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Fungus gnats or WINGED ROOT APHIDS???

BudRman

New member
application rates for botanigard es

application rates for botanigard es

this thread is too long to read all the posts so i hope im not repeating anything here

there where questions about application rates for botanigard used as a soil drench

i spoke with a technician at bioworks and was told to use maximum rate of 2qt per 100 gal and fully submerge for up to 4 hours

first thing to do is make sure of what your treating for,

her is an easy test for tiny bugs like root aphids

slice a potato into 3/8" thick pieces and place cut side down on top of soil, wait 12 hours and examine under a 20x or stronger magnifier

if you have any kind of insect that attack root, they will be all over your potato slice

i used the mycotrol O version of botanigard es at this rate for root aphids and seems to have killed them all

i filled a reservoir with my mixed water and set my soil containers in it for 1 hour then moved them to another reservoir to drain

all bugs should die within 2 days

repeat potato test once a week to be sure
 

MF Grimm

Member
this thread is too long to read all the posts so i hope im not repeating anything here

there where questions about application rates for botanigard used as a soil drench

i spoke with a technician at bioworks and was told to use maximum rate of 2qt per 100 gal and fully submerge for up to 4 hours

first thing to do is make sure of what your treating for,

her is an easy test for tiny bugs like root aphids

slice a potato into 3/8" thick pieces and place cut side down on top of soil, wait 12 hours and examine under a 20x or stronger magnifier

if you have any kind of insect that attack root, they will be all over your potato slice

i used the mycotrol O version of botanigard es at this rate for root aphids and seems to have killed them all

i filled a reservoir with my mixed water and set my soil containers in it for 1 hour then moved them to another reservoir to drain

all bugs should die within 2 days

repeat potato test once a week to be sure

That's some great info about the potato test.

I've yet to see that.

+K
 

GreenGuySF

Member
Hi everyone! I am just now reading the whole thread, so pls forgive my ignorance... but is this a root aphid, soil mite, or what. This thing is small, maybe 2/3 to 1/2 the size of a grain of salt



Just found these yesterday for the 1st time, in my mom's pot. Picked up a hanful of soil & it looks like some tiny pieces are running away. Started to look, and there is a huge infestation. I had up planted it recently & it had a huge spool of roots. I can't find any in my other plants that are in smart pots.

From the pics I saw, root aphids appeared more round & fatter.. so I am not sure wtf these are... any ID help would surely be appreciated. Anyone seen these crawling around in your media??? How did you knock them back? I already use Mosquito dunkers in my res, so apparently BTI had no impact on them, at least in the concentrations present in that product.

THANkS!!!
 

GreenGuySF

Member
Shit, well if that is the case, maybe I am in luck. I had broad mites recently... maybe they are here to eat those fuckers?

Although, the plant I found these on is not looking well, seems Mg deficient... hmmmm. Never a dull moment :D
 

awmartian

New member
Are you sure that's not a clover mite? They vary in orange color. The way to tell is to examine the body for little feather like nubbies. Here is a link http://www.fxpest.com/occasional-invaders.html


Hi everyone! I am just now reading the whole thread, so pls forgive my ignorance... but is this a root aphid, soil mite, or what. This thing is small, maybe 2/3 to 1/2 the size of a grain of salt

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=44148&pictureid=1048956&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Just found these yesterday for the 1st time, in my mom's pot. Picked up a hanful of soil & it looks like some tiny pieces are running away. Started to look, and there is a huge infestation. I had up planted it recently & it had a huge spool of roots. I can't find any in my other plants that are in smart pots.

From the pics I saw, root aphids appeared more round & fatter.. so I am not sure wtf these are... any ID help would surely be appreciated. Anyone seen these crawling around in your media??? How did you knock them back? I already use Mosquito dunkers in my res, so apparently BTI had no impact on them, at least in the concentrations present in that product.

THANkS!!!
 

oceangrownkush

Well-known member
Veteran
Wanted to update with my experience with RA, just recently found out that they weren't basically harmless "fungus gnats" like the hydro shop guy told me... So what I did is this and the population of RA/gnats is steadily declining;

1. Dried out plants for 2 days, soil was pretty much bone dry and only 1 plant was negatively affected by the drying.

2. Covered top of soil and perimeter of containers/tray with Diatomaceous earth while drying. This stuff *DOES* work, the bugs just take a minute to die once they are trapped in it. Imagine the dust as a huge pile of razors on the scale of the bug, they get sliced up as they walk through it but they still attempt to escape which is why you see them moving after they make contact. Really fun watching them try to escape that shit. I read someone earlier in this thread talk about "watering them with DE" that is bologna; the stuff has to be dry to work.

3. Once medium was sufficiently dry I top dressed with EWC/Humus/Neem meal at the following ratio; 4 handfuls EWC/Humus/1 handful Neem meal.

The result after watering the top dress and waiting a day is an extremely diminished population of RA/FG (I had/have both), there are many dead bodies littering the DE dust around the tent and upon inspecting the soil tonight I found only 1 flier. Still more were struggling in the DE and when I lifted the pots there were a few underneath.

Anyone have ideas for a coupe de gras?
 

medicalmj

Active member
Veteran
First tell that dude FGs aren't harmless. Next depends on what happens to them. I haven't had any luck w FGs (no RAs yet) using said methods, but I do have a diff set up. I used GoGnats, Azamax, DE, mosquito dunks and probably more. What worked, and which kills RAs too, is I did the Imid drenches. Then to be proactive I followed w nematodes. For RAs if drenching put tanglefoot around base of plant and rim of pot just above soil line. Then when u drench, bring solution to the tanglefoot. RAs will try to escape and get stuck.
 

oceangrownkush

Well-known member
Veteran
I am noticing a steady decline in population and health of RA's. They are almost looking transparent now, like not holding their own shape against light very well if that makes sense.. I think I might just let this round finish and start again from rooted clones elsewhere, clean environment thoroughly and start again here with fresh medium/new cycle of clones...

