I saw Blue Dog's thread... the pic he posted of his suffering plants is pretty much textbook when describing how my plants can be at their worst. That is basically exactly what my plants will look like, around the teen stage in veg, if I attempt to feed with any sort of liquid nutes. Leaf twist, they get that leathery feel, stunted, light sensitive etc.

I still am back and forth on whether or not my little critters are the cause of my underlying problem, or an effect. If the latter, I am fresh out of options as to what it could be. I'm still getting by, just had a very successful harvest. But the problem is quite obviously there.

*sigh*

I had the same issues with deficiencies and suffering plants. I've had roots aphids before and when I experienced the similar problems again I figured it was RA's. I then treated the plants with merit75 and nothing changed. I grabbed my microscope and took some pics... I never was able to find out exactly what kind of mites they were. Maybe someone can identify them, I do have a couple more pics and a video of the bastard running around if anyone's interested. :)

Maitreyah said:

I had the same issues with deficiencies and suffering plants. I've had roots aphids before and when I experienced the similar problems again I figured it was RA's. I then treated the plants with merit75 and nothing changed. I grabbed my microscope and took some pics... I never was able to find out exactly what kind of mites they were. Maybe someone can identify them, I do have a couple more pics and a video of the bastard running around if anyone's interested. :)

Click to expand...

Did you ever figure out how to kill these things?

I didn't read any of the posts. I just saw this in the "new posts" section or whatever...but I can tell you, for a certain, those are Root Aphids.

Junk said:

I didn't read any of the posts. I just saw this in the "new posts" section or whatever...but I can tell you, for a certain, those are Root Aphids.

Click to expand...

I was thinking root aphids also but there are zero on the stems or leaves only in the soil. If you have time Google Bulb Mites that's what they look like to me. Would the aphids be on the leaves? And also how could I kill these things in organic soil. I already started over completely once and cleaned very well. I just can't keep doing that and at first everything was good for about 3 weeks then Bam they are back. Any suggestions would help.
Thanks!

cctt said:

They kind of look like RAs by shape, and the fact that they're crawling on the roots. They're not the darker color I expect, though, and I can't identify the signature "dual tail pipes". These pictures are at 200x and 60x - They look like specks with the naked eye and slowly moving specks with a loupe. I am used to seeing RAs more easily without magnification. The roots where they're found are more brown than the others - though the medium is being reused and full of old roots - so it could possibly be already-dead rootmass attracting them.
View attachment 273510View attachment 273511View attachment 273512 View attachment 273509

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Did you ever figure these things out I'm have the same issues. Thanks!

YaBuddy321 said:

I was thinking root aphids also but there are zero on the stems or leaves only in the soil. If you have time Google Bulb Mites that's what they look like to me. Would the aphids be on the leaves? And also how could I kill these things in organic soil. I already started over completely once and cleaned very well. I just can't keep doing that and at first everything was good for about 3 weeks then Bam they are back. Any suggestions would help.
Thanks!

Click to expand...

There are some that like to stay under the soil. I've had them many times outside. They also look a little different than the ones you will see above soil. They tend to be a bit more streamlined to maneuver through the soil. Less pointy, "softened edges." Which is why sometimes people confuse them with bulb mites.

Bulb mites are generally smoother looking, like a light bulb. Forgive me, I forget all the proper anatomical names but it will have the head section, & the rest looks like a tiny white water balloon. It will also have tails. The post right above my previous one is a young bulb mite. The shape, smoothness, & tails give it away.

RA's don't have tails like that. It's more like a bump called a Cauda. It's only noticeable with really high resolution pics at super close up, & often you have to be at the right angle. They usually have a horizontal stripe pattern, which is what looks like is going on with your pic, & I don't see tails. If you were able to post those pics as thumbnails so we could enlarge them it might be easier.

But, I'm fairly certain it's just RA's. It's not bulb mites. RA's are a bitch to get rid of.

Personally, if I was inside & I had this problem...I would carefully take the plant & dispose of it. That's the last thing you want in your tent. Or spreading. They lay like 500 eggs in a very short lifespan.

