hey Gil, i will sit in on this! I am new to the no till style as well so im interested to see how it goes for you! i have my first round in flower and the next 2 vegging now. im loving the living soil . I will start a journal soon but find myself ALWAYS reading about organics. Good luck & Good Growing
I might not have said actually. Stoner moment I guess. It is alfalfa. Nice to have you! I am pretty new to the no-till method as well. I originally started doing organic due to laziness lol, because I heard you don't have to pH the water and mix nutes. This no-till has me doing more work LOL. Kinda shot myself in the foot...but oh boy I think it is worth every penny and every moment spent from making my own smart pot out of a laundry basket to the worm bin I got going now. I won't stop trying to improve it. I am thinking soon of watering with molasses and doing a top dress of rice hulls, neem meal, and kelp meal. I love the living soil concept as well. Having trouble trying to see anything so far in soil samples on slides on microscope. I will attempt it again soon tho. I was going to do an update and saw those replies, so here we go Enjoy! Had to show you guys the growth on this big bitch the Purple Trainwreck. I had to chop some of her so she wouldn't get too much taller than the other girl. My Afghani is starting to pick up the pace now too. My Goblin God clone is looking good. She looks happy and healthy. Lots of tiny little mite looking things running around in the soil, along with stupid fungus gnats I have them in both plant pots.
have you tried diatamacious earth to help with the fungus knats? what are you doing for your IPM? do you spray with neem oil or make neem/ kelp teas? i have found these things help.
I have DE, but I didn't think of using it on them. I might get more mosquito dunks and yellow sticky paper. Anyway, the plants are doing great, so I am not too concerned with the gnats. Pretty sure they really only chew roots on seedlings, and I got cover crop going that probably makes a better looking root for the grubs to chew on. I should give them a nice spray of neem oil. Soon, I will go out and get some more stuff.
I stopped using mulch on my indoor plants because is was giving me to many issues with pests ... mainly fungus gnats. Becuz the mulch kept the pots moist on top it created a perfect breeding ground for gnats. I didn't visit my shed for 2 days after I watered and laid down some mulch and I had 1000s of gnats, tons they were everywhere. In the canopy, crawling around the soil, crawling along the pots, all over the walls. Got rid of the mulch and the gnats slowly disappeared
was it wet mulch? how thick of a layer did you use? i ask because IME if you use too much wet mulch it creates a good environment for gnats. i once places a huge bunch of fresh parsley and cilantro as mulch and it did attract some gnats but once it dried out they went away. once its dry, having a thick layer also helps cause gnats look at the top inch for places to lay eggs, if the mulch is thicker then that they are less likely to multiply. so dry mulch and a thick layer is what you want. also a simple fan blowing across the soil/mulch surface really helps cause gnats are shitty fliers and the wind will drive them away. HTH
@Sc00byD00bie Idk maybe I noticed the gnats everytime becuz it's wet .... but still I don't use mulch inside any more. Just keeps everything wet to long... My outdoor bed gets plenty of mulch though
I am not sure. I am still really new to this style of growing. But, I did DE bomb the plants and top soil...no more gnats for now >
Nice, I havent had any problems with gnats, yet. But I have just been fighting this PM in Ct the humidity was 87% yesterday, with 2 girls almost home and 2 other halfway.
Yes. Neem has fungicide properties yet won't hurt the good fungus in organic soil. Go figure. But yes it will help. Soaking Neem cake is a great way to go about it. J
jerry, thank you for the info. I went ahead when I first started reading MOFOS sticky thread and though I saw that neem will help with them but I was unable to find it again. I top dressed with Neem among other things will this suffice or should I go ahead and get the neem cakes? More then halfway through flower. Sorry Gill proceed with the dopeness
Tough being halfway through flower. I honestly don't have to deal w much PM HERE IN Maine indoors but I know for a fact it has helped me outdoors soaking Neem cake in water for several days and then drenching (spraying) plant leaves. I'd go easy far along into flower. I've used Neem oil in flower with fine results but at very low dosages - let's say a quarter teaspoon per gallon. J
Ya man outdoors down in CT is rough its 87% humidity the other day haha but you think i would be able to make a light solution with the neem meal to spray or just cut the spots out?
Can you post a picture to show both affected areas and whole plant? I do think several sprayings will certainly help or at least keep it from spreading. Just don't overdo it with the Neem in flower - a quarter teaspoon emulsified in a gallon of water sprayed every other day for a week or so is what I'd probably try - at lights out of course and I might also put a fan on them to make sure they're dry before lights come on. J
I am lucky enough to have a cabana in the back yard so they have been in there with the chance of rain coming so i have a fan on them 24/7 but I will try and post some photos. Messed up today and left them in the cabana because I forgot to update my weather lol said rain and its super sunny out oh well
Sorry, I haven't updated for a bit. I went on a vaca in the woods at a lake. My PTW is a friken weed LOL, it ended up growing into my MH lamp. I have to work now, so pics tonight I promise.
I got drunk...shame on me. I was going to though for real. I took one picture and the camera died...I plugged it in and then like I said got drunk and totally forgot to take the pics lol. But, here we go. I raised the light a bit and dimmed it. Also, I pruned PTW back a bit. Group shot- Purple Trainwreck has earned the nick name- "Big Bertha" I might try to get a stem shot later...holy shit the bottom of the stem is about as wide as my thumb now Afghani "Annie" gave her a name now too...when I was drunk. My Goblin God clone trying to hang with the crowd lol. The water bottle is a regular size bottle like one for a bike for comparison. Yep, gave her a nick name too. "Little Minion" in honor of the Sanctuary Gardens thread. Below is the mother plant of the little Goblin God, needless to say it too has grown like a beast. Not expecting as much from this as I don't think I have enough room in the tent for her and is going to flower in the window. CD case for proportions. Just starting to flower. I might move her on the porch, but I think she gets more light in this room. My porch sucks for growing anything Got a strawberry plant that can't make strawberries and my tomatoes are so small lol.