MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
They could be hypoaspis miles which are beneficial predatory mites. Do they get more active after you water?
Are these the guys that show up when I put fruit in my worm bin? I'm setting up a worm bin in my outdoor area that is just for watermelon rinds, berries, and all that sweet stuff that the predatory mites like. The first time that I saw that in my WormFactory 360, I threw the tray on the ground. I know better now lol...
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
I did have some mycelial growth on the top, but then I hit it heavy with DE because of the mites, and later applied a top feed in anticipation of flowering soon.. so I currently dont have a fungal mat up top
Don't worry about the bugs, that only ones that are a real problem are gnats because they eat roots. I get gnats so often that I just have to keep mosquito dunks in my water, best if you let them sit in water for more than 24 hours...
You gotta be quick with the mycelium mat. Once it forms, you gotta give it a topdressing of compost. I started using barley, crab meal, and compost in that order. What will happen is the mycelium will grow through the top-dressing and you will have a much bigger mycelium mat.

This is a topdressing of Grokashi only. It takes about 3-5 days usually to form this. This is when you add the barley and compost. I've been adding crab with the barley because they both form an enzyme chitinase which will break down the crab meal(chitin). I've been following Alan Adkisson and found a podcast that he had on Shaping Fire and he talked about the reason why he uses beet juice, it's for the streptomyces culture. So, it's in Grokashi and I think that it is the cotton looking stuff. Anyways, I'm putting 2 and 2 together and saying that crab meal in the mycelium mat is going to break down much faster as a topdressing.
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This is 6 days after the topdressing and the mycelium grew through the compost and it is just THICK. Only 1 application of Grokashi BTW.
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PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Are these the guys that show up when I put fruit in my worm bin? I'm setting up a worm bin in my outdoor area that is just for watermelon rinds, berries, and all that sweet stuff that the predatory mites like. The first time that I saw that in my WormFactory 360, I threw the tray on the ground. I know better now lol...
Probably.
 

BluntMoniker

Well-Known Member

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
Not springtails, although I did have them too for a while.. seems like the springtails are gone for the most part, which I'm assuming is the work of the mites
If they are the mites that @PadawanWarrior is talking about, they are a little more aggressive than I thought. I was screening some worm castings and I came across some bugs like june bugs that had mites on them. The mites were in a bunch and they were eating the bug, I don't if it died first or if the mites killed it but they are active(I agree that they killed the springtails). I think that they will eat worms too, but they shouldn't bother the plants. It's like an added benefit of using organic soil, free predatory mites. One way to remember which are good/bad, the predatory mites are fast movers and the bad mites are slow.
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
@Greenthumbs256 I found these 55gal totes on sale at HomeDepot for about $20, so I picked one up. They are def big, but I'm not too crazy about the lid. However, I'm probably going to cut into it anyways. I'm bored AF right now, so I'll probably get right on this... I have a 6" holesaw that I was using to cut ducting, so I'll see how that works for the plant area. I had the drainage pipe on hand for a while now and I have the one with a sock on it. I'll be using Perlite instead of Vermiculite because I just can't find V...
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MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
This 45gal has a smooth top(easier to cut) and wheels. It's about $5 more, but I'll try one too and compare them side-by-side...
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Greenthumbs256

Well-Known Member
Be careful, I've made some 50g before and didnt have as good of results, could have been for a number of reasons, but regardless it kinda made me wanna stick to the 30g. I just think it's too much rez space, and keeps it too wet, but I wont say it cant work, it could have been used error on my part
 

IIReignManII

Well-Known Member

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
Be careful, I've made some 50g before and didnt have as good of results, could have been for a number of reasons, but regardless it kinda made me wanna stick to the 30g. I just think it's too much rez space, and keeps it too wet, but I wont say it cant work, it could have been used error on my part
This is good info for sure! I was thinking that 50gal was too big, but I couldn't think of a reason why.
 

