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Fungus gnats or WINGED ROOT APHIDS???
- Thread starter spleebale
- Start date
Your right, definitely springtails. I'll double check and make sure there isn't another type of crawling bug on there as well. Mosquito dunks, pyrethrin, neem, azatrol, safer soap, should be able to kill fungus gnats right? Mine aren't dying. Applied imid to a couple house plants to test it out, it's been a few days and I still see flyers. They look more like a fungus gnat but seem pretty hard to get rid of.
Imid takes a week or two to K.O. R/A's - workes well in veg and early flower. I think it said it was safe to use about a month prior to harvest on fruits and veggies,, but check MSDS
Goes into the plant and gets the bugs that eat that plant. They seem to be able to swim in Imid with little harm. For awhile.
And yes - it'll be required to treat all plants - in and out of the garden. My buddy forgot about the houseplants and blamed the Bayer.
Goes into the plant and gets the bugs that eat that plant. They seem to be able to swim in Imid with little harm. For awhile.
And yes - it'll be required to treat all plants - in and out of the garden. My buddy forgot about the houseplants and blamed the Bayer.
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The way to tell if you have root aphids:
Look at the roots with a loupe or magnifier of some type. They are very small and often can't be seen with the naked eye. Get a loupe and a bright LED flashlight. Focus on the roots for a minute or two and eventually one will move and you will see it.
If there's nothing in your roots, you don't have root aphids.
stuntedgrowth
New member
DWC update
DWC update
So, here I am in the 6th week of flower, plants are looking and smelling awesome. The Imid treatments knocked them down but did not eradicate them in veg. Still found live nymphs on net pots. So...here is what I have been doing in my recirculating DWC system to get myself to harvest and it appears at this time that I will make it, all the while having root aphids in my system.
In the second week of flower i noticed that they were returning so I started with pyganic 5.0(expensive shit) doing 30-45 minute dunks in a 10 ml per gallon rate. Two days after that a 15 minute dunk in 3/4 ounce/gallon mix rate of Botanigard. I did this alternating between the pyganic and botanigard for a total of 6 dunks waiting two days between treatments. Then as a final blow did one more treatment of botanigard before they needed staked and can't be moved anymore. Between these two treatments it has knocked them down considerably and the botanigard is building up. Most of the nymphs I look at are all dead and no black aphids or flyers washed out in the last botanigard dunk. Also, I added Great White. I have 2-3 weeks before harvest and as long as flyers don't come around we are golden. The little fuckers can live in my pots all they want at this time, just don't fly into my sticky icky buds. But I am 99% confident that I am going to make it without any flyers appearing. Root masses are awesome, the hygrozym and root excelurator have kept the roots very healthy under the attack of the aphids. I have had RA's since the second week of veg and have kept them in check for two months with no apparant damage to my girls using this method of attack.
I don't know about soil treatments, but in DWC the T&S only knocked them down and didn't eradicate them. Only through a multi-pronged attack have I been able to suppress them and save a bountiful harvest. If you are using DWC you may want to try this method of attack as well if you want to make it to harvest. Note: I was looking for these bastards early so I never let them get out of hand and never had flyers or signs of nute deficiancies. I will update on my harvest yields in a month. Good luck to all you DWC growers, but you CAN save your harvest if you catch them early.
DWC update
So, here I am in the 6th week of flower, plants are looking and smelling awesome. The Imid treatments knocked them down but did not eradicate them in veg. Still found live nymphs on net pots. So...here is what I have been doing in my recirculating DWC system to get myself to harvest and it appears at this time that I will make it, all the while having root aphids in my system.
In the second week of flower i noticed that they were returning so I started with pyganic 5.0(expensive shit) doing 30-45 minute dunks in a 10 ml per gallon rate. Two days after that a 15 minute dunk in 3/4 ounce/gallon mix rate of Botanigard. I did this alternating between the pyganic and botanigard for a total of 6 dunks waiting two days between treatments. Then as a final blow did one more treatment of botanigard before they needed staked and can't be moved anymore. Between these two treatments it has knocked them down considerably and the botanigard is building up. Most of the nymphs I look at are all dead and no black aphids or flyers washed out in the last botanigard dunk. Also, I added Great White. I have 2-3 weeks before harvest and as long as flyers don't come around we are golden. The little fuckers can live in my pots all they want at this time, just don't fly into my sticky icky buds. But I am 99% confident that I am going to make it without any flyers appearing. Root masses are awesome, the hygrozym and root excelurator have kept the roots very healthy under the attack of the aphids. I have had RA's since the second week of veg and have kept them in check for two months with no apparant damage to my girls using this method of attack.
I don't know about soil treatments, but in DWC the T&S only knocked them down and didn't eradicate them. Only through a multi-pronged attack have I been able to suppress them and save a bountiful harvest. If you are using DWC you may want to try this method of attack as well if you want to make it to harvest. Note: I was looking for these bastards early so I never let them get out of hand and never had flyers or signs of nute deficiancies. I will update on my harvest yields in a month. Good luck to all you DWC growers, but you CAN save your harvest if you catch them early.
stuntedgrowth
New member
FYI a nymph is most of the time not hatched from eggs but born live AND that nymph will already have another nymph living inside it ready to be live born. So, an aphid can literally carry two generations inside them. They are 'born' of reproductive age since they are almost always asexual females unless they are overwintering. There are earlier links in this thread that point out these issues, guess you didn't read those...Only the fliers will lay eggs. All the others will bear liveborn nymphs with another nymph inside of them ready to be live born. The 'lifecycle' is practically continuous.
