How to keep the good stuff living and the crawlies out

HazeyLogos · Jul 7, 2020

Hey team,

I'm not having an infestation by any means, but I've noticed plenty of insects love to hang out near my dirt. This does not bother me while it is outside, but when I bring it indoors in two months I'd like to have as few insects come inside with my soil as possible. If anyone has any strategies for getting insects out while keeping all of the good stuff in the soil alive, I'd love to hear it. A friend of mine told me to spread the soil out very thin on a tarp and pour Earthworm tea over it, and that would get most of the insects out. A different fellow told me to use Neem seed oil as it's organic, but I wasn't sure how neem would effect the beneficial bacteria/fungus. Any knowledge is appreciated.

hecno · Jul 7, 2020

Are you bringing your dirt inside to grow in , or to carry on building .

HazeyLogos · Jul 9, 2020

Yeah, I'll be bringing the dirt inside to grow with. I just don't want to bring in any potential pests for my plant babies when I bring the dirt in, and I don't wanna bring in anything that would bother my fiancee.

Olderfart · Aug 5, 2020

HazeyLogos said:
Hey team,

I'm not having an infestation by any means, but I've noticed plenty of insects love to hang out near my dirt. This does not bother me while it is outside, but when I bring it indoors in two months I'd like to have as few insects come inside with my soil as possible. If anyone has any strategies for getting insects out while keeping all of the good stuff in the soil alive, I'd love to hear it. A friend of mine told me to spread the soil out very thin on a tarp and pour Earthworm tea over it, and that would get most of the insects out. A different fellow told me to use Neem seed oil as it's organic, but I wasn't sure how neem would effect the beneficial bacteria/fungus. Any knowledge is appreciated.

This thread seems to be quiet, but I'll jump in. I am cooking up a batch of living soil at the moment, and it has bugs, and lots of them. A real bio fest. There is no way I would bring this lovely stuff into the house for a grow this winter without doing something to control the gnats. So, what I intend to try is Mosquito dunks, already in hand and on the shelf. I will bring the stuff in this fall, and hit it with a couple of waterings with a dose of ground up dunks, and will keep the stuff covered with panty hose to keep any emerging adults from getting loose. Once I think the coast is clear, I will germinate and grow.

Seems worth a try to me, and the mosquito dunks should not do a lot of mischief to the other beneficials, or so at least goes my thinking. We shall see, and if I go this route, I will report back.

Olderfart · Dec 1, 2020

And since it seems that this old thread is not yet dead, I will note that I brought the gnats in in spite of the mosquito dunks, and they defeated the grow. I gave up on the soil, and am now in SS#4 for the winter effort. Sad that, I was looking forward to seeing how some home built soil worked. Well, this time around, it didn't. Maybe next winter...

jimmib67 · Dec 4, 2020

When you say defeated the grow?
I thought fungus gnats were only dretrimental to seedlings where the larvae can damage young roots.
I successfully use bene nematodes for fungus gnats.

Arthur · Dec 4, 2020

Nematodes for the win if dealing with gnat issues. Am a big fan of using predators.

Olderfart · Dec 4, 2020

jimmib67 said:
When you say defeated the grow?
I thought fungus gnats were only dretrimental to seedlings where the larvae can damage young roots.
I successfully use bene nematodes for fungus gnats.

Yup, death on seedlings, which was exactly the problem. I got tired of killing the plants. The nematode option was not attractive because it is winter up here, and they would likely get frozen on the way. I confess that I am not sure either that I want to fiddle around with a grow that much. Maybe organic soil is not my cuppa.

I dug one up seedling to see what was going on, and the seedling's root was in the process of being carved up by about a half dozen gnat larvae, and that was less than a day after it was put in the soil. It seems that those little bastards can smell new roots from some distance, and boogie straight to the party. I got fed up with fighting them and moved on. So far, I am glad I did. I may try again with soil next winter, but the jury will be out until then.

>Potato · Feb 21, 2022

I found this site it has absolutely stunning pictures of the crawlies

https://www.chaosofdelight.org/

How to keep the good stuff living and the crawlies out

HazeyLogos

hecno

Worm Hunter .

HazeyLogos

Olderfart

DIY whenever possible, and sometimes when it isn't

Olderfart

DIY whenever possible, and sometimes when it isn't

jimmib67

Arthur

Frank the Dank

Olderfart

DIY whenever possible, and sometimes when it isn't

>Potato

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