Season started.

[catjac1975]

DW seems to have more house plants every year!

In the summer, they go outside. Water, that is about all they get until the fall when many of them are re-potted with fresh soil. However, a lot of the old soil comes in the house with the plants. So, what comes in with them? Fungus gnats .

We have the worst outbreak of gnats of all time, this year. However, there are hardly any flying around to be noticed . You know, while you are having dinner and they are suddenly right above the fork. Or, you finally realize that there is an airborne speck, flying in front of the teevee screen.

Not this year! DW complained that she only had the choice of the larger sticky traps at the garden center but I don't see that it slowed her down in getting one in, at least, every other pot! I complain that there is nothing attractive about house plants with 5 by 8 yellow cards perched behind them ... splattered with fungus gnats ...

But mostly, I keep my mouth shut. Never know when you might inhale a flying bug if there were many in the air and fewer stuck on yellow sticky traps.

Steve

I use fly tape traps-much cheaper and work fine. You can use a soil drench with hydrogen peroxide and water to kill the gnat larvae. I think it is 1/6 but you should check on google. While the knats don't hurt your plants they do lay more eggs so catching them will reduce infestation.

 

[catjac1975]

So jackb. I asked your advice on the best indoor tomato seed and I cannot find the thread. What do you like best for a tasty winter tomato?

 

[jackb]

So jackb. I asked your advice on the best indoor tomato seed and I cannot find the thread. What do you like best for a tasty winter tomato?

The best tasting tomato I have ever grown indoors is called Trust. I must warn you that it is a hybrid and the seeds are very pricey. That said, try any small tomtoe with thin skin. Keep the plant small by pruning. Good luck.

 

[catjac1975]

The best tasting tomato I have ever grown indoors is called Trust. I must warn you that it is a hybrid and the seeds are very pricey. That said, try any small tomtoe with thin skin. Keep the plant small by pruning. Good luck.

Just ordered them!

 

[flowerbug]

fungus gnats are a pest for sure, but i consider them mostly a harmless pest. the last bag of potting soil was infested with them and i've been annoyed by them ever since in the amarylis plants. i put the whole lot of plants outside this summer so they could do their thing out there and was hoping by the time i brought the plants back in for the fall/winter that they'd be gone. no such luck, but the population was much reduced.

now that i'm doing the forced dormancy (not watering) and i've let the small house spiders take over around them so that they are catching some of them in the webs anyways i'm hoping in four to six more weeks of drought it will take them all out completely.

i'm probably jousting at windmills here as once i start watering again it is likely they'll be back...

 

[jackb]

Just ordered them!

I looked back in my photo files for the tomatoes and found the image below. I also grew cucumbers that year and as I recall they grew OK but made a big mess in the tent. Now you will have something to strive for and I'll be looking for progress reports. My son shared a tomato with co-workers and they would not believe that it was grown indoors in winter. They were fantastic.

 

[catjac1975]

The photo really gets me excited of them!

 

[ducks4you]

Trying to get started with seeds. I looked at one store last week and NO onions or anything else. Hoping to find some onion seeds at Menard's later this week, and they have a "bag sale", anything that fits inside their bag is 15% off. I am cleaning out my seed collections and I started today with some strawberry seeds. I did the paper towel dampened inside of a zip lock bag. Tiny seeds, tiny bag. I'll check in a week on top of the fridge to see if any are viable. I have some very old seeds and I need to clean out the small containers of anything that won't grow. I'll let you know...

 

[ducks4you]

The best tasting tomato I have ever grown indoors is called Trust. I must warn you that it is a hybrid and the seeds are very pricey. That said, try any small tomtoe with thin skin. Keep the plant small by pruning. Good luck.

You are such a pro that I KNOW you will get them to grow!! Dunno if I have the time or energy to prune a tomato. Do you prune up the lower leaves? I have heard that that helps.

 

[catjac1975]

Trying to get started with seeds. I looked at one store last week and NO onions or anything else. Hoping to find some onion seeds at Menard's later this week, and they have a "bag sale", anything that fits inside their bag is 15% off. I am cleaning out my seed collections and I started today with some strawberry seeds. I did the paper towel dampened inside of a zip lock bag. Tiny seeds, tiny bag. I'll check in a week on top of the fridge to see if any are viable. I have some very old seeds and I need to clean out the small containers of anything that won't grow. I'll let you know...

I had a lot of poor germination last year from burped seed bought a home depot. I think they are not careful in where they keep them and they loose their viability. I bought from Johnney's this year again-great onion germination.