Welcome and thank you for the kind words @invisible!
If you talk to greenthumbs tell him to join us!
I used Em1 for my first couple grows, but have moved to using LABS as it’s free and you get a more diverse population of microorganisms. Here is the best video I have found on expanding em1.
I never top watered for a couple grows and then decided to give it a try with fingers crossed. The top is now moist, feeder roots are reaching up, and I get to add some extra goodies. Greenthumbs said specifically not to top water, but I have had great success and little to no gnats.
I had the same infestation. I think it was coming from using BAS 3.0. There were literally tens or hundreds of thousands of them everywhere, except on the plant. This picture is from one corner of the planter. I was definitely nervous when I first saw them, but they didn’t affect the plant. The little bastards did eat all of the Grokashi fuzz before it really bloomed.
Me too! This is still considered new “tech” so we all still have a lot to learn from each other. Funny story. I went to the hydro shop to start sourcing materials and amendments when I first started with this method and the dude literally laughed in my face and basically said the idea was stupid and wouldn’t work. Who’s laughing now, hydro guy!
One thing I’ll be doing differently with the first round in the 27 gal’ers is to use an airstone in the reservoir. I’ve heard mixed feelings about it, but a dude the other day confirmed he had been doing it for a while with even better results! I think he is going to do a side by side and report back. I’ll detail my experiences also.