huge dissapoinment.

Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
99% sure they are gnats, I hang those fly paper catchers n they collect them...plants all look outstanding. But this thread kinda scared me...never had aphids n they sound brutal....the larva I see is super small n white n looks like it hops in the drip trays under the pots.
 
FatMarty

FatMarty

Well-Known Member
Corso312 said:
I have no scope, how do I tell the difference between RA n gnats?
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Root Aphids don't fly away when you go to swat them. They seem to like bright light. I noticed mine first crawling around my HotShot no-pest strip. That should have been my clue they weren't what they appeared to be. If they are not flying I do not know how you ID them without a microscope.
 
Uncle Pirate

Uncle Pirate

Active Member
Root aphids get a little bigger than gnats and fly faster with more power. Gnats zig zag and don't fly as well, are slower, smaller and easier to smash.
 
FatMarty

FatMarty

Well-Known Member
More info from an email I sent friend:
These things are a real bitch from what I gathered.
I got rid of my stuff: all of it.
Even flower pots I wasn't sure I could clean.
Cleaned/cleaning everything else with 15 - 20 % bleach in water solution.

You did not want clones; I pulled them out of cloner and tossed them last night.
There were 5 or 6 of those root aphids on the lid to it when I went down this morning to cut others down.
They look just like fungus gnats until you look under microscope.
Then you see what they really are, and it I guess if they are to winged stage it's too late for easy eradication.

They fly real fast; but not a lot.
They don't run from you swatting them.
They like the brightest area of the room;
In mine I noticed them collecting on a Hot Shot which has a white plastic case that is shiny.

I started noticing them about 10 days or so ago.
First one or two, and eventually, 10 or 20 a day I see.
The only reason I thought to look it up was a an thread on riu someone drug up.
I trapped 3 on silver tape and confirmed them to the picture above with my microscope.

They don't stay knocked down, and the chemicals like Avid kill off their predators.
Over time they grow wings and start serious multiplying.

Yield goes down.
Cal-Mag like deficiencies, and nute lockout, appear to be the cause.
But it is the root aphids causing the imbalance.
Nitrogen gives them energy: they don't normally appear to hurt plants until into bloom a bit.
PM and other mold-like stuff is a sign of their presence as they weaken the plant and help it get infected with fungi.
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B

bloodytrichomes

New Member
FatMarty said:
Nothing? Gee Thanks Fellas.
Well I used a lot of bleach and can't seem to locate any of the root aphids since I vacuumed up.
Pretty sure I killed everything outside the old pots.
I tossed out all of that stuff.

So now I am freezing the little fuckers who might be hiding in the cracks.
Got 34*F air blowing in right now.
This should clean up my air tunnel too I would think.
Doesn't seem like these things can live very long outside the plant.

I let my Bubba dry out pretty thorough a few days ago, and them fuckers must have been coming out of that.
Apparently they don't like dry at all.
After doing a freeze out for a day or two I got 2 HEGA filters for my intakes.
HEGA filters are just like HEPA filters but catch a lot more stuff because they use smaller pores.

Just need to come up with flanges for them.
Got a 10" and a 6"; both are like a foot long.
I'm done playing man.
I don't want to have to do this again.

Soo... does anyone know how the OP made out?
I'm sealing my rooms, buying new material, and starting some seeds in a week or so.
I figure I will cover the intakes with the HEGA filters, and build a barrier wall between rooms and rest of that area.
Then I will use the new area for lung room for ac unit.

In a way this could be a blessing in disguise.
Sorry to be rambling; but this is kinda traumatic, and I needed to vent.
Also noticed folks don't want to talk about it; so that's disappointing.
I figured out where and when I got 'em; but that's not important.
What's important is that folks stop passing them around.

And to be honest I haven't any good ideas how to insure that with visual inspections.
These things are about the size of a pinpoint when in the normal state down below.
They are off white colored at this stage: like many roots.
They go through about 9 metamorphosis stages before they start to fly.
Good luck with that huh?

