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Fungal or fungus gnats suck. Many say that just a few of them wont cause any damage to your plants. That is true. What is also true is that Fungus gnats can and will multiply fast. The fungus gnats themselves do no harm to your plants. The fungus gnat larvae does. While in the larvae stage the fungus gnat feeds on fungus found in your growing medium.
Even if you start off with a sterilized medium, once you open the bag it is contaminated.Add warm temps, water, and nutrients and presto. The most beautiful healthy gardens that produce the biggest and best buds do have fungus living in the growing medium, 99.9% of that is not harmful to the plant.
Fungus gnat larvae becomes harmful to your plant once it exhausts it's food supply. this happens when an infestation occurs and there is not enough fungus to feed all the larvae. The next food source they turn to is the very fragile fresh root endings of your plants. Once the gnat larvae start feeding on the plant roots the plant begins too look sick in ways that lead you to believe there is a nutrient deficiency. Leaves can start to curl, spot, dry, wilt, discolor, etc, etc. These signs can cause the care giver to add more water or fertilizer or whatever to correct the problem. The reality of this situation is that the plant is suffering from deficiencies, but not because the soil is deficient, it is because the root endings that feed the plant are damaged.
A few fungus gnats should be taken very serious. If they go un checked they will grow to an infestation.
Prevention of Fungus Gnats is not always that simple but there are some basic rules that every indoor gardener should follow that will minimize your risk of getting them.
Minimize or eliminate exposure your indoor plants have to the outside. Keep your grow area clean!! Vacuum, sweep, dust, clean your garden regularly. Don't eat or drink in your grow room. wipe your feet or take off your shoes before entering your grow room. Keep pets out of your grow room.
Keep in mind that the fungus gnat life cycle consists of three basic stages that we need to be aware of- egg, larvae, and fly. Any treatment we use should treat all three of these stages.
I am not an advocate of Neem oil. My experience with it is that it is messy, stinky and harsh on the plants and it is not very effective. Spray chems are out of the question.
I suggest the following treatment that IME will completely eliminate the problem. Fly strips should be hung to target adults while they are airborne. fungus gnat eggs and larvae should be eliminated by using LIVE BENEFICIAL NEMATODES These can be purchased on line at the link or they can be found at Home Depot or most any garden store. Nematodes generally take about two weeks to get a handle on the situation, but they work like a charm and they do not harm the plant.
If your plants are mature or are in the budding stage and you have a serious infestation I would seriously recommend putting a 1/2 inch layer of sterilized sand over the soil in your pot. Placement of this sand prevents adult egg laying flys to get back into contact with the soil. This sand barrier also prevents mature larvae from getting to the soil surface and flying away. IMHO the sand application should be done after adding nematodes.
If you have budget issues and you have a rapid infestation, fly strips and adding a layer of sand do work well but it takes longer and it may not be 100% effective.
I have had experience on several occasions over the years with fungus gnats since I started using live beneficial nematodes I have never had them again. I dont wait to get gnats before I use the nematodes. Once I transplant into the containers I am going to use for adult veg stage plants and fowering I add nematodes.
I have found that sand and fly strips by themselves work better than Neem oil.
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