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Fungus gnats or WINGED ROOT APHIDS???

hydrotran

New member
I have finally made it to the end of hi thread. What a ride. It took me about 3 weeks to do it. I read about 25-50 pages a sitting. I didn't do it every day though and I puffed a lot when I read.

First... What happened to eclipse? He hasn't posted since July of 2015.

There were a few people posting pictures that had two spotted mites that nobody mentioned. There are some resistant ones being passed around.
Kontos, sm-90, Regalia and Venerate. SM-90's best feature is the way it conditions your soil. If you have soil that doesn't drain well or absorb fluids well sm-90 will correct that after one or two applications. This helps whatever additives you are using soak into your medium. And it smells great. Regalia and Venerate are organic.

Did anyone try this kontos,sm90, regalia and venerate? Did you use this all at the same time? Please let me know if this works thanks!
 

blowingupjake

Active member
Hi guys I’ve been seeing many conflicting assertions so I thought I’d ask here-
When one shuts down a room with root aphids and removes all plants, how long do the remaining eggs stay dormant?
Especially if the room is kept in optimal conditions and not an “overwinter” type environment?

Hoping I can force eggs to hatch and kill all generations off with a short shut down and controlled environment coupled with cleaning and pesticide applications..

Any input is appreciated!
 

I wood

Well-known member
Veteran
Hi guys I’ve been seeing many conflicting assertions so I thought I’d ask here-
When one shuts down a room with root aphids and removes all plants, how long do the remaining eggs stay dormant?
Especially if the room is kept in optimal conditions and not an “overwinter” type environment?

Hoping I can force eggs to hatch and kill all generations off with a short shut down and controlled environment coupled with cleaning and pesticide applications..

Any input is appreciated!

Up to six months is what i read somewhere.

I got rid of them by taking clean cuts and let all dirt sit for at least six months while sterilizing what i needed to keep going in a clean new room at the other end of building. They need live plants to feed on, I waited them out and used no chemicals either. Rosemary oil, sticky traps and a shop vac were useful things i found while finishing up the infected garden. Being perpetual and with people relying on me, these things allowed me to meet demand while restarting clean elsewhere.
Winged root aphids are what brought me to icmag about 5 years ago.
Time flies.
 

blowingupjake

Active member
Thanks for chiming in. I admire your ability to avoid shutting down completely, I have the luxury of being able to start over with clean cuts so total shut down for eradication makes most sense.

It’s my understanding that the 6 month figure is in the overwinter scenario...

I am going to keep the room at 80*f and reasonable humidity levels in order to force eggs to hatch. Then they will either be caught in sticky traps or killed by cleaning solution or room sprays of pesticides.

I just don’t know how long I really need to keep up the routine...
 

slownickel

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
We spray everything with hot water at 120 F to kill root aphids. You can kill root aphids with a blow dryer! They last forever otherwise... You can heat treat a room for 24 hours with the lights, but stuff directly underneath starts to melt sometimes... lmao. Otherwise just heat her up!

We heat treat the soil prior to using as well flooding 3x6's with 120F water. Bit of a chore, but no more bugs! From there on we stay on top of weekly sprays, assuming there is a bug walking in the front door ever day. Place has been clean for more than a year. Everyone changes shoes and clothes prior to entering. If you keep all the team with cheap good weed, they won't grow at home which also helps by eliminating another source of infection.

Love the Lost Coast Plant Therapy. Just get on it and stay on it. Shit works. Expensive, but works!
 

Buddah Watcha

Well-known member
Veteran
Anyone can help me id this pest? Beneficial predator or aphid?


I noticed a recent decline in health of some of my plants and an increase of flying insect population, initially though it was gnats but its starting to look more like aphids...


The roots went from being bright white to being brown and stringy... Deficiencies look mostly like cal mag deficiency... I scoped the roots and only saw these guys walking around... also saw some little worms munching on the roots (nematodes maybe)...


Any help appreciated!


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moses wellfleet

Well-known member
Moderator
Veteran
I don’t think that is a root aphid, probably some kind of soil mite. Can you give us a picture of the flyers you are seeing?
 

Buddah Watcha

Well-known member
Veteran
Ill snap a shot tonight from the sticky traps...


There are many of these, I know I have tons of soil mites since I run organics and they usually not an issue, but past 2 weeks things just went to shit, roots turned from fuzzy white to stringy yellow/brittle...



Anyways thanks, Ill try to get the flyers shots today!
 

moses wellfleet

Well-known member
Moderator
Veteran
Root aphids will be visible feeding on roots if you lift plants out of the container. They also often walk across the soil surface and along the edge of the container, sometimes also up the stem. You can also look for them emerging from the drainage holes on the underside of the container, both flyers and crawlers!

