Good morning friends, I want to start out by thanking everyone here, the knowledge and willingness to help people like me is very much appreciated on to my question, I’ve noticed some fruit flies and/or nats on my plants and in the soil. I’m sure this can’t be good for the pups.
How not good is it and what can I do to get rid of them? I was reading in another post yesterday that fly strips plus sand on the soil would help. Thanks guys, have a safe day.
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Both of these types of insects are part of the composting process. They consume organic matter in the soil, which helps it break down faster.
So, in terms of “how bad is it”, they’re working the soil and not your plant. Bugs that actually eat your plant and lay eggs on it are worse. But, your roots of course are also organic matter which is in your soil, and you don’t want them composted yet.
It sounds like you read the suggestions in that thread and they were all good ones. I’ll just reiterate mine here again: neem seed meal. It’s an organic fertilizer that you can top dress on to your soil, and they seem to hate it. I used some of it recently on my worm farm and it seemed pretty effective in reducing the gnat/fruit fly population substantially. I’m going to use it every time I feed the worms I think.
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Neem Oil is good and recommended. It’s a foliage spray that can be found at Amazon for plants.
If you have a mild case spray once every two weeks and if you have an infestation once a week.
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Fly strips don’t forget about them happy growing
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Thanks guys, I am on it. Have a safe day.
Thanks, I just bought some Neem seed meal 612. Love Amazon
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I am curious to hear down the road how the Neem meal works? I get it is good for the worm bin, that was brilliant by the way. What I mean is after a few harvest on cannabis. My biggest question is how long it stays active in the soil. Like an IPM strategy to stay ahead of pest. I have read mixed reviews about heavy use of it in cannabis plant soil. Mainly about hypothesis that the Azadirachtin becomes systemic and inside all the plant tissue. Everyone said woohoo, an organic systemic. Then the same people are the ones saying that Azadirachtin may not be good for us after all. Causing chemical hypersensitivity in people and HMS (cannavommit fun). I don’t know what to think, so I ask to you this question. Since you are using it. Does it taste thru the flower at all as a soil amendment VS spraying? Maybe mix and dress a plant w it regularly, and a couple just at soil mix to see if u notice a difference?
I guess I could do this too, but I don’t use the meal because I was afraid the Neem taste would be in flower. I would totally use it if did not leave a bad taste. I guess I would want to do a lab test also, to test for % Azadirachtin in the final flower. Sorry when I get an idea I obsess over it sometimes.
@Cannaman22 ,
I am not telling you what to do. This is just a friendly discussion for real no worries either way. But as someone whom used Neem for over a decade as my first choice on all cannabis problems I have changed my ways. It really does flavor all the buds with hint of Neem. The oil really lingers on the canna foliage even if sprayed in very early flower. There are a lot of alternative products that don’t do this. But mainly there are lots of studies out now that show Neem in our bodies is definitely not good.
I am very intrigued by the Neem meal method as suggested by currdog. It may be a great compromise to use Azadirachtin without coating our plants in a shellac of Neem oil.
Once again, not telling, just discussing a tool I use a lot. I have found ammonia to be amazing at nuclear bombing powdery mildew on plants. An old hippy grower mentor taught me this. Anyway, I have found bugs hate getting sprayed w ammonia too. Especially it you put 1 drop of dish soap as a surfactant. I just use a standard 1000ml spray bottle and put about 1.5-2 oz (shot glass not to the lip) of grocery store ammonia in. Lemon scented hurts nothing and is often all I can find. The best part is as the ammonia is exposed to the air (oxygen) it reduces to nitrite and nitrate. It is a very powerful nitrogen foliar feed. The only warning is don’t do it under the lights or sun. Spray them dimmed low or do it before on cycle. You can do it in the morning light, but not once the sun is beaming on them. I know everyone has a “tip” so no worries. I don’t mention this much so I don’t feel like I am cramming down peoples throats. But it works real good.
