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radar4075
02-19-2013, 10:53 AM
Hay all
In Oct. I brought in all my nanners for the winter . Shortly after I noticed I had small webs forming .(spider MIT) so I washed plant with soapy water . Several times . Then weeks after that I started getting what looked like to be fruit flys .
I let the soul dry out well and used fans to move the air. It seemed to have worked.
Then about 1 mounth later webs were back and so were flys . With I think are fungus nat.
Anyone have any more thoughts plants still seem healthy Exept 2 witch ended up with the top leaves all bunching on top of each other with a very light green wrinkle leaves producing from the center . Moved those trees to basment till I no what's up .

Any help would be cool .thanks from nj

crazy banana
02-19-2013, 12:50 PM
I am by far no expert on this, but I had similar problems with other plants before. Something that has really helped was Diathomaceus Earth. It dries out the mush on the plant and its razor sharp crystals will kill any pests like spider mites. I do use the food grade stuff from feed stores NOT the pool supply stuff. Make sure you wear a mask while dusting it on your plants because it can hurt your lungs as well.

radar4075
02-19-2013, 01:25 PM
I have tried that before with some success .I think the culprit was the mirical grow pot dirt I got at the end of season .for my pups also have dwarf Curtis trees everything is infected. It blows
Some one on another sight recommended Dr. Pyes scan mask nematodes but not shore if safe fo the nanners. And it sounds like that would take some time.
Thanks for you thought boss

LilRaverBoi
02-19-2013, 01:37 PM
I've had plenty of issues with spider mites and fungus gnats during winter with my plants. When I was living in St. Louis, I was using Miracle Grow soil and this is when I had the issues. Not sure if that's a correlation or a connection. Personally, the spider mites are much more of an issue that needs to be dealt with than fungus gnats. I'd worry about spider mites more and do your best to battle them. Fungus gnats are a nuissance, but don't do any damage. Treat for spider mites and put up some fly strips and call it a day.

Oh, also note aphids have a flying adult form, so I'd look carefully for any evidence of that, as this would be something more serious than the gnats.

designshark
02-19-2013, 02:26 PM
I think the house spiders take care of both. You know the type that hang out in the corners of your house. I've got a few living around my plants and have no problems. I've seen the fruit flies or knats or what ever they are flying around and in the spider webs being eaten for lunch. So think again before you smash that itsy bitsy spider, try scooping it up and dropping it in your greenhouse or around your plants! I'm not talking spider mites, I'm talking actual spiders.

:woohoonaner:

radar4075
02-19-2013, 02:35 PM
Lol got spiders as well .infestation is quicker then they can eat and can't get the larva in the dirt .thanks

has a dream
02-19-2013, 02:46 PM
I put a layer of sand on the top of the soil and that stopped my gnat problem. Also hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii LilRaverBoi from st. louis

radar4075
02-19-2013, 03:39 PM
What up Louis .I read a lot about the sand .
I went and got some and ended up with little sand castles all around my plants the gnats loved it .I guess my bugs love the beach lol.

radar4075
02-19-2013, 03:54 PM
Ps. Doas anyone have any pic .of flying aphids .I am 99% shore there gnats but better safe then sorry .
I us mirical grow pot dirt with cactus mix I bag ....then 20% purlight in a 35 gallon pot with stone in the bottom.for drainage .drainage is good .
Plants are kept at 75 to 80 degree with humidity at between 65 and 80 .and a fan moving air 4 days a week.
Water when dry to a inch ...banana fuel once a mounth .
Threw window light strong most all day .
You thing bugs wouldn't be a big problem.
Could be roung thow

saltydad
02-19-2013, 06:19 PM
A successful treatment I used for fungus gnats is to take a Bounce dryer sheet, tear to size, and lay on the top of the soil in the pot. Worked like a charm!

radar4075
02-19-2013, 06:23 PM
Hay why not ill try it .bet it smells good to .....lol

LilRaverBoi
02-19-2013, 06:30 PM
I think the house spiders take care of both. You know the type that hang out in the corners of your house. I've got a few living around my plants and have no problems.
LOL I have been leaving spiders alive in my living room all winter (and my roomate thinks I'm nuts). I would rather have a few spiders here/there than other bugs on my plants.
Also hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii LilRaverBoi from st. louis
LOL hi! :2691: I moved though....I live in Cedar Rapids, IA now.
Ps. Doas anyone have any pic .of flying aphids .I am 99% shore there gnats but better safe then sorry .
I don't have a pic, but they're both tiny black flying things that are smaller than your typical fruit fly. I would check the leaves of your plants for evidence of aphids in other forms (little light green/yellow bugs). That's probably the best way IMO to tell if it's aphids.

