Jon705's Multi Strain HPS LED Hybrid System

donpaul.p said:
their to big to be fungus gnat larvae,

when you mixed the soil has it been sealed after so nothing can get in to lay eggs, having a mix like that around would be humid and attract all types of bugs, im sure sub did his in big bins and had the lids on tight so nothing could get in,

so im not 100% sure what method you use to mix it up but i remember someone doing it with a big bag and ill have to go back and check if that was what you did, if it was sealed up after then i guess it can only be something that was in a product you used and hopefully its not harmfull, dont you have any veg lying around you could just put on top of the soil and see if they start eating it, slice a potato up and put it on the soil like you do when you have fungus gnats, if their going to attack the plants and roots then they will be all over a sliced up potato, at least then you will know if their living off the soil or the plant matter,

i would find out before planting just in case but a simple potato test should give you a good idea what they are likely to do.

you dont want to be adding chemicals now you spent all that time mixing and waiting for it to be ready, you could do with a big press and put the soil in then squash it down to kill everything in the soil, it will only kill larvae and bugs the microbes will still be ok, but its finding something to squash the soil in as it would need pressing pretty hard to kill everything, then would need breaking up and mixing up again,

you know what i think they look like, i think the look like worms you see near ponds and stuff like that, could it be mosquite larvae, im sure ive seen something like that before,
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it sat in a large tarp in my yard for a month before I bought the garbage cans so anything could of gotten in, I found 3 toads in it when I was filling up the cans lol...they love the stuff, you might be right on the mosquito larvea, im surrounded by ponds and swamps, the mosquitos around here a plentyful to say the least lol...think I ll pick up some predatory nematodes just incase, whatever they are I dont want them in my house lol
 
I can't help with the worms sorry mate, except for ruling out mosquito larvae - it's dark now so I can't take a photo but I've got some water trays my carnivorous plants sit in and they're currently full of mosquito larvae- they're little black things with a rounded "head" and a tail that sort of hangs in the water, and they swim / wriggle in a very distinctive way. I'm not sure they can survive in soil, just still water. Horrible little things
 
I was at a greenhouse today buying 16 10 gallon nursery pots and they said they probably arent nematodes, apparently most of them are microscopic. im really not sure what to do about them, i ll probably just put a plant in it and see what happens, if they start messing with the plant I ll deal with it then.I cant drill holes in the cans and drench it all because #1 I would need 300 gallons of drench and #2 the soil isnt ready yet and its not suposed to be soaked, this whole prossess is turning into a royal pain in my ass, first mother nature and her cold summer and now this, how many predatory nematodes would I have to get for 500 pds of soil? Soil might be easier if everything is perfect but holy crap theres ALOT more things that can go wrong and right now I dont have a clue how to deal with most of them lol...im not spending another dime on this until I know the mix is good, I already have $620 into this SS, 400 for the soil,100 for 5 garbage cans to hold the soil and another 120 today on 16 10 gallon pots and for all I know the mix is no good...
 
I'd really like to try growing in soil one day from an outdoor grow perspective, and I'd be interested in trying high brix but I agree, there seems so much that can go wrong and it does seem a bit of a hassle (and messy!). It's funny how people get turned off from hydro thinking its terribly complicated, but I think it's much simpler because you can control everything to a t. Soil is a massively complex medium because its natural; bugs, bacteria, micro flora. There's no controlling nature, way too many variables!
 
I dont know about that bro, I was having all kinds of problems and not one hydro grower here could diagnose the problems I was having, I tried everything I could possibly think of and nothing worked, even went as far as blowing 600 bucks on an ro system that I use for drinking water now, a chiller, minisplit ect ect...the conditions were as perfect as I could get them and the plants looked worse than they ever did, hydro is only easy until something happens and nobody knows wtf it is, the same goes for soil, I'd be using the ss right now if it wasnt for this cold summer, once I figure out a good recipe with products I can get here and I get good results with it soil will be alot easier than hydro, getting rid of bugs is easy, it just cost money, once I start mixing it indoors bugs wont be an issue either...
 
