How to Control Humidity within a Climate Simulator Biosphere CELSS-Video
Controlling Humidity within a Climate Simulator, Biosphere or CELSS is simple and easy to do. Watch this video to see how. Comparison between this BioSphere and NASA’s CELSS, click here General descirotion of the BioSphere/CELSS project, click here
Controlling light in a Biosphere, CELSS or Climate Control System with LEDs – Video
Controlling light in a Biosphere, CELSS or Climate Control System with LEDs – Video. Using LED lighting as the main light source for a BioSphere/CELSS. The LED lamps produce enough heat to heat and cool the whole BioSphere/CELSS. Cooling is the number one problem with Biospheres; not heating. Comparison between this BioSphere and NASA’s CELSS, [...]
CELSS – System Control Module Schematic – Gardening Rhythms
CELSS – System Control Module Schematic is used for controlling the vacuum pump, LED light, pressure pump, defrosting cycle, DP trigger thermo-electric device, freezer and control air valves. The main purpose for this control module is to have a physical connection to all off the CELSS functional equipment and displays all of the data it [...]
CELSS – Dew Point (DP) Condensation Trigger – Using Thermo-Electric Devices to Help Lower Relative Humidity (RH) in closed Systems
CELSS – Controlling humidity in a closed life support system or Terrarium. Dew Point (DP) Condensation Trigger – Using Thermo-Electric Devices to Help Control Relative Humidity (RH). For more information on CELSS project and description, click here For information how the Thermo-Electric Device is used in CELSS, Click hee Controlling humidity in a closed system involves [...]
Green Tea from Comfrey Or Other Leaves – IPM Control – Foiloir Layer Biology
Green Tea from Comfrey Or Other Leaves is an IPM Control for the Foiloir Layer Biology. Compost tea can be made out of leaves as well. It is not called compost tea, but green tea. It is used as a pest management for leaves. This method suppresses leave pathogenic problems. Fungi and bacteria issues. Link: For [...]
Woolly Vine Scale on Ribes – Black Current – Pulvinaria vitis syn. P. ribesiae – Pulvinaria scales
Woolly Vine Scale on Ribes (or Black Currents) is best controled by physical removal of the insect. Spinosad is a natural pesticide that can be sprayed on the Ribes. If you can catch an infestation in its early stages, the scales can be brushed off bark with an old toothbrush and soapy water, or scraped off leaves with [...]
Mealy bug – woolly aphid
Mealy bugs are certainly the worst and more common insect that attack cactus and succulents, They can live on the plant or on the roots in the soil and are capable of very rapidly killing large specimens. It is easier to keep mealy bugs out of a collection of cacti and succulents than to control [...]
Lygus
The insects appear as small oval creatures. Adult lygus are approximately 3 mm wide and 6 mm long, colored anything in a range from pale green to reddish brown or black. The bugs can be solid shaded or mottled, and have a distinctive triangle or V-shape on their backs. Adults are capable of flight, and will often [...]
Locusts – grasshoppers
Locusts are part of a large group of insects commonly called grasshoppers which have big hind legs for jumping. Locusts belong to the family called Acrididae. Locusts differ from grasshoppers in that they have the ability to change their behaviour and habits and can migrate over large distances. When conditions are favourable for reproduction, locust [...]
Leafminers – Sawfly Leafminers – Elm leafminer
Leafminers are insects that have a habit of feeding within leaves or needles, producing tunneling injuries. Several kinds of insects have developed this habit, including larvae of moths (Lepidoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), sawflies (Hymenoptera) and flies (Diptera). Most of these insects feed for their entire larval period within the leaf. Some will also pupate within the [...]
Leafhopper
Leafhopper adults are elongated, wedge shaped and somewhat triangular in cross-section. They jump and fly off readily. Depending on species, they range in size from 1/8 to 1/2-inch and their bodies are colored yellow, green, gray or they may be marked with color patterns. Nymphs resemble adults but are wingless. They can run rapidly, occasionally [...]
