Winged RA?

[DoobyScoo]

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.

I have also heard amending your media with neem seed and crustacean meal at about 3/4 cup per cubic foot also works as a great preventative measure...for either "soil" or coco.

Yeah I got a guy recommend neem drench with crustacean meal a few other things.
I'll keep you all posted with what I try, but I am going hippie organic bio-warfare this time. (dun plenty of chemical warfare, gonna switch up my tactics)
"Life feeds on life." Tool

Just p-bombed today to have a little goodbye to the current flyers. Still very early in the game, so I think I got a good chance to kick them organically for good.
Just tired of killing the SFW everytime I have a problem and then that, like the weakening of an immune system, seems to leave me open to more problems later.
Plus I see it as a challenge and some of the West Coast hippies seems to think I can do it. It makes sense, it will just take time and fidelity. But eventually I should be able to get the microbes to 'kill the babies' and then there willnot/cannot be adults.

There will also be a fungaflor or actovnate bomb to kill the remaining PM as I have been scrubbing the deck hard with pine and bleach. And treated all veg with Eagle 20 a while back.

 

[SoCoMMJ]

Yeah I got a guy recommend neem drench with crustacean meal a few other things.
I'll keep you all posted with what I try, but I am going hippie organic bio-warfare this time. (dun plenty of chemical warfare, gonna switch up my tactics)
"Life feeds on life." Tool

If you are going au natural, you can also spread a layer of Diatomaceous Earth rocks across the top of the pots. Anything that crawls through that gets chewed up like crawling through razor wire. We run that on our soil mothers to keep the fungus gnats gone.

 

[DoobyScoo]

Good Call SoCo.
I'm also au cheapo...
Very cheapo.

So we'll