crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
i didnt “use” them they are already here so in that sense i’m already using them but i havent bought and hypoaspis from anywhere if thats what you mean
a mite to remember
- Thread starter crimsonecho
- Start date
Got far too high one night and watched two of these little guys doing battle against each other on a big chunk of some biochar in my worm bin once. Fierce little things..
@MICHI-CAN are you really advocating that having predators in your soil food web is a detriment if running organics indoors? Not trying to argue, plenty of ways to go about growing beautiful plants, but how would your organic system be "complete" if your are trying to eliminate a seemingly huge part of the soil food web?
My favorite little guys in the worm bins/pots are now springtails. Seem to be one of, if not the most, hardy of the beneficial bugs I have come across. Have completely neglected my worm bins for a long long time and they are still surviving in large numbers. At least from a quick opening of the bins here and there.
Any of you guys ever notice some type of soil mite that looks a hypoapsis mile on steroids with big pincers? Like two times the size of the hypoapsis guys and slower moving. Never nailed down what they were but could only imagine what kind of havoc they brought to the web.
Sorry for the long ramble and bouncing all over the place but wish happy grows to you all.
@MICHI-CAN are you really advocating that having predators in your soil food web is a detriment if running organics indoors? Not trying to argue, plenty of ways to go about growing beautiful plants, but how would your organic system be "complete" if your are trying to eliminate a seemingly huge part of the soil food web?
My favorite little guys in the worm bins/pots are now springtails. Seem to be one of, if not the most, hardy of the beneficial bugs I have come across. Have completely neglected my worm bins for a long long time and they are still surviving in large numbers. At least from a quick opening of the bins here and there.
Any of you guys ever notice some type of soil mite that looks a hypoapsis mile on steroids with big pincers? Like two times the size of the hypoapsis guys and slower moving. Never nailed down what they were but could only imagine what kind of havoc they brought to the web.
Sorry for the long ramble and bouncing all over the place but wish happy grows to you all.
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
happy grows bro i like springtails too. i actually have neglected my worm bins for a long long time too and always seen a couple of hypoaspis here and there even without feeding the bins for over a year but i’m glad they repopulated so quickly.
i havent noticed the mite you’re talking about if you see it again maybe take a pic someone could be able to identify it for all of us
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
yeah they’re no threat to plants absolutely no threat even if they are overpopulated somehow they will not eat living plant matter only decaying stuff and the only reason they may overpopulate would be if you feed them too much and once the food source is gone they are gonna die too. perfectly self regulating fellas. worms too.
i’m not actually using them to fight any bugs per se but they’re there and once colonized in the soil they’ll feed off of larvae and eggs of some pests too. its just their way of existing and even if they don’t eradicate that said pest they would be helpful in containing the numbers at managable levels or make it harder for an infestation to happen.
good guys.
McShnutz
Well-Known Member
Just picked up a fabric pot I has sitting on top of my mulch layer in the 4x8 bed. Out run several miles. That reminded me of the orbatid mite picture I wanted to throw up. @crimsonecho
I remember the first time I saw them it freaked me out, I thought my worm bin was shot. Little did I know....
I remember the first time I saw them it freaked me out, I thought my worm bin was shot. Little did I know....
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
that snotlike moss looks kinda disgusting isnt it rofl
so they like moss i guess good guys
McShnutz
Well-Known Member
Moldy strawberries
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
nice
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
security team is checking up on the recently transplanted clones, i wouldn’t wanna be a pest on these plants
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crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
lookie what i found under a tray. silverfish.
raggyb
Well-Known Member
is this a good guy or a bad guy? cause seriously I'm stepping on that
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
raggyb
Well-Known Member
but the reason I ask is it sounds like it could be good or bad. Like mycho and microbes are good microbes so they could eat that which isn't good. and some bacteria and fungi are probably bad. but the next sentence says nutrients are a result of ...by fauna. I mean what fauna are they talking about, the arthropod or the microbe? Is the use of the word fauna to be something sciency sounding but completely ambiguous since fauna is all life?!
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
fauna is i guess is used in the sense of soil fauna which makes up all these springtails, silverfish and mites and so on. they graze on fungi and they digest fungi and free plant available nutrients. so not a bad guy for me, i’m perfectly ok with having them and not seeing any kind of damage to plants here.
also it wouldn’t be terrible if they were to eat myco and stuff either unless they were in very extremely high numbers which they are not in my soil, they wouldn’t do much damage to established webs of myco. afterall myco is alive too and those microbes also, so they repopulate and these guys eating them actually releases the nutrients stored in them. just another way of making stuff available to plants in my eyes.
VincenzioVonHook
Well-Known Member
seeing this thread made me realize my mix is not an "organic/living" mix in any way. There is no life i can see. Not a single bit of movement (that's not microscopic).
My takeaway is this.....just because I added a bit of some EWC, Organic 3:1:4, charcoal and lime to my potting mix and let it cook for a while doesn't make it a super or living soil lol. It's working well but I don't see any springtails, mites, nematodes or anything. It grew a lot of myco during cook but that's about it. However it's the first potting mix I have made that has not had a single fungus gnat.
I'll get the hang of a living food web sooner or later.
My takeaway is this.....just because I added a bit of some EWC, Organic 3:1:4, charcoal and lime to my potting mix and let it cook for a while doesn't make it a super or living soil lol. It's working well but I don't see any springtails, mites, nematodes or anything. It grew a lot of myco during cook but that's about it. However it's the first potting mix I have made that has not had a single fungus gnat.
I'll get the hang of a living food web sooner or later.
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
these higher life forms come with time man. dont be discouraged. homemade ewc is a great source for these critters to establish themselves and multiply. but you have to do your own composting to have these. indoors its very easy ime.
just a handful of worms in a plastic tub, coco bedding, add spent coffee beans, greens, fruit peels, trim and leaves and even stems from your cannabis, oatmeal and flour in small amounts, eggshells etc just add everything that worms love to eat and with time these guys will find their way in to your indoor compost.
and yeah i havent had a gnat for sometime now i’m guessing the most important reason why people battle with gnats is because they lack scavengers and predators in their soil so there is no competition for the gnats but its great that you dont have any.
raggyb
Well-Known Member
that seems to make sense. Putting one more scary looking bug on my list of those not to kill...
crimsonecho
Well-Known Member
you probably wont even see them they are nocturnal as i understand and come out when the lights go out and hide in a dark moist place during the day but yeah i dont think you have to kill even if you do see them.
yeah i dont get bitten thats strange they crawl all over my hands and stuff when working the bin and pots but they dont bite me you must be candy to them