Rice Root Aphid infestations =Claw & Deficiencies

[HFJud]

Hello all,

I ran into some issues recently and noticed all plants were exhibiting some progressive deficiencies. These deficiencies didn’t make any sense with how small they were: I’m in coco/perlite 50:50. Feed every day and had these issues once before and originally attributed the deficiencies to over-watering - that wasn’t the case. We thought we had a fungus gnat infestation and treated it as such. The gnats stayed around but in very very small numbers - but it turns out they weren’t fungus gnats. Once controlled the deficiencies went away and plants exploded in growth.

Fast forward to today - same issues but I have identifiedthe infestation as Rice Root Aphids. The only way I can think that these infestations keep happening is that they’re coming in our coco.

Issues:
- downward claw/ eagle claw leaves
- severe Ca deficiencies
- Rust colored spots
- severely stunted growth
- potassium deficiencies

Since the photos have been taken I’ve treated with Grandevo drenches and bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. Tomorrow will be an application of Botanigard 22wp. After the first application of Grandevo the 2 days afterwards the plants have started to look better and less droopy.

this has been one of the most frustrating issues I’ve ever dealt with as a grower - but then again we don’t usually have these issues.

 

[Jimster]

Great job on tracking down the culprit! Mites are problematic because they are usually so tiny that they aren't seen until the damage is apparent and they are searched for. I think a lot of clones get infected but often the bugs aren't discovered until it's too late.

 

[HFJud]

Great job on tracking down the culprit! Mites are problematic because they are usually so tiny that they aren't seen until the damage is apparent and they are searched for. I think a lot of clones get infected but often the bugs aren't discovered until it's too late.

Thank you - these assholes just about drove me crazy thinking something was throwing my water quality to hell but in reality these damn Rice Root Aphids were the source! They spread quickly and cause damage that one would think is due to watering or poor fertigation. I hate these little bastards.

 

[chemistry]

If those were my plants I'd be looking at a Phosphorus (P) def.

 

[HFJud]

If those were my plants I'd be looking at a Phosphorus (P) def.

You would and you’d be correct except the culprit is a Rice Root Aphid infestation. Throwing more nutrients won’t help.

 

[Jimster]

Thank you - these assholes just about drove me crazy thinking something was throwing my water quality to hell but in reality these damn Rice Root Aphids were the source! They spread quickly and cause damage that one would think is due to watering or poor fertigation. I hate these little bastards.

When a few of my plants started to look like this the last run, I never would have guessed it was mites as I'd never battled them before. It was a strain I grew forever but suddenly they were looking sort of like your's. Looking close, I saw tiny red spots on the leaf which later turned necrotic, spread out on the leaf, and eventually got deformed and fell off or crisped up. I never could see them well with my own eyes, but a younger apprentice spotted the little bastards! What made it difficult was the mites only liked a few plant, leaving the ones next to them untouched. This made the diagnosis even more difficult since only some plants were affected. Great job in tracking this down. Hopefully some newer growers will take note of this and be careful with future grows.

 

[HFJud]

When a few of my plants started to look like this the last run, I never would have guessed it was mites as I'd never battled them before. It was a strain I grew forever but suddenly they were looking sort of like your's. Looking close, I saw tiny red spots on the leaf which later turned necrotic, spread out on the leaf, and eventually got deformed and fell off or crisped up. I never could see them well with my own eyes, but a younger apprentice spotted the little bastards! What made it difficult was the mites only liked a few plant, leaving the ones next to them untouched. This made the diagnosis even more difficult since only some plants were affected. Great job in tracking this down. Hopefully some newer growers will take note of this and be careful with future grows.

Yep - infestations are sometimes the last resort of your investigation if you cannot see the bugs physically - but I’ve been doing this long enough to rule out a few things at a time or test my findings.

Root aphids are some of the worst but I’ve never seen Rice Root Aphids before and thought they were fungus gnats when I saw the flyers... it wasn’t until I saw the intermediate stage of the round pill bugs coming out of the bottom that I knew it was aphids. They eat on the roots and suck out the juices - easiest way to identify them is when they’re pouring out of the bottom holes from a watering or scratch away some medium and you’ll see some larvae crawling around near the roots.