolla
Dark Unknown
R. DUK
LUK
Garden Whisperer's UNK
Italian Everbearing
Sal's Corleone
White Greek
Negretta AKA  Moretta, Rock Fig
Wilmington Creeper
Kure Beach Unknown
Vincenzo
Bisirri
Raspberry Latte
Jurupa  SYN: DATTERO, DOTTATO from saxonfig, WHITE KADOTA
Black Italian
Chris' Unknown
Vesuviana Bianca from Mario Picciano AKA willofig
Italian # 2 from Mario Picciano AKA willofig
Italian #3 from Mario Picciano AKA willofig
Italian #1 from Mario Picciano AKA willofig
Italian #4 From Mario Picciano AKA willofig
Pink Do like Do Re Mi
Red Monkey, the bright red, merely very-delicious one.
Unknown Carnini Fig from FiggyFrank

It's tough for me to look at this list, but I now have many trees in ground and am only looking for the two cuttings on my wish list.  I now know how to avoid those gnats, but that ordeal was really hard for any of us that are surprised by the quick death the gnat larvae can gift.

Yes, I would love to replace some of those I lost, but over time. 

Suzi

Wow, what a blow that must have been!  I suppose by now you have learned to deal with gnats.  Moving is definitely disruptive and I could imagine fig propagation and moving would not go well for me either.

Whoa that's brutal. I deal with gnats constantly and dealing with them is not easy. Sorry for your loss

This incident occurred in 2012, and this is the first day I could even bear to look at the varieties I lost.  I'm not so sad now, but at the time, pretty devastated! 

I keep my records in an excel spreadsheet, and was updating the varieties I actually have, and finally faced the music of what was and is now gone.

There are much worse things in life, but when you have living, rooted happy little plants, to watch them die is pretty sad.

Suzi

Sorry for your loss's. There not in better place but death to the fungus knat. Off with there heads!!! What is a fungus knat and do the south have them

Suzi,sorry for your loss, but; you'll manage to get them replenished.

That's tragic.
I have begun the practice of watering with Gnatrol for every watering.  I started that last year but did not keep up the practice.  This year I will be more diligent.  Plus I'm putting out more yellow sticky papers.  I have a lot fewer gnats this year than 2014 and 2013.
Jim

That is a heart breaking list.  You lost more varieties than the average person knew existed. 

Yes, sorry, Suzi, to hear about the loss, even if it was several years ago!

I did lose more than many knew about.  Some were trades, some I bought on Ebay, many were gifts from generous members.  You might receive 5 cuttings and 3 root and grow.  You think you now have extras to gift to someone, which was my plan.  Things didn't work out, but at least I have good records and know who sent me the cuttings.  If they are still around, I'll hit them up maybe next fall.  But not all at once.  Some members are no longer here, but I'm sure they can be found with some diligence.

I have many delicious varieties in ground and in 5 gallon containers waiting to grow big enough to be put in ground.  I NOW KNOW to put an inch of DG or Sand on top of those containers to keep the gnats out.  Our ground is Decomposed Granite and it drains well, so is fig friendly to those that are planted in ground.

I'm grateful for what I have, especially for the friends I have here in this forum.

Suzi

DesertDance, that is sort of breathtaking thinking about it.  You have a good attitude.  Do you want to replace all those varieties if possible?  What is DG?  I am reminded about the saying spilled milk but this is like a whole spilled dairy...

I think that year I had a little too much enthusiasm!  I remember rolls of cuttings bagged in damp Spagnum, labeled and wrapped in towels.  When I saw roots, they got potted in plastic cups with perlite/peat and topped with another cup with holes for air.  It seemed to be working fine until....

@greenbud:  I now know less is more.  There are a few I will try to replace, but not all.  DG is Decomposed Granite.  It's like really coarse sand.  We live on a hillside covered with granite boulders that are decomposing slowly. 

I get tempted with the many offers here, but now I know, "there is always next year." 

Suzi

Dear Suzi,
Please accept my most sincere condolences!  What a hit that must have been, and most of those varieties are not easy to find, either.
JoAnn

Suzi,

2014 was my worst year for gnats. It was the first year rooting in Colorado, and I lost about 95% of my first batch of cuttings. What was particularly bad was they hit while I was away for a few days. By the time I got back, the damage was done. With the second batch of cuttings, I used a spray bottle filled with mosquito dunk inoculated water to mist the inside of the bin daily. While I would see an occasional gnat, they did not seem to get a foothold. This year I plan on soaking my rootin medium with inoculated water. Also, I will put a layer of some sort of gnat control granules on top.

I'd like to pay my respects to the 2014 cuttings lost, and to assure them their 2015 brethren will prevail due to their sacrifice. The first twenty-one figs I eat this year will be in honor of all those we have lost...
Lampiera
Jurupa
Black Madeira
Bayernfiege Violetta
Sal's
Roma 320
Flores
Nero 600M
Kathleen Black
Black Mission NL
Violet Sepor
Sultane
Valle Negra
Dauphine
Ruby4
Col de Dame
Corragio
Skardu Black

I am sorry to hear that. After switching to coco coir the gnats don't bother my cuttings anymore. It really does help.

Thanks for all the condolences.  I never had one gnat in my rooting medium which was pure sphagnum moss in plastic bags.  The problems started when I saw roots and moved them to peat and perlite to develop enough roots to be transferred to a one gallon pot outside.  Gnats can enter through the tiny drainage holes straight into the soil to lay their eggs.  I read some people wrap their cups in nylons to cover the holes so they can drain, but not be accessible.  I'd be tempted to do that if I ever leave figs in pots inside again, but it's really doubtful that will ever happen.

I am lucky to live in a fig loving climate, and I find that rooting them outside in plain old dirt works the best with no gnat problems.  All cuttings after the big drama have been done that way.  I have a "fig nursery" in a semi shady spot under a citrus tree.  The cuttings root fine there.  Biggest problem is I can't see roots.  As you know, sometimes a cutting will leaf prior to rooting.  If the leaves die, I leave the cutting there.  Eventually real leaves from a rooted cutting emerge.  I wait till dormancy to move them to a 5 gallon pot so they can get big enough to be planted in ground.  I don't know why gnats stay away from the fig nursery.  Maybe there is so much fruit on trees outside, they go to that?  Who knows.  They must lay their eggs someplace, but there are so many plants outside for the larvae to feed on, maybe they just have enough?  I drink a glass of wine outside in the afternoons often, and it's a rare day when a gnat doesn't land in my wine........

I don't have any living plants in the house any more.  Only silk trees and plants.  BUT, I still see gnats!  They are basically fruit flies, and if there is fruit on the counter, which there usually is, gnats find a way. 

Good luck to all of you and your figs this year!

Suzi

That is rough!   May your experience help others to not go through it!

Thanks to this forum, I have taken gnats seriously.  I treat with gnatrol when I wet the potting mix out for up potting and any time I see even one gnat I treat with gnatrol.  It works.

You have my condolences, Suzi.  It sounds devastating.  Years ago, I had a large number of phal orchids in grower's mix & had constant issues with fungus gnats (until I got them out of it).  B.t. did the trick to control it -- I don't think I even used a specialized one like gnatrol.  Just water with it periodically if you see any signs.

John