HELP I got flies

[Fman]

Two days ago I transplanted my plants and moved them to the flower side of my room . Today I got little flies, they look like fruit flies, hanging around the base of my plants. They plants in the veg area are ok. What could be attracting flies? My plants are in rockwool sitting in hydrotron. Im using GH flora nova with GH Flora blend and floralishis, also a little hydrozyme and GH sub-culture. How do I get rid of them? I hate flies.

[jangel]

Do have an uncovered vent there? something without screen on it? i use fly paper. You can also get yellow fly sheets, that you set among your plants. No chemicals and they do a pretty good job. Figure out where they came from or else it will be like the dog chasing it's tail and you will never get rid of them.

Peace

[Ron]

I've used the swiffer carpet flick refills, those things are very sticky and worked quite well when my basil had flies. Oh ya, the other thing I did was take the vacuum and suck up all the files I could see.

Cheers,
R

[jangel]

I do that with my shopvac (which is my regular vacuum as I have 5 dogs and 3 cats. no sissy vacuum for me!) Living in a brick house, in the country, we get a ton every year. It does not help I have a dog that opens the door and never closes it. It works great! I will have to try that with the swiffer carpet thingies. I have fly paper and use it all the time.

[Fman]

IM afraid if I vacuum Ill suck up the hydrotron

[jonnyappleweed]

ANNOYING GNATS:::
Bait & Trap
Gnats are easy to eliminate just by using vinegar & water.
Use a small jar fill 3/4 with water add 1 tlbs vinegar
Place jar near plants. The gnats will come to check out the jar and be killed.
To control their larvae in the soil use an organic product called "Neem" (it can be found in most garden shops)Good luck I aked for it at a couple shops and you would've thought I was speaking Romulin.
You can also spray them with a soapy water solution(this will knock em down)

[Fman]

I just dont understand where they came from. My room has been almost bug free for 8 weeks , the only change has been flower nutes Are the flies attracted to that?

[Fman]

Also the temps are up because of the 400hps. Im going to get some vineger right now.

[jangel]

Originally Posted by Fman

Also the temps are up because of the 400hps. Im going to get some vineger right now.

I use the same type of traps for fruit flies only with apple cider vinegar and water. Works great .

[ISO2BWELL]

Fman:

Hows the humidity in there?

ISO

[Fman]

I put some vinegar and water out there. Im not sure if it was working, I sat and watched for about ten min. the flies didnt seem to be going for the vwater. I had to close the shade and turn out the light ,cause 12 hours were up. Ill have to wait until the morning to see how the vwater is working. Thanks for all the input.

[Fman]

Iso- 87 degrees 62% humidity

[Fman]

Iso-62% and 87 degrees

[ISO2BWELL]

While marginal, I think your humidity is part of the problem here. Do you have a dehumidifier? Not a cheap investment, but can be a plant saver. I've got mine runing 24/7 right now!

Try to get the humidity down below 50%...best I can do right now in my flower room is about 55-60%, even with the dehumidifier, and I've got both soil and hydro plants in there.

Only way to rid yourself of the flies ya got is the paper traps and other items as suggested, far as I know.

ISO

[Fman]

No humidifier. I read some place you can put a bucket of something in the room to absorb the humidity, but cant remember what it was. Sure cant afford to buy much more stuff, so Ill have to try something else. Or remember what goes into that bucket.

[snickelfritz]

Look real close at your root base...

If you see li'l aphid like critters ya got Phylloxera. AKA Root Aphids.
The winged bastards (adults) look very similar to, and are often mistaken for Fungus Gnats. They colonize only in the root zone, which is why these are so damaging. By the time you see a bug flying, or see a stray on a stem, the root zone is already colonized and has suffered large amounts of damage.

Phylloxera

• 

Here's some more info from someone that knows them all too well...

