Whats up with my roots?

I've been following all the root aphid threads and I am so glad to see that the natural remedies are working. The excessive and ineffective pesticide use was making me very sad. I still worry about the creation of a Met52 resistant root aphid.

A couple of things from the threads that aren't getting enough attention IMO.

zor said:

At the risk of sounding like a castings fan boy, i found that a mixture heavy in worm castings along with worm teas and azamax spray /drenches got beans off to a good start. Even with fliers still lurking, they grew as normal.

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SeaMaiden said:

It was and has been my pure organic, soil-food-web locations that save my ass, every time. I can't explain it, but that is what I've observed. Just a 100' or so away from the perlite hempy tubs that were infected I had my regular raised bed, down by the veggie garden. Not a hiccup, not a thing infesting them, let alone stopping bud growth. It's been suggested to me that the Brix levels of the different grows play a role, could be any number of variables.

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justalilrowdy said:

all these chemical cures just make your plants sick and weaker. Go back to organics. Worm castings alone completely solved my root aphid issue.

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How can castings or organics help to solve or prevent a root aphid problem? A couple of possible explanations
- There is some some sort of bacteria in castings and live soil that attacks or deters root aphids. In particular, castings contain a lot of chitinase producing bacteria. Chitinase is an enzyme that breaks down chitin. Many bugs have exoskeletons that are made of chitin and may be destroyed or deterred by chitinase. As an aside you can increase the population of chitinase producing bacteria in your soil or coco mix by adding crustacean meal.
- Castings and live soil contain nematodes that attack root aphids.
- The fungus present in castings and living soil may help protect roots from aphid damage

Pine

Seriously look at my friggin plants guys before Christmas these were in trash bags for 3 DAYS! Imagine being in my position with 0 money to afford electricity to even start another grow after being drained 4 grows in a row by these fuckin things and I bagged up my entire grow and threw it away...That is how hopeless I was and how hopeless my plants looked!

I am trying not to be ecstatic and over react but this is just incredible to me:

Cannacopia Deep Chunk x Genius



I have NEVER had a RECOVERY, until now. MY entire garden that was salvageable and not too far gone has survived and is now giving me product.

40
wow, i didn't realize that you literally meant they were trashed to be disposed of! Looking great and happy to see something is working.

Thanks for sharing all your info on this matter.

pine

Pine, the thought that nematodes are already in castings, or soil amendments never occured to me. Great point.

I'm starting to wonder now if its possible to raise the nematodes without having to re order them.

You guys give me hope that I don't have to ditch coco completely. I love coco, but it seems that for whatever reason, aphids are able to survive it in and infect it too easily.

After months of experimentation, i switched to hydro because i found taht even after an infection, plants turned around after applying evergreen. Soil plants, and coco plants were revived with castings but they always still had crawlers /fliers in them.

I'm gonna roll up my sleeves now and see if i can get some coco plants running again with this new info on nematodes. it was one of the first things i tried, but foolishly dismissed its effects after reading some false info. Really hope i can replicate the success 40 had.

pinecone said:

People grow mycelium in rice flour mixtures so it is really not a surprise that the rice was quick to colonize with some fungus. What is shocking is that the fungus is causing problems. Growers in the organic forum have experimented with adding rice flour and oat flour as fungal food in soil mixes without any problems. How much rice is 10-20x as much per pot? Is there any concern that another fungus will out compete the Met?

Pine

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Ok, definitely never heard of such things. Thats really something.

I used approx. 70 grains of rice in 16 ounces of coco. I spoke with a Met52 rep and he said he has never heard of the rice breaking down and causing problems, but also that their trials never involved using as much.
Its still early to say whether the mold/fungus will out compete the met, or if its a massive spreading of the met. I will keep this thoroughly updated.

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inreplyavalon said:

Ends up i have Root Aphids. Not sure if all these problems were caused by them, or if they came after this root issue, but i am going to assume they caused it, and hope they did as well.
I know they are a bitch, but it sucks even more fighting an unknown.

I am 100% sure they are in my root system and i have fliers.
Let the battle begin. Thanks all for your assistance with this thread.

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I frickin knew it lol... was reading thru the thread from post one saying "root aphids" to myself the whole time (despite no visible crawlers). White stuff on roots were eggs. Gonna read thru the rest of the thread but hopefully this thread helps others as aphids ruin gardens man. Imid and azadirachtin are great starting points. Nematodes after that don't hurt either. Good luck to all battling ra!

I used it all at first, but have been using met 52 as a preventative, control ever since. Been back to white fuzzy roots for a couple years now.