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
I cant really give you the reason why, bc I never stuck around messing with them long enough to find out, but I think it really just holds too much volume of water at the bottom for the way this system works
I'm currently rocking these Earthboxes, but they will probably go inside of tents this winter when I don't have to use A/C to cool them. I have a built room in my garage with a mini-split, but it's starting to feel small. So, I bought a couple of 4x8 tents for this winter and I already wired another 220v outlet. I'm pushing to get my act together and get a commercial license along with a greenhouse in my backyard, like a 20'x60' hoop house. I'm rattling on now. These are Dynasty Seeds Pineapple Fields and StarDuster. This is my first run with them, so I don't know what to expect.

It's been 4 days since I transplanted and top dressed with Grokashi. It started getting a little black and day 3 might be the optimal time to do this. I usually use barley and crab meal on the first top dressing, but I didn't have it ready, so I added it with the 2nd top dressing.
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Last time, I bought 6 row Pilsner Malted Barley because it's supposed to have more enzymes, but we went cheap this time and just got the cheapest 2 row barley they had. I've never had a problem with it before. I don't even run my barley through a processor anymore. Anyways, I buy a 40lb bag at the brew store for around $25.
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Malibu compost on top...
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I made 10gal of activated LABS.
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MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
Do you feel like Bu's is the best bagged compost? Have you experimented with many others?
I had Malibu compost soil tested and I liked that it had low P availability, because that has been my problem when making my own compost. What I don't like about it is that it is high in salt and low in Mn, but it's still pretty balanced. I usually make my own, but I just planted my first outdoor pots this year and I used all of my leaf mold on it. https://www.rollitup.org/t/soil-test-results-for-happy-frog-and-malibu-compost.1008194/

I had to fill 12x 100gal pots and I used my own EWC and 2 1/2yr old leaf mold. I had enough EWC left over, but not the leaf mold. The difference is that Malibu and my leaf mold had decomposed wood(fungi dom), to where my EWC was a bacterial dom.
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Edit: To answer your question, I haven't found a bagged compost that I like better. Just don't try to germinate seeds with high sodium soil though...
 

IIReignManII

Well-Known Member
I've found a few that are awesome, but as for cow compost yes I think it's the best
I just used worm castings only to reamend my old soil for this Leonardo run because I couldnt find shit for compost at the time but I originally made that soil with Bu's. I made up some new soil for the Temple Kush and I'll be using Coast of Maine Lobster Compost...also had to grab their kelp meal so we'll see how that goes, its a lot finer than the Down to Earth, Espoma, and Neptunes Harvest kelp I'm used to...the Coast of Maine kelp is a lot more fine like a kelp flour.
 

Angus Hung

Well-Known Member
I'm currently rocking these Earthboxes, but they will probably go inside of tents this winter when I don't have to use A/C to cool them. I have a built room in my garage with a mini-split, but it's starting to feel small. So, I bought a couple of 4x8 tents for this winter and I already wired another 220v outlet. I'm pushing to get my act together and get a commercial license along with a greenhouse in my backyard, like a 20'x60' hoop house. I'm rattling on now. These are Dynasty Seeds Pineapple Fields and StarDuster. This is my first run with them, so I don't know what to expect.

It's been 4 days since I transplanted and top dressed with Grokashi. It started getting a little black and day 3 might be the optimal time to do this. I usually use barley and crab meal on the first top dressing, but I didn't have it ready, so I added it with the 2nd top dressing.
View attachment 4619761
View attachment 4619762

Last time, I bought 6 row Pilsner Malted Barley because it's supposed to have more enzymes, but we went cheap this time and just got the cheapest 2 row barley they had. I've never had a problem with it before. I don't even run my barley through a processor anymore. Anyways, I buy a 40lb bag at the brew store for around $25.
View attachment 4619765

Malibu compost on top...
View attachment 4619767

I made 10gal of activated LABS.
View attachment 4619768
How much water to expanded EM1 do you use to water with ?
 
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