Comments on: Can Mosquito Dunks Kill Fungus Gnats and Fruit Flies?

By: brian

brian — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 17:31:00 +0000

can mosquito dunks and bits be added to compost bin and do they need water what type of water so they can kill the pests whilst composting. how often do i need to add them, b water i mean distilled or mineral or just normal type cool or warm water. i am trying to compost indoors and need to remove all pests and do they multiply and if so do i need to keep compost moist or allow to dry, how often to water,

can i use them when sowing seeds or will they harm seedlings as the pest nibble the roots and all it keep getting is the two leaves and that is as far as it goes all the time and yes the seeds bolt and never get that far.

i live in a block and have no garden.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:33:51 +0000

I’d love to try the nematodes, but I live in a condo so I have no need for the huge amount of left over nematodes that I’d have.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:01:35 +0000

Thanks for sharing that, Scott – and sorry to hear about your worms. I have yet to run my own experiment (surprise surprise) but still plan to do so. If it turns out the mosquito dunk liquid does indeed kill off worms that will obviously not be good!

By: Scott Bryce

Scott Bryce — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:46:13 +0000

I tried mosquito dunks to control fungus gnats, but it looks like I killed a bunch of worms in the process. No more mosquito dunk experiments for me. Beneficial nematodes are next on the list.

By: Ann

Ann — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:57:35 +0000

Bentley, I’d be oh-so-happy to send you some of my fruit fly population!

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:18:10 +0000

Hey Rich,
Unfortunately I still have not had a chance to do the experiment. Well actually, that’s not entirely true. I DID set something up, but it didn’t work very well as far as getting a thriving population of fruit flies goes, so I need to start over again.
Will provide updates hopefully fairly soon.
8)

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:38:14 +0000

Did it work?

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:06:25 +0000

Hey Barry,
I’ve had good success with bottle and jar traps containing apple cider vinegar, but I find that as a stand-alone solution they tend to fall short of the mark. The best solution would get rid of them at their ‘source’ (i.e. the food materials where the larvae are feeding). Not sure I’ll be able to do this using dunk liquid – but it’s worth a shot!
8)

By: Barry Kopel

Barry Kopel — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:18:50 +0000

DIY pop bottle trap

Find a narrow-necked 2 or 3 liter soda bottle and fill the bottom inch or so with fruit juice, beer, soda, V8, apple cider, or vinegar along with a few drops of cooking oil or dish soap to break the liquid’s surface tension so any bugs that attempt to land will get caught in the liquid. Place the bottle in the area of infestation and watch all of the little fruit flies get trapped in the bottle or trapped in the liquid inside.

DIY Bowl trap

Don’t have any bottles? That’s ok, make this trap instead. Take any size bowl and cover the bottom with fruit juice, beer, soda, V8, apple cider, or vinegar (For other uses of vinegar, read how to make household uses for vinegar) along with a few drops of cooking oil or dish soap and then cover the top with plastic wrap. Poke several small holes in the wrap with a fork or thin knife and set it out in the area of infestation. The fruit flies will smell their way into the bowl and will be unable to escape