Diatomaceous Earth? Thoughts, usage, and how to ap...

Hello. I find that fungus gnats don't care for strong smells. I find that I an chase them away with garlic. Leave cut up garlic around the base of the plant. Or make a spray, crush garlic with knife, put in water, enough to fill spry bottle, leave 24 hours, strain, put in spray bottle. Spray on the pots and around the area a couple times of day. Smells like your cooking with garlic. Not too much on the plant. Also try 1 ounce of 35% Hydrogen Peroxide to 5 gallons of water. Ask Mr. Google about that one. Good Luck Chuck.

In my experience, diatomaceous earth is very good and does the work, but you shouldn't use too much. For red spider mites, white flies, or other pests, I use a small paintbrush (like one for make up), charge it a little with the powder, and then I brush the bugs and try to leave some powder left. The issue with diatomaceous is after watering the plants, it will concentrate on the soil, and generate a very thick, cement like, layer, and that's not something I like because I work too hard to get the best organic soil. So I only use it the first two or three weeks after cutting and cloning (or seedling), and then I stop entirely as soon as I see preflowers (to not contaminate the buds), even if it's not toxic or bad, it adds weight and it's like dust so not like it.