Facing a new problem which i cannot find a solution for....
I had some springtail shoeboxes with charcoal cultures blooming like no other...all the sudden they have been overtaken by mites and I cannot seem to figure out how to make them bounce back.
I notice that when i do brewers yeast, mites pop in an instant.
Now tried some mushroom pieces and its worked...slowly. What is a great spring food i may try to drop into charcoal to help these little critters repopulate in a jiffy?
Thanks
Zaira
Get a hold of Mike Rizzo of GlassBox Tropicals. He has a great powder springtail food....It is all I am using now.
sent from my Galaxy S lll
Try to segregate some of the springtails and make some new cultures ASAP with them. I use a lot of organic vegetable scraps in springtail cultures. As long as you don't overfeed you're set.
When mites get ahold of a Springtail culture, it's sometimes impossible to beat or run them. There is no magic cure or food -you just have to try to split some cultures and make some from portions that appear to not have mites and discard - hot water or nuke the portions that look overrun with mites. Try different things. Use mite paper underneath your cultures. Sterilize more. Good luck.
Since what you are dealing with are grain mites, avoid all foods with grains like rice and fish foods.
Yeast does not cause mite blooms.
As others have said, divide them out and many times after a period of time the mites will cycle down to nothing.
Completely flood the culture to have easy access to the springs. I gave up on master cultures years ago. I now only do 8 and 16oz cups. If mites hit one, I toss it. I haven't been wiped out by mites since. I only feed yeast. Every time I tried mushrooms or dried powder I would eventually get mites.
Jeremy Huff Wrote:Completely flood the culture to have easy access to the springs. I gave up on master cultures years ago. I now only do 8 and 16oz cups. If mites hit one, I toss it. I haven't been wiped out by mites since. I only feed yeast. Every time I tried mushrooms or dried powder I would eventually get mites.
Jeremy, which type of yeast do you use? I've heard a lot of debate using Brewer's yeast vs Active yeast. Personally I prefer mushrooms and I only occasionally feed Active yeast. But If I could quit buying mushrooms and only use yeast and still get the same production I wouldn't mind that one bit.
Jon
I use bakers yeast. I keep it in a salt shaker and add a bit once or twice a week to cultures. I am happy with my production.
I've been using nutritional yeast for years, works great.