Container Soil - Growing Medium

[drtreelove]

I'm working with an agronomist/soil scientist on development of a formula for a state-of-the-art  COF (mineralized complete organic fertilizer) to incorporate with new container and raised bed soil, and to recharge the soil annually or for subsequent plantings. The blend would have all needed slow release nutrients, soil mineral and biological amendments for high nutrient density gardening, to add to your composted soil blend. Or to top-dress existing container plantings. 

 

What do you use for soil or artificial soil planting medium for your concrete rings, pots, raised beds, etc. for home and commercial growing of limes and other fruit trees, veggies, herbs, flowers, etc. 

(Field crops and orchards in native soil not included in this request at this time)

 

I just need a poll, no judgement involved, I want to know what growers are using for container and raised bed soil, for what crops, and where do you buy it.  I want to make the formula or various formulas, compatible and advantageous with common growing mediums in Thailand.

 

Thanks, Don

[grollies]

I started two and a half years ago by digging over a 10m x 10m patch of ground behind the house which was made up of spoil from when wifey dug the pond. Turned it over with digger, wound-in chicken manure, burnt rice husk and rice husk. Left it 6 months, rotovated and turned-in all the grass. Planted pineapple, banana, long bean, lemon grass and a couple of kanun trees.

 

Weeded it weekly, leaving the weeds in mounds which quickly rotted down.

 

After 2 years it has about 2" of topsoil, added krapow patch, no beans. Loads of worms in there now and no more soil erosion.

 

I have 40 potted lime trees. Potting mix was very sandy soil, cow and chicken manure, burnt rice husk, rice husk and coconut coir. I used the same mix for two raised beds growing chillies.

 

The limes are fed worm cast every month and mulched with coconut husk chunks. They get a calcium and micronutrient supplement (just started this) and an NPK 25-7-7 every three months. I keep the tubs on roof tile to aid drainage.

 

I cut down 3 rai of young rubber and have a long stack of branches and twigs, some of which I've buried in a very sandy soil....no, scrub that, it is sand. I need to bury the rest. Some logs kept to rot down, some mounded with soil to rot down also. 

 

I'm too lazy (busy) at the moment to collect fallen leaves in the rubber for mulch but I will one day.

 

I'm also starting to make worm tea as I want to get away from NPK fertilizer.

 

That's it really, making our own soil and fertilizer, keeping it natural as much as possible.

[Thian]

I use all kinds of soil, depends on what i'll grow in it...

 

There are many experts on the web informing about the best soil for large planters but none of them is developed for Thailands climate which is extremely warm by average temp.  

 

My favorit soil is loam, organic coil decomposes fast in containers so the wind can topple tree's easy. Loam is more heavy but it attracts may-beetle maggots.

 

For the rest it's hard to buy soilproducts in Thailand, they have no idea what PH means, even when you buy peat they can't tell the PH, not even for peat from Finnland in originals bags which they translated.

 

I buy fishbonemeal, slow release fertilizers, kelp meal from Canada, seasol, cow dung, and much more..

[IsaanAussie]

On 7/11/2018 at 1:13 PM, grollies said:

I started two and a half years ago by digging over a 10m x 10m patch of ground behind the house which was made up of spoil from when wifey dug the pond. Turned it over with digger, wound-in chicken manure, burnt rice husk and rice husk. Left it 6 months, rotovated and turned-in all the grass. Planted pineapple, banana, long bean, lemon grass and a couple of kanun trees.

 

Weeded it weekly, leaving the weeds in mounds which quickly rotted down.

 

After 2 years it has about 2" of topsoil, added krapow patch, no beans. Loads of worms in there now and no more soil erosion.

 

I have 40 potted lime trees. Potting mix was very sandy soil, cow and chicken manure, burnt rice husk, rice husk and coconut coir. I used the same mix for two raised beds growing chillies.

 

The limes are fed worm cast every month and mulched with coconut husk chunks. They get a calcium and micronutrient supplement (just started this) and an NPK 25-7-7 every three months. I keep the tubs on roof tile to aid drainage.

