Bug Problem, Any Advice?

Ok, I just transferred my plants into pots last week. I had some bag soil in my car but I didn't have enough for the 2nd pot so I went to home depot and bought miracle grow organic potting soil. Original soil I found out later was Scott or something. The plant in the original soil is bug free. The Miracle grow soil is full of bugs. Looks like most of them just hatched. I'm not sure what they are. I believe I saw one or two adults. They were black almost like beetles/earwig. The babies are what I'm worried about. They are white and very tiny. They maybe mites but not sure. I saw a lot of them just on the top layer. Here is what I need to know:

1. Would switching out some of the soil, the top layer, with a different brand of soil help?

2. I am about to take Kettle Vodka and mix it with equal parts with water and put it into a spray bottle and spray the soil, and my plant's leaves. Then Wipe it down with a paper towel. Also Should I water after as well?

3. I have vegetable and extra virgin olive oil. If I pour/smeared a layer of it on the top soil, would that help to kill them?

4. I already put in about a half a bottle of 9 fl. ozs of water.

5. Soupy water, Would regular dish soap work. How would this affect the plant? Should I water after as well?

6. Even though I would prefer not to do this..... My plants are autoflowers so I have the option to leave the light on my CFL for 24hrs a day. Would this prevent/delay the insect infestation?

Help out a Captain, Captain Jack will get you High

u can cover the top part of the soilwith sand and it will kill them i heard...

alot of these bugs will die if you let the soil dry out, you can follar spray with water lights off if it gets really dry. that will kill most of them without additives.
the larve cant survive in dry soil period.

woww its that miracle grow even if u kill them its gonna attract more bugs..my buddy used some of that cus he was experimenting and he killed all the bugs and 3 weeks later more pop up..for some reason the bugs love that shit..so i would tell u not to use that again.
and what my friend did is he sprayed the soil with sum bug b gone for 1 week every other day then flushed

Hi, I'm also having a problem with blackfly. I've been spraying with a pesticide from the garden center, oil based stuff you mix with water, and its killing em but not wiping them out. What kind of sand should I use? play sand, builders or sand from the beach?

abudsmoker said:

alot of these bugs will die if you let the soil dry out, you can follar spray with water lights off if it gets really dry. that will kill most of them without additives.
the larve cant survive in dry soil period.

Click to expand...

Not root aphids... and not really the gnats... at least not once the pops have established themselves.

They tend to get down in the pots/soil... and breed out the bottom holes & the tops of the pots... and with all the varying stages of development (the adults wander), it is really tought to get them all... esp by using dry cycles... can't run em dry long enough w/o killing the plants along w the bug larvae... plus the adults survive days w/o a water source.



Tranplanting will only make it appear better for few days... they will get a new hold & start bursting again.

Really, you'll need to use a soil/medium drench... which would likely have to be Imid... Bayer Complete works well & have no nutes in it so as to not burn the gals. Used it myself... it'l work on most soil bugs. GL

Ok, so I've been using vodka and rubbing alcohol with water for that particular plant. I don't think its working but it is keeping them at bay. The plant is giving off a a scent like a good spliff since 8 or so days ago. Now 2 nights ago or last night I used alot of vodka and water with a bit of rubbing alcohol. Now my plant is giving off the smell of booze mixed in with the smell of a spliff. Here is my problem. The leaves are bending/curled inwards towards the plant. I'm not sure if the alcohol dried out the soil or if the plant is dying or if the light was left on to long/ too close to the plant. I just watered them with cold water and moved the light farther away. I'm hoping the plant will come back to "normal" with it leaves straight up aiming towards the light. I'm going to try to search the forums for information but if anyone here knows if I overwatered/underwatered/alcohol poisoned my plant please comment below and offer any advice to help my baby.

Best Wishes,
Captain Jack
Help out a Captain, Captain Jack will get you High