I think you're making too much out of this...I doubt they are bad...I've personally grown a few hundred plants in super soil type medium & everything has always gone smooth...No mites or anything, just healthy plants to harvest...Their likely a beneficial microbe unless your area has something terrible in the earth??? I'd not be troubled until I grew a plant in it...I never once checked the soil.... mix, cook & use!!!
 
hi mate, ive been doing a bit of leg work for you mate,

their either baby earth worm, these are tiny and white and will usually curl up around a tooth pick if you managed to pick one up, the other worm is the nymotode or what ever their called, either are ok for plants and are just helping to break down the soil,

im hoping this link is ok as its a pest related issue so im not linking to other grow sites, it just shows the pics of these types of worms and tells you what they are, ill keep looking and see what else i can come up with, so check this link out and see if its similar to what you got,
is their any big worms in the soil as well, if their are then it could just be baby earth worm, let me see what i can find out for you,
White worm : CP identification Forum
 
nematodes i the other thing i was looking at, i wont post anymore links just yet in case the mods are not impressed with it but im not posting links to grow sites just worm related info, so have a look at nematodes, ill see what else they could be, but basically nematodes are common in very wet ground,
There are approximately 10,000 to 10,000,000 species in the Phylum Nematoda. Free-living (ie without a 'host') forms can reach sizes between 1mm to 2 cm (0.04”- 0.8”). Nematodes that live in the aquarium usually reside in the gravel, but when disturbed they swim in a snake like manner. Much like that of a sea snake. They can be easily seen in a bucket after cleaning the gravel.

There are three types of nematodes: parasitic, scavengers and herbivores. The vast majority of nematodes are parasitic. All three are able to live within the aquarium; however the scavengers are usually the most common

as you can see these prefer really wet ground, is this possibly what they are, these are possible the things i seen around ponds and pools, i thought they was mosquito larvae but thinking about it mosquito larvae live in water and not the ground around the water, so that pretty much rules them out, these nematodes only like wet ground though so it can only be these if the soil mix was really wet,
 
if this pic works then these are what baby earth worm look like, but i think you would only have these if you have bigger earth worms in the soil
baby-euros-1a.jpg
 
INVATION OF THE WHITE WORMS | Nature's Perfect Plant Food
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that link above is the other possible thing i think they are, these are the white worm, they are helping compost everything in the soil and seem to appear from no where, so if you dont have any big worms in their then that rules out baby worms, so im thinking that this link above is possible what you got going on in the soil, it says something about adjusting the compost so you can get rid of them, have a read as i think this is the most likely worm you have got,

hope it helps
 
Reps for the links DP, I saw a couple of larger worms in the soil when I put it in the bins so they could just be earth worms or they could be those white worms too,they look very simillar, either way I looked again today and couldnt see any.It was easily 90+ degrees in the greenhouse today so if its white worms they died and if its earth worms its no big deal:)
 
jon705 said:
I dont know about that bro, I was having all kinds of problems and not one hydro grower here could diagnose the problems I was having, I tried everything I could possibly think of and nothing worked, even went as far as blowing 600 bucks on an ro system that I use for drinking water now, a chiller, minisplit ect ect...the conditions were as perfect as I could get them and the plants looked worse than they ever did, hydro is only easy until something happens and nobody knows wtf it is, the same goes for soil, I'd be using the ss right now if it wasnt for this cold summer, once I figure out a good recipe with products I can get here and I get good results with it soil will be alot easier than hydro, getting rid of bugs is easy, it just cost money, once I start mixing it indoors bugs wont be an issue either...
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Yeah, that's fair enough mate - and one little plant in DWC like mine is hardly comparable to keeping a hydro grow the scale of yours in check!
Looks like dp may be on the money with his research, hope you get it sorted and they don't cause any issues - if they're baby earth worms that's good news, shows the quality of the soil
 
Good weed jon, here's what I know about the benny nematodes; in one little pack there are enough of em to cover acres. I have used em...successfully except for the time the hydro store gave me dead ones. You just rinse out the little sponge they come in with water, they are in a suspension now...and apply them. Now, a coupla ways to tell if you have a viable culture from the package. They should come out of a refrigerator when you purchase them, the sponge and whole package color should be bright....just look at it and make sure it's not tinged....you'll understand when you see the package, when you open the package...smell it, if it smells bad, they are dead. They work quickly, and when they've done their job and they have no food left to eat (target organisms)...they die and become food for your plants. That is everything I know about benny nematodes.
 
TOPLED COB TEST LIGHT UPDATE

I gotta say, im very impressed so far with this little 200w light. The 4 plants under this panel are doing great and keeping up with the 4 plants of the same age under the 400w MH with a brand new bulb, if anything the girls under the led are bushier than the ones under the 400.They are taking up the full 4 x 4 space now and the canopy is still pretty much even, I was expecting the middle of the plants to get taller because the light is more intense there but they seem to be filling in evenly.
Full view.
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4 plants under the 400w MH.
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4 plants under the TopLed 200w COB led panel.
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Somebody mentioned that a blue and red only panel will give the girls dark green waxy leaves but when I turn the light off they look pretty much identical to the girls under the MH.
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Timewreck doing there thing.
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Im loving this light so far Sara, I cant wait to see how it does in flower:)
 
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