Sustainable practice

[seaofgreen18]

Howdy all, well I have a Bio char thread going but it's seems to have morphed into a Alot of other stuff so I'm carrying on the conversation here here's a quick question,who knows what this could be in the picture and what do I do about it?? I found this in my 4×8 living soil bed and took a pic thoughts?

 

[013]

hmm dunno but looks very interesting maybe try bugguide dot net…it has critter mug shots

 

[seaofgreen18]

Good suggestion it's a Fungus gnat larvae pupae starting to emerge I got nematodes on the way

 

[seaofgreen18]

Harvesting rainwater to use for growing vegetables makes a great deal of sense. Unfortunately, the most common method of rainwater harvesting isn’t the most effective. Typically, gardeners invest in a rain barrel — which holds only 50 or 60 gallons of water — and then dole out the captured water to plants as needed, hopefully emptying the barrel before the next storm.

But 50 gallons is only a small fraction of the water you could be harvesting each time it rains. During a 1-inch shower, more than 900 gallons of water flow off the roof of a 30-by-50-foot house or barn. Instead of catching just a little bit of it in a rain barrel, why not capture it all? You can do just that with a simple setup that diverts rain from your downspouts directly to your garden. We’ll tell you more about how to do this in a minute, but first, we’ll explain why we think it’s such a good idea.

How Soil Stores Water
Even many experienced gardeners have trouble comprehending just how much water soil can hold. Except in areas with consistently high rainfall, your garden soil’s moisture level will seldom be at “field capacity.” That’s the term scientists use to describe the maximum amount of water a soil can hold. When it rains or when we irrigate, gravity pulls the water down into the soil. After a heavy rain, some of the water may move all the way down to the water table or the bedrock, but a large amount of it is held by capillary forces that cause water to coat each soil particle and partially fill the spaces between particles. (An example of capillary action is the way a paper towel absorbs liquid.) That capillary water is what your crops use as they grow.

Each soil’s field capacity varies depending on how much sand or clay is in it. One cubic inch of coarse sand may contain 125,000 particles, while the same amount of the finest silt could contain 15.6 trillion particles! Soil particles have an astonishing amount of surface area. One cubic inch of an ordinary soil (with a mix of sand, silt and clay particles) could have a surface area of 25 square feet.

 

[SmokingWings]

Good suggestion it's a Fungus gnat larvae pupae starting to emerge I got nematodes on the way

I do not think so. It does not look like any part of the life cycle of a fungus gnat. Picture below.

I have seen those things while turning compost piles or piles of leaves and other organic material and they are one of the insects that helps make compost. Eventually it will morph into an adult insect but not into a fungus gnat.

 

[seaofgreen18]

Potable water. Yes, rainwater and snowmelt can be used as potable water. That said, proceed with caution. Numerous waterborne pathogens can cause serious illness if they end up in your cistern. Giardia lamblia, a microscopic parasite that causes giardiasis, or “beaver fever,” in humans, is now common in many surface-water sources. Birds, which can be Giardia carriers, often perch on roofs, where, lacking any sense of decorum, they poop at will. That can then flow down into your water storage with the next rainfall. Using precipitation for potable water significantly increases the complexity of the system. Multistage filtration, and perhaps chemical treatment, may be required.

I do not think so. It does not look like any part of the life cycle of a fungus gnat. Picture below.

I have seen those things while turning compost piles or piles of leaves and other organic material and they are one of the insects that helps make compost. Eventually it will morph into an adult insect but not into a fungus gnat.

Howdy thanks for the response if you look at the other end of the picture you can see a black dot that's usually a dead give away and I have a friend who is an antamoligist and he verified it's a fungus gnat it was hatching as I took the picture I think what your thinking of is a spring tail or a hypsis miles mite better known as a shredder which I keep in my worm bin for the reason you listed above and the eat fungus gnat larvae

 

[seaofgreen18]

Smoking Wings I hope he's right because I already ordered nematodes but oh well if he's not I needed them for my IPM anyways what kind of critter do you think it could be? I researched around and fungus gnat is all I come up with I did add rove beetles awhile ago and I know they are in there I've seen them recently but that didn't look like a rove beetle pupae

 

[SmokingWings]

Smoking Wings I hope he's right because I already ordered nematodes but oh well if he's not I needed them for my IPM anyways what kind of critter do you think it could be? I researched around and fungus gnat is all I come up with I did add rove beetles awhile ago and I know they are in there I've seen them recently but that didn't look like a rove beetle pupae

No legs or feelers or antenna after the first 6 legs (3 per side) and a fungus gnat larvae has something sticking out from front to tail.

I have seen those before in compost and in pictures in gardening articles but I don't remember the names.

 

[seaofgreen18]

Well if you remember what it is pass it on to me in the meantime that one just happened to freeze to death till I find out what they are

 

[seaofgreen18]

Everyone from small backyard gardeners to large commercial growers to nurseries face the challenge of caring for plants when they’re young, small, and vulnerable. Here are some of the best ideas and methods. The less soil in a pot, the more important keeping up with irrigation becomes. Plants in big pots can go long times without water, those in rockwool cubes or small containers can need water many times a day.

