100% organic. Pest controll and soil question.

Want to go 100% organic. Whole line of Earth juice nutes and AN tarantula.
What is a good organic soil out of the bag or soil mix to go with those nutes?

Also, every grow i get fungus gnats or aphids, not sure. No bugs, untill after watering then they all float to the top. What can i use for pest control that doesn't kill micro-organisms in my soil?

fungus gnats fly around, tiny little beasts, and very annoying
i have found one sure fire way, soil pasteurization, low heat in a oven(180 for an hour)
won't kill the beneficials, much used in commercial greenhouses

okay well there not fungus gnats. There little white bugs in my soil that only show themselves, right after watering. Then they all float to the top. I start to see them after 3 months. So bakeing in a oven wouldn't solve this.

I need something i can put in the soil to prevent them or something like that.

from where are you sourcing your current soil?
little white bugs could be a lot of things: fungus gnat larvae, springtails, mealybugs, whitefly, root maggot larvae are all whitish maggoty things, for instance. all but springtails are root munchers and you want to get rid of them. (springtails, on the other hand, are actually good for your soil). you may want to identify them before you eradicate them. i would consider myself lucky to get springtails.

for 100% organic soil treatment i would get a bag of diatomaceous earth. it's most commonly used in food and feed for people and livestock to prevent/treat intestinal worms and such, but it's also great natural pest control. each particle is razor-sharp on a microscopic level (to us at our size it's just a fine powder) and lacerates the soft bug bodies, especially larvae. you can mix it right into your soil before you plant, you can sprinkle it on your soil surface and around the rims of pots, you can make a water suspension from it and spray it on infested plants (but don't spray it on or around actual buds; they don't like it). and it's perfectly safe to eat if you get the food grade (the feed grade is cheaper but for obvious reasons like impurities).

+reps for going organic. not enough of us around here

bigbudda10 said:

okay well there not fungus gnats. There little white bugs in my soil that only show themselves, right after watering. Then they all float to the top. I start to see them after 3 months. So bakeing in a oven wouldn't solve this.

I need something i can put in the soil to prevent them or something like that.

Click to expand...

pasteurization still might be the cure, if they came from the soil, then the light bake will kill them, it kills all insect life(as i understand it)
but if the source is in the growing area, such as other infected pots, or some bug that makes its way in from outside, then your are right, pasteurization won't be sufficient

You might want to look at adding 20% worm castings to your soil mix and say by by to bugs or you can use Neem Oil right from the start, I posted some great info on neem a while back. If all else fails there is AzaMax which is made from neem.

AzaMax™

Botanical Insecticide, Miticide, and Nematicide

AzaMax is a natural product with a broad spectrum of pest control and broad plant applications. AzaMax is made from special Azadirachtin Technical extracted using patented extraction technology from Neem, a tree known for it’s innumerable benefits. AzaMax contains Azadirachtin A&B as active ingredients and more than 100 limonoids from it’s special technology. The special feature of AzaMax is that it does not use hard chemical solvents and uses food grade formulation ingredients. AzaMax is licensed in all 50 states.
AzaMax is an antifeedant and insect growth regulator and controls pests through starvation and growth disruption. AzaMax effectively controls spider mites, thrips, fungus gnats, aphids, whiteflies, leaf miners, worms, beetles, leafhoppers, scales, mealy bugs, nematodes and other soil borne pests. Best of all, AzaMax can be applied up to the time or day of harvest. The product is exempted from residue tolerance, thus there is no harmful residue on veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers etc. Truly, AzaMax is a product of Nature in tune with Technology.
Lable and directions

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=&q=azamax+mixing&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_en-GBCA380CA380&ie=UTF-8&aq=4&oq=Azamax

Mix a cup of crabmeal into your soil mix per one cubic foot of soil. This will help fight the soil bourne pests. Also you can make a tea out of a lavender plant will help controlling pest on the plant itself. good luck dirrtyd

Hey,,
those white bugs you have are probly the same as the ones I get after prolonged damp soil. I use cold pressed(cause the heat pressed/extractions take away the active stuff in the neem,) NEEM Oil,
there are loads of brands,,Enistien oil is one,,,and neems really good at controling spider mites but helps to kill all bugs. Used as a soil drench it will fuck up the life cycle of the bugs but will fuck up all bugs,,benificals too,

but what I do to get the wee white maggot with legs bug(havnt seen a problem from them I just dont like them) I let the soil dry out,,after a good water,, and place a small tray with water in it(its the bacon fat tray from my G.Forman Grill) and place this in the grow room between the pots, and add one drop of bleach or any house hold cleaner,,somthing that kills anything so bleach is great for that,, and the wee white bugs jump from the pots which are dry into the water and then die from the bleach,,first time I did it with just a tray of water and it was full of these bugs,dropped abit of bleach into it and they all died...haha, so now if I see them after I have watered I just add the 'tray of death' to the flowering room and they all launch themselves into it. Its very effective and means you dont have to add pesticide to the pot,,. so yeah let the soil dry and they will migrate to the water....

Take it easy...o P.S. Im organic too so I understand you dont want to add man made chemicals...take it easy

bigbudda10 said:

Want to go 100% organic. Whole line of Earth juice nutes and AN tarantula.
What is a good organic soil out of the bag or soil mix to go with those nutes?

Also, every grow i get fungus gnats or aphids, not sure. No bugs, untill after watering then they all float to the top. What can i use for pest control that doesn't kill micro-organisms in my soil?

Click to expand...

Fungus Gnat control:
Go to your local Lowes or Home Depot, find a product in the outdoor section called "Mosquito Dunks". They are a small donut shaped disk made for ponds, water features etc.. The active ingredient is a Subtilis species of bacteria that feeds on the larvae of all members of the mosquito family, of which fungus gnats are one. Break one into quarters and throw a piece into your watering can, each time you water a little bit of the active ingredient will be dispersed into your water, and thus, your soil. It takes a few weeks to bring an infestation under control, but when used from the beginning they're great. Doesn't harm your plants a bit, and it's easy as pie. No chemicals.

You can also go to pond supply companies and buy the bacteria directly (get more for less), but the dunks serve my needs very well.

As Bunny face said Neem is the way to go but you need to use it right from the get go as it is not a knock down killer it takes time. I posted some good info on Neem on this site.