Root Aphids! Careful w clones...

[lampost]

So any of you CO people ever run into root aphids? Be very careful where you get your clones! Mine came with spider mites and root aphids! Root aphids are far worse. I was able to easily get rid of the spider mites.

The thing with root aphids is, unless you're looking for them, they've caused most of their damage by the time you notice them.

Please just only get clones from people you trust.

[TurboALLWD]

So any of you CO people ever run into root aphids? Be very careful where you get your clones! Mine came with spider mites and root aphids! Root aphids are far worse. I was able to easily get rid of the spider mites.

The thing with root aphids is, unless you're looking for them, they've caused most of their damage by the time you notice them.

Please just only get clones from people you trust.

Do you have them in hydro or soil? Have you tried gassing them with co2? I wiped mine out immediately with a sealed bag over the ebb and flow pot and a co2 line pumping it full for 5-10 minutes. I thought I could trust this guy in Ft. Collins but it turns out he likes to screw people. Sterilize you're clones and throughly inspect them for bugs, a magnifying glass is really useful to.

[ColoradoCareMMJ]

So any of you CO people ever run into root aphids? Be very careful where you get your clones! Mine came with spider mites and root aphids! Root aphids are far worse. I was able to easily get rid of the spider mites.

The thing with root aphids is, unless you're looking for them, they've caused most of their damage by the time you notice them.

Please just only get clones from people you trust.


Every single clone vendor thats come through our door has had either powdery mildew, root aphids, spider mites or all three..

[MEDEDCANNABIS]

root aphids? never heard of them. is that slang for fungus gnats?

meded so you can mededicate to mededitate

[lampost]

No! Its far worse!

Search for root aphids on ICMag. Some people think they are the insect phylloxera. Many people do mistake these for fungus gnats though and then they wonder why their yields are so low and why they're seeing phantom lockouts.

[johnthemick]

There aren't many throw away bugs (as in throw away everything and start over) but these are one.

they will decimate an entire operation.

[lampost]

Yep. I already had to kill my nicest 8-cola Mr Nice @ 32 days. Its actually still dank... Would've liked to seen it @ 60 days.

If you're close enough to finish you can make it supposedly. But if you don't catch them in time your root system will be fucked. The plant won't "drink" at all, it'll just sit there suspended in time, a painful reminder of what could've been. Then it'll yellow up and all the leaves will die.

[MEDEDCANNABIS]

what are symptoms and does anyone have pics of these creatures. they sound like spider mites of the underworld

meded so you can mededicate to mededitate

[lampost]

Here's a thread over at ICMag that has some pics:

Fungus gnats or WINGED ROOT APHIDS??? - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums (http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=159960&highlight=root+aphids)

They are really easy to mistake for fungus gnats. I thought they were fungus gnats until I noticed they were kinda hanging out in my buds. And I took a microscope to them one day and noticed they were laying eggs or giving birth to little spider-like things...

The symptoms for me were basically a phantom nitrogen deficiency. The plant was slowly yellowing... although it was the entire plant... not just lower leaves. It was not helped at all by high-nitrogen nutes. By then it's pretty much too late.

Nematodes supposedly work well as prevention. But it appears there are a few different kinds of root aphids.

[TurboALLWD]

Here's a thread over at ICMag that has some pics:

Fungus gnats or WINGED ROOT APHIDS??? - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums (http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=159960&highlight=root+aphids)

They are really easy to mistake for fungus gnats. I thought they were fungus gnats until I noticed they were kinda hanging out in my buds. And I took a microscope to them one day and noticed they were laying eggs or giving birth to little spider-like things...

The symptoms for me were basically a phantom nitrogen deficiency. The plant was slowly yellowing... although it was the entire plant... not just lower leaves. It was not helped at all by high-nitrogen nutes. By then it's pretty much too late.

Nematodes supposedly work well as prevention. But it appears there are a few different kinds of root aphids.


Have you tried foliar feeding the damaged plants with the nitrogen deficiency?

[sarah louise]

A systemic pesticide applied to the leaves will slowly, but eventually, get rid of root aphids... good for bonsai Junipers but not really a usable solution for cannabis. Have to agree with Johnthemick, if clones came in with root aphids, they'd go straight in the bin.

The quickest way to check for root aphids is slip off the pot. Root aphids will leave a whitish fuzz that looks like beneficial fungi (mycorrhizal). The difference is that mycorrhizal fungi don't move and aphids do.

If you regularly need to buy in clones I think it would pay to have a small quarantine area, where new material can be pretreated before entering your garden space proper.

