Safe pesticide?

[butterfly_muse]

Morning everyone! Any recommendations on a safe, indoor pesticide? I've got two cats..and while they don't get near the plants, I still want to make sure whatever I use is safe. I've got nasty tiny black bugs with white wings flying around and it's driving me crazy!!

[WhiteRabbit]

Might be fungus gnats. Soaking the pots in some soapy water (can also add rubbing alcohol) will kill larvae in the media. I spray the surface of media lightly with Orange Guard to help repel gnats.

Yellow sticky paper traps ...

Neem oil - don't know how effective it is for gnats, but is a safe product.

I'm sure a board and Google search will provide more. Also check out First Rays Home Remedies page.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

Might be fungus gnats. Soaking the pots in some soapy water (can also add rubbing alcohol) will kill larvae in the media. I spray the surface of media lightly with Orange Guard to help repel gnats.

Yellow sticky paper traps ...

Neem oil - don't know how effective it is for gnats, but is a safe product.

I'm sure a board and Google search will provide more. Also check out First Rays Home Remedies page.

Does soap residue get on the media? Does it affect the plants? What if I soak in sphag? There's really no way to rinse it off..? All I've got is Dawn dish soap, heh ^^; What about other plants, too? I've got African violets and Begonias also.

[Ray]

SucraShield is effective on all soft-bodied insects, and is quite safe to use (it has a zero-day pre-harvest interval - use it on food and eat it the same day).

However, if you have fungus gnats, that would be treating a symptom, not the cause. To me, the gnats are the "canary in the coal mine", warning of larvae eating the fungus growing on decomposing potting medium - time to repot.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by Ray

SucraShield is effective on all soft-bodied insects, and is quite safe to use (it has a zero-day pre-harvest interval - use it on food and eat it the same day).

However, if you have fungus gnats, that would be treating a symptom, not the cause. To me, the gnats are the "canary in the coal mine", warning of larvae eating the fungus growing on decomposing potting medium - time to repot.

I believe they are coming from my current plants - I've got two begonias, two African violets, and one ivy plant thing (I have no idea what it is, it was a gift)...is there any way to treat new potting soil if I repot them in fresh soil? I didn't have the problem last year so I'm wondering if they were maybe laid in the soil and popped out this year? /grumble. Now I'm totally paranoid that they're in the soil or something..^^; But yeah, I will repot my other guys.

[WhiteRabbit]

I get gnats in fresh media, inorganic media - any media that is remaining moist. So gnats may sometimes be an indication of broken down media, in my experience, that is not always the case.

A little bit of dish soap should rinse out easily - but yeah, sphag an typical potting mix are more difficult. But the soap shouldn't harm anything - you only need a few drops of soap. Of course, you still are likely to have adult gnats, which will get back into your plants. I know I have seen various safe home remedies posted here and elsewhere (including Rays site)


Two safe products I keep on hand are Neem oil and Orange Guard, also rubbing alcohol, dish soap. (I don't know about effectiveness on gnats - just an fyi for in general).

Gnats seem to always be around when you have moist growing plants, but if you can get the numbers down, can be controlled.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

I get gnats in fresh media, inorganic media - any media that is remaining moist. So gnats may sometimes be an indication of broken down media, in my experience, that is not always the case.

A little bit of dish soap should rinse out easily - but yeah, sphag an typical potting mix are more difficult. But the soap shouldn't harm anything - you only need a few drops of soap. Of course, you still are likely to have adult gnats, which will get back into your plants. I know I have seen various safe home remedies posted here and elsewhere (including Rays site)


Two safe products I keep on hand are Neem oil and Orange Guard, also rubbing alcohol, dish soap. (I don't know about effectiveness on gnats - just an fyi for in general).

Gnats seem to always be around when you have moist growing plants, but if you can get the numbers down, can be controlled.

What are neem oil and orange guard for? I do have rubbing alcohol and dish soap. And also cinnamon. Isn't neem oil for.....scale? I think I read? Where can I get this stuff at?

