I’m a bit emotional right now. But in the bad way to be fair.
I just got stung by a wasp without any reason, after having to take a extensive shower before because my body was totally itchy from all the mites and whatnot. UGH! 😫
I’ve been pretty proud in the beginning of this experiment, because there were lots of wild bees, beetles and other cool critters around here. It’s basically like being in nature.
But I forgot that nature sucks… 🥲
For example, imagine laying in the grass and just chilling.
Beautiful for the first 5 seconds, but then, you begin getting stung in the asscreek by a dozen ants and get everything ruined.
Nature is basically dead in my area, so only the asshole bugs survive here.
The whole balcony is swarmed by aphids/ mites as well as ant colonies that protect those suckers from ladybugs and other beneficial predatory insects.
The aphids droop honeydew everywhere, which attracts lots of yellow jacket wasps, which in return could kill my girlfriend in minutes because she’s highly allergic.
I didn’t even realise that asshole (the wasp, lol) is there until I got stung just by existing.
I’m right about to pull the trigger and get my pesticides (neem oil/ pyrethrum extract) out.
Also, I began to hate soil even more than before.
I have to hunt for slugs every evening, because they’re everywhere, and I can barely stand a chance against them.
There are gnats living in it too, as well as other unwanted guests.
The plants in soil are starting to spread diseases and pests to my otherwise healthy plants in hydroponics. I will for example harvest my weed soon, and there are bugs sticking in the buds like in a glue trap. I have no idea how I should get them out of them, it’s just disgusting.
I also largely prefer hydro compared to soil, not only because there are less pests, but also because due to the much lower water demand and control it gives me.
The soil is guzzling water like crazy and still the plants are looking way less healthy.
Spraying neem oil on my hydro plants and just not using soil anymore seems to be the way better choice right now.
Sorry for the rant. It had to be.
What should I do?
You have no obligation to respond like I have not obligation to manage you for your response. If you want saccharine sweet ego fluffing responses, go prompt an AI. Being earnest and being honest are more important to me.
There must be a word in German for this kind of hubris. If not, we should petition for one, because in the age of tiktok and AI slop, people mistaking the sensation of understanding for themselves actually understanding something, is going to be a continuously compounding problem.
So what is stable about your current system? Take the moment for some introspection. Is it stable? Or maybe are you assumptions about stability wrong? Are you expecting to permaculture on a balcony garden? Are you expecting too much because you have some misconceptions?
What I see in your pictures are what I see all the time from novice gardeners. 20 kg of compost (shit) in a 5 kg bag.
Plants are in constant competition with one another for resources. Both sunlight, but also root space, and also air (air flow more specifically). Go walk through a natural area and you notice that unless it’s a heavily invaded area, plants spread out. If you have a small area to work with, you are creating the exact kind of environment for the kinds of pest issues you’ve created by doing exactly what you are doing: this is self evident otherwise you wouldn’t be making this post or having these issues.
I think my prior paragraph outlines why. You are trying to do too much with too little. Fewer plants and more spacing between them will both result in individually healthier plants and fewer disease issues because the diseases have a harder time moving through the system.
The white flakey stuff is probably a scale insect also getting moved around by the ants. Again, manage for the ants and the scale and aphid issues will solve themselves.
And with regards to mites, if you truly have them, burning it all down is often the only solution. It’s probably the best thing to do for you if the issues are as bad as they seem. It’s almost impossible to get rid of spider mites.
Because what I’ve found in a few decades of growing is that marijuana growers take their craft very, very seriously. The ones who fail to develop good growing knowledge from reliable sources don’t make it.
However, knowledge in gardening is no replacement for experience, because growing is a fundamentally place based process. There is no knowledge other than experience that can tell you how to work with this particular plant, in this particular place, at this particular time.
And in regard to tone…
You call me the rude one but you are the one slandering the plants and animals who are simply responding to the conditions you created. Take some responsibility.
Here is a small section of my garden, with easily maybe a hundred different species, many native several endangered. No diseases, heavy production (3 species bananas, lemons, limes, yuzu, cacao, vanilla, kalo, lilikoi, rhubarb, eggplant, and more).
!()[https://files.catbox.moe/yoan9e.mp4]
Mixed systems can very much work, but don’t blame plants and animals for situations you create
That’s why I made this post. Because maybe I needed some feedback from real people, with hands on experience, who either tried but failed, or did something a bit different and succeeded.
I didn’t criticise what you said, it’s how you said it.
I’m highly glad for your input, but I personally think that you could have said it a bit more friendly while being just as honest at the same time.
Sure, there’s always a german word for something :D
Right now, I can think of “Schreibtischexperte” (desktop expert), but maybe “Praxisversager” (a loser in hands-on-experience), or Theorieprofessor.
2 out if the 3 were made up by myself just at the moment, lol.
Stable means for me, that there aren’t zero pests, but also no overabundance.
I think I may have overreacted a bit yesterday.
I was already pissed about having itchy bugs everywhere on my skin, and then the wasp attack was the final nail in the coffin…
I planted the willow there on purpose, because last year, when I went for a walk, I noticed mainly the willow trees being swarmed by pests.
They act not only as a trellis for me, but also as a bait, so the pests are only sucking the sap of the willow and not the stuff around. And then, they attract predators, which will ward off any critters that might attack my crops.
However, I didn’t think about the relationship between the ants and those bastards.
I think you are absolutely right. I think some of the plants are stressed because they are overcrowded, and there isn’t sufficient light and airflow.
I tried to experiment this year and see how much I can grow per m².
Even though it sucks right now, I would call this experiment successful.
I think I have learned something: More isn’t better.
My balcony will be less crowded next year.
Also, your garden looks cool af! 😁 Thanks for sharing the video!
And again, thank you for all the advice :)