Unknown Insect Infestation. Help!

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ladygrower

ladygrower

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I have been trying to get rid of an infestation of flying insects that look a lot like fungus gnats but are quick and look more like fruit flies in the body (short legs and wings). I have tried a few techniques to rid my plants but the best anything does is beat them back and lessen the infestation. I don't want to use the avid I have, otherwise I have tried sticky paper, nemotodes, Gnatrol WDG and even vaccuuming them up when the fly out of the buckets. Any suggestions> I run full hydroponic system.
 
m8ty

m8ty

652
143
Can you cover the buckets with fabric to prevent the fliers from getting into the buckets to lay more eggs?
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
I run a clone bucket as well and these insects will lay eggs and hatch directly on the surface of the foam clone pads, so I don't think that will work but I might as well try it!
 
3G Labs

3G Labs

175
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If you havn't flipped light cycles , drop the bomb (avid). Then keep using all of what you have been using , routinely. Also clean resevoirs and buckets/medium regularly.
 
velocity

velocity

123
43
Does it look like this?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus_gnat

220px Trauerfliege


This is a fungas gnat. 1 thing alot of hydro growers dont know is the can transment pythium aka root rot or brown slime.

Easy cheap kill and prevention is to use mosquito dunks. Can go to any hardware store find them in pesticide area.
Download 31


Every 20 gallons of water in the system crush 1 and place in a cup of water over nite. Take a coffee filter and place over top of glass then hold filter and dump the water in your res. If dont use a coffee filter and any of those pieces get in your pump it can kill the pump.

The dunks have bti as the active ingrediant. Bti will hammer them if its used at correct concentration


www.ghorganics.com/BTI_For_Fungus_Gnats.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis_israelensis



Lil off gnat topic but if have pythium issues in hydro from well water or from the gnats run Orca. Its a trichoderma free product that has specific bacteria to end pythium issues along with nitrogen and phous fixing bacteria. If dont stop use as on the label it will take longer to finish plants by atleast a week, but will realy fatten your buds up. Not trying to plug Orca but the stuff ended my pythium issues I had from well water and increased my yeild aswell. This is made by same company as great white that alot of people use in coco grows. No trich and pythium bacteria is the differance between orca and great white. I tried peroxide dunks, and about everything else on the market.

The orca ended pythium 100% for me once i used it every res change. If use a live res by having benis in your system look up bio buckets, essiantly you place rinsed clean lava rock in top of your net pot for each plant and un a 3/8th hose from a "T" in your water delivery line that is not clear, and zip tie the line to your net pot so water from the res is applied to the top of the net pot. The lava rock gives the beni's a home and can multiply and stay wet. Beni's cannot survive if the are not kept wet and have oxygen, they cannot live without a home. meaning they can just live in buckets or a res being immursed they just need a water film not a swiming pool.


Here is some information on pythium itself.

http://extension.psu.edu/pests/plant-diseases/all-fact-sheets/pythium


www.amazon.com/Plant-Revolution-Premium-Liquid-Mycorrhizae/dp/B006ZSEHBY
 
Last edited:
velocity

velocity

123
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velocity said:
plant and un a 3/8th hose from a "T" in your water delivery line that is not clear
Click to expand...
this should read run a 3/8th dia hose from a "t". Sorry I realized I needed to edit and can only edit within 30 min of a post, my timer ran out.

Once you have the gnats taken care of no need to use Bti unless you want to as a preventative. The dunks will not affect your Ph, nutes, or your plants.
 
symbiote420

symbiote420

2,199
263
Sounds like either root aphids or fruit flies to me! They both lay eggs in the soil that hatch maggot type larvae. Nothing I've used works better or faster on gnat larvae than Gnatrol, and I've used just about everything lol..... Thuricide wipes out those fruit fly maggots. If you still got stuff flying around in a week or two you might have the dreaded root aphid, PM me I have both a natural and chemmy way to eliminate them 100%
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
Texas Kid said:
What kind of hydro setup?
Click to expand...
General hydroponic top drip buckets with additional aeration hose in the bottom. I use clay pellets and run the drip on a 15min on 15min off cycle in veg and 15min on and 30min off in bloom.
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
3G Labs said:
If you havn't flipped light cycles , drop the bomb (avid). Then keep using all of what you have been using , routinely. Also clean resevoirs and buckets/medium regularly.
Click to expand...
I never reuse my medium, it's new every time I replant in a bucket. Also I regularly scrub bucket insides when I do weekly nutrient changes. What do you mean by "if I haven't flipped light cycles"?
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
velocity said:
Does it look like this?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus_gnat

View attachment 492125

This is a fungas gnat. 1 thing alot of hydro growers dont know is the can transment pythium aka root rot or brown slime.

Easy cheap kill and prevention is to use mosquito dunks. Can go to any hardware store find them in pesticide area.
View attachment 492126

Every 20 gallons of water in the system crush 1 and place in a cup of water over nite. Take a coffee filter and place over top of glass then hold filter and dump the water in your res. If dont use a coffee filter and any of those pieces get in your pump it can kill the pump.

The dunks have bti as the active ingrediant. Bti will hammer them if its used at correct concentration


www.ghorganics.com/BTI_For_Fungus_Gnats.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis_israelensis



Lil off gnat topic but if have pythium issues in hydro from well water or from the gnats run Orca. Its a trichoderma free product that has specific bacteria to end pythium issues along with nitrogen and phous fixing bacteria. If dont stop use as on the label it will take longer to finish plants by atleast a week, but will realy fatten your buds up. Not trying to plug Orca but the stuff ended my pythium issues I had from well water and increased my yeild aswell. This is made by same company as great white that alot of people use in coco grows. No trich and pythium bacteria is the differance between orca and great white. I tried peroxide dunks, and about everything else on the market.

