Experienced grower, novice/cheap-ass mistake!

[DND]

The title says it all! I buy some genetics that I have been wanting to grow for a while (BOG's SweetCindy) and spend $120 on them in the process...check.

Setup a grow space that is clean, climate controlled stealth, basically perfect for growing in...check.

Buy cheap ass gnat infested MG soil...NEVER AGAIN!

My plants are about 1.5 months old and struggling to say the least. They are pale green, have some brown spots on the leaves, stunted growth and look droopy. Tonight when I watered them, I noticed these tiny little bugs moving in the soil. They were so tiny I was surprised that I could see them. After some research I have came to the conclusion that they are most likely fungus gnat larva.

Question is, has anyone experienced similar things that I mentioned above due to these larva? I first thought that I was experiencing a nutrient lockout for some reason, but I flushed these plants (1 gallon containers) with ph 7.0 water 2 weeks ago and gave them a nice 600ppm feeding of GH FloraNova Grow. Still nothing has changed, but it hasn't gotten any worse. The new growth, if you want to call it that, is semi green with no spotting. But, it's just not growing at the rate I figure it should, if at all. Forgot to mention the stems have turned purple also.

Tonight to cure the larva, I mixed H2O2 at a ratio of 1 part to 4 parts water which is supposed to kill them on contact according to some info I googled online.

Just interested in other peoples opinions and experiences if you all have any. I know, DONT BUY MG SOIL AGAIN, lol.

 

[motherlode]

gnatrol

be careful as the h2o2 can mess up your roots

 

[mal]

That shit happens

I think the hydrogen peroxide will cure your ills, if not the gnatrol motherlode suggests will definitely do it. Once I had to quit growing indoors for a period, when I started back I bought 600$ worth of seeds from Dr Greenthumb, paper towel/soil got 28-1 1/2" plants I placed under 600 watts, went to water/check on them the next day and all plants were gone. To say the least I was extremely confused, pissed I planted 20 more seeds(ak47 hybrids) they came up, I put these under fluorescent light went to check on them and 12 were gone- fukn mice !!! They eat the good ones, left ones weren't worth a damn. Turned into a grower/exterminator for the next year. No more mice in my grow area, I still keep plants off the floor/styrofoam until they're at least 6" tall just in case, your never mouse free



mal

 

[motherlode]

damn bro that sux - I fucking hate mice

 

[DND]

Holy shit mal, that does suck!

I've been doing more research and it has brought some questions to my mind. Maybe I have root aphids? I was reading a thread here and this explains along with the pictures of what I'm experiencing to a T!



If this is the case, I'm not going to buy a harsh insecticide to try and cure it. I have taken a cutting that's in a bubbler bucket held in place by a netpot/hydroton. If that roots and starts to thrive I'll get rid of these other two and work directly from that clone.

It's just frustrating having to wonder and guess, but the more I read and see pics of the root aphid damage, the more it seems like the issue. Thank you guys for your input!

 

[Seamaiden]

Yeah, I was gonna say that I've got fungus gnats constantly and it takes a while for them to kill a seedling. Mites and root aphids probably do it very quickly. You should get in touch with lil miss lone or cemschris, they've been doing battle with the RAs for a while. I think also altitudefarmer has some experience with them.

 

[thumpnasty]

bayer tree and shrub will kill um

 

[DND]

Thanks Seamaiden and thumpnasty!

I checked the soil this morning and it still had the little bugs so I decided to cut my losses instead of trying to battle them. I took 3 more cuttings and used the last rockwool cubes to plant them in. My thinking is, if these are indeed root eating bugs they will die off because there are no roots for them to eat. I trashed everything... soil, buckets, trays, cleaned and vacuumed everything.

Just pisses me off beyond belief that I skimped and bought cheap soil. I know it could possibly happen with FF or some know quality bagged soil, but after reading all the issues with MG, I should have known better. In the end I wasted money on the soil, electricity on the lights and most importantly my sanity trying to figure out what was up. Lesson learned and moving on, but I needed to vent! Here's to healthy rooting clones, hopefully.

 

[Steve Z]

yo dude,


my last two bags of FFOF had soil mites, i think that may be what your talking about. they just like weave in and out, little white guys and eventually fi you dont do anything they will overrun your beni's and all that ish.

its not any soil companies fault, haha man fucking fox farm, maybe i justgo through someone who gets shitty bags, but they arent my thing anymore... going to roots organic OR MG just for the price.

but yeah man bayer tree and shrub, i use the kind for vegetables, it wipes them out in one application, and damn near anything else that may even be alive... besides the plant :-/

cant win em all

 

[motherlode]

bugs that come stock in bags of dirt is what made me leave the dirt behind in the first place

 

[sealed138]

doing a soil drench with Azamax will take care of your problem if its root aphids.

 

[vaporedout]

i had them once, and i was told on another site to take the top layer of soil off. then throw in a few daddy long legs or any kinda spider you can find around (not black widows). i did both along with a round of neem oil and they went away. i was also told to put sticky tape down but that just seemed like a pain. good luck!!

 

[vertigrow]

bugs that come stock in bags of dirt is what made me leave the dirt behind in the first place

word.

 

[mdTHC420]

ive noticed that FF OF does have a shit ton of lil black flies so switched to FF HF and there was a significant drop in flies.