Where are they feeding on the roots? Down low? Or higher up?

Junk said:

There are some that like to stay under the soil. I've had them many times outside. They also look a little different than the ones you will see above soil. They tend to be a bit more streamlined to maneuver through the soil. Less pointy, "softened edges." Which is why sometimes people confuse them with bulb mites.

Bulb mites are generally smoother looking, like a light bulb. Forgive me, I forget all the proper anatomical names but it will have the head section, & the rest looks like a tiny white water balloon. It will also have tails. The post right above my previous one is a young bulb mite. The shape, smoothness, & tails give it away.

RA's don't have tails like that. It's more like a bump called a Cauda. It's only noticeable with really high resolution pics at super close up, & often you have to be at the right angle. They usually have a horizontal stripe pattern, which is what looks like is going on with your pic, & I don't see tails. If you were able to post those pics as thumbnails so we could enlarge them it might be easier.

But, I'm fairly certain it's just RA's. It's not bulb mites. RA's are a bitch to get rid of.

Personally, if I was inside & I had this problem...I would carefully take the plant & dispose of it. That's the last thing you want in your tent. Or spreading. They lay like 500 eggs in a very short lifespan.

Where are they feeding on the roots? Down low? Or higher up?

Click to expand...

They are feeding on the roots at the top. I trashed my last grow because of this and bleached everything and didn't grow for two or three months they are still here

Junk said:

There are some that like to stay under the soil. I've had them many times outside. They also look a little different than the ones you will see above soil. They tend to be a bit more streamlined to maneuver through the soil. Less pointy, "softened edges." Which is why sometimes people confuse them with bulb mites.

Bulb mites are generally smoother looking, like a light bulb. Forgive me, I forget all the proper anatomical names but it will have the head section, & the rest looks like a tiny white water balloon. It will also have tails. The post right above my previous one is a young bulb mite. The shape, smoothness, & tails give it away.

RA's don't have tails like that. It's more like a bump called a Cauda. It's only noticeable with really high resolution pics at super close up, & often you have to be at the right angle. They usually have a horizontal stripe pattern, which is what looks like is going on with your pic, & I don't see tails. If you were able to post those pics as thumbnails so we could enlarge them it might be easier.

But, I'm fairly certain it's just RA's. It's not bulb mites. RA's are a bitch to get rid of.

Personally, if I was inside & I had this problem...I would carefully take the plant & dispose of it. That's the last thing you want in your tent. Or spreading. They lay like 500 eggs in a very short lifespan.

Where are they feeding on the roots? Down low? Or higher up?

Click to expand...

Mine also look exactly like the pic above

YaBuddy321 said:

Mine also look exactly like the pic above

Click to expand...

These are my bugs on a potato. Not very good but you can see them a little

Junk said:

There are some that like to stay under the soil. I've had them many times outside. They also look a little different than the ones you will see above soil. They tend to be a bit more streamlined to maneuver through the soil. Less pointy, "softened edges." Which is why sometimes people confuse them with bulb mites.

Bulb mites are generally smoother looking, like a light bulb. Forgive me, I forget all the proper anatomical names but it will have the head section, & the rest looks like a tiny white water balloon. It will also have tails. The post right above my previous one is a young bulb mite. The shape, smoothness, & tails give it away.

RA's don't have tails like that. It's more like a bump called a Cauda. It's only noticeable with really high resolution pics at super close up, & often you have to be at the right angle. They usually have a horizontal stripe pattern, which is what looks like is going on with your pic, & I don't see tails. If you were able to post those pics as thumbnails so we could enlarge them it might be easier.

But, I'm fairly certain it's just RA's. It's not bulb mites. RA's are a bitch to get rid of.

Personally, if I was inside & I had this problem...I would carefully take the plant & dispose of it. That's the last thing you want in your tent. Or spreading. They lay like 500 eggs in a very short lifespan.

Where are they feeding on the roots? Down low? Or higher up?

Click to expand...

