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?
I made this post a while ago about “Semi-Hydro”, a very simple, yet extremely effective technique.
In S/H and the Kratky method for example, which are both passive, only a part of the roots is submerged, while the rest is only kept moist, but freely in the air. This allows for extreme well gas exchange.
Other techniques often require air stones with pumps and electricity, but even those have their own strengths and weaknesses.
I do that by measuring the electric conductivity (EC). Fertilizer = salts; more salts = higher EC. The device itself costs less than 20 bucks.
There are charts available for pretty much every type of crop.
You can even notice if a plant will suffer from a deficiency soon, because the EC will then drop, or if it will get nutrient burn when the EC rises to a certain level. That’s super useful, especially when growing outdoors, because sometimes the transpiration is much higher than the nutrient demand.
You can even measure the pH, which will tell you a lot about the nutrient absorption and availability.
For example, I noticed the pH drifting upwards when the plant is in bloom, because of the high phosphorus demands.
All of that is pretty much impossible with soil based methods of growing