Again: Thanks for all of your kind words.
I don't deserve it; really. :shock:
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so these was a result of clones or plants you introduced to your garden..hopefully not from members here
 
FatMarty

FatMarty

Well-Known Member
bloodytrichomes said:
so these was a result of clones or plants you introduced to your garden..hopefully not from members here
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Correct. And Thankfully I was not passing anything out for long time; so I am sure I did not give it to anyone else. Once you know what to look for they are not that hard to spot; but you need a microscope to see them for the most part if you are going to catch them before they start making flyers. The ones without wings that are 'mature' are about the size of a speck of dirt and are dark colored. I let my Bubba, which was like 6 months veg, get real dry as I was stimulating root growth a week into bloom. That's what made them go nuclear and start growing wings - apparently they don't do dry for long, and this causes the metamorphism. Otherwise they just walk to next plant cloaked as a speck of dirt. The most insidious thing about them is they are well suited to fool even seasoned growers who have no knowledge of them: they appear close enough to a fungus gnat that they will fool you into complacence. It only takes one flier to make it across the room in between watering to spread it to another, and so on. One or two fungus gnats a week is not usually a huge concern; in my case I made a mental note to get a couple new HotShots, and would most likely still be trying to figure out why these fungus gnats weren't dying off. :lol: Still not seeing anything here since cleaning up first time. Going to clean it again tomorrow. Been blowing cold air through there for @ 2 days now. Need to work on HEGA filter flanges I got for fresh air intakes from outside and from inside house. Also got to build a barrier wall to make lung room and seal it up completely. Hoping to pop some seeds this weekend and start anew.
 
fattiemcnuggins

fattiemcnuggins

Well-Known Member
The fungus gnat larva is super east to ID, just google a pic. Looks like a nematode but a little bigger, more sluggish. If you have something else then I would bet on the RA, and there are a few strains, some looking very different than others. There are some that looks more like beetles and less like fungus gnats.
 
st0wandgrow

st0wandgrow

Well-Known Member
Man Marty, you got me second guessing now. I'm pretty sure I have fungus gnats, but now I'm concerned they might be these Root Aphids. If I put a slice of potato on the soil surface, would that be the easiest way to identify them (by their larvae)?

I've kinda just ignored them as there is only a few, and the plants seem 100% healthy.
 
FatMarty

FatMarty

Well-Known Member
st0wandgrow said:
Man Marty, you got me second guessing now. I'm pretty sure I have fungus gnats, but now I'm concerned they might be these Root Aphids. If I put a slice of potato on the soil surface, would that be the easiest way to identify them (by their larvae)?

I've kinda just ignored them as there is only a few, and the plants seem 100% healthy.
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Sorry Stow I do not know if the RA ones will crawl up to it.
 
fattiemcnuggins

fattiemcnuggins

Well-Known Member
A good way to distinguish between the gnats and RA is the RA would rather run than fly. They will hide from yiou where I have found the fungus gnats seem more oblivous to your presence and are easier to clap fron the air.
 
FatMarty

FatMarty

Well-Known Member
fattiemcnuggins said:
A good way to distinguish between the gnats and RA is the RA would rather run than fly. They will hide from yiou where I have found the fungus gnats seem more oblivous to your presence and are easier to clap fron the air.
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The winged RA I found were almost dead it seemed. I could put my finger on them to crush them. Never tried to get away. It is my theory that once winged they are asexually pregnant and the flight(s) are the last thing it does to transport the larvae to another host. I assume that's what all those 'blackberry' bumps on it's back are. Radio Shack, and your local hydro shop: they carry small handheld microscopes for under 20 bucks.
 
alcohol

alcohol

Active Member
Capt. Stickyfingers said:
If you want to quit over some root aphids, you suck at growing and shouldn't have wasted other people's money to do so. Also, if that's real bubba, you're waaay off thinking you should get 4-7 oz. You can't be in much pain if you refuse to medicate all week because of aphids. You sound like a fucking drama queen.
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Take your own advice and kill your own aphids before spreading them to others.
 
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