does anyone pre treat their coco with insecticide?I dont want anymore root aphids!!

[bucketcleaner48]

i keep reading posts of people geting bugs with their coco/soil. i have also been a victim (ffof). yet i havent seen anyone prepare their coco with any intention of killing potential pests. ive read of some people baking or microwaving their stuff, but not drenching. any reason why not?
(the rest is just my sitcho... im stoned and rambling about my problems and potential solutions for the rest of this post....just a fair warning lol. it is coco related tho)

i recently found out i have root aphids in my ebb and grow buckets. i used spectacide for a dunk last week and it killed the ra's on contact. i dunked again yesterday in bayer tree and shrub. next week ill spec treat again, followed by one more bayer dunk a week after. i hear not to fuck around when dealing with these things, so im not taking any chances. on top of that im keeping the neem coming! i spray ever 3 or 4 days just in case. no sign of reinfestation so far.

anyway, these plants have been fully compromised by root slime (which i first mis diagnosed as root rot, wasting about a week) and then bugs. the roots are coming back nice and white,but the leaves still arnt looking full colored and perky. slow growth, and overall very slow recovery so far(4weeks of problems and 2 weeks of recovery). i cant pull them yet, only because i saw such good root growth as of late. if the top would match the bottom, id be set. if the tops dont really recover in the next week or two, ill have to pull em. im still in veg btw.

so im hedging my bet with 20 madman og's in coco. i got the gh brick coco, and 3 gallon plastic/disposable grow bags. im gonna cut with 50% perlite.

i keep hearing of people getting aphids and gnats with their coco, so im gonna expand this brick with spectracide in ro water thats ph'ed and adjusted with gh cal mg at 5ml/gal. after soaking for a day ill rinse with 1/3 strength nutes ph'ed. (5.8)

once the clones get established im going to hit them with alternating treatments of bayer and spectacide, weekly, for the entire veg cycle.

hopefully this is the end of root aphids, spider mites, pm, fungus gnats, etc. the bayer should systemically keep the pests away, and regular neem treatments (weekly) have been pretty effective at keep the pm out. if i do get it ill hit with eagle 20 a couple times.

anyway, if you have had similar problems, or any recommendations, id love to hear/compare.

thanks for reading.
peace:icon_animal26:

 

[dankworth]

Hey dude you don't need all the poisons. Capulator's foliar pack(beneficial bacteria) kills fungus gnats and root aphids, and possibly other insects. I made a tea with a few grams of his bennies(don't need much, high spore count/cubic centimeter) to make it last longer, added tea to res, irrigated every two days, and killed almost all of them in a matter of days.
In just over a week, I have eliminated almost all root aphids. The medium is inoculated, so any ra's that come hang out will get infected and die. And no weird poisons. Check out Capulator's bennies threads.
And Cap's bennies are very affordable. Super good value.
Those root aphids are done cockblocking my success. After cleaning up the root aphids, I am adding IBA to the [email protected] of 1% IBA for a 45 gal res(the lowest recommended value according to desertsquirrel, can do up to double this amount)
and my roots are blowing up. Much cheaper than roots excelurator. And in my opinion more effective. Because you have to play catchup and get your roots happening before you can get serious progress out of the ladies again.
Cap should get a freaking medal or a gold star or something.
Sorry I'm new and not good with computers or I'd put up a link.

 

[TrichromeFan]

I think that Cap's benes are gonna be a good thing for your coco. I also think that if you are using brick, microwaving is what I would do. I think cemchris mentioned that one if memory serves me. I like that idea. The benes would be great no matter what.

-TF

 

[altimood]

Pretreat your coco with met 52 and never worry about root aphids again. Period. I double dawg swear.:)

 

[genepool]

I used DNF product called enhance seems to work pretty good but I'ld love to
find a fully organic option for sure. I'm pretty pissed about the pests I got from
Botanicare.

 

[TrichromeFan]

I assume that you mean Botanicare coco?