 

I cut down 3 rai of young rubber and have a long stack of branches and twigs, some of which I've buried in a very sandy soil....no, scrub that, it is sand. I need to bury the rest. Some logs kept to rot down, some mounded with soil to rot down also. 

 

I'm too lazy (busy) at the moment to collect fallen leaves in the rubber for mulch but I will one day.

 

I'm also starting to make worm tea as I want to get away from NPK fertilizer.

 

That's it really, making our own soil and fertilizer, keeping it natural as much as possible.

Could not agree more. The issue for me is to minimise cost of feeding the existing soil (sorry dirt) to provide a viable growing media. My efforts are much the same as listed here, I use composted manure and farm residues, CRH and rice straw, and worm castings, all producing on farm. I have added the 3 limes, mostly dolomite, and rock phosphate to the compost before the maturing phase. I use EM extensively and have used other biologicals to increase plant availabilty of nutrients. I produced a range of compost teas and intend to work more on these. Lots to learn. 

[Rally123]

Use the top soil from the rice fields if you can get it. It's about the only soil type one can be sure anything will grow in it.

[drtreelove]

8 hours ago, Thian said:

I use all kinds of soil, depends on what i'll grow in it...

 

There are many experts on the web informing about the best soil for large planters but none of them is developed for Thailands climate which is extremely warm by average temp.  

 

My favorit soil is loam, organic coil decomposes fast in containers so the wind can topple tree's easy. Loam is more heavy but it attracts may-beetle maggots.

 

For the rest it's hard to buy soilproducts in Thailand, they have no idea what PH means, even when you buy peat they can't tell the PH, not even for peat from Finnland in originals bags which they translated.

 

I buy fishbonemeal, slow release fertilizers, kelp meal from Canada, seasol, cow dung, and much more..

Where do you get fish bone meal and kelp meal?  what slow release fertilizers? chemi or organic? 

[Thian]

On 7/13/2018 at 8:43 AM, drtreelove said:

Where do you get fish bone meal and kelp meal?  what slow release fertilizers? chemi or organic? 

fishbonemeal in a gardenshop at kanchanaphisek.

kelpmeal on thonburi market

seasol in homeworks

now i have slow release 11-10-10 from japan...i also used organic fertilizers.

 

You have to check the fertilizershops very well to see what they sell..also you can ask for large bags of their products.

[drtreelove]

5 hours ago, Thian said:

fishbonemeal in a gardenshop at kanchanaphisek.

 

Dang, I drove right by there on Saturday on a trip to the bone meal factory in Nakhon Pathom.  Do you remember what you paid and for what size? 

 

Ocean fish bone meal is a superior product as a component in building soil fertility, as a source Phosphorus and Calcium and other goodies, like ocean trace minerals. But its hard to find here now with ocean fishing depletion and restrictions.  Imports will be higher priced. 

 

If you think the shop has ocean fish bone meal and they have larger quantities available, 20 to 50 kilo sacks, please give me a map reference or a phone number.   

 

Is the kelp in a bottle of liquid product? Or do they have 20K+ sacks of dry meal?  

 

BTW, have you tried to use DE, diatomaceous earth in your soil medium for the beetle larvae issue?  

 

[Thian]

12 hours ago, drtreelove said:

BTW, have you tried to use DE, diatomaceous earth in your soil medium for the beetle larvae issue?  

 

No i haven't because i can't find it. The Thai might have a thai word for that which i don't know....also bonemeal the vendor has it but if i ask for bonemeal she doesn't know, her english is very basic, better speak thai there.

 

In the past she had bonemeal from pigs i assume, it was more course than the one from fish. Don't know if it's seafish though. 25 kg costed me under 300 baht iirc....You have to drive from Westgate to Nakhon Pathom over the main road (kanchanaphisek) , You pass Rattanatibet rd (which is left) and right after that you take a left into a sidesoil, the 1st sidesoi where you see many plantshops.....you drive untill the end, make a sharp turn (just follow the road) and in that street are a few shops who sell fertilizers and pots and soil....ask them for bonemeal....you need the shop with the 2 ladies in it.

