They won't climb on the buds. They stay In the soil.
Tiny White Worms and Black worms that can jump an inch
- Thread starter dangerlow
- Start date
Dr. Who
Well-Known Member
Springtails are the white ones.
You still have fungus Knats.
Use this: http://4hydroponics.com/microbe-lift-bmc-2-oz
soil drench,,,,start at 2 drops per gallon
You still have fungus Knats.
Use this: http://4hydroponics.com/microbe-lift-bmc-2-oz
soil drench,,,,start at 2 drops per gallon
RIKNSTEIN
Well-Known Member
Man ya'll going back and forth is quite entertaining
...and I'm a n00b but I found putting a layer of perlite on top of my soil eliminates my gnat problem, they like peat, but if you cover it up they got no place to go, except to their graves...worked for me 
peace...
Dr. Who
Well-Known Member
Oh,yes! I don't run FF soils due to the ongoing Knat troubles that come from them!
I've gotten them twice from FF soils....Won't go for the third!
http://4hydroponics.com/microbe-lift-bmc-2-oz
That's the only thing that worked for me.
dangerlow
Well-Known Member
I went in the grow room earlier and it was full of gnats or what the hell, my carbon filter's dust cover was full of the bastards and the meter was reading 70% yesterday, but the fly's got it down to 50% "I hooked an inline chevy air filter gauge onto the fan housing". I was Pissed, so I killed every last fly with traps, and removing the carbon filter and they get sucked outside "it's -15 today
" I mixed 4 cup of neem oil "$35 worth" with 4 gallons of water and a 2 tablespoons of dawn per gallon, and heated it to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I gave each 5 gallon bucket half a gallon and let it soak for 5 hours. I flushed the pots with 60 degree water for 15 min and let drip dry.
I can't really tell ya why, but they loved it! They are perky as I have ever seen them I thought for sure it would have about killed them.
I went digging around the soil, and not one bug even under a hand lens. I can see dead bugs everywhere, springtails, larvae, gnats all dead. I am going to be transplanting them into 50 gallon round trash cans next week, and if I can get the money together I am going to be doubling my lights.
Anyone have any suggestions on "Bug free" soil that I can buy 400 gallons or 2 cubic yards of without breaking the bank?
BenFranklin
Well-Known Member
The secret about neem.... Use it again in two weeks, to kill larvae emerging from eggs. Neem is awesome, it just sucks that it tastes like hell....
That's why you're supposed to use it early on in veg, and you'll never see them again. It doesn't kill them, it just stops them from eating and then they die.
RIKNSTEIN
Well-Known Member
Someones actually been reading about Neem Oil...Here read some more........................................................................................................Neem Oil
Neem oil does work, but the way itworks is different from other insecticides. Neem is not an instant, knock down,kill everything pesticide. Neem oil affects insects in many different,ingenious and subtle ways.
How neem oil messes with the insects’brains and bodies
Neem oil has many complex activeingredients. Rather than being simple poisons, those ingredients are similar tothe hormones that insects produce. Insects take up the neem oil ingredientsjust like natural hormones.
Neem enters the system and blocks thereal hormones from working properly. Insects “forget” to eat, to mate, or theystop laying eggs. Some forget that they can fly. If eggs are produced theydon’t hatch, or the larvae don’t moult.
Obviously insects that are too confusedto eat or breed will not survive. The population eventually plummets, and theydisappear. The cycle is broken.
How precisely it works is difficult forscientists to find out. There are too many different active substances in neemoil, and every insect species reacts differently to neem insecticide. Neem oildoes not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects areaffected. It is certainly fascinating.
Like real hormones, neem oilinsecticide works at very low concentrations, in the parts per million range. Alittle neem oil goes a long way.
But this is not something that happensover night. People use neem oil as an insecticide, and expect everything to dieinstantly, because that’s what they are used to from chemical poisons. Whenthat does not happen they conclude neem insecticide does not work.
How neem oil deters chewing and suckinginsects
There is a nice story that demonstrateshow grasshoppers react to neem oil insecticide. It goes something like this: Someonedid an experiment. It involved two jars, two leaves, and two grasshoppers. Oneleaf was sprayed with a chemical insecticide, and one with neem oil. The twograsshoppers were put in the two jars, with one leaf each.
The first grasshopper ate the leaf anddied almost instantly. The grasshopper with the neem oil covered leaf did nottouch the leaf and lived. At least for a few days. Eventually it starved todeath.
