What's new
  • As of today ICMag has his own Discord server. In this Discord server you can chat, talk with eachother, listen to music, share stories and pictures...and much more. Join now and let's grow together! Join ICMag Discord here! More details in this thread here: here.

Living organic soil from start through recycling

Status
Not open for further replies.

dank.frank

ef.yu.se.ka.e.em
ICMag Donor
Veteran
My bad... simple enough of a mistake...

Just got it crossed. Thanks for the correction, MM.



dank.Frank
 

SilverSurfer_OG

Living Organic Soil...
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Got myself 50 blumats to play with for under $100. :rasta:

Diy smart pots plus blumats and a good topdressing of homemade compost and wormcastings just might make this season a good one!

My diy smart pot no-till is going bonkers indoors also btw. Into its 2nd year now and really coming good.
 
M

MrSterling

Beautiful fall weather! Although I'd have appreciated this prodigious rain in June instead of October. I've been doing some land reclamation and am Working a couple gigantic new compost heaps made almost entirely out of leaves. I was gonna leave them to just sit and turn into leaf mold, but I couldn't help myself and added a bunch of stuff last week to kickstart. My farm supplier says my kelp meal is on the way; the more expensive variety was Icelandic and not Norwegian like I'd been told. I'll grab some photos as per someone's request when it comes in.
 

shmalphy

Member
Veteran
I need to meet this guy! LOL

I have had these 2 spotted mites raging for a while now. I keep checking with a 30x everyday, and if I see a living mite I spray them with something, either neem garlic or botanical tea of lavender, mint, cilantro, basil, sage, etc. Problem is, no matter what I spray them with, even twice a day, pulling all the plants out and getting all sides, there are living mites the next day. Of course most of my problem is the fact that there has been no hard frost, and I keep bring them in from outdoors, plus it keeps getting warm enough to bring parts of my room into the 80's so they proliferate.

I just pulled all the plants out, neemed them, and used a "natural pyrethrin spray" from Southern Ag on the walls and floors. I am letting it sit for an hour, then I will wheel the plants back in.

I added a cilantro plant in bloom to my veg room and I have more coming soon for the flowering rooms. I am hoping to attract some beneficial insects inside if possible. I plan to make an insectary in my yard next year, I just read about it yesterday, never heard of such a thing. Another interesting concept I read about is biotechnology, and it turns out we are using a lot of it here and I didn't even know it.

I might get some ladybugs or predator mites or something, does anyone have any thoughts or experience using them, and most importantly, how can I get these insects for FREE? I was thinking of infesting plants outdoors with mites and seeing what comes to eat them...
 

Gardens Keeper

Active member
Schmalphy I would be happy to point you in the right direction.

http://www.rinconvitova.com/predator%20mite.htm

I grow 100% organic like this thread and just like these soil mixes out do anything a synthetic fert can do and is virtually plug and play I have also found predator bugs are more efficient than synthetic chemicals.

Order Hypoaspis Miles for fungus gnats and thrips. You can propagate them in a soil bin you never till or use. Simply add nematodes and they will have a feast that will last for 2 months plus. I reintroduce them to the flowering and vegetative rooms after transplants are done by scooping top layers of soil out of the rubber-maid I propagate them in. These little guys will destroy anything that gets near the root systems as they live a couple of inches on the outer soil layer. As long as they have a food source they will stick around and in massive numbers. You will see your soil moving after watering or before if you look at it close enough. They are extremely fast and mobile as well as small enough to penetrate the entire root ball. They are not mobile on the entire plant however. They like the lowest parts. They will destroy even the worst fungus gnat infestation in 2-3 days. This is why you need to add nematodes if you want to keep them around because they will reproduce quicker than the fungus gnats as well as kill the fungus gnats a long side the Hypoaspis Miles. This is the only way to conquer recurrent and seasonal infestations.

For predator mites that stay on the plant above ground go with the ones that target the type of mite you have. For two spotted I would get Amblyseius fallacis and Phytoseiulus persimilis. You can propagate them in vermiculite and pollen. So screw female seeds and use some male pollen to keep them a live =)

Early Merry Christmas present to all of you suffering from pests.
 
I added a cilantro plant in bloom to my veg room and I have more coming soon for the flowering rooms. I am hoping to attract some beneficial insects inside if possible. I plan to make an insectary in my yard next year, I just read about it yesterday, never heard of such a thing. Another interesting concept I read about is biotechnology, and it turns out we are using a lot of it here and I didn't even know it.

Just did something similar when I was dealing with those Russets - unfortunately they were infested wih Leafhoppers and I had to pitch em last night.
 

shmalphy

Member
Veteran
Wow, great tip, I have some male pollen ready now actually, how much do they need for pollen to vermiculite ratio? Also, what temp/humidity do I keep them at? Any preferred source to buy them from?

I had hypoaspis mites in a compost bin, they made the surface look like it was moving, I used most of that up and my fungus gnats went away, but I think they might have gone away, possibly from over application of botanical teas... Looks like I might have to order the mites and stop all sprays... It will be worth it if I can propagate them...
 

