good bugs and bad bugs

[bushdriver]

so after just battling spider mites and beatin them for the first time with neem i have fungus gnats and other creepies eatin my roots.. been using gnat off with litlle improvement and lettin em dry good but theyre still definately about... so now im thinkin nematodes.... i know u can bubble em up in 4 days but i barely have the room to sit in my growroom let alone fit in a cauldron.. but has anyone seen this ...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nemasys-Multi-...#ht_1811wt_844

so im guessin you can just add this to ur mix when potting to innoculate and safegaurd ur roots/rhizophere whateva with the goodies.. i hope so! this seems like a very sure preventative to protect ur roots from tiny little bastards.

other ideas i had was spread matting over the holes in the pots and possibly over the top, drenched in neem.. also gonna cut half my soil mix with coco tryin to keep the soil in the middle of the pot n coco protectin the surface and drainage holes... any thoghts?

i am also sad to announce a few innocent lady bugs have died in the recent warfare... theyre a great character to have in the grow room but i swear they're lazy..

[Skeeter]

Sand. Cover the top soil in it and the gnats cant dig in anymore or get out. Tho gnats are just a nucense as they dont damage plants just breed in the soil and feed off dead matter in the soil.

[Grizzly]

I would not use sand if i were you. Air will get blocked to the roots. And roots need air. Try getting a organic soil with better drainage next time, or mix some yourself. The gnats are damaging the plant. They are not only eating the same stuff in the soil your plant needs. But they breed around the roots and feed off the microorganisms benifical to root life.

[Ganesha]

Wots this cauldron thing then, bushdriver? I thought nematodes just came in a sachet. You just disolve it in water & use it as a drench, don't you? Or am I wrong? Just asking, that's all.

As for the gnats, I'd say try & keep the growroom as free of beasties as possible. Whatever they're doing they're competing for survival with your plants. Unless they're directly beneficial get rid of them.

[Skeeter]

Sand allows air tho grizzly. Alternaivly use pebbles or perlite decent layer on ur plant.

[noodle]

im with ya there m8 mites b4 xmasss black fly after lol but thats the way it gose m8 its the time ov year for um pal not much we can do but fight um off

nematodes is wot ya need m8 thay eat the larvae off the fly i cant use um at the mo coz iv been useing (gant off) witch is a larvicide for black it kills the larvae buy poping there gut it also kills the nematodes thow lol thats y iv not got any yet but wiil av in a week or to for ma mums

noods

[noodle]

get some fly traps to m8 to get the flys coz its then little twats that wreck ya root so the larvae can feed on um the larvae only eat the dieing roots so stick fly traps all over m8 on ya pot (stick um to the sides of the pot) and hang um from ya lamp/lamps.
filters on ya in takes can help keep the bugs out to m8

noods

[GrassHopper]

Bugs Bugs Bugs Oh don't they just piss you off. My girls have just become re-infested with spider mite after getting rid, or thought I had.

[bushdriver]

cauldron as in tea bubbler ganesha... my understanding was that if u bubble for 1-2 days you get a beneficial bacterial brew and if you brew for 3-4 days u get the micro organisms like nematodes and maybe the fungi somewhere along the line... someone correct me if im wrong i read it in that teaming with microbes book..

yeh i got bare fly traps everywhere u get 10 from the pound shop and they just get plastered!! i had like 8 of em up catching like 20-30 a day... cos my room is too small grr i always gettin em stuck in my hair, it makes me irate.. but for spider mites its neem, plus i love the smell.. i got sand on the top of my pots but theyre always still hanging around on the top, pls it slides down the side..so i hang around in the grow room for an hr with a spray bottle of strong neem spraying their asses waha. but yeh i went through a whole bottle of nat off and theyre still around.. but i think ive found the solution guys but u gotta order them frrom the states, Mosquito Dunks.... same bacterilius thurengenus but in more intense biscuit form..
but when my extractor fell on my head today so did a bag of stash perfectly fillin this minimal dry period... i think f/ungus gnats robbed all my nitrogen this round, pushed my plants beyond yellow almost white and they do continue to swell, its remarkable how shabby a plant can look and still pretty much fill out...
bushrambler