Gnats in weed plants are one of the most common concerns dealt with by cannabis growers. Yes, they are potentially harmful and demands immediate attention. However, if you know how to get rid of gnats in weed plants, you can say that they are not difficult to handle.
Gnats are typical indoor grow space pests and certainly confronting. These tiny, black, mosquito-resembling flies quickly replicate and they are endless. This means to say that if you refuse to do snappy action to resolve the concern during the first indication of infestation, you will be bound for big trouble.
What are Gnats?
Gnats are prevalent agricultural pests that aim the soil-cultivated plants. They prosper in
humid spots, particularly those with existing water. Cannabis plants, in particular, are one of the favorites of gnats as it can give them an area where there can breed and feed on. The permanently damp soil of the neophyte cultivators is an excellent place for decaying matter and fungus – abundant sources of food for the gnat.
Gnats reproduce in the soil and the moment they breed; the larvae commence on a consuming craze. They can feed on anything edible and that includes the roots of the weed plants. Furthermore, they also congest the soil with consumed roots, resulting in the soil to drain hard, promoting the development of more fungal substance for larvae.
How Do They Affect Weed Plants?
Discernible plant stress is another indication of gnat infestation. You have to spot for floppy leaves, yellow or pale leaves, or those with brown shades on edges. It may look as if the weed plant is going through nutrient deficiency.
The affected plant can also display development concerns and shrinking. Common symptoms include stunted growth and small-size buds. If you do not take immediate action in getting rid of gnats as well as their larvae, you must condition yourself of getting diminished yields from wobbly, dying weed plants. You do not like this, don’t you?
How to Get Rid of Gnats in Weed Plants
If you learn to follow these useful guides to inhibit gnats from locating your weed plants, you will surely cut down the possibilities of bumping into them. Nevertheless, even the most promising grow rooms can be penetrated by these organisms. Fortunately, there are various ways on how to get rid of gnats in weed plants.
- Sticky Fly Traps
Your first defense against gnats is the sticky fly traps, ideally in yellow. Why particularly yellow? Well, gnats are commonly enthralled with a yellow color. If you put a few of these traps and hang them around the plants, they can be captured.
This will slacken the infestation and cease it from spreading out. However, these traps do not carry out the task on their own. You must have them installed in your grow area even before detecting an infestation since they will warn you once one is initiating.
- Soil Amendments
Given the fact that gnats inflict most impairments on the root zone and in the soil, it would be rational to do correction measures to the soil. There are several things that you can put to your medium to get rid of gnats as well as their offspring.
Soil amendment can be applied over the soil to inhibit the gnats from penetrating to reproduce. Diatomaceous Earth is an unrefined white rock composed of fossilized residues of marine phytoplankton. It performs similar to small fragments of glass and cuts the bugs open while they creep around through it. Bugs are then killed inside. This makes it an excellent way of disarraying the cycle of life of gnats and inhibiting those that penetrated the soil from dodging.
- Insecticides
The surest way to eliminate gnat in weed plants is through insecticides. There are a few choices you can try.
You can use neem oil as it is a natural insecticide and is a common treatment for an infestation. You can simply spread it to the soil or apply it through a foliar spray. Make sure to get a distinct misting sprayer since this insecticide is a contact-kill. You must ensure you are covering the pests.
- Home Remedies
If you meant to do an immediate action but do not have a pesticide available, there are several home remedies cultivators have successfully tried using.
- Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar would make a great alternative at home since gnats are captivated by it. Blend the apple cider vinegar with a dish soap of around 2 to 3 tablespoons and put the traps around your weed plants. The gnats will be captured in the foaming vinegar and eventually die.
- Hydrogen Peroxide
Use hydrogen peroxide to serve as a soil drench to terminate gnats. This can work effectively in killing any kind of microbial creatures in the soil, which is quite not preferable, but more ideal than causing your plant to die due to infestation.
After managing the infestation, reinstitute these useful microbes together with a compost tea mixture.
- Combating Gnats through Helpful Bacteria and Bugs
There are some strains of bacteria and bugs that you can fix-up into the infested grow area. These strains can fight the gnats:
- Valuable Nematodes
These are the best choices if you are employing organic soil. These minuscule roundworms will hunt for and wipe out 200 various species of soil-based insects. These nematodes combat and feed on gnat larvae, inhibiting reproduction.
- Bacillus Thuringiensis
This strain of bacteria is utilized by organic growers to manage insects on plants that are grown for consumption.
Conclusion
It is necessary to maintain a useful guide on your weed growth, as this will keep you informed on the indications of gnat issues. When identified early and learn how to get rid of gnats in weed plants, you can potentially eradicate pests and diseases.
However, it is needless to say that prevention is always the best way to get rid of gnats in weed. Many weed problems can be stopped when there is common sense. Why wait for the problem to exist if you can find ways to prevent them from occurring?
