soil drench

[Scrappy4]

I have been building my organic soil for 8 months or so outside in large totes. In my current grow, I have had fungus gnats while in veg, and am dealing with spider mites in my flower box. So next batch I'm thinking of doing a neem oil soil/clone drench, and drenching the flowering soil at transplant time, but am not clear if this would be detrimental to my organic soil mix micro soldiers. And do to bugs in this grow cycle, I do plan on not recycling this current soil indoors. I've had my fill of bugs, any advice, going foward? thanks, scrappy4

 

[EnjoiKush]

I highly suggest inoculating your soil with mosquito dunks, these work wonders for keeping fungus gnats at bay

 

[HELLOSMILY]

i soil drench with nematodes.check them out..good luck

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

Personally I care very little about fungus gnats in my grow they are just a part of life and don't cause a whole lot of damage.

To answer your question about a neem soil drench the answer is yes it will kill your microlife. The best time to do this is when they are in the clone stage your soil can easily be reinocculated by an EWC tea.

Spider mites are a real bitch. Focus your efforts on killing them. Even if this means closing shop for a week or two and busting out some bombs.

 

[loki3xb]

You could place some diatomaceous earth on top of the soil that should help keep the gnats at bay

 

[guest2012y]

I have purposely tried killing plants with insane dosages of neem oil drenches. We're talking like 1/4 cup per gallon here. They never died,but the soil life surely suffered because they turned crayon yellow. Those very same plants are outside and green as green can be. I have noticed that different strains/types can handle different levels of neem oil in a soil drench. I had a Spacecheese in 10 gallon pot that had root aphids...I mixed two tablespoons neem oil,and 2 tablespoons Dyna-Gro silicone as an emulsifier to 1 gallon of water...the plant didn't flinch and for the first time in my life got rid of root aphids.
The best thing for fungus gnats are predatory nematodes or Bacillus thuringiensis...(Mosquito dunks)...or nothing at all if they are not overpopulating.
Diatomaceous earth works too,but only when it's dry.

 

[the gnome]

what are the symptoms of root aphids?

 

[guest2012y]

Here's a cool old thread that pretty much covers root aphids:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=159960&page=1

 

[pearlemae]

Scrappy4, You might try kicking the temp in your compost up for a while when first composting and the heat will take care of a bunch of potential problems.

 

[grapeman]

A weekly neem spray of the plants and the top of the soil along with the yellow sticky traps have kept the gnats at bay for me. The dunks have never worked for me as advertised.

I live through grows with gnats all the time, as do the plants. Thrips, mites and white fly are the ones that do the damage.

 

[Scrappy4]

I agree the gnats have not been a big problem, in fact putting the clones outside for a couple of days in the breeze, drying the soil, along with a transplant took care of the problem. But in flower (my flower box is in my uninsulated garage) I got mites. I'm keeping them at bay with pyrethrum, and tobacco spray. But my leafs are turning yellow with what looks like N deficiency. I checked and adjusted my ph (7+) and have been using high N fish emulsion, but apparently it is not working so I suspect bad bugs in my soil. Along with heat stress, stress from spraying, bugs, and whatever.

Now at 4.5 weeks in flower I realize my yields will not be up to par, and I just want to keep them alive till harvest (8 weeks). And come up with a plan for my next grow. I plan on shutting down for a couple of weeks after this harvest, and will repaint my grow box, and generally go over my set up to optimize it.

One of my concerns going forward is the soil that has been outside all summer. And from the posts here I should not neem oil drench my flower soil? And maybe I should be releasing beneficial bugs before using the soil again?.........scrappy

 

[guest2012y]

I would try beneficial's first before drenches. I do neem drenches in flower with little or no problems.

 

[Scrappy4]

I bought some BT today to use on my flowering plants soil in a drench. I'm afraid I am losing them anyway, so thought I'd give it a shot. Is there a better plan of attact, that can save this crop for 3.5 weeks longer?

Then on my next grow. (after reading about soil aphids)

How about using enzymes on my soil outside, then using BT, before using inside again? I'm concerned that there are some root fragments in the soil. From what I've read enzymes should help break down the root fragments and BT should kill the soil monsters. Or would a better plan be, use enzymes, beneficial nematodes, myochorizae at transplant, and keep the BT and neem in case of problems down the road? Thanks scrappy

 

[Scrappy4]

I also have found that I am guilty in my watering schedule. I give my plants about 25-30 oz of water daily for my 5 gallon smart pots, looks like I should be letting them dry more in between watering.

It's weird that what i have done in previous grows does not work now. I think it is a combination of bugs and heat stress that now magnifies my problems that were not noticed when everything was clicking along. I guess at least I am learning more with this grow than when they were doing well.......scrappy

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

Buy soil in a bag. Get your temps right. Don't overwater. Use a bomb with some PBO when you shut down for a couple weeks.

Again, I will repeat fungus gnats ain't a big deal....especially with everything else you are doing wrong.

Kill the fucking mites for next cuz it sounds like you've already screwed the pooch this time. Learn from your mistakes.

 

[redneck shogun]

Buy soil in a bag.

I want to point out so there isn't a misunderstanding to others that might of read that, building your own soil doesn't mean you are more likely to get spider mites. Also fungus gnats are not a problem until they make it into the rest of your house and keep flying into your tea.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

Actually when you are gathering your soil from an outdoor pile your chances of getting mites are much greater than if you buy a quality bagged soil.

Fungus gnats are always in my res and in my buckets of tea....still not a problem.

 

[NUG-JUG]

Actually when you are gathering your soil from an outdoor pile your chances of getting mites are much greater than if you buy a quality bagged soil.

The benefits of homemade compost completely out-weigh a possible mite attack. Saying that you should buy bagged soil because it's 'clean' is absurd..mites are easy to control. Your chances of getting ripped off are much higher with 'bagged soil' trucked in for miles. If anything bagged soil has as many or more mites since the shit is soil....soil has mites sometimes....What are they gonna sterilize it?? Great no life...I'd take mites in a living soil any day over none in some solarized life-less dirt...

 

[statusquo]

If i have had totes of home-made organic soil sitting outside do you think these would be fine for indoor? I water the soil and turn it often to make sure minerals chelate and nutrients become soluble/available for the plant. I also plan to sift through and do a spot check for problems/infestations but I am assuming I will be good to go? (Peat, pumice, dolomite, mocha bat guano, blood meal and EWC) Also, I've watered with light molasses once or twice the last month.

 

[VerdantGreen]

the worst fungal gnat infections i have ever had came from bagged soil.