 

This whole area along kanchana phisek is loaded with fertilizer shops/wholesale....from rattanatibet untill nakhon-inn road they are all on the left side, along the road, in side sois, everywhere....you have to walk in to see what they have in stock, some are really huge.

 

The seaweed is from canada and in small packets...150 baht...concentrated seaweed. But i had also good experience with seasol from Homeworks which is liquid. It made my durian fruit twice this year.

[bowey]

Great idea to come up with an all in one solution. I myself have been growing figs in containers, and what i use is 1/2 coir, 1/4 woody & chunky biochar, 1/4 compost w/vermicompost and some crab meal + lime. I would love to find a slow release lime instead of the fine grade as i don't want anything to leach out. Strictly container grown, so the mix i came up with helps retain moisture and also has adequate aeration for better root development. 

Would be interested in your final products.

 

best of luck, bowey

 

[drtreelove]

On 8/28/2018 at 7:05 PM, bowey said:

Great idea to come up with an all in one solution. I myself have been growing figs in containers, and what i use is 1/2 coir, 1/4 woody & chunky biochar, 1/4 compost w/vermicompost and some crab meal + lime. I would love to find a slow release lime instead of the fine grade as i don't want anything to leach out. Strictly container grown, so the mix i came up with helps retain moisture and also has adequate aeration for better root development. 

Would be interested in your final products.

 

best of luck, bowey

 

Thanks for the input.  I'll have a free 5 kg sample for you and other contributors soon to help me trial a prototype complete fertilizer. It'll be enough for a 40 sq meter veggie garden or a few containers. It's designed after a popular product developed by my soils guru, that is being used extensively for cannabis growing in containers in the US as well as general purpose container and raised bed garden soil prep and annual re-charging for next grow cycle. 

 

I have Evolare's bone meal, Azomite and humates,  and hopefully their feather meal soon. With some other key ingredients it looks like I'll have a good, nutrient rich, mineralized complete fertilizer, including a full range of minor nutrients and trace minerals. 

 

I'm using gypsum  (Calcium sulfate - CaSO4), for part of the Calcium and Sulfur requirements. Without a soil test it's guess work to use an individual mineral amendment like lime which may not be appropriate and may raise the pH when you don't necessarily want to. (If you know your soil is acidic then maybe you can get away with it.)  Gypsum is more neutral because the alkaline reaction of the Ca is balanced by the acidic reaction of the  Sulfur. And plants need a lot of Sulfur which is often neglected. 

With that type of soil-less growing media it probably drains pretty fast, and some leaching cannot be avoided. So it's important to replenish nutrients regularly. 

[IsaanAussie]

Sounds like you are really getting moving Dr. T. putting together a range of good materials. What about soil testing? Had any luck with a local service? Are you going to be selling your outputs soon?

[drtreelove]

4 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

Sounds like you are really getting moving Dr. T. putting together a range of good materials. What about soil testing? Had any luck with a local service? Are you going to be selling your outputs soon?

Yeah its coming together. Helping to set my wife up with a small product supply business with me retired and in the background advising, if you know what I mean.  

 

I haven't found any soil testing service that I'm satisfied with; the universities are on the SLAN system, (sufficiency level of available nutrients), that just gets a crop by with the minimum, and they're not hip to soil biology enhancement, Cation balancing and mineral reserves for high nutrition levels and pest/disease resistance.  So she/we may be offering soil analysis and recommendations based on state of the art Albrecht/mineral balancing/high nutrient density system, as advocated and highly developed by your Aussie friend Graham Sait. He's working with big commercial growers worldwide, but our focus will be on helping property owners with soil fertility for their trees and landscapes and the grow your own kitchen gardeners and small orchard and field crop growers here to get the most nutrient value and quality food for small scale sales and family use. 

 

I'm hoping you will develop some biological fungicides and compost products to make available.  By the way, what EM product did you use that ForeverFord told me about. I just found one that's amazing. I put some in our little garden fish pond that I had been putting off cleaning, and within a few days the thick algae soup was gone, the water was clear and the guppies were looking happy and healthy. 

