Help, I've got white bugs under my pots?!?!?!?!?!?!

So I've been having some problems crop up in two of my rooms, thought it was a deficiency, but last night I lifted up one of my pots (3-4 days after watering, still moist under there) & I saw a shit ton of tiny little buggers everywhere.

I don't have a way to take pics of them they are so very small, but I looked at them with a microscope & here's the best I can describe them-

Segmented body's, clear/white, two sets of legs in the middle- one forward set of legs, short stubby antenna, and well defined black eyes. They move around pretty fast, like ants.

I grabbed some "Bon-Neem insecticidal soap" that I had on hand, sprayed the fuck out of underneath all the pots, the top of the soil, and the plants, then gave them a light watering. It killed all of the ones underneath, instant death, muahahahaha

I'm worried though, I'm freaking out BAD here.

I have not seen ANYTHING flying around, nothing was readily apparent in the top 1-2 inches of soil either.

I've looked at pics on google & here, the closest I could find was thrips, but I don't have anything on my leaves. They look alot like thrips, almost identical except the body is less segmented in the tail area, almost identical to a thrip with the body of a catapillar if that makes sense.



Wait, they look alot like this:




OK, here's a perfect pic of what these little fuckers look like. I guess I can now call them Root Thrips? lol. What the hell is up with that? Again, nothing flying, nothing eating my leaves, just a massive colony of these under my sick plants pots:


Possibly pertinent info:

Growing in a mix of Promix hp/bx with Espoma Bio-Tone added, 20 gallon tubs w/avg of 5 plants per. Temps mid-low 60's (night) to mid-high 70's (day). Growing from seed. Week 4 of flower. Here's some pics of the problems, the very first one isn't mine but looks EXACTLY like a few of mine.

2 of my 3 rooms are looking like crap, the third that looks awesome doesn't have black pond liner but I couldn't see any of them in there with a quick glance.











Should I get some more Neem soap spray & keep treating? BT? Pest strips? Mosquito Dunks? I also have some Pyrethrin & sulfer containing eco-sense spray for roses, but it says not to use within 21 days of an oil treatment, would my 'potassium salts of fatty acids" fall under that?

I'm not afraid to get nuclear on these fuckers, I have about 30 days left as we speak.........

Added to above.

Caterpillar Killer from safer brand works well on thrips. Breaking up a mosquito pellet and spraying also does a good trick. The reason you don't see any flying is because it is a new colony. As the bugs mature, they will get wings.

BTW - thrips attack roots, not the plant.

I use a organic mixture that is 1 part dr. einstiens neem oil, 1 part spinosad, and 1 part safer. All 3 compounds will hurt/kill most bugs so the combination seems to really screw them up. I also try to spread to mosquito dunks over my soil to keep problems down also.

Spinosad works great and is omrc organic. I also crumble up the Miskito dunks and spread a top layer over the soil, about 1/4 tsp of crumbles per 2 gal pot. I had these bugs and I also had them in black. I have not seen them again since.

Thanks for all the advice, sounds like Spinosad is the ticket, as well as some misquito dunks on the top.

Sucks I didn't take some preventative action, I'm sure it's going to hurt my yield but it is what it is.

How would you guys recommend I apply the Spinosad? As much as it SUCKS for me to apply it as a soil drench (Feedings are a bitch, I have to use a siphon technique) I think that is the best way since mine are all deep deep in the soil, but I can't find any good info about applying it as a soil drench. I will be using the Green Light lawn & garden version from lowes

Lol, hahaha, never mind, it's designed for being used as a soil drench, haha, they even have a bottle with garden hose adapter, THAT would be awesome if I can find that one. Such a pain in the ass to feed by filling up a res & then siphoning from it.

damn! sorry about the thrips, I used greenlight product that contains spinosaid, worked a treat a few years back.
also, looks like you could use a little CALCIUM, i think you have a Ca deficiency as well as the "silvery" thrip dmg, and .
I use straight Ca instead of calmag, since I dont always want to add Mag.

You know what, I'm now beginning to think I should lay off the chronic & they might just be springtails.

if you dont listen to me you will lose alot of yield. do a flush, make a hole on the bottom of totes if you dont already have one. now get some plain water ph at 7 and water thru the totes till you get some runoff water. collect the water from each tote and test for ph and ppm. maxi does great for first 4 weeks then it becomes hot as fuck and drops ph. so i thin youll be at 5.7 and 2500 ppm. i would first get some dolopril or fast acting lime and pour quarter cup on top of soil of the totes then pour plain ph water at 7.5 thru the totes till you get runoff. now for the high ppm you either back of the feeding so if your feeding at 1000 drop it by half or get some drip clean from house and garden. also get some sm 90 to add to water so get rid of anything that lives in the soil you dont want its oranic and works.

Springtails, no biggie

maxi is really strong i know people who used it at 250 ppm and harvested more then people who used it at 1000 ppm all the way thru. less is more.

that rusting and brown edges is a cal mag deficiency due to ph being lower then 6.5 at the root zone.

if your runoff is low ppms and ph is between 6 and 7 your underfeeding.

