here in Cali these things are rampant. everyone should educate themselves on the root aphid - they are the most devastating and hard to get rid of pest of cannabis. the root aphid wiped out most of france's grape (and therefore wine) production in the late 1800s. in 20 years, european winemakers saw their production drop by 66%. it's hard to imagine the economic devastation. or maybe not. eventually, after many tries, a cure was found: grafting the softer-rooted european grapes onto the harder rootstock of american grapes. this is still the only cure, save some pretty nasty chemicals you can read about on these boards, and is still why almost all wine grapevines are grafted. grape phylloxera is still rampant worldwide. the only places spared are island countries like cyprus and australia, and even they now have cases.
now comes a new beast, the cannabis root aphid. likely it jumped from another commercial crop, or the wild, or both, because i am sure there is more than one species that attacks cannabis. and you will learn, even one species can have around 16 or 18 different phenotypes. whatever the root aphid species (or name) they all share a common biology and life-traits, and are truly one of the most devilish and destructive pests ever. they can be eradicated, one needs only determination, and a cold heart: i recommend sacrificing all plants.
live from california, how to cure root aphids:
1. cut and dispose of all plants.
2. bomb rooms with fogger.
3. bleach floors.
4. repeat #2 and #3 3x over 2 weeks.
5. in the meantime clean all equipment.
6. hang and place yellow stick cards everywhere. monitor constantly.
7. discover aphids you missed.
8. ditto #7.
9. ditto #8.
10. rebuild room from scratch. put in biosecurity measures: all incoming air first screened, then HEPA filtered. all cracks and holes caulked. chemical and physical barriers at all possible entry points, starting with doors, ending with plants.
11. introduce clean new plants from seed or clones from TRUSTED source.
jus' sayin' -- it worked for me. btw this was a commercial/WH grow, and a VERY expensive loss.
now some other jack is gonna come and say bayer or merit. really? you gonna put that on a 60 day crop? for real? good growers don't need it. neither do your good customers. and i'll stand by that.