Have you met them yet? If not, you will soon! Fungus gnats can be a HUGE problem when starting seeds indoors. Use these 5 solutions to organically prevent & control fungus gnats on your vegetable seedlings.
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DIGITAL TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Introducing: Fungus Gnats! đŹ
00:43 Why you need a prevention plan
01:04 Solution 1 – Sterilize soil
01:52 Solution 2 – Water only when needed, bottom water
02:31 Solution 3 – Yellow sticky traps
03:03 Solution 4 – DIY fungus gnat traps
04:13 Solution 5 – Neem oil
05:52 Armed and ready!
06:13 Thanks for growing your groceries with me!
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13 Comments
đ SALE: 25% off with code âorganicgardenâ at https://calikimgardenandhome.com. (ends 2/1/23). Includes all 30 CaliKim Seed Collections (handy seed kits organized by veggies/growing season), CaliKim Smart Pots, garden kits, and seed/book bundles. Free radish seeds with every order. Thanks for gardening with us!
What kind of natural dish soap are you using?
Thanks kim for that good idea I'm going to get some yellow sticky trapsđđđ
I built an underground greenhouse 1 1/2 years ago and brought down many bags of store bought organic top soil/compost and last year was the worst with fungal gnats, all from the bags I assume. I used a bunch of sticky traps which did work but they still thrived. Very frustrating. I even found a site that said if you soak "Mosquito Bits" in water for 30 minutes, strain then spray on the soil that it would work as well.
It did help but what do you think of that method as far as trying to go organic?
I think I will do more sticky traps and will try the Neem oil method this year.
Thank you for this post because I was about to go ballistic if I went down there to find they had a cozy vacation throughout the winter months here in the north.
I was just going your page for gnat info this morning. Theyâre out of hand! Just ordered some sticky traps đ
I use Mosquito Bits, too. Instructions on packaging.
That's why I use coco coir,. Soil tends to have bugs. You have to be careful with the sticky traps. Good insects get stuck to them to.
What is the difference between baking the soil and pouring boiling water over it, apart from the cost? Does it have the same affect?
I have recently learnt how to make my own apple cider vinegar using apple scraps.
Because it is using the scraps and cores and not the peeled, cored centres, it is not suitable for human consumption but is good for making in bulk for fly traps, in cleaning and apparently topical skin treatment, although personally i wouldn't use it for the latter unless i didn't have anything else as vinegars can be harsh on the skin undiluted.
All i did was put all of the scraps in a jar and fill it with water. I then added 1 -2 dessert spoons of sugar. Make sure there is at least about a 1cm or 1/4 inch of a gap at the top of the jar.
Cut a square cloth of breathable material, so it over laps the jar and place a rubber band around to seal it. For the first week or so, check it everyday and push down the scraps and top up with water if needed. As the sugars react, it will create bubbles and release gases.
I think mine was about ready in 2 weeks. I think eating apples may take longer than cooking apples but it saves money, if you eat apples often. If you have a neighbour who lets their apples fall on the floor or are really bad tasting, these are ok to use too as you aren't using it for human consumption. You can also freeze the scraps until you are ready to make another batch or start another jar. We store our jars on the kitchen side and out of direct sunlight and heat.
Jar lids are good as in Kim's video but you can also cut the bottoms off plastic fizzy/soda bottles that you can clean and put back into the recycle bin after use. We just inherited some ramekins or you can re use those chocolate GU glass ramekins that we had donated to us.
I generally wait until the dishes are full of critters and then wash them out to reuse. The high sides of the ramekins means i can put them on the pot soil surface for the over wintering stuff like peppers and basil. When i am not trying to initialise the regrowth of leeks in shot glasses, these are great too to cramp in next to seed trays. It's really just a case of finding what you have that works for you but i thought i would add a few more examples.
I really love those butterfly sticky traps! They are so pretty and add colour this time of year! I didn't know that they honed in on the colour yellow?!
How sticky are we talking? More sticky than a sticky note pad? We usually use RAID sticky strips for general fly trapping but it isn't attractive and can get messy as it is super sticky, more sticky than black treacle (i think that is like molasses in the US?). The packet looks like a coin roll that you pull out to about 2ft and it's about 5cm/ 1 1/2 inches wide. Not sure if you have them there?
Anyway, yes i hate those things with a passion! Our peak was last year, when i got behind on processing the tomatoes and was also ripening some for the next batch as i was doing about 2- 3 kgs per recipe as the original 1kg wasn't fast enough to get through.
