Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (BTk) is the one common here. It’s also cheap, I found the 200ml for 4-5€. But it says it’s for moths and butterflies.

Update: You have no idea how hard I looked for BTi, I only found a 20kg powder that would cost over 600€. Also, I did not find a biological alternative. So, today I decided to give up on the search. And btw I managed to catch one of the gnats, so I am 99,9% certain that they are what you suggested.

In the mean time, the gnats are multiplying. So, I was thinking of isolating the 2 grow bags for starters, but I don’t have enough room for this. Would covering the top surface of the soil with 2cm (0.75 inch) or so of sand be ok as a temporary fix for isolation? Or they can manage to get out of the grow bag?

What can I do with this amount of soil to make it usable again at some point? It’s a lot, 60lt (15.85 gallons).

Once more, any idea is welcome!

Edit: I have the impression the sand thing is working pretty fine!!!

That’s a weird response to a comment totally relevant to the post

https://archive.is/GILzY

Thank you, and dammit. This could be it

I was thinking the same thing and was about to ask you what’s your budget, cause they are super expensive. Another solution could be some boots made as work equipement. And sorry for not having something more specific, like a brand

Now that I think more about it, when we talk about boots that last forever like, this means to me that they will need to be repaired at some point. Why not ask a shoe repair service near you this too?

From what I can read in the description, this sounds like an interesting topic. Still, I don’t see how this is related to solarpunk technology?

For more on this, you can take a look at this community’s description or go to the link at our front page saying:

☀️ New to Solarpunk? Click here

I suppose, yes and no. In a way the tricky thing is to know what to look for: to be able to recognize that a slimy texture is a sign that it has gone bad.

Here are some more medically reviewd tips from healthline:

Does Rice Go Bad? Shelf Life, Expiration Date, and Safe Storage

Of course this approach has its limits. I thought it was clear when I said that this method is to “check if food went bad”.

If something like meat has not been cooked, or a dairy product has not been properly pasteurised, or there where unsanitary food production conditions, or not canned properly etc, this method does not apply.

It is definately not a way to check if something is eadible in general. And if you are pregnant or have special diatery needs, you know the specifics of your situation.

I don’t remember who told me this “system” to check if food went bad, but it’s a great one imo

1. If it looks good, smell it
2. If it smells good, taste it
3. If it tastes good, eat it

I need to read more about solarpunk as a social movement.

There’s link at the mo, at the very top of our front page. Here it is: ☀️ New to Solarpunk? Click here.

You might find this documentary interesting: Hollow Water | 2000 | 48 min

The way I see things, law enforcement and military are there to serve and protect those who are higher up in social hierarchies, as well as their wealth, even tho we are fed the story that they work for us, common people. In reality, they are a top-down structure, full of corruption, racism, sexism etc, and I really don’t feel safe around them.

So in order to answer your question, I would need to reframe it. It could be something like: how do people and areas can be protected, from other people or groups of people who are bad actors, within a society that does not have hierarchical structures, meaning that is organized in a horizontal way?

For me, the answer is not a sweeping rigid model that will be applied everywhere, all the time. People from different places see things differently, so local solutions need to be applied. Cultures worldwide have dealt with things. For example, one solution would be to look into their examples and find ideas that would fit for our community’s needs, and take it from there.

(If the questions was about the justice system, I would suggest to look into restorative justice, as well as transformative justice)

Do we also have compostable components?

I know only a bit about bio-tech that comes from fungi, and people are working on it, but we’re not there yet to my understanding. As one example, researchers from The Ohio State University recently discovered that common edible fungi, such as shiitake mushrooms, can be grown and trained to act as organic memristors, a type of data processor that can remember past electrical states.

This one looks like that:

And here are some relevant articles, in case you feel like checking them out.

I wouldn’t want my circuit boards to be biodegradable

It’s true that in the article they do mention that the board needs to be optimized in terms of its water absorption. Still, this is a bioplastic, meaning it’s not like a cardboard or something that will start biodegrading on you out of nowhere.

I second that! I am not too sure about hops tbh, in the sense that they don’t seem to thrive/survive where I live, but the idea of using vegetation is helping greatly to cool the microclimate. The downside is that you will need at least a balcony, the bigger it is, the more vegetation you can have, and the more you have, the cooler it will be. If you have a garden, it’s a whole other level, in the best possible way.

This approach is also great because you can plant eatibles, and have your own veggies and fruits.

I have the impression that you might find intersting the following link (you can also look for it, at the top of the front-page of slrpnk.net):

New to Solarpunk? Click here

Thought of adding a relevant link from Geoengineering Monitor:

Marine Cloud Brightening

According to this video this new paper suggest that these two states seem to exist in liquid water independent of temperature.

Evidence for the generic existence of two local structures in liquid water, June 2026

The holder of this coin is entitled to 2-3 hours of gardening, […]

This reminded me of time-banks.

It was used a lot in South American cities, at some point during the economic crisis of 2008. In practice it was working like this: people would declare in a sort of ledger what they can do and for how many hours, as well as what they needed and for how many hours. Everybody’s time was equaly valuable, no matter what they did.

It was going so well that they tried to accomodate stuff that would not fit in the time category, like renting a house. So they printed some sort of “contracts”/“money”. Government and mafia, printed counterfit and the project never recovered since.

(It’s been quite some time since I looked into this topic, so if I don’t remember something accurately, please let me know)