In the battle against Gnats

I have a couple small trees that I want to keep growing throughout the winter without gnats flying all over and I found these paint strainer bags , they come in sizes from 1 gallon to 5 gallon and the mesh is very fine much too small for a gnat they were about .75 cent each at my local paint store 



 

Sweet move Dave !!!

Excellent idea, Dave!  I hope you win the war.

An ounce of prevention....
I saw the buggers flying around a rooted sucker that I'm growing through the winter indoors-found Mosquito Bits at my nearby farm and garden supply, and have mixed a bit into the top inch of soil mix and soaking a couple teaspoons worth in a gallon of water for tomorrow's watering.  Hope those grubs eat it and die!   

Mosquito Bits/Dunks do work well. I thought I had them under control with Neem Oil, but had to step up. The Bits/Dunks are essentially organic if not labeled as such, very safe. I'm now mixing some bits into my potting mix as well to be safe. Too many cuttings I don't want to lose!

Dave,

A nice find!
What is the name of this bag (if I want to Google for it)?

The mosquito bits didn't work for me. I just treated all my smaller plants that have new(er) soil with the nematodes that Homedepot offers online the other day. I got some gnatrol WDG to start using too, but I want the little beasties to have some fun suffering with nematodes first...hahahahahahaha.

greenfig the brand that I bought is Trimaco if you can't find them local they are all over ebay 



   

I will never never never ever use Miracle Grow potting soil again  I lost over 50 cuttings last year the bag that I got was totally infested with those little bastards !!!

Good find Dave! Maybe now I won't have to feel like a moron buying queen size nylon knee highs at walmart lol....

Thanks, Dave!
This year I like a mix of perlite and coco coir, all sterile and hard to overwater.

On Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Trimaco-LLC-11313-25-Strainer/dp/B0038RRPI2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416610978&sr=8-2&keywords=paint+strainer

im looking stupid reading this what does the nats do were talking about the small flies right? 

The nats lay there eggs in the soil and the larvae eats the roots killing the cuttings 

Do a search here on gnats you'll see many many sad stories :-(

i think im in trouble i seen a few nats in my rooted cutting pot earlier i didnt even know until now thanks

Nice idea Dave! Thanks, Leon

Last winter I had good success using sand to control gnats in newly rooted plants. By late October I had a nasty gnat infestation. In about 4-5 weeks very few remained. I saw the occasional one but not a problem. The key is blocking the drain holes. I use a  same sized/brand cup to restrict access to the drain holes. They fit so tight that the suckers can’t enter or escape.

Many times when I separated the cups to check the roots 2 or 3 gnats were ready to escape. On many I couldn’t use very much sand because they were already planted. Most had about a 1/2" sand.

Sand is a PITA its always spilling but I’ll use it again this winter

[QUOTE=Dave]In the battle against Gnats

I have a couple small trees that I want to keep growing throughout the winter without gnats flying all over and I found these paint strainer bags , they come in sizes from 1 gallon to 5 gallon and the mesh is very fine much too small for a gnat they were about .75 cent each at my local paint store 



  [/QUOTE]

What size are the pots in the pic?

Scientists Prove Bounce Sheets Fend Off Insect Pests

[QUOTE=KK]

Scientists Prove Bounce Sheets Fend Off Insect Pests

[QUOTE=nycfig][QUOTE=KK]

Scientists Prove Bounce Sheets Fend Off Insect Pests

Danny those are 1 gallon pots 

Heres one other product that I am trying for my cuttings Gnat Nix , it's a light weight ground up glass supposable the gnats are not able to crawl through it and the drainage holes are on the bottom of the cup so the gnats can't crawl through those holes either 

   

While I find the gnats to be incredibly annoying, I can't say I lost a single cutting to them last year and I had a terrible amount of them. I really think people need to look at other causes of losing cuttings with over watering being #1 and lack of humidty #2.

That being said, they are incredibly annoying, so I will likely try some of these methods this year as well.

[QUOTE=Dave]Danny those are 1 gallon pots [/QUOTE]

Should've asked you before. Sorry.

What size strainer did you use on the 1 gal pots; 1 gal, 2 gal or 5 gal?

one gallon strainer for a one gallon pot gives you just enough excess to tie around the trunk 

Gnatrol organic bti larvacide on Ebay cheep and works well

johnnyq627

 

johnnyq627

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Just curious, did anybody try Cinnamon tea on those flies? I don't have gnats so I can't experiment.

A very nice prevention-idea (i.e., paint-strainer-bags) to keep fungus gnats OUT from first getting in the potting soil.

However, I think that it may not be a cure for already infected soil; as them nasty gnats will continue to reproduce more of the same
(but at least locally).

[QUOTE=gorgi]A very nice prevention-idea (i.e., paint-strainer-bags) to keep fungus gnats OUT from first getting in the potting soil.

However, I think that it may not be a cure for already infected soil; as them nasty gnats will continue to reproduce more of the same
(but at least locally).
[/QUOTE]

One potted variety (newly rooted) I received from a generous forum member I immediately enclosed in nylon. A few weeks later I noticed a few gnats jumping around underneath on the soil. At first I thought how did they get in there but then realized they were already there in the soil. Since there was a good 1-1/2" space from the soil line to the pot lip I decided to fill that with kitty litter. With the nylon enclosed pots I water from the bottom anyways so this was going to stay dry. It seems to have worked or at least there is no space for the mature fly to roam. I'm hoping that breaks the reproduction cycle that is in the pot.