We also had them in the loft bathroom, as we had a "nursing station" set up, trying to revive the succulent, cactus and orchid types plants rescued from my late mother in law's property and we were growing oyster mushrooms. We could only go to the Isle in half term holidays and my brother in law who spent a lot of time there, didn't water them. My mother in law's cleaner and friend done her best by popping in when she could by over watering them, like maybe the basil would like but it was way too hot last year. He has been very hostile since she has passed away. With no abode, he has made himself comfortable there. With the current market, it looks like they have decided to buy hubby out. Hubby wants to hold out for the next holidays as it's the anniversary of her passing but also so we can pick up the other garden and kitchen stuff that he would not use or care for. He's basically blaming his younger brother as the police notified us and not him of no affixed abode and everything coming to hubby to arrange, because he had no address. He has had several lovely houses but he kept on selling and downsizing his grandads previous inheritance, begged his mum constantly for money. He even when halves on a house with his mum, so she had somewhere to stay on the main land but he rented it all out, even the dining room… He stayed at his baby mums house, with the 5 other kids that wasn't his until there was drama. For me growing up in care this was all privileged nonsense, especially as she was a charity director for children's services! When i moved in with hubby as a fiance, he had a lodger who was lovely. I think the timing of her finishing uni and us getting married, she felt that it was time to move on but we were sad to see her leave as nothing really changes when you get married. Took us two years to get pregnant but in the mean time, at least the renovated spare room was a place for the in laws to stay and not hotels near to us. I didn't know that at the time but that was when she passed her half of the estate of the BIL into hubby's name. She also stopped this allowance thing that i didn't know about too. All because of my crazy idea of making her welcome here at our basement flat. When we got our pregnancy miracle dream, we needed to move as the smooth stone stairs weren't safe and impractical for push chair strollers, so we looked around our local busy London town and it wasn't offering us much. 3 small bed maisonettes. We went looking around where i used to work about a decade preciously, about 4 miles further out of London. Trees along the street, yes. What i found interesting was that the older Edwardian houses, with wooden floors, less insulation, smaller rooms no in built cupboards and lower ceiling cost more than an ex council house that ticks all of those boxes and more? So our 2 bed basement flat, with damp and leaks and only a small shadowed patio to grow tomatoes, strawberries and the other stuff in containers, got us a 4 bed house, with a 70ft garden. Yes it needed renovating throughout but it was a fun project. We moved in at 32 weeks pregnant during a planned two week holiday (When you work in IT holiday time always accural and i needed to use it before mat leave. Really weird to have two weeks off work!). As we were moving in, with the help of friends, me and a friend ripped out the kitchen side that we planned to get ready for the gas and electric guys on the Monday. So glad that we did that as there was a gas leak in the gas fire in the living room and the old boiler was trickling water. We also got a corner sink and replaced the plastic cistern in the outdoor/indoor/ utility area. The electrician replaced the old consumer unit and installed several more access points, checked the rest of the house and i love the config of the unit and load levels. After we safely knocked out the dining kitchen/ dining wall from the inspection results, we had a breakfast bar, with cupboards and a reinstall of a pantry as well as replacing all of the shaker doors. The only 1950's panels were 3 but we could only find 4 panel to match the whole house. With the new regulations, we had to fire proof them too. After the downstairs plastering, the ground floor was all tiled, apart from the living room. Hardwood over bitcheum and then carpet.
Suddenly thinking that life stories and houses renovation projects may not be what people want to read.
When those pesky flies are about they trigger me! lol TBH, i have a lot more house and over wintering plants than last year and might need a minute to plan out what gets relegated from the lights on the windowsill. Just about to till out a tomato plant soil for re use. I am backed up on worm castings so i might just add 5 ltrs after disinfecting the soil. I have been sick with stuff that includes vertigo so bending down, feels like a roller-coaster and my back it so bad rn.
Sticky traps and vinegar-soap solution rocks! Oh, yes, and bottom watering. Havenât had to go to neem oil at this point. What would my closet garden do without you?
If you go to buy sticky traps, donât get the black ones. I did, thinking then I would not have to see the bugs and they didnât work. As soon as I put the yellow traps in it worked! They are definitely attracted to the yellow!
I am having such a hard time getting rid of the fungus gnats đą
Thank you! Super helpful!
I finally got out my grow lights today and started my first round of seeds. Of course, I had planned to do this on Monday after your Live Stream but life has a way of distracting me. Love all your content lately on seed starting. Even though I did all this last February it's amazing how much I had forgotten. Thx for the refresher.