radar4075

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

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

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

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.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

designshark

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.

radar4075

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

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

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

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

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!

__________________
Men In Nursing- "A Few Good Men"

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960


http://flickr.com/photos/saltydad/ and
http://community.webshots.com/user/saltydad
http://s751.photobucket.com/albums/xx151/saltydad/

radar4075

Hay why not ill try it .bet it smells good to .....lol

LilRaverBoi

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.
LOL hi! I moved though....I live in Cedar Rapids, IA now.
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.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

NellyW

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

[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.

NellyW

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

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!

__________________
Viva La Banana

has a dream

What about neem oil have you tried that?

__________________

Gordonf

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

If nothing else works get some lady bugs and prey mantises haha

__________________

has a dream

Just read a few articles and they said neem oil with take care of gnats and mites

__________________