The 21st century pest- ROOT APHIDs and what others prevent with?

Being a pro-active gardener I like to stay ahead of my pests. However lately I have heard more and more about root aphids after a recent scare at the commercial facility. For those of you that do not know what these are head over to this post for THE most detailed all in one source about these "scariest of all" pests; http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=159960 .

After reading the post, I scared myself with what I thought was one in the warehouse, chucked the plant, phew! Because if you look through the information on this bug it is devastating. Wiping out huge amounts of plants with little leading symptoms. In my eye this is the worse predator out there!

My question is what are the prevention matters? I have purchased now Bayer and Spectacide as just in case chemical bashes. All I can see to prevent these bugs from taking over your crop is to use nematodes along with brewing various teas to increase beneficial. Which if used spectacide will eradicate of those beneficial so dammit!

Diatamacheous earth is talked little throughout the post and want to know what you all think about its effects on the bug. Remember they do not necessarily crawl to the service so a top layer isn't going to suffice what about a mix of 4 cups per gal of soil? As a strong preventative against anything in soil down deep, possible even layering diatamacheous earth throughout pots?

What do you all think?

I use grow bags in Flower... It is easy to pull down the side of the bag and check the top 3 inches of the soil/soiless...

If you have had them before you know what to look for.

Yeah, they are pretty bad.

Not a bad idea, i have been digging in the edges to check although it works it can disturb, thanks! Ill give it a try on a plant through next time.

I think this is the pest, other than some burrrowers, that I would gladly kill with a chemical. I just dont see the higher success preventative measures like other problems in the garden.

^I agree. I used natural liquid preth like Evergreen in flower. Merit 75 (Imid) in veg.
It is key to catch the infestation early... Well before fliers.. if you have fliers then you have a bad infestation.
after you know you have them... shut down flower. If you are lucky and caught them soon enough, you can finish your flowering plants. Do evergreen drenches to knock them back... if you are not past wk 4 of flower, then just give up. Unless you are in the final 2 weeks, harvest will be diminished in quality and weight.

Clean the room thoroughly. Take any plants that you want to save as mothers and take a few cuts from them.
Take the cuts away from the growroom and keep a close eye on them. Destroy all other plants. Get all grow media and plant matter/trash out and dispose of away from your house.
Bomb the room (purple HOTSHOT can, Bed Bug and Flea) and clean every surface. Bomb the room again. Clean ALL equipment... treat trouble spots (drain trays) with Ortho Home Guard. Setup again. move the cuts in and transplant to pots... Treat the young clones that will be your mothers with Merit 75 again... as a dunk at 1 tsp per 10 gallons. I then set off one last bomb, with the transplants (mothers) in the room. Wait at least 1 month before taking cuts from these mothers (imid).... give them a few good flushes and nitrogen to put on some new growth that you will need to provide cuts. get your flower garden rolling again...


That is what I have done. Twice now... Ants bring them in from my backyard.
There was a trail that the ants were taking under the trim where the wall meets the floor... i ripped the drywall and insulation out and sealed up the cracks in the house, reinsulated, put up new drywall and sealed the floorboard/drywall with joint compound.

I have got them in the summer, both times. so we will be watching for ants again this summer. Also, I am shutting down my flower for 2 months... fuck the heat. Too much AC is needed.
I also am cautious when I pick up coco from the hydro store. I get enough that the owner is cool with me ordering and I can come pick them up that day. I don't like the coco bags stored around the organics. i have tried to talk them into keeping them in a cleaner space. it IS supposed to be a sterile media.

I like House and Garden coco because out of all of the bags of coco, they have the smallest holes in the bag for the coco to breath. If an ant can get in there... that can be bad. They can drag in soil mites and RAs.

i have heard that Botaniguard and nematodes are a good preventative measure.
I think checking your media that is brought in is effective as well.

Most important.... monitor. If you find them, get on it, RIGHT away..

FUCK ra's...

I skimmed the other thread and I think I have the not-so-bad Aphids. And they seem to like my purple erkle strain better than all the others. In fact I think they would go away if I quit the purple erkle, I think they came in with the PE as well. I use a flood and drain system. When the little bastards show up I put Azamax in the water 3-4 days before I do a water change. Azamax is expensive but it knocks them down pretty good. I also get flying nats as well, FWIW.

I'm pretty sure that root aphid infestations in NA are known to have happened in the mid 1800s... Not quite a 21st century pest.

I noticed two root aphids a week ago. I did some research and what I found was that using nematodes or evergreen/pyrethrin seems to be the solution most have gotten good results with.

I put down a few strips of duct tape in the tent the other day (they are attracted to the adhesive) just to get an idea of how many I might have. There were about 300 on the duct tape today. I ordered some Bonide 857 (less expensive than evergreen) but it won't get here for a day or so. Really hoping I am not too late, no flyers yet... Plants look healthy, 5 weeks into flower.

Edit: Damn! looks like pyrethrin may not be the solution I thought it would be after reading the link. I have a lot more research to do. Thanks for the link Light House