Originally Posted by Useless

The larvae are, ironically almost the same color as rockwool. So if you're using RW its super hard to see. I know that as a fact. LOL. They are like the shape of a grain of rice, but only 10x smaller. If you see the larvae just before they hatch, they are like I described earlier, just a clear liquid in an exo-skeleton really.

Heres what I know doesn't work. From my own experience so take note, cause these are going be more of a problem as time goes on as I see it.

1) SM-90. Doesnt eradicate. Merely suppreses. They adapt quickly to overcome this.
2) 10,000 CO2 ppm for 3 hours. Just ****ed up the plants, nothing to the bugs. Needed to be 20K PPM for 3 hours maybe 4, and that would have done it. But it would have killed the crop too.
3) 35% H2O2 @ 15 ml/gal. They dont like it, but it doesnt effect the overall colony. Now, this is really strong for H2O2 of that % as well. Wouldnt recommend going any higher. (Note I use 5 DROPS per gallon of this in regular nutrient solutions, should give you an idea of the strength.) Although, pissed off one night I poured straight H2O2 on em (the 35%) and watched them slowly die. It took a while to eat through the exo skeleton, then they just tuened to liquid. They are some tough tough little nasties!
4) Super cooled water - I cranked my chiller up and dropped the ressy temps to 43 morther-forking degrees for 3 days. The flys would get out, but for the most part, nothing. They dont like it though. It slows down their life cycle which could help if other methods of eradication are used.

P-Bombs for hydro. I think a dunk for soil or other soil less set ups. They help the best, but dont kill all the larvae. So multiple treatments are required. Problem is, the treatments that work are pretty strong as it is, and multiple treatments in the time frame required (according the life cycle in warm conditons) (5 a year in 60 degree F, but much higher in warmer environments, i.e. your soil or medium). I would say every 7 days at most for 3-4 treatments in order to completely stamp it out. But your plants arent gonna like that.

Like I said, these are going become more common, especially as clones are passed around from grower to grower. The only way to truly be rid of them is to clone of the problem, while doing away all related mediums and possible homes for the little feckers.

Call me paranoid, but in the last 18 years of growing (some time off here and there) Some outdoor when I was younger, and mostly indoor hydro for about 10 years or so I guess now, I have yet to see a pest this resilient, this quick to colonize, and this destructive to MJ.

I am sure there some pests people may consider worse, but really these guys are brutal. And watch your clones. Thats how they spread the most here anyway.

This is why I prefer an almost CDC type response. Take a clone from each one of your keepers, remove it immedietely to a sterile environment for rooting. This environment should be away from the infestation site, and materials should be sterile.
Cull all infected plants. Immediately place all discarded vegetation into trash bags. Remove all media. Use a 10% Bleach solution to wash all contaminated areas including ressy, pumps and lines for hydro, buckets and pots for dirt/other. Bleach enitre grow room. Bleach all intake and exhaust fans, including wiping down the baldes (ya lazy pot heads! haha). Drop P- Bombs 2x, every 7 days,. Without food they wont last.

They are nasty little buggers and will only spread further, as more and more people pass around clones.

[Fman]

I just moved the plants into flower 2 days ago. They didnt have any probs when they were in the veg side . I hope your wrong and thet are just gnats.

[snickelfritz]

I'm hoping you don't have them too!

Just thought I'd point out the possibility.

[Fman]

I think the vinegar and water worked. This morning at 4 when the lights come on there was only one gnat flying around. A little while ago I checked again and didnt see any. The temp is down to 73 right now, Ill see what happens later in the day when it starts to get hot. Im going to the hydro store later to get some neem oil also. Thanks for all your help everyone.

[porgy tirebiter]

Get some Bacillus thurengensis israelinsis. It is sold at Wal-Mart as rings you put in water, as a mosquito control. It also works for gnats, the nasty critters. Gnatrol also has the stuff as primary ingredient. Any product (generally around 10 bucks) with this stuff in it will get rid of gnats.
(And they are, indeed, most likely gnats.)

porgy