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  1. solid7

    pests Whiteflies on small pepper plant

    You would do best to ask this question locally where you live. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of whitefly species. And they are not all treated the same. Some whitefly are among the toughest pests you could ever have. Some won't even tolerate a spray down with water. It's a...
  2. solid7

    container Using fresh pince bark in container mixture

    Here in the land of hot and humid, we use a mix that is: 80% composted pine bark fines 10% peat moss 10% sand And it is just about the best thing that I've ever used. Good for about 3 years in containers, good forever in raised beds (providing the beds have an open bottom)
  3. solid7

    container Using fresh pince bark in container mixture

    Doesn't really apply so much for bark, except that it could help get rid of excess wood in the bark mix (which isn't typically a problem, even in bagged pine bark fines, with visible levels of wood). In general, though, for planting with composted pine bark as a primary, you don't want a lot of...
  4. solid7

    container Using fresh pince bark in container mixture

    2-3 years. And then keep top dressing it with any stage of pine bark, year in, year out, after that. Also, you don't "attract" termites. If there's termites in your stuff, they were already in the vicinity. They move in roving colonies, and we don't do an awful lot to influence that...
  5. solid7

    organic Organic discussion

    @Marturo - welcome to cancel culture, where only the most fragile survive... 🙄 On the bright side, just think how much better you'll feel about yourself - not having to walk on eggshells - lest you thoroughly unhinge someone who is supremely offend-able. It's better this way. 🙃😊
  6. solid7

    organic Organic discussion

    I've been to dozens of countries on 4 separate continents - and I think that most 3rd world countries have better staple diets than we do here. The poor will always be the poor, with no clear winners on a poverty scale. Lots of factors for poverty, all of them outside of the discussion, but...
  7. solid7

    organic Organic discussion

    Which is why we shouldn't be complaining about GMOs. Assuming for a second that GMOs aren't actually harmful, we are due for a population doubling in ~40 years time. That's a disaster for just about everything. I advocate more GMO and corn based food products, along with continuing to add...
  8. solid7

    health Serranos: pale leafs with brown spots

    Can't tell if it's just the photo, or... But the color of the whole plant seems off. When did you put these outside for the first time? And where in Florida are you located? Annuums don't tend to do really well here at this time of year. That's a late fall/winter planting. The humidity...
  9. solid7

    container Grow bags vs. Pots.

    I used to have a friend that was a restaurant owner, and he gave me as many free, food grade plastic pickle buckets, as I wanted. Even after all of my weird experiments and wack innovations, I think I still have about 30 or so stacked in the shed. And that is as good as it gets. The terra...
  10. solid7

    container Grow bags vs. Pots.

    I live in about as humid an environment as you can find, and I absolutely loathe cloth bags. Used to use them, and they worked great early on. But later, as the plants got bigger, and the weather got more hot/humid, there's something that changes in the whole dynamic. I also got some weird...
  11. solid7

    health Nutrient problems, or dying plants?

    Using a mix that is mostly compost is always a bit concerning. One can get away with it, where the weather is very dry. However, in wetter/more humid places, it just won't work, or starts displaying problems later in the season. I'm not a fan of high compost mixes, and where I grow, I refuse...
  12. solid7

    health Nutrient problems, or dying plants?

    Forget the deficiency guide. Almost nobody every solved a nutrient problem with that chart. When one thing is deficient, other things follow suit, and it's next to impossible to diagnose single nutrients. Treat your feeding issues holistically, by considering that you're probably looking at...
  13. solid7

    media Homemade Soil Recipe and Questions

    Simpler is better. What you have listed works well, although I'd think about reducing compost content, in case you get heavy rains (and lots of compost just isn't needed, in general). Finding the ideal placement for your plants - and therefore creating favorable environment - will do you...
  14. solid7

    water DWC in conical reservoir - super easy water changes

    So... the equivalent to what I'm describing, is called a "vortex brewer". Not going to be what you're after, because it' creates an open swirl in the middle of the hopper. It also uses an air pump, instead of a motor (we could discuss why an air pump might work better when you're building...
  15. solid7

    water DWC in conical reservoir - super easy water changes

    The 5.8 and 5.9 are most likely the "theoretical optimal" - but as I stated before, "optimal" is temperature based, and pH plays right into that. You'd want your reservoir temperature at something like 68 degrees, at all times. Uptake is definitely a function of both pH and temp, so that...
  16. solid7

    water DWC in conical reservoir - super easy water changes

    Nah, DWC isn't bullshit. It's just that there is a mistaken belief that more fizzy is necessarily better. The bubbles in the water aren't really what's doing the heavy hitting. It's the movement they create at the water surface (well, some small amount of oxygen will be dissolved, but it's...
  17. solid7

    water DWC in conical reservoir - super easy water changes

    If you were to try to just overkill the aeration, you'd end up with more surface agitation, which still plays to the original premise...To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how much head you'd need to completely dissolve bubbles... But you'd know, because they wouldn't make it to the surface...
  18. solid7

    media I'm Coco for my Big Black Mama

    I like to add about 5% quality worm castings to outdoors plantings. Other than that, 75% coco, 25% perlite. And if you like the way it grows, check out CNS17 Grow, or DynaGro Foliage Pro. Both are 3-1-2, and work a treat.
  19. solid7

    water DWC in conical reservoir - super easy water changes

    I should have added, that most of the time when I use an airstone, it's to act as a "muffler" to quiet down the noise. I don't really value them much more than that. They become a maintenance item, as the gunk up, and need to be cleaned or replaced.
  20. solid7

    water DWC in conical reservoir - super easy water changes

    Believe it or not, you get as good/better oxygenation with just simple surface agitation. If you don't mind noise, you can waterfall the return nutrient. The problem with airstones, is that the water column in 100% of reservoirs isn't tall enough for oxygen to completely dissolve into the...
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