[IsaanAussie]

All sounds very good, I wish you success with it. It is a shame there isn't a soil tester as we have here. The ones that Graham uses for soil and plant testing are first rate and give a comprehensive breakdown. In local terms they are not expensive at all and when used in conjunction with Graham's agronomy services and products gives a pretty thorough coverage. However, that's Australia, not Thailand. 

I will be working on composts etc at least for my own place. What scale I get to past that, undecided at this stage. ForEverFord used to take almost as much as I could produce leaving me way short. 

As for the commercial EM I used, there were two available locally. The original EMRO brand and a very close copy in a similar litre bottle. 80 baht for the real one and 50 baht for the clone. To me, there wasn't a lot of difference and I used the cheaper version as often as not.  There were a few ready to go EMA products but I liked to mix my own.

[bowey]

On 8/29/2018 at 8:10 PM, drtreelove said:

Thanks for the input.  I'll have a free 5 kg sample for you and other contributors soon to help me trial a prototype complete fertilizer. It'll be enough for a 40 sq meter veggie garden or a few containers. It's designed after a popular product developed by my soils guru, that is being used extensively for cannabis growing in containers in the US as well as general purpose container and raised bed garden soil prep and annual re-charging for next grow cycle. 

 

I have Evolare's bone meal, Azomite and humates,  and hopefully their feather meal soon. With some other key ingredients it looks like I'll have a good, nutrient rich, mineralized complete fertilizer, including a full range of minor nutrients and trace minerals. 

 

I'm using gypsum  (Calcium sulfate - CaSO4), for part of the Calcium and Sulfur requirements. Without a soil test it's guess work to use an individual mineral amendment like lime which may not be appropriate and may raise the pH when you don't necessarily want to. (If you know your soil is acidic then maybe you can get away with it.)  Gypsum is more neutral because the alkaline reaction of the Ca is balanced by the acidic reaction of the  Sulfur. And plants need a lot of Sulfur which is often neglected. 

With that type of soil-less growing media it probably drains pretty fast, and some leaching cannot be avoided. So it's important to replenish nutrients regularly. 

Thanks for the reply, a lot of my research on container growing has me looking at US sites and huge cannabis operations - wildly successful and a great source of info. I also focus on air pruning containers rather than solid walled variants as i don't want root girdling with a fast growing tree in a container. Will be happy to trial your mineralized complete fertilizer and give feedback ?

 

I was looking to get some gypsum as I know the calcium is a lot more soluble and plant available than the calcium in dolomite lime that i am using -  any ideas on where to get this in Bangkok area anyone?  With the almost soil less mix that i am using, I needed something that did not compact, and I do a compost tea brew every week and add that to the containers.

cheers, bowey

[drtreelove]

8 hours ago, bowey said:

Thanks for the reply, a lot of my research on container growing has me looking at US sites and huge cannabis operations - wildly successful and a great source of info. I also focus on air pruning containers rather than solid walled variants as i don't want root girdling with a fast growing tree in a container. Will be happy to trial your mineralized complete fertilizer and give feedback ?

 

I was looking to get some gypsum as I know the calcium is a lot more soluble and plant available than the calcium in dolomite lime that i am using -  any ideas on where to get this in Bangkok area anyone?  With the almost soil less mix that i am using, I needed something that did not compact, and I do a compost tea brew every week and add that to the containers.

cheers, bowey

You're right the huge US cannabis industry is providing a tremendous amount of R & D information that can be useful for many types of growing. My soils guru Michael Astera has a complete organic fertilizer that is popular with US and Canadian growers. http://www.soilminerals.com/Agricolas4-8-4_MainPage.htm

 

