Wotcha! My first time here...good place...
I have had what seemed to be a fungus gnat problem which I hope to
have nipped in the bud with a Neem oil root drench. More later...
New to AFN - so as a way of introduction I thought I'd do bit of a
description about how I go about things. I grow everything from
flowers to vegetables and have the luck to live in the countryside -
so I'm quite a traditional gardener as well.
I grow for me - just enough (not quite got the cycle right this year)
- very small scale usually two flowering - two on the
way - I go for quality rather than yield - AFN has been a great resource
to get going - in my third grow year....I think...
So I wanted to try and show how I grow really simply and also see how
a problem gets dealt with on AFN to boot...
I find that on AFN it is difficult to find info on low budget/space/knowledge
'just for me' general info - kinda way I set stuff up - specially for mobile urban
types. I built a grow cupboard that I have never used - too expensive - and
decided that I wanted the plants to live in my space - I love the smell -
the light in winter when I open the grow space...
should be the new Aspidistra...heh! heh!
I'm a bit of a science nerd so I decided to grow them like I grow
any herb or vegetables...I'm growing for me not the supermarket...
so I hope this helps all those new growers that want to get going....
I grow in a studio flat - in an unused modular space with some cfl's,
Styrofoam sheets and a curtain - I don't have to worry about smell
too much (and I like it quite skunky)...for me it is as much a flower
and filter as it is a producer...I use it for the following problems(!):
My plants make me happy in winter...
I drink less alcohol...(was a problem - not now...!)
Being creative - I'm older now and it gets harder...
I'm a bit of a science nerd so I like breaking the rules with each grow
and getting data to make things better...I'm a beginner - but I like the idea
of sorting out some basic problems to make the growing process easier...
(not a problem - just an anorak)...blah...
The Problem
___________________________________________
Anyway here is the situation - planted my seeds - 4/5 days later out
they popped - I had good temps for them - 28/32C 82/89F - was using
my old cfls from last winter and they seemed to be going fine for seedlings
- I don't over water (but maybe a fool for damping the topsoil for humidity)
-order two more cfl's ( use 50/50 light temps) and pop those in at week two/three...
temps have now been running at 22C/24C 70/75C ambient...30C at plant level
but I think this is not so relevant with cfl's and a decent fan...
...then the little buggers started appearing - I haven't had fungus gnats before
and I just mistook them for fruit flies and a minor nuisance...got some sticky
traps...but they kept coming...so to the web...didn't find much on AFN...but
information was out there about the life cycle of these critters...
Immediate Solutions (break the cycle - trad gardening methods - understand the
where the enemy breeds/feeds/appears)
It must be remembered that these pests are not houseflies - they can't fly
for fuck - put some yellow sticky traps in there - they fly at soil level so
make flags on sticks or a cylinder of a greenhouse strip in the soil
(not sure what that does to a healthy bio structure in a soil mix...huummmhhh!)
and stick in (dry) top soil...kill 'em with your hands - they are as thick as shit...
but can lay up to a hundred eggs per day...this is where the damage occurs...
the eggs hatch and then the larvae eat the hair roots...
is that what is causing the stunting?
Anyway...
Made a 50/50 sieved compost/sand sterile soil mix (not going over
200C / 392F in the oven - 10 minutes should do - be careful if you use this
method it can create toxic compounds/gasses that will harm your plants - so let
it cool right down before application! - getting steam through for 10 minutes will
kill most larger pest eggs and larvae)...is a great method for dealing with topsoil
pests - you can do it over and over again without changing your root
environment significantly - environmentally friendly too? Who needs perlite?
Removed the top inch of the old mix and (after cooling!) spread this nicely airy
dry sterile mix around the plants...Yay!
Went to the supermarket and got some cheap ladies tights and pulled them
over the buckets so that the potholder holes were covered -
apparently the little bastards crawl in to the holes to lay their eggs...
So I have tried to attack them through all three of their life cycles -
is looking good - no more flies...got another damn!
BUT...these plants are nearly four weeks old(!) - the last grow I had 30cm plants
by this time - these are 6cm! (argh!) - my questions are..
Can fungus gnats stunt growth this much if there are (probably) larvae in
the compost and they get to young plant roots really early?
(it is quite dramatic if this is the case)
I don't have any house plants but the girls are near a garden door.
My last Advanced Biodiesel Mass went to 11/12 weeks so will these plants
get there after this attack?
Apart from that they seem to have no problems - they are getting preflowers
and are not showing any deficiencies - they look like bonsai plants
in the wrong size pots!
Which leads me to the next question - is this possibly just a phenotype variation?
So I have genes from one mother that is a late starter?
