Root Aphids, Fungus Gnats, and other fun bugs (ID PICS)

[Spetys]

oh! Ok, thanks! :)

 

[Muckman420]

Any chance you could identify these wee fuckers?

That looks like a silverfish, unrelated to plants but love moist atmospheres. Could be what munched your leafs but don't quot me on that.

Appologize if anyone else noticed this and I'm posting late

 

[Toaster79]

Spring is here and so are the bugs.

This time I found a dead pea aphid laying on the soil where my vegfies grow:

 

[Myco]

Spring is here and so are the bugs.

This time I found a dead pea aphid laying on the soil where my vegfies grow:

View attachment 502950 View attachment 502953 View attachment 502954

Where I live spring can be a bit delayed, but I've heard that this may be a bad year for critters due to a warmer winter?

Seems like I always hear that though, but they're always lurking in the shadows...

That thing looks almost identical to a RA, minus those longer antennae/legs and color.

 

[Toaster79]

That thing looks almost identical to a RA, minus those longer antennae/legs and color.

That's why it caught my attention. But knowing my soil comes preloaded with Hipoaspis Miles and nematodes from the bag, I really don't fear those fuckers get comfy in my enviro. The sucker flew in through the window or came with the basil I planted the night before and never had a chance to survive.

 

[Shegrows]

This is weird but I got a preditor mite or hypothalois miles in my soil. They didn't show up until my gnats got out of control! I had seedlings and clones going and the gnats only stunted about 10 out of 700 seed starts! And they were bad. I think the eggs came in some pretty well known soil here in Humboldt for carrying gnats. My friend brought it into the scene with seeds already started in it so I let it go. Low and behold 2 weeks later gnats exploded! So I transplanted all the seedlings they bounced out of the "stunt" quickly. I moved the plants kept "mothers" and was very adamant on soils that had NO reputation of gnat larvae! So fast forward about 7 weeks and moms are healthy and pumping new cuts every 15 days like crazy. I have everything in a tent going well except the gnats exploded again!!!! This time I didn't treat them so nicely! I also looked closely at my soil and saw that the plants with the worst gnat infection also had these tiny clear/redish mites in them! I instantly thought RA and went to my hydro store and bought all the chemicals to go to war, as my plants were healthy, but I kept reading on the devastating affects of RA and that in flower they pretty much destroy plants! I bombed and chemed them (organically) but still for ever. My chemicals ended up hurting the plants worse then the bugs. After freaking out and dragging my beloved plants outside to be destroyed I kept thinking that these quick crawling bugs looked nothing like a RA... Plus this had been weeks of them in the plants and there wasn't signs of stress on the plants. Except burn from all the potions I was using to kill them. Then I finally had enough and took some tape of these bugs into the hydro store and we looked at the flyers and weird bugs under a microscope. Starting out we were all 100% they were RA! But then we saw that there was no "tail pipes" on the bugs. They also had a different nose not rounded like any RA. Then we counted there legs and they had 8 not 6. I have heard of soil companies adding these into the expensive Organic soil lines bc they know they have gnat problems. We finally identified the exact picture of a preditor mite called a hypothalois miles! Boom! The exact same we were looking at under a microscope! You can actually purchase these mites bc they eat fungus gnat larvae. I still didn't like the bugs. None of them! So I threw all my plants outside and started over w new strains! And pro mix! There was some time where new strains were in contact with old moms. But looking today boom, I see these "mites"! I'm so mad! You can't kill these mites! I have drenched them in pyganic, Neem, SNS, Dr. bronners. Steril soil. I just don't want any bugs! And I seem to notice them on plant that I can actually see a few adult gnats on. Are these a new kind of RA? They have no tail pipes. They have a long nose. 8 legs. And don't seem to affect the plants. They are fAsT and can hibernate in the soil and then come back to crawler form! They are tiny! And don't congregate near roots they run in the top inch of soil and a fast moving. They aren't for example near the water holes where white roots stick out. They prefer hanging out and moving fast on the top of the soil. I also have 2 inches of perlight on all my pots to keep gnats from getting out of control. I've given up on getting rid of them 100%. Plants look healthy, so what are these mites and are they a new breed of RA!?

 

[Seamaiden]

Breaking up that wall of text into paragraphs would make for easier reading on these eyes, so I've probably missed a bunch that you've posted.

I can't recall who said/posted it, but generally keep this in mind--fast-moving usually means it's a predator, whereas slow-moving usually means it's feasting on your plants.

Finally, why do you want to kill the Hypoaspis mites? They're beneficial. If your goal is zero bugs, you should be doing sterile hydro, no media whatsoever.