There was a small gnat infestation cooking in the 1 gal pots earlier this year when I made the switch to Queen size women's nylons (thanks Tyler). I was able to open the top, treat with Gnatrol and Neem oil, and then close it back up. It Worked out great! 3 treatments later (3 weeks) and they were all gone. Haven't seen a gnat since.

I have been searching for reasonably priced nylons that would fit over a 2 gal nursery pot. Maybe paint strainers are the answer. Gonna have to try some.

so its not house nats that be on fruit 

I think my promix bx was infested- it sat around opened for awhile outside- as I started potting up plants and cuttings I saw the gnats.  I purchased Mosquito Bits, which have the BTi larvacide, and sprinkled 1/2 tsp of them onto the soil surface of each pot and lightly incorporated them into the top of the soil.   I also made a tea with about a 1/2 cup in a gallon of water that I've used once to moisten the medium.  I'm afraid of giving them a full drenching, don't want to rot my freshly planted cuttings.  
About 4 days in, I'm seeing much less sign of gnats.  I think premixing some 'bits' into potting mix could be a good preventative measure, and I plan on doing that when I mix another batch.

[QUOTE=jc_figs]so its not house nats that be on fruit [/QUOTE]

gnats are smaller than fruit flies.

gorge I thought it would also be a good idea to keep them in I brought in 5 plants to grow through the winter if one of them has an infestation it will keep them in and stop them from spreading to my other plants 

I will also water with some gnatrol in case there are some larvae lurking down below  after that it's up to the "Fig Gods" 

I agree with Johnny Q (Nick) that they are more annoying than they are harmful.  It is possible they can hurt a weak cutting, but a healthy vigorous cutting will survive them for sure.  I figure they probably add on average around 10% mortality to any given cutting.  I started at least 50 varieties a couple winters ago and had a mega infestation of the buggers by springtime.  There were only a handful (less than 5 I'd say) varieties that didn't make it. 

I also think it's a good idea even if just for the annoyance factor, but if you use contaminated soil (e.g. Miracle Grow, organic choice especially) they will still grow within the bags.  But it would stop them from spreading to other pots if the source of the infestation as coming from somewhere other than the potting mix you used.

I tried those mosquito dunks and had no luck at all.  It really just made my overwatering problem worse.

Has anyone tried using a cup with a little wine?

Nelson what are you trying to say get the nats a little tipsy and then coax them out of the house?  LOL 

Tried vinegar, not wine. No luck.

Dave, every summer when my dad is out in the backyard sipping his sacramento wine as he calls it within minutes of putting the wine glass down gnats will go in the cup. I haven't tried it myself yet but think I might just to see I have sticky strips but that dosent really take care of the problem just captures the stupid ones.

This is why I generally root cuttings in sphagnum moss & Pine bark as I have not noticed any gnat issues when I use this method. But I have noticed quite a few flying around in my basement where I have a few small plants soil used was pro-mix.

Cup of vinegar/w a drop of dish soap work well at killing fruit flies but didn't seem to have any effect on gnats... nematodes and neem oil seem to be a good combo.

Nelson I think I saw a video on youtube about using wine in a bowl to capture gnats 

I used to use spaghnum moss for all my cuttings and it worked great I think that the coir is allot less expensive than the moss and so far it has been working great this will be the 1st year that I used Clonex and I am definitely seeing a big difference than when I didn't use it 3 weeks and the roots are hitting the side of the cups already "great stuff"

"Thanks FMD Frank for turning me onto the coir" 

Would heating the soil up to kill the gnats work? I haven't had any problems with gnats luckily 

I think someone mentioned in past that they Nuke the soil before planting the newly rooted cuttings. I have never done that.

I first tried nuking my potting mix back in October.  50% ProMix HP and 50% Agway Pine Bark Mulch (it's like Pine fines), dampen the mix, put in ziplock bags and nuke for 3 minutes.  I would stop the micro every minute and mix it around in the bag.  So far no sign of gnats around the cuttings I started in early October.  Fingers crossed.

sterilizing potting mix


[video]http://youtu.be/R1x4fKpMAjs[/video]

I went the microwave route to sterilize my potting mix because I heard using the regular oven method can stink up the house plus it takes a lot longer.

yeah Bill I think your microwave method is better than the oven allot faster and neater being that you can put it in a ziplock now I just have to find an old microwave :-)

How long and what temp do you do your soil? 

I just nuked it for a total of 3 minutes but stopped every minute to mix it around in the ziplock bag.  You could feel it was getting hot by the end but I never measured the temperature.  The link below compares three methods for sterilizing potting mix at home.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/sterilizing-soil.htm

Well, it's been about 10 days since I started treatment of my gnat larvae infestation, and I am happy to announce....VICTORY!   I sprinkled Mosquito bits over the surface of the soil and also watered(lightly) with 'tea' I made by soaking a couple spoonfuls of the 'bits in a gallon of H2O.   I am also now taking preventative action with new batches of potting mix by hydrating my dry Pro-mix with the 'tea'.  With over 40 cuttings rooting, and more on deck, there was no way I was going to let that situation spiral out of control.   I lost some cuttings over the summer to those little buggers, glad I found this remedy and hope my endorsement might help others get the jump on 'em with this product.