(not sure if that is the real technical language)
Setup
___________________________________________
Advanced Biodiesel Mass
beans planted direct in soil
germinated 16/10/13
ambient temp 30C/86F (soil mix was a little damp)
(I never wet germinate - straight into the soil)
images 16/11/13
Basics
___________________________________________
12 liter / 3 gallon pots
4x65 watt grow cfl's
2x 2700 + 2x 6400
Started at 18/6 for seedlings
(manufacturer states 325 watt equivalent wattage
I haven't measured the lumens and apparently they lose 25%
efficiency in the first few hundred hours - I have had great
plants with these lights..)
They are on 20/4 now...
Soil
___________________________________________
Quality Seedling Compost - I use it for all
grows - auto's and ps - (it is very fluffy but may have
been a bit wet when making my mix)
Sharp Sand
I also use a quality Mycorrhizal Fungi - this has worked really well
for all my last grows...auto's / ps in- and outdoors
( it is really worth a try - after chopping I check my rootballs
and they are not hugging the pot perimeter - it is like
teddy bear stuffing...use it every grow...)
(I usually use 30% coir but omitted it this grow to see how the plants
did without it. I hate perlite because I recycle in the back garden and
it is such ugly stuff! The mineral benefits of vermiculite don't seem valuable
enough at the price of the damn stuff! So I very quickly stopped using both...)
Water/PH
___________________________________________
I have fantastic tap water - which stands for at least 24 hrs before use
- it then has a PH range between 6.0/6.5. I don't usual measure run off etc.
because I use minimum nutes and try keep it organic as far as possible.
Nutes
___________________________________________
I don't have a grow shop locally and I like to use my local garden center to
inform my decisions about fertilizing.
I use Growth Technologies Orchid fertilizer range and have never had a problem.
Working on the logic that most autos are very sensitive to nutrient imbalances
Space
___________________________________________
3ft (1 meter) by 3ft by 5ft (1.5 meter)
open and well ventilated and clean space
Okay - Spent a lot of time on this - will make last fly check...
One fly - killed the fucker with a clap...
One of my girls is looking wilted...
Sigh...
Otto
BTW - I think somebody could do an article about how to take photographs...
a lot of mis-diagnosis of problems is due to bad colour representation -
my girls look healthy in terms of colour but I used an old compact camera
to make the shots...it makes them look like they have slight nute probs -
which they don't...even after colour correction...
food for thought...
I have had what seemed to be a fungus gnat problem which I hope to
have nipped in the bud with a Neem oil root drench. More later...
New to AFN - so as a way of introduction I thought I'd do bit of a
description about how I go about things. I grow everything from
flowers to vegetables and have the luck to live in the countryside -
so I'm quite a traditional gardener as well.
I grow for me - just enough (not quite got the cycle right this year)
- very small scale usually two flowering - two on the
way - I go for quality rather than yield - AFN has been a great resource
to get going - in my third grow year....I think...
So I wanted to try and show how I grow really simply and also see how
a problem gets dealt with on AFN to boot...
I find that on AFN it is difficult to find info on low budget/space/knowledge
'just for me' general info - kinda way I set stuff up - specially for mobile urban
types. I built a grow cupboard that I have never used - too expensive - and
decided that I wanted the plants to live in my space - I love the smell -
the light in winter when I open the grow space...
should be the new Aspidistra...heh! heh!
I'm a bit of a science nerd so I decided to grow them like I grow
any herb or vegetables...I'm growing for me not the supermarket...
so I hope this helps all those new growers that want to get going....
I grow in a studio flat - in an unused modular space with some cfl's,
Styrofoam sheets and a curtain - I don't have to worry about smell
too much (and I like it quite skunky)...for me it is as much a flower
and filter as it is a producer...I use it for the following problems(!):
My plants make me happy in winter...
I drink less alcohol...(was a problem - not now...!)
Being creative - I'm older now and it gets harder...
I'm a bit of a science nerd so I like breaking the rules with each grow
and getting data to make things better...I'm a beginner - but I like the idea
of sorting out some basic problems to make the growing process easier...
(not a problem - just an anorak)...blah...
The Problem
___________________________________________
Anyway here is the situation - planted my seeds - 4/5 days later out
they popped - I had good temps for them - 28/32C 82/89F - was using
my old cfls from last winter and they seemed to be going fine for seedlings
- I don't over water (but maybe a fool for damping the topsoil for humidity)
-order two more cfl's ( use 50/50 light temps) and pop those in at week two/three...
temps have now been running at 22C/24C 70/75C ambient...30C at plant level
but I think this is not so relevant with cfl's and a decent fan...
...then the little buggers started appearing - I haven't had fungus gnats before
and I just mistook them for fruit flies and a minor nuisance...got some sticky
traps...but they kept coming...so to the web...didn't find much on AFN...but
information was out there about the life cycle of these critters...
