Key is to also always have yellow/blue stick trap cards (FG yellow mainly, blue for thrips )to know if u ever get a high pressure of bugs
For fungus gnats you need a diff Ipm than just spinosad. being spinosad like BTI or nematodes is a single stage defense for those pest, meaning it only will defend against larvae .
to have a adult stage defense against fungus gnats I woild recommend rove beetles for indoors and awesome thing is they are super adaptive and will even stay in a grow room for years ( even thou I haven’t seen a FG in almost 2 years indoors , I do see rove beetles and I haven’t applied any in 2 years) . Not saying you’ll have rove beetles forever but it has been interesting I only applied twice when I had issues and ever since they been a part of my room and keeping me pest free,
key like many of these IPM is proper dosages and right populations for your room size and like the rove beetles, I wanted a good population so I didn’t have to re-apply every season ( even thou the bug ‘wholesaler will say u need to)
I don’t grow in summer, so it’s very interesting how the rove beetles and h miles have not only worked for many years but became part of my enviroment np.
If it was me and willing to do biocontrols I def would just get a big population vs small population packs ( cost of shipping is prolly more than the product itself) and apply in veg /flower , key is to water first and than sprinkle them on medium afterwards .
for larva stage of FG:
since FG are a issue I do a cheap ipm on larvae if no pest showing. Bad thing about waiting till adult stage or when u see em is it takes weeks to become full adults and by then ur fucked.
Liquid BTI 8% (cheap and very concentrated than other brands, 1/2ml per gal)
Amazon product
option 2 if infection occurring , a super weapon is def nematodes , you can also foliar spray to kill the throps. Like both products since 1 day shipped. Cost is biggest factor so when I bought my rove beetles I also got the nematodes so both stages of pest had no chance. Every time I’ve had others do this or myself when I tried. Everything not only eliminated 90% of issue, but it was noticeable win of over 90% death.
Target Pests: Larval stages of fungus gnats (Bradysia spp.), adult and pupal stages of western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) Description: Beneficial nematodes are microscopic worms that attack and kill targeted insects, without affecting any other organisms. Within the infected...
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if you already have spinosad, cheaper choice you need to use the dunk method/pooling meaning ,best way to do this is have a pot pan under each plant pot and pre water/feed the plants right before feeding the spinosad/ipm drench.feed right before “run off”, than apply ur IPM tea (spinosad ) and make sure ur run off is at 5-15% min. Key is to let it pool and absorb in medium 100% for min 30 min ( I let it go 1hr np)
Apply at max 5.8ml per gal ( ph has to be at 5.5 and the water has to be clean, distilled or r/o since spinosad degrade fast in light and bad water)
also spinosad should never be used more than 5 times per season and u must wait 10 days between. Otherwise ur def asking for pest that won’t care about spinosad, like majority of tradional
For adult FG & misc Pest, wonderful biocontrol!
Rove beetles (Dalotia coriaria), formerly known as Atheta coriaria, are used primarily to assist in the control of shore flies and fungus gnats and other small arthropods in the soil or planting media. They also help control soil stages of thrips and feed on most other small soil organisms such...
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