Root Cleaner - Soil Gnat, Fungus and Pathogen Killer (8 Ounce)

First time using, I'm trying to follow the directions to the tee and hope it works for these gnats... nothing I tried before but this product worked. The gnats did run out of the soil I noticed, but I hope they stay out

maybe 3-4 stars as I don't know how effective it really is, as I just got it in mail and just now testing it out on many plants. I loath gnats! so I do hope after a month or so I remember to update the effectiveness of this product. until then, read directional instructions on bottle!,...and good planting.

I had a super bad and super gross fungus gnats infestation on my indoor plants, which then spread to my vegetable seedlings. After an epic fail trying to use neem oil (which I honestly think made the problem worse), I found this. The process is a little more complex, and the instructions on the bottle are terrible. However, if you read through reviews on the method that people have used and treat your plants accordingly, you will have success without killing your plants.I moved my plants outside because of the drainage and fleeing gnats that i knew would ensue. I mixed 2 oz of the solution with 1 gallon of water. I then poured 2 cups of this mixture around each plant container. (My containers have drainage holes, so the excess drained out.) For some of my larger plant containers, I used 3 to 4 cups. I made sure to thoroughly soak the soil in each container. There was a gathering of gnats above my planting table, trying to find an untreated container to take cover in. I left them sit after soaking them for about 30 minutes. Then I used roughly the same amount of plain water, just enough to soak the soil in each container. I let them sit outside long enough for all excess water to drain out. I then wiped the containers off and moved everything back inside. I then put those yellow sticky traps in each container to see if I would still have gnats. A full day later, across 20 containers, I have only 4 gnats.The bottle says to repeat the treatment every 3-4 days until the infestation is gone. I will do this until I see no more gnats on the sticky traps.I realize my approach may have been overkill, but the gnats had gotten really bad. This solution is safe enough to use indoors, and does not require the use of gloves or mask. If you are not able (or don't want) to move your plants outdoors, you could simply put them in a sink to allow drainage or put a towel underneath.While this solution took a little more work than some other things I tried, this one actually worked.

I think this product is actually mostly soap. It doesn't have that insecticide smell at all, which is a good thing. In fact, it hardly smells at all, which is why I think it is mostly soap and the fact that it gets sudsy. I reduced the number of stars because this is not an easy product to use, especially if your soil doesn't have good drainage. In fact, I found out just out badly my potting soil drains! I suppose I should be grateful for that as I now know I need better potting soil. The soil that you have really needs to drain fairly quickly because the instructions state that after you let the product sit for 20 minutes in the soil, you need to rinse it out of the soil by letting fresh water drain out of the bottom of the pot. It sounds very simple in theory. If your potting soil is like mine (the cheap stuff), it doesn't drain good at all and I created a mess trying to get it rinsed through. In fact, I'm waiting now to see if my plants will die from the trauma of being overwatered for an extended period and root damage as I tried desperately to get it to drain. I didn't really see any gnats trying to escape as I poured it over my plants, but I had let the soil dry out quite a bit too, so I think they already escaped to find moister pastures. It has been about a week now and I see them trying to repopulate my pots as a few are now getting stuck on sticky cards.My recommendation: Make absolutely SURE that your potting soil has good drainage or you'll regret trying this product. If you flood the pot with plain water and it doesn't drain fairly quickly, change your potting soil and then use this product after you've made the switch. I can't really speak for how well it actually kills off gnats and their larvae because I made such a big mess of the whole thing.

I am so tired of fake Amazon reviews. This does NOT work on fungus gnats. Per the label directions, I diluted 1 oz per gallon of water and drenched the pots. Waited 20 minutes. Live fungus gnat larvae were still visible in the potting soil. Reapplied and waited another 20 minutes. Some dead larvae, but also some live. Feared damaging the plants with more treatments, so went ahead and rinsed as directed. (This step takes an eternity, if you have many pots.) Live fungus gnat larvae were still visible in the soil an hour later. The next day, there were adults. Repeated in 3 days with the same result. Not bothering to repeat again. Removing all soil, washing roots and pots, and then repotting in fresh soil. Incidentally, that takes less time and is cheaper.