my head is gonna pop!! please help!!??

Ok so I have a couple threads going through these problems I've been have ill be short and sweet here since I've pin pointed my problems but don't know what to do... I run ocean forest and happy frog soils, I just got new soil for this season and the happy frog was infested with little clear barely visible so small spider looking pests that apparently grow into something like fruit flys or gnats, I even found little tiny clearish tiny tiny worms? In the bag when I identified it as my source of my new infestation, that was so bad I HAD TO GET THE SOIL OUT!! now I was also dealing with an ongoing Ph issue that my run off over time dropped to 4.0 or less which I thought was my well water(Ph drops as tester) I pulled all my plants into another room after treating plants with end all organic insecticide, and bombed the room and the plants had been old enough for there transplant to the oceans, so I got ten pots ready for my ten plants and filled them with oceans forest I have went out n got distilled water and equilibrium(Cal/mag) that is also supposed to assist in Ph balance and preventing it from dropping so I got my water ready and watered the new soil in new pots my water went in at 6.8 and came out at 4.0 or less!!!! Brand new never watered ocean forest!!??? So I can't transplant into soil in that condition!? I'd be putting them right back in the same conditions!!?? What the *$&#%@& DO I DO!?? Its so bad I actually dumped straight Ph up through it and still couldn't get my run off above 4.0!? (This soil doesn't have plants in it yet by the way lol) I found out the plants in the happy frog the infestation is so bad they actually chewed the root tissue off the plants!!?? I'm so pissed n the hydro guy is being a complete ass about it won't help at all 100$ + of soil garbage!? What the hell do I do!? Is it me!? Is it the soil? The water!???

It's the soil.

If they store it where it can get wet, this is the result.

When the soil stays wet with no plants in it to draw out the water, the organic material begins to break down and rot.
The anaerobic rot is what lowers the PH and attracts the fungus gnats.
(Also attracts root aphids, they are much worse!)
They lay eggs in the soil and their babies eat the fungus that the wet conditions encourage.
If they are already hatching, it means you are very heavily infested.

How to fix it?
Tall order.
You can try baking the soil in an oven.
(It's gonna stink).
Bake it moist, 400 F. until it is bone dry.
Then add some finely ground dolomite limestone and do some serious hoping.

What would I do?
Dump the whole mess, scrub everything with bleach, buy new soil from a different shop, and start over.

And here a little tip.
Add a tablespoon of Adams flea and tick shampoo per gallon to the first few waterings and you won't see anymore fungus gnats, or root aphids.


Good luck brah, you're gonna need some.

Weezard

I'd be resting my balls on that hydro-jerks chin! At least he should take a good look into both issues and try and help you out. If he doesn't change his tune I'd stay cool and fuck with his shit. If he had plants growing I'd infest them with something nasty. Ants, bedbugs, wasps, mites, whatever I could manage to spirit in without suspicion. Repeat as necessary.

Lol thanks guys I needed that, I've talked to all these hydro shops people are so stupid one guy told me it was normal for the Ph to be that low he said run of will always be 1 or two less than water I said ya points not whole numbers!! My hydro guy basically said I've sold thousands of bags and never had a problem ever so I don't know what to tell you, I said will u give me my money back!? He said I told you buddy "I don't know what to tell you!!!" I said f urself j off!!!

Also I already did that I took the infested soil out to the dumps, 8 still living young plants in small cups of the shitty oceans cuz I had nothing else, I bombed the room treated the plants and if they live through another transplant great if the don't I'm glad I have more beans of all this strains, it'll be back to the boards...

Ok so check this out... is this from the Ph causing lockout in turn showing nutes deficiency or is this from the root aphids some input... and here's my info to hopefully help me get some more responses...

What is your experience level? (first timer, novice, experienced...)

Your Equipment: .1) Type and wattage of lights. (MH, HPS, CFL's, tube fluorescents, LED's) .2) Distance from tops? .3) Reflector type? (cool tube set-up, bat wing, enclosed reflector, bare bulb...) .4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply? .5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan? .6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule?

