Worm in DWC! Please look and respond

Hi,
I put this here because it seemed to be related more to DWC then other forums. If wrong please accept my apology.

The grow:

• Strain is harlequin
• 5 single bucket DWC plants,
• one plant per bucket.
• 12 inch net pots, the bottom 2/3 of the net pot is filled with clay pellets, the top 2 to 3 inches are rockwool with a layer of clay pellets on top. The top 2 to 3 inches of rockwool was done to make the setup more forgiving to a beginner. May have been a mistake.
• In veg for about a month and a half. Want to do one more month veg before flower.
• Growth is good. There was a minor outbreak of brown root slime but it seems under control with treatments of bennificals. (AKA Heisenberg method.)

The worm:



Only one found. But more could be hiding in the top layer of rockwool.

Identification? Suggestions for treatment? Any help would be appreciated. Bennificals and environmental controls are more desirable but chemical treatment is acceptable.

ANY IDEA WHAT IT IS. web search suggests that it is some form of nematode, but I am honestly not sure. It was fairly big and could be seen with the naked eye.

Thanks,

The only thing you should do at this point is name him and love him and buy him presents.

fuck that id be burning the grow show down......fuckin worms ....urgh!!!!!

Ewww! GROSS!!
ok-- get some flora-sheild--- add to the rez ... all I can think of other than azamax-- but that becomes systemic....

Bleach?>>>>>>>

thanks, any help is good at this point. I thought about starting over but all the plants look very healthy, which is not as healthy as it seems.

Removed the worm, examined and cleaned all the roots that I could see, as much to clear up the remaining brown root slime but am hopeful that it took care of the worm problem, doing a res change today. Will let people know how it goes.

does anyone know if AZAMAX can be used with bennificals. I kind of doubt it, but do not know.

Thanks,

Gasoline and a match.

Oh dude wtf is this shit

A whole new level of fail,, I'm amazed that this even happened. Perhaps some bug borrowed into your hydroton and laid eggs in the moist-warm rockwool upper layer. If this is true, then you have many more. Honestly from what you've told me it sounds like that's a big worm. Fairly decent size to say at the least. It takes time for a larva to grow and be seen by your eye. Their has to be more and I'd honestly give h2o2 a try. Go grab some hydrogen peroxide and pour at least half a cup for your 5 gallon dwc each. Honestly I spray raw undiluted peroxide on my roots directly and no ill affects. The more the better, I don't think it will kill the wormies but if that doesn't work I'd honestly add a little amount of bleach. Enough to kill those bastards then I'd flush the plant 12 hours later.

Not too familiar with the thread but if your using beneficial bacteria this could directly relate to your worm issue. I'd imagine that worm eats bacteria or alge or some bulkshit so it shouldn't hurt the plant.

Basically H2o2 the fuck outta each bucket. Had to been some outside insect that came into your window/intake.

What are you using to brew bennies? My GH ancient forest humus has earth worms in it.

Malevolence said:

What are you using to brew bennies? My GH ancient forest humus has earth worms in it.

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Mycogrow in the 'brew', with Aquasheild added in the bucket. The soil was a generic earthworm casing bag, Uncle Wiggly or something like that.

Sweet was used as the initial growing medium because the hydro store is out of Strapped, price is also an issue in initially choosing Strapped; I am aware of the caution that it can promote unwanted organisms from the manufacture. In the past the mix went three days 'brewing' before use. It went down to two days when the weather was hot. This seemed to produce a good result and my interpretation (easily wrong) is that the cultured microbes displaced pathogenic ones. Strapped is not added to the buckets, Sweet is. (I use the Botanicare line, it seemed simple for a beginner.)

The only odd thing was that the Sweet when used to 'brew' was that the bubbler did not get clogged but got a fine white mat on it that was harder to get off then other times I have brewed microbe tea.

The worm, on a little more research, seems to be a larval stage gnat of some sort. The hyro store guy said it was probably a fungus gnat larva. He thought that they were endemic to most grows. As treatment offered Merritt (sp?) which he described as staying in the plant and said it was chemical, as I understand it as nasty or dichotomous earth, to suppress the adults.

Roots now seem to be coming in strong with out brown slime. Will try and post pictures in the future. There is still some but it seems like a less is more approach and allowing the beneficial tea to work is the best course of action. I did flush the whole pot essentially letting them sit in PH 5.4 RO water for half an hour. who knows that may drown the larva.

I'll update with what happend. Thanks for the responses.

Thx,

PS Sorry it took a while to get back to the thread, I did bucket swap Friday and it took all day.

Had this happen to me too with 5 gallon bucket dwc set up. At first I dipped the net pot in a strong solution of h202 these things were everywhere i did this h202 method prob 5 separate times and they always come back Then I added beneficial microbes I used a product called plant success soluble premium mycorrhizae with sensizyme by an and it killed the worms but by that point alot of damage was done. Reason this happened was i brought the plant inside from being outside because it was starting to get cold out rinsed off the roots clean them with water and H2 O2 and transplanted into a bubble bucket system well there must've been organic material still left on the roots on top of that my air stones in the bottom of the bucket were plugged in to the cycle of the lights and not on 24 seven so the water was stale and stagnant for 12 hours once I discovered the air stones were shutting off with my lights it quickly recovered after about a week or 2

Btw be very carefull not to get h202 on yourself Especially if you were buying the strong kind I think mine was 32% it Burns if it gets on you... to Neutralize a burn if you get it take water and sodium bicarbonate ( baking soda) and soak for a minute or two wear gloves to help avoiding burn and be very careful but the stuff sizzled the worms to a crisp also probably did some damage to the plant but from then I let them soak in just plain water and the beneficial with an air stone actually running 24 seven a day and it worked 😄

jesus you all get kinda worked up over a fungus gnat larvae or two don't you.
There are several things you can use, research and make up your own mind.

Jpzooyork said:

Btw be very carefull not to get h202 on yourself Especially if you were buying the strong kind I think mine was 32% it Burns if it gets on you... to Neutralize a burn if you get it take water and sodium bicarbonate ( baking soda) and soak for a minute or two wear gloves to help avoiding burn and be very careful but the stuff 

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Thanks for the safety tip. I found a good article on the use of h2o2 in Rosebud mag (http://www.rosebudmag.com/hydroponic-tips-ideas/oxygen-therapy-hydroponic-system-root-disease-rot). It also said to be careful and I didn't. Nothing happened but I forget that this is between 8 and 10 times as strong as the drugstore human variety.

To everyone who offered suggestions much thanks. The worm is, as far as I can tell, a fungus gnat larva. The hydro store guy suggested that and further research suggests this is correct. One link to verify that the larva is most likely a fungus gnat larva for those interested: http://kcgardens.kansascity.com/entries/fungus-gnats-plague-some-houseplants/. The picture illustrating the article is spot on to what was published here. Most state extension services have bulletins on how to deal with them. This from CO state is a good example: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05584.html. NOTE: this article also covers, albeit briefly, beneficial nematodes. This article uses the same picture as the kcgardens article mentioned previously. Again the likeness is dead on.

I have a conservative method of going forward and should it work, either way I will let people know if it is successful.

Again thanks for those who looked and had suggestions.