Just mix the fish with equal parts by weight brown sugar, sprinkle a bit of IMO and OHN in if you have it. Let it sit for at very least 3 months, 6 months is better, a year is even better, 3 years is yet even better… you get the idea 
eventually even the bones will melt
5 Likes
4 Likes
Whelp, this feels sadly familiar, hoping someone here can help me out with identifying this pest:
Looks to me the same clear/white mite that I had seen a couple cycles ago. I’m worried that they could be broad mites, although they don’t seem to be on any of the plants leaves, just running around in the soil. Spotted these guys like 5 days ago and have been spraying every plant in the house for 5 days in a row with Dr. Zymes to no effect. Last night got the veg tent with sulfur to no visual effect either. I’m wondering/hoping if they’re just wood mites or in the best case scenario beneficial hypoapsis miles but I have my doubts about either of those. Hoping someone here might be able to help ID em, worried I might have to abandon crop here.
4 Likes
Kind of blurry but possibly bulb mites? @LegsMahoney
5 Likes
I’ll try to snap a new photo, I took a video but can’t figure out how to upload it here
1 Like
Forgot I had that phone magnifier, much better shot of em although they won’t hold still no matter how much I yell at em
4 Likes
They look like bulbous mites to me. They are detrituvours and eat decomposing organic matter.
6 Likes
Everything I can find on those seems to be about them infesting actual garlic bulbs, not so much soil, are these to be of concern at all if that’s what they are? The population seems pretty big overall, they’re everywhere in the pots.
4 Likes
Considering removing the mulch layer and applying a layer of diatomaceous earth in all 4 pots, any thoughts there?
5 Likes
@supershitfuck has had to deal with bulb mites recently he might be a good person to ask I think I he was able to set a cucumber as a bait and then burn them with a torch 
to lessen numbers @LegsMahoney
5 Likes
I’m obviously not the best person to answer this since I’m constantly asking people for help identifying whatever pest it is I have during the latest grow lately, but if they’re staying relegated to the soil, I’d imagine it’s just some sorta “regular” soil mite. I know some pests work on the soil/roots and never make their way up to the plants themselves, but I dunno if you should start freaking out just yet.
Or maybe you should haha, I dunno. DE might be something to consider, like you mentioned, but it’s never really worked for me when I’ve used it for fungus gnats. Might work for whatever those things are in your soil, though. I’d probably consider some kind of more “hardcore” beneficial before I used DE. That stuff seems pretty useless.
How do the plants themselves look? If they look okay and their leaves aren’t getting gnarly or weird-looking, you’re probably fine.
5 Likes
I’m with @minitiger. Not sure you should worry. Any sign of damage to the plants or are they on the plants?
Do they come out more when you water?
4 Likes
Thanks for the responses everyone, as far as I can tell they’re not making their way up the plants at all, just staying in the soil, so I think I’ll at least wait and watch and scope leaves for a while to make sure that continues to be the case. Plants look completely fine, no little bites or anything, so it makes me believe they might not be a big concern. My biggest worry is the size of the population. I know that in living soil the end goal is a balanced ecosystem, I.e. no one thing gets the chance to basically take over, and right now these little guys are absolutely teeming, but I guess I’m gonna stay in a “wait and see” holding pattern for the time being
6 Likes
Insects, just like plants and microbes and fungi, all come in waves, it’s all cycles within cycles within cycles. Which species rise and thrive depends on what food is available along with the environmental conditions.
Every species has their particular favorite food, and once that food is gone, the population dies down again, and other species take over because the soil and thus their environment changes, so everyone cycles through and gets their chance to shine.
There’s a species for every type of condition imaginable.
And if it doesn’t exist yet, nature will make it up!
Before making any type of effort, first take the time to generously observe, and more often than not you will discover that no action is needed. Patience is a necessary requirement for understanding.
6 Likes
Absolutely poetic @Rogue i think I’m committed to joining the Waitandsee tribe for the time being. Like you suggested, a big dose of LITFA and observe
5 Likes
Man, it feels like it been a bit since I updated. I’ve been down and out in one form or another since the beginning of September it feels like. Most recently with some debilitating headaches. Been going to chirp and whatnot to try to get straightened out since the doc says it’s tension related. The girls are doing well, got some shots from last week I think? Not much has changed since the , plants are cruising along putting on a little bit of frost before (hopefully) bulking up further. Those mystery mites are still out in force even after being hit with a few different mitigation methods. I went so far as to reach out to the crew at build a soil with the pics I posted here and they said basically the same thing as everyone here: “if they’re not bothering anything let em go.” So I’m settling into that decision and the fact that we just got some company on this run. Plants have been looking largely healthy albeit some of them have started clawing, as if potentially overwatered. I’ve cut way back on watering frequency, going as long as 4-5 days in between, as well as volume, down to a gallon split between the 4 of them, and they still seem to be doing it. The old smugglers seem to show it a little more extremely, but the flower formation and resin production doesn’t seem to be affected, so I’m again just shrugging my shoulders at the matter. Maybe it’s just how they react in flowering. Who knows, but overall I’m pretty happy with things and just maintaining as we go.
Definitely getting some burnt rubber smells from outside the tent on the old smugglers, but more of a plastic smell on the stem rub, and good ol gm5 stil just smells like a Big cup of Hawaiian Punch. I’ll hopefully hit updates here with a little more regularity as I’m feeling better. Love to everyone out there 
18 Likes
Big deal… haha. Seriously, though, some plants just do that clawing thing. A couple of my Uplifts did that, I think the last time I grew Larry Lotus, they did it, too, didn’t seem to affect anything. I guess it’s possible that soil conditions weren’t “right,” but the weed smoked really good, so… I didn’t worry about it too much haha.
Is that what clawing even is a sign of? Overwatering? I honestly don’t know. I thought it was a sign of too much N or something, but I’m not sure I’d only be giving them a quarter-gallon of water every 4-5 days. You’re still in those three-gallon pots, aren’t you? That seems like…. not enough haha. A quarter-gallon in three-gallons is plenty, but not every 4-5 days. Do the pots ever feel light when you water them?
Maybe they’re responding to the way you yourself are feeling, with the “tension headaches” and stuff. I’m not blaming it on you haha, I’m just saying… I do think plants respond to our energy, which is why I try not to stress about anything, ever.
9 Likes