So who here is growing in true organic living soil?

They would suffocate, but with such an active micro-herd, they'd be consumed fast. No bones...

Rrog said:

Where is this groovy "mite chart?"

Click to expand...

the chart was this picture


that made me think predatory so i searched "predatory soil mites" and flipped through the picture results til i found a link talking about fox farm and roots coming with soil mites.

theres an interactive mite identification tool out there that i cant seem to get to work. heres the link if anyone else wants to give it a go. its having issues with my java

http://itp.lucidcentral.org/id/mites/invasive_mite/Invasive_Mite_Identification/key/Major_Mite_taxa/Media/Html/Home_Major_Mite_Taxa.html

click start key and it should start.

Yeah, I did see the tiny worms all over the place.

I would have thought to see a few EWs in the process
of being consumed, but I suppose that it happened too
fast.

Good luck with the new herd.

JD

cool link for the predator mites. looking through their list I recognize the aphidends, they have been appearing pretty regularly

I like how our pal Hypoaspis is kicking the asses of the mites that are killing honeybees.

Rrog said:

I like how our pal Hypoaspis is kicking the asses of the mites that are killing honeybees.

Click to expand...

I did not know this. This is the best of news!

I am observant (borderline autistic my dickhead friends will say ;0)
and noticed the drop in bees even in the late 80's. It was five years
before I heard it mentioned and another 5 or more before Colony
Collapse Disorder was being bandied about.

It was very unsettling...very Silent Spring-ish, to see this happen.

I recalled the hanging walls of ice-plant that are popular in our heat,
and their being covered in clouds of bees when flowering. When I saw
1000s of such blooms going apparently unnoticed by life, I knew that
something was wrong.

The freaked out frogs which turned out to be a nasty fungal infection,
was another recent concern.

I am not certain how far we need to react, but we must never turn a blind eye.

JD

Agreed. Chemicals pressure the system, change the balance. Pesticides, fungicides - sure we know these hurt everything. But the use of fertilizers also. Nothing is balanced when plants are fed via a liquid IV.

Javadog said:

I did not know this. This is the best of news!

Click to expand...

http://nurturing-nature.co.uk/wildlife-garden-videos/potential-varroa-biological-control-video/

I'll be hosting Hypoaspis in my bee hives

[video=youtube;MX1NIAP_Ol4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX1NIAP_Ol4[/video]
I almost cried when he flipped it over!

:0)

JD

I want to do a beehive this year, how did u get yours started?

I was speaking in future tense. 2015 for me

Hello kind folks I'm a new grower who is having a bit of a prob. My bro has Multible Myloma and is not eating and we decided to try to grow and he is excited and so am I to see him so enthused. I am growing in a organic blend very similar to sub cools. I let mix cook for 2.5 weeks and then transplanted plants into 1 gal smart pots and took them off T5 veg bulb and put them under MH 600W. They have started looking bad and ph of runoff was 8.7 yet soil ph was 5.6 using a Kelway soil tester and ECO pen for water. I have RO water and it has been consistent 6.8. My bro went in to have foot amputated and I do not want our plants to die! View attachment 3002621View attachment 3002623View attachment 3002624View attachment 3002626


I have two Ak 47 and 5 bubblelicious.

Sorry to hear about your brother man. He's lucky to have you.

How long did it take after transplant to start looking that way? 2.5 weeks isn't long to cook if you have crude high N sources that need to be stored by the microbes.

pH is meaningless with soil. Put that back in a drawer.

Compost tea time.

It began happening about two days after and I felt maybe I stressed the plants by putting them in new soil, under hotter lights and transplanting into different pots I added additional lime thinking it could have been cal issues. I have been keeping plants in a 60% humidity and 74-80 degrees I have only used sorghum and super thrive in water when watering.

I just started a worm bin and found a worm farmer who lives two hours away for fresh until mine produce. I used organic chicken poo called Charlies chicken compost in my mix the hydro guys said it was something the organic folks love around here besides worm castings. Any opinions maybe I should move them into Ocean floor and let my mix cook longer? Thanks he's a great brother only person that could make me laugh so hard that I could not catch my breath and people gravitate to him for his humor.

Rrog, you are so awesome! I have been following you for my outdoor edibles you are so knowledgable about organics. I feel it is divine providence that you saw my post

Not so awesome... It's my thread! Ha! I think your soil is just way too hot and that's maybe nitrogen burn

forever I might just wait it out by the time your plants get better in a new soil you mix it will have evened out. If you need to plant more right away use a bagged mix or a recipe like "moonshine mix" and just reamend that when the time comes and if those are in 1 gals you probably have another 3-4 weeks before you up-pot so you got time to do whatever.

Nick- You're thinking this is high N also?