Tact
Learning Everyday
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2009
- Messages
- 336
- Reaction score
- 112
Pertinent info:
FFOF/LW soil, basement grow, low RH in the room due to dehumidifier (20%-50%, depending if its off or on for hours at a time, though I keep it on at night to raise temps slightly). I suspect if there is gnats, they came in the soil medium itself. This is my first grow and I have not really watered the seedlings yet, I germed 13 seeds and all 13 seedlings broke ground, one is struggling though with its 'seed helmet', as of today the seedlings are 5+ days old. When I mixed the soil together I poured 2 gallons of pH balanced water into the mixture and mixed it thoroughly, then I put the soil in each of the 13 pots. The seeds were germed in 6.5 pH soaked/then squegeed root plugs (from Worms Way used for clones/seedlings, I believe it is ground bark, suggest by DS by way of THG method), and the plugs were put directly in the mixture of 50/50 FFOF/LW. As the seeds germed in the plugs/soil I put freezer zip-lock bags over each pot to keep the RH high in a greenhouse dome type environment, after they all sprouted I removed the bags, maybe 3 days ago. Since that time I had only 'misted' the top of the plants, as the soil was beginning to get very light in color, and I am unsure that 1 bag of FFOF, and 1 bag LW was 'soaked through' using only 2 gallons of water. I fear this misting created an environment for dormant eggs, already in the medium, to hatch. I maybe misted a total of 5 times over 3 days, once, and perhaps most critically an hour before lights out (the first time), since then I had only misted in the morning when the lights flipped on.
Here is what happened, last night I went down to my grow room about 2 hours before the timer flipped off, I was just overlooking the small seedlings, seeing how the one that is struggling to get its 'seed helmet' off was doing and taking note of temps/RH while fine-tuning fan speeds etc, when I saw a small, black, winged insect sitting on the rim of one of the pots. I went to smash it with my fingers and it flew off, I could not tell if it hopped in the soil or took flight away and the room circulation carried it out of sight right away. I came on here and did some research, I saw all the methods Hick and ME gave regarding Gnatrol, sand/perlite/diatomaceous earth on the top layer 2-3" of soil, as well as watering from the bottom. I went back and checked 4 times before lights out and did not see the insect again, so what I did do, and could do at 11 pm last night was mix two clear (dipping sauce sized) dishes, one with lemon-scented dish soap/water, the other with beer, and put them on a piece of white paper in the room. The idea here was that apparently (as discussed in various threads on this forum) the adult gnats are drawn to these mixtures and will get stuck/die in them. I did this as a way to attempt a basic diagnosis if there were more flighted insects, this morning when I went to check on the room I saw nothing in the soap/water and beer liquids. I aerated the soil of all 13 pots with a fork 2-3" beneath the soil, and put the dehumidifier on, which I reserve for night time to raise temps above 70 in the lights off period. The result of having the dehumidifer on so long dropped the RH to 19%, I turned it off since and it climbed back up to 35%. I do have a humidifier if these RH levels need to go higher, humidifier during the day, dehumidifier at night type thing?
There may be some redundancy's in what I wrote, I am just trying to share all the information. The room itself, as well as the whole house was sprayed by a bug-man not even 3 weeks ago.
Still, due to the fact that 1 adult gnat can lay 1000 eggs, and the life-cycle can make it so I would not see more adult gnats for 5 days+, should I preemptively put diatomaceous earth on the top of all the pots AFTER the next watering, which will be tomorrow (1L per pot)? I called my local Worm's Way (hydro store) and the lady said diatomaceous earth is worthless after you water it, and dangerous before you water it (inhalation dust that will circulate in the room). She insisted I water the pots from the bottom, which would mean stagnant water, though I see it is often suggested and actually promotes root growth as they stretch down to the moisture?
So what are your guys thoughts, use the diatomaceous earth and perlite on top (i have perlite FFOF chunky right now), wait and asses the situation? The bug was quite small, and after reviewing the species that HIE I believe put up, it was either a fungus gnat, a thrip, or none of the above. It did not seem to have the long, disgusting looking legs that the FG pictures had, after repeatedly going down and checking the room and literally standing over the soil like a psycho for 20 minutes I can't see a single insect, no movement. Though if that one, whatever insect did lay some eggs, they would not be visually evident anyway, I will pick up some sticky strips to hang for further evidence gathering?
