The "Nature is Outside" Fallacy

[mad librettist]

I've seen quite a few threads that warn against bringing in pests, because you won't have good guys in the house to eat them.


I live in an apartment in a very populous city.

This week, I have observed spiders, lacewings, little wasps, and black soldier flies visiting or taking up residence near my plants or worm bin. The lacewings hang out where the ceiling meets the wall, and just chill during the day.

Why is it I have been here for over a year and i have yet to see a pest other than the occasional roach, some gnats, and fruit flies (all under control), and yet I am finding beneficial insects?


All I did was open my windows, surrounded myself with plants, and surrounded my plants with plants. If I had houseflies one week, I had spiders the next, and so on.



It seems Nature doesn't knock before it comes in. Also seems to me there is nowhere on this planet you can go to escape Nature, so you may as well trust her to take care of you just a little bit. The notion that only pests will come in is just wrong.

 

[rrog]

...Also seems to me there is nowhere on this planet you can go to escape Nature, so you may as well trust her to take care of you just a little bit. The notion that only pests will come in is just wrong.

I'm a believer. Teaming With Microbes just arrived in mail.

 

[Microbeman]

Mad;

It was only when I stopped drinking the Ed & Jorge, etc cool-aid that I succeeded in growing with diseaese and pests under control. They were not eliminated but controlled in perspective. Powdery mildew once at up to 90% reduced to 2-5% - spotted mites in isolated areas, etc. A friend with a one acre greenhouse, who had transisted from chemical to 100% natural, saw one day there were two spotted mites infesting several plants in one area. He went to get some spray from his storage but was distracted on the way and totally forgot. Several days later he was reminded as he worked that area of the greenhouse. The mites were gone....eaten.

 

[rrog]

I am finally seeing the cool-aid. Over the last week to 10 days I have increasingly seen the light.

 

[supermanlives]

sorry i aint waiting for nature to help me with pest issues indoors . i have heard others saying the same things as you.

 

[mad librettist]

sorry i aint waiting for nature to help me with pest issues indoors . i have heard others saying the same things as you.

as Fukuoka once said - don't confuse what I am saying with abandonment. I did not simply wait for blessings from heaven.

 

[rrog]

I introduced nematodes and BTI bacteria (dunks) to the soil for a few days before using it. I might look at Beauveria bassiana fungus also (if I can find it cheaper). I' also top dressing with DE.

I don't see this as an inconsistency with what is being said above. These are natural allies. I'm just making sure they had a chance to visit my soil.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Lacewings are the bomb and easy to catch.
Just grab 'em by the wings and throw them in your box.

 

[mad librettist]

and I had no problem kidnapping a whole brood of orb weavers


I think anyone who thinks I just wait for help has perhaps not tried surrounding their plants with plants. I put a lot of effort into my welcome mat, and I wind up with decent guests.

 

[rrog]

You owe it to yourself to look at "the lawn in my comrade's closet" in MadL's sig above.

 

[StrapAssassin42]

I have been wondering about this myself as of late. Especially when i work in my garden outside i've been concerned with bringing bugs inside.
I've always wondered, "Why will nature balance itself outside but not inside?" If the bad bugs can get in, it only stands to reason that the good ones can too.
Your logic is sound Mad Lib....if there is a population of prey, there will be predators!

 

[mad librettist]

I have been wondering about this myself as of late. Especially when i work in my garden outside i've been concerned with bringing bugs inside.
I've always wondered, "Why will nature balance itself outside but not inside?" If the bad bugs can get in, it only stands to reason that the good ones can too.
Your logic is sound Mad Lib....if there is a population of prey, there will be predators!

sometimes your first population of prey can be really annoying. and then if you are married, that may work against you.

I'm not saying people shouldn't do what is best for their situation, I'm just saying I threw the doors wide open and kept them that way, put in some effort "setting the table", and it has worked out well.

 

[StrapAssassin42]

Being married definitely is a road block!!....She stopped telling me about spiders because i refused to kill them or even move em.
Tell me more about setting the table... i really enjoy hearing your take on things mad lib.

 

[mad librettist]

well one group I set the table for is pests. If a spidermite wanders into my grow, to get to the cannabis it has to walk past hundreds of potential meals. Bugs that take care of a mite invasion hang around killing some of my good guys I'm sure, but if mite numbers explode so do theirs. Only that whole battle is as likely to take place on some chickweed as it is on the cannabis.

it's not as if bugs have no access. I did have to spray a houseplant a few months back that had some aphids. since then I gave that plant a living mulch of a different sort.

 

[StrapAssassin42]

I have a really cool lookin spider in my room now...looks just like a small black widow but without the red hourglass marking. really cool!...found the web behind a stack of buckets... i don't use em anymore and haven't disturbed her since...welcome home sweet heart!!

 

[StrapAssassin42]

how does your living mulch...clover etc...get enough light? especially later in the ganj plants life...doesn't it get completely shaded out and die?

In another thread you had told me that mulch that a worm can't eat i should stay away from. Are you adding worms to your pots or is that a rule of thumb saying?

 

[mad librettist]

how does your living mulch...clover etc...get enough light? especially later in the ganj plants life...doesn't it get completely shaded out and die?

In another thread you had told me that mulch that a worm can't eat i should stay away from. Are you adding worms to your pots or is that a rule of thumb saying?

I made that saying up! It's just that you want your mulch to be active sometime this year. Wood chips are awesome for your trees and shrubs, but not your cannabis. All the stuff you can feed to worms in your indoor worm bin, you can use as mulch.

you can always have a cycle of building up your living mulch and then letting it die back, with a re-seed. Also, if you are doing a perpetual setup, you have at least some plants in with your plants at all times, better than nothing.


the ultimate? legalization, and doing this in the sun.


As far as living mulch getting shaded out, white clover does not like it! next round I am going with an LED supplement for my mulch, since I don't want to stop scrogging.

 

[guest2012y]

I've been witnessing these interactions between predator and prey in my garden for some time now. I have a larger garden and it really allows for a greater diversity of species to populate the space.

I have found frogs,worms,beetles,large centipedes,spiders,various flies,etc. I leave them alone and never have an outbreak of anything that lasts for long. Never see mites ,only introduced things like root aphids,fungus gnats from bagged stuff.

 

[StrapAssassin42]

I'm definitely gona try the mini clover...are the benefits only fully realized if one recycles his soil?
Benefits otherwise are... moisture distribution, fixed N, and....??? I suppose i could just read the sticky huh? lol

Thats pretty awesome Cappy! Nature is amazing! Even indoors!

 

[Bullfrog44]

I have one word for everybody, Spinosad! Just kidding everybody, very interesting take on things MM. Jorge and Ed taught us the ways but we never stop learning.