Neem stops insects from eating theplants.
Part of this action is due to to thehormone like action of neem oil that I explained above. Insects “forget” to eatafter they’ve been in contact with even traces of neem oil.
But it is also the presence, the merehint of a smell of neem oil, that seems to be enough to keep leaf eatinginsects away. Neem oil can be very powerful as an anti-feedant and insectrepellent.
This anti-feedant property is one ofthe most often advertised and lauded properties of neem oil insecticide.However, the hormonal effects I described above are even stronger.
Neem oil as an insect deterrent workswell against grasshoppers and leafhoppers, but all other insect pests arecontrolled mostly through the hormone action.
The subtlety of the hormonal effects,and the fact that they may take days or weeks to manifest, makes peopleoverlook them. Ill informed gardeners seek instant gratification, i.e. lots ofdead insects immediately, rather than a balanced environment in the long run.
It’s a shame, because the hormonaleffect is where the real power of neem oil lies. It’s the key to neem oil beingan effective insecticide and good for the environment at the same time. It’salso important to understand this effect to use neem oil insecticide correctly.
Neem oil works from inside the plant
Many insecticides break down quickly.They wash away with rain, or when irrigating, or the sunlight destroys them.You either have to spray all the time, or you have to spray something that’s sostable that it stays around forever. That means the chemical builds upeverywhere and eventually poisons everything, including you.
Neem oil breaks down very quickly, too.It is especially susceptible to UV light. But neem oil is also a systemicinsecticide. That means you can pour it on the soil (not pure neem oil ofcourse, you use a dilution or extract) and the plants absorb it. They take itup into their tissue, and it works from the inside. A leaf hopper may take acouple of bites, but that’s it.
However, this does not work for allinsect species. The neem ingredients accumulate in the tissues deeper insidethe plant. The phloem, the outermost layer, contains hardly any. A tiny aphidfeeds from the phloem, it can not penetrate deep enough to get a dose of neem.But any leaf hoppers, grass hoppers or similar chomping insects will beincapacitated quickly.
People eat neem leaves to cleanse theblood, stimulate the liver, and boost the immune system. So we certainly don’tneed to worry about a bit of neem inside our lettuce leaves. To me this is amuch more attractive option than having poisonous foulicides build up in mygarden.
Neem oil suffocates insects
Many gardeners use white oil (plainmineral oil) or even olive oil to combat soft bodied insects like aphids,thrips or whitefly. The oil coats the bugs and they suffocate. Neem oilinsecticide does that as well. But it’s more like a little bonus on top ofeverything else it does.
It can be a hazard, though. Of coursethere is no difference between suffocating good or bad bugs. Oil suffocatesanything. So this aspect can harm beneficial insects!
Neem oil and beneficial insects
Neem is non toxic for beneficialinsects. The main reason is that insects need to ingest the neem oil to beaffected, and beneficial insects don’t eat your plants. But you can still killbeneficial insects if you smother them with neem oil, so please be careful.
Beneficial insects are most activeduring the day. The best time to spray neem insecticide is very early in themorning, so the spray can dry before the good insects become active. Also agood time is the late afternoon or evening. Once the spray has dried it doesnot harm your bees, ladybugs, lacewings, predatory mites and wasps etc.
Dr. Who
Well-Known Member
Don't know if you can get it there, but around here it's POTTERS GOLD. All the bennie's of super soil with out the work. We buy by the skid.
dangerlow
Well-Known Member
Fully agree... and we have to put up with Uncle Buck popping in and ruining the thread.
BenFranklin
Well-Known Member
The reason it is reapplied at week 2, is because the emerging babies did not ingest it. Now they will, and won't be able to successfully reproduce.
The reason it is applied early in vegetative growth is so that the ass nasty taste dissipates before harvest.
The reason it is applied early in vegetative growth is so that the ass nasty taste dissipates before harvest.
dangerlow
Well-Known Member
Yeah no where within 190 miles of m ed unless I go into Canada. But they might ask why the FUCK I'm bringing shit loads of potting soil through the border in the middle of winter when it's negative 28 f. Lol
BenFranklin
Well-Known Member
Because Canada was the only place you could get it?
You use it to start pepper and tomato plants the recommended 5 weeks prior to spring planting.
You use it to start pepper and tomato plants the recommended 5 weeks prior to spring planting.