Root Aphids - anyone just ignore them?

ld64 · Jul 28, 2020

I have some outdoor plants that appear to be thriving, but I have recently found root aphids crawling all over the outside of my pots. The plants are just starting to flower so I'm guessing another 2-3 months before harvest.

I ordered some Botanigard 22WP, but am also curious if anyone simply ignores root aphids? Can you still get a decent harvest at this point? My plants are all 5+ feet tall, green, and vigorous. Big stems and root ball. No signs of sickness. I am hesitant to start a heavy treatment.

I'd probably be OK losing some % of harvest rather than risking stressing the plant with too many pesticides. Or is this considered more of an emergency.. like once you spot them you are doomed kind of thing? Thanks!

MIMedGrower · Jul 28, 2020

Sure they are root aphids? I have had them a while. When numbers were low plants showed massive deficiencies no matter what i fed and the plants yielded less than half my normal yield.

When they filled the pots and adult fliers appeared (yellow sticky cards) the plants were devastated and on some plants most leaves died overnight.

I destroyed all my plants that were not a couple weeks away from harvest (i ran a plant by plant perpetual with harvests every week or two) and the plants i was nursing to the end deteriorated fast.

I am cleaning everything with h2o2, alcohol, and then am bleaching all floors.

I have aquired botanigard 22wp and will do a soak 3x in veg with my new plants when i start up.

H2o2 will knock them back pretty good but did not nearly get all of them.

And they will come back as all adults crawling or flying are female and they can lay 5 different kinds of eggs to keep procreating. One kind is an over winter egg that lives dormant for 6 months.

I didnt see the hidden little fuckers for a long time. Then all of the sudden they were everywhere.

The flyers look much like gnats. But noe i can see the shorter body and longer thinner wings of the root aphid fliers.

ld64 · Jul 28, 2020

I think so, but here are some pics. Appears to be a 'red-assed' root aphid and a flier. Also the plant, which is doing well (the white powder is some food-grade DE I just applied).

I just woke up the other day and found these things crawling all over the outside of the pot. It's interesting though that if I dig around in the soil I do not see any obvious aphids there, even inspecting the top part of the roots I do not see any infestation, just white roots (obviously I am only digging down a couple inches, there is plenty that is not visible).

I sprayed some neem on the pot that first morning to clean things up and every morning since I still find a handful crawling on the pot.

Is it possible that a colony of pests got carried to the pot by the wind? That they are not actually on the roots of this plant?

Another longshot is that this pot sits on a layer of rocks in a saucer. Sometimes the saucer has standing water so maybe the roots are pushing through the bottom of the fabric pot into the rocks, and the colony is forming underneath the pot.

(EDIT: these are not roots in the above pics, but zoomed in tan fabric of the pot. These were on the outside of the pot)

MIMedGrower · Jul 28, 2020

ld64 said:
I think so, but here are some pics. Appears to be a 'red-assed' root aphid and a flier. Also the plant, which is doing well (the white powder is some food-grade DE I just applied).

I just woke up the other day and found these things crawling all over the outside of the pot. It's interesting though that if I dig around in the soil I do not see any obvious aphids there, even inspecting the top part of the roots I do not see any infestation, just white roots (obviously I am only digging down a couple inches, there is plenty that is not visible).

I sprayed some neem on the pot that first morning to clean things up and every morning since I still find a handful crawling on the pot.

Is it possible that a colony of pests got carried to the pot by the wind? That they are not actually on the roots of this plant?

Another longshot is that this pot sits on a layer of rocks in a saucer. Sometimes the saucer has standing water so maybe the roots are pushing through the bottom of the fabric pot into the rocks, and the colony is forming underneath the pot.

View attachment 1007075

View attachment 1007076

View attachment 1007074

My plants looked ok but never reached proper size. She looks nice!

And yes that looks like a root aphid and flier but they look big and the crawlers i saw were maybe half a millimeter long.

Also they can change colors to hide. Mine were white when crawling on the pot edge. But the fliers were dark colored.

Also the infested roots had that darker glassy look like yours.

ld64 · Jul 28, 2020

Thanks! Those were not actually the roots. That was a close-up of the tan fabric of the pot. I edited my original post to mention that.

At this point, I'll just try to stay on top of things. I will monitor the plant closely, and perhaps use the Botanigard 22WP if things go south.

MIMedGrower · Jul 28, 2020

ld64 said:
Thanks! Those were not actually the roots. That was a close-up of the tan fabric of the pot. I edited my original post to mention that.

At this point, I'll just try to stay on top of things. I will monitor the plant closely, and perhaps use the Botanigard 22WP if things go south.

Lol. I thought those were some dense roots.

