So I'm about to prepare myself for some indoor winter growing. I have some lights and such but i'm curious about some of the preparation i need to make. This grow will be in my basement. Currently in my room i have my grow, which was infested with mites. How they got there? I did bring in some basil from outside for a short period, which could have contained the mites. Downstairs currently i have 3 bromeliads, 4 aloe, 2 peppers, purple heart, and English ivy. My question is, do i have to take any precautionary measures to prevent any spread of disease or pests? Should i spray everything? Suggestions?
since its indoors and you control the environment, some carnivorous plants may be a nice addition... and if you delve into mycology at all, maybe some cordyceps mycelium to destroy any TARGET insects in the home, much much safer than spraying everything if you ask me and possibly predatory insects like ladybugs, honestly pests are much easier to control outdoors so WHAT I PERSONALLY DO is just try to confine indoor stuff to a minimum during the winter and work outside as much as possible in the warmer months and i personally just live with the small amounts of critters that live in the mulch of my pots for the long winter season....
You can do a neem cake soak in the soil and it should get rid of a lot of them. Otherwise I'm a big fan of praying mantis, ninjas of the garden.
Yea I've read into some carnivorous plants before, interesting to say the least. However, i don't think they are as forgiving as some of the others i have had in the event that something happened. Perhaps in my original question i was definitely curious about the effect mites have on some of these specific plants. Because of course i have only seen damage done on my grow and nothing else. Yeah, if on'y I had an enclosed space I'm just a person with a house who loves plants
This is information from the good ol' book, "Carrots Love Tomatoes" -Garlic is a powerful mosquito destroyer, achieving 100% kill on 5 types of mosquito larvae by spraying breeding ponds with a garlic based oil. -kills 89% of aphids and 95% of onion flies. “try this recipe take 3-4 ounces of chopped garlic bulbs and soak in 2 tablespoons of mineral oil for one day. Add a pint of water in which one tablespoon fish emulsion has been dissolved. Stir well. Strain liquid and store in glass or china container, as it reacts with metals. Dilute this, starting with 1 part to 20 parts of water and use as a spray against your worst insect pests. Garlic sprays are useful in controlling late blight on tomatoes and potatoes.” So i suppose if the smell wasn't too bothersome garlic might be a useful, safe precaution, can't promise anything though
I have to get back into some of my gardening books that went half read. I get too involved in forums as I enjoy interaction more than single reading.
make sure your basement is cleaned, before everything is moved down and set up. you could clean with a spray of 1:1 vinegar:water add in a little dish soap or glycerine. you can also use that to clean the containers. like it was said, garlic is an amazing flower. random recipe: Home Remedies - Alternatives to Insecticides and Fungicides (Green Pages) [Montréal Botanical Garden] garlic is also an amazing companion plant and a bulb or two can be planted in a container with companions.
Garlic plants well with: Tomatoes Peppers Eggplant Potatoes Broccoli Cauliflower Kale Kohlrabi Carrots Roses Celery Pretty much all fruit trees - great under peaches, keeps the borers away (outside) Keep garlic away from beans and peas.
Here's what I got started so far. The large bin under my blue t5 is all spinach. In the cups are the mostly jalapeno plants. The pepper plants growing under the shop light fixture are banana peppers, as you can see i let one get a tad bit ripe. There's some basil, and a few ornamental. I still gatta do some research as the best lighting for each plant individually, because I've attempted some houseplants under 24/0 light and they definitely did not benefit.
I'm not a large veggie fan. But I put it on anything I can. Any type of hot or cold sammy, i eat handfuls mixed with cranberries at a ratio of 1:2 cranberries, substitute it for anything with iceberg lettuce (tacos), and more that I cannot think of. I was also thinking of selling it to roommates and friends at like $3 a bag or something since I hope in a month I'll have a decent amount.
$3 a bag sounds good considering it's about what you pay in the store. And are you growing organic? All my grows have been organic and I will always be that way. The only way is organic. Let us know how everything is going.
Yea, everything is organic! I don't need to overcharge for it and It would more or less be just to supplement paying for the electricity and such. I mean I'll see what i bring in but there's like 40 plants that sprouted haha. So far soo good. I also just pollinated the 6th banana pepper flower. Hoping theres more or they continue to produce. I overwintered these pepper plants from outside by the way so not really sure how they will act in the long run.
Anyone wanna offer some help on some peace lillies? I've had these thigs for two years and transplanted about 1.5 months ago. They aint looking so good. Rots were fine before. Wondering if it's overwatering as I often have had that issue...however I haven't watered in a few days now. first 5 inches is dry. Moist after that. Here's a picture of the spinach and dill looking good! Can't wait!
^from understanding, most lilies like moist soil, so perhaps more watering is in order, particularly if recently transplanted...
I really like the idea of growing spinach. I wanted to pick up some malabar spinach seeds (not really spinach plus it's a vine) for the spring. I wonder if you could train it up a pole or trio of poles in a corner of a room. If it started getting really big, spring is just around the corner.
@Ocean- Perhaps the pots are just too big? I basically broke apart the 3 year plant into two different pots but I thought the roots were well enough for it. The soil is still moist at the bottom where the majority of the roots are. I really do think it's overwatering. Either way they're more forgiving in dry soil so I'll wait another 3 days or so and go give it a couple qts of water. Hope it helps. I should mention that the leaves are very thin and soft..like there's no "muscle" to them. I may start spraying with need and pro tekt to assist in stem strength. @brilla-Sounds interesting! I've attempting growing morning glories indoor to get flowers all around my room. I have a large 5ft by 7 ft window in my bedroom so theres a decent amount of light. Spinach and other herbs are just the best to grow indoors because they're so quick. I'd like to move into some tomatoes starting soon and more peppers (that I started already) to get an indoor harvest before starting seeds for outdoors.
Nice little indoor you got goin on @us. I just germinated some Chamomile, 2 varities of cherry tomatoes and green onion. Everything is going good under my 100w flouro for right now. Leaving lights on 24 hours a day. Today I will be moving to a different light, 400w hps in grow tent, and different light cycle (I don't know exactly what light cycle I was going to ask around the forums today). Subbd.