What’s up DGC! been following the show daily and learning a shitload but i am still new to this this and in prohibitionland south east Europe this is my 3rd grow and my buddy got me paranoid saying i got bugs i cant see any crawling around the leaves or soil so i think i might have root aphids. i got some weird looking leaves but also i just transplanted into 1gal fabric pots from solo cups the girls are a little droopy so I’m hoping that’s just it and not root aphids. i saw a couple of little f@*%ers flying around before i transplanted so i thought they were fungus gnats so i sprayed dome neem oil agrobacterias-protect-killer on the top layer of the soil to combat them but the girls still haven’t bounced back. i have been doing some youtube research on it for some remedies so i thought why dont i just ask the pros. my options are do a complete drench with the neem oil i have or make a solution with soap water and isopropyl alcohol or to do a drench with hydrogen peroxide water mix. i added some beneficial fungi along the way so far so im looking for a possible way that would be the best to not kill anything beneficial microbes and fungi i have going on in the soil. please help me out here!! love the show love the community and all the knowledge shared thanks in advance!
If it’s root aphids, make sure to accurately identify the pest before any treatments, Azamax the entire building and sulfur dunk all cuts for new mothers or tissue culture if you have the myco-tech lying around. Fuck root aphids and especially fuck russet mites, merk em all.
This may seem crazy man….I think I’ve seen this somewhere…….you can physically pull the plant out of the soil…..dust off some of the dirt and manually look at the roots too see of any bug activity…if you don’t see anything under a microscope I’d say it’s probably just gnats laying eggs mixed with new growth and just plant in clean new extra dry dirt……from what I’ve seen online root aphids look like little fleas tho on the roots….I could be mistaken…..if it gets worse I’d send pictures in.
Sorry those are russet mites in the roots….the aphids will still look like little white or tan fleas tho in the soil….they leave a small milky secretion.
Gnarly hahahha
i just transplanted from solo cups to 1 gal so what i think im gonna do since im so early in veg is just clean disinfect and sterilize im gonna tpo dress with cyanne pepper and make a mix of neem and hydrogen peroxide im thinking may as well get rid of the problem early on and just add back in fungas and microbes once ive applyed a few times and everything has been exterminated. hopefully i get my recharge this week as well to be ready to re inaculate the soil. seeds are expensive so im gonna save these girls! ill keep ya guys and posted on how things go!
Anytime cayenne is involved I’m in. Sounds like a cool plan absolutely want to hear how it works out. Don’t completely write off bag seeds from good bud if you just need seeds, my only keepers right now are from rec store bud, best of luck with the buggers.
First, put out some sticky traps. They are cheap and effective at catching fliers and will help reduce the populations. They will also help you identify if you are dealing with fungus gnats or root aphids. Once you’ve got some of them caught on a sticky trap, you can use google images to look up pictures of root aphids and fungus gnats to compare and figure out what youve got. Take careful note of the body shape and the length of the wings.
Heres a few good pictures I found for comparing the two:
https://420dotcom.com/wp-content/uploads/fungus-gnat.jpg
https://420dotcom.com/wp-content/uploads/root-aphid.jpg
Treatment options will depend on which pest youve got, so start with figuring that out.
I would also recommend getting some “SF nematodes” to treat your soil with. These predatory nematodes should be very effective for treating either pest. Split the pack in half and apply half immediately. store the other half in the fridge and apply a week later. You can order them lots of places online and some hydro stores carry them too. I’ve had good luck ordering from this place:
https://www.naturesgoodguys.com/collections/beneficial-nematodes/products/5-million-live-beneficial-nematodes-sf-fungus-gnat-rootknot-gall-exterminator
I also recommend checking out my free IPM guide. Its got lots of tips to help prevent pest issues like this in the future. You can get the full version from my website, http://www.growerslove.com and you can check out the shortened mini version at http://www.dudegrows.com/ipmbasics