Hey jerry, I finally got around to mixing my own organic soil as per the information i've gathered from this thread. My soil is currently in the "cooking" stage and when i checked on them recently it looked like small patches of white mold were forming on the top of the soil. I tried doing some research and read from some other organic guys that it was a good sign but its really stressing me out. Have you ever had this happen while cooking batches of your soil? Is it time to dump all of it out and try again? Or is it actually a good sign that my soil is doing what its intended?
You’re fine! Fungus is just another step in the process that you’re going through right now - what some refer to as “cooking” but I prefer to call “Nutrient Cycling” - six of one, half dozen of another. Just like the bacteria that starts out in the compost and/or worm castings in an organic soil breaks down your organic matter in your soil to a point where plants can now use it as food, Fungus plays just as important of a role. It is assisting the bacteria in breaking down your soil amendments into their basic elemental forms. Google “Actinomycetes”, which is a fuzzy white fungus that grows on decomposing organic matter and also “Mycelium” - which is the fungal hyphae that @TimJ mentioned above. The bottom line is for you to stop worrying. Nature will take care of things and get you where you want to be. This is next to impossible to screw up - trust me lol peace j
Thanks for the quick replies. Definitely put my mind at ease. Was worried it was like powdery mildew or something which isn't something i want anywhere near my room lol. As a side question, should i till the soil in the pots before i transplant when its done "cooking" or "nutrient cycling"?
“Till the soil”? Are you referring to mixing it up? If so, sure thats fine - don’t overthink this - you’ll be just fine. Good luck. j
Wow. 200+ pages going back almost a decade, the the topic creator still here and engaged. Don't think I've ever seen that anywhere on the interwebs before, lol. Anyway, I've only just glossed over the first couple pages of this and plan to go through all of it. My wife and I started attempting to grow our own meds about a year and a half ago. We're only on our second crop right now ( not doing any type of perpetual grow cycle) and still have quite a bit to learn. We've been using SoHum living soil as a water only medium, but that adds up. I'm going to have to discuss this with the wife and see if maybe we should change up the way we've been doing things. Every opportunity to remove a chance for me to screw something up, I consider a boon
It is a good info source and @jerry111165 loafs around here often and takes part. This entire Organics section is packed with info, check out the pdf and resource threads.
Hey Jerry so nice to be here. I am a newbie wanting to grow my own cannabis for medical reasons. Will be growing inside so you have really helped me so far. Been so lost on all this and I am learning a lot. Thank for your knowledge.
You’re very welcome. Keep things simple and you’ll do just fine. Don't overcomplicate things. Keep us posted as to how it works out for you. j
Hey Jerry, I'm sorry if it's been mentioned earlier in the thread it's a lot to sort through, but do you have any remedies for gnats that won't harm my soil? I'm ready to transfer my girls from solo cups to the main containers they'll be in with my soil mix but having a serious gnat issue. I've never had gnats like this before but there's a lot of them, and i can visibly see a bunch of them on the top of the soil i've had "cooking". My mix contains 2-3 cups of pelletized neem per cubic ft but they don't seem to care about it that much. I have a little left over, would spreading some of the pellets over the top of the pots be effective? Or even crushing the pellets into a powder to cover the top? I've been reading on ways to deal with them such as a layer of sand, neem oil, gnatrol etc but wanted to check with you before i did anything as i don't want to harm the soil I prepared.
A fan pointed at the surface of the soil will help considerably. It will dry it a bit, that gnats dont like but importantly, gnats are just not good fliers and a fan will help prevent them from landing and taking off, just making things generally uncomfortable for them. I’d start with that. j
I've been using one of these, I find it gets the bugs without scaring them if ya have vac on and jab strait at em!
I personally prefer timothy straw to place on top of the soil. It prevents the females from getting to the soil to lay their eggs. It also helps to keep the soil for drying out faster. It usually takes a couple of weeks and all your flies will be gone.
Thanks for the quick replies. I have an oscillating fan in my tent, I'll try pointing it at the pots and leaving it stationary. I also picked up some of the yellow sticky traps today. These methods will really only deal with the adult gnats though right? Should i not be concerned about the eggs/larvae that might be in my soil? I read somewhere that the larvae actually feed on the roots of your plant so i'm a bit worried about transplanting into the soil until i can get them under control, but i also don't know how long i can keep them in their solo cups without them becoming root bound or having other issues.
Don’t worry about it. In 30 something years of growing cannabis indoors and out, I never once had an issue with gnat larvae. Fungus gnats have only ever been irritating at worst - nothing more. They are easily controllable. j