 

[Toaster79]

@Shegrows in post #218 i posted 2 videos of H. Miles. If those are actually what you're seeing that those are the bugs you want in your soil. No reason to eradicate them as they are beneficial. And those clearish redish bugs might be Predatory Mites which vary in color depending on their diet and specie.

 

[Shegrows]

They are definitely HM. They have the same long snouts, 8 legs, but the front two legs are long. They are fast moving and I have already identified what they are. They still gross me out. And why won't they die!!!! I do "babies" as a business and here's my issue with them. I don't mind them being in MY garden. But what if a few got into pots going out for sale, and patient didn't know they were beneficial bugs and was confused like I was at first and thought they were RA? Thats my issue with them.

Do you agree that might be a scary little bug to find if you did not know it was actually helping you? I love my bugs. I don't love the idea of people thinking I gave them RA!

 

[Shegrows]

And hydro doesn't equate to 0 bugs! In fact there's a terrible video on you tube of an infestation of RA. It's awful. RG can also live in rockwool, hydro mediums as well. My local Hydro store got a terrible RA outbreak in there "show" garden..

Here's another great thing I learned if you look at RG compared to RA fliers under a microscope, RG have horizontal stripes. RA are generally black.

 

[Toaster79]

They are definitely HM. They have the same long snouts, 8 legs, but the front two legs are long. They are fast moving and I have already identified what they are. They still gross me out. And why won't they die!!!! I do "babies" as a business and here's my issue with them. I don't mind them being in MY garden. But what if a few got into pots going out for sale, and patient didn't know they were beneficial bugs and was confused like I was at first and thought they were RA? Thats my issue with them.

Do you agree that might be a scary little bug to find if you did not know it was actually helping you? I love my bugs. I don't love the idea of people thinking I gave them RA!

So would it be so hard to explain to your customers, that you're using beneficial organisms in your garden as preventative, so they should be prepared for some action in the soil?

 

[Shegrows]

I'm not sure. I clone in EZ cloners so no mites there. It's a different room. Then I transplant into 3" pots of pro-mix and then clones are kept in a sterile tent until delivery... Then 90% of these babies go out to be grown outdoor. Do you think it's worth mentioning considering it's very unlikely they will ever see any mites?

 

[Shegrows]

Mentioning "mites" good or bad might turn people off. Although I've only had positive reviews and repeat business...

 

[Toaster79]

I'm not sure. I clone in EZ cloners so no mites there. It's a different room. Then I transplant into 3" pots of pro-mix and then clones are kept in a sterile tent until delivery... Then 90% of these babies go out to be grown outdoor. Do you think it's worth mentioning considering it's very unlikely they will ever see any mites?

So once again. Why do you want to eradicate them?

 

[Shegrows]

I think I'm now asking myself the same thing! Thanks bugs:)

 

[Quagmire]

Spring is here and so are the bugs.

No doubt huh Toaster.. I've always had problems with fungus gnats and have not had much luck getting rid of them using the typical safe things like Soaps, Sticky Traps etc.. so I was looking around and broke, luckily I found some stuff called "Gnatrol WDG" in a powder form.. Picked up a small Ziploc baggie of it for $3.00 + frt and was not so convinced it was going to work.. Ok, by the end of my last grow I had a full on infestation of the suckers, again being broke I had to reuse the soil passing on the eggs and adults to the next grow.. then I used the WDG powder at the rate of 2 tsp per gallon of water and soaked each 1 gallon pot pretty good.. and repeated this in 3 days.. It's been about 20 days now into the next grow and so far I've seen 1 .. yesterday when watering as I watch top of soil pretty good and one little dude ran off.. so time for a preventive soaking at a lower rate of 1 tsp/gal ... if things start to get worse as the plants put out more aroma it says you can sprinkle some on the top layer of soil.. I'VE FINALLY FOUND something that actually works on these buggars and I just wanted to share it with everyone..

cheers

 

[Toaster79]

Cool beans :)

The last bag of soil I'm using I bought in winter and it was stored outside so it was frozen. The bag was stiff as a brick. Left it on room temperature for two days prior to using it. Once put in the pots I actually seen some activity and got scared it came with critters. Took out my scope and started researching bugs as I found out those were actually Hypoaspis Miles running on the edges of my pots. After taking abetter look I also found nematodes inthere. Yes, I get gnats every year but never had a heavy infestation except for my first run where my soil was soaking wet all the time. I see a few adult flyers here and there but they dissappear after their first cycle. Never seen second generation. H.M is a predator but feeds of dead plant matter when there's nothing else to feed on. So I keep all the fan leaves after each run and mix them in my used soil to keep the population alive as long as possible. And before mixing new batch I also add some fresh soil just to be on the safe side.

