Fungus Gnats~Cinnamon !!! Natural fungicide! - Page 2 - GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Education

The HSIC · #21 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 01:03 AM

Common herbs and spices show promise as an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional pesticides, scientists have told a major US conference. They have spent a decade researching the insecticidal properties of rosemary, thyme, clove and mint.
They could become a key weapon against insect pests in organic agriculture, the researchers say, as the industry attempts to satisfy demand.
The "plant essential oils" have a broad range of action against bugs.
Some kill them outright while others repel them.
Details were presented at the Fall Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington DC.
These new pesticides are generally a mixture of tiny amounts of two to four different herbs diluted in water.
The research was led by Dr Murray Isman, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Some spice-based commercial products now being used by farmers have already shown success in protecting organic strawberry, spinach, and tomato crops against destructive aphids and mites, Dr Isman explained.
"These products expand the limited arsenal of organic growers to combat pests," he said.
"They're still only a small piece of the insecticide market, but they're growing and gaining momentum."
Unlike conventional pesticides, these "killer spices" do not require more limited approval from regulatory bodies and are readily available.
An additional advantage is that insects are less likely to evolve resistance - the ability to shrug off once-effective toxins - Isman says. They're also safer for farm workers, who are at high risk for pesticide exposure, he notes.
But the herb-based pesticides also have shortcomings.
Since the essential oils made from these herbs tend to evaporate quickly and degrade rapidly in sunlight, farmers need to apply them to crops more frequently than conventional pesticides.
Some last only a few hours, compared to days or even months for conventional pesticides.
As they are also generally less potent than conventional pesticides, they must be applied in higher concentrations to achieve acceptable levels of pest control, Dr Isman said.
Researchers are now seeking ways of making the novel pesticides longer-lasting and more potent, he added.
"They're not a panacea for pest control," Dr Isman explained.
Conventional pesticides are still the most effective way to control caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles and other large insects on commercial food crops, he added.
"It comes down to what's good for the environment and what's good for human health."

jangel · #22 (**permalink**) 08-18-2009, 08:38 AM

This "New Idea" has been around for a long time. This is the basis for companion planting. So if you have a problem with something, find what herb or plant works well against that and plant it nearby. Marigolds help keep away cabbage worm. etc etc.

Thanks thothamon, great info and about time they got smart!

Naturelover · #23 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 01:40 AM

How did the cinnamon work out? Was it effective? I'm having a fungus gnat problem at the moment myself.

ileso · #24 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 04:09 AM

or be it, rather than have mono cultures. farmers should sow more balances multi cultures with various pesticide plants with the principal cash crop.

this makes alot of sense, as a matter of fact i think most outdoor guerrilla growers have found out in a practical way how cannabis planted outdoors in forests and fields are less plagued by pests than those indoors because pests have more on which too feed for example and dont attack any one single species.

ok youll get a caterpillar or two, and this or that. but you never ever PLAGUED by anything.

SomeDude · #25 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 09:43 AM

The cinnamon worked pretty well, There is still a few of the lil bastards around, but nothing even close to what it was before. I have only applied two applications of cinnamon on my babies though, so it is possible that it needs to be done on a little more frequent basis than what i have been doing.

Did anyone ever try the chamomile tea trick?

Don krizzle · #26 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 10:26 AM

ugh! so yea i did all of my pots with a top dressing of cinnamon due to a outbreak of gnats.. well it didnt work out so well... yes it made them very unhappy and the numbers decreased significantly but after about 3days the cinnamon absorbed the water out of the soil and started growing green mold so i vaccumed the top layer off and completely filled in the pots with fresh soil... what did i do wrong or does this happen to every1?
any info would b awsome thx

SomeDude · #27 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 10:33 AM

kinda sounds like you are possibly over watering them.

4maggio · #28 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thothamon

A few others for those that are organically inclined..

Aphids and mites can be done in with a WEAK solution of
clove, rosemary and mint.

Other natural pesticides occur in garlic and thyme.

High thothamon.. thanks for these...

Would you think that those solutions might affect taste?
Garlic flavored bud would be good in some Italilan environments... LOL!!(I am Italian)

Galic breath from dubbies..

Or the smells one might get woud only enchance the munchies..!

GD gnats!

Sorry >AK47!

CAMSTER626 · #29 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 12:15 PM

I use a light dusting of cinnamon in the corners of my grow spaces...it works wonders on ants...poor lil fools...they dont know if the should piss or go blind when I hit them with it...they just get the heck outta there.