Leaf-feeding beetles/insects
Beetles are generally characterized by a particularly hard exoskeleton and hard forewings. The beetle’s exoskeleton is made up of numerous plates called sclerites, separated by thin sutures. This design provides armored defenses while maintaining flexibility. The general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform, although specific organs and appendages may vary greatly in appearance and function between the many families in the [...]
Imported cabbageworm
Wingspan about 2 inches (5.1 cm) (male slightly smaller), with a black area near the tip of the forewing and a small black spot on the front edge of each hind wing. Female has two black spots on each forewing; male has only one. Velvet-like green, with a faint yellow stripe down their back, a [...]
Grasshoppers
Found throughout North America, the 200+ species of grasshoppers range in size from 1″ to 2 1/2″ and in color from brown to yellow to the familiar green. Some do not fly at all although some are excellent flyers and all have enlarged hind leg bones that enable them to leap and jump over relatively [...]
Fungus gnat
Fungus gnats are tiny mosquito-like insects, about 1/8 inch in length. You will generally first notice them darting about new seedlings. Adult fungus gnats are mostly an annoyance, but the larva can do damage to young plants and seedlings by feeding on the new, tender roots. It is also thought that they feed on the [...]
Fruit flies
There are four stages in this growth process; egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Following is a (very) brief description of each of them. Stage 1: Egg – Fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs in their lifetime of less than two weeks! They will only lay their eggs in the surface of moist, organic [...]
Fall Webworm
The large silk webs enclosing tips of branches are sure signs of fall webworms. The caterpillars remain inside the webbing, and if food runs out new foliage is encased. The caterpillars are covered with long white to yellowish tan hairs. Two races of fall webworms occur in North America, the blackheaded and redheaded races. The [...]
European Corn Borer
During its lifetime, the European corn borer goes through four stages of development : egg, larva (borer), pupa, and adult (moth). These four stages constitute a generation. The larva goes through five instars, or larval stages, of development. During the fifth instar, all larvae either prepare to pupate and become adults or enter diapause. Diapause, [...]
Elm Leaf Beetle
Elm leaf beetle is a serious defoliator of elms. Insect predators, such as predacious stink bugs and plant bugs, may feed on various stages of the elm leaf beetle. Pupae may be killed by a small wasp that develops in the insects. Small numbers of pupae also may be killed by fungus disease. Weather probably [...]
Cottonwood Leaf Beetle
Adult beetles are 6mm long and light yellow with black stripes on their wing covers. Mature larvae are blackish with two white spots on each side. They are about 12mm long. The yellow eggs are oval shaped. Adults feed on leaf margins and cause shothole damage. Young larvae skeletonize leaves and, as they mature, consume [...]
Colorado Potato Beetle
The Colorado potato beetle, a yellow insect with ten black stripes down its back is probably one of the best known insects in the United States today. The insect overwinters in the adult stage a few inches beneath the soil surface. In the spring the one-half inch beetle emerges from the soil and searches for [...]
Chinch
Chinch bugs are a complex of three different species within the Lygaeidae family. They have piercing-sucking mouthparts and they feed on the sap of grass plants. They reside in the thatch area of the turfgrass stand and prefer to feed on the lower leaf sheath and crown area of the plant. The chinch bug can [...]
Using Compost Tea for Pest and Disease Suppression Control
Compost Tea is the easiest and safest way to control blight, leave curl and most fungi problems in trees. The process is very simple. Spray compost tea on the leaves and tree branches. Yes, this does not go into the ground, but on the upper canopy of the tree. About 4 weeks before buds open [...]
Natural Mosquito Repellent – Citronella Oil
Citronella oil is made from the plant (grass) Cybopogon nardus or Citronella winterianus. If you are going to grow the grass, make sure to get these two types. There are over 30 varieties of Citronella. The distinct odor of citronella makes it difficult for insects to locate a host. The main components of citronella—geraniol and [...]