Bleeeeeh.
FFOF/LW soil, basement grow, low RH in the room due to dehumidifier (20%-50%, depending if its off or on for hours at a time, though I keep it on at night to raise temps slightly). I suspect if there is gnats, they came in the soil medium itself. This is my first grow and I have not really watered the seedlings yet, I germed 13 seeds and all 13 seedlings broke ground, one is struggling though with its 'seed helmet', as of today the seedlings are 5+ days old. When I mixed the soil together I poured 2 gallons of pH balanced water into the mixture and mixed it thoroughly, then I put the soil in each of the 13 pots. The seeds were germed in 6.5 pH soaked/then squegeed root plugs (from Worms Way used for clones/seedlings, I believe it is ground bark, suggest by DS by way of THG method), and the plugs were put directly in the mixture of 50/50 FFOF/LW. As the seeds germed in the plugs/soil I put freezer zip-lock bags over each pot to keep the RH high in a greenhouse dome type environment, after they all sprouted I removed the bags, maybe 3 days ago. Since that time I had only 'misted' the top of the plants, as the soil was beginning to get very light in color, and I am unsure that 1 bag of FFOF, and 1 bag LW was 'soaked through' using only 2 gallons of water. I fear this misting created an environment for dormant eggs, already in the medium, to hatch. I maybe misted a total of 5 times over 3 days, once, and perhaps most critically an hour before lights out (the first time), since then I had only misted in the morning when the lights flipped on.
Here is what happened, last night I went down to my grow room about 2 hours before the timer flipped off, I was just overlooking the small seedlings, seeing how the one that is struggling to get its 'seed helmet' off was doing and taking note of temps/RH while fine-tuning fan speeds etc, when I saw a small, black, winged insect sitting on the rim of one of the pots. I went to smash it with my fingers and it flew off, I could not tell if it hopped in the soil or took flight away and the room circulation carried it out of sight right away. I came on here and did some research, I saw all the methods Hick and ME gave regarding Gnatrol, sand/perlite/diatomaceous earth on the top layer 2-3" of soil, as well as watering from the bottom. I went back and checked 4 times before lights out and did not see the insect again, so what I did do, and could do at 11 pm last night was mix two clear (dipping sauce sized) dishes, one with lemon-scented dish soap/water, the other with beer, and put them on a piece of white paper in the room. The idea here was that apparently (as discussed in various threads on this forum) the adult gnats are drawn to these mixtures and will get stuck/die in them. I did this as a way to attempt a basic diagnosis if there were more flighted insects, this morning when I went to check on the room I saw nothing in the soap/water and beer liquids. I aerated the soil of all 13 pots with a fork 2-3" beneath the soil, and put the dehumidifier on, which I reserve for night time to raise temps above 70 in the lights off period. The result of having the dehumidifer on so long dropped the RH to 19%, I turned it off since and it climbed back up to 35%. I do have a humidifier if these RH levels need to go higher, humidifier during the day, dehumidifier at night type thing?
There may be some redundancy's in what I wrote, I am just trying to share all the information. The room itself, as well as the whole house was sprayed by a bug-man not even 3 weeks ago.
Still, due to the fact that 1 adult gnat can lay 1000 eggs, and the life-cycle can make it so I would not see more adult gnats for 5 days+, should I preemptively put diatomaceous earth on the top of all the pots AFTER the next watering, which will be tomorrow (1L per pot)? I called my local Worm's Way (hydro store) and the lady said diatomaceous earth is worthless after you water it, and dangerous before you water it (inhalation dust that will circulate in the room). She insisted I water the pots from the bottom, which would mean stagnant water, though I see it is often suggested and actually promotes root growth as they stretch down to the moisture?
So what are your guys thoughts, use the diatomaceous earth and perlite on top (i have perlite FFOF chunky right now), wait and asses the situation? The bug was quite small, and after reviewing the species that HIE I believe put up, it was either a fungus gnat, a thrip, or none of the above. It did not seem to have the long, disgusting looking legs that the FG pictures had, after repeatedly going down and checking the room and literally standing over the soil like a psycho for 20 minutes I can't see a single insect, no movement. Though if that one, whatever insect did lay some eggs, they would not be visually evident anyway, I will pick up some sticky strips to hang for further evidence gathering?
Bleeeeeh.