Don krizzle · #30 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 01:06 PM

well they are watered from below and its not like the soil is saturated ..but i guess that could b a possibility if noone else is having that problem.. im just gonna switch everything to rdwc after this harvest so i dont have to worry bout the soil issues
thx newayz

Naturelover · #31 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 01:48 PM

My gnat problem was becoming an infestation this morning so I applied a generous helping of cinnamon to the surface of the soil in each pot. A few small patches of soil are visible here and there but for the most part it's blanketed. We'll see how it goes. The gnats seemed to hate it when it was going on, and now they are still alive but they're on the lights, on the ground, the walls, but not on the pots, and not on the soil.

I'll let everyone know how it progresses.

I would have tried out the chamomile tea method, but I have recently been watering these plants with egg water and I don't want to overdo it on the liquids, especially when I have a pre-existing fungus gnat problem.

jangel · #32 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 02:30 PM

Yes, since you sound like you have a goodly infestation, it should be a good test. I will check back, I do hope it helps you! They are awful little twirps. Killed many of my plants last year, and I have a couple now, but have to re-treat with cinnamon and see how it goes.

Good Luck!

peace

Burnin1 · #33 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 05:31 PM

OK, I now have some understanding on how to get rid of fungus gnats.

I am curious to see if cinnamon on the soil can transfer to the smoke, or vapor taste. Now theres a flavor I have never experienced......

Lumix · #34 (**permalink**) 10-03-2009, 10:58 PM

Thanks you thank you! my first soil, just two and had some gnats and that Cinnamon trick shut them up like a nagging spouse.

jangel · #35 (**permalink**) 11-14-2009, 12:19 PM

Hey Folks! The last couple of days I have been busy re-arranging my grow room. It seems I have FINALLY had some success killing off my infestation of fungus gnats. Over the last while I have been over run with them. I pulled out all the stops and did whatever I could to kill them or I was going to close down my complete grow for a while to get these things GONE! This is what worked for me:

All of this was added to each GALLON of Reverse Osmosis water every watering.

2 tablespoons of Vectobac Vectobac PDF file

2 teaspoons SM-90 SM-90

2 teaspoons Neem Oil

As well I had ribbons of fly paper everywhere.

One thing I found out from observing these little buggers.

ANY open wet soil is an attractant. They also used the drainage holes of the pots. If you sit and watch any thing that is affecting your crop long enough, you can usually come to some conclusion on how to confound it. Let us hope we are wiser than some damn bugs. I had tried cinnamon. Every plant was covered with it. Yes, it works to repel a few of them, for an initial first few seen. BUT what I found is that over time, it gets wet, rots and has no affect. It also will change the ph of your soil. Due to the number of plants I had, at different stages, from flowering plants, to vegging clones, to seedlings and new clones with soft new roots, it did not work consistently enough for me. I also found that rooting clones in peat pellets attracted the gnats to them. I think that peat moss is of a sort of fiber that they like. It is consistently wet, in order for the clones to root. It is made of the roots and plant, all in one. I found it was a breeding ground. Out of 18 clones I had only 2 survive. Now I am using perlite to root clones, and they seem to be fine...(I just keep my fingers crossed!)

In my reading on these damn things I have read many suggestions to cover the soil with sand. I had no sand, and couldn't seem to find any here that was sharp. I also tried diatomaceous earth, but found once this got wet, it too was of little use. Now I have all of my plants top soil covered with perlite. About a half to an inch deep. This prevents the adults from being able to get to the soil to lay their eggs.

I am sure that the combination of all three things worked. The vectobac to kill the larvae, the neem oil as well, to repel them, and the sm-90 to build new roots and help the plant overcome the affects of the gnats. With the perlite on top, and fresh fly paper hung, I have caught in the last 2 days maybe 4 to 6 per room. If it was practical, I would also bury the pots in the perlite as well, to keep them from being able to get to the drainage holes of the plants. For my size of a grow though, it is not practical and I think they are pretty much gone anyway. I will continue with my treatment until such time I see absolutely none of them.

I had so many the fly paper was literally covered with them, from top to bottom. Very discouraging. Here in Canada we cannot get a number of things to fight these. Such as Gnatoral. And Mosquito Dunks. I believe the Vectobac is a similar product though. But this is only available at my hydro store. I have not seen it anywhere else.

White Grape · #36 (**permalink**) 11-15-2009, 10:56 PM

Thanks for the cinnamon info SomeDude.
Surfing the web I found this thread and it is the reason I just joined this forum.
Out to the store tomorrow to get me some.
Question on the chamomile tea.
Does anyone have any ideas on mixing it with a compost tea or water with molasses and or big bloom and then applying?
Seems you could kill to birds with one stone that way.