Happy growing, and I promise I don’t hate Neem. I just worry it may not be good for us after all despite being a powerful organic bug killer. Remember, arsenic and mercury are organic too, but I am not planning them in my pest management. I know that’s not the best examples, but it stresses my point.
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I had not heard about that @Noddykitty. I was thinking that using it in the soil would be sort of a work around to keep the taste out of the flower. After all, it doesn’t end up tasting like blood or fish bones even though these ingredients are featured in my fertilizer blend.
It’s not something I’ve even begun to test though, since I’ve yet to start using my homemade castings. I haven’t used it in my flower tent yet since I’ve only seen a handful of gnats and we’re finishing up week 9 on Sunday.
I’m not nearly as concerned about what “they” say might be “bad for you”. “They” used to say that butter was bad and you should use margarine, and saccharine was better than sugar. I’m glad I didn’t listen. I preferred the taste of butter and sugar and then years later it turned out the “science” they were reporting was being funded by large corporations selling margarine or saccharine. And it was wrong.
There are certainly international mega corporations with interest in selling their own patented fertilizer and pest control products, just sayin.
If it affects the taste at all though it’s going right in the shitcan.
I hear ya about “what they say”: wine, vitamins, etc.
These were legit studies based out of Israel where the government does real science on cannabis. And not lip service (univ Mississippi swagola) like the USA.
They looked at blood of people in India (where Neem grows wild) whom use it as a pesticide for their food crops. Cannabis aside they claim that in high doses of azadarachtin, it effects especially children within hours after taking neem oil. These serious side effects include, vomiting, diarrhea, drowsiness, seizures, loss of consciousness, coma, and death. In adult cannabis use they claim it links to hypersensitivity to smells and chemical exposures. and a very suspicious link to cannabis hypermeises syndrome. This was like a year ago so I can look up the studies again if you care? Not busting your balls, just perusing the data and going hummm…
I guess I should say more than taste, the worry is the % azadarachtin.
I would be interested in seeing those studies @Noddykitty.
I’ve been trying to Google about “neem seed meal bad” but so far I’ve only found anecdotes. One person said they end up in the hospital supposedly every time they smoke “tainted” weed and it’s definitely the azdiratchin even though nobody will test the sample for them. Another guy said he takes neem seed daily to treat Lyme disease.
I’m certainly willing to learn more. In my mind, if checked a lot of boxes in the good column. It was organic, plant based, and cheaper than other options. But I definitely want to avoid side effects like death for me and my mom.
The studies were on spraying pressed Neem oil. Not the seed. That is why I am so intrigued by the seed meal. Anything I have seen about the meal was also anecdotal or someone extrapolating out loud like me.
I also heard from kiss organics or build a soil say it in one of their podcasts about microbes. That they wonder if the Neem meal messes with microbes so they go light with it. It was not an assertion, just an offhand comment that most would miss. To me it was my biggest takeaway. I don’t know , so sorry for the interrogation. I am really just thinking aloud again High. I think I have beat this dead horse enough today. The studies were in a compilation about current Israeli cannabis studies. You had to search in that database. There are a few of them. I will see if I can pull it up.
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@Noddykitty, no apologies necessary. I’m also here to learn and share what I’ve learned.
I’ve only got a little bit of info on the neem seed. It seemed pretty effective for the gnat control. It made the bins smell of neem for a few days, but its now dissipated.
Intuitively, it’s just not computing for me that using it on the soil could be bad. Like you said, it grows wild in India so whatever badness it leaches in to the soil ought to be ubiquitous over there. If the taste transferred through the soil barrier then everything in India should taste like neem.
Soil plays a role in filtering the water that ends up in our aquifers and modern home septic systems.
I do avoid using the oil on anything I’m planning to eat or smoke. I did use it on the monster I’m growing now though while it was in veg. I grew it out for an extra month so that I could prune away every last leaf it was in contact with.
Good morning, update on the Neem oil for gnats. It’s been about a week and a half since I applied this product and I’m very happy to say
It does the job I’ve only seen a few flying around the last few days.
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