Knat and slug proofing

[Olderfart]

Hello all,

My first outdoor grow last summer suffered from knats, slugs, and mould. I got some bud, but it was an ugly grow compared to indoors.

Here is my solution to the knats and slugs:

The pantyhose mesh will prevent knats from getting at the soil, and, according to my internet sleuthing, slugs will not crawl over the copper mesh, so absent an air lift, they are unlikely to get to the plant. The mould issue is one I am working on, perhaps I will have to order some RotBlock. Haven't decided yet.

Getting panty hose over an existing plant can be tricky. I did it by placing a plastic container over top of the plant (it needs to be large enough to tuck all leaves up inside it without breaking them), pulling the panty hose over the entire thing and down the sides of the pot, and then working the cut off leg down off the plastic container and beneath the plant's leaves. To make the process easier, the entire panty hose can be stretched in place over the sides of the plastic container so that the bottom remains open before placing it over the plant to transfer the pantyhose. Make sure to do the job before the plant gets too large to safely get all leaves up into the plastic container. In the photo, the pantyhose legs are just tucked around the stems, once the plants get bigger, I will gently tie the material snug to the stem.

Putting panty hose over a bigger plant would likely require cutting the pantyhose to permit it to be placed over the plant, and then closing the slot somehow. Given the stretchiness of the fabric, I am not sure yet how this could be done effectively, but I will be figuring that out shortly for some tomato plants I have going.

The pot in the photo is a fabric pot in an autopot XL tray, but the principle should work fine for whatever pots one wants to use. Here is how I put the pantyhose on 5 gallon SIPs:

In the autopot plant, one leg is cut off for the plant stem and the other knotted before cutting it off, and in the SIPs, one cut off leg is for the plant stem, and the other cut off leg is for the pipe for water/nute addition.

The copper mesh comes in rolls available on Amazon:

Amazon product ASIN B07FC95YVG
Happy growing peeps.

I will post later if I learn anything useful about how well this works. Now for the mould...

 

[Olderfart]

I did the tomato plants today, and it is not difficult. I cut both legs off the panty hose, and then split all the way from one cut off leg to the other so that the openings of both legs were combined in one big crotch opening. I then pulled the entire thing over the bottom of the autopot tray up onto the fabric pot, and high enough to release enough material to tie around the stem. To get started, I turned off the reservoir, and pulled the autopot valve out of the tray. I then supported the valve end of the tray up off the floor with a board so I could pull the panty hose as far onto the tray as the beginning of the fabric pot, then I removed the support and continued to stretch the pantyhose across the bottom of the tray by lifting the far edge of the tray off the floor. Once the panty hose was stretched around the pot, I shifted it upward until I could gather enough material around the stem to secure it. It helped to try to get the crotch end of the panty hose in the right direction in the first place rather than having to extract it from underneath the ring of pantyhose. All this was done with a two-three foot tomato plant in the pot.

Due to the size of the plant, it would have been impossible to install from the top without completely splitting the panty hose, and then you would have to figure out how to get it back together stretched around the pot. By contrast, the split legs are dead easy to gather around the stem. In fact, I used the leg material to tie the pantyhose around the stem, another tie was not required.

Happy knat proofing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

I did the tomato plants today, and it is not difficult. I cut both legs off the panty hose, and then split all the way from one cut off leg to the other so that the openings of both legs were combined in one big crotch opening. I then pulled the entire thing over the bottom of the autopot tray up onto the fabric pot, and high enough to release enough material to tie around the stem. To get started, I turned off the reservoir, and pulled the autopot valve out of the tray. I then supported the valve end of the tray up off the floor with a board so I could pull the panty hose as far onto the tray as the beginning of the fabric pot, then I removed the support and continued to stretch the pantyhose across the bottom of the tray by lifting the far edge of the tray off the floor. Once the panty hose was stretched around the pot, I shifted it upward until I could gather enough material around the stem to secure it. It helped to try to get the crotch end of the panty hose in the right direction in the first place rather than having to extract it from underneath the ring of pantyhose. All this was done with a two-three foot tomato plant in the pot.

Due to the size of the plant, it would have been impossible to install from the top without completely splitting the panty hose, and then you would have to figure out how to get it back together stretched around the pot. By contrast, the split legs are dead easy to gather around the stem. In fact, I used the leg material to tie the pantyhose around the stem, another tie was not required.

Happy knat proofing peeps.

An update, now that the outdoor test of the knat and slug proofing has done its best. Bottom line, zero gnats, zero slugs in the exact same grow space infested with both last summer. OTOH, given the even wetter and colder summer this year, mould was another matter. I moved the one plant indoors to finish it off because the mould was getting out of hand.

Bottom line, panty hose works a treat for keeping the bugs out of the soil, and the copper mesh seems an impenetrable barrier to slugs.

Happy growing all.