All you experts please tell me what you think.
Last night while in my veg room i found and killed four fliers. They were hard to catch and from the description here, they sound like aphids.
They would hide in the t5 bulbs when i would go after them. They would also land on plant leaves and move VERY quickly on the surface of the leaves. They look like they are fast forwarded when walking. I did manage to kill all four that i found and have not seen any yet.
I inspected the rootzone of a particularly unhealthy looking plant and although the roots are somewhat translucent ( an overwatering/underwatering issue i was having in coco) i did not see any movement. I put the rootball under the t5 light and used my 16x loupe. I stared at a few spots for a few minutes and saw NO movement.
I have no gnats in this garden and never have. In fact these are the first flying insects we have seen tin the garden in over two years. Everything is from seed iniitally and we have LONG winters here where most bugs dont survive. I do know that other growers in the area have had root aphids, and i would guess some plants outside do as well.
I know everyone says the wings are grown when there is too many crawlers in the rootzone, but what about them flying from the outside into gardens? I think that may have happened as the weather just got nice, i cant see anything in the roots, and yesterday i saw no fliers and today i saw 4. Cant see anymore.
Diagnosis?
Unfortunately i cant compare the dead insects i squashed because they are only now fragments of their former selves....
EDIT : FORTUNATELY THIS TIME I WAS ABLE TO IDENTIFY A FLIER AS A FUNGUS GNAT
Last night while in my veg room i found and killed four fliers. They were hard to catch and from the description here, they sound like aphids.
They would hide in the t5 bulbs when i would go after them. They would also land on plant leaves and move VERY quickly on the surface of the leaves. They look like they are fast forwarded when walking. I did manage to kill all four that i found and have not seen any yet.
I inspected the rootzone of a particularly unhealthy looking plant and although the roots are somewhat translucent ( an overwatering/underwatering issue i was having in coco) i did not see any movement. I put the rootball under the t5 light and used my 16x loupe. I stared at a few spots for a few minutes and saw NO movement.
I have no gnats in this garden and never have. In fact these are the first flying insects we have seen tin the garden in over two years. Everything is from seed iniitally and we have LONG winters here where most bugs dont survive. I do know that other growers in the area have had root aphids, and i would guess some plants outside do as well.
I know everyone says the wings are grown when there is too many crawlers in the rootzone, but what about them flying from the outside into gardens? I think that may have happened as the weather just got nice, i cant see anything in the roots, and yesterday i saw no fliers and today i saw 4. Cant see anymore.
Diagnosis?
Unfortunately i cant compare the dead insects i squashed because they are only now fragments of their former selves....
EDIT : FORTUNATELY THIS TIME I WAS ABLE TO IDENTIFY A FLIER AS A FUNGUS GNAT
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Stunted - FYI - ya might research the term "INTERUPTED LIFECYCLE" before ya start getting pissy with the FYI's That's why I don't say kill the live ones.
I'm not sure what I'm fighting in the way of bugs but they really suck, little brown & black looking things, the plants started looking like they had cal/mag issues & then some of the plant's just died, roots gone!
I got some bayer tree & shrub with IMID in it & sprayed the plants & soil of the plants in veg. last night so I'll see if that kills the bugs off, I hope!!!!!!!!
I got some bayer tree & shrub with IMID in it & sprayed the plants & soil of the plants in veg. last night so I'll see if that kills the bugs off, I hope!!!!!!!!
I'm not sure what I'm fighting in the way of bugs but they really suck, little brown & black looking things, the plants started looking like they had cal/mag issues & then some of the plant's just died, roots gone!
I got some bayer tree & shrub with IMID in it & sprayed the plants & soil of the plants in veg. last night so I'll see if that kills the bugs off, I hope!!!!!!!!
Do a soil drench.
N
NachoConQueso
Root aphids must come free of charge with every bag of Canna coco. I'm finding it beneficial to get my clones potted into their 5 gallons as soon as I can so I can do a massive dunking session. Bayer Complete at 15mL/gal has been working for me with a huge dunk. So sad that there is no alternative besides harsh pesticides.
Buying dehydrated blocks of coco guarantees they will not come with any insects. I break up 15-20 a round, and so i don't deal with MORE bugs. Just sayin'
That's cool , but a soil drench would be preferable, unlike what Beta said. This is the root aphid thread, and the treatment is Imid. It is both safe and effective, however a drench is preferable and you should not see anything living after awhile. It breaks their life cycle.
Nothing "nuclear" about Imid.
It has been proven safe and effective for 40 years.
Approved for food crops.
Given internally to dogs and cats to kill/prevent fleas for decades.
My own belief is that the RAs come from soil, where they live.
I have been checking new bags of coco with a microscope, and have found nothing, although I do not dismiss the possibility.
Soil seems like the likely culprit.
Also, flyers can come in an open window or door.
DrawoH
Member
root aphids is an easy cure now that i know what to use.. that little winged bastard will do a number on your garden quick... the product to use is GREEN LIGHT TREE & SHRUB SYSTEMIC INSECT KILLER... 1oz per gallon used as a drench....i drench media for 24 hours drained the rez ,, refilled my nutes without flushing and no more root aphids..,,, also used it as a drench on my potted mother pants... this stuff works and works fast.... same thing i posted here long ago https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=3726384&postcount=24
