Green LEDs cause hermies?

[Seamaiden]

Shoestring, I'd be sitting here nodding my head in agreement IF I hadn't had the one experience I did. Let me set out the scenario for you.

• Rock solid genetics, raised and bred right here in these same mountains where I live.

• Root aphids, outside in pure perlite, that I thought, while outside, were 'super fungus gnats'. Then, the 'mystery yellowing event' occurred on those gals, perlite hempy tubs done outside, that I couldn't figure out. They looked AWFUL, so I took lots of cuttings from all of them and got them rooted. When I look back, I'm amazed I got 'em rooted.

OD season finished, and I wanted to see what those ladies would do indoors, so I get 'em vegged out and repotted in coir. We're off to the races! Lookin' great through veg & stretch. Then we get about a month into flowering, and I've got another mystery yellowing event occurring and 'fungus gnats' that are at plague proportions.

In the meantime, there's a gal here who had bugs in her eyes and kept telling me, "You've got root aphids, you've got root aphids!" I didn't believe her. UNTIL....


Each and every one of those girls hermied. I was astonished. I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong, I thought maybe I'd fucked up the labeling and these weren't the genetics I thought they were. So I contacted a few folks familiar with these genetics asking about them ever herming--no one, ever. Everyone insisted that if I was seeing hermies I'd screwed up labeling. So, back I went through everything, nope, didn't screw up labeling, WTF?

So, FINALLY, that gal convinced me to check out the bugs stuck on the yellow sticky traps and compare them and FUCK if she wasn't right! I had some fungus gnats, sure, but what was screwing my pooch was those fucking root aphids.

Being as I've run those same genetics afterward (except The White, couldn't get any more cuttings to root from her) and have yet to see a problem in the years since, I personally am convinced that the stress of the root aphids caused them to express a recessive hermaphroditism trait.

 

[shoestring]

Yeah i dont doubt it one bit. Root aphids are a pain in the ass and are for some reason attracted to coir.grows like a magnet. Bugs in the grow room causing hermies is a whole different ball game and something iam just now hearing. I was thinking more along.the lines of supposed light.leaks and the way growers just write hermies off as that being the cause. Root aphids are the new spider mites to me and alot of other growers especially coir rooms and I suspect that besides the idea that they can cause hermies theres gonna be a whole lot of other problems no ones ever heard of before. Ive had them. They suck big time. Funny thing.is that fungus gnats and root aphids were not talked.or discussed about in detail (beacause they werent a problem?)until recently in the grower community. I suspect that there is a correlation to this and the growing popularity of people growing in coco coir.

 

[shoestring]

For the record. I and a.bunch of my grower friends got rid of fungus gnats and root aphids for good using any pesticide containing imidacloprid. The product Bayer fruit and citrus or Bayer tree and shrub kicks thier asses completely for me. I add a teaspoon per gallon in my 4 30 gallon trashcan reservoirs whenever i load up a table in my room(one res for each table). I add it rite with my solution but i lower that down to 500 ppm or so. My pumps turn on for one to three times during lights on for 40 seconds depending on stage of plants (drain to waste top feed coco).My rez's are refilled every 4 to7 days. One application at the beginning and my root aphid and fungus gnats are gone. I might catch a gnat once or twice during a grow on a sticky card but them buggers have not been a problem in well over a year. Little bastards. I hate em. Lol

 

[Seamaiden]

Yeah i dont doubt it one bit. Root aphids are a pain in the ass and are for some reason attracted to coir.grows like a magnet. Bugs in the grow room causing hermies is a whole different ball game and something iam just now hearing. I was thinking more along.the lines of supposed light.leaks and the way growers just write hermies off as that being the cause. Root aphids are the new spider mites to me and alot of other growers especially coir rooms and I suspect that besides the idea that they can cause hermies theres gonna be a whole lot of other problems no ones ever heard of before. Ive had them. They suck big time. Funny thing.is that fungus gnats and root aphids were not talked.or discussed about in detail (beacause they werent a problem?)until recently in the grower community. I suspect that there is a correlation to this and the growing popularity of people growing in coco coir.

Yeah, I've read that often. It just doesn't explain why they showed up outdoors, in a pure perlite grow. I saw ants going in and out of the tubs, looked for the kind of aphids I know, didn't see any so I figured I was ok. Then the mystery yellowing event, etc.

I've tried the Bayer, didn't do a thing for the RAs. Yes, it kills fungus gnats, but I'm an organic gal and it doesn't fit with me. What did the trick, FINALLY (even after using two doses of Merit 75WP)(you read that right) was the Triazicide. It drove all the frogs away and smells so poisonous! Fungus gnats are what are always around, both inside and outside our home, and those are what I battle still with indoor growing. I'm going to be using Cap's bennies to battle them before I try anything else.

 

[shoestring]

2.doses of Merit didnt knock em out you had some super aphids for sure. I used to live in california and i remember a bunch of rose bushes in my front yard covered in those green easy to kill aphids. I collected a shiltload of ladybugs during the day and let them have at it at night. They devoured them aphids and made short work of em within days. Then the ladybugs with full bellies just kinda left. There were a few aphids still hanging around and i finished them off with some imid. They never did come back. But the ones that attack marijuana plants seem to be a different breed of aphids. These ones like to fly at a certain point in thier life span and are a major pain in the ass. Now theres evidence they can make solid genetics turn hermie? Dammit!!! I got a buddy of mine that almost quit growing alltogether because of aphids. He had em indoors and out. The ones on his indoor crops had little white larva flushing out his runoff coming out the pot drain holes. Lost alot of potential buds for almost a year. Glad you nailed them bastards. And if i had to choose i would take spider mites anyday over root aphids.

 

[Seamaiden]

Root aphids, in my experience, are a lot like cabbage aphids. There are NO organic controls for cabbage aphids once they get a foothold in your crops, you can try to control them but it's extremely difficult. Ruined an entire crop of Brassicas, and they behave much the same way except that you see the larval/aphid form on the flower clusters instead of growing in the roots. When they hit plague proportions, then the pregnant female flyers erupt, just like with RAs. If you grow Brassica crops organically, you do *not* want to be hit with cabbage aphids.

Same here, I'll take spider mites over those fuckers ANY day of the week!

 

[jtrey]

So i just got the saturn 6 from titan and that has a BUNCH of green leds and one blinking one on the sensor.... So i did my first dark room check this morning and it was pretty bright in there with all the green on .... Soo should I tape them or not? i understand that one 3 watt led may not throw nanners but with like 5 or 6 do it? also that reflect from the panda is pretty white....

 

[420 lyfePpP]

Yeah, for real- they weren't happy enough making 200% profit on some green light three years ago- had to switch it up to some 'green' light that makes 4000% profit. fuckers.

Lol , even the color of money

 

[oscar169]

So i just got the saturn 6 from titan and that has a BUNCH of green leds and one blinking one on the sensor.... So i did my first dark room check this morning and it was pretty bright in there with all the green on .... Soo should I tape them or not? i understand that one 3 watt led may not throw nanners but with like 5 or 6 do it? also that reflect from the panda is pretty white....

Yes Tape off everything in the room, Don't give shit it green,yellow.red, Black is Black, NO LIGHT !!....;)