[Brooke]

If you have plants planted in peat base mix you will have fungus gnats. The gnat only lives for a couple of days but their life cycle is - emerge from dirt, fly up your nose, sex, reenter the peat, lay eggs, then die.

There are several ways to eliminate them. Water with a product that has BT in it. If you buy it it is rather expensive but you can make your own if you buy mosquito dunks and soak them in your water. The larvae are killed by the BT.

You can put sand or chicken grit on top of the soil because the adult gnat won't reenter through the scratchy surface but you have to water from the bottom.

You can capture the larvae before they hatch by putting a piece of raw potato into the soil. In 12 hours you can pull it out and harvest the larvae and dispose of them, place the potato in another area of the pot. The larvae are about the size of a grain of rice.

You can switch out all of your AV's and everything else to a coir based mix. You need the coir that is ground up fine like peat soil and mix with 50% perlite for drainage. It retains moisture just like the peat does.

I have never found fungus gnat larvae in any sphag container or bark container or LECA container. Will the gnat buzz them looking for a place to lay the larvae, yes, but they want the thick dense media, not open and airy. If you use clear pots you would be able to see the larvae inside the pot.

I used to grow inside under lights plus grew many plants from seed. I finally eliminated them when I switched the "dirt" plants to coir. Also when I brought all them inside in the fall I put powdered Sevin dust on top of the container and lightly watered it in so never brought them in again.

Brooke

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by brooke

If you have plants planted in peat base mix you will have fungus gnats. The gnat only lives for a couple of days but their life cycle is - emerge from dirt, fly up your nose, sex, reenter the peat, lay eggs, then die.

There are several ways to eliminate them. Water with a product that has BT in it. If you buy it it is rather expensive but you can make your own if you buy mosquito dunks and soak them in your water. The larvae are killed by the BT.

You can put sand or chicken grit on top of the soil because the adult gnat won't reenter through the scratchy surface but you have to water from the bottom.

You can capture the larvae before they hatch by putting a piece of raw potato into the soil. In 12 hours you can pull it out and harvest the larvae and dispose of them, place the potato in another area of the pot. The larvae are about the size of a grain of rice.

You can switch out all of your AV's and everything else to a coir based mix. You need the coir that is ground up fine like peat soil and mix with 50% perlite for drainage. It retains moisture just like the peat does.

I have never found fungus gnat larvae in any sphag container or bark container or LECA container. Will the gnat buzz them looking for a place to lay the larvae, yes, but they want the thick dense media, not open and airy. If you use clear pots you would be able to see the larvae inside the pot.

I used to grow inside under lights plus grew many plants from seed. I finally eliminated them when I switched the "dirt" plants to coir. Also when I brought all them inside in the fall I put powdered Sevin dust on top of the container and lightly watered it in so never brought them in again.

Brooke

Wow, thanks! What is BT, by the way? And what exactly is coir? I googled it and it looks like it's coconut husk? How does that affect the soil nutrient balances, or do I have to supplement those with fertilizer, or...? The only bad thing is that I *just* bought a new bag of potting mix because I was going to move a few of my plants into larger sized containers and repot the others, as the medium has become kind of compact.

I've never seen larvae, but my plants are in solid, colored containers. I haven't seen anything in the soil, but that doesn't mean they're not there. I might like to try the watering thing to kill them.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

I get gnats in fresh media, inorganic media - any media that is remaining moist. So gnats may sometimes be an indication of broken down media, in my experience, that is not always the case.

Don't forget that the flies lay their eggs in the root zone, and the larvae can infect the roots themselves, so merely repotting may not eradicate the problem at all.

The flies will not lay their eggs where there is no fungus for the larvae to feed on, so "constantly moist" is a good - but not sufficient - environment for them.

I've got plants that have been constantly moist for approaching two decades (in S/H culture), and have to gnat issues.