Thank you gpaw, i appreciate the response. I looked into them and that is incredible how affective they seem to be. Gonna try and track a pack down this afternoon
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I ended up getting some predator mites from grub grenade on Amazon, the 5,000 pack, I had a seriously bad infestation. By seriouse I mean I would have about 50 gnats stuck on a 6x8 inch yellow sticky in the 60 seconds it would take to mount it in the pot. I would have to change 4 of those double sided, size stickers every 4-5 days. Every time I opened the tent a cloud of them would hit me in the face.
I would spray the little fuckers with safers end all and had yellow stickers everywhere, just couldnāt stop them.
So I went with the mites, they cost less than 50$, compared to 100$+ for sticky traps and safers, within 2 weeks there were hardly any gnats, now I only see gnats in my seedling clone cab when new potting mixes are used, and one or 2 in the veg and flower room, that was over a year ago now, the mites are still present and active their population rises and falls with the amount of available food, definitely good value for money and protection.
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I like to run finished compost through my worm bin then use that any where any time , if Iām outside then the compost gets top dressed right in beds my active worm bins seem to get predatory mites in them naturally so even when compost isnāt completely done in the worm bin Iād use it once itās been in the worm bin for a couple of weeks this basically inoculates it with the mites ,gnats donāt hang around when thereās scavengers ready to eat then 24/7
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@Shadey thats exactly what im trying to avoid, thanks for your input. Thats awesome they are still around a year later and would also help keep spider mites at bayā¦ @Tinytuttle thats really good to know, now that you mention it i never saw any pests hanging around in my worm bin. How do you keep ur worms good through summer, i burried a garbage can about 30" in the ground and they ended up still getting melted one of the 90degree days.
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They eat anything in the soil, nematodes as well as fungus gnat larvae and hibernating spider mites.
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On the north side of the house in the shade Iād say they only get like the last couple of sun at the end of the dayā¦ I do like the idea of partially burying the pot I run 25 gallon fabric smart pots for my bins
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Good thinking on the shade, mine were in the sun til 3 or 4 pm so id bet that was the problem. Looks like i better dig a new hole under the maple tree.
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What @Shadey said about the fungus gnats. I always recommend larger pots. Go big or go home.
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Okay, folks,I need some advice. Am going to start a grow in 5gal buckets, about 8-10 of them. I am going to have them āwick upā water/nutrients though cups, hanging into a piece of gutter. I am going to use potting soil from the Despot, so I know I am going to have to amend it. I would love to do Reikoās recipe, but I think it is going to be too much. What would be a good, and more thrifty, alternative? I want to hopefully use this setup every year (and being that some will be autos, a few time a year) and limit the amount of nutrients.
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1 part compost or castings
1 part peat
1 part aeration (I prefer perlite because it is light but others use lava. I grow in 20+ gallons so lava adds up.)
Use a 5 gallon bucket to measure. 1/2 bucket is 1 part.
three 1/2 buckets is 1 cubic foot of soil or 7.5 gallons
This above is your base.
2-3 cups of organic amendments.
1 Cup Lime
1/2 cup gypsum
Amendments can be Tomato Tone or Vegetable Tone. Or any other generic organic mix. I prefer something with Kelp because that usually means it is a better mix.
This is the most basic organic recipe for soil. It is a general āguidelineā for how much amendments and lime per cubic foot of soil. You can use any amendments but if you go much over 3 cupsā¦it starts to get hot. Donāt forget the Gypsumā¦sulfur is important for terp development.
edit: Oh and I am always saying this to people. I personally would ditch the 5 gallon pots and go with 10-20 gallon pots. Go big or go home. You will not regret itā¦trust me.
Shitā¦
Editā¦editā¦
I like promix for my peat and aeration. Use 2 parts promix and then you donāt need lime, perlite, or peat. Promix is all three in one.
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Thanks for the recipe. It sounds really good, but is going to be almost as much as Reikoās.
Compost - Well manure is the closest thing they have and it is about the same ($3 compared to $4 for 2cuft.
Peat - a tiny bag (the only thing they have) is $15.
Perlite - DUH!!! Of course.
Lime - donāt have it
Gypsum - 40# bag is $8 ( Doable)
Vegetable Tone - Thanks for the suggestion. Am going to get this for my veggies.
So, my question is, is there a economical solution using potting soil and/or manure (used manure for one of my veggie plots and they are growing well without any nutrients so far).
I am switching to outdoors because the electric is just getting unbearable for what I am getting. I want something that will be reusable and economical, if that is even possible.
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Ru taking your ideas from Larryās rain gutter grow sytem ? Yup channel of gutter with it built up to support 2X4 buckets in them you can even hook up a float valve from a down spout to fill a 55 gallon barrel
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If ya followed any of my threads and the 16oz cup competition the wicks do rather IMO if using wicks 1/2-3/4 inch nylon would be good starter size probably at least 3/4 up into the bucket of a five gallon bucket
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Yes, but I donāt know whether I got the idea from āLarryā or not (I doubt it as I havenāt a clue who Larry is 
). I am using a 30 something gallon trash can, though.
As for the wicking, it will be 3" net cups stuffed with dirt and cloth.
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I would get some worms and start composting. Then find out if you can find some free horse manure on craigslist. Make sure it smells like dirt and not ammonia or shit. It has to be well composed.
I reuse my big pots of soil. I have two 20 gallon pots on cycle #4. Iāve grown over a pound of canna on these two pots. I just re ammend after each cycle.
Get some worms and leaf mold to start.
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I am in the process of getting it all together. For the next time. Never heard of leaf mold, just always just threw them in with everything else. Problem is, SoCal is not very deciduous. We get some drop, do I will have to start collecting it from folks (only trees I have left are citrus)
So, what do you think of a 50/50 mix of dirt (from the yard) or potting soil and manure (and some perlite, Iām not a total heathen ā¦ 
) with the lime, gypsum and TT (or VT)
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This is no joke! I piled up all my leaves from the fall, many of them after being shredded thru the lawnmower, I went and turned that pile this weekend and the number and size of worms I saw- holy crap! And I didnt add worms, there may have been a few introduced from a few pots of soil I threw on the pile but the big ones i saw I definitely didnt add. So I transferred some of those new fatties to my other worm bin I use for food scraps.
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I know people who collect seaweed and kelp from the beach. Hose it down with some fresh water and compost that.
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Got a 5 gal bucket full of Kelp I collected a week ago, waiting to go into the liquidizer to be frozen into ice cubes, I add it to my water.
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By āliquidizerā do you mean Blender?
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