siege2050

I discovered by accident that sweet oil attracts fungus gnats. They were sticking to the cap of a bottle of It I had. So I took some of it, and poured it into yellow vitamin bottle caps like you get from Wal Mart (Anything yellow might work) and placed it around my pots, sure enough they are attracted to the oil and get stuck and drown.

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CTPalm

what type of oil?

siege2050

Sweet oil, I think its made from olive oil or something, it's used for earaches, etc. Olive oil might work. I had a bunch of fungus gnats go crazy in here from the plants I brought in for winter, and I noticed they were sticking to and dying on the bottle cap of the oil. I had knocked the bottle over once and it had oil on top of the lid. The adult gnats seem to like the smell or something, and they can't escape even just a little of it.

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a.hulva@coxinet.net

Are they white?

siege2050

Fungus gnats? They are little black flies, if they are white they are probably whiteflies. Whiteflies hang out under the leaves, I hate those things. I got a plant with whiteflies last year though the mail, and they were everywhere soon. Fungus gnat larvae eat the plant roots causing rot, and they are annoying.

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siege2050

Demo photo of simple trap, works great! Don't get the oil in the soil when you water though.

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Kegas76

I just put an ACV trap in last night but I've only nabbed 3 so far. I think my container walls are too high.

siege2050

I haven't tried apple cider yet, but this stuff sure works on fungus gnats. I bet the cider works on fruit flies real well. I did a search later and other people have already used sweet oil before me for traps, so I guess I am not the first lol, I just discovered by accident what was already discovered. Every winter the gnats come in with the plants and get out of control, this seems to work pretty well. I germinate seeds during the boring winter, and always lose a few seedlings to gnats. I lost all my Melianthus Major seedlings to gnats last year. Hopefully this will take care of em, and save me some seedlings.

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Red Sky

I tried ACV and actually had much better luck with plain water! I'll try the oil though. These gnats are very annoying! Since I brought in plants for winter they are everywhere.

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siege2050

I was surprised at how easy they get stuck to it and die, even a bit of residue on a bottle cap. You can see there are a lot in that lid, those would be a lot of larvae in the soil if they would have reproduced. I am going to try the cider vinegar if I ever get fruit flies though since they love the smell of anything fruit based.

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Red Sky

I've found if I start with soil-less mix and put the pots into plastic bags so the top is tented up with the plastic it gives the seedlings a very good head start against the gnats. Once they are tall enough to touch the plastic just remove it. You have to adjust the amount of water since there is little to no evaporation and remember to burb the bag to exchange gases once a day but be careful no gnats enter while you do this. I'm hoping I catch enough gnats with the oil traps that I don't have to worry about new seedlings so much.

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