Perfect Gardens Organics Thread

[COorganics]

Fungus gnats are now my bitch.
Thanks to neem in the soil mix AND as a top dress. Any insect that lays their eggs in the soil is fair game for neem. You don't have to dry out the soil, it's actually not ideal at all for the soil micro organisms.

Listening to Coot and Jeremy discuss organic IPM is enlightening.

 

[SmokesDaKush]

Yes, I do believe I fell victim to organic compaction a little this time. I have been using recycled perlite from my hempy days and I think it's breaking down too much now.

I wondered about the sun but was under the impression it would over sterilize. As of now I do all my recycling indoors inside covered totes. The gnats are in the grow room at varying breakouts. What is happening is they are squeezing under the smart pots and drip trays to get there moisture and do there business.

A tip perhaps! I have been using truvia, about a tablespoons worth in a dixie cup with an oz or two of water. I read an article awhile back about this. In short the gnats prefer the truvia to other sweets and organics tested. They go and eat this stuff and it dramatically shortens there life apparently. Definitely does not rid them but drastically lowers there population.

What you have to do to prevent fungus gnats from multiplying is to aerate your mix, and expose it to the heavy sun. Also, water your plants less if they bother your grow room. I never had problem with them, but I grow outdoor and have hundred other pests to worry about

 

[Conradino23]

There's one factor that's very important to your growth indoor as well as outdoor, and it's soil aeration. I grow or directly in soil or in air-pots, which let oxygen get to the roots much easier than normal pots. My soil mixes are always fried/cooked in the sun before putting the plants in, and I never had fungus gnats. Had more problems with thrips, but finally garlic worked well for that, and now I'm thrip-free!

 

[COorganics]

What kind of aeration ammendments do you prefer to use and why, conradino?

 

[Conradino23]

I don't use any amendment. I just put them in air-pots!

 

[SmokesDaKush]

I am using smart pots so I would think they are aerated enough that way at least. The soil you cook in the sun, that's your full mix with for example castings, guano & minerals of such obviously your chosen amendment? Do you keep it sealed from the elements?

I don't know that I would want to take the chance unless I could keep it sealed in a bag or the tote. I have a lot of various insects outside and can see spider mites on some of our container plants. Don't want to even take the chance...

There's one factor that's very important to your growth indoor as well as outdoor, and it's soil aeration. I grow or directly in soil or in air-pots, which let oxygen get to the roots much easier than normal pots. My soil mixes are always fried/cooked in the sun before putting the plants in, and I never had fungus gnats. Had more problems with thrips, but finally garlic worked well for that, and now I'm thrip-free!

 

[Conradino23]

Yeah, I usually reuse it, so it stays outside from middle September to March next year, when I let it soak in rain water and hyperaccumulator tea.

 

[SmokesDaKush]

I finished sorting my castings and was excited by the outcome. My first actual harvest...

I got just shy of 7lbs of this rich fluffy castings. I had to take a picture to compare with a purchased bag. Looks pretty good to me. I also found a whole mess of babies and cocoons that went back in the bin. Hopefully my population explodes now.



Oh also on another note CO, I finally got some neem cake and top dressed with about a 1/4 cup and about a cup of castings. Haven't seen a change yet but I recall reading it takes a little to become effective. Just need to get it mixed into the recycled soil mixes now. I am looking to start some indoor veggies for winter too so hopefully I can eradicate these gnats completely. Care to share your ratio? I was thinking at minimal a tablespoon per gallon!?

 

[COorganics]

1\2 cup neem\cf soil
Don't forget the crab\crustacean meal for chitin either. Look into chitin if your not familiar. What u are getting is dynamic amendments that are fertilizers and have pest control functions.
I top dress with same mix.

.5 cups ea per cf soil, neem crab kelp for soil mix. A little of same mix as top dress. Boom!!

 

[SmokesDaKush]

Awesome, thanks COorganics!

Kelp and crab meal has already been incorporated but I only use the crab at about 2TBL per #7 to be recycled. I do sometimes add another TBL to the bottom but haven't in awhile. Perhaps I shall bump that up to 5-7TBL per #7 then. I tried just the crab as a top dress awhile back and that didn't work, so hopefully we got em now. If I can ask CO, do you remember the time-frame they started dwindling?

 

[COorganics]

For sure man,
It was around a week maybe a little less. It will surprise ya one day... Where the fuck did all my gnats go!?

So if u do the top dress with the neem/crab/kelp next put at least an inch layer of worm shit on top of that. The gnats are toast.

So you know also, I still can find a gnat or two in my garden, but I have to search for one. This method works great at managing and controlling them. A few gnats is harmless.

 

[SmokesDaKush]

Haha, that will be a great day! I'm getting tired of these little guys. A few gnats would be acceptable to me. Have you ever done it with just the neem, crab and kelp in the soil without topping and seen results by chance, in other words is it still effective? I'm a bit shy on castings to go all around at the moment.

I can still see some gnats on top of the soil I topped with the neem cake and that was just shy of a week ago, so hopefully I see some results there soon.

 

[COorganics]

I have only recently began using the neem/crab/kelp blend in soil + top dress.
When it was just in the soil mix I still had gnats, but when I combined that with the top dress covered in vermicompost, it worked wonders. Balanced, combination approach.

And I still have no issue with gnats a few weeks after I saw them cease to be around.