Immediate Solutions (break the cycle - trad gardening methods - understand the
where the enemy breeds/feeds/appears)
It must be remembered that these pests are not houseflies - they can't fly
for fuck - put some yellow sticky traps in there - they fly at soil level so
make flags on sticks or a cylinder of a greenhouse strip in the soil
(not sure what that does to a healthy bio structure in a soil mix...huummmhhh!)
and stick in (dry) top soil...kill 'em with your hands - they are as thick as shit...
but can lay up to a hundred eggs per day...this is where the damage occurs...
the eggs hatch and then the larvae eat the hair roots...
is that what is causing the stunting?
Anyway...
Made a 50/50 sieved compost/sand sterile soil mix (not going over
200C / 392F in the oven - 10 minutes should do - be careful if you use this
method it can create toxic compounds/gasses that will harm your plants - so let
it cool right down before application! - getting steam through for 10 minutes will
kill most larger pest eggs and larvae)...is a great method for dealing with topsoil
pests - you can do it over and over again without changing your root
environment significantly - environmentally friendly too? Who needs perlite?
Removed the top inch of the old mix and (after cooling!) spread this nicely airy
dry sterile mix around the plants...Yay!
Went to the supermarket and got some cheap ladies tights and pulled them
over the buckets so that the potholder holes were covered -
apparently the little bastards crawl in to the holes to lay their eggs...
So I have tried to attack them through all three of their life cycles -
is looking good - no more flies...got another damn!
BUT...these plants are nearly four weeks old(!) - the last grow I had 30cm plants
by this time - these are 6cm! (argh!) - my questions are..
Can fungus gnats stunt growth this much if there are (probably) larvae in
the compost and they get to young plant roots really early?
(it is quite dramatic if this is the case)
I don't have any house plants but the girls are near a garden door.
My last Advanced Biodiesel Mass went to 11/12 weeks so will these plants
get there after this attack?
Apart from that they seem to have no problems - they are getting preflowers
and are not showing any deficiencies - they look like bonsai plants
in the wrong size pots!
Which leads me to the next question - is this possibly just a phenotype variation?
So I have genes from one mother that is a late starter?
(not sure if that is the real technical language)
Setup
___________________________________________
Advanced Biodiesel Mass
beans planted direct in soil
germinated 16/10/13
ambient temp 30C/86F (soil mix was a little damp)
(I never wet germinate - straight into the soil)
images 16/11/13
Basics
___________________________________________
12 liter / 3 gallon pots
4x65 watt grow cfl's
2x 2700 + 2x 6400
Started at 18/6 for seedlings
(manufacturer states 325 watt equivalent wattage
I haven't measured the lumens and apparently they lose 25%
efficiency in the first few hundred hours - I have had great
plants with these lights..)
They are on 20/4 now...
Soil
___________________________________________
Quality Seedling Compost - I use it for all
grows - auto's and ps - (it is very fluffy but may have
been a bit wet when making my mix)
Sharp Sand
I also use a quality Mycorrhizal Fungi - this has worked really well
for all my last grows...auto's / ps in- and outdoors
( it is really worth a try - after chopping I check my rootballs
and they are not hugging the pot perimeter - it is like
teddy bear stuffing...use it every grow...)
(I usually use 30% coir but omitted it this grow to see how the plants
did without it. I hate perlite because I recycle in the back garden and
it is such ugly stuff! The mineral benefits of vermiculite don't seem valuable
enough at the price of the damn stuff! So I very quickly stopped using both...)
Water/PH
___________________________________________
I have fantastic tap water - which stands for at least 24 hrs before use
- it then has a PH range between 6.0/6.5. I don't usual measure run off etc.
because I use minimum nutes and try keep it organic as far as possible.
Nutes
___________________________________________
I don't have a grow shop locally and I like to use my local garden center to
inform my decisions about fertilizing.
I use Growth Technologies Orchid fertilizer range and have never had a problem.
Working on the logic that most autos are very sensitive to nutrient imbalances
Space
___________________________________________
3ft (1 meter) by 3ft by 5ft (1.5 meter)
open and well ventilated and clean space
Okay - Spent a lot of time on this - will make last fly check...
One fly - killed the fucker with a clap...
One of my girls is looking wilted...
Sigh...
Otto
BTW - I think somebody could do an article about how to take photographs...
a lot of mis-diagnosis of problems is due to bad colour representation -
my girls look healthy in terms of colour but I used an old compact camera
to make the shots...it makes them look like they have slight nute probs -
which they don't...even after colour correction...
food for thought...
Last edited:
: Food grade diatomaceous earth. Made from the skeletal remains of little aquatic animals; to small pests these remains are like a salt bath in razor blades, they dehydrate the pest and on larger critters cut them to pieces. :X's Evil Laugh x: 
