Root Aphids! What to do?!

trouble27 said:

sounds like were in the same boat that we are trying like hell to keep from sinking . im about month and a half behind i dont realy want to think about the money lost on all the treatments prob 500 or more by know im switching to flower tomorrow i noticed that the plants i have in 10 gal pots are much healthier than some in 5 gal pots think the bigger plants recover faster and maybe like mites they like some plants more than others . i found a few fliers this afternoon gonna hitem again tonight opperation aphid anniahilation begins in a few hrs.

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Yeah. Spent at least $500 with the first go around with root aphids. This time, I decided to wait on filling flower rooms again until after they are gone. The veg quarantine, imid, bug bombs, and room cleaning were key. Last time, ended up throwing any equipment that was not easy to clean and/or too expensive to throw out. A lot of the equipment was stuffed into a 8 x 4 tent and hit with Doktor Doom repeatedly.

Picked up some Evergreen instead of Pyganic. It was just a little more money for a 6% pyrethrin, rather than pyganics 1.4%.

I think the way that soooo many fail to eradicate is by not going far enough with the cleaning.

They are just diligent. It's pretty fucking amazing. Their life cycle makes for a very good read. They're cloning ninjas. Haha.

trouble27 said:

I just did an experiment myself with ortho max bug b gone I had some cuttings in glass of water for about 3 days covered with foil so I checked them earlier they had aphids all stages of growth so I took a cutting out got my nute mix with the ortho in it filled a shot glass and dunked the stem in it instantly paralyzing and killing all but the more developed little bastards with thicker skin dunked again then dead had to mix almost 2x rec dose I noticed it doesn't have same effect on fliers when I water they come flying out the cocoa and I hit em with the don't bug me and it kills em . Anyone getting ready to try Azamax should test on 1plant first mine did not like at all think this did more damage than the aphids at this point just my opinion .

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I think you are right about the Azamax. Had the same experience here. It doesn't seem very effective either.

oh mann im so fucking pissed was just playing some ball with the dogs went to pick the ball up noticed a fucking root aphid on my dogs paw now im paranoid ive thought some of my fruit trees looked a little funny lately god damnit i cant steralize the great outdoors this sucks think i need to build a decontamination room to change out of clothes and throw on tyvek suit before going in to my grow room i used to do this a long time ago when i thought mites were the worst thing out there never wanted to get them now i will take a mite infestation any day at least u can see what ur doing is working this not knowing whats going on in my media is killing me cant wait to pick phenos and clear out the room . wonder how long they will keep on living and reproducing without food? dont want shut down too long .

I pulled everything and my room was empty for a good few weeks.. I cleaned the whole room, got new media, etc. etc. and havent seen anything since taking out my other plants. I just put my new plants in a few days ago, so i guess only time will tell. I left the sleeves on the rockwool cubes, put cube-caps on them, and topped my hydroton with fine perlite.. Im hoping this will keep them from getting to my rockwool, or sensing it in the first place.

trouble27 said:

oh mann im so fucking pissed was just playing some ball with the dogs went to pick the ball up noticed a fucking root aphid on my dogs paw now im paranoid ive thought some of my fruit trees looked a little funny lately god damnit i cant steralize the great outdoors this sucks think i need to build a decontamination room to change out of clothes and throw on tyvek suit before going in to my grow room i used to do this a long time ago when i thought mites were the worst thing out there never wanted to get them now i will take a mite infestation any day at least u can see what ur doing is working this not knowing whats going on in my media is killing me cant wait to pick phenos and clear out the room . wonder how long they will keep on living and reproducing without food? dont want shut down too long .

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Yeah, I suspect mine are being brought indoors too. Both times they found their way in during the hottest months of summer. I have never taken in a clone, from anyone. All seeds here. So either they came in from outdoors, or they came in a bag of coco. I could believe either.

The first time, ants brought them in. I found the trail and where they setup in a seedling pot... but I thought the little white pods were just their pupae. I am pretty sure now they were the aphids eggs...

I know you have a much better idea of how they are coming in for you... but it might be worth your time to check for an ant trail somewhere near your grow. They will bring them in and setup shop.

My room is so packed I cannot really check until the flower finished in a few weeks. I suspect that along the back wall there is an ant trail... sprayed some chems back there (as i can reach around a corner) but i cannot actually look to see it yet.

Admittedly I used quite a bit of Fruit and Citrus. I was compensating for the difference in strength between Tree and Shrub (1.47% Imidacloprid ) vs Fruit Citrus and Vegetable (0.235 %).

Using Merit is the ultimate dose of Imid, that stuff is 320 times more concentrated than Fruit Citrus & veg. The Tree and Shrup has other chemicals as ingredients that I'm not really into.

I guess it didn't really make a difference, I still have them. Veg, flower, 30 mL per gallon, 120 mL per gallon made no difference in my situation.
I still have them. It's as if the plants never took them up. It will be over soon.