Your medium: .7) Specific brand and type of soil, (coco, peat based soilless...) and anything you've added to it. (vermiculite, perlite, worm castings...) .8) Size of container. .9) Did you use peat pucks (or similar) to root clones or germinate seedlings?

Your nutrients and water: 10) Source of water? (tap, bottled or filtered) What's it's ph before adjusting? 11) Method of checking water ph. (ph pen, test strips, aquarium test kit...) 12) Method of adjusting water ph. (phosphoric acid, white vinegar, hydrated lime, PH Up...) 13) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle. List dosages (quantity per gallon) and current feeding schedule. 14) How often are you watering between feedings, and how much per watering? 15) Any additives or tea's? (Superthrive, CalMag, molasses, Mother's Earth...) 16) Are your ph levels stable, or do they fluctuate? 17) What is your ingoing water's ph? ...your runoff ph? 18) Do you foliar feed? If so, with what, how often, and at what time do you spray?

Your growroom: 19) Indoors or outdoors? 20) What size of closet, room or hut? 21) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? ...With lights off? 22) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom?

Your strain: 23) What strain are you growing? (Indica dominate or Sativa dom?) 24) From seeds or clones? 25) Is this an autoflower strain?

Ok so check this out... is this from the Ph causing lockout in turn showing nutes deficiency or is this from the root aphids some input... and here's my info to hopefully help me get some more responses...

What is your experience level? novice

Your Equipment: .1) Type and wattage of lights? Mh and hps 2 1k setups in each room with 1 spare 1k system if needed, and a 400w cfl starter cab
2) Distance from tops?26" in veg 6" in cab, 24" in fflower
.3) Reflector type? Vented cool tube set-up
.4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply? No, perfect room w/ 1500ppm cco2
.5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan? Multiple circ fans
.6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule? All 1k, veg 6k mh blue bulbs, 6500k cfls, hps's dual spectrum for flower, and 3700k hps's

Your medium: .7) Specific brand and type of soil? Fox farms straight happy frog for pre veg, straight oceans for veg, straight amazon bloom for flower
.8) Size of container? Solos to 1gal to 5gal.
.9) Did you use peat pucks (or similar) to root clones or germinate seedlings?seeds go straight into happy frog no pre germ, clones in rapid rooters

Your nutrients and water: 10) Source of water? Tap or distilled with equilibrium(cal/mag) What's it's ph before adjusting? 6.8 +/- .2
11) Method of checking water ph? Drops
12) Method of adjusting water Ph? Ph up and white vinegar
13) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle. List dosages (quantity per gallon) and current feeding schedule. Soul synthetics grow 3-1.25-1.25, soul synthetics infinity .5-2.5-1.5, soul synthetics bloom 1.5-4.5-3, following instructions just started feeding a few weeks ago only on two plants but starting others soon(too young) feeding every other water or every other week about the same
14) How often are you watering between feedings, and how much per watering?1 watering between feeding, and water until see run off
15) Any additives or tea's? (Superthrive, CalMag, molasses, Mother's Earth...) equilibrium 1-1-2(Cal/mag)
16) Are your ph levels stable, or do they fluctuate? Have been slowly dropping to less than 4.0 in all fox farm soils(current problen think its bad soil)
17) What is your ingoing water's ph? 6.8 give or take .2 ...your runoff ph? 4.0 or less (current problem)
18) Do you foliar feed? If so, with what, how often, and at what time do you spray? Not currently

Your growroom: 19) Indoors or outdoors? In
20) What size of closet, room or hut? Two 6x7.5ft rooms
21) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? 80f give or take 2deg 50-70%rh ...With lights off? Currently 24/0
22) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom? Yes, root aphids

Your strain: 23) What strain are you growing? (Indica dominate or Sativa dom?) Delicious northern light blue, delicious carmello, mandala satori, barneys tangerine dream, mixed hybrids
24) From seeds or clones? Seeds
25) Is this an autoflower strain? None, no

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Now I'm also seeing something that looks like an eating insect like a worm or caterpillar but extreme investigation has shown nothing but these look like a hairline streak chewed through leaves(found on two leaves)??

