Wood Ashes good for crocus?

[Lesley Cox]

Mine too Brian. I couldn't see why anyone would WANT heaps of crickets. Hadn't thought of dinners for lizards etc. My dog eats meat, bones, dog biscuits and the occasional grape or banana.

[Maggi Young]

Lesley, grapes are bad for dogs! Found this out only recently... had nasty moment, since previous dogs have loved all sorts of fruits and have scoffed pounds of grapes over the years...seems discovery that grapes and raisins are bad for dogs, indeed fatal in some cases, is quite recent too.Go figure!

One of the best things about this forum is that my ignorance is being chipped away daily

Well, yes, but some days my credulity is being stretched at the same rate....I mean, "cricket poo"....did you ever?

[Brian Ellis]

"cricket poo"....did you ever?

  Well not personally, no

[Guff]

Well, I'm glad everyone had a good chuckle about the cricket poo.

If this can save me $30 a month on miracle grow ferts, I will be making bins next spring. Heres a video that shows 40,000 crickets eating lettuce in 1hr. They sure do chow down. I wonder how much poo they made in 1 hr...........lol

[Maggi Young]

Those crickets can sure chow down, as Guff says! Wouldn't want them escaping to my garden, poo or no poo!   No doubting the high costs of many proprietary fertilisers, though.

[Armin]

Hi Guff,
allow me an kind advise. If you breed critters at home please make absolutely sure they can't escape from your boxes and infest the foliage of your crocus This might easily end up with fine crocus poo

My advise laced with sarcasm have a true story behind - in my younger days I helped working in a pet shop where critters & cockroaches escaped underhand, breeded happy as a king and infested all herbal pet food ( open big packs/ sacks) during the nights when the pet shop was closed.
It was a nightmare until the epidemic plague had been stemmed.

[Guff]

Armin, thanks for the insight. They will be outdoors, if I decide it's worth the effort. I can already see that I will need 10's of thousands of crickets to get the amount of ferts that I will need weekly. The 35 crickets or so I have, really haven't made much of a dent in the food I put into the holding box. Next weekend I will let them go, and see how much poo there is.......lol

I make a leaf pile once in the spring and then again in the fall. Below is my spring leaf pile. Hard to tell from the picture, but the pile is about 4-5 ft thick, and maybe 30-40ft diameter Usually come late June, I can start to screen(sticks,rocks) and start using the compost.