I read another post of yours Heartland and I upped my Pycrapic dose from 8 to 35 mL a gallon. It sort of worked. I still see them crawling, just not as many.

good luck everyone

I hope you all have usb microscopes. If not, here is a taste, with pictures of my little deceased acquaintances.

You know, at least for me, it is almost impossible to see these things in the garden, you just see the aftermath, yellow sticky traps are a gift form god when it comes to assessing the biological load.

Say cheese. Here is a solo shot.




Family shot. For reference, the black checkered line is part of the square on the yellow sticky trap. These little fucks can be really small!!



Some Interesting blobs.



Note the difference in size of these ones.



And yes the moms that are left have been given bayer t&s. I have Merit and Orthene, to put in the rotation. It looks like they are mostly gone now, maybe totally gone, but I want to treat with 3 different things for at least one cycle to make sure we are bug free and to prevent making super bugs.

Also some strains don't like t&s at 10mil gal. pisses'em right off, so be careful and at 10 mils a gal, some plants may die, just two far gone.. Will be trying 5 mils next treatment at clone planting. Moms are due for Orthene in a couple of weeks. What should I use for the last pesticide?

Thank god i dont have aphids that size, holy hell..
I mostly saw gnats on my rockwool, with larvae, and the aphids i found were on the floor and very small gnat-sized..
But apparently they made their way to my plants because they all went to shit. Rest in peace my babys...

Hopefully this next round i started recently will continue doing well. We'll see. So far so good.

PS. To the aphids, if you are reading this, FU*K YOU AND THE HORSES YOU RODE IN ON!

HeartlandHank said:

Yeah, I suspect mine are being brought indoors too. Both times they found their way in during the hottest months of summer. I have never taken in a clone, from anyone. All seeds here. So either they came in from outdoors, or they came in a bag of coco. I could believe either.

The first time, ants brought them in. I found the trail and where they setup in a seedling pot... but I thought the little white pods were just their pupae. I am pretty sure now they were the aphids eggs...

I know you have a much better idea of how they are coming in for you... but it might be worth your time to check for an ant trail somewhere near your grow. They will bring them in and setup shop.

My room is so packed I cannot really check until the flower finished in a few weeks. I suspect that along the back wall there is an ant trail... sprayed some chems back there (as i can reach around a corner) but i cannot actually look to see it yet.

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Ya I def got mine from ants as well think I said something about that in this thread or another but ya the ants gotta die too aphid farming fucks they don't like the bug be gone max havnt seen an ant since I treated oh and if u buy any ant bait stations get the grants ants not amdro they avoid it like the plague even put sugar water in it still wanted nothing to do with it was wondering how many other think they got from ants I havnt picked up clones for over a year and I pasteurize all my coir before I use it at least I was doesn't matter anymore as I already havem .

How do you know? Thus the microscope. The only ones of these fuckers that I have seen are dead, either in the rockwool or on the sticky tape.

You need a 60X jewelers loop just to see them!

A short story,

I have seen the little fuckers somewhere else.
I have momies in waterfarms. For a while I noticed a black ring forming on the lips of the inner buckets, I thought it was mold.
This had been going on for a while, thus the sticky traps and the microscope.

Me being the cheep lazy fuck that I am. I had read about the microscope, but never acted.
I thought that I identified the bugs as just fungus gnats, but this was using a jewelers loop and it was tough to get a good identification.
So to make a long story short, got the microscope, identified the culprits, and nuked them with t&s.

Now after all of the carnage, I was in cleaning up the space and I wiped up some of it on my finger.

Oh wait,
I have the loop handy, lets take a gander at what this stuff is made of. It was kind'a gritty too, mold is not gritty???

Well, you know what it was....................probably millions of crawlers on the lips of the buckets, all dead.

I was already paranoid from finding these uninvited guests in the first place and now I've got at least 100 of their little carcases on the tip of my finger.

These things have been the bane of my existence for the past two weeks. They've been there much longer, I was just too ignorant to realize it.

If seen already forgive me. Hope this helps if it hasn't been up.

From PC Hydro

"Root aphids are typically light colored round, slow moving, insects that suck vital juices from the roots of your plants. They live in the soil or grow media, and they are extremely damaging to your plants. Under certain conditions the adult females can fly! You may see the plants show drooping leaves, spots, or deficiency like symptoms. They can devastate your garden, indoors or outdoors. And once you have them, they can spread very quickly. To add to the problem, ants are known to plant them on your roots. Yes, the ants will actually keep the aphid larvae with their own, and tend their “crop” of aphids. The result is the ants can kill your plants!