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A fungus gnat is highly active and flies in a zigzag pattern, you cannot squash them with your finger, if you find one resting, they will quickly fly off. A flying aphid is easy to kill with your finger, they are very reluctant to fly. If you have flyers that fly off when you try squash them, they are most likely not root aphids.
 
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Buddah Watcha

Well-known member
Veteran
Sorry for the delay, but here are some shots of the flyers...


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Hopefully you guys can help me id these fucks... I'm hopings its just fkn gnats and some BTI should resolve the issue.


ANyone have any experience using hypoaspis miles to control gnats? I could order some of these too...


I ordered some BTI (mosquito dunks) hoping this will take care of the gnats... should be here soon. gonna grind them up and top dress as well as mix in with the water and water it in!


Anyways, thanks for all the help!
 

Buddah Watcha

Well-known member
Veteran
Right on... Well I hope its only them and malnurished/rootbound plants...


BTI should take care of these fucks... Ill update in a week or two!


Thanks and Peace!
 

moses wellfleet

Well-known member
Moderator
Veteran
I saw Hammerhead made a post about fluffing up the first 2 inches of medium to say goodbye to fungus gnats.

I managed to shake gnats by using a mulch that dried out properly.

Imho it would be better to create an environment that does not encourage gnats. I don’t think hypoaspis miles will overcome an infestation it may help control a small population?
 

maryjanesdad

Active member
help me identify these bastards. thought they might be fungus gnats but they look diff. perhaps root aphids??

im using a DWC system and i found those in the reservoir in pretty much all my buckets.
 

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maryjanesdad

Active member
Definitely root aphids.

Help please. I have fungus gnats that I been dealing with and these bastards came as a surprise. I cleaned out system and used hot water to water infected plants. Put them in bucket as I watered them with the hot water and a lot of the aphids came out.

I'm using hydroton and Rockwood as my medium what could dunk the roots in that would kill them on contact?
 

The_Regular_Gro

New member
It's an uphill battle, but it's winnable. Bad news is that RA absolutely LOVE rockwool and Coco mediums. Not as dense as soil and allows them to penetrate really deep inside the root ball. You're going to need to do a rotation of several products ever 3 days over the course of 3-4 weeks. Yep, it's that much work.
First thing is you're going to want to knock to infestation back. By the looks of it, you're pretty badly infected if they're big enough for you to see on your fingertip without squinting. Fill a large bucket up with water and Pyganic solution. Pyganic contains pytherins which is a natural insecticide made out of chrysanthemum extract. Soil drench, or if you can, dunk the whole root ball/medium under the water and keep submerged for 10 min. This will start to kill within minutes. Once all your pots are drained, take this time to vacuum and bleach your tents/rooms. Root aphids crawl out the bottom drain holes and even will sprout wings when the population gets overcrowded in a single pot and they will leave the host plant to look for more soil to infect.
Once your soul drench is done, make sure you have a lot of non-chlorinated water on hand to flush out the pytherins and dead RA. Make another Pyganic and water solution and spray everything down. Walls, top of soil, pots, lights, fans, etc.
In 2 days, water in beneficial nematodes or OG Biowar which has beneficial microbial fungus that kills the RA. Use a lot!!! Then, in 2-3 days, I like to lift the root ball out of the pot to inspect. All the large adults will be dead by now, but younger looking nymphs should be starting to hatch from the prior generation.
I use Pyganic again to spray the root ball down, but usually switch it up when it comes to soil drench and will do a azamax solution to deter any more feeding on roots.
2-3 days, more OG biowar. Then in another 3 days. Do the ENTIRE cleaning regiment again. Then finally ONE more time.
Once root aphids are gone, it is hard to reintroduce them into your garden. Just check your grow space for cracks near doors, or windows. And use Neem and OG biowar as a preventative. Good luck with your battle!!
 

The_Regular_Gro

New member
Forgot to mention, to THOROUGHLY WASH ALL YOUR EQUIPMENT WITH BLEACH AND HOT WATER. there's some growers who go as far as suggesting tossing all your grow equipment, and to relocate, but with a LOT of hard work and peraistence, you can eradicate RA completely from your space. Taking cuts, sterilizing the, and then tossing your mediums is a decent solution as well. Lastly, if you can't rid them, try and track down some imidacloprid. Really nasty systemic stuff that can stay in plants for like 60+ days. Do not use on any plants you plan on flowering! This is a good route if you have a perpetual grow and can't afford to stop the grow for a bit to get things under control. Since it's systemic, any part of the plant that the RA eat over the next 60+ days will die. Good way to fully ensure eradication and great to hit your mom's with to preserve genetics, take cuts then toss the old mom's.
 
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