I was under the misconception on how the Mosquito Dunks work. Always great to watch a video where you learn something new 👍🏻 I sure hope this works for you :)
I thought it was reproduction that it messed up. All the research said they basically starve to death because the crystals messes up the digestive system.🪱👍🏼😃
Even Bentley Christie said he drew the line at fungus gnats in terms of tolerance to bin critters! Ann, my research showed that it's the larval stage that is affected by BTI. In order to best put it where the larvae will encounter it, you need to mist the undisturbed surface with BTI water. My understanding is that the larvae feed and then the adults fly away. Hey, I've done this anytime I've had an outbreak and it has worked. If your research shows the BTI can attack adults, I'm all for learning that. 😉 ~ Sandra p.s. it definitely won't kill your pill bugs!
Yeah, in the basement I don't mind a few but upstairs nope. I didn't realize that there was so many types of bt. Also the a version is the species they use for the GMO corn. 😕🪱🪱👍🏼
Had my worm bins in the basement this winter, got a little sloppy with the worm food and ended up with a significant fruit fly problem. Sticky traps, complete waste of time, sticky traps are a monitor in my opinion, not a control method. Looked into Bti, saw zero problems using in the worm bins. After a few applications over a period of about 6 weeks (plus increased sanitation practices) fruit flies completely gone. It worked so well, I watered my home made materials for potting soil, leaf mold and compost with the Bti. Zero gnats in the grow room this winter. Bti attacks the fly larva, most people do not know mosquitoes are flies, will not harm any other soil organisms. Looked at some of the castings under the microscope, no lack of bacteria, protozoa, nematodes fungi or microarthropods. At least that was my experience using the mosquito dunk granules. Stay Well!!
Hi Ann, Great job and video. I bought a package of rings and added 1 to the small fountain in the front and backyards. It clogged up the intake line 🙃 ❤Peggy❤
Good luck with the mosquito bits. I like it, it does help with multiple treatments. We need to change gears sometimes, once the fungus gnats are under control you can get back to your experiment and not shred your bedding.
Thank you for letting me know they do work. I haven't had an outbreak like this in a long time. I went through and treated the house plants too as I know some escaped the bag. 🪱😊👍🏼
My concern has always been what insects this affects and how long it lasts. I remember that they used to say only mosquitos, but Ive found that extremely hard to believe
Looking into it I see that this strain also affects flies. Other strains can affect moths and the like or beetles. We will see if the pill bugs survive the experiment. I usually don't take any preventative measures for bin bugs. 👍🏼🪱🙂
I can confirm it definitely kills springtails as well as fungus gnat larvae, but I think it doesn't kill fruit fly larvae, so probably not other flies either. Adult fungus gnats are unaffected, except that it might be possible for them to sense its presence and avoid laying eggs in treated areas. Vermicompost from treated inputs seems to have some protection against fungus gnats, but not as much as the original inputs, so it's degraded to some extent in the worm bin. If I forget to add Bti to a worm bin, springtail population bounces back after a month or two.
My husband built a "blue" bin....using Blue as our inspiration....I've been waiting for about a year to increase my worm population. Now that the bin is built....I see that my population still needs to grow substantially lol. Of all the youtuber's bins, Blue is my favorite.
Hey , Im not much on RUclips these days but see you regularly ask for topic suggestions. I just got an allotment garden and was thinking to put one of my basement bin populations outdoors with holes perhaps so they can come and go and hopefully come back again . Tips or a video about transferring to an outdoor / mostly underground bin ??? Thanks Anne 🫶
@@PlantObsessed I’m in Belgium , we don’t fit in zones 😄 My worms are always warm and too moist , my heating system is in the basement. Moths come and go 🤷🏻♀️ mites definitely. So I’m definitely waiting until half May , last frost date. I’d like to bury most of their home ?! Seeing it’s a council vegetable patch I’m not around every day to check on them. Sorry , I’m thinking out loud here. I guess if they all make a run for it , they should still be happy in the wild ?!
I used BTI in my bins (small but where people live) when I had gnats. It worked well. I did use the granules and used bt water every 5 days or so. I also put a sticky trap in each bin and covered them with a sheer fabric so they couldn’t fly out or new ones fly in. Still took a few months. Things are good now!
I am new at worm composting and if you watch a lot of videos on the subject or 1 of the books I have read on this subject I have 3 you will read that the cardboard should be a lot smaller pieces about 2 inches square and mixed thoroughly in with the bedding. Personally I cut around all of the ink so I get no cardboard with ink on it in my bins. The chemical mosquito treatment will harm your worms if they eat it and what goes through their system will then if you are a gardener end up in your food. My opinion I have gardened for 71 years and of that time organic gardened for 20 of them. As I said I am new to this type of composting. I shred my cardboard with a 16 sheet cross cut shredder if it is not too heavy. Best of luck with your gnat problem.
