I think they're ROOT APHIDS !?

Ok so I just looked at my girls, I gave them a nice drench of Azamax around 6:30. As of now I can see plenty of the flying suckers laying around. I still have some lurking on the top of the soil of each plant though. After taking closer looks at some of the dead specimens I'm not sure if they are winged root aphids. In the diagram below it shows the stages of the fungus gnats. I have been seeing some yellowing/white shell/cocoon's that i pick out from the pots draining holes... In the diagram the pupa stage of the gnat looks quite similar to what I have been seeing. Is it possible that the gnats have just made the drainage holes their "breeding grounds" ?

From what I can tell, root aphids don't go through a major transformation such as this. There's no real transformation stage as drastic as the gnat is anyways. So I can't see a root aphid leaving behind a shell such as what I'm seeing. I think I'm just going to go buy some sticky tape tomorrow along with some sand to top off the pots.

But if they are gnats, what would be the route to taking care of those? I know sand is to prevent them from laying more eggs but if they are laying there eggs and coming from the drainage holes, how do i take care of that?






gnatlife.gif
 
gnatrol works really well for gnats, and was somewhat effective for me for the ra's too.

The thing is, when you have ra, they are almost always accompanied by fg's too. The aphid bites the root and injects a toxin that kills that part of the root. Then the root dies and rots....drawing gnats.

They really do go hand in hand. You could try spreading some diatomaceous earth on the top since you are in dirt too.

and yes, the drainage holes are a common place to find both.

Do you see any fg larvae? That is an easy way to tell.

fg and ra fliers look very similar.
 
They rely on mositure in the soil to thrive (if I recall correctly)...let the soil dry out before waterings, and you should notice a decline in their population...sounds bad! If its too crazy...buy fly traps and place them near the holes at the bottom of the pot, where the nats enter and exit (better chance of them getting caught)...also, stick a few of them hanging up high and on the bottom of your area, these are the areas that the flying ones flock to when you enter the room. Hope this helps man...I woulndt chop unless their truly is not hope of revival...post some pics, and good luck man!
 
yeah it sucks tho bc only 1 needs to survive. did you ever check into any of the synthetic pyrethrins?
 
joe macclennan said:
gnatrol works really well for gnats, and was somewhat effective for me for the ra's too.

The thing is, when you have ra, they are almost always accompanied by fg's too. The aphid bites the root and injects a toxin that kills that part of the root. Then the root dies and rots....drawing gnats.

They really do go hand in hand. You could try spreading some diatomaceous earth on the top since you are in dirt too.

and yes, the drainage holes are a common place to find both.

Do you see any fg larvae? That is an easy way to tell.

fg and ra fliers look very similar.
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I haven't seen any larvae. But those cocoon carcasses are easy to spot. That's why I'm leaning towards FG's... Hopefully that's the only issue here. I forgot to mention I pulled one of the plants up out of the pot that is lacking in growth the most, and appears to have deficiencies. The roots looked surprisingly healthy, so it really starts to make me believe I'm free of the RA's (knock on wood).... I'm just gonna do what you suggested now... Diatomaceous earth and some sticky traps.. I still have some azamax left as well so I'll use that periodically throughout the next couple weeks. Hopefully I see some good results.
Thanks for the help Joe.
 
rickymac21 said:
I haven't seen any larvae. But those cocoon carcasses are easy to spot. That's why I'm leaning towards FG's... Hopefully that's the only issue here. I forgot to mention I pulled one of the plants up out of the pot that is lacking in growth the most, and appears to have deficiencies. The roots looked surprisingly healthy, so it really starts to make me believe I'm free of the RA's (knock on wood).... I'm just gonna do what you suggested now... Diatomaceous earth and some sticky traps.. I still have some azamax left as well so I'll use that periodically throughout the next couple weeks. Hopefully I see some good results.
Thanks for the help Joe.
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I am thinking good thoughts for you bro. I really hope it is not the dreaded ra.

get some gnatrol and if after a few applications you don't see a dramatic decrease in fliers then it is prob. not fg's.

stuffs kind of expensive tho.
 
1itsme said:
yeah it sucks tho bc only 1 needs to survive. did you ever check into any of the synthetic pyrethrins?
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no, I didn't know they made it. I suppose a synthetic would be more compatible when added directly to rez.

I dunno, I am a bit leery of adding extra shit to my rez. after the shit I went through this summer.

either way, things are finally looking up.
 
i am not too sure if you got ra's, but if you did, you would know and not second guess. like someone said, they're pretty aggressive and destroy crops if an infestation exist.

however, from what you stated, i would lean more towards fungus gnats. i get them from time to time, whether it was from larvae embedded in the medium or excessive watering, and they're pretty easy to get rid of.

like someone else suggest, just letting your medium dry out more than normal would decrease the population. also, if they're available, beneficials can be effective as well.
 
Thanks for the help guys. The diagnosis is still unknown, but I am confident the girls just have gnats. I bought some BTI and sticky yellow strips. Supposivy the BTI will kill the larvae and anything else harmful in the soil. I'm waiting till the soil gets dry before my next watering, and when I do water ill be mixing the BTI in the water. So I should know in a week or so if I just have gnats or RA's.

i just think I have a bad case of fungus gnats and the larvae are eating the girls roots. That would explain slow growth and possibly some of the mal-nutrition in some them. Sort of like magnesium, or nitrogen deficiency. But hopefully this is resolved soon.
 
bti works pretty good on fungus gnats I always make shure theres some in my coco for that reason, does nothing to root aphids tho.
 
1itsme said:
bti works pretty good on fungus gnats I always make shure theres some in my coco for that reason, does nothing to root aphids tho.
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Right, but by using the BTI as apposed to some thing stronger, I can see if it is only gnats. If the problem continues and I still see flying critters then its likely I have RA's and I'll have to up the artillery.
 
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