The orca ended pythium 100% for me once i used it every res change. If use a live res by having benis in your system look up bio buckets, essiantly you place rinsed clean lava rock in top of your net pot for each plant and un a 3/8th hose from a "T" in your water delivery line that is not clear, and zip tie the line to your net pot so water from the res is applied to the top of the net pot. The lava rock gives the beni's a home and can multiply and stay wet. Beni's cannot survive if the are not kept wet and have oxygen, they cannot live without a home. meaning they can just live in buckets or a res being immursed they just need a water film not a swiming pool.


Here is some information on pythium itself.

http://extension.psu.edu/pests/plant-diseases/all-fact-sheets/pythium


www.amazon.com/Plant-Revolution-Premium-Liquid-Mycorrhizae/dp/B006ZSEHBY
Click to expand...
No, a little but I have had fungus gnats before and they are slower flying with longer legs and wings. These little buggers really do look just like large fruit flies. Same size as fungus gnats. I actually have separate resevoirs for each bucket (single bucket systems) so I would have to have to somehow split a dunk into 10, which I imagine would be possible by weight if completely crushed up so I may try that.
As for the root rot, i do have an issue with that but I use well water that goes through a full-house filter, softener, tannin filter and then a reverse osmosis filter so it's not really well water anymore. Plus I daily dose with a few tsp of H2O2 to each bucket. Some of the plants maintain good roots, others rot and regrow.
I had to edit my previous response if you read it because I realized I had read your origional wrong and understood it when I went back and reread.
 
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3G Labs

3G Labs

175
63
ladygrower said:
I never reuse my medium, it's new every time I replant in a bucket. Also I regularly scrub bucket insides when I do weekly nutrient changes. What do you mean by "if I haven't flipped light cycles"?
Click to expand...
Changing your light cycle to 12 hrs daylight , 12 hrs night, to induce flowering.
I try not to use any pest treatments, that stay in the plant material, after Ive started flowering. Try to use heavy artillery only in veg.
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
symbiote420 said:
Sounds like either root aphids or fruit flies to me! They both lay eggs in the soil that hatch maggot type larvae. Nothing I've used works better or faster on gnat larvae than Gnatrol, and I've used just about everything lol..... Thuricide wipes out those fruit fly maggots. If you still got stuff flying around in a week or two you might have the dreaded root aphid, PM me I have both a natural and chemmy way to eliminate them 100%
Click to expand...
I do have good luck with the gnatrol when I use it, it's just such a pain in the ass because I have to mix it into my nutes 1 gal at a time and shake it really well because it likes to clump up. Guess I'll just have to start that crap again!
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
3G Labs said:
Changing your light cycle to 12 hrs daylight , 12 hrs night, to induce flowering.
I try not to use any pest treatments, that stay in the plant material, after Ive started flowering. Try to use heavy artillery only in veg.
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry, I know what you meant just didn't realize. So you suggest the dunks before flowering. What would you do after changing rooms (I move mine into flower room when ready) to the plants that are flowering to get rid of the bugs? The hand vac worked so so today.
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
symbiote420 said:
Sounds like either root aphids or fruit flies to me! They both lay eggs in the soil that hatch maggot type larvae. Nothing I've used works better or faster on gnat larvae than Gnatrol, and I've used just about everything lol..... Thuricide wipes out those fruit fly maggots. If you still got stuff flying around in a week or two you might have the dreaded root aphid, PM me I have both a natural and chemmy way to eliminate them 100%
Click to expand...
Do you use Gnatrol during flower cycle?
 
symbiote420

symbiote420

2,199
263
ladygrower said:
Do you use Gnatrol during flower cycle?
Click to expand...

Yes but I'm in soil. I use oncw a week for two to three weeks at 1 tbsp per gallon.... lol it does get clumpy but since I've started adding a tsp at a time slowly and shaking it I don't have them!
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
After doing some additional research I believe these are Phorid flies also known as humpback flies. Anybody familiar with or dealt with these before?
 
Texas Kid

Texas Kid

Some guy with a light
4,159
263
I'm assuming your using "Water Farms" because that is all I can think of from GH that has a top drip buckets..I would only feed for 15 minutes every 4 hours when lights are on and not at all when lights are off...15 on and 15 off constantly is way to much watering and your always going to have pathogen and pest problems, this much watering will also inhibit root development and rot the little roots you do have
 
ladygrower

ladygrower

16
3
Texas Kid said:
I'm assuming your using "Water Farms" because that is all I can think of from GH that has a top drip buckets..I would only feed for 15 minutes every 4 hours when lights are on and not at all when lights are off...15 on and 15 off constantly is way to much watering and your always going to have pathogen and pest problems, this much watering will also inhibit root development and rot the little roots you do have
Click to expand...
That is really confusing to me because the roots that are having a problem with rot are the ones that sit in the nutrient solution all the time. Reducing drip rate wouldn't help these at all I imagine. I use clay stones and small six inch pots so it seems like the tiny delicate roots within the clay would get way to dry over twelve hours of no feeding. SecondDSCN0794 DSCN0795 DSCN0789 DSCN0792 two pics are a veg, first two are a bloom with four weeks left. I don't want to call you wrong, I'll try anything, just don't want to destroy my whole cycle of plants.
 
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