Bio char

I got my bucket down at the local Bigbies coffee and I think I'll swing by the local brewery to grab a beer And find out if I can get some spent grains I guess that and rolled oats do it for the larvae of the BSF they will eat Alot of stuff the worms won't and visa versa the worms can digest stuff the larvae can't and the frass and Left over materials will be perfect to send through the worm bin
 
seaofgreen18 said:
I got my bucket down at the local Bigbies coffee and I think I'll swing by the local brewery to grab a beer And find out if I can get some spent grains I guess that and rolled oats do it for the larvae of the BSF they will eat Alot of stuff the worms won't and visa versa the worms can digest stuff the larvae can't and the frass and Left over materials will be perfect to send through the worm bin
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If I had a aquaponics set up I'd have Free food for my fish and my plants with a BSF colony
 
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Beds a little wet to gotta dry it out a bit just got it up and running to get a harvest in then I'll dig those up and they will go outside in June
 
Putting some air to the pre compost food seems to help make it not smell and it's been breaking down a bit faster I needed something to do with the old tea Brewer I had bought from BAS what a waste of money that was can't clean it good enough to get the bad microbes out the one I made was alot cheaper air lift brewer I made for a tea brewer out of pvc
IMG_20230316_095532.jpg
 
I saw a video about an 'aerated city composting system' or some such. They buried drainage pipe under the piles and blew air through them on a timer a few times a day. Claimed it supercharged the microbes and they got finished compost much faster.
 
Azimuth said:
I saw a video about an 'aerated city composting system' or some such. They buried drainage pipe under the piles and blew air through them on a timer a few times a day. Claimed it supercharged the microbes and they got finished compost much faster.
Click to expand...
Im trying it as we speak it seems like it's working O2 compost is the video I saw I had that tea Brewer wand I was going to recycle it but thought I would put it to use some place else
 

What are parasitoids?​

  • Parasitoids are small insects whose immature stages develop either within or attached to the outside of other insects, referred to as hosts.
  • Parasitoids eventually kill the host they feed on, as opposed to parasites like fleas and ticks, which typically feed upon hosts without killing them.
  • There are two general categories of parasitoids: endoparasitoids, which hatch within the host from eggs or larvae laid there by an adult female, and then feed and develop inside the host; and ectoparasitoids, which are fastened to the outside of the host and feed through the host skin, sucking out body fluids.
  • Most parasitoids are either wasps and bees (Hymenoptera) or flies (Diptera), although a few species of beetles, twisted wing insects, moths, and other insects have been identified as parasitoids.
  • Although some parasitoids are about the same size as their hosts, many are so small that they are easily overlooked by gardeners.
  • Parasitoid wasps are often as small as the period at the end of a sentence.
  • Adult female parasitoids attack all major orders of insects, laying their eggs in or on hosts, or on foliage where they will be consumed by a host.
  • Adult parasitoids fly freely about and feed primarily on honeydew, pollen or nectar.
  • The immature parasitoid stages, however, are the lethal ones, feeding directly on and killing their hosts. Young parasitoids may feed on non-vital tissues first, so that the host is not initially killed, but ultimately the host will die without a chance to produce the next generation of pests.
  • The host stages typically parasitized are eggs, larvae, nymphs and pupae.

​

 

Why are parasitoids so important?​

  • Among all natural enemies, perhaps, no other group is more important to maintaining pest insect populations below damaging levels than parasitoids.
  • Although individual predators tend to kill many prey, while each parasitoid kills only one at most, the sheer number and efficiency of parasitoids is so great that the cumulative impact often outweighs that of predators.
  • Their efficiency is due to several factors. Parasitoids tend to specialize, attacking only one type host, and this specificity makes them very effective against their target host.
  • Their life cycles are closely synchronized with that of their prey, so that parasitoids are out hunting when their hosts are also active in the garden. Parasitoids are efficient at finding hosts: they are very active, and adult female parasitoids often use host–related chemical cues to help them find prey, even when population densities are low.
  • Some parasitoids also get a head start on finding prey in early spring when they are in scarce supply by overwintering in their hosts’ bodies.

How do you find parasitoids?​

  • Due to the small size of adult parasitoids, and because most early-stage parasitoids are hidden inside the host for much of their development, people rarely notice them.
  • An alert gardener may notice adults searching plants for hosts, examining potential insects with their antennae, mouthparts, or ovipositor.
  • Some parasitoid eggs or immature stages may be attached to the outside of a host, in ready view of the observant gardener. A common example is a parasitized tomato hornworm.
  • Many parasitoids emerge from the host body to pupate, and their cocoons may be found beneath host plants or on foliage near dead prey. But the most likely way to determine if your garden is home to parasitoids is to look for symptoms in the host insects.
  • Although parasitized hosts may appear to be healthy for a time, there are clues that their days are numbered if you know what to look for.
 

The importance of parasitoid wasps​

  • There are many species of parasitoid wasps, but most are so tiny that they are rarely noticed. What they lack in size they make up in sheer numbers and efficiency, and as a group they may be the single most important biological control method gardeners have.
  • Wasps belong to the order Hymenoptera, which includes more parasitoids than any other order of insects, with thousands of parasitic species in over 40 families.
  • Parasitoid wasps are very diverse in appearance, ranging in size from as small as a fleck of pepper up to nearly 3” long, and from uniformly dark in color to brightly colored and patterned. These tiny agents of death may be ectoparasitoids or endoparasitoids, but the good news is, they do not sting people. Ecto means outside Endo means inside
 

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