I would use the botanigard since you have it. If you are seeing these little bugs you are about to have big problems. Knock them down.

ld64 · Jul 30, 2020

Well my anxiety got the best of me. While waiting on the BotaniGard to arrive, I begrudgingly went at her with some BioAdvanced Complete Insect Killer (concentrate) for knockdown - soil drench and follow up spray of the root area.

.72% Imidacloprid
.36% beta-cyfluthrin

I added 5ml per gallon to the normal feeding.

Hard to say if it made a difference yet, but I did not wake up to the usual 30 or so crawlers on the pot. I did find and kill about 5 fliers looking lethargic on the pot. I'm planning to apply 3 times, every other day for 5 days (possibly increasing dosage if I do not see improvement), then I will use BotaniGard for maintenance through end of flower.

I found signs of these things on almost all my outdoor plants (mostly fliers), with 1 other plant in particular that also has a growing infestation. It's pretty disheartening.. these plants were crushing it through veg and I put a lot of time into them daily.

Almost all plants are now in week 1 of flower so I am super hesitant to use Imid on other plants. It's systemic and protects subsurface for "up to 90 days" and I'd guess I have ~2.5 months left.. cutting it too close I think. Fingers crossed that BotaniGard can keep things at bay until harvest.

MIMedGrower · Jul 30, 2020

ld64 said:
Well my anxiety got the best of me. While waiting on the BotaniGard to arrive, I begrudgingly went at her with some BioAdvanced Complete Insect Killer (concentrate) for knockdown - soil drench and follow up spray of the root area.

.72% Imidacloprid
.36% beta-cyfluthrin

I added 5ml per gallon to the normal feeding.

Hard to say if it made a difference yet, but I did not wake up to the usual 30 or so crawlers on the pot. I did find and kill about 5 fliers looking lethargic on the pot. I'm planning to apply 3 times, every other day for 5 days (possibly increasing dosage if I do not see improvement), then I will use BotaniGard for maintenance through end of flower.

I found signs of these things on almost all my outdoor plants (mostly fliers), with 1 other plant in particular that also has a growing infestation. It's pretty disheartening.. these plants were crushing it through veg and I put a lot of time into them daily.

Almost all plants are now in week 1 of flower so I am super hesitant to use Imid on other plants. It's systemic and protects subsurface for "up to 90 days" and I'd guess I have ~2.5 months left.. cutting it too close I think. Fingers crossed that BotaniGard can keep things at bay until harvest.

Imid is the preferred pesticide in tests for complete irradication but botanigard can be used through flower.

I have done an awful lot of reading about these bugs.

BurnzYzBudZz · Jul 30, 2020

All great information. I, too, have done a lot of reading after your infestation MiMed. Good Luck
BurnZ

ld64 · Jul 30, 2020

MIMedGrower said:
Imid is the preferred pesticide in tests for complete irradication but botanigard can be used through flower.

I have done an awful lot of reading about these bugs.

The big unknown after my research is the effect of systemic Imid on the final product. There is no shortage of strong opinions and anecdotal info, but I've not seen much science here. So I'd rather play it safe.

It would be interesting to know if and how much Imid is actually present in the bud when used at various pre-harvest intervals, and what the actual short and long term effects of smoking/vaping this bud is. (It may well be that many of us have been consuming product with it for years.. who knows)

MIMedGrower · Jul 30, 2020

ld64 said:
The big unknown after my research is the effect of systemic Imid on the final product. There is no shortage of strong opinions and anecdotal info, but I've not seen much science here. So I'd rather play it safe.

It would be interesting to know if and how much Imid is actually present in the bud when used at various pre-harvest intervals, and what the actual short and long term effects of smoking/vaping this bud is. (It may well be that many of us have been consuming product with it for years.. who knows)

Sure commercial farmers have been poisoning us. Even with our food. But i read 50 days i think for imid. I wouldnt use it in flower.

ld64 · Aug 18, 2020

Update on my battle against RAs on not just 1 but 4 large outdoor plants.

For the plant referenced earlier in this thread, I applied Imidacloprid as mentioned. I only ended up needing that single treatment at 5ml per gallon. RAs were gone in 3 days and I have not seen them since on this plant.

For the other 3 plants (and for ongoing maintenance) I've been using Botanigard 22WP. It's no Imid, but does seem to keep them in check if applied frequently enough. I did see some dead RAs covered in fungus so I know it's working, but if I get lazy and skip a treatment I notice more RAs crawling on the pot.

Imid does seem like the nuclear option, just be aware of the risks if you use it late in your grow.

Root Aphids - anyone just ignore them?

Root Aphids - anyone just ignore them?

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