NellyW
02-19-2013, 06:57 PM
The absolute single best, tried & true relief from fungus gnats is Bacillum thuringensis. To most of you, that's simply a "mosquito dunk." Although there is a strain of it called B.t. 'israelensis', which targets fungus gnats more effectively, but the stuff's pricey.
I've also tried the sand layer over the soil thing but with limited success. I think what it mostly probably does is just keep flying adults that happen by from taking much interest in laying eggs there. I really doubt that it kills the ones already in the soil, or the ones flying around.
So, it's a "mosquito dunk" (or really just a piece of one, dissolved in the watering can) to kill the ones munching on the roots. And for the flying adults, get yourself some colored plastic cups (yellow is arguably the most effective but other colors will work such as red or blue); invert it, and lightly coat it with Tanglefoot. Whenever I get fungus gnats I always have to do this anyway, because they actually bite me (or maybe I'm just allergic to their hairy little legs?) and those itsy-bitsy, tiny little bumps ITCH!! I never feel the bite (or whatever it is) until about an hour or so later.
No matter if you don't have an idiosyncratic reaction to them like I do, it really just makes their complete destruction go faster & also helps keep them from infecting other plants.

designshark
02-19-2013, 07:08 PM
[QUOTE=LilRaverBoi;214869]LOL I have been leaving spiders alive in my living room all winter (and my roomate thinks I'm nuts). I would rather have a few spiders here/there than other bugs on my plants.

I never kill spiders, never have. I always enjoyed feeding them if that's not too nuts. My wife don't like them at all so the ones she sees I scoop up and put outside.
:08:

NellyW
02-19-2013, 07:12 PM
Hay all
In Oct. I brought in all my nanners for the winter . Shortly after I noticed I had small webs forming .(spider MIT) so I washed plant with soapy water . Several times . Then weeks after that I started getting what looked like to be fruit flys .
I let the soul dry out well and used fans to move the air. It seemed to have worked.
Then about 1 mounth later webs were back and so were flys . With I think are fungus nat.
Anyone have any more thoughts plants still seem healthy Exept 2 witch ended up with the top leaves all bunching on top of each other with a very light green wrinkle leaves producing from the center . Moved those trees to basment till I no what's up .

Any help would be cool .thanks from nj

My reply about the gnats is spot-on, but now, mites have always been a nightmare for me.
Knowing whether you're trying to keep organic or not might help people know how to answer.

If you can knock them off with a spray of water strong enough but won't harm the plants, that will (maybe) eventually work. But it seems like you have to keep doing it every couple days for, like, ever....
I used predator mites once but there was already so much damage I couldn't really tell who won the war. (Sure wasn't the plants)

scottu
02-19-2013, 07:36 PM
Hay all
In Oct. I brought in all my nanners for the winter . Shortly after I noticed I had small webs forming .(spider MIT) so I washed plant with soapy water . Several times . Then weeks after that I started getting what looked like to be fruit flys .
I let the soul dry out well and used fans to move the air. It seemed to have worked.
Then about 1 mounth later webs were back and so were flys . With I think are fungus nat.
Anyone have any more thoughts plants still seem healthy Exept 2 witch ended up with the top leaves all bunching on top of each other with a very light green wrinkle leaves producing from the center . Moved those trees to basment till I no what's up .

Any help would be cool .thanks from nj

Have tried the dryer sheets, the coating of sand, the dishs full of soap etc. fly strips, I also have taken a flashlight and a vacuum cleaner in the dark for surprise and caught several at the base of the banana, for me the vacuum has been most effective. The latest is neem oil mixed with a little water and soap , it dosen't kill them off but slows them down and after a couple of weekly applications they are finally few but they still are! let us know if you find a silver bullet!

has a dream
02-19-2013, 07:38 PM
What about neem oil have you tried that?

