Gnats(fruit flies)
#1
10-15-02, 08:54 AM
Gnats(fruit flies)
I brought my outdoor plants in without spraying them with anything, now I am afraid that I have produced a gnat farm in my home. I have a billion little gnats(fruit flies?) buzzing around my head and home. I have sprayed the garbage and recycling areas, put away all food sources and tried to keep everything dry. No help. I was taking out some weeds from the pots and noticed that the base of my plants have tons of these little buggers all over them. Will the nicotine spray/drench still work? I have two palms, one figus and a tall thin bladed thing. Any help would be nice. And please!, no "I told you so's"! I should have sprayed them before, but I didnt. what's the saying" An ounce of prevention................ Thanx, Tina
#2
10-15-02, 09:17 PM
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Gnats
Hi Tina.
You said (fruit flies?) Is it possable they are fungus Gnats?
This is a real pest in the greenhouse & Potted house plants as the larve eat the roots of seedlings and can kill them, or in adult plants weaken them. The adult gnat can lay 10,000 eggs in her short lifetime, so stick it to them ASAP with fly strips.
We use a product called Gnatrol, it is in the Baccilius family, like Dipel but is not for catapiliars. We use the sticky fly strips hung near the plants & use the Gnatrol as a soil drench once a week.
We have narrowed it down to cheap potting soils like the Discount stores carry in our past cases. We use Sunshine soiless mix from Canada now, & have not had anymore trouble, in the last 5 years in the Greenhouse.
Fruit Gnats are half again bigger than Fungus gnats & if you take a magnifying glass, and disturb the soil you can see the tiny grubs by the thousands in a bad infestation down about 1/2 inch deep.
I have not used a Nicotine pesticide in 20 years, so I can't help there. I do know that if you catch the adults with the sticky tape and use Gnatrol for a two month period ,you can get rid of them compleatly.
For small quanties of Gnatrol try www.gardensalive.com we buy it in 2.5 gallon containers localy, because we use it for Onion Magots that attack our Leeks. If you use the Nicotine, beware of dogs getting it on their nose, it can kill a full grown dog in hours if they get it on their nose.
I wish you a quick cure, these are nasty little devils, that do a lot of damage if they are fungus Gnats. They will only get worse, untill you get rid of them.
With fruit flies we just clean up all the dead plant leaves etc, & leave clean dirt on the surface & they will just leave. Fruit flies come for dead mater, & will not stay long if theres nothing to eat.
Marturo
You said (fruit flies?) Is it possable they are fungus Gnats?
This is a real pest in the greenhouse & Potted house plants as the larve eat the roots of seedlings and can kill them, or in adult plants weaken them. The adult gnat can lay 10,000 eggs in her short lifetime, so stick it to them ASAP with fly strips.
We use a product called Gnatrol, it is in the Baccilius family, like Dipel but is not for catapiliars. We use the sticky fly strips hung near the plants & use the Gnatrol as a soil drench once a week.
We have narrowed it down to cheap potting soils like the Discount stores carry in our past cases. We use Sunshine soiless mix from Canada now, & have not had anymore trouble, in the last 5 years in the Greenhouse.
Fruit Gnats are half again bigger than Fungus gnats & if you take a magnifying glass, and disturb the soil you can see the tiny grubs by the thousands in a bad infestation down about 1/2 inch deep.
I have not used a Nicotine pesticide in 20 years, so I can't help there. I do know that if you catch the adults with the sticky tape and use Gnatrol for a two month period ,you can get rid of them compleatly.
For small quanties of Gnatrol try www.gardensalive.com we buy it in 2.5 gallon containers localy, because we use it for Onion Magots that attack our Leeks. If you use the Nicotine, beware of dogs getting it on their nose, it can kill a full grown dog in hours if they get it on their nose.
I wish you a quick cure, these are nasty little devils, that do a lot of damage if they are fungus Gnats. They will only get worse, untill you get rid of them.
With fruit flies we just clean up all the dead plant leaves etc, & leave clean dirt on the surface & they will just leave. Fruit flies come for dead mater, & will not stay long if theres nothing to eat.
Marturo
#3
10-17-02, 09:22 AM
Hi Tina,
Great advice from Marturo. Another thing that works is to mix 1 TBS. of non-detergent (Ivory) dishwashing liquid to one gallon of water and put some in a little spray bottle. The spray kills them almost instantly. It even works on house flies.
I didn't bring any in with our plants, but whenever we harvest tomatoes, the gnats seem to appear out of nowhere. I spray them while on the tomatoes and wash well before canning or using, or spray them in mid-air or on the windows--wherever they happen to be. It's a contact spray, so it doesn't help to spray your plants.
Gami
Great advice from Marturo. Another thing that works is to mix 1 TBS. of non-detergent (Ivory) dishwashing liquid to one gallon of water and put some in a little spray bottle. The spray kills them almost instantly. It even works on house flies.