 

[Quagmire]

Good idea looking up each critter ya see because some are beneficial.. seems like your getting things under control.. threads like this have helped me out so much these past years.. I try not to keep my soil to wet for that reason.. even dry stressing at times, maybe 3 days and when I do water man do they go bonkers..
I'm just now at the point to re-up on soil and I try to stay organic.. just got thru using Roots and have the Roots Buddha line of foods.. I've had great luck in the past with the Promix bales for $40 and I get the type loaded with all the good fungi spores, then add extra using Plant Success..

 

[Seamaiden]

And hydro doesn't equate to 0 bugs! In fact there's a terrible video on you tube of an infestation of RA. It's awful. RG can also live in rockwool, hydro mediums as well. My local Hydro store got a terrible RA outbreak in there "show" garden..

Here's another great thing I learned if you look at RG compared to RA fliers under a microscope, RG have horizontal stripes. RA are generally black.

Hydro is the best way to get a sterile environment, and that seems to be what you want. Any kind of media is going to harbor and hide something. What are RG?

They are definitely HM. They have the same long snouts, 8 legs, but the front two legs are long. They are fast moving and I have already identified what they are. They still gross me out. And why won't they die!!!! I do "babies" as a business and here's my issue with them. I don't mind them being in MY garden. But what if a few got into pots going out for sale, and patient didn't know they were beneficial bugs and was confused like I was at first and thought they were RA? Thats my issue with them.

Do you agree that might be a scary little bug to find if you did not know it was actually helping you? I love my bugs. I don't love the idea of people thinking I gave them RA!

No, but that's me personally. I come from a different place, time and world than most other people and I don't freak out every time I see something I cannot identify, let alone assume it "should" be killed. My response tends to be the opposite--curiosity and a desire to ID it and figure out what its place in the world is.

That said, I do agree that this is the common human condition. How about you just educate your customers about it, instead?

No doubt huh Toaster.. I've always had problems with fungus gnats and have not had much luck getting rid of them using the typical safe things like Soaps, Sticky Traps etc.. so I was looking around and broke, luckily I found some stuff called "Gnatrol WDG" in a powder form.. Picked up a small Ziploc baggie of it for $3.00 + frt and was not so convinced it was going to work.. Ok, by the end of my last grow I had a full on infestation of the suckers, again being broke I had to reuse the soil passing on the eggs and adults to the next grow.. then I used the WDG powder at the rate of 2 tsp per gallon of water and soaked each 1 gallon pot pretty good.. and repeated this in 3 days.. It's been about 20 days now into the next grow and so far I've seen 1 .. yesterday when watering as I watch top of soil pretty good and one little dude ran off.. so time for a preventive soaking at a lower rate of 1 tsp/gal ... if things start to get worse as the plants put out more aroma it says you can sprinkle some on the top layer of soil.. I'VE FINALLY FOUND something that actually works on these buggars and I just wanted to share it with everyone..

cheers

I've dropped too much money on the beneficial nematodes that aren't working, and I've lost an entire batch of CSI beans that had popped. I think Gnatrol is the one thing I haven't tried yet, literally. I just about cried when I opened the box and was hit in the face with hundreds of gnats, a day after using the nematodes for the 3rd time and thinking, Hey, these seem to actually work! So when I read this, I clicked onto Amazon and just bought some. Please please PLEASE let it work!

 

[Shegrows]

@Seamaiden i let the critters be. I also am fascinated by them, that's why I kept doubting the diagnosis of RA, and kept researching and even bought a microscope to investigate:) I consider them my garden friends. But now feel slightly dumb for listening to my local hydro store that unknowingly sold me 500.00 worth of organic sprays that DONT even work! By my messing with them I ended up loosing some big producing mothers. It wasn't until I stopped listening to the "experts" at my hydro store and looked at these mites myself that I finally convinced THEM that they had diagnosed wrong, and in the process caused more harm in the garden then good.
However, RA is never something you want to hear. It's like saying you have a dreaded disease in the plant world as there are few success stories of actually saving your plants!
Now for the root gnats, they ARE STILL THERE. I have 3 inches of perlight on all my pots, and the gnats appear to be enjoy it! As they are choosing the pots with perlight OVER the plants without. They DO harm my moms bc they're young. Once they get a good root system they can handle the buggers. But who's had luck keeping these stupid, gross, nasty gnats out! My HM must be on overload!!!