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Ok sorry for all this posting chaos but the four previous posts rescind my issues 100% in detail the first of four previous posts was messed up so disregard the unfilled form, the previous three posts go hand in hand, the first is my cut n paste form and the following two(look closely) are my pics showing my leaf problems to aid in problem resolution... anyone have anything to add??

Ok so in simple turns I just went through 4 bags of ffof and every single one of the 2.0cu.ft. bags had a run off of 4.0 brand new.. ALL OF THEM.. after frustration I flushed a pot from each bag with straight Ph up(no plant in it just new soil being prepped) then I found that my two bags of happy frog were the same, frustrated after dealing with the hydro guy earlier and all my problems I decided to try a new hydro shop(I LOVE now btw) they were great but so irritated with this problem I bought 4 kinds of soil, two different kinds of roots(comparable to ffof, and ffhf) I got Humboldt earth, and I got pro mix, all these bags(soil tested) at the store with a ph of 6.8-7.1 all of them... since I love Aurora products I was excited to try the roots soils... but guess what every single bag I got toiday was the same¡!!!!!¡¡!!¡¡!!¡!!!¡!!???? Could not get them higher than 5.0 even with straight Ph up flush!!!!??? Off topic I also bought new gallons for my side by sides:-D I got dyna gro qts grow bloom n the micro, I got Aurora's soul line(which I have been running forever n LOVE) the grow, bloom, infinity, big swell, and peak, and aminos all in gallons!! I got Gen hyd Biothrive line, the Bio root, the grow, bloom, Cal/mag, n Bio bud, all qts.. And the fox farm trio soil, and fox farm connissour... talk about blowing ur wad!!! I'm broke now!! Back to the matter at hand I called around, realizing my original decision that it was a bad batch of oceans was wrong as its the same in all the soils three hydro shops told me run off is always two points below(which I don't believe cuz I've never seen that) so if its 4.5 om perfect cuz that means its 6.5, I called fox farms, Humboldt, dyna gro, and Aurora they all said it could be chunks of hot soil not mixed in multiple bags caused those bags to be too hot, they said the compost could be moist and re composting causing it, some said ignore the run off they are good soils just regularly water with 7.0 and ill be fine that it will maintain cuz the soils are made to, some said theres too many ingredients the soil runs across before run off that are hot i wont get acurate reading anyway, they ALL said run off should not be tested because it extremely inaccurate and I shouldn't believe this reading to test the soil itself, and Aurora said they're roots soil gets real hot when most due to re-composting to open the bag and let it breath over night and it should go way up n be ok once it starts to dry out again, like I said all the soils at the store before watering were at 7.0 -/+ .2, I tried all different waters nothing changed it.. I WILL GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS!!! and after losing my head probably a grand worth of this season down the tubes and all this round crazy exciting and expensive strains, I have to figure it out, and be able to help some peeps along the way!!! PLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEE someone ANYONE!! INPUT!!??? I test with Ph drops so its not calibration either, all soils brand new, tonight ill let all the soils breathe and dry out and see if that helps like they said, but I doubt it anyone seen this anyone know what I'm seeing? What's going on?

I don't use pH 'drops' but by this time I'd be looking at another way to validate the pH readings. I bought a rapidtest analog pH tester and a rapidtest digital pH tester for my brother. Both were entirely useless. I bought the rapidtest capsule tester and I couldn't get any useful info from that. I borrowed a Milwaukee pH tester and calibration solutions and that worked so I bought a Bluelab pH tester and solutions as it was highly recommended. I would recommend this unit for you. I have been using General Hydroponics pH down to adjust the water/nutrient solutions. It takes a while for the pH to settle out after adding nutrients or pH down so take that into consideration.