I didn't bring any in with our plants, but whenever we harvest tomatoes, the gnats seem to appear out of nowhere. I spray them while on the tomatoes and wash well before canning or using, or spray them in mid-air or on the windows--wherever they happen to be. It's a contact spray, so it doesn't help to spray your plants.
Gami
#4
10-17-02, 10:24 AM
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Hi Gami,
I was curious
What's new huh?
Do you use this Ivory soap treatment for Fungus Gnats?
The Fungus gnat unlike the Fruit Flies are considered a Red Alert around here. They have to be stopped in short order or you will have to use Diazinon YUK
We just would have to trhow out plants & dirt then clean everything with clorox.
Fruit flies are what you hope and pray you have, at least the hotpepper wax or soap will make food tast bad & they will leave.
Tina we can help, but we need to know if the area on top of the soil is covered with hatching & adult Gnats.
Also dig down using a strong flashlight and magnifying glass & just under the soil you will see small grubs crawling all around. The soil will be filled with microscopic eggs and small larvae.
Fruit flies are intrested in rotting fruit & debris & not the plants roots.
Gami if this Ivory works on fungus gnats please let me know 2.5 gals of Gnatrol costs $60.00 But you can buy small qtys of Gnatrol at www.gardensalive.com.
Marturo
I was curious
What's new huh? Do you use this Ivory soap treatment for Fungus Gnats?
The Fungus gnat unlike the Fruit Flies are considered a Red Alert around here. They have to be stopped in short order or you will have to use Diazinon YUK
We just would have to trhow out plants & dirt then clean everything with clorox.Fruit flies are what you hope and pray you have, at least the hotpepper wax or soap will make food tast bad & they will leave.
Tina we can help, but we need to know if the area on top of the soil is covered with hatching & adult Gnats.
Also dig down using a strong flashlight and magnifying glass & just under the soil you will see small grubs crawling all around. The soil will be filled with microscopic eggs and small larvae.
Fruit flies are intrested in rotting fruit & debris & not the plants roots.
Gami if this Ivory works on fungus gnats please let me know 2.5 gals of Gnatrol costs $60.00 But you can buy small qtys of Gnatrol at www.gardensalive.com.
Marturo
#5
10-17-02, 11:04 AM
Hi Marturo,
To tell you the truth, I don't know what we have, but whatever they are the Ivory liquid works great.
I found a couple of websites on the fungus gnat with a picture. (I still can't tell.)
http://www.pestproducts.com/fungusgnat.htm
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2114.html
Last winter we had some kind of gnat on some of the house plants brought in for the winter. The spray worked on them. I don't recall seeing any eggs or larvae in the soil when repotting.
The soap spray usually works on soft-bodied insect, but I can't guarantee it would work on fungus flies. Are they hard bodied? So far it's worked on everything we've tried it on. For white flies, we also added cayenne or habanero peppers that we ground up and strained, but it probably wasn't necessary.
Since you can tell the difference between the two, maybe you could try it and let us know.
Here's a little diddy on fruit flies. Our pests have black bodies, so I just don't know. (We raised fruit flies in school in a test tube, and they do look similar to them, but that was a LONG time ago.)
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibit...ant_flies.html
Gami
To tell you the truth, I don't know what we have, but whatever they are the Ivory liquid works great.
I found a couple of websites on the fungus gnat with a picture. (I still can't tell.)
http://www.pestproducts.com/fungusgnat.htm
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2114.html
Last winter we had some kind of gnat on some of the house plants brought in for the winter. The spray worked on them. I don't recall seeing any eggs or larvae in the soil when repotting.
The soap spray usually works on soft-bodied insect, but I can't guarantee it would work on fungus flies. Are they hard bodied? So far it's worked on everything we've tried it on. For white flies, we also added cayenne or habanero peppers that we ground up and strained, but it probably wasn't necessary.
Since you can tell the difference between the two, maybe you could try it and let us know.
Here's a little diddy on fruit flies. Our pests have black bodies, so I just don't know. (We raised fruit flies in school in a test tube, and they do look similar to them, but that was a LONG time ago.)
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibit...ant_flies.html
Gami
#6
10-17-02, 01:21 PM
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Know thy enemy well.
Hi Gami
Below is the best link I have seen on the Fungus Gnat.
Tina you will notice that it not the Gnat, that does the damage they just lay more eggs in their short life.
Like Gami said, she did not see the larave of the Fruit Flies in the soil. You will see the masses of Larave & sub adult Gnats with the Fungus Gnat. Since there is so much (Forest Products) trash, in the Cheap potting soils. The use of a soil free mix like Sunshine mix, was the way we finely broke the cycle of this very costly pest. The sticky fly strips will be of help, but you need to break the cycle with Gnatrol if they are Fungus Gnats.
The adult Gnat will infect every plant you have in your house. However it's when it get's into a greenhouse setting, that you see the real damage begin. The seedlings will look fine today then the next Morning, it will just fall over, and dry up.
