oldschooltofu
Well-Known Member
first off i have been dealing with these bugs over the past few grows. and have come up with some insights that might be able to help you all out. i see a lot of threads on here and other sites where people have no idea what is eating their plants and no idea what to do.
most bugs come in from mediums, clones or the air....so dont take in dirty clones (most are dirty so quartine and treat if you must take in a clone), filter your air, and your on your own with mediums, its like rolling the dice. preventive measures work best for not getting them.
1) fungus gnats
these bugs have a larve stage that is a small white worm with a black head. they eat your roots. left untreated your harvest will be severly destroyed, plants wont finish and you will be left with light fluffy hairs and leaf. the adults fly out of the soil to find another home to lay eggs. use yellow sticky traps to catch the adults and change them often to see if you still have new flyers. The flyers tend to fly to the top of your room. if you put half a cut potato on the medium you will see the larve eating it in 12-24hrs. if you have them your soil is probably too wet. you can put perlite or sand on the top ofyour soil, but i found this didnt work too well.
getting rid of them without putting chemicals on i only had sucess with pure BTI you can get it at your grow store or online. some people have used mosquito dunks,, which contains the same ingredient but only 10%....some say it works, but its weak and may take some time. clean, clean, clean.
2) Root Aphids
these things are the worst bug ever. the crawlers eat the roots, run out the drainage holes, run around the rim of the pot and up the stalk of the plant. if you can see them, you are heavily infested. as they destroy the roots, they cause phantom difficiences like cal mag, Phos, and N. if your feeding regularly and see this, check your roots. the crawlers have two spikes coming out of there ass.
the adults give birth to live pregnant young, no males, no eggs. they multiply very very fast. The adults also grow wings and fly. you will see them on your yellow sticky traps and they tend to fly around the plants. shake a plant and they should fly off. you may even see them in your trics. the flyers can also lay eggs that can overwinter...this is the fu'kd up part, two ways of reproducing. they are sometimes found with ants co existing. if you pull up your root ball, you will see some white waxy substance on the outside of your rootball by the container (only do this if your mostly rootbound and you can pull up all the soil. if you dont see white healthy hairy roots, you are infested. when you have bugs in your soil. you will have brown thin roots that are not hairy. you should have white roots showing out your drainage holes.
how to get rid of them...in flower: if you are less than 3-4 weeks in i would scrap them, clean and start with new plants. the two liquids i recommend for soil drenching are mighty wash and evergreen (liquid pyrethums). i have had luck with both. also suggested is safer insecticide soap....this helps your roots rebound. switch the drenches each time you do them so they dont get use to one. if you can afford to, tear down. clean, bomb and clean.
in veg, take clones and throw away all soil/medium. clean, bomb, clean all surfaces including fans, lights, walls and bleach and scrub pots or get new stuff. do not reuse anything that MIGHT be contaminated with bugs.
when your clones root. dip them in liquid pyrethum mixed with water to instructions. plant in new clean medium with MET 52 (at 2-6g per gal, follow instructions)added 2-3 weeks earlier to innoculate the soil. its a fungus that kills aphids. it works. i have taking plants that started with aphids to full harvest with MET 52. the important part of using met is it must be mixed into the medium 2-3 weeks before using medium, and follow storage and use instructions on package. aquiring MET is gonna take some work since the place in CO might not be selling it anymore. some people bought lbs and may share so ask around the forums or check ebay.
hope this helps someone
please feel free to post methods you have used that WORK...i know there are other non-organic methods that have worked for many.
please do not post "i heard this works" unless you have tried it and succeeded.
there are a bunch of thread on other forums that are worth reading too.
most bugs come in from mediums, clones or the air....so dont take in dirty clones (most are dirty so quartine and treat if you must take in a clone), filter your air, and your on your own with mediums, its like rolling the dice. preventive measures work best for not getting them.
1) fungus gnats
these bugs have a larve stage that is a small white worm with a black head. they eat your roots. left untreated your harvest will be severly destroyed, plants wont finish and you will be left with light fluffy hairs and leaf. the adults fly out of the soil to find another home to lay eggs. use yellow sticky traps to catch the adults and change them often to see if you still have new flyers. The flyers tend to fly to the top of your room. if you put half a cut potato on the medium you will see the larve eating it in 12-24hrs. if you have them your soil is probably too wet. you can put perlite or sand on the top ofyour soil, but i found this didnt work too well.
getting rid of them without putting chemicals on i only had sucess with pure BTI you can get it at your grow store or online. some people have used mosquito dunks,, which contains the same ingredient but only 10%....some say it works, but its weak and may take some time. clean, clean, clean.
2) Root Aphids
these things are the worst bug ever. the crawlers eat the roots, run out the drainage holes, run around the rim of the pot and up the stalk of the plant. if you can see them, you are heavily infested. as they destroy the roots, they cause phantom difficiences like cal mag, Phos, and N. if your feeding regularly and see this, check your roots. the crawlers have two spikes coming out of there ass.
the adults give birth to live pregnant young, no males, no eggs. they multiply very very fast. The adults also grow wings and fly. you will see them on your yellow sticky traps and they tend to fly around the plants. shake a plant and they should fly off. you may even see them in your trics. the flyers can also lay eggs that can overwinter...this is the fu'kd up part, two ways of reproducing. they are sometimes found with ants co existing. if you pull up your root ball, you will see some white waxy substance on the outside of your rootball by the container (only do this if your mostly rootbound and you can pull up all the soil. if you dont see white healthy hairy roots, you are infested. when you have bugs in your soil. you will have brown thin roots that are not hairy. you should have white roots showing out your drainage holes.
how to get rid of them...in flower: if you are less than 3-4 weeks in i would scrap them, clean and start with new plants. the two liquids i recommend for soil drenching are mighty wash and evergreen (liquid pyrethums). i have had luck with both. also suggested is safer insecticide soap....this helps your roots rebound. switch the drenches each time you do them so they dont get use to one. if you can afford to, tear down. clean, bomb and clean.
in veg, take clones and throw away all soil/medium. clean, bomb, clean all surfaces including fans, lights, walls and bleach and scrub pots or get new stuff. do not reuse anything that MIGHT be contaminated with bugs.
when your clones root. dip them in liquid pyrethum mixed with water to instructions. plant in new clean medium with MET 52 (at 2-6g per gal, follow instructions)added 2-3 weeks earlier to innoculate the soil. its a fungus that kills aphids. it works. i have taking plants that started with aphids to full harvest with MET 52. the important part of using met is it must be mixed into the medium 2-3 weeks before using medium, and follow storage and use instructions on package. aquiring MET is gonna take some work since the place in CO might not be selling it anymore. some people bought lbs and may share so ask around the forums or check ebay.
hope this helps someone
please feel free to post methods you have used that WORK...i know there are other non-organic methods that have worked for many.
please do not post "i heard this works" unless you have tried it and succeeded.
there are a bunch of thread on other forums that are worth reading too.
