iguanasaurus
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- May 15, 2019
- Messages
- 17
I brought home a houseplant with fungus gnat hitchhikers and over the course of a few months, they've spread to the rest of my plants and into my millipede terrarium. I have a healthy population of dwarf white isopods which do not seem to be impacting the gnats. I know I had springtails in there when I first set up the tank earlier in the year, but don't see them anymore. I have been misting less frequently in an attempt to dry out the top substrate, and am wondering if that caused the springtails to move deeper into wetter substrate. The gnats are still thriving.
I thought I had a clever trap: Putting a screen lid and an elevated sticky sheet above so the gnats go through the screen and get stuck. Elevated because I've caught the millipede scaling the lid and don't want its feet getting stuck. Somehow only a fraction are getting caught this way; it's like they only get caught if they land on the sticky surface, not from bumping into it during flight. Otherwise they've been escaping out the sides which is what the yellow sticky traps are for. Plenty of them never leave the tank and just breed in there.
I finally have them under control in my houseplants using Gnatrol ( bacillus thuringiensis ) a bacterial larvicide, and am working up the nerve to use it in the millipede tank.. I'm synthesizing my research (read: summarizing google searches) on the topic below. My conclusion is that Gnatrol is safe for the millipede, isopods, and springtails.
I do first plan on adding another culture of springtails, give them a couple weeks to establish and see if that affects the gnats at all. Then quarantining the millipede for the Gnatrol application, this'll give me a chance to renovate the habitat too.
UC IPM Fungus Gnat factsheet -- " Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis (Bti) (Gnatrol) -- Bti applied at labeled rates provides temporary control and is toxic only to fly larvae, such as mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnats."
- " At 75ºF, eggs hatch in about 3 days, the larvae take approximately 10 days to develop into pupae, and about 4 days later the adults emerge. "
Gnatrol website
UConn info on Bt -- " Bt bacteria are one-celled organisms that reproduce asexually through spores creating crystal proteins as it does. These spores and crystals must be ingested by the immature feeding stage of development (larval) of insects to be effective ..."
WSU giant list of Bt literature
GDG Everything you should know about Bti
Bti on isopods:
EFFECT OF BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS ISRAELENSIS (H-14) ON THE ISOPOD ASELLUS FORBESI AND SPRING AEDES MOSQUITOES IN MICHIGAN (1989) -- " We conclude from our data that isopods in treated pools were not negatively affected by the B.t.i. application "
Trial of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, a mosquito larvicide, against Porcellionides pruinosus, a terrestrial isopod (2005) -- " Woodlice, Porcellionides pruinosus, were not killed when exposed to granular Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. Mortality was observed when woodlice received a topical application of the highest concentration of liquid Bti, but not at lower concentrations, nor when exposed via contaminated food or contaminated substrates. "
Subacute effects of transgenic crylab bacillus thuringiensis corn litter on the isopods Trachelipus rathkii and armadillidium nasatum (2006) -- " These results indicate that little hazard to T. rathkii and A. nasatum from Bt corn leaf material from these hybrids exists. "
Bti on springtails:
Chameleon boards anectdote (2014) -- " The mini culture of springtails in the BTI water is doing great, reproducing normally, and hasn't had any ill effects that I can see. "
Figs4Fun anectdote (2014) -- " The water in the video is treated with Gnatrol. Whatever those are they seem to be resistant. "
The nonsusceptibility of soil Collembola to insect pathogens and their potential as scavengers of microbial pesticides (2001)
Bti on millipedes:
Adverse effect of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner on silkworm, Bombyx mori L. and other beneficial nontarget organisms (2001) -- "B.t.k. formulation used in the experiment was almost safe to 4 species of nontarget organisms comprising of tadpoles, Buffo melanotictus; earthworm, Pheretima posthumo; fresh water fish, Cyprinus carpio and millipedes, Julus sp."
EPA Memorandum: Review of ecological non-target insect studies for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Bb1 protein. (2002) -- " There was also no interaction effect of insecticide and hybrid found for any of the species evaluated. "
I thought I had a clever trap: Putting a screen lid and an elevated sticky sheet above so the gnats go through the screen and get stuck. Elevated because I've caught the millipede scaling the lid and don't want its feet getting stuck. Somehow only a fraction are getting caught this way; it's like they only get caught if they land on the sticky surface, not from bumping into it during flight. Otherwise they've been escaping out the sides which is what the yellow sticky traps are for. Plenty of them never leave the tank and just breed in there.
I finally have them under control in my houseplants using Gnatrol ( bacillus thuringiensis ) a bacterial larvicide, and am working up the nerve to use it in the millipede tank.. I'm synthesizing my research (read: summarizing google searches) on the topic below. My conclusion is that Gnatrol is safe for the millipede, isopods, and springtails.
I do first plan on adding another culture of springtails, give them a couple weeks to establish and see if that affects the gnats at all. Then quarantining the millipede for the Gnatrol application, this'll give me a chance to renovate the habitat too.
UC IPM Fungus Gnat factsheet -- " Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis (Bti) (Gnatrol) -- Bti applied at labeled rates provides temporary control and is toxic only to fly larvae, such as mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnats."
- " At 75ºF, eggs hatch in about 3 days, the larvae take approximately 10 days to develop into pupae, and about 4 days later the adults emerge. "
Gnatrol website
UConn info on Bt -- " Bt bacteria are one-celled organisms that reproduce asexually through spores creating crystal proteins as it does. These spores and crystals must be ingested by the immature feeding stage of development (larval) of insects to be effective ..."
WSU giant list of Bt literature
GDG Everything you should know about Bti
Bti on isopods:
EFFECT OF BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS ISRAELENSIS (H-14) ON THE ISOPOD ASELLUS FORBESI AND SPRING AEDES MOSQUITOES IN MICHIGAN (1989) -- " We conclude from our data that isopods in treated pools were not negatively affected by the B.t.i. application "
Trial of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, a mosquito larvicide, against Porcellionides pruinosus, a terrestrial isopod (2005) -- " Woodlice, Porcellionides pruinosus, were not killed when exposed to granular Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. Mortality was observed when woodlice received a topical application of the highest concentration of liquid Bti, but not at lower concentrations, nor when exposed via contaminated food or contaminated substrates. "
Subacute effects of transgenic crylab bacillus thuringiensis corn litter on the isopods Trachelipus rathkii and armadillidium nasatum (2006) -- " These results indicate that little hazard to T. rathkii and A. nasatum from Bt corn leaf material from these hybrids exists. "
Bti on springtails:
Chameleon boards anectdote (2014) -- " The mini culture of springtails in the BTI water is doing great, reproducing normally, and hasn't had any ill effects that I can see. "
Figs4Fun anectdote (2014) -- " The water in the video is treated with Gnatrol. Whatever those are they seem to be resistant. "
The nonsusceptibility of soil Collembola to insect pathogens and their potential as scavengers of microbial pesticides (2001)
Bti on millipedes:
Adverse effect of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner on silkworm, Bombyx mori L. and other beneficial nontarget organisms (2001) -- "B.t.k. formulation used in the experiment was almost safe to 4 species of nontarget organisms comprising of tadpoles, Buffo melanotictus; earthworm, Pheretima posthumo; fresh water fish, Cyprinus carpio and millipedes, Julus sp."
EPA Memorandum: Review of ecological non-target insect studies for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Bb1 protein. (2002) -- " There was also no interaction effect of insecticide and hybrid found for any of the species evaluated. "
