Hydroponics Root Pest

[Moses249]

I grow using flood and drain tables. Recently I have found a bunch of what looks like tiny white insects at the base of my hydro tables, and floating in my reservoirs. They r tiny have to be like 1/4 cm or even smaller but they clump in big groups and seem to swim very well in the water. I recently just harvested and noticed at the base of my plant stems there were small stem rot areas the size of a quarter and that some of these bugs were coming in and out of the wounds. I can't really post any pictures sadly though i know that would help. I don't see any fliers of any kind in the room. I have had fungus gnats before and have seen them crawling around the top layer of hydroton in my pots. But with these insects i don't see any fliers at all. Like i said they seem to swim and live in the water just fine. Initially i thought it was water lice or something but i have been recently thinking that they r some type of root aphid? When i take apart my root balls i don't see anything crawling on roots like i have seen in other online posts and videos of root aphids. I used microbe lift BMI this last crop every week in my reservoirs thinking that if they were fungus gnats that would get them. But it seemed like it had no effect whatsoever. I'm confident they aren't a host of known pests, thirps, gnats, spider mites, white flies, etc. so they must be like the micro root aphids? i mean wtf else could they be? that being said what product should i use to kill these fuckers? I have done some research and people have said bayer, merit, and a couple other products but i am looking for a product that i can put in my reservoir and just run for the week or for a few days. i do a fresh res change every 7 days. sorry for the wall of text. any help is much appreciated.

 

[Rootbound]

Springtails. Probably 'Blind Springtails" .

 

[Moses249]

if they are springtails r they bad for my grow? why were they crawling around the small stem rot areas? what exactly r they eating?

 

[PhatNuggz]

Don't know what they are, but, sounds like you water temp is too high

 

[Seamaiden]

I'm going to suggest that the bugs you saw were not in fact a cause of the stem rotted areas, but simply a symptom. They are 'detrivores' so that means they're eating detritus. Dead stuff. An' thangs.

 

[greenery44]

Does anyone know what this bug is? It lives under the pots and by the naked eye looks like a mite, but moves quickly, smaller than a pinhead.

 

[greenery44]

Ive had people tell me its not a root aphid and then say it is a root aphid. I used Imid and it didn't kill them :((

 

[ken dog]

Greenery needs to start his own thread... Regarding the OP... Hey, you have fungus gnats.

The only solution is to take clones of your plants, and bleach out your clone machine and isolate the new clones while they grow... Destroy the rest of your crop.

Gnatrol works good in soil, but you need to make sure you use RO water with it.

That might be the reason it didn't work... you are in a hydroponic system...because you are not using pure RO water in your Reservoir.(you have nutes in it.)

 

[ken dog]

Was that kind of infestation, I am surprised you don't see any Flyers around.

 

[Seamaiden]

My guess, purely a guess, is that since it was moving quickly it was not a plant feeder but instead a feeder of plant feeders.

That said, Imid should have killed it. I wouldn't approach with another neonic in that case.

Gnatrol works good in soil, but you need to make sure you use RO water with it.

Maybe that was my problem with Gnatrol. But to be fair to myself, I bought it off eBay and it came in a Ziploc bag with an envelope label printed with dosing instructions, very poor dosing instructions, and that was IT.

 

[ken dog]

Yes, interesting @Seamaiden ... I believe it has a shelf life of six months, which is why I ordered a small amount... In this case, two vials to do 4-6 plants that I had in dirt.