gnats are a sign of too wet. Nor sure why it is not possible to have them outside? So many plants and using drip irrigation, the room must be very humid. It will not be too long until there is a serious fungi problem. How do you control your temperature?

Why I have to grow inside only:I live right on the ocean in Oregon. Year round we have wind 50-80mph. We have little sun. Rains in winter and fog in summer. Even when the sun shines our home is surrounded by giant spruce trees that block the sun. It sounds awful but living on a rocky beach is spectacular.

As I said in my post, I realize well that the gnats are a sign of over wetness or I wouldn't post my question. I just don't know if I am watering too much or if my soil is draining poorly. My plumeria however, dry out just fine in about 5 days so the soil and drainage is fine for them. I use a dehumidifier and heater. Have a heat and humidity monitor so both temp and humidity are constant.

So my answer lies somewhere in my soil mixture or overwatering and wanted to get input on those ideas. Thanks.

Nancy

PS. I posted my question on the container forum too.

For your gnats, you can use mosquito bits. Another member mentioned it previously, I only use it to fight mosquito breeding, but may sprinkle when they come in for winter.

Your trees look fine - are you noticing any issues other than gnats? Certainly you can reduce watering. Most people don't use moisture meters but use the dowel method. What is the humidity and temp you have? If the roots are kept warm, there is less chance of a problem of root problems but if they are cold and wet, that will be.

how much water comes out of the drain holes when you water? If you have high humidity, you will need to water a bit less. But if I put a quart into my pots, I have a fair bit drain out. If you don't, then you may have a retention issue. But for sure, do the dowel test to see if the soil is really wet.

Hi Fruity,

Thanks for the thumbs up on the trees. They do look fine now, but I worry about their future sitting in wet soil. Because I worry so much about "wetness" I do use my knuckle, a meter and a dowel too. My humidity is set for my plumeria (have 47 of them) more than the citrus- so the citrus have to go with the flow. Temp is constant 85*, humidity 38%. So roots are nice and warm.

Water drains immediately when I water so pretty sure drainage is good. I think from what you say my situation is ok and maybe I'm just worried for nothing. The trees look beautiful. Maybe it's just overwatering.....

Thanks.

Free flowing generally means good soil and your plants haven't shown any issues, so i'd just tag the gnats. Nice and warm for sure. A bit dry, so you may want to mist them (which will help against mites).

Thanks Fruit :)

Thanks Vlad. I wondered about the Miracle Grow. Do you use gritty? And what proportions if so?

If I continued using the 5:1:1, is sphagnum peat the proper replacement for Miracle Grow?

Again, thanks for chiming in :)

I use both gritty and 5-1-1. I am transitioning to gritty because:

• I worry less about over watering with gritty

• I have lost some trees to root rot in 5-1-1

• the 5-1-1 in some of the pots that I potted last summer is decomposing and has become very water retentive.

The big problem I have with gritty is that I have to water every 3 - 4 days which means I have to fertigate that often with Foliage Pro 9-3-6, which gets expensive. I am thinking of alternating with another, cheaper, fertilizer.

Yes, sphagnum peat moss is the proper replacement for the Miracle Grow potting soil.

By the way, I am impressed by the system you have fro growing plants indoors.

Please note that if your trees are on a rootstock (such as C-35) then they are very resistant or at least modestly resistant to phytophthora root rot (depending on the exact rootstock cultivar). Do you happen to know which rootstock has been used for your trees? Or are they on their own roots? The purpose of rootstock is to gain control of specific diseases that commonly affect citrus that are on their own roots (in addition to size control i.e. flying dragon)

Thanks once again Vlad. I used gritty for a short time on my lemon when I first got it and didn't like it. Just as you say I was constantly watering and never felt I was getting a good feel for when it needed it. May give it a whirl once more and do some modifications. And definitely switch to sphagnum when things need repotting next time around. Thanks for the nice compliment on my grow room setup. Means so much coming from you. It's heavenly in there. Little piece of aloha paradise with citrus as the cherry on top.

Thanks too Tropical. Three of my rootstocks are Fying Dragon- the rest are from Four Winds and can't get a peep from them about their rootstock. Helps to know that maybe they are mildly resistant. Guess I'll just watch it with the watering. Been trying to treat gnats with Gnatrol which is a "drench" and so they are even wetter than usual, so feel damned if I do damned if I don't.

