My war with the Root aphid.

[ozzieAI]

Bonide Neem Oil (70% clarified hydrophobic extract of neem oil) at 1oz per gallon

hydrophobic neem oil has undergone an alcohol extraction to remove the active ingredient...use pure neem oil for much better results...with pure neem oil alone i was able to eradicate RA from my grow and use neem cake as a top dress to stop them coming back...

check out the links in my signature

 

[DabSnob]

DabSnob- Thank you for documenting your war with the Root aphid. I found much useful information in your posts.

I have root aphids in my veg room and flower room. Today marks the beginning of the ground war. My first attack consisted of a through drenching of all plants.

-Spetracide Triazicede (gamma-cyhalothrin .08%) at 10-12ml per gallon
-Bonide Neem Oil (70% clarified hydrophobic extract of neem oil) at 1oz per gallon

At this point my cat was relocated to a neighboring building. He will be a refugee of the bug war for a few hours.



Maybe the pesticides went to me head, but I decided a good battle wouldn't be complete without an air strike. I mixed one more gallon at the same rate and sprayed my garden. Then I deployed a pro-control bug bomb for good measure. (pyrethrins .5%, piperonyl butoxide 4.5%)

The flower room will be getting drenched tonight when the lights come on. SNS 203 and Bonide Neem Oil.

I like your idea of using different products to account for pesticide resistance. I chose the above products because they were available locally. I plan to hit them again with the above products before using another active ingredient for a knockout blow in 10 days.

Again, thanks for posting your experience Dab. It will be a valuable reference for me as I wage war.

Maine, thanks for the kind words. i was told by a few people on this thread and multiple other forums that my battle wouldnt be won. in the end i came out with my head on top. its important to remain confident during this battle. it seems never ending at times.
the products you have should work pretty well, especially the triazicide. but believe me do a follow up treatment in 5 days instead of 10. it may seem ridiculous and a tad over kill but trust me, you have to make sure you get a huge population of them dead before they can lay eggs of there own and repopulate your medium all over again.
If you feel comfortable ordering things online i would go for Riptide and Orthene. EclipseFour20 reported 100% irradication with this method, so if you find you are continuing to lose this battle after a couple weeks give that a try as your last resort. whats nice about those two is they are contact killers and only have a soil half life of 6 days i believe, so it can be used in flower too.

 

[Maine]

ozzieAI- Thank your for the advice, I enjoyed reading your threads and learned some useful information.

DabSnob- I intend to follow up with a second dose in 4-5 days while I look for/order another product. My original thinking was after two treatments I would be about 10 days into the treatment cycle and introduce a new ingredient for round three. Thanks for your suggestion of Riptide and Orthene.

Upon inspection today Triazicide was my most effective weapon. Triazicide treated plants didn't turn up any active RA when I disturbed the soil. Neem and SNS 203 treated plants had roughly 1/3 RA population crawling around 24 hours after initial drench.

What are your thoughts about drenching with Triazicide then flushing the the medium a few hours later? Would a few hours of exposure be effective enough to kill RA? I am inclined to do this in order to minimize buildup in the plant.

 

[DabSnob]

Maine,
STOKED the Triazicide worked well for you. I personally never soaked the pots in Triazicide solution so i cant tell you from experience, but it was the only product that effected my plants negatively. maybe do a test run on a single lady before you do the whole operation.

 

[joe mac]

hey maine, abamectin was VERY effective for me for my last treatment. It did hurt the roots some tho. I let it soak for around 3 hours. Probably could have got away with less soak time and had less root damage.

Could be an option to add into your rotation. Stuffs expensive tho. I would not use it in flower.

 

[Maine]

Thanks for the replies fellahs. Soaking isn't really in option for me. I grow trees in 10 pots with screens. So a drench and flush is the best I can do.

 

[joe mac]

hey maine, I'm sure it would still work. aba is some really strong stuff. Hope you get em under control.

 

[DabSnob]

i never flushed after drenching, never noticed any major problems with the ladies either.

 

[Maine]

My Triazicide treatment is knocking the root aphids out. Drenches at day 1 and 5, another one coming tomorrow... haven't seen a live RA since my second treatment. I don't like the idea of using this nasty stuff on my ladies, but I really don't want these pests hanging around in my garden.

In my experience Triazicide is effective against root aphids.
Pros: cheap, effective, readily available
Cons: nasty chemical

 

[DabSnob]

Yeah, its definitely not an option in flower but let those girls veg another 30 days and by the time flowering is over they'll be clean as a whistle. I had my last run tested at my local dispensary for a small fee ( they send it to a lab ) came back clean. wish i would have held onto that piece of paper. all i remember is the THC and CBD percentages ( THC- 20.4% / CBD-2.8%.

 

[Maine]

Those are good numbers dab!

I used the Triazicide on flowering plants. They were flipped before treatment so the last round of Triazicide hit around 14 days. Hopefully with my fresh water flush a few hours after drenching Triazicide the plants didn't have time to drink too much of the pesticide.

Also, since finishing RA treatment I have made it a point to achieve a good amount of runoff from the medium on subsequent waterings and feedings. These genetics typically come down after about 63 days, I may go 70 to reduce accumulated Triazicide.

 

[DabSnob]

you should be safe since you flushed after the drench, dont think she could have soaked much of it up in that short of time. A little extra flower time never hurts IMO... sometimes some extra stoney bud is a good thing =)
keep me posted on how things end up.

 

[greenberg138]

prevenative mantainance is the best defense against pests.. try to buy pots that don't leave moisture under them. like one with lil feet to keep it raised a lil. it makes a huge difference. It will help a lot.

 

[DabSnob]

first step is to get rid of them before you can use preventative maintenance. after you wipe them out i would invest in MET-52 and Neam meal as a soil additive, any insect that enters your pots will not live long or leave alive. I do agree with greenberg on keeping the bottom of the pots up and away from runoff/moisture.

 

[old grunt]

DabSnob, A little ? did you use the wet or dry Bontigard ? Thank You

 

[DabSnob]

Botanigard ES, liquid. =)

 

[old grunt]

DabSnob, Thank You Much

 

[greenberg138]

moisture between the bottom of the pots and the grow tray most certainly DOES cause a breeding ground for fungus gnats. a good pot design with pegs or feet is a GREAT idea. that's why most good planting pots have them.

 

[Maine]

moisture between the bottom of the pots and the grow tray most certainly DOES cause a breeding ground for fungus gnats. a good pot design with pegs or feet is a GREAT idea. that's why most good planting pots have them.

Thanks for pointing this out. Some of my plants were on the ground, some raised on milk crates. As i recall pots that were lifted off the ground didn't seem to have the RA as bad. So simple yet never occurred to me.

 

[bfree123]

There is Met 52 in small amounts on ebay right now