Here is a pic I snapped on a potato I left in my soil. Not very good but you can see those dam things

YaBuddy321 said:

I was thinking root aphids also but there are zero on the stems or leaves only in the soil. If you have time Google Bulb Mites that's what they look like to me. Would the aphids be on the leaves? And also how could I kill these things in organic soil. I already started over completely once and cleaned very well. I just can't keep doing that and at first everything was good for about 3 weeks then Bam they are back. Any suggestions would help.
Thanks!

Click to expand...

Root aphids only live on the roots. Above ground all you'll see are flyers.

YaBuddy321 said:

These are my bugs on a potato. Not very good but you can see them a little

Click to expand...

It's hard to be certain because they are so small, but they look like bulb mites to me. & they will eat potatoes.

@Seamaiden is correct, not unusual. I'm going from memory, because I haven't looked at a gardening book since about the time I started cannabis. But root aphids don't have the structure to develop wings. Even above the soil ones, once a colony is established, some of the younger ones, even with the structure, will not develop wings. They have everything they need.

RA's are strictly crawlers, & the theory is (I don't put much stock into this because it's constantly changing) that because they don't have wings to quickly flee from danger, they stay under ground, because their chances of survival are higher.

Who knows, maybe they are just not ambitious. But you have two classes of them. Flyers, & crawlers. In this case the crawlers are easier to get rid of.

If it appears to be contained to one plant, & you can afford to, I would get rid of it asap. If they spread, well, you don't want them to spread.

I've use the nematodes solution & it's worked every time. However, I've never had to use it on a cannabis plant, so I don't know any potential reactions. I can't think of any...

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/kill-root-aphids-43712.html

Seamaiden said:

Root aphids only live on the roots. Above ground all you'll see are flyers.

Click to expand...

Haven't seen flyers yet. Do you think it is a good idea to take my house plant to my local university that is showing the same type of issues as my babies? The house plants also has the soil mites or whatever so if they are bad they can tell me for 20 bucks. Thanks!

I have an problem with this insects some years ago in Nft systems
pics




normally are black color, the females have wings, and the solution of Rosenthal is the best for this insect,
the original post in icmag

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=32057

Junk said:

But root aphids don't have the structure to develop wings. Even above the soil ones, once a colony is established, some of the younger ones, even with the structure, will not develop wings. They have everything they need.

RA's are strictly crawlers, & the theory is (I don't put much stock into this because it's constantly changing) that because they don't have wings to quickly flee from danger, they stay under ground, because their chances of survival are higher.

Who knows, maybe they are just not ambitious. But you have two classes of them. Flyers, & crawlers. In this case the crawlers are easier to get rid of.

Click to expand...

Root aphids are damn near exactly like cabbage aphids. Cabbage aphids DESTROYED a good 30lbs of a specialty cauliflower crop I was growing for market. There are no organic treatments for cabbage aphids, only physical barriers are effective and we're talking about row covers, buried all the way around. These species of aphids have two major life stages, the aphid stage, which if I recollect is a juvenile stage, and the flyer stage, which are the adult, pregnant females. IIRC, there are other stages, let me do some searching. But, the point is that RAs do have a flyer stage, and that only occurs when the infestation has become more advanced. Which is, as it so happens, also about the time that a grower really notices there's a problem.

Now, this is specific to Phylloxera. There are many species of root aphid. There are RAs that affect conifers, RAs that affect beets, corn root aphids, and so on. I'm not sure, but I believe that all other species of aphids can have a winged form as well. Don't hold me to that though!

Seamaiden said:

Root aphids are damn near exactly like cabbage aphids. Cabbage aphids DESTROYED a good 30lbs of a specialty cauliflower crop I was growing for market. There are no organic treatments for cabbage aphids, only physical barriers are effective and we're talking about row covers, buried all the way around. These species of aphids have two major life stages, the aphid stage, which if I recollect is a juvenile stage, and the flyer stage, which are the adult, pregnant females. IIRC, there are other stages, let me do some searching. But, the point is that RAs do have a flyer stage, and that only occurs when the infestation has become more advanced. Which is, as it so happens, also about the time that a grower really notices there's a problem.

Now, this is specific to Phylloxera. There are many species of root aphid. There are RAs that affect conifers, RAs that affect beets, corn root aphids, and so on. I'm not sure, but I believe that all other species of aphids can have a winged form as well. Don't hold me to that though!

