I think I have fungus gnats.

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by djrock, Jul 2, 2010.

  1. djrock

    djrock Gardener

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    Hello, I think some of my tomatoes in the greenhouse have fungus gnats. They are wee black flies that hang about the soil. I think a seed tray that had bulbs in it is where they came from since it was crawling with them. The soil was wet and the bulbs had mould on them. I have put up fly strips and was reading putting a good layer of sand down will help.

    Any other tip on getting rid of them?

    Thankyou

    djrock
     
    djrock, Jul 2, 2010
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  2. Phil A

    Phil A Guest

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    I won't say spray mount because thats illegal
     
    Phil A, Jul 2, 2010
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  3. djrock

    djrock Gardener

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    Whats that? :cnfs:
     
    djrock, Jul 4, 2010
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  4. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    Hi dj, Fungus gnats, also known as vinegar flies, come inside in any season, but they really proliferate during the summer and winter. They tend to come indoors on house plants that have been outside during warm weather. The larva lives in plant soil and hatches to suck on your plants. Adult gnats are especially attracted to vinegar, so vinegar is a safe and inexpensive way to stop a fungus gnat attack on house plants & this is the best way for me. Unobtrusive & reusable... :wink: Fungus gnats love to eat fermented food. Fill a jar with cider vinegar. Use a pin to poke about 5 holes in the lid. Fungus gnats will flock to the jar and down the holes to get to the vinegar, but they can't get out..!! I put one at the base of any plants that have them & then also cut back on the watering a bit.. :thumb: Hope that is of some help..
    [align=left]



    [/align]
     
    Marley Farley, Jul 4, 2010
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  5. Phil A

    Phil A Guest

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    Phil A, Jul 4, 2010
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  6. Marley Farley

    Marley Farley Affable Admin! Staff Member

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    :rotfl::rotfl: Oh Ziggy..!! :scratch: You even had me wondering if I had missed something..!!! :lollol::wink: I know you are visiting this weekend, but I think you need to take more water with it..!!! :wink::lollol: Sorry Ziggy no offence meant, you have had me in stitches a couple of times now... Keep it up mate...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :gnthb:
     
    Marley Farley, Jul 4, 2010
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  7. Phil A

    Phil A Guest

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    None taken :D Will be using spray mount this week to fix tin foil underneath my solar hot water heating tubes, thereby reflecting all the sun back into the tubes. Mrs left the pump off last weekend, all day. when she realised it had reached 176celcius, so i recon thats the system presure tested, so now i'm going to up the input. At the moment it reaches 70 celcius on a sunny day.

    If it were legal, would be thinking about spray mount for the little moths that have made their home in my pak choi
     
    Phil A, Jul 4, 2010
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  8. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Yes, but as it's not legal you wouldn't dream of using it, would you? :wink:
     
    shiney, Jul 5, 2010
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  9. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    djrock,

    As well as Marley's great advice - if your toms are in pots in the greenhouse you can put them in plants saucers and only water from the bottom (fill the saucer with water). Damp surface soil encourages the little b**ggers. When the top of the soil has dried out you can skim the surface off and put new compost on it.

    If you are using growbags you can bury one, or more, small flowerpot in the bag, with top of the pot sticking above the surface, and water by filling the pot. Instead of pots you can use old plastic cups with a few holes in the bottom. This is also a great way for watering hanging baskets as it you having the water run off the top of the basket. :gnthb:
     
    shiney, Jul 5, 2010
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  10. djrock

    djrock Gardener

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    [align=left]UPDATE: I think I have cut their numbers down.:yho: Not sure if I have got rid of them totally. I covered the top of the soil with a bin bag and put 20mm stones on top to weight it down and to stop them getting down the sides. I started to remove the bin bags and added a layer of dry soil.
    Thankyou
    djrock
    [/align]
     
    djrock, Jul 19, 2010
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  11. djrock

    djrock Gardener

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    They came back again but I am leaving them since the tomatoes donâ??t have much longer to go.

    I was trying to workout where they came from. I thought it was from some bulbs that were in really damp compost but one tomato plant I have indoors suddenly got them. So I had it in the back of my mind that there where in the compost to start with.

    Fast forward to Saturday I had finish the second last bag of compost so went to open the last bag and what is inside it. The wee flies!!

    The compost I was using is J Arthur Bowerâ??s Multi-Purpose. I will never buy it again! Not just because of the gnats but because I found a sliver of glass in one bag. Never had these problems before.

    [FONT=&quot]djrock[/FONT]
     
    djrock, Aug 30, 2010
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