The Challenge
How to give your small plants and seeds enough water when they don’t have much soil
How to take care of small plants when you don’t have much time
How to keep new plants watered before you have time to transplant
How to prevent over-watering
How to save labor, water, and plant-loss costs
How to assure the most healthy, strong-rooted, and prolific plants

Solutions
capillary mat infographic
Evolve your strategy and irrigation system

We started designing and supplying irrigation systems in the mid-1970’s. Since then, we’ve continued a quest to experiment and evolve better ways to water. We learned and continue to learn from both our own and our customers' experiences and we’re happy to share these with you. We can help you design systems through the range from conservative/traditional/proven to innovative/cutting-edge/experimental.

starts on capillary mats
Capillary Mat Systems
The best way to start and nurture clones, starts, seeds and seedlings
Made from a felt-like material, capillary mats supply water by wicking moisture up from the bottom - when the planting mix and roots dry, they automatically pull moisture up. In university studies, this normally saves 70% of the water use and 92% of the labor costs while making plant growth faster with bigger yields.

 

[seaofgreen18]

Regenerative Water Use

The Challenge

Unsustainable agriculture and inefficient urban water use causes or contributes to erosion, floods, fires, desertification, water and crop loss. 35 states pump their underground water faster than it refills. This can cause sink holes that destroy aquifers and even swallow cars and houses. More than 1.7 billion people worldwide don't have an adequate supply of safe drinking water. Lake Mead—the largest reservoir in the United States that provides water for 40 million people—sits at only a 35% capacity, the lowest level since it was being filled in 1935. 75% of Earth's land area is already degraded, 1.61 million square miles are degraded annually, and by 2050 90% will be in this condition. Women and girls globally spend 200 million hours every day just collecting water. Drought impacts 40% of the world’s population, 700 million people. Climate change, population growth, and higher temperatures threaten to increasingly make this and other problems much worse.

Drought infographicRisk of large wildfires could increase sixfold by 2041Drought decreases crop yields
What we can do
Collect rainwater, reuse greywater, install efficient irrigation systems, and replace unnecessary grass lawns with functional gardens. Click the buttons below to learn more!

Collect RainwaterReuse GreywaterInstall Efficient IrrigationConvert Grass to GardensFirescaping
3% of water on Earch is fresh water
Humans need 1 gallon of water per day for cooking and drinking. On average, each American uses 80 to 100 gallons of water every day!

 

[seaofgreen18]

Blumat Watering Systems are the epitome of drip irrigation technology. However, installing and operating the systems can be tedious and high maintenance for gardens with a high number of low-volume containers (e.g. several hundred or thousand plants in 1-gallon containers). The problem is only exacerbated when the plants need to be moved around frequently, and a Blumat system can become more of a liability than an asset in these settings.

Capillary mats are commonly used in agricultural nurseries and greenhouses to efficiently irrigate a multitude of small containers. However, just like conventional drip systems, these watering systems are subject to over and under-watering, needlessly boosting humidity, stressing plants, and requiring more out of dehumidifiers and air conditioners.

Blumat & Capmat systems combine the two technologies, providing a “Best-of-both-Worlds” solution to efficiently irrigate many small containers with minimal maintenance. Plants can even be moved around without any additional maintenance to the system. Not even a single valve needs to be turned.

Plants in smaller containers (5-gallons of volume and under) can be placed directly onto the mat, and automated irrigation immediately begins. When a plant is placed on top of the mat, the weight of the container pushes down into the mat, forcing moisture up into the growing media into the container.

 

[seaofgreen18]

AQUAMAT​

The Aquamat capillary mats are the highest quality mats that Sustainable Village offers. These mats are completely composed, and ready to integrate with Blumat Systems.

These mats are made up of five components in four distinct layers.

1) ALGAE & ROOT-RESISTANT FOIL COVERING​

This black, perforated material prevents algae and other unwanted biologicals from penetrating into the mat. Contrary to popular belief, this material WILL stop roots from penetrating the mat! This makes the mats incredibly easy to clean, and moving plants is never stressful–for you, or for the plant!

2) BLUSOAK DRIP TAPE (NOT PICTURED)​

We replace the black drip tape that is embedded in each mat (pictured) with our BluSoak drip tape (a Guide to this tape is linked below). The BluSoak drip tape works ideally with Surface and other Tropf Blumat sensors. The tape is ideal as it does not have a minimum pressure requirement to function. However, the tape does do best between 2-4PSI, which is generally best achieved with a pressurized system (as opposed to a gravity feed).

This tape distributes moisture as it is emitted from the Surface Blumat. The tape emits the moisture into the capillary material below.

3) EVAPORATION BLOCK LAYER​

This layer prevents salt or other fertilizer build up in the capillary material itself. It also prevents excess evaporation from occurring, and helps to prevent excessively high humidity. This reduces the burden on dehumidifiers, air conditioning appliances, and other temperature/humidity control infrastructure.

4) SUPER-ABSORBENT CAPILLARY MAT​

This material does the actual “work” in these systems. This material is extremely absorbent of water and nutrient solution. It is so absorbent that it evenly emits the moisture throughout the capillary material, ensuring there are no overly wet/dry pockets.

5) CONTAINMENT BARRIER​

This a completely waterproof material that prevents all run-off from the cap mat, and prevents unwanted biologicals from growing into/through the bottom of the mat.

 

[seaofgreen18]

No legs or feelers or antenna after the first 6 legs (3 per side) and a fungus gnat larvae has something sticking out from front to tail.

I have seen those before in compost and in pictures in gardening articles but I don't remember the names.

Maybe a black soldier fly?As an added benefit, the flies turn your garbage into a form that’s easier for worms to digest, making it the perfect pairing for a worm composting system. In fact, if you’re used to seeing giant maggots in your compost pile, then odds are you already are familiar with black soldier flies.

Note: If you want to encourage both species to thrive in the same system, bury any food scraps at least six inches into the bin. This makes them accessible to worms, while flies will eat what’s on the surface. That way, the two won’t interfere with each other.