Click to expand...

From what I understand, & it's kind of in the picture, RA's (I am being extremely general here, there are tons if different types, you were being very specific) is that they will stay underground until they have exhausted a food source. They prefer to stay underground, so if they can move to another plant they will. Which may explain why I have only ever seen them above, or below the soil. I have large garden beds, so they have no problem moving on to the next plant. I have never seen them coming from above & going down underground, or the reverse. I'm also only speaking of outside vegetable gardening. The only pest I've ever had inside is a cricket. & I'm still trying to catch that sob.

Anyway, I was under the impression that most will stay wingless, unless to survive, a female will develop wings to establish another colony. It is not understood exactly how. That colony, the way I have understood it, will now be above soil, but will also be wingless, until a food source is depleted again. At which point a female will develop wings & go establish a new village.

In other words, some of them, take it upon themselves to develop wings, but simply to move & procreate somewhere else, if there is no where else underground to go. Once the flyer establishes a new colony, they will also be crawlers. Until a food source is depleted again. So becoming a flyer is not in the life cycle of, I believe, most aphids. A female will become a flyer, simply too move to another food source. But you will not often see them.

It is extremely possible, that I have just never observed crawlers emerging from the dirt, but from the many that I have seen, they seem perfectly content to stay down, or up, depending on how they got there.

http://www.backyardnature.net/aphid_lc.htm



**Edit, so you are right, in my opinion, they almost all have a winged form. All I'm saying is ending their life cycle in winged form is the exception, not the rule. Only some of them can even do it, & if they don't need to move to eat, they won't.

Unfortunately, they reproduce so rapidly, that if you have a small crop, flyers are likely to develop. & if you are in a tent or inside...they only have one place to go.

That's why I asked if the OP was inside or out, & why I suggested, if possible, get rid of that plant & get on damage control asap. The only way I personally would not toss that plant, was if the infestation was already in all of them.

YaBuddy321 said:

Haven't seen flyers yet. Do you think it is a good idea to take my house plant to my local university that is showing the same type of issues as my babies? The house plants also has the soil mites or whatever so if they are bad they can tell me for 20 bucks. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Yikes. Any personal help you can get with it would be beneficial. What soil are these in?

& just to make myself look stupid, I went out to the aphid trap on my cherry tree. There was about 6-10 flyers (it's hard to tell sometimes if it's a flying aphid or something else) the rest (60 or so) are crawlers. So those females either got to that cherry tree & got stuck, or that many were turned into flyers. I'll try to get pics up when my phone has battery again so people can see. Because, I think I'm close...but that was more flyers than I was expecting.

Oh, man... Well, I hope you're able to keep a handle on 'em. Like I said, cabbage aphids destroyed my crop, and it's the last time I've tried to grow out these types pf Brassicas.

Junk said:

From what I understand, & it's kind of in the picture, RA's (I am being extremely general here, there are tons if different types, you were being very specific) is that they will stay underground until they have exhausted a food source. They prefer to stay underground, so if they can move to another plant they will.

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly! There were so many pictographics when I searched simply on root aphids, that I had to choose just one, and interestingly enough, they all seem to go through very similar stages.

Junk said:

Anyway, I was under the impression that most will stay wingless, unless to survive, a female will develop wings to establish another colony. It is not understood exactly how. That colony, the way I have understood it, will now be above soil, but will also be wingless, until a food source is depleted again. At which point a female will develop wings & go establish a new village.

Click to expand...

That's how I understand it as well. I use different terminology (UG forms hit 'plague' proportions, then the girls get going). But! That said, my very first experience with them was outside, my balcony, hempy perlite tubs (nothing imported via soil). I saw ants going in and out of the tubs, and within a couple of weeks began seeing what I thought were 'super fungus gnats.' Then, what called 'The Mystery Yellowing Event' that I couldn't bring anything back from. I basically had to be hit over the head with the idea of root aphids by a long gone poster here, and I felt terrible because I gave her a hard time, told her she had bugs in her eyes once.