Hey there, yep books say a lot of things but not all of them are right. Smaller cardboard and paper shredded will break down quicker. But it's not necessary if you aren't in a hurry. The ink in the card isn't an issue really these days in most countries as the inks are soy based. I'm also a bit worried about the mosquito bits affecting the worms, although BT and BTI are naturally occurring bacillus, not chemicals. so there's no real issue so far as going in the garden is concerned. BT is an organic treatment for cabbage worms too.
The bti is a special bacteria that only affects mosquitoes and flies. Supposedly. The worms will be fine, that much I know. As far as the large chunks of cardboard, they will eat it when it gets wet and the other shredder bugs knock it down. I do experiment to show that if you can't afford the big shredder like we both have you can still be successful. I have a play list for a lasagna bin I ran for years. No shredded material only sheets of cardboard. You would not believe how fast it was consumed. 🙂👍🏼🪱
when you apply the castings to the plants in the garden environment later will it continue to work and kill nematodes ? most of those things are beneficial in the garden ... just wondering how long it persists in the environment ... also mentioned it works on bees too ...
Looking at the research it only lasts a few months. I have not heard about this strain affecting bees. Let me know where you saw that and I will read up on it.🪱👍🏼🙂
@@PlantObsessed i saw it in the text block you used around the 5:25 mark in your video. apears to be from wikipedia. it says "Cry toxins have specific activities against ... " and it goes on to say " Hymenotera (bees) and Nematodes" ... just something i paused and read and wondered about...
I was under the misconception on how the Mosquito Dunks work. Always great to watch a video where you learn something new 👍🏻 I sure hope this works for you :)
I thought it was reproduction that it messed up. All the research said they basically starve to death because the crystals messes up the digestive system.🪱👍🏼😃
I just really hope it works to get you out of your flying insect situation :)
Even Bentley Christie said he drew the line at fungus gnats in terms of tolerance to bin critters! Ann, my research showed that it's the larval stage that is affected by BTI. In order to best put it where the larvae will encounter it, you need to mist the undisturbed surface with BTI water. My understanding is that the larvae feed and then the adults fly away. Hey, I've done this anytime I've had an outbreak and it has worked. If your research shows the BTI can attack adults, I'm all for learning that. 😉
~ Sandra
p.s. it definitely won't kill your pill bugs!
Yeah, in the basement I don't mind a few but upstairs nope. I didn't realize that there was so many types of bt. Also the a version is the species they use for the GMO corn. 😕🪱🪱👍🏼
Had my worm bins in the basement this winter, got a little sloppy with the worm food and ended up with a significant fruit fly problem. Sticky traps, complete waste of time, sticky traps are a monitor in my opinion, not a control method. Looked into Bti, saw zero problems using in the worm bins.
After a few applications over a period of about 6 weeks (plus increased sanitation practices) fruit flies completely gone.
It worked so well, I watered my home made materials for potting soil, leaf mold and compost with the Bti. Zero gnats in the grow room this winter.
Bti attacks the fly larva, most people do not know mosquitoes are flies, will not harm any other soil organisms.
Looked at some of the castings under the microscope, no lack of bacteria, protozoa, nematodes fungi or microarthropods.
At least that was my experience using the mosquito dunk granules.
Stay Well!!
Sweet best news all day. I don't want to hurt my pill bugs.🤗🪱👍🏼
Hi Ann, Great job and video. I bought a package of rings and added 1 to the small fountain in the front and backyards. It clogged up the intake line 🙃
❤Peggy❤
Oh no. That's not cool. Maybe keep it in a chiffon bag?
Great video 🇳🇿❤️🪱
Thank you! 😃🪱👍🏼
5:05 You can leave the stapples in there to biodegrade. Once small metals start to rust the zinc(? 🤔) released is good for most common garden veggies.
I hope it is ok. My eyes are not good enough to find them all. Lol 🪱👍🏼🙂
Good luck with the mosquito bits. I like it, it does help with multiple treatments. We need to change gears sometimes, once the fungus gnats are under control you can get back to your experiment and not shred your bedding.
Thank you for letting me know they do work. I haven't had an outbreak like this in a long time. I went through and treated the house plants too as I know some escaped the bag. 🪱😊👍🏼
@@PlantObsessed you need to use it for around a month to regain control.
