/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Some potting mixes have fertilizer spheres which dissolve after being wet for so long, are you sure it's not that?

>>1149583
I guess it's possible, I just bought regular potting soil, but I've had a number of flying gnats around the house and the eggs literally look like my OP pic. Also, I dug around a bit and could only find the eggs near the top of soil so I'm pretty sure it's not fertilizer.

>>1149582
Those are slug/snail eggs

Those in the picture are osmocote time release fertilizer. They are like tiny peas when dry but swell up when wet.

not eggs.

>>1149583
>>1149592
Alright, so I may be a fucking idiot, will wait for a few others to weigh in before I just kill myself.

Note that my OP pic is from google, but it looks exactly like what I was seeing.

Are there any gnats laying dead in the pot with a size 12 poop chute after passing something thats 1,000 x their size?

>>1149596
>will wait for a few others to weigh in before I just kill myself.

You can image search Osmocote if you want to skip the other weigh ins and get to the an hero part.

>>1149596
Yeah I use a lot of potting soil and those are Osmocote beads OP you know what to do next.
Fyi if you really have gnats in your soil treating with hydrogen peroxide is a pretty reliable cure.

>>1149582
A piece of yellow plastic smeared with a thin layer of petroleum jelly. Attach to a stick or hang from a thread near the plants.

Those come with some bought soil to absorb water and release it slowly so the plants can go longer without watering. I think you can even buy them to mix with soil.

Gnats usually mean overwatering. Let soil dry between waterings.
Let it go until plant starts to show slight wilting, then see how heavy the pot is. Use that info for future reference.

>>1149613
Just mist it onto the dirt or plant? It won't damage the plant?

>>1149696
Thanks, will use this.

>>1149607
I did find 3 little worm looking things in one plant, maybe the eggs are from those and not gnats?

>>1149582
those aren't eggs lmao

>>1149582
Apply diatomaceous earth as a top soil, at least .5 inches. Also get some neem oil, and spray not only the plant, but the top soil too.

>>1149582
>>1149586
senpai those eggs are bigger than actual gnats
There isn't even anything in them.

>>1149582
>>1149586
anon is right, fertilizer balls
microscope view of one

Mosquito dunks (bt toxin/bacteria) dissolved and added into the water used to hydrate the potting mix kills gnats and larvae.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688
Post #6
Put potato slices on the surface of the soil. The larvae like it and will be drawn to it.. After about 4 to 5 days, remove the potato slices with the larvae. To get rid of them you can do a lot of things like either use a NO pest strip, neem oil or putting sand on the surface of the soil will suffocate the eggs and get rid of them as well. Tobacco juice kills them, and works well for re-occurrences!

They can be in or on the soil and can fly. In order to get rid of them you can use neem oil, sand or perlite on the surface again kills them, and no pest strips catch the ones that fly. A chemical product called Zone works very well and is very powerful and works well in Hydroponics/Aeroponics!

>>1149582
Mmmmm caviar

OP, again. To bring closure to this thread.

I bought more of the exact same potting soil and checked it. The balls are definitely fertilizer that come in the soil.

>tfw when I spent 15 min combing through my plant's dirt picking out fertilizer with a flashlight

OP, what you are describing as your gnat pests are either fungus gnats or blackflies. You should be able to use a pyrethrin spray to take care of them safely.

>>1149582
hey anon, here's how i dealt with my gnats while doing seedlings for spring
1.) cinnamon on the soil, also prevents damping off
2.) a little oscillating fan, keeps the gnats off the soil, and also dries out the soil a bit (i live in pnw so its always humid here... shit molds so easy), AND helped my plants grow stronger stems/roots... don't have to brush them every day.. handy as fuck
3.) caught a shitload of various flies in a bowl full of homebrew booze, but your mileage may vary

hope that helps!

The only surefire way to get rid of fungus gnats is pesticide. All other treatment methods just control population: sticky cards, sand, diatomaceous earth, not watering, and even BT.

Buy some permetrhin dust, pic related. Water your plants, wait 20 min and then puff this stuff over every exposed soil surface. It should be thick. Don't forget the hole(s) in the bottom of the pot and any drip trays.

Wait several days, water and repeat. You need to continue doing this to every plant for a month. The life cycle of a fungus gnat is 28-35 days. You need to break the cycle, ensuring no larvae in the soil will live to adulthood and no adults can lay more eggs.

>>1149582
Catch them and pin them to mini crusificts to deter other gnats.

>>1149582
Vacuum cleaner

>>1149582
Use apple vinegar not white.
also I would go ahead and use some after dumping some baking soda down your drains, bathrooms kitchen, everywhere around the area youre having problems with

>>1149860
Sounds like you may have fungus gnats. Their larva, likely the worms you found, will eat the roots of your plant and kill it eventually. Search internet for more info and how to treat. I haven't been diligent in getting rid of mine so I have no real advice.

>>1149582
How the fuck could gnats lay eggs that size? Those are clearly something else.

>>1156011
I absolutely disagree with you on that one. Fungus gnats damages are really really over-evaluated, they may do moderate damages on seedling but are virtually a non-issue on adults. They even somehow help to degrade badly composted organic matter that may be present in the soil.


Plus when fungus gnats happen (I mean a massive number, not 5-6 flying by, time to time), most of times it shows there's a problem with over-watering, which definitely has a better chance to kill the plant than any fungus gnats will ever have.


And that's also why I think >>1154106 solution is kind of an overkill just for a few fungus gnats. Even with a massive population, if that happens it means you've got another problem to deal with (over-watering), though the use of permethrin would be more justified for such a number.
For a few fungus gnats, I'm not sure that systematic use of permethrin is the way to go, even more when you put your plants outside and want some beneficial auxiliary on them (hoverfly, ladybug, common green lacewing, or even without talking of predators, just a few bees etc.)