I will keep the Imid on hand though in case of their return, does the Imid harm the rhizosphere?
 

nofriend

Member
Oceangrown,

I do think that the easiest way to prevent RA infestation is taking fresh clones to root in a clean area. Then cleaning out the grow room and replacing all soil. With a short veg time, 4-6 weeks, and a 10 week flowering, I can outgrow the root aphids. Using this method with aerated worm casting teas and diatomaceous earth I am having good results.
 

RetroGrow

Active member
Veteran
Oceangrown,

I do think that the easiest way to prevent RA infestation is taking fresh clones to root in a clean area. Then cleaning out the grow room and replacing all soil. With a short veg time, 4-6 weeks, and a 10 week flowering, I can outgrow the root aphids. Using this method with aerated worm casting teas and diatomaceous earth I am having good results.

The easiest way to prevent re-infestation is not to grow in soil, their home. One shot of Imid in coco and they are history.
 

Minister

Member
The easiest way to prevent re-infestation is not to grow in soil, their home. One shot of Imid in coco and they are history.


Please refresh the way you went about the application, I can figure out it was in veg, but how much and what? And when (age) did you go about it?
Have you had runs from then on without any treatment?

By the way I´m not that sure you can rule out coco as a source of infestation. Coco is decomposed in large open swimmingpool like pits and I have found bits of plastic and have had grass sprouting in mine more than once.
Plagron is the brand, but I´m more than happy with the ec and the texture, no complaints.
Thanks.
 
Hey all , as much as having these creepy little things sucks , I'm glad to have identified my phantom cal/mag deficient. I was chasing this phantom for a week, dumping my rez adding this and that, dump again clean up , foiller spraying. Nothing was working. What had me tripping, is I'm in coco ebb and grow recerculating system but only a few of the girls had issues. I saw a couple flying bugs and thought fungus nat. The girls are in 2 gallon smart pots in 2 gallon buckets, I had awesome roots going into flower. I pulled the pots out to inspect the roots and they where not the same, some had a brown color and even the best ones had a little white build up. Then I saw the nasty little creeps, I had to use the scope and sure enough root aphids !! I felt relieved to identify what was causing this phantom problem. I jumped into researching and found this thread. THANK YOU !!! I opted for the Bayer fruits and citrus @ 10ml per gal. I used bombs first, then drenched 3 times @ 30 minutes. I found all kinds of dead creeps, not just the root aphids I saw first. The bombs dropped the flyers and a couple sneaky spiders. I found little crabs and a couple different types of aphids after the drenching, they were there in numbers. All dead now !!!!! I dont know if I caught them in time, I'm in the second week of flower. They did some damage, alot of yellow leaves. I'm preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best!!! Thanks again, I will post back in a couple days to update.
 

medicalmj

Active member
Veteran
Then I saw the nasty little creeps, I had to use the scope and sure enough root aphids !!.

Doubtful, unless you're going blind. Most likely mites. You can see RAs w/o a scope, they get pretty big compared to a soil mite. How many legs could you see? Anything else to confirm?

You do have root issues, but I'd bet money what you thought were RAs were mites feeding on stuff created by the real pests. Those pests include your FGs and the decay they leave behind and often bacteria and/or fungus. There mite be more going on here, but since RAs don't require a scope, figure I'd at least get you to study the critter a bit more.
 

RetroGrow

Active member
Veteran
Please refresh the way you went about the application, I can figure out it was in veg, but how much and what? And when (age) did you go about it?
Have you had runs from then on without any treatment?

By the way I´m not that sure you can rule out coco as a source of infestation. Coco is decomposed in large open swimmingpool like pits and I have found bits of plastic and have had grass sprouting in mine more than once.
Plagron is the brand, but I´m more than happy with the ec and the texture, no complaints.
Thanks.

Just a single application of Bayer, and never another RA again. RAs do NOT come in coco. They come in soil, where, not coincidentally, they live. This has been posted many times, but I will repeat it again: I have microscopically examined every bag of Canna coco that I get before using it. Never has there ever been a single root aphid, for the simple reason that they live in soil, not coconuts. Virtually all potting soil has them (there may be a few exceptions)because they live in soil. I got them from soil when I had soil and coco plants growing together. Once I got rid of the soil, and treated the coco, no more RAs, ever again. Those who insist on growing in soil will have a continuous battle on their hands. Bayer Advanced or Citrus, Fruit & Vegetable or whatever they are calling it now, applied according to directions on label wipes them out for good in coco. There are people in this thread who have been fighting RAs for years, because they will not give up their preferred method of growing:soil. Personally, I cannot understand why anyone would grow in soil after trying coco. Coco just blows soil away in every respect. And no more RAs, instead of spending ridiculous amounts of time brewing teas and coming up with all kinds of exotic treatments for their soil gardens when it is totally unnecessary. Coco+ Imid=No RAs.
 

ozzieAI

Well-known member
Veteran
Never has there ever been a single root aphid, for the simple reason that they live in soil, not coconuts.​

amen...
 
RetroGrow good info, in your experience have you seen any of the yellow leaves come back around. Most of my girls look good , but a few have been hit pretty well. Oh ya medicalmj....lol no bro not going blind a little hard on the hearing. And ya I enjoy reading , but I use my scope to confirm that yes it is a RA . So I dont know how much money you would like to lose on my infestation but I take cash
 
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