Gordonf
02-19-2013, 07:45 PM
I had fungus gnats and for me, the sand solution didn't work. These little pests like the colour yellow, so traps for them are that colour. i bought a box of Safer's "Sticky Stiks" which come with the sticky traps and little plastic sticks on which to put them. I couldn't believe how many little gnats they caught in just a few days! I'd recommend these. They cost $8.99 at Canadian Tire here in Canada.

good luck!

has a dream
02-19-2013, 07:59 PM
If nothing else works get some lady bugs and prey mantises haha

has a dream
02-19-2013, 08:05 PM
Just read a few articles and they said neem oil with take care of gnats and mites

radar4075
02-19-2013, 08:49 PM
Wow .....first I would like to thank you all ..I guess I don't stand alown .
A lot off this I've tried (dryer sheets) no.
(neem oil) no....
And to (nellyw) that was alittle Greek to me .but well written and I will definitely resource it.thank you
As far as organic . Yes I remain as organic as possible I guess the least organic thing is the banana fuel I use ...but I alternate with fish amoltion.
These bugs are black ...smaller ans slower then fruit fly but look almost the same.I've pulled all dead leaves and rime off from the indoor aclimation from the out side ans found no bugs at all a spider or 2 .
My red and candanavish I separated because I got weird growth like bunched top disease or somthing not shore yet .
I went 2 years with no bugs like this and have been growing veg. For 20 year inside and out with minanal bugs indoors any way .
I could not find a review her but just order Dr Pyes scan ...predator mights and bath tubed Tue plants but that is definitely short lived .and then plants are wet again witch nigats trying to dry them out some .the bananas 10 of them still look pretty healthy and are growing .my citrus witch was hit to giant looking so great this past week only started to drop leaves and look alittle not happy .witch I can understand .they drive me nuts to .
Well thanks again all....

waggoner41
02-20-2013, 01:05 PM
Hay all
In Oct. I brought in all my nanners for the winter . Shortly after I noticed I had small webs forming .(spider MIT) so I washed plant with soapy water . Several times . Then weeks after that I started getting what looked like to be fruit flys .
I let the soul dry out well and used fans to move the air. It seemed to have worked.
Then about 1 mounth later webs were back and so were flys . With I think are fungus nat.
Anyone have any more thoughts plants still seem healthy Exept 2 witch ended up with the top leaves all bunching on top of each other with a very light green wrinkle leaves producing from the center . Moved those trees to basment till I no what's up .

Any help would be cool .thanks from nj

Look up Nematodes on the internet. There are several varieties and you can purchase the type that seems to fit your problem.

radar4075
02-20-2013, 08:24 PM
I oder Dr Pyes scan mask witch takes care of apparently most everything. Hope that was the right choice. Never used them before for tropicals. Used dirt inoculate. For garden didn't notice much deference. Thank you Sr.

waggoner41
02-20-2013, 11:53 PM
I oder Dr Pyes scan mask witch takes care of apparently most everything. Hope that was the right choice. Never used them before for tropicals. Used dirt inoculate. For garden didn't notice much deference. Thank you Sr.

I've always used Steinernema nematodes and never used a multi variety nematode solution. Let us know how that works out.

radar4075
02-21-2013, 07:46 AM
No problem I will write a review on it hear . The cust. Review states by most people in 77 reviews that 2 to 3 weeks later they we fine . That is the estimated like cycle of that gnat I think .
So I will let you all know then .
And thank you .... Everyone for your posts and help it is so coooool:nanadrink:

sandy0225
02-26-2013, 07:35 AM
Have you tried the mosquito dunks in water and then watering that liquid in. You can tank mix it with any water you're using. There is a commercial product called gnatrol that I use, but its the same bt ingredient. It does sound like maybe those are shore flies instead of fungus gnats. Shore flies look more like regular flies, but smaller, and slow. Fungus gnats are more delicate looking like mosquitoes, tiny and faster moving. Bt will control both of them.

radar4075
02-26-2013, 10:19 AM
It is most possible.shore gnats .what ever they are the magarty of them are in the dirt they take to flying if I disturb the dirt.
We do live in a area that has a lot of fruit fly problems.believe me or not I found a hole lot of dead one onthe other end of the house in a window sil no were near my plants .
I have not used dunk not shore were I could get it around here but will look into it .
I just aplyed Dr.Pyes scanmask to the pot soil never used it before nor have I seen much review on it will update you all in a few weeks on that product.
Thanks