I had never grown weed, but  my neighbor in rural Santa Cruz County CA was an experienced grower and had an outdoor container grow on contract for a legal medicinal clinic. He saw my tree and landscape PHC operations (plant health care) with sprayers for bio-pesticides and liquid fertility apps, and asked me to help with his crop.  The cannabis growers bible he gave me to read had more thorough and detailed information than I have ever seen for other crops and ornamentals. I learned a lot that I have applied to other types of growing, but I also learned what not to do. Like most growers he was after "big buds, dude" with a perceived big profit.. While claiming "organic" he was forcing vegetative growth to get big plants, then forcing flower growth. When mites threaten his crop he went into panic with chemical control for an advanced infestation. (I would have used Neemix- Azadirachtin, or PFR-97 http://www.certisusa.com/pest_management_products/bioinsecticide/pfr-97_microbial_insecticide.htm)

He ended up losing half his crop to broad mites and botritis mold. In my opinion, from my experience, the over-stimulation of growth and flowering creates imbalances that make the plants susceptible to pests and disease.

 

When he pulled out and moved to the Sierra foothills, giving up on the fog belt, My wife and I took over his plot of land and did our own big veggie garden. I planted some clones just to try my system and prove to myself what high nutrient density soil mineralization and balancing can do for quality production and resistance to disorders. I went with planting in the native soil, did soil testing and applied Michael's Rx for mineral amendments, and trialed the Agricola's 4-8-4 in one bed. I dug in high quality compost in double-dig biointensive beds as well as some row crops that my wife was into with her Thai veggies, makua, prik, kanaa, etc,  I did some preventive spot spraying with neem oil and pyrethrum for prevention on pest susceptible plants, and used preventive bio-fungicide soil drench for some plants like strawberries and makua that are suceptible to soil borne fungal disease. Mid season I applied hydrolized fish fertilizer and kelp solution. 

 

We were able to pull it off with a 100% organic program and overall we were very successful with quality of produce, color, taste, size etc and had no major pest or disease issues.  Including the weed, which resisted pests completely, but did have some mold start to show as the weather cooled, not before I harvested the clean 99% of it and gave to friends, which made them very happy.  

 

[drtreelove]

13 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

All sounds very good, I wish you success with it. It is a shame there isn't a soil tester as we have here. The ones that Graham uses for soil and plant testing are first rate and give a comprehensive breakdown. In local terms they are not expensive at all and when used in conjunction with Graham's agronomy services and products gives a pretty thorough coverage. However, that's Australia, not Thailand. 

I will be working on composts etc at least for my own place. What scale I get to past that, undecided at this stage. ForEverFord used to take almost as much as I could produce leaving me way short. 

As for the commercial EM I used, there were two available locally. The original EMRO brand and a very close copy in a similar litre bottle. 80 baht for the real one and 50 baht for the clone. To me, there wasn't a lot of difference and I used the cheaper version as often as not.  There were a few ready to go EMA products but I liked to mix my own.

Do you have a copy of a soil lab report with recommendations from that analyst that you could email me as a sample? 

[drtreelove]

10 hours ago, bowey said:

Thanks for the reply, a lot of my research on container growing has me looking at US sites and huge cannabis operations - wildly successful and a great source of info. I also focus on air pruning containers rather than solid walled variants as i don't want root girdling with a fast growing tree in a container. Will be happy to trial your mineralized complete fertilizer and give feedback ?

 

I was looking to get some gypsum as I know the calcium is a lot more soluble and plant available than the calcium in dolomite lime that i am using -  any ideas on where to get this in Bangkok area anyone?  With the almost soil less mix that i am using, I needed something that did not compact, and I do a compost tea brew every week and add that to the containers.

cheers, bowey

As for gypsum in Bangkok, we drove across town to ThaiGypsum offices where they had brought in a sack for me from their factory, in Nakhon Sawan I think. I was kind of high priced at 250 for 25 kilos. Whereas Limsakdakul in Chiang Mai has it at 180 for 50 kilos.  And then Thaigypsum had the sack labeled as CaO, Calcium oxide. So I was going to decline it, but they swore it was actually CaSO4 in the sack, and they had some story about how they had to label it different from what it really was to get by some regulations. It looked and felt right so I bought it, but won't go back. 

