Root Aphids

[zem]

Hi MP family. I am looking for ways to eliminate root aphids from my media that is mostly growrocks in flood and drain. What kind of soil drench do you use in this case if any? They seem to recede after a week since i transplanted into bigger pots with new res but i can still spot a few. In the main area from where i got them they are infesting heavily. I am trying to figure out if i wait some more on the transplanted ones, if they will all die off. I looked at the rootzone and there are no more residues from them like in the vegging plants. But i can see a couple crawling around i think they are not interested in the thriving plant maybe feefing on dead roots and maybe climbing up on the leaves because i can see some up there. Are the root aphids the same ones that climb to the leaves? Knowing that, maybe a healthy plant attracts them up to the leaves where it is easy to treat without having to feed the plant poisons or damaging the roots. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

 

[Hippie420]

You sure they're root aphids? I always had problems with the larvae of those damned moss gnats. Might be the same thing for all I know. I've heard of people using mosquito dunks in their water, but it never worked for me. I did have luck with using 6% H2O2 poured directly into the pots, but YMMV.

 

[CrashMagnet]

Sort of surprising root aphids could survive in a flood and drain setup.

 

[zem]

They definitely look like root aphids to me. The small ones are white the bigger ones are brown and the oned on the leaves are green. I actually tried to drown them in soap but they survived that so i know they survive the flood and drain. I think they adapt to the environment so maybe the ones i have are adapted to survive the flood while the onrs that are in soil for generations would not. Amphibian aphids hehe...

 

[WeedHopper]

Hydrogen peroxide is the only thing I can think of as Hippie stated above.

 

[zem]

Hydrogen peroxide is the only thing I can think of as Hippie stated above.

I cannot pour 6% h2o2 directly, that will damage the roots and i am flipping them in a few days besides the flowering containers are too big i would need a lot of peroxide. I tried to kill mites with peroxide and it did not work.
The most interesting think is the speed at which they recovered when i changed the system, plants are looking very good, i removed an entire plant inspected the rootball was not able to see a single aphid or residue, i saw a couple when i dug deeper down and had to flip a lot of rocks to find them. Something that i did caused the aphids to leave the roots. In the source area where they were vegging, the rootball is full of pests, larvae and aphid droppings. It has been only a week since they were transplanted. Is this interesting or not...

 

[Hippie420]

If they are aphids, I know a lot of farmers that use ladybugs to control 'em.
I've used the hydrogen peroxide without problems. I use it one day and then again a few days later. After a few days, it looses its extra oxygen atom and turns into plain old water.

 

[RosterMan]

https://www.tipsbulletin.com/how-to...lutions for direct soil treatment. More items

 

[Hippie420]

Great article!

 

[zem]

If they are aphids, I know a lot of farmers that use ladybugs to control 'em.
I've used the hydrogen peroxide without problems. I use it one day and then again a few days later. After a few days, it looses its extra oxygen atom and turns into plain old water.

I used peroxide for a long time i stopped using it less than a year ago because it does damage the roots even if you do not notice it and i used it way less than 6% which sounds crazy high to me. I could use it in early vegging but i would not use it just before or during flowering.

 

[Hippie420]

I mix my own. I bought two gallons of 35% and cut it down to around 6% with distilled water. Like I said, Your Millage May Vary. It works for me.

 

[gmo]

Dreaded, dreaded Root Aphids. I'm so sorry to hear.

Do you have any flyers?

You need to really buckle down to eliminate them. New media, strong cleaning schedule of your entire grow rooms, discard any soils or plugs. Look in to a product called Botanigard WP22. I believe it may be the only product that is labeled for cannabis root aphid treatments.

 

[zem]

Dreaded, dreaded Root Aphids. I'm so sorry to hear.

Do you have any flyers?

You need to really buckle down to eliminate them. New media, strong cleaning schedule of your entire grow rooms, discard any soils or plugs. Look in to a product called Botanigard WP22. I believe it may be the only product that is labeled for cannabis root aphid treatments.

I think that trying to eliminate it 100% by discarding all growrocks that way is overkill. So if i do that and miss 1 crawler i would need to do it again and it is so difficult to accomplish anyway. I read about botanigard and azamax they are great but i cannot buy them to my location since i am not in the usa or anywhere where amazon reaches. I might have to go with products that are labeled for fruits and not cannabis. One product available to me is Sivanto by Bayer https://www.cropscience.bayer.us/d/sivanto-prime-insecticide. Yesterday i was a click away from ordering it i just did not yet. Then i started this thread lol I have to say that spidet mites and whatever other insects, are way easier than this one. Hell i fell asleep yesterday while watching videos of nematode extractiom from soil. It is easier than one might think. They just wash soil through a fine mesh. I am even thinking about adding nematode rich soil into my growrocks and just letting it flood with water. That would add some beneficial microbes too.

 

[zem]

So I ended up getting Sivanto and applied it foliar. I am hoping that because it is systemic, it will get to the roots without having to flood the entire media. I am trying to avoid having to put it into a hydro recycling system. I deciced this when i saw that the outbreak is big and will be difficult to contain now just before flowering. I am hoping that it works.

 

[zem]

The result is ok for the leaves dead aphids all around but i did not eliminate the root infestation. I think they need a root drench. I might do it for the vegging plants since i can remove and clean the entire system after. The flowering plants are looking much better and it is not a product that i am comfortable using there.

 

[greenmobster440]

Damn, hate to hear about the bugs. I had aphids pretty bad in a greenhouse grow few yrs ago. Pain in the arse. Prob had them in the soil as well. I hope ya get them under control.

So are ya considering a bud wash after this grow?

 

[zem]

Damn, hate to hear about the bugs. I had aphids pretty bad in a greenhouse grow few yrs ago. Pain in the arse. Prob had them in the soil as well. I hope ya get them under control.

So are ya considering a bud wash after this grow?

No I am still hopeful that i will prevent them from infesting the entire plant. I did bud wash with h2o2 several times and it was ok. I stopped doing it mainly because it was a lot of work but also i think it took some of the terpenes away however it was not that significant of a drop if any since i used to do it straight at harvest when the plants are wet dip for a minute or 2 in h2o2 water then rinse off with a shower head. this will not eliminate the aphid droppings though. So now I am thinking about feeding the plant directly without flooding the medium by removing as much medium as i can from above and around the roots and then spraying them with Sivanto, and the aim is to feed the roots, let them suck it up for a few hours then flooding the medium and draining it to the drain a couple of times to limit the exposure in the system.

 

[Bugus_Monkey]

OK - So with lots of pinch hitters and coffee so far this morning...

Post #6, you said you were a few days from flipping, Did You Go Ahead With Your Flip?

My main set up is hydro. And I'm pretty sure I had them before. I will see if I can dig up some pictures later today..

 

[zem]

I flipped to flowering 9 days ago. Yesterday i checked thoroughly i removed a vegging plant that was heavily infested and there were no more aphids visible at all. The active ingredient is very targeted so much that it did not kill off the gnats so i was able to spot them but no aphids which is impressive knowing that i only sprayed foliar. It took a few days before they were gone from the rootzone. Even the beneficial insects like spiders are still alive and well.