PuReKnOwLeDgE said:

Springtails, no biggie

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Yeah what he said.

danks said:

if you dont listen to me you will lose alot of yield. do a flush, make a hole on the bottom of totes if you dont already have one. now get some plain water ph at 7 and water thru the totes till you get some runoff water. collect the water from each tote and test for ph and ppm. maxi does great for first 4 weeks then it becomes hot as fuck and drops ph. so i thin youll be at 5.7 and 2500 ppm. i would first get some dolopril or fast acting lime and pour quarter cup on top of soil of the totes then pour plain ph water at 7.5 thru the totes till you get runoff. now for the high ppm you either back of the feeding so if your feeding at 1000 drop it by half or get some drip clean from house and garden. also get some sm 90 to add to water so get rid of anything that lives in the soil you dont want its oranic and works.

danks said:

maxi is really strong i know people who used it at 250 ppm and harvested more then people who used it at 1000 ppm all the way thru. less is more.

danks said:

that rusting and brown edges is a cal mag deficiency due to ph being lower then 6.5 at the root zone.

danks said:

if your runoff is low ppms and ph is between 6 and 7 your underfeeding.

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What the hell is that about? I want some of that shit he's smokin.

First things first, yup they are definitely springtails, weird they weren't jumping yesterday but today they were on the top & jumping

danks said:

if your runoff is low ppms and ph is between 6 and 7 your underfeeding.

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Mr Danks I really really really appreciate the help, it seems you know how bad I need it right now, much appreciated.

I think you hit the nail on the head with this post, I have been underfeeding & have a now severe calcium def, which is maybe also giving me severe K problems as well evidenced by the bad striping & up curl on the upper cola leaves?

Got another PH probe, measured my tap, 6.9 w/drops & meter, 70 ppm's.

Cut a hole 2/3rds of the way down one of the tubs, roots weren't the healthy white I was hoping for, didn't really look rotted & there was some fresh white ones but they were browning for sure. I scooped out a little one ounce sample of dirt, ran some of that tap through it until I had enough runoff..... PH 6.4 with drops & meter, ppms= 300

Fuck me, plants are getting worse by the day for sure, and they are far from ready for water right now AND transpiration has definitely decreased.

The lower leaves are going a touch yellow as well, not a big deal as it's not bad, BUT I noticed they can be yanked from the stem very very easily, not normal at all. So If my hydro shop carries calcium nitrate I will get some, I know they are in flower but I don't think the N will hurt them & they need calcium fast. I doubt they will have any calcium nitrate though, so I'll just get some cal-mag. What should I do with it- wait till they are a bit more thirsty (ie not soaked, probably 2 days) mix up 500ppm's of cal-mag (.5), then maxibloom until 1,500 (.5),? I'm thinking I should foliar feed them as well right?

I appreciate any advice anyone has to give. I just went to staples, but they were sold out of Easy buttons, said come back in a few days.
I want some of this guys skills:

hi Leroy,

I am facing the same problem.

Not so sure mine are spring tails because they seem much to small and i lost a mother plant because of them.
They managed to enter the main stem threw the roots and the plant started dying.

Have not seen them jumping around or coming to the surface when i water. I noticed them floating around in the lower reservoir of my aquafarms.(coco and hydrothon).

Plant growth is slowed and new growing leafs are curving and show necrosis.Yield is severely affected.

I used both neem (as soil drench) and BT watered threw .
Neem killed them alright but i didn't get all of them cause this is my second grow which is affected.

I will try to be more thorough this time and keep treating a few weeks before flowering.

peace

Snow-fleas aka springtails are harmless to plants, i was gonna mention them but you seemed convinced on the root aphids/root thrips?, several growth stages, larvae to adult. water from the top, catch the run-off, jumpin everywhere, moisutre they like, little buggers but harmless like i said. I threw the whole pots out plants n all! that got rid of em. came in the soil.

abuldur said:

hi Leroy,

I am facing the same problem.

Not so sure mine are spring tails because they seem much to small and i lost a mother plant because of them.
They managed to enter the main stem threw the roots and the plant started dying.

Have not seen them jumping around or coming to the surface when i water. I noticed them floating around in the lower reservoir of my aquafarms.(coco and hydrothon).

Plant growth is slowed and new growing leafs are curving and show necrosis.Yield is severely affected.

I used both neem (as soil drench) and BT watered threw .
Neem killed them alright but i didn't get all of them cause this is my second grow which is affected.

I will try to be more thorough this time and keep treating a few weeks before flowering.

peace

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If they aren't jumping they aren't springtails, mine are jumping & everything I've read leads me to a near definitive conclusion that they are not a problem at all. Smoke a joint & watch them, move your hand around them, if you see them jump LIKE FLEAS no sweat (This is what I did last night ) If they are not jumping, take a 60x look at your leaves & roots & go from there. Next run with the warm weather I'm rotating pyrethrin & neem throughout, and imid @ at the flip. This is all assuming I can get rid of MY current problem before I get pissed, kick my plants, and cry like a little girl (I'm getting there).