Firstly, the soil of my indoor plants has taken on a paler, cloudier hue. Secondly, the tips of the leaves for my green bean plants have curled a bit. Lastly, I have these bugs in my pots that have been quite bothersome. I have pictures below, and for the bug problem, I have put up a video (the picture option wasn't working too well from my phone), so maybe someone, somewhere out there can identify them for me. I also have bugs that look like them, but are red in colour.
Pictures:
Video:
(Skip over to 0:48 in the video)
Hi, the 'cloudiness' is most likely a buildup of minerals from your water, it's no big deal. For insect pests I do the following organic treatment: Into a 1 quart spritz bottle add: 1 cup isopropyl alcohol, 1 generous capful of Dawn dishsoap or Extra-virgin olive oil. Shake well and hos down the plants/soil, shaking the bottle often as you do so. Also your soil looks really suspicious (no offense), what is it comprised of?
ReplyDeleteAhh thanks Dave. So basically, I don't know what it's comprised of other than that it had some fertilizer in it. I think the bugs were already in the soil... Maybe that's why it was something like $3.99 for 30lbs? I hadn't seen the bugs on my parsley before until I got soil from this Asian couple that sold flowers, like a field of them on a lot in front of their convenience store.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the help! Also, do you know why my beans might be curling at the tips of the leaves? I'm just so worried about it, 'cause they're basically the only plants inside my room that didn't totally fail.
Also, I'm guessing you saw this through Craigslist. People were offended by the blog link, and mannn some guy was pretty rude. Do you know of any good places where I can get good help with gardening, or any ideas as to what kinds of people I should seek out? Because gardening seems to be hard for me for some reason, even though a friend suggests it is so straightforward, and it seems even harder to find all the help I need.
It would be easier to name the few people on CL who do NOT get offended by one thing or another, I wouldn't worry about their criticisms, you did nothing wrong-- although basic CL etiquette usually dictates that discussion start and continue there... some people see a link and immediately think someone is trying to boost page view counts or sell them something (or direct to a malicious website). Clearly, that's not happening here :)
ReplyDeleteI can't say for sure whats up with the beans, I will urge you to invest in high quality potting soil or plant your veggies outside ow that it's the growing season. Not knowing anything about the soil except what you said, it's pretty clear that it's not the type of soil you would want to raise seedlings in containers in. For good advice first & foremost I would recommend a local gardening group or club, online it's hard to beat http://davesgarden.com/ (and no, I'm not the 'Dave' of davesgarden) :-)
Hmm.. Blogspot blogs though are typically seen as safe. It's extremely difficult to embed a virus, tracking cookies, etc. It actually might be impossible because of the amount of control that Blogger has over the site layout and the elements that can be put into it.
ReplyDeleteI do have stuff growing outside and I think that I'll try growing some green beans outside just to see if the light elevation in my room could have been a problem. Perhaps a raised shelf in my room could be good too for growing stuff indoors, as I would like to have plants around.
Yeah, it seems the soil is shifty. I've been ripped off, it seems. I had no problems with the specific bugs I mentioned until I started using the soil I bought. Gah, how annoying.
Even if you were the Dave of davesgarden, it's totally cool. And thanks for the link.
So, based on information I've got from you and others, this is what I'll do:
Throw out all of the soil from my pots (where do you think I should throw it? Garbage, or what?)
Put holes at the bottom of my metal pots
Get soil from a good store and put that in
... See what I can grow with that and if insects come along or I still have problems, I'll use your recipe.
Is it always bad to grow a plant with the light source elevated above it and to the side?
Sorry I haven't made the rounds to your lovely blog until now. I would simply thinly topdress my flowerbeds with the soil and let it assimilate into the existing topsoil. The sunlight will bake out any pathogens (if there are any), and the temperature fluctuations over time will allow it to cloud up with what's already there. Are you on Facebook? let's connect over there or on Google+, I'd like to keep in touch
ReplyDeleteI simply didn't water that spot for a bit. While the mould went away, so did some plants. Man, this whole gardening thing is so difficult for me for some reason. And yes, I am on Facebook. My page just doesn't appear publicly because a ton of people who I barely or didn't even know from high school were adding me at one point. I will look for you on Facebook and add you.
ReplyDelete