___________________________________________________
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2114.html
Adults live about 7 to 10 days and deposit eggs on the moist soil surface or in soil cracks. Females lay up to 100 to 300 eggs in batches of 2 to 30 each in decaying organic matter. Eggs hatch in 4 to 6 days; larvae feed for 12 to 14 days. The pupal stage is about 5 to 6 days. There are many overlapping generations throughout the year.
___________________________________________________
Tina please study the links that Gami posted, so we can be of more help. You are our eyes, so we need you to decided what you have.
Gami thanks for the great links, I will post them up top. 90 percent of pest control is knowing the pest by name, then taking the right actions at the right time.
Marturo
Below is the best link I have seen on the Fungus Gnat.
Tina you will notice that it not the Gnat, that does the damage they just lay more eggs in their short life.
Like Gami said, she did not see the larave of the Fruit Flies in the soil. You will see the masses of Larave & sub adult Gnats with the Fungus Gnat. Since there is so much (Forest Products) trash, in the Cheap potting soils. The use of a soil free mix like Sunshine mix, was the way we finely broke the cycle of this very costly pest. The sticky fly strips will be of help, but you need to break the cycle with Gnatrol if they are Fungus Gnats.
The adult Gnat will infect every plant you have in your house. However it's when it get's into a greenhouse setting, that you see the real damage begin. The seedlings will look fine today then the next Morning, it will just fall over, and dry up.
___________________________________________________
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2114.html
Adults live about 7 to 10 days and deposit eggs on the moist soil surface or in soil cracks. Females lay up to 100 to 300 eggs in batches of 2 to 30 each in decaying organic matter. Eggs hatch in 4 to 6 days; larvae feed for 12 to 14 days. The pupal stage is about 5 to 6 days. There are many overlapping generations throughout the year.
___________________________________________________
Tina please study the links that Gami posted, so we can be of more help. You are our eyes, so we need you to decided what you have.
Gami thanks for the great links, I will post them up top. 90 percent of pest control is knowing the pest by name, then taking the right actions at the right time.
Marturo
#7
10-17-02, 04:48 PM
Buggers
Hi and Thanx for the great help. I have not identified the little pests but am sure they are a gnat of some kind or type of fruit fly. Did not see any larva or grubs under the soil but did notice some odd looking casing. Like what you see from worms. They look like miniature dropping from something, but only found them heavy in one plant and slightly moderate in another. I tried the liquid dish soap first (Dawn). If it kills the plant, then so be it. But it stopped them dead in their tracks. I actually killed some in perfect condition. Wonder if I can scan them on white paper and send them off to you? Usually we are squishing them between our hands and you really cant tell what they look like after that. They are soft bodied and dark in color. Some are bigger than others and fly much faster. Must be the older ones. but so far it looks like I got'em. I also sprayed the dirt and pot, hard to tell where they are they match the dirt color. I'll keep you posted on them, and If i can figure out how to get a picture or scan of them I'll send them along for a looksie. Thanx you guys! You're the best. Tina
#8
10-17-02, 06:03 PM
Hi Tina,
Great! You're welcome! We've been using Dawn lately too, but I didn't want to suggest that as it's supposed to be a nondetergent liquid. It hasn't hurt our plants or grass, and we've been using it all summer.
I keep some mixed up all the time ready for whatever arrives! Let's hope you've "fixed" your problem.
Gami
Great! You're welcome!
We've been using Dawn lately too, but I didn't want to suggest that as it's supposed to be a nondetergent liquid. It hasn't hurt our plants or grass, and we've been using it all summer. I keep some mixed up all the time ready for whatever arrives! Let's hope you've "fixed" your problem.
Gami
#10
10-17-02, 09:47 PM
Poor Plant
Me again, after I sprayed the plants down I went back and checked on them. The one with the heaviest bugs still had quite a few of them on it. My husband is tired of the bugs so he put the plant outside. It's gonna snow tonight. Oh well! I only paid 4 bucks for the thing, still I hate to see it die for no reason. Better safe than sorry. I got some of the little beasts,dead, on a piece of white paper. One is definitely a fruit fly ( red eyes), but the others, not so sure. I have found a few more dead and am going to take them to the University Ext. office. I would really like to know what they are. I am pretty sure that at least one is a fungus gnat as it looks exactly like the picture on the web link you gave me. It's quite interesting, really. If I find anything out, will let you know. Thanx again, Tina
#11
11-10-02, 02:52 PM
Knock-Out Gnats
Hi All,
I read in a magazine that Bt H-14 will take care of fungus gnats. It's sold as Knock-Out Gnats and is available from Gardens Alive @ http://GardensAlive.com.
Gami
I read in a magazine that Bt H-14 will take care of fungus gnats. It's sold as Knock-Out Gnats and is available from Gardens Alive @ http://GardensAlive.com.
Gami
