Hey there, been on hold for a bit. Fired back up the tents couple months ago. State just passed homegrow and rec. Reading back thru this thread has been great, a real kick in the pants to get back to a living soil. Kinda rushed the start up and went with an amended promix, basically just some EWC kelp meal top dresses and garden tone , think ima finish this one out with bottles( lowers head in shame). See a lot of new faces and a lot of familiar ones as well. Nice to see everyone Gonna start sourcing all the goodies for a new mix , hope to have it ready to go by early fall. Who’s got grows going, looking to follow along some of y’all’s gardens, missed it lots
I'm newly registered on here but been following this thread over the past month or so. I skipped some additives in my soil mix, not by choice. I got some EWC, plant magic compost with sphagnum moss in it, bone meal, garden lime, humic and fulvic acids and perlite mixed together. The pots will be sitting for 4-6 weeks before anything goes in them. Been growing 'all soil' for a while and slowly getting the grasp of it. It's good to finally sign up
Thank you I just ordered some alfalfa meal (found it quite hard to come by locally), volcanic rock dust, and some neem oil as i'm having trouble with the gnats. Would it still be worth adding the humic/fulvic acids to the new mix, I'm running low and just wondering if it's worth it?
For fungus gnats put a fan on the soil line. Gnats need soil to lay eggs in. They dont fly very well so blow them away from the soil with a fan. Poof gone. Neem oil has an awful taste and smell. You dont wanna put that on your plants you can and will taste it later. Its nasty, ruin your weed it will. If you need an oil or whatever look into Horticultural soap or make your own from soap nuts or Dr Bronners natural no flavor soap.
Fungal Gnats = Mosquito Dunks Most home improvement centers will have them. Crush one up and sprinkle under the plants. Toss another one in your watering can, Biological control. It's another form of the same BT we all use on caterpillars growing outside. bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. BNW
I'm surprised by that, only heard good things about neem but thanks for the heads up. Another project to crack on with
100% agree about the fan being a simple and quick solution to too many gnats. Another thing to think about is that if you see one or two here and there, is that really a problem that needs a permanent/pesticide intervention? I disagree with the statement above about neem oil ruining your plants (though it does have a distinct smell and taste, to be sure). Neem is an integral component of many grower's IPM routine. Diluted sufficiently and sprayed *in veg* it is not something I have ever heard of anyone tasting or smelling on flowers. I would not recommend you spray during flower at typical strength (or at all, really), though I have read of individuals here using it in very dilute form through flower with no ill effects whatsoever. Having said that, spraying neem on your plants will have no impact on fungus gnats as the gnats themselves do not feed on the vegetative plant matter. The larvae live in the soil and feed on decomposing organic matter. The mosquito dunks that B&W posted about above is a great option if you're having major problems. Another alternative would be yellow sticky traps.
I'm hoping there isn't an infestation. Managed to squash and kill 7/8 but there seem to be just as many the following day. I forgot to cover 2 of my pots with perlite and the soil was damp, this is now fixed. I've ordered the sticky stakes and a product called Nemesys which has good reviews. Out of interest, do you use neem yourself, and if so, why and what benefits does it have? I have a litre of oil coming next week. Thanks for all the info guys and gals
I prefer not to use anything, I typically spray with an olive oil and organic soap solution when I think I have something brewing. The oil will suffocate the crawlers and the soap helps mix with the water. But when that doesn’t work, I go to the neem oil, and with in a few weeks, there is always improvement. For a long time I would bubble water with neem and kelp meal and spray/water my plants at least once a week, but I got lazy/busy with other things and stopped. Every time I re-amend my soil, neem goes in. I almost never spray in flower. And every one is correct about the fans and the gnats. Sent from my iPad using Grasscity Forum
I use neem oil as part of my preventative IPM routine primarily for mites but it protects from other pests too. I spray every week during veg. I emulsify my neem with a potassium silicate powder so they also get the benefits of that too. Once in flowering I stop. Preventative IPM because it’s much easier to prevent a mite infestation than it is to try to kill them all once they’re there.
Hey All, Just wanted to follow up on my posts above about plants struggling in my homemade compost. I think Jerry is onto something with his suggestion that my compost is possibly immature. I've only started having problems when I started introducing my homemade compost and VC. What I've done in the meantime is reammended some old soil (that has my homemade compost in it) with all the usual ingredients posted at the beginning of this threadand and used coast of Maine lobster compost. Just for curiosity I checked the pH which was 6.6. I'm growing a few plants in ocean forest and a few in my reammended soil. I used 1 cup kelp and 1/2 cup tomato tone as amendments. The original soil had 2 parts kelp, 1 part alfalfa, crab, neem, and tomato tone. About a week since the most recent transplant and the plants in ocean forest are by far the best with all lovely green colors. Any plants with my amended soil are somewhat behind and developing reddish purple stems and yellowing lower leaves. Has anyone had this much trouble with their homemade compost? Pics coming below...
I looked back for your first post about your compost but couldn’t find it. In your homemade compost can you see any bits and pieces of greens that are identifiable? That’s a sure sign it wasn’t quite done. Identifiable brown bits are ok. Cheers Os
This compost was made from leaves from last fall and fruit, was aggressively turned weekly then monthly when fruit bits were no longer recognizable. The only visible pieces are small bits of twig and occasional small pieces of leaves. The last green additions was about 6 months ago and the compost cycled for 4 weeks in the soil once it was made.