[lampost]

I think a beginner is best suited to start from seed rather than clone!! It may take a little longer and be a bit harder to obtain (unless you want tga/subcool LOL), but it'll pay off in the long run!

[MEDEDCANNABIS]

hmm...this is a new one. i laugh at people who say they know all there is to know about mj cultivation. in my 30 years of studies and at least once a year i learn something new.:cool:

meded so you can mededicate to mededitate

[lampost]

A systemic pesticide applied to the leaves will slowly, but eventually, get rid of root aphids... good for bonsai Junipers but not really a usable solution for cannabis. Have to agree with Johnthemick, if clones came in with root aphids, they'd go straight in the bin.

The quickest way to check for root aphids is slip off the pot. Root aphids will leave a whitish fuzz that looks like beneficial fungi (mycorrhizal). The difference is that mycorrhizal fungi don't move and aphids do.

If you regularly need to buy in clones I think it would pay to have a small quarantine area, where new material can be pretreated before entering your garden space proper.

Well, I think the problem is that they come in as eggs... eggs in soil are going to be damn near impossible to find. You won't notice any symptoms from them at all typically until about day 25 of flower! So, it's not as easy as checking/quarantining your clones.

In the future I'll dunk all foliage and roots in a neem solution (possibly a pyrethrum solution first after testing). The root dunk is just as important as the foliage dunk. Then I would inoculate the soil with predatory nematodes after a week or two and the neem/pyrethrum has been rinsed out.

From my understanding these things don't tend to cause as many problems during veg because the roots will grow back as quickly as the bugs can eat them. However, in flowering the roots won't grow back at the same rate (if at all), so the aphids become a HUGE problem ultimately killing your plant if unchecked.

[canaguy27]

finally figured out i had these little fuckers. going to hit them with azamax and then imidacloprid.

kept chasing a nutrient deficiency. glad i finally figured it out.

[Dorje113]

We use nematodes, they will eat eggs but once you have an infestation I'm not sure how effective they will be. They do completely eliminate fungus gnats though, but not if you miss a pot!

Root Aphids are not native to CO so you won't track them in from outside, vectors of contamination are usually potting soil, although I know some guys that just got them in their hydro system, new hydroton is the only way we think they got in...

[ThaiBuddhaMan]

nasty little buggers. Got em for the first time this past fall.

[puntacometa]

Every single clone vendor thats come through our door has had either powdery mildew, root aphids, spider mites or all three..

No fungus gnats yet?

[MEDEDCANNABIS]

No fungus gnats yet?

yeah right, something is missing in that list. although not an untruth in some cases.

[canniwhatsis]

I've been chasing what looks like N and P def. Mainly P.... figured I'd look..... after 20min of pouring over my root ball with the microsope I found nothing. :wtf: I'm hoping that's a good thing.

I haven't seen any wingged thinggs in my room in several months (believe they were fungus gnats from the new bag of soil at the time) My problem started about a month ago, and is only effecting vege, my bonsai moms to be exact. Flowering has been un effected.

On the plus side I hit my affected girls with a heavy P fert last week and things seem to be improving. So I've got my fingers crossed it was just a deficiency because those little bastards sound like bad f'n news!!!!

[puntacometa]

I've been chasing what looks like N and P def. Mainly P.... figured I'd look..... after 20min of pouring over my root ball with the microsope I found nothing. :wtf: I'm hoping that's a good thing.

I haven't seen any wingged thinggs in my room in several months (believe they were fungus gnats from the new bag of soil at the time) My problem started about a month ago, and is only effecting vege, my bonsai moms to be exact. Flowering has been un effected.

On the plus side I hit my affected girls with a heavy P fert last week and things seem to be improving. So I've got my fingers crossed it was just a deficiency because those little bastards sound like bad f'n news!!!!

Fungus gnats can act as vectors for all sorts of crap that can ruin your grow. I have seen it happen. One day you see these little fuckers flying around, a week or two later your grow is toast with the plants looking like deflated balloons. Root rot/Pithym and Fusarium wilt can occur and these are absolutely devastating, plus as the roots start to rot, your PH levels get squirrelly and you get lockout. It's really hard to bring them back, though I've seen it done by using some pretty extreme methods. Still, in hindsight the grower would have been better off just shitcanning the plants as they were so damaged that more time and money was spent bringing in a mediocre harvest than the harvest was worth.

If you're using RO'ed water, you're probably going to need to add CalMag. RO'ed water will leach the nutrients so depending on your grow medium you may need to adjust. It's usually not nearly the issue with dirt that it is with hydro, but it can be. Calcium/magnesium deficiency can weaken the plant and invite other problems. Also you might want to check your dissolved solids if you don't see any obvious signs of bug damage.