Anyone successfully store their fruit and not get gnats??
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
- 5 years ago
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Ugh! Gnats/fruit flies/fingus gnats all over my plants and soil.
Comments (43)Not a pro here, but if this helps, here's my fruit fly experience; I took up vermiculture (worm composting), following online instructions. The instructions indicated to have them live in newspaper shreddings, I don't know if that worked for anyone else, but for us it began a fruit fly issue that did spread into some of our houseplants. For one thing we hadn't sterilized the worm castings before using them, that was a definite thing that allowed the fruit flies to spread to the plants. Google search some safe ways of sterilizing compost and soil that you think might have parasite eggs in it. But to get the fruit flies out of my worm castings, I changed the system. I brought in a bucket of sand and a bucket of old dried out clay/dirt from outside, and every time I added a bucket of plant waste to the mix, I'd bury it in the surroundings, then put a fine layer of dirt and then a finer layer of sand on top of all of the mix. That made it apparently entirely uninhabitable for the fruit flies. My theory is that to lay and incubate eggs, they need specifically the surface to be moist and rotten, I don't think they do a lot of burrowing, I'm guessing their wings would get damaged. So regardless of how organic the compost underneath is, they couldn't use it as a breeding ground so long as there was a barrier of dry sand and old clay-heavy soil. After figuring that out, I always pot my plants with a drier, older, nutrient parched soil for the top couple of centimeters. Haven't had the fruit fly issue since. Sorry if that wasn't concise! I thought it might help....See MoreAnyone successfully grown papaya from seed to fruit in Cen Ca?
Comments (9)Thanks mrclint for the link and stanofh I do have a tr hovey also that I got for a cheap price that was very reasonable. I got it from Florida hill nursery for $6.99+shipping. As I understand it was quite hard to get one of these baby when they first were release, but now a lot of nursery carries them. I've also seen them at quite a bit higher price on logees site for about 3x as much, but not sure how big their plant they offer are. Mine was about 12 inches. I don't think I'm going to cover up and just see how they do and if I only get green ones before winter comes, I could just make green papaya salad...yummy(mouth watering). If you might want to try your hands at one for a reasonable price I suggest Florida Hill Nursery or Well Spring Nursery....See MoreHas anyone successfully grown apricots in zone 3?
Comments (20)Nice looking plant Konrad. Sorry it died. I have a Prunus armeniaca var. mandshurica seedling from fruit collected at Olds College in Olds Alberta in 1980 or 81. I started out with 5 or 6 plants but ended up with one survivor. That tree is now about 12 ft tall and partially healthy as it is in a very tough growing area. We have had one batch of fruit enough for jam once. The problem is 3 fold. Early bloom is always an issue since the blossoms can get frozen so easily. The second issue for me is no pollinator nearby. I have an acquaintance in Saskatoon who has a relatively young tree which has given fruit but she has the same problem and we intended to trade blooming branches last spring but did not get it done. I would like to graft from her tree onto mine with one branch and see how that might help. The fruit was of good flavour especially for jam. A little tart and quite unlike the commercials. If you can provide somewhat of a micro climate any of the ones out of the more Northern Nurseries should work. They do take time to get to producing age and you should have 2 for best fruit set. I suspect some kind of early insect control would help as they are so early but the bugs are still there!...See MoreKnock Out Gnats.....Anyone used it with Success?
Comments (14)Good morning all! Thank you for your replies! I am so glad to hear the Knock out Gnats will work, i will go ahead and purchase it today! I used to make my own potting soil with black dirt, sand, & perilite, but then others said it wasn't good for houseplants because there was no nutrients in the soil and it was to heavy when drying out which kept oxygen from reaching the roots. I did have more problems with other pests when using my homemade soil, but not gnats. I may go back to experimenting with making my own again. The potting medium i have been using says on the bag...... Miracle Grow Potting Mix for indoor/outdoor containers. This stuff has actual wood chips/chunks in it. I bought some last season and also this spring, both with the same very bad smelling, moldy mildewy smell. Actually strong enough to make you cough when breathing in above an open bag or a pot of wet soil. I also noted that when starting seeds in this mix, after the top had been wetted, in 2 days the wood chips showing on top of the mix, started to grow white mold and the smell was worse. The wood in it looks like some of the shreded mulch you see for sale. My concern with trying to sterilize potting medium is whats in it. Are we talking sterilizing actual soil and not the peat based mixes? Most container mixes have fertilizer, perilite, vermiculite, & wood chips in it, which causes my concern of heating this up in the house. Especially me, as i am the worlds worst cook to begin with! Any thing concerning the stove/oven and me,is great cause for concern and disaster! ;) Thanks for helping me learn & grow with my plants! Tonia...See More- 5 years ago
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