Thank so much for that Wet! I think I'll get some that kelp meal and make up another 2cf of soil, so I'll have a bit of a mix in there.
On a side note, anyone have any experience with the Biobizz Bio-Grow and Bio-Bloom? Or would it be pretty useless with my current soil mix? Was thinking about doing a mung bean SST once a week and a kelp tea every other week. Would this be sufficient throughout the grow? Anything else I should be adding to the teas? I was going to add fresh aloe vera to the SST and fish emulsion to the kelp tea. Would these be suitable using both teas throughout veg and bloom? I've already made a compost tea to jump start the cook. Sorry for all the questions, but it gets overwhelming with all the teas and wealth of info on here, and am just looking to see if I'm on the right track!
Go no the no till thread about the SST. There was like a 3 day discussion about it not too long ago. Great information there about SSTs.
Thanks for that! But I'm looking more to make sure my teas are right, just looking to see if I'm on the right track and get some knowledgeable advice from the old heads around here. Here are my teas.. SST (5 gal) - 1/4 mung beans using SST v2.0 - Bubble for 24 hours - 10 tbsp aloe Vera Fish Tea (5 gal) - 1/4 cup kelp - 2 tbsp fish emulsion - Bubble for 24 hours Is there anything else that I could add to these? I can't get access to bat guano or anything like that unfortunately.
Hey guys, soo...I found someone to buy homemade castings from, and his worm farm is just open outdoors, so there is a shit ton of bugs. Honestly, just been having problems with fungus gnats, just got that dealt with and don't want to have to deal with them again. What could I do to....I guess 'sterilize' the castings of bugs? I was thinking a quick pyrethrin treatment, or maybe a go in the oven?
I have an order from BAS so I decided to just go for it and update my soil... Here is my goal: Base: 1 part Compost/EWC 1 part SPM 1 part Perlite 1 cup/cf Dolomite Lime Minerals (mix added at 4 cups/cf): 1 part Azomite 1 part Glacial Dock Dust 1 part BAS Mineral Mix (2 parts Basalt, 1 part Gypsum, 1 part Oyster Shell) Amendments (mix added at 3 cups/cf): 2 parts Kelp Meal 1 part Alfalfa Meal 1 part Dry Fert (Epsoma Garden-Tone) 1 part Crustacean Meal (still debating on getting this or not) 1 part Neem Meal I've still got to factor in my current soil mix and see how close I can get to this recipe without making too much. I know you guys are probably sick of all my soil posts lately haha. I do apologize, but I'm just so excited! My grow box is aaaaalmost done, things are all finally coming together.. still waiting for my local brew shop to get the 6-row barley malt in stock, but I've got coconut and aloe powders, TM-7, Ful-Power and Agsil coming. Might grab some barley mulch as well. My worm bin has been going very nicely so I have great fresh castings. Everything is finally lined up and ready to rock! I am still trying to read and learn as much as possible but I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone for all the help! The only thing left now is to experience it and go from there. Can't wait to see the plants this soil will produce, I'll be sure to share some photos down the road!
Yeah, I was leaning that way.. wasn't too keen on having wicks into my soil and whatnot.. thanks! Maybe one day I can setup a SIP system but that can't happen at this point.. ah well, I don't mind watering!
For gnats I'd go with mosquito dunks or bits. You can sprinkle bits on top of the soil after planting and water in. What I do is put a big handful in a gallon jug & shake it up a few times & let it sit overnight, shake it up again & water the soil This suspends the bt in the water and you get an instant dousing. Remember the pieces don't dissolve so strain them out if you want
Maybe my understanding of the SIP trays are wrong....but isn't it just a drip pan/tray thats loaded with perlite and water added? just going off my understanding of noobwannab's sip tray thread, I don't see how this can add much overall space to the grow. Figure it'll just raise your pot 1 inch, 2 inches or however much "wicking material" you wanna use. Figure the more you use, the less maintenance/bigger reservoir of water available to the plant. Im probably figuring too many things. Here is what Im basing my figure's off of! lol http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1151159-noobwannbs-self-wicking-smartpot-ghetto-setup.html
No I do think you're right, and honestly I still need every inch I can get (har har har) - but one thing I was thinking after reading that thread is getting a larger smart pot (I use 5 gallon smart pots) and fill it with 1-2" perlite, then sit your soil pot on top of the perlite in the smart pot. This whole stack can go in a shallow bin that you can fill up to the level of perlite (and in effect hold more water because there would be no perlite in the tray, you'd just have to monitor the water level and the max you can fill it to). I may try this if I can afford the space. As of now I am kicking myself for making my veg chamber so short. My veg consists of a bunch of Cree LED bulbs which the plant (and scrog screen) can pretty much grow right up into. My scrog screen is already awfully close to my soil (maybe 6") which is fine, I don't mind the tight spaces, I'm just not sure if I can actually afford the 2" space. I think what I will do is just grow my first plant in that chamber and play it by ear. If I realize I can spare some room I may try and setup a shallow SIP tray... with the small spaces I am dealing with I imagine I would have to fill the tray everyday, but that won't be too bad, especially if the soil is consistently moist. Still not sure how I would go about watering with coconut/aloe/TM7/FulPower/etc different days of the week - I will have to research the SIP stuff a little more. My watering schedule (I'm basically copying BlueJay's schedule in addition to barley and EWC top dresses, etc) is definitely easier if I top water, but surely that can be worked out through a SIP system. So yeah you may be right, I'm just not sure if I even have the space yet! I will judge it on my first plant and perhaps go that route if I decide I can manage it. Thanks!
The BT-i in the Mosquito Dunks AKA Gnatrol is a highly selective bacterium that works against a very narrow range of insect larva being fungal gnats and mosquitos.. I'd advise against baking or pyrethrum as you do want 99% of the good things in his worm vermicompost.. Just a couple you don't.. BNW
Gotcha. Thanks BNW. I wasn't sure if there was a temperature range that would destroy the larvae/eggs but not affect the microbes. Also, an unrelated question, you guys are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to amendments. I have a conundrum. I'm using a certain formula in coco (Ironhead's) and I want to try using crab shells as a preventative for fungus gnats, however I wouldn't want the leeching of nutrients because I have a feeling that would mess with the efficiency of the formula I'm using. If I top dressed with crab shell meal, would it immediately begin to leech nutrients into the medium, or does it need the cycling and breakdown of soil to utilize the nutrients?
For top dressing, use Diatomaceous earth & let the soil dry between waterings. Treat with bt, coat with de and you will certainly conquer those buggers
I can't let the coco dry with this formula. I have DE and it's a pain. Plus I don't think it works after it gets wet. I'll just try the crab shell meal. Can't hurt.
this is something I don't know-how does crab shell meal work? If you want to get rid of an existing gnat infestation then you got to treat what's happening below the surface and that's where bt works so well. It's very selective and only kills gnats & Mosquitos & won't mess up your nutrient balance.
Fungus gnats body are composed of either chitin or chitanese - can't remember which. The crab shell meal destroys their exo skeleton. I'm just looking for a preventative. I've already dealt with them
Will any crustacean meal do this or is that a crab-only thing? I've got some crustacean meal coming, already have Neem meal in my soil but wanted to add this as well. It's either shrimp, crab or both but I can't be sure. I can contact BAS and ask if they know what it is around this time of season. I would love to preemptively destroy any sign of fungus gnat exoskeletons.