SOIL FROM OUTDOORS GARDEN????

[nannymouse]

Okay, so i battle bugs when using purchased soil. I was wondering what you people think about just giving up and using soil from the outdoor garden? I'm hesitant, but also think that the good bugs would be there, as well as bad...

 

[Teresa]

Have you ever considered cooking your soil
Like putting in the oven for awhile
To kill of larva and bug's...just a thought

 

[nannymouse]

Yah, was thinking of putting small batches in the grill or fire pit. Still thinking on it. I'd probably have hoppers from our soil, which i've never seen in bagged store-bought. Can drown those, i think.

 

[Butcher Bob]

An oven is a good way to sterilize soil...just don't use the one in your kitchen.
Get a cheap used oven and use it in the garage or secondary building, 'cause it's going to stink.

 

[MyDBear]

I put mine in a big square cake pan put it on the grill and close the lid, ckeck on it in a half hour or so.

 

[Green Mopho]

It depends on your region and geology, and what kind of top soil is present in your area (many factors there, including precipitation, exposure, residential lawn treatment, etc.). But good top soil is always something great and something most indoor growers just don't use enough!

I'd say, take a sample and get it tested at a lab like Logan Labs or Spectrum Analytic. It will cost you around $50 and thats cheaper than buying bags of soil. After that, you can send me a private message or post the results here (private info redacted, of course) and I would be happy to make a soil recommendation for you.

Top soil can be rich in organic matter and also have a high CEC. But it can compact a bit easier, so you will need to expand it, both mechanically and chemically. Meaning, you would need to add something like perlite AND calcium sources like calcitic lime.

Are you in the habit or reusing your old soil? Can you recycle and add back some top soil? Unless you really have amazing aerated top soil, I wouldn't add more than 35% top soil to your mix.

 

[IMORTALOUTLAWJAH]

What bugs fungus gnats? What else is popping up. Order some gnatrol and Walla problem solved or throw a few dunks in your rez

 

[nannymouse]

I use dunks, i use the granules(stronger than label)...cover drains. Aways have them, no matter where we've lived. We have those little blue light bug traps. Windows have clear stickies that catch thousands. Stickies all over the soil in containers. I've not given up, but am at the point that i know that it's just a matter of control as best i can. Really, i think many are just common flies.

We also have had aphids in one corner of the house, that i just keep battling. They eventually win and the peppers croak. I do have plants that seem to not be affected by the aphids, am thinking of putting some in the blender, straining the juice into a sprayer and have at it. Maybe the coleus has something that the aphids don't like.

 

[KreatnKaos]

I had a friend back in the day that filled his basement with soil off his land from upstate NY. Grew fire weed and he didn't have any problems with bugs. In the long run I think this should be the goal of indoor organic farmers when possible so that we aren't destroying bogs for Peat Moss. I'm trying to utilize less and less in my soil mixes and making sure to reuse any soil I can.

One thing I've done this year to help is to spread out loads of Woodchips over my property so that in 3-5 years time I'll have a massive amount of fungal dominated soil and humus to pull from. I hope to no longer buy peat after that time and then I'll do the same thing again, fill up my yard and let it break down.

 

[IMORTALOUTLAWJAH]

Dunks just kinda fend um off..just buy a bag of the pure bti gnatrol and it will end all larvae they will vanish in a week after the flying ones dye the larvae will not hatch.

Root aphids before was use crazy Bayer tree n shrub that super toxic for think it was imid. Only time during the great root aphid scare of 2012 was take fresh Cutts harvest n dump all medium in the house. Never got um back again. That was the last time I excepted rooted cutts.

 

[Green Mopho]

You can fight root aphids with a 3-phase rotation. 15 ml per gal Pyganic 5.0 root drench, then follow it up with H2O2 root drench about 24 hours later (you can skip this if you don't have any/much root damage), and then finish it off with a beauveria bassiana application, to which you could add some other beneficial root microbes to protect and rebuild root health. Root aphids done, without toxic imid.

 

[WrinkledNugSack]

Yah, was thinking of putting small batches in the grill or fire pit. Still thinking on it. I'd probably have hoppers from our soil, which i've never seen in bagged store-bought. Can drown those, i think.

It is easy enough to sterilize soil with an oven, but its also easy enough to turn your soil toxic doing it. You have to ensure that you don't get your batch over 180F or you run this risk. I have a soil sterilizer and I ran mine between 160-170F (testing with a candy makers thermometer) and it didn't seem to have any negative effects on the soil, and I had one little black beetle of some sort make it through the process... however, since I was doing this in the driveway, there is also a possibility that he tagged along for the ride after the treatment was completed.

I know it was mentioned in the replies here, but I'll say it again, just to confirm: I live alone and can tolerate a lot that other people might not like in their home... I highly recommend NOT trying a batch in your oven in the house... but, if you need an excuse to buy a new oven, it might be worth putting up with the stench for a few weeks for the shiny new appliance? ha ha (really, don't do it.)