Boy Peg, George and I feel your pain. I had a bunch of cuttings go bad because of fungus gnats. I fixed the problem by using mosquito dunks at the rate of 1/4 dunk/2 gal watering pot. I took it a week to get rid of them. I usually also water less than once a week. Yes, I agree with you that that much water may kill them. You might consider drilling or cutting more holes in the pot if you use the knock out stuff.

Like any pest the trick is to disrupt their mating cycle. Once the beneficial bacteria builds up you wont have this problem any more.

As a habit now when ever I move plant into soil I always put damp soil that had been treated with the dunk water. I have prob only seen about 10 gnats in the last 2 months.

Please feel free to email if you have any questions.

Thanks for the advise, Juan, but what in the world is, "mosquito dunk". I've never heard of it?

Peg

Check if this will help:
http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-gnats.htm

Here is what it looks like:

http://www.pestproducts.com/mosquito_dunks.htm

I buy them at home depot for about ~7 bucks fpr a pack of six and it will make, with dosage I use, about ~48 gallons worth. It is cheaper and has the same active ingredient (BT) as the premixed stuff.

Very good question Peg, I have a gnat problem downstairs in cellar with my figs and others. I am glad however they have not come UP into the main house. Ciao

Thanks folks, for the information.

I've ordered knock-out-gnats from GA today. I had 32 vigorous fig plants from cuttings which were healthy while they were in vermiculite. As soon as I potted them in MirGro potting soil and pine bark the gnats came out and all but 5 died. I seem to have them under control at the moment but I've decided to treat the potting mix with knok-out-gnats in the future before potting anymore plants as well as continuing to treat the few that survived.

I hope it helps and doesn't kill them. It is heartbreaking to lose such beautiful young fig trees after all the time and effort of getting the cuttings growing.

Peg

Once I started treating my soil when potting my trees I have had not had any problem. I had a bunch of my Portugese figs cuttings die because of the gnats. If cuttings are getting moldy they spread the mold and that is pretty much it after that.

If you cuttings were rooted pretty good then I would repot them and throw that contaminated soil out and replace with freshly treated soil. If you are gentle it can be done.

In another similar thread somebody (I think KKfromNJ),
mentioned a very good way to eliminate FG. Use just
1 teaspoon/gallon of GA "Knock-Out-Gnats" EVERY time
you water, specially from day-one to inoculate the
soil with the BT (bacteria).

The BT only kills FG larvae (not eggs or adults), has
something to do that disrupts their digestive system.
Adults can be killed using regular insecticides
(including soap) or place some of those yellow
sticky sheets - horizontal is better the vertical).

The adults are harmless, but a pain. Remember some
sneaking up to my bedroom, and one day, I inhaled one
though my nose - sen lurking around -and suddenly I
felt a big 'itch' in my nose - guess it was it's
frantic to escape my nose filtering hair...

The larvae, which feed on decaying matter and ROOTS,
DO the damage. I think that I only managed to see
them only once - ~1/4" long translucent with a dark
line along the middle (guess their gut) worm/moggot
like critters.

Also, somebody else (forgot who), mentioned that they
seem to like MG potting soil (which I also use); either
it already comes infested with (maybe eggs) or there
is something in it that they specially like.

George,
I'm convinced it is either the MG potting soil or the pine bark. These are the only two things I used. I haven't been able to see any larvae but I don't doubt that it is there. They are only 5.5 mm, just 2 x the adult gnat, (2.5 mm)
For my next batch I'm considering putting a pot full in the oven to sterlize it as well as wetting it down with the Knock-out. My Dad used to do that with garden soil. (When my Mother wasn't looking.) If the UCD cuttings ever arrive I don't want to infect them when I pot them up.

So far I haven't had any gnats flying around the house just on top of the soil in the pots. I hope what few young figs I have left will survive until the Gardens Alive stuff arrives.

Thanks, George for chiming in. I hope you don't have anymore trouble with them.

Peg

Peg, I feel your pain. If you go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy the dunks you can be treating your trees tonight. Also if you are that worried I would repot your plants with the treated soil. I might change out soil also if it is too wet which might fight rotting and subsequent death of your figgy babies. I did that and saved some of mine. The dunks have the same ingredient called BT.

If that many have died already what is it going to hurt other than you waiting for however many days it takes to get your gnat be gone at your place.

You can gain about 3 days on those &*^%$! gnats without letting them relax and make more babies during that time.

Let me know if I can help.

Thanks Juan, Our Home Depot has an awful garden supply dept. Very limited. I was there yesterday, nothing for gnats. They had such a meger supply of seeds that it was pathetic. Not even any pepper seeds. I'll wait for knock-out.

Peg

Actually, the dunks are for mosquitos. They are mosquito dunks.

Anthing that has the active ingredient as the larvicide
Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), should work.

Peg, You can see the larvae if you put a slice of raw potato on the soil - they are attracted to it.
If you sterilize soil-less potting mix in the oven you could knock out the wetting agent. (Have you ever gotten peat that wouldn't wet down?) If that happens you will have trouble with watering as the wetting agent helps the mix to drain. Maybe just try another brand.