Neem Cake Soil Drench

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

So I garden indoors in cloth pots. In my grow tent I have them in trays. I used to use airpots but because (a) the little holes on the side act as literal water spouts if the soil is dry and you give it too much water & (b) the lack of contact to the tray underneath means all excess water needs to be manually removed I choose to use cloth pots. But that has also caused an annoyance: fungus gnats can get washed from the soil but literally crawl right back through the cloth

I cover the soil with GnatNix which seems to help but I wanted to see what else would help out. My intent this next year is to get a larger tent so I can setup an actual flood table in there that I can drain off to another reservoir and dump but that's a few months away so I thought I'd experiment with a soil drench that wasn't cypress oil so I choose neem cake.

I mixed a ratio of 2tbsp of neem cake with 8oz of water, poured the liquid into another bucked and then added 100% more water. I ended up making about 8gal this way. I then moved all my plants out of the tent to a drained tub and soaked the soil, hopefully washing away and poisoning and larvae in the process. I then moved the plants back into the tent and we'll see what happens.

Only problem at this point is that neem cake STINKS and my tent has a definite odor hanging around now . I hope that dissipates in a day or two.

 

[digitS']

What, the smell of neem doesn't appeal, Sprig? I'm not sure how it is tolerated by some as a toothpaste ingredient.

Have mosquito dunks been approved yet for fungus gnat control? I'm not sure why they have been used for so long by some but the company hasn't jumped thru the hoops or the EPA doesn't like the idea. It must be one or the other but I've never had experience with them.

Oh, fungus gnats - yes, experienced. We set up the yellow sticky cards in every other house plant that DW likes to keep. Those plants go out in the summer, then come back in ... gnats emerge after a few weeks indoors. The traps work okay, as long as there aren't huge numbers of gnats. I don't know if they are especially attracted to the traps but are caught. Or, they show up around the teevee screen in the evening or the sink drains in the house - yuck.

Steve

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

To each their own. I can't stand the taste of Jerusalem artichoke, but my wife says it doesn't taste like anything. I have no clue how someone could consume neem in toothpaste form

 

[so lucky]

For some reason I equate the smell of neem with the taste of cilantro. Pretty sure I don't want cilantro flavored toothpaste. I don't even want it in my Mexican food.

 

[digitS']

I like both Jerusalem artichoke and cilantro .

Neem - I blamed for rashes on my arms the first time I used it as a spray. Later, it seemed to work as well as insecticidal soap. Both can damage plants in direct sunlight. And, the rashes may appear at times of the year when I'm not spraying bugkiller.

(Drifting off subject ) To each, their own = subjective. That wasn't a word I knew until I began getting into social sciences in late 60's. Still, I didn't know how it might apply to me. Ya see, in the 50's and early 60's, we were all supposed to be the same. If we were green we would be peas of a common pod and to differ might put one on an adventure, and not of the best kind.

(Really drifting ) For fun, I looked up the use of the word "subjective" through the 20th century. The low point of use was during WW2 and immediately after. By 1980, use of "subjective" had nearly tripled.

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

I don't like the smell of neem either. I used a systemic insecticide and have had the least fungus gnat problem ever. I would never use it on food crops-flowers only. I have had good luck with hydrogen peroxide mixed with water as a drench 1/6 I think. I don't know how that goes on food crops. I hang fly tape to catch them-much cheaper than the yellow traps. I have let the soil dry out this year more thanI have ever before. I only over winter a few house plants because of the fungus gnats and use the insecticide on them before they come in. I will give the neem a try. I used Knock out gnats for years and then it stopped working. I soaked my seed starting trays and pots in bleach and water this year before use-might have helped. I usually see them in the sun against the greenhouse windows and spray them with organic pyrethrum. Have not seen them against the window yet this year. YAY!

 

[catjac1975]

So I garden indoors in cloth pots. In my grow tent I have them in trays. I used to use airpots but because (a) the little holes on the side act as literal water spouts if the soil is dry and you give it too much water & (b) the lack of contact to the tray underneath means all excess water needs to be manually removed I choose to use cloth pots. But that has also caused an annoyance: fungus gnats can get washed from the soil but literally crawl right back through the cloth

I cover the soil with GnatNix which seems to help but I wanted to see what else would help out. My intent this next year is to get a larger tent so I can setup an actual flood table in there that I can drain off to another reservoir and dump but that's a few months away so I thought I'd experiment with a soil drench that wasn't cypress oil so I choose been cake.

I mixed a ratio of 2tbsp of neem cake with 8oz of water, poured the liquid into another bucked and then added 100% more water. I ended up making about 8gal this way. I then moved all my plants out of the tent to a drained tub and soaked the soil, hopefully washing away and poisoning and larvae in the process. I then moved the plants back into the tent and we'll see what happens.

Only problem at this point is that neem cake STINKS and my tent has a definite odor hanging around now . I hope that dissipates in a day or two.

Pictures?

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Here's a view of some of my plants. Scotch bonnets, sabal minor (little palms in the 4" pots), musa manzano (banana tree in back) and an elephant bush (not elephant ear)


Nebraska Wedding tomatoes

 

[catjac1975]

Here's a view of some of my plants. Scotch bonnets, sabal minor (little palms in the 4" pots), musa manzano (banana tree in back) and an elephant bush (not elephant ear)
View attachment 18410

Nebraska Wedding tomatoes
View attachment 18411

Do you have these things growing now? Is that a tunnel greenhouse? How do you heat it? Very cool.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Do you have these things growing now? Is that a tunnel greenhouse? How do you heat it? Very cool.

Those pics are from last night. It's a tent in my basement that gets it's heat from our house, obviously, but is also receiving additional heat from a 1000w MH bulb