4maggio · #37 (**permalink**) 11-16-2009, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by White Grape

Thanks for the cinnamon info SomeDude.
Surfing the web I found this thread and it is the reason I just joined this forum.
Out to the store tomorrow to get me some.
Question on the chamomile tea.
Does anyone have any ideas on mixing it with a compost tea or water with molasses and or big bloom and then applying?
Seems you could kill to birds with one stone that way.

High white grape... welcome.

I can not comment on chamimile & compost but
If you want to help your compost for 'indoor growing', Diatomaceous Earth. At the first hint of 'bugs' i sprinkel it on top of the hydroton..
It does contain salt so in the res isn't a good idea. I'm thinking that rain would leach out salt in compost.

Diatomaceous earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I run DWC/E&F (Hydro) but it seems to me that diatomaceous earth in the compost would do the 2 birds with one stone trick.. It's cheap.
Kills bugs by slicing them open (little SOBs) and is safe for kids and pets.. farmers feed it to cattle to kill bugs in the cow stomachs. Lowes or the like.

jangel · #38 (**permalink**) 11-16-2009, 10:47 AM

Just added a post further up people should read about this scourge.

Peace

Desert Woman · #39 (**permalink**) 11-16-2009, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SomeDude

A friend of mine turned me on to a real simple way to get rid of fungus gnats. just apply a nice top dressing of cinnamon to your soil and it'll kill them all off fast and naturally..

thank you so much for sharing. I will share this with my partner and hold it in our arsenal for when/if we run into those nasty little buggers in the future.

herbs are very handy, indeed.

jangel · #40 (**permalink**) 11-16-2009, 11:12 AM

DW, be aware that it can change the ph of your soil and cause a whole wealth of other difficulties. It works for a few, but more than that, be careful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jangel

Hey Folks! The last couple of days I have been busy re-arranging my grow room. It seems I have FINALLY had some success killing off my infestation of fungus gnats. Over the last while I have been over run with them. I pulled out all the stops and did whatever I could to kill them or I was going to close down my complete grow for a while to get these things GONE! This is what worked for me:

All of this was added to each GALLON of Reverse Osmosis water every watering.

2 tablespoons of Vectobac Vectobac PDF file

2 teaspoons SM-90 SM-90

2 teaspoons Neem Oil

As well I had ribbons of fly paper everywhere.

One thing I found out from observing these little buggers.

ANY open wet soil is an attractant. They also used the drainage holes of the pots. If you sit and watch any thing that is affecting your crop long enough, you can usually come to some conclusion on how to confound it. Let us hope we are wiser than some damn bugs. I had tried cinnamon. Every plant was covered with it. Yes, it works to repel a few of them, for an initial first few seen. BUT what I found is that over time, it gets wet, rots and has no affect. It also will change the ph of your soil. Due to the number of plants I had, at different stages, from flowering plants, to vegging clones, to seedlings and new clones with soft new roots, it did not work consistently enough for me. I also found that rooting clones in peat pellets attracted the gnats to them. I think that peat moss is of a sort of fiber that they like. It is consistently wet, in order for the clones to root. It is made of the roots and plant, all in one. I found it was a breeding ground. Out of 18 clones I had only 2 survive. Now I am using perlite to root clones, and they seem to be fine...(I just keep my fingers crossed!)

In my reading on these damn things I have read many suggestions to cover the soil with sand. I had no sand, and couldn't seem to find any here that was sharp. I also tried diatomaceous earth, but found once this got wet, it too was of little use. Now I have all of my plants top soil covered with perlite. About a half to an inch deep. This prevents the adults from being able to get to the soil to lay their eggs.

I am sure that the combination of all three things worked. The vectobac to kill the larvae, the neem oil as well, to repel them, and the sm-90 to build new roots and help the plant overcome the affects of the gnats. With the perlite on top, and fresh fly paper hung, I have caught in the last 2 days maybe 4 to 6 per room. If it was practical, I would also bury the pots in the perlite as well, to keep them from being able to get to the drainage holes of the plants. For my size of a grow though, it is not practical and I think they are pretty much gone anyway. I will continue with my treatment until such time I see absolutely none of them.

I had so many the fly paper was literally covered with them, from top to bottom. Very discouraging. Here in Canada we cannot get a number of things to fight these. Such as Gnatoral. And Mosquito Dunks. I believe the Vectobac is a similar product though. But this is only available at my hydro store. I have not seen it anywhere else.