Living Soil Bio-Diversity and Immunity Starter Kit

Application Recommendation:
As a Starter:

Small Pack: 12 oz bio-diversity pack, suggested for roughly 6 sqft surface area of bed/container.

Large Pack: 3- 12 oz bio-diversity packs, suggested for roughly 18 sqft surface area of bed/container

Extra Large Pack: 6 - 12oz bio-diversity pack, suggest for 36sq ft surface area of bed/container

To address an existing pest problem:

We recommend doubling the suggested application rate if you have a major problem with pests.

Living Soil Bio-Diversity Pack:

This unique product is concentrated, bio-diverse collection of beneficial soil organisms that provide effective pest control against fungus gnats, soil stages of thrips and root aphids. As an added bonus these organisms will help to significantly improve nutrient cycling and overall soil health.

These bio-diversity packs are ideally applied when a new container or bed of soil is placed to jump start your IPM program by attacking soil borne pests (fungus gnats, thrips and root aphids) and allow nutrients to become more quickly available to your plants.

Adding this to an established container or bed will improve your soil ecosystem and conditions within weeks and will immediately start
combating established pest issues. For severe pest conditions, we highly recommend going a size bigger than may be directed.

Species contained in each container:

Dalotia coriaria (Rove Beetle), Hypoaspis miles (Stratiolaelaps
scimitus), Oribatida mite, Oligochaeta annelida (pot worms), Springtails.

Our Packaging Process:

First we harvest from our dual purpose vermicompost/beneficial insect containers, which contain all species listed in high concentrations in a special vermicompost/coco blend. To ensure that populations are at high rates and our product is as full of life as possible, we add an additional rove beetles and hypoapsis miles to ensure these have high populations for effective predation.

We include a good amount of food in each container which is our signature, 100% organic, beneficial insect food and soil amendment, Beneboost! Check out this very reasonably priced product here

Benefits of the Living Soil Bio-Diversity Pack:

Pest Fighting:

The Dalotia coriaria rove beetle and Hypoapsis mile are a tag team on thrips, fungus gnats, root aphids and even some pest soil mites. While the rove beetle is 1-3mm in size, visible and black, the Hypoapsis mile are less than 1mm in size and colored from white to brown. The rove beetle can take a little longer to establish and make a dent in your pest issue, but the Hypoapsis mile immediately starts eating pest species, which is why they are great when applied together.

Quicker Bio-Availability:

Your starter pack comes in our rich casting/coco mix and is kept
moist and packed full of microbial life. In addition to jump starting microbes, all species of insect and organism present in these packs will feed on decomposing material, breaking down bigger pieces into smaller
more available pieces for your worms and smaller organisms to expedite the process of becoming bio-available to your plants.

Soil Improvement:

The starter pack comes teeming with Oribatida mites which are a very slow moving, long living and essential piece to the soil ecosystem.
These mites come in large numbers and assist in breaking down organic detritus as well as distribute beneficial funghi. They act much like an earthworm in the soil food web in their ability to decompose organic material and provide quicker nutrients to your plants.

In addition to Oribatida, these packs come with Oligochaeta annelida (pot worms) which are in the same Order and Phylum of composting worm (red wiggler or earthworm), are a white, small worm from 5-10mm long. These worms act just like composting worms in that they create air channels for plant roots and expedites decomposition.

We recommend
applying living soil bio-diversity packs immediately upon receipt for
best results, but they can be stored in a warm (65-75 degree) and dark
environment upon receipt, prior to application. They can be stored up to
a week with minimal population affect in the container they are shipped
in. The media inside the container must be kept moist if being stored
in extreme dry conditions.

MI Beneficials makes no guarantee that storage will keep bugs alive, thus we do recommend immediate application.

Great for Beneficial Soil Insects:

This product is a blend of all organic seeds, grains and oats specially formulated to provide complete nutrition to your beneficial insects, encourage reproduction and promote expansion and exploration within your containers, greenhouse or grow area.

Rove beetles and Hypoapsis miles are ferocious eaters and thrive in conditions where there is ample food supply, especially when there is not an active soil pest issue that you are targeting.

Great As A Soil Amendment

In addition to being great for your beneficial soil insects, it is
generally great for your soil. Our blend of sprouted barley, corn and lentil provide proteins and enzymes that promote vigorous plant growth.

Barley provides the enzymes phosphatase, chitinase, urease, and amylase which feed the microbes in your soil to improve nutrient uptake and cycling. These 4 enzymes provide high levels of chitinase which is a compound which improves plant immunity and imuno-responses to pathogens and diseases including powdery mildew.

The oats and wheat bran promote mycelium growth on and in your mulch layer as well which helps the soil food web cycle nutrients on the
surface layer, which is why we recommend using it as a the last step in your top dress. This will expedite bio-availibility of nutrients to your plants.

Benefits of Aloe Vera

Contains a great source of salycylic acid, which aids plants in their systemic immuno-responses against pathogens. (referred to as System Acquired Resistance or SAR) With an SAR the plant has improved resistance to environmental stresses such as drought, cold, heat, excess humidity, heavy metal toxicity, and osmotic stress.

Contains lignins which minimizes stress and allows for easier nutrient and moisture uptake.

Has surfactant characteristics and is a source of saponins.

Reduces plant stress during transplant.

Benefits of Coconut Water

1. Increases nutrient availibility and enhances plant uptake. A study was conducted on mung beans and showed that both number of pods and yield were increased.

2. Contains cytokinin hormones which have been studied and shown to promote divison of cells which triggers plants to grow shoots and roots.
See this study.

3. Contains Gibberellic acid, which helps boost seed germination and increases the speed of root development. See this study.

4. Contains calcium, magnesium and other minerals which provide addtional nutrients and boost to growth.

5. Provides nutritional support to good organisms and bacteria which are vital in the development and growth of plants.

6. Reduces plant shock when transplanting.

7. Can be used as a rooting hormone.

We recommend
applying living soil bio-diversity packs immediately upon receipt for
best results, but they can be stored in a warm (65-75 degree) and dark
environment upon receipt, prior to application. They can be stored up to
a week with minimal population affect in the container they are shipped
in. The media inside the container must be kept moist if being stored
in extreme dry conditions.

MI Beneficials makes no guarantee that storage will keep bugs alive, thus we do recommend immediate application.

Living soil bio-diversity packs are shipped in a vermicompost/coco mix which suits as an ideal habitat for shipping/storage.

All orders ship out as soon as possible. In order to ensure the
freshest bugs and microbial life available we do not keep rolling stock
of bugs, but we are able to fill most orders within 1-3 business days.
We will ship all orders as soon as possible, thus if you need a specific
shipment date or any special instructions, please specify in the
comment sections. We cannot be liable for bugs arriving too early for
application.

For CA, WA and OR residents, we do require 2-day or overnight shipping service for all living insects.

We cannot offer any returns on any beneficial insects.