GNATS

[Johns]

This is the time of year that many of us start the seeds for the plants that we want to grow this summer, whether for flowers or for vegetables. If you happen to notice tiny little gnats flying around your new seedlings, welcome to the FUNGUS GNAT EXPERIENCE.  These little buggers are not only a nuisance, especially if you start your plants indoors, but their larva also feast on the roots of your seedlings, hampering their development.  So, what to do?  You could go out and buy GNATROL, a liquid gnat bio control:



Which will give the little pests a big problem, OR you could put those leftover DUNKS from last year to early use.



Just get out your mortar and pistil, and grind up a DUNK:



And sprinkle the powder on the surface of your seed pots.

See the label on the GNATROL bottle:


and notice the active ingredient.

Now look at the DUNKS label:



See that the active ingredients are samo samo?

Now, why go to all that trouble to grind up DUNKS when for $25 you can buy a pint of GNATROL?

Because GNATROL only works for two days. and after long periods of storage, not at all.  Dunks work for 30 days or longer. 

[Mikey]

John, as usual, YOU THE MAN!

This year was the first time I actually started growing plants from seed indoors using a heating pad and hooded tray.  Guess who had a gnat problem..........

[miguynmkoi]

Oh No!....Gnats!  The culprits are rearing their ugly heads.  Thanks Johns for an easy solution.

[Johns]

The active ingredient, Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis,  when ingested by the fungus gnat larva that are in your potting soil and feasting on the roots of your seedlings, causes them to stop eating immediately and die within 24 hours.  A few days later the adults disappear.  One of the advantages to using pulverized dunks is that the shelf life of regular gnatrol is only one year, so any left over from last year is ineffective.  Dunks shelf life is indefinite.