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Lord of the Flies
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Author:  Rivulus123 [ 15 Aug 2020, 04:28 ]
Post subject:  Lord of the Flies
Recently I was given some Organic Granular Crumb fertilizer with low NPK specifically for bonsai. (I had been using liquid ferts) I'll give it a try I thought
Thing is that it has attracted an infestation of small flies, lots and lots of them. I did lightly spray them with garden insecticide, but they still come back. They must be feasting on the stuff.
Anyone else experience irregularities when feeding crumb or block ferts.
P.S. the slugs love it too.
I have subsequently removed this and redressed the growing media
looking forward to your replies
Regards
C
Author:  cmarkr [ 15 Aug 2020, 18:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
They'll be laying their eggs in it. I had the same with green dream, unfortunately I used it on an indoor ficus, it filled the kitchen with nasty flies and the pot with their grubs.
Author:  Gary Jones [ 15 Aug 2020, 20:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
I've not had it with Green Dream but I did with Naruko at one point. As you say much more of an issue on inside plants.
Author:  Rivulus123 [ 15 Aug 2020, 23:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
I keep and breed a niche species of tropical fish on which I rely heavily on live food.

This medium would possibly be ideal for culturing Drosphilia lol, sadly I will revert back to liquid feed for the wee trees
C
Author:  bluesky [ 15 Aug 2020, 23:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
Even on outside plants it causes problems because of birds attacking when they sense there are grubs growing in the fert.
Author:  cmarkr [ 16 Aug 2020, 08:00 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
I had planned to put it into self fill tea bags in future and tie them tight and leave them on the surface, the flies may still be attracted to then but not sure whether they'll choose to lay eggs through the mesh though, if they'll do I'll end up with a bag of trapped grubs that'll be convenient for feeding your fish!
Author:  Rivulus123 [ 16 Aug 2020, 10:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
cmarkr wrote:
I had planned to put it into self fill tea bags in future and tie them tight and leave them on the surface, the flies may still be attracted to then but not sure whether they'll choose to lay eggs through the mesh though, if they'll do I'll end up with a bag of trapped grubs that'll be convenient for feeding your fish!

Believe me Chris the maggots will find their way out, they are almost microscopic in the early stages of development even teabag material wont contain them.
Author:  Paul B [Swindon] [ 16 Aug 2020, 11:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
I have never had a problem with solid feed on the soil surface and I have tried a few. I tried tea bags but found that they dried out too quickly and the feed took ages to breakdown and therefore feed the tree.

Try adding some moss to the tea bag so it will keep it moist and help to break down.
Author:  cmarkr [ 17 Aug 2020, 21:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lord of the Flies
Rivulus123 wrote:
Believe me Chris the maggots will find their way out, they are almost microscopic in the early stages of development even teabag material wont contain them.


Fair enough, I'd rather they found their way out!

Paul B [Swindon] wrote:
I have never had a problem with solid feed on the soil surface and I have tried a few. I tried tea bags but found that they dried out too quickly and the feed took ages to breakdown and therefore feed the tree.

Try adding some moss to the tea bag so it will keep it moist and help to break down.


Interesting point Paul, thank you, I hadn't thought about how the organic fert breaks down. I mixed it in to the substrate as part of a repot rather than just sprinkled on top so maybe that was the difference.
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