Hey Kim, Im growing grape tomatoes and bush tomatoes. I live on the 7th floor of an apartment building. Decided this was the year to grow some stuff. However I forgot about the whole sterilization of the soil and now our garden has fungus gnats. Do we need to just throw everything away and start again or is there a remedy to save our crops? Like a hoop house with green house plastic to protect the sterilized planters from fungus gnats? We tried using cinnamon but they keep coming back.
Hmmm... Tossing the plants would be the last option I would choose. The first thing I would try is covering the soil with a good layer of Vermiculite amzn.to/3USlMHz and add some of those yellow sticky traps amzn.to/4bQWv7w. Just be careful not to smoother small seedlings. If the gnats can't get to the soil, they can't lay their eggs, so their cycle should end. This helped tremendously in my grow room this Spring. Another option is Gnatrol. I've heard other TH-camrs talk about this product. I found a smaller container available at growershouse.com/valent-organic-gnatrol-wdg-bt-1-lb-bucket. I have not ordered from this site, so don't have any experience with them, though. From what I've heard gnatrol is pretty affective at eliminating them, but it is a lot more expensive. I don't know how high gnats fly, but I'm thinking if you can stop their reproduction, they'll stop. Do check for other potential sources nearby - like neighbor's pots or standing water. I personally don't sterilize my soil. It kills a lot of the beneficial nutrients - especially in potting soil. I tried the cinnamon trick this Spring for a mold issue that came on some potting soil I got. The mold grew right over the cinnamon. Argh... so not wasting my cinnamon anymore. Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Great information ! Thanks, Kim ! I'm going to try planting some seeds for Fall harvest. I'm not sure what yet, but you have inspired me to try!
That's so awesome! You can do it! Do let me know when you decide on varieties, I'd love to hear. Thanks for watching!
Hey Kim, Im growing grape tomatoes and bush tomatoes.
I live on the 7th floor of an apartment building. Decided this was the year to grow some stuff. However I forgot about the whole sterilization of the soil and now our garden has fungus gnats.
Do we need to just throw everything away and start again or is there a remedy to save our crops? Like a hoop house with green house plastic to protect the sterilized planters from fungus gnats? We tried using cinnamon but they keep coming back.
Hmmm... Tossing the plants would be the last option I would choose.
The first thing I would try is covering the soil with a good layer of Vermiculite amzn.to/3USlMHz and add some of those yellow sticky traps amzn.to/4bQWv7w. Just be careful not to smoother small seedlings. If the gnats can't get to the soil, they can't lay their eggs, so their cycle should end. This helped tremendously in my grow room this Spring.
Another option is Gnatrol. I've heard other TH-camrs talk about this product. I found a smaller container available at growershouse.com/valent-organic-gnatrol-wdg-bt-1-lb-bucket. I have not ordered from this site, so don't have any experience with them, though. From what I've heard gnatrol is pretty affective at eliminating them, but it is a lot more expensive.
I don't know how high gnats fly, but I'm thinking if you can stop their reproduction, they'll stop. Do check for other potential sources nearby - like neighbor's pots or standing water.
I personally don't sterilize my soil. It kills a lot of the beneficial nutrients - especially in potting soil. I tried the cinnamon trick this Spring for a mold issue that came on some potting soil I got. The mold grew right over the cinnamon. Argh... so not wasting my cinnamon anymore.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.