Can either of you weigh in on letting the citrus go bone dry for about a week? Have read it is another idea for treating plants for gnats. I've been resistant to the idea because while plumeria can tolerate it, didn't think the citrus could.

Thanks again to you both.

Nancy

I don't know what you mean by "bone dry" but you can certainly increase the interval between watering and keep a close eye on the trees.

You could also add by drilling some 1/4" drainage holes to the sides of the pot to help raise the water table and get better air flow, is a fan circulating? that helps too

Vlad, bone dry I mean let it be as dry as it gets before before I usually water....and if I let it go a week before I watered it would they be OK? I guess all I can do is do it and keep a careful eye.

Bklyn citrus. That's a great idea about drilling more holes. Gonna do that. And yes there are two fans circulating.

Thanks to you both.

Nancy

Wow what a set-up! And so tidy!! Well done.

What are these colorful lights.

Well you can't see the colorful lights in these pictures but they are LED's hanging from pendant sockets. The big lights are so bright that I have to have them off to get a decent photo. The citrus are all next to the T5HO lights and they get twirled daily. And the LED's are supplemental (but think they'd be fine on LED's only.) You're seeing mostly plumeria in these pics.

The room as you can see is decorated aloha style. I have my Tommy Bahama chair in there too :) Sorry duplicated one and don't know how to edit out after the fact.

Nancy, I am so impressed by your set up! So organized and efficient, I now have some serious growing room goals for my garage this winter. I am sorry your trees are giving you a headache that's no way to be treated after coming back from a vacation, I hope you had a wonderful time in Tahiti! I was having trouble with my trees staying wet while they were inside for the winter, they were in a soil mix and they would need 2-3 weeks between watering. I would say for the time being water less often then when its repot time swap the soil out for peat in your 5-1-1 like you said. The Plumeria must just be better drinkers than the citrus since they look like they are flourishing in that mix. What 5 Mandarins do you have? Are they the same variety?

Sammers I read about your horrible disability with your back. Hope that you are taking care of yourself and slowly recovering. Makes me so sad thinking of you sitting there knowing your trees are slowly crumping. Thanks for your input on watering. I've drilled some extra holes in their containers too to see if that helps. And next time watering will be much less and I'll just slowly adjust to their needs.

I have a Dancy, Satsuma, Kishu, Tango and Murcott. I've run out of space for everything particularly anyplace to hang the pendant LED's so no more citrus :( Feels like being in prison not being able to get more.

Good wishes coming your way. Wish I was closer to I could help you with watering. Hope you had help with meals and household stuff. Hugs.

Nancy

Well.....

My citrus were all looking good except for the wettest of them. But it had a few yellow leaves yesterday and a few more today. It's a Meyer Lemon and the one I've had the longest and when I knew the least about repotting. So repotted today and glad! The root ball was bundled up tightly hugging remnants of the original soil it came in, but no rotting roots. Cleaned it all out so virtually none of the old mix was left, and repotted in the proper 5:1:1, reptibark, sphagnum and perlite (with a little dolomitic lime). Placed in a spot in my greenhouse where there are no grow lights. Let me know if I've forgotten something. Can fertilize when?

Going a day at a time with the other citrus (I think?). They all look fantastic, no yellow leaves, but as soon as I say that about anything it takes a bad turn. Can't remember but think I may have done a better job repotting the others. Will find out soon enough.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

Nancy

@petuniafish how much are your energy bills? That looks like some serious gig.

Yeah, it's pretty serious :)

I live in the Pacific Northwest where electricity is relatively inexpensive. My lights are on 14 hours a day, and fans, dehumidifier, heater (winter) running 24h. It's raised our electric bill by $40/month.

Nancy, that sounds like you have some great varieties of mandarin's! I have a small kishu but won't see fruit on it till at least next year. My back is feeling much better, I still cannot bend all the way down without discomfort but I can now water my plants which makes me much happier. I am going crazy fretting over them but I know only time will tell which ones recover. I think drilling those extra holes on your pots should help, I hope it helps cut back on the water retention.

Summers, its so good to see that your back is much better. I was just thinking of you the other day. I can't even imagine thinking of how you did it,it hurts to think of it. I am happy for you and please take good care)))

Nancy, nice job! That would be the only way I would find growing plumeria worthwhile or successful. Very nice