Your thoughts are appreciated.
Famous last words. ;)
Ditch the Miracle Gro next go 'round. I won't even use it for house plants due to the amount of fungus gnats da shit comes with. Sounds like you are trying to do this on the cheap and without spending too much on nutes or don't have access to a grow store.
Either way, sweet. But get a new soiless mix. Get some peat, vermiculite and perlite. If the peat is not pH balanced, get some dolomite lime as well. There are a bazillion recipes for what ratios. Personal preference dictates how much peat to ver to per.
HUGE difference. Huge. You will enjoy your garden more.
Make yer own. Get a couple rubbermaids and away you go. You are into organics, so that is a pretty cheap way to go for ferts too. Make your own mix. I think you can buy bloodmeal and the like at Grow Depot.
Fungus gnats :
I hate the lil fuckers and spent some time as a fungus gnat rancher a few years ago. Yellow sticky cards in the dirt and hanging in the room work. I have heard sliced raw potatoes will draw larvae out of the soil. I have also placed bowls of water with a dark lid in it in the growroom (they like dark and think the water is soil because of the black lid and drown - I used the black lid from a folgers coffee container).
And the #1 way to deal with fungus gnats? Don't use Miracle Gro. If you mix your own, you can virtually eliminate the little bastards pretty quickly. You are screwed and will always be dealing with fungus gnats with Miracle Gro.