There have been some other discussion on this and organic subforum. Kickstart knows Bangkok area sources for a  lot of supplies.  See Evolare's recent post on the evolution of his wife's family business www.bonemeal.net where they are developing a full line of organic farming supplies. I haven't asked him about gypsum yet. 

[IsaanAussie]

On 8/31/2018 at 11:23 AM, drtreelove said:

Do you have a copy of a soil lab report with recommendations from that analyst that you could email me as a sample? 

I have a few on a backup drive, I think. I will have a look when I can. What was good about that exercise was we looked at the soil and the on farm made compost (soil tested both) and then developed a prescription blend including locally available amendments. Heaven on a stick. A large windrow turner and broadcast spreader (200HP 4WD Case tractor) didnt hurt at all.

[Imd8ta]

On 7/13/2018 at 6:35 AM, Rally123 said:

Use the top soil from the rice fields if you can get it. It's about the only soil type one can be sure anything will grow in it.

Agree. I've a bit of land in Udon and my, stay on the land to grow crops and make money helper, used 10 concrete rings with newspaper on the bottom and planted lemon cuttings 2-3 years ago with the din dee here.

They're 8-10' tall now and I have so many  they go the the local shops and friends for free.

Couldn't have done that well if I tried.

[Thian]

I use Thundercal gypsum and also dolomite.

 

But an issue with growing in containers is the larvae of maybeetles...those big white meggots which eat roots. They love perfect soil and i had loads of them.

 

[drtreelove]

6 hours ago, Thian said:

I use Thundercal gypsum and also dolomite.

 

But an issue with growing in containers is the larvae of maybeetles...those big white meggots which eat roots. They love perfect soil and i had loads of them.

 

Are you sure Thunder Cal is gypsum, Calcium sulfate, CaSO4.  I didn't buy it because I wasn't sure. 

 

Evolare's wife's family business (see his recent post in this forum) bonemeal.net has a neem seed meal product from ThaiNeem that may prove to be useful as a soil amendment with the grubs you mention as well as coconut rhinoceros beetle larvae and other soil and compost harboring pests. There are other soil pest control options. I'll try to get time to review later. 

[Thian]

8 hours ago, drtreelove said:

Are you sure Thunder Cal is gypsum, Calcium sulfate, CaSO4.  I didn't buy it because I wasn't sure. 

 

Evolare's wife's family business (see his recent post in this forum) bonemeal.net has a neem seed meal product from ThaiNeem that may prove to be useful as a soil amendment with the grubs you mention as well as coconut rhinoceros beetle larvae and other soil and compost harboring pests. There are other soil pest control options. I'll try to get time to review later. 

Don't know what gypsum it is but the shop i buy it in only sells the highest quality products...40 baht for 1kg gypsum isn't cheap.

 

Neem oil might work in the soil, i used woodvinegar and a chemical to kill them...but they come back all the time.

 

I dont like buying online in thailand, even won't order anything in a shop close to home. I only buy cash and want to see the goods first.

[drtreelove]

16 hours ago, Thian said:

I use Thundercal gypsum and also dolomite.

 

But an issue with growing in containers is the larvae of maybeetles...those big white meggots which eat roots. They love perfect soil and i had loads of them.

 

 

https://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/mannion/pdfs/May-JuneBeetle.pdf

 

May or June beetles, if that's what it is:  Here's a paper from U Florida with some interesting information.  Predatory nematodes is interesting, I haven't used them and doubt if they are easily available in Thailand.  This is one reason to cultivate beneficial soil biology, many natural pest controls exit in healthy, biologically active soil.

 

Trapping the adults with soapy water is interesting. There are other natural controls. The neem product I mentioned is a ground kernal I believe, different from a purely oil product. A plant scientist I respect told me not to use neem oil or other horticultural oil in the soil as it messes with soil structure. 