My concern has always been what insects this affects and how long it lasts. I remember that they used to say only mosquitos, but Ive found that extremely hard to believe
Looking into it I see that this strain also affects flies. Other strains can affect moths and the like or beetles. We will see if the pill bugs survive the experiment. I usually don't take any preventative measures for bin bugs. 👍🏼🪱🙂
I can confirm it definitely kills springtails as well as fungus gnat larvae, but I think it doesn't kill fruit fly larvae, so probably not other flies either. Adult fungus gnats are unaffected, except that it might be possible for them to sense its presence and avoid laying eggs in treated areas. Vermicompost from treated inputs seems to have some protection against fungus gnats, but not as much as the original inputs, so it's degraded to some extent in the worm bin. If I forget to add Bti to a worm bin, springtail population bounces back after a month or two.
My husband built a "blue" bin....using Blue as our inspiration....I've been waiting for about a year to increase my worm population. Now that the bin is built....I see that my population still needs to grow substantially lol. Of all the youtuber's bins, Blue is my favorite.
I'm glad blue and I have been helpful 💙🪱👍🏼😃
Hey , Im not much on RUclips these days but see you regularly ask for topic suggestions.
I just got an allotment garden and was thinking to put one of my basement bin populations outdoors with holes perhaps so they can come and go and hopefully come back again . Tips or a video about transferring to an outdoor / mostly underground bin ???
Thanks Anne 🫶
That is a good idea Thank you. I do have one such bin that lives outside. Even in my zone 5. They seem to live through the winter.
@@PlantObsessed I’m in Belgium , we don’t fit in zones 😄 My worms are always warm and too moist , my heating system is in the basement. Moths come and go 🤷🏻♀️ mites definitely. So I’m definitely waiting until half May , last frost date. I’d like to bury most of their home ?! Seeing it’s a council vegetable patch I’m not around every day to check on them. Sorry , I’m thinking out loud here.
I guess if they all make a run for it , they should still be happy in the wild ?!
I used BTI in my bins (small but where people live) when I had gnats. It worked well. I did use the granules and used bt water every 5 days or so. I also put a sticky trap in each bin and covered them with a sheer fabric so they couldn’t fly out or new ones fly in. Still took a few months. Things are good now!
I really hope it doesn't take months. Lol I'll be nuts by then. 🙂🪱👍🏼
I am new at worm composting and if you watch a lot of videos on the subject or 1 of the books I have read on this subject I have 3 you will read that the cardboard should be a lot smaller pieces about 2 inches square and mixed thoroughly in with the bedding. Personally I cut around all of the ink so I get no cardboard with ink on it in my bins. The chemical mosquito treatment will harm your worms if they eat it and what goes through their system will then if you are a gardener end up in your food. My opinion I have gardened for 71 years and of that time organic gardened for 20 of them. As I said I am new to this type of composting. I shred my cardboard with a 16 sheet cross cut shredder if it is not too heavy. Best of luck with your gnat problem.
Hey there, yep books say a lot of things but not all of them are right. Smaller cardboard and paper shredded will break down quicker.
But it's not necessary if you aren't in a hurry. The ink in the card isn't an issue really these days in most countries as the inks are soy based.
I'm also a bit worried about the mosquito bits affecting the worms, although BT and BTI are naturally occurring bacillus, not chemicals. so there's no real issue
so far as going in the garden is concerned. BT is an organic treatment for cabbage worms too.
The bti is a special bacteria that only affects mosquitoes and flies. Supposedly. The worms will be fine, that much I know. As far as the large chunks of cardboard, they will eat it when it gets wet and the other shredder bugs knock it down. I do experiment to show that if you can't afford the big shredder like we both have you can still be successful. I have a play list for a lasagna bin I ran for years. No shredded material only sheets of cardboard. You would not believe how fast it was consumed. 🙂👍🏼🪱
when you apply the castings to the plants in the garden environment later will it continue to work and kill nematodes ? most of those things are beneficial in the garden ... just wondering how long it persists in the environment ... also mentioned it works on bees too ...
Looking at the research it only lasts a few months. I have not heard about this strain affecting bees. Let me know where you saw that and I will read up on it.🪱👍🏼🙂
@@PlantObsessed i saw it in the text block you used around the 5:25 mark in your video. apears to be from wikipedia. it says "Cry toxins have specific activities against ... " and it goes on to say " Hymenotera (bees) and Nematodes" ... just something i paused and read and wondered about...
I used some dry leaves for bedding this winter and now I have an infestation of tiny beetles.how to get rid of them or is it a problem?
Yikes, I have not had that issue. Maybe a beer trap like for snails?
I’m so googling that
I hate fungus gnats
They drive me a bit crazy sometimes. lol
Wait,did I hear my name? *confused*
Wasn't it you that made your own bti? It was years ago.🙂
The bti doesn't harm the flyers just the newcomers.
Weird, the bottle said if the flies get on it they die.🪱👍🏼🙂
Keep your momma happy worms. 🪱
They are good worms. It is their choice in friends I'm annoyed with. Lol 😂👍🏼🪱