Controlling Fungus Gnats Without Pesticides

[flourishing]

Found a great tip in a gardening book.

Using a piece of yellow cardstock or a yellow notecard, cut out a 3 or 4 inch square piece and glue a craft stick to the back of the card.  Smear vaseline on one side of the card and place it into the soil of your indoor sallies.  The gnats are attracted to the card and stick to the vaseline.  You can then either lick off the gnats for a snack or simply dispose of the card when it becomes full.

Just thought I'd share, since I hate fungus gnats.

[CoryDeLarge]

Found a great tip in a gardening book.

Using a piece of yellow cardstock or a yellow notecard, cut out a 3 or 4 inch square piece and glue a craft stick to the back of the card.  Smear vaseline on one side of the card and place it into the soil of your indoor sallies.  The gnats are attracted to the card and stick to the vaseline.  You can then either lick off the gnats for a snack or simply dispose of the card when it becomes full.

Just thought I'd share, since I hate fungus gnats.

I'm gonna try this out. Sounds promising. I know gnats were always attracted to my yellow slide when I was a kid.

[Hero4Evz]

Yellow sticky cards are a great way to keep track of fungus gnat populations, but don't actually prevent them from being there. Basically it attracts them and when they're stuck you know they're their, but you won't eliminate their presence with just sticky yellow cards. We are currently dealing with this in class with our Easter Lilly's. More info: UC IPM:UC Management Guidelines for Fungus Gnats on Floriculture and Ornamental Nurseries and Fungus Gnats, Shore Flies, Moth Flies, and March Flies Management Guidelines.

[flourishing]

Thanks for the extra info, HERO!  I understand that essentially they love the overly damp soil.  It was suggested to let stuff dry out a good bit and the fungus gnats go bye bye.

[nitelife]

They are way attracted to yellow.
To kill the larvae, get mosquito dunks/bits (BTI) and crumble them and put them on top of your soil. When you water, the bacteria is flushed down, the larvae eat it and their stomache explodes.
Use pyrethrum to kill the adults.
Use sticky traps to monitor the population, but if you're like me, I rigged about 20 sticky traps around my plants (and a few of the long ones that come in a tube) and it took most of the adults out for a few days.
I barely have any now.

[klato]

I had this problem with a money tree I brought in from the street.  It looked nice and healthy, but when I brought it in I noticed there were always 1 or 2 flies always hovering around it, no matter what.  The other day I dumped out the first few inches of soil, put in my own new soil, watered the hell out of it, and I haven't seen any flies in a day or so.  That yellow card tip seems like a good idea though, so you don't have to dump soil!   

[Hero4Evz]

Yellow cards with soil dumping is the best idea though. Just using a yellow card means you have to get ALL the adult flies or they'll still lay their eggs back in the soil. The fungus gnat larvae though only inhabit the first 1/2 inch of soil so if you remove all the larvae and minimize the amount of adults at the same time your going to have a higher survival rate. Read some of the sites I posted earlier though. There are many beneficial mites you can add to soil that will prey on fungus gnat larvae along with many other mites and larvae.

[farmboy]

I just hung up sticky fly trap paper, and top dressed my soil with sand, and they went away. Fungas gnats dont like sand

[MstryShovel]

ive had a constant problem with fungus gnats as they can jump from one thing to another, and will trade off colonizing my dirty dishes then back to my plants after the plant based solution wears off.

ive found a combonation of sticky traps, honey wells, and a diluted soap spray worked best, though ive never been free completely in a year and a half but when i keep the soap spray up and concentrate on keeping other breeding spots to a minimal(standing water, bio-matter) you can signifigantly reduce your problems

[farmboy]

ive had a constant problem with fungus gnats as they can jump from one thing to another, and will trade off colonizing my dirty dishes then back to my plants after the plant based solution wears off.

ive found a combonation of sticky traps, honey wells, and a diluted soap spray worked best, though ive never been free completely in a year and a half but when i keep the soap spray up and concentrate on keeping other breeding spots to a minimal(standing water, bio-matter) you can signifigantly reduce your problems

you havent tried top dressing w/ sand? That kept em 100% off my plants, but Its kinda hard to water w/ sand on top tho. The sand repels the water, so I usually have to use a dust buster to get it off. LOL.About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I transplanted, and because I had seen no gnats in like forever, I didn use the sand cause of the formentioned annoyance. well. yesterday, (I think) I seen one of the fuckers. If so, Guess I'll go back to the sand again.

[titan0503]

fungus gnats are the bane of my existence.. I've been battling them ever since I got my plants. They're not as huge of a threat as everyone thinks they are, but they are near impossible to get rid of without bacteria or nematodes. *shakes fist in anger*

[farmboy]

am I the only person that got rid of gnats with sand?.............................        guess so

[titan0503]

nah sand i hear is actually i very viable way to get rid of them. I just need to get some.. lol

[nitelife]

Nope- peaches used to put sand on top of the soil of her plants.
She had pink sand and all!!
She isn't around much anymore though, it is sad..

[MstryShovel]

ive used sand before i didnt mean to sound like they are still a problem they are pretty well handled but always seem to find thier way back in.