Tiny slugs eating sprouts

[BarG]

Any body seen these before, A small greyish winged bug about the size of a knat is laying eggs in a couple of my seed starting bowls and these tiny slugs just started appearing in 2 of them and cutting the sprouts a ground level . They hate the sun and burrow real fast when exposed. I'm gonna spritz a salty water solution to see if it helps.

 

[FmGrowit]

Yep, slugs/snails love young baccy. The slug pellets are almost a necessity until the baccy starts making nicotine...about 2 - 3 weeks after setting.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Yeah pellets are important, I was losing a bunch last year but I didn't truly appreciate how many snails and slugs I was feeding until I put bait out. Thousands of dead bugs every morning would appear after my weekly baiting. It was a massacre

 

[dkh2]

I have to do that also you ought to see inside my worm bin at times
I manually execute those guys with a little hand shovel by chopping there heads off

 

[BarG]

I salvaged the sprouts worth saving in several containers that somehow got those miniature slugs in them and am using a new medium this time, It has 84% reed sedge peat sand and perlite with some slow release fertilizer. The Bursa, and ottoman seeds were the first to try and on transplanting to cells after about 1 week of starting the roots were shooting straight down and longer than any Iv'e transplanted from 2-3 week older sprouts. I restarted most all other varietys in same starter soil. My original starting mix was canadian sphagnum peat mixed with perlite and vermiculite, but the roots seem to not penetrate as well as the reed sedge peat and sand mix.

BarG

 

[FmGrowit]

Where did you get your starting mix?

 

[BarG]

The new mix was purchased at a feed store called Standley's in a town called Madisonville about 25 miles from here. Its called Baccto starter soil. My week old sprouts look better than my 3 week old sprouts.

 

[Chicken]

i bet it was a undercover R,J, REYNOLDS agent that sabotouged your crop,,,,,,to keep you on thier product<<<<<

but seriuos, i guess im immune to that being in florida,, ive never seen that type of bug before,???

 

[BarG]

I honestly think the slug fest was started by these tiny grey flying gnat looking *(*&^&*) . Ive never seen them before and the culprits may have been some kind of larvae instead of slug. I couldn't get the dirt granuals off to take a pic. without squishing they are were so tiny.

 

[Chicken]

is thier a trap that may catch the knat,?

perhaps fly trap....the sticky strips,?

 

[BarG]

Yea, I hadn't thought of that. If they invade my newly started sprouts I'll give it a try.They crawl all over the soil and fly to. I don't know what is attracting them. They look similar to A superminiature wasp on second thought.

 

[Chicken]

get some carnivorous plants,,,,'' venus fly traps,,,,,e.t.c. thier are many varities,

and sit them on guard all around you seedlings>

 

[dkh2]

Are those " Shore fly's " ?
http://badger.uvm.edu/xmlui/handle/2051/4561

 

[dkh2]

 

[dkh2]

Does this look like the slugs ? Shore Fly larva

 

[BarG]

Theres these and I think there may be another type but will need to wait till morn or eve. to be sure. They seem to like the can. peat trays better.

 

[dkh2]

I Googled "Shore Fly pictures" and there are pictures of Shore fly's that look just like your last picture
also
Shore flies, tiny flies that look like small houseflies, are frequently numerous in
greenhouses. Their larvae (maggots) feed on young seedlings and
may reduce stands during the first two weeks after germination.

PDF 7.4 mgb's

2008 BURLEY TOBACCO PRODUCTION GUIDE Page 58

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/436/436-050-08/PDF_436-050.pdf

 

[BarG]

I found the culprit dkh2 The fungus gnat. The description of the fungus gnat and damage from larvae fits perfect to about plant laying over as if wilted. That is what I first thought was happening till I put on my glasses and held in bright sun so I could see better. You don't want these guys on your sprouts. BT applied to soil medium can control larvae.
http://www.mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/lso/fungusgnats.htm

 

[CoralReefs]

Yeah, fungus gnats were the first thing to come to my mind- they are very annoying. The feed on the roots of plants. When they feed on adult plants it is not a big deal since they do not consume enough to hurt it. Obviously seedlings are a different story. They get in there, eat your roots and you wake up to a wilted plant that looks like it was overwatered or somethingg. Fungus gnat larvae will destroy seedlings. I don't mean to be brand specific, but there is a product called "Mosquito dunks" sold in most home improvement stores which contains a strain of beneficial bacteria which kills them. Costs about $10. They are little disks which are usually thrown into fountains and such to prevent mosquito larvae from becoming mosquitos. I know some people break a little chunk off, crush it up and sprinkle over the surface of the soil. Personally, I would be more inclined to break off a little bit, soak it in your water overnight and then water your seedlings with it. The idea is to get the bacteria into your soil media- that is where the eggs hatch.
Another way to prevent them is to keep your soil media drier as they thrive in moist soil. With seedlings, that can be a challange because you don't want your soil drying too much. Personally, I would avoid salt water for the seedlings sake. BT/mosquito dunks are a safer bet and to my knowledge BT never harms plants.

Best of luck.

[Edit: By the way, I forgot to mention, BT is the bacteria contained in Mosquito dunks]

 

[CoralReefs]

get some carnivorous plants,,,,'' venus fly traps,,,,,e.t.c. thier are many varities,

and sit them on guard all around you seedlings>

Carnivorous plants are really fun to have around- I actually collect them. Unfortunately, while many will eat adult fungus gnats, there is no guarantee they will get them before they lay their eggs (and it is the larvae that are the problem- not the flies). BT based products are more reliable. Another issue is that most Carnivorous plants that are widely availble are grown in very wet bog conditions which can actually attract fungus gnats (why do you think I know so much about them?)

Also, fungus gnats are way to small to be caught by a Venus Flytrap. Your best bets would be sundews (Drosera genus) or butterworts (Pinguicula genus). In particular, mexican pinguiculas grow in sandier soil and like to dry out a little more between waterings. They might not attract fungus gnats as much. A pinguicula gigantea would be my first choice.