Don’t give up hope! You can kill them. You will have to mix together special batches of pesticides to irrigate the roots with. The best combination I’ve used with success is pyrethrum with Azatrol, diluted in water. Too strong of a solution can kill your plants. Also you must apply this every three days for three weeks to achieve success. Why for so long? These root aphids are capable of reproducing very quickly. The eggs hatch at least every three days, and there isn’t any way to kill all of the adults and eggs in one application. Your persistence will pay off. Here are the specific directions on how to kill root aphids:
Pyrethrum is an extract from the chrysanthemum. Do not try to use the synthetic aerosol versions, they will harm the plant. The extract is far less damaging to the plants. For example Fox Farm’s Don’t Bug Me is an all natural extract in liquid form. You can dilute this in water 100 – 200 ml per 1000 ml of water.
Azatrol is an extract from the neem seed, azadechtrin (Azamax is another option, very similar). It dilutes (emulsifies) in water very easily. Add this between 1/2 tsp – 1 tsp per 1000ml of solution.
Use both the Pyrethrum and Azatrol together for best results. They are synergistic. Completely drench the grow media or soil, and remember you can increase the strength of the solution if you’d like. But it’s wise to start late if you don’t want to risk killing your plants. Also, you should wait a couple of hours before irrigating the plants again. You need to let the pesticides do their work. You can use the pesticides every other day. There are other things you may drench with (diluted in water of course) in order to mix up the toxins and kill more pests. Cedar extracts, like GoGnats and herbal pesticides like Zero Tolerance and Rasta Bob’s Death Mite, will help you kill these guys.
There are other products that also work, but they aren’t for consumable plants (they are only for ornamental plants), like Merit 75. Remember don’t use this on any plant you plan on consuming."

Bueno suerte y hasta la manana!

Ender87i said:

So i think i have root aphids..
What is the best way to get rid of them? or avoid them?

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07/28/12

Ender87i said:

I pulled everything and my room was empty for a good few weeks.. I cleaned the whole room, got new media, etc. etc. and havent seen anything since taking out my other plants. I just put my new plants in a few days ago, so i guess only time will tell. I left the sleeves on the rockwool cubes, put cube-caps on them, and topped my hydroton with fine perlite.. Im hoping this will keep them from getting to my rockwool, or sensing it in the first place.

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08/12/12

do you have a time machine?

You've got to get a microscope to know for sure!!!!!
Imid kills them!

It's been 2 weeks and no signs of fliers and everything I see is dead. If you think that they only live in the roots, think again.

I spotted one on a leaf, but I couldn't get a pic of that one.

Here are some pictures of the stem of a leaf, these little fuckers buried themselves into the stem of the leaf.





Enjoy.

Physiologia - Few weeks, couple weeks, same diff.. Just saying, i had them a couple weeks back, ended up pulling everything and starting over fresh.

HotRodHarley - Thanks for posting the excerpt from PCHydro..

What does everybody else think of this excerpt he posted?

From what ive heard elsewhere, Pyrethrins and Azamax both dont do much, which is contradictory.
So far all ive heard about that works is Bayer Tree and Shrub.

well i was hoping i wouldnt have to post on this forum but it looks as i may have root aphids or maybe fungus gnats... i have been reading through countless posts trying to differentiate the 2 but cant. i have looked in my soil for larvae but havent seen any yet and even dug around on my worst effected roots to look for the aphids but still nothing... i noticed about a week or 2 ago a couple gnat like bugs on the base of the stalks of my plants. being a first time grower and my plants not showing any signs at this time didnt think much of it until now i have a couple plants with a few deformed,crispy brown edges, and constantly several (2-7??) around the base and slightly up the stalk... i have 2 that have been flowering and the rest are right around the corner so i am gonna try some pyrethrum and neem/ azatrol... i hope it works or atleast manage these frickin things

Good luck bro.. Hope its nothing major.
You'll have random deficiency symptoms and stunted growth, etc.. Its nasty.

well actually i beleive what i seen hasnt been aphids, but what i orginallly thought, fungus gnats... doesnt mean i dont have aphids too but either way i finally killed one of these bastards... could some one confirm if this is a fungus gnat? also i have dug around in the top inch of soil looking for larvae at several places and still have yet to find any so i dont think im infested ...yet but i am headed to town to day to get a soil drench to be on safe measures as well as some traps!!! thanks riu for your feedback

can't get rid of them
but it doesn't look that bad

after treatments with Azamax and Pyganic
I claim that Pyganic is more effective
The oil used in Pyganic is not as heavy as Azamax.
The plants aren't taken to the brink with Pyganic.
I've spent 350 so far in root aphid control so far.

bmo420 :
lay the bug on it's back
look at the abdomen
Root aphid fliers have two protrusions on the lower abdomen that extend beyond the length of the abdomen
like antenna for their ass so they can shit without looking behind

PS the image is afghani kush, great flavor and is around 17 % with 0.8% CBD

bmo420 - Ive never seen fungus gnats that looked like that before, they could be something else.. Very weird looking. But then again im not really sure, they could very easily be fungus gnats. I just know mine looked alot different.

physiologia - Nice lookin plants! Especially for having aphids, wow.. Keep up the good work. What strain is that? got any pics of the whole plant? By the way you have a very mild Calcium deficiency. Up your CalMag!