-TF

 

[Bud Spleefman]

I'm using GARANT, with 20% Imid in it, 4.5 ml in 10 gallons...... I flush the pots when they get their last transplant...... works all the way through flower.

YOu can get it on Ebay. Pretty cheap, like 30 bucks......

 

[symbiote420]

Why do we have to pre treat our ish in the first place, there is no reason in the world for these suppliers to be putting out fukt up prods unless they're in some BS scheme with the Hydro stores and Pesticde folks. Highly possible too!
I have never dealt with anything outside of the occasional fungus gnats here or there and I've been growing for 23 yrs in MI and indoors since 94, over the last three years I've had, no let me rewrite that, I've been infested with spider mites, root aphids, thrips, and whiteflies....WTF? I switched back to peat this fall, LOVIN' IT!! I can't deal with the coir anymore. And as bad as I want to sometimes, I don't get clones from people anymore....and I don't give a rat's ass what cut it is either!

 

[Bud Spleefman]

Why do we have to pre treat our ish in the first place, there is no reason in the world for these suppliers to be putting out fukt up prods unless they're in some BS scheme with the Hydro stores and Pesticde folks. Highly possible too!
I have never dealt with anything outside of the occasional fungus gnats here or there and I've been growing for 23 yrs in MI and indoors since 94, over the last three years I've had, no let me rewrite that, I've been infested with spider mites, root aphids, thrips, and whiteflies....WTF? I switched back to peat this fall, LOVIN' IT!! I can't deal with the coir anymore. And as bad as I want to sometimes, I don't get clones from people anymore....and I don't give a rat's ass what cut it is either!

That's all fine and good, but root aphids are a naturally occuring pest in Colorado, and they easily get inside my grow, so I have to treat for em. Period.

Google "coniferous root aphids" the little fuckers live in the pine trees.......

 

[Surfr]

Mix some Met52 in with the coco before you plants and you will never have to worry about aphids again. EVER.

 

[bucketcleaner48]

ive heard met52 is the way to go. i did soak my coco in spectricide tho. i dont want want any more bugs in my garden. havent seen one either. after i soaked in that juice i flushed with hot water, now im about to charge with 1//4 strength nutes. gh 3 part at 5/5/5 plus cal mg at 5ml/gal.
seems like the gh 3 part has enough cal and mg in it already tho. what do you guys think?

 

[cemchris]

I would listen to altimood. He has fought the fight. BTW anything that kills all your root aphids in a couple of days ... they arent dead. It still takes a while even with the met52 from what Ive seen. The only difference is met will keep them from reocurring. If you are talking about 20 plants then I would tear down, clean everything, repaint and start out with the met. I microwave or oven bake all my medium now and no cuts.

Sharing clones.....root aphids. Go to other grows....root aphids. Walk around outside and then your room.....root aphids. You have to be religious about how you got the pest and preventive measures or you will never get rid of the problem.

 

[bucketcleaner48]

been 2 weeks since i last saw a living root aphid. more actually. i look everyday for any new flyers on my traps. havent seen one. i look under each lid at the roots for for the little fuckers, not a one. i think ive got them knocked out, and im running 44 buckets and 3 soil moms. regardless im not taking anychances with any new medium i bring in. and i have way to much to microwave...

 

[cemchris]

To answer your question Spectricide isnt one of those things that I want to just flood my plants with on a regular basis. Also Spectricide def killed them but not all of them. Bake it in the oven. I can bake almost a whole bag of coco at once. It takes time but I know Im not getting any pests from it. If you are running buckets as in Ebb or DWC buckets? If so you shouldn't have a problem. It's just my suggestion. After fighting the fuckers pre met52 (hehe) I am NEVER gonna take a chance again.

 

[zor]

unfortunately, met 52 did not work for me in coco like it has for some. I truly wished it did but i ended up switching mediums to prevent reinfestation.

 

[Venom818]

unfortunately, met 52 did not work for me in coco like it has for some. I truly wished it did but i ended up switching mediums to prevent reinfestation.

merit 75 will solve your problem met 52 did nothing for me in coco as well