Gardens Keeper

Active member
Wow, great tip, I have some male pollen ready now actually, how much do they need for pollen to vermiculite ratio? Also, what temp/humidity do I keep them at? Any preferred source to buy them from?

I had hypoaspis mites in a compost bin, they made the surface look like it was moving, I used most of that up and my fungus gnats went away, but I think they might have gone away, possibly from over application of botanical teas... Looks like I might have to order the mites and stop all sprays... It will be worth it if I can propagate them...

In short just make sure they have a constant supply of pollen. I just throw a flowering male plant in every 2 weeks or so you can continue to water it or just chop it if it is in full pollen mode and throw it in the bin of vermiculite. I would add 2-3 table spoons of pollen throughout a 10-15 day period in a 35 gallon rubber-maid if I was propagating them with fresh pollen probably. You will have to experiment with raw sifted pollen a bit as I mostly always have male plants flowering so pollen is used from them. I also think that bee pollen may be good food for them, but I have not tried it yet. I will be coming up though. There are many types of pollen that can be ordered very cheap on line to feed them with if you do not want to use MJ pollen.

http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/buy-bee-pollen.html

Here are some links of places to buy bulk pollens:

http://www.pollencollectionandsales.com/pollenproducts.shtml

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale/wholesale-pine-pollen-powder.html

General info on predators at Cornell University:

http://www.biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/predators/Neoseiulus.html

Also:

http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z70-092#.UHXdxcXA-vR

ABSTRACT

Populations of the two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae, and its acarine predator, Amblyseius fallacis, were propagated on alfalfa in the greenhouse at constant temperatures in the range 65 to 85 °F (18.3–29.4 °C). The predator limited the initial increase in prey abundance only at temperatures above about 70 °F (21.1 °C). At 80 and 85 °F (26.7 and 29.4 °C) fluctuations in prey and predator numbers increased in amplitude as propagation continued. The age structure of the predator population reared at 75 °F (23.9 °C) differed from that of populations propagated at the other temperatures.

Link to more papers, but you have to have the $:

http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/action/doSearch?searchText=Amblyseius+fallacis&stemming=yes&publication=


Temperature and humidity information on several beneficial species:

http://www.rinconvitova.com/predator%20mite.htm#Plant-Feeding Mite Biocontrols

You can also keep them in corn grits just keep feeding them pollen. If you lose colony order more.

Seriously folks, this soil cultivation technique and propagating your own beneficial biological controls, fungicides, and foliar sprays is the ultimate middle finger to chemical companies and your risk of cancer etc. while practicing professional horticulture. They are far more effective than chemicals could ever dream of being on top of being SAFE.
 

shmalphy

Member
Veteran
That is awesome. Going to order them ASAP. I will probably get 1000 each of the Phytoseiulus persimilis and Amblyseius fallacis. I will report back with my findings.

Last night, I trimmed a bunch of lower growth from some plants in early flower to discourage mite growth and redirect energy to the top buds. When I was done, I cut up the branches and put them in a half gallon of water, and pureed them to kill any living mites, strained it and used the juice to water everything, and the pulp to mulch with. Works out great, you can definitely see results from using the liquid, and it will return the organic matter to the soil as quickly as possible. Of all the ways I have disposed of cannabis scraps (wood stove, composting, etc), this has to be the most efficient.
 

SilverSurfer_OG

Living Organic Soil...
ICMag Donor
Veteran
2nd year indoors that 3-4 crops right? how much times a crop you top dress?

I topdressed with blood n bone and some high P, CA and silica bat guano pellets before veg. Now its halfway through flower and i added some wormcastings and camellia buds that had been in a EM1 soak last week.

I have also been adding all the leafs as i tidy up the rampant growth too.

I do have a fungus gnat issue at the mo but nothing some neem and sticky pads plus the sticky goop shit on the stems wont fix.

PS. I had 2 fat fucking rats eating the stems where i had gooped them. Some plants were seriously ring barked like from 4 or 5 branches right down to the soil! Got the pests now and all but one plant is fine.
 
I used microbe lift BTI from ama zon. Get the small bottle one drop treats 5 gallons. Two drenches and i havent seen one gnat. So i treat all my soil when letting it rest for precaution. The gnats are vectors for other problems i found.

Good luck
 

Budwhyser

Member
Got myself 50 blumats to play with for under $100. :rasta:

Diy smart pots plus blumats and a good topdressing of homemade compost and wormcastings just might make this season a good one!

My diy smart pot no-till is going bonkers indoors also btw. Into its 2nd year now and really coming good.

I'm about to make that move as well. Can you share your sourcing and maybe post some pix or diagrams of your setup?
 

Budwhyser

Member
I realize this is probably a really dumb question, however, I recently did a reset after a major aphid infestation, which make me really paranoid about things crawling in my pots. So a few weeks I bought some earth worm castings from a guy off Craig's who has a major worm farm going on at his house. It looked really good, but 2 weeks later I've got crawlers in the bag. Pretty sure it's baby worms...I'm assuming this is really very normal and I should just go ahead and mix them in with my peat and other amendments?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top