 

Of the chemical controls mentioned,  imidacloprid is available in some ag shops and would be good for lawns because it's systemic and long lasting. But not for food plants, for the same reason, systemic and long lasting.   For food plants, if you are not certified organic and willing to possibly sacrifice some beneficial soil organisms in order to control the killer white grubs, then I would choose a soil drench with bifenthrin, a pyrethroid and the active ingredient in Chaindrite 30 SC .   The label rate of 60:1 water to the concentrated product should do it. It's low toxicity for mammals, but don't get any in your fish pond and don't spray active pollinators. Bifenthrin has one of the longest residual effectiveness of the pyrethroids and it's not systemic, won't enter the plant tissues and translocate to leaves, flowers and fruits.  It's what I use for preventive barrier bark banding for stem borer control. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by drtreelove

[Thian]

4 hours ago, drtreelove said:

 

https://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/mannion/pdfs/May-JuneBeetle.pdf

 

May or June beetles, if that's what it is:  Here's a paper from U Florida with some interesting information.  Predatory nematodes is interesting, I haven't used them and doubt if they are easily available in Thailand.  This is one reason to cultivate beneficial soil biology, many natural pest controls exit in healthy, biologically active soil.

 

Trapping the adults with soapy water is interesting. There are other natural controls. The neem product I mentioned is a ground kernal I believe, different from a purely oil product. A plant scientist I respect told me not to use neem oil or other horticultural oil in the soil as it messes with soil structure. 

 

Of the chemical controls mentioned,  imidacloprid is available in some ag shops and would be good for lawns because it's systemic and long lasting. But not for food plants, for the same reason, systemic and long lasting.   For food plants, if you are not certified organic and willing to possibly sacrifice some beneficial soil organisms in order to control the killer white grubs, then I would choose a soil drench with bifenthrin, a pyrethroid and the active ingredient in Chaindrite 30 SC .   The label rate of 60:1 water to the concentrated product should do it. It's low toxicity for mammals, but don't get any in your fish pond and don't spray active pollinators. Bifenthrin has one of the longest residual effectiveness of the pyrethroids and it's not systemic, won't enter the plant tissues and translocate to leaves, flowers and fruits.  It's what I use for preventive barrier bark banding for stem borer control. 

Yes i use chaindrite to kill them in the pots...won't use it in my garden though, only when i have new expensive plants to grow there.

 

I used loamy soil from the green duck-brand (which is very good) for my new grafted pulasantree from overseas....it was barerooted but started flushing after some weeks...then it suddenly died so i pulled it out and found 20 of those maybeetle maggots in the soil...it was new soil in a pot so the maggot-eggs must have been in that soil already i assume.

 

That's what you get from buying non-sterilized soil...now i use imported german qualitysoil for rare fruittree's. 400 baht a bag but worth it for me since my plants cost much more.

[JungleBiker]

Well the other approach, widely used for greenhouse crops grown all over the world, including the cannabis mentioned earlier, is to fill the container (or trough or bag) with a substrate such as coir, perlite, carbonized rice hulls, parboiled rice hulls, clay balls, rock wool, etc.

 

And then add all the nutrients required by the plants every time you irrigate (fertigate). 

[IsaanAussie]

Aren't those big white grubs fun? I get them in our compost once it cools and is finished. They are pretty easy to screen out given their size and they go straight into the pond. 

[drtreelove]

On 9/9/2018 at 4:45 AM, IsaanAussie said:

Aren't those big white grubs fun? I get them in our compost once it cools and is finished. They are pretty easy to screen out given their size and they go straight into the pond. 

Here's another tool for the IPM kit, the biological control,

[Thian]

On 9/8/2018 at 11:45 PM, IsaanAussie said:

Aren't those big white grubs fun? I get them in our compost once it cools and is finished. They are pretty easy to screen out given their size and they go straight into the pond. 

Yes big fun if they eat the roots of your plants..and those beetles eat the leaves at night..

 

Also in my soil i find loads of black beetles, about 1 cm large and they look a bit like cockroaches. Don't know what they are, they might be the same ones.

 

Another thing to worry about when mixing soil for pots is that it should be heavy or the pot will get blown over.

Last month even the biggest size clay pot (with a dragon on it) got blown over, i can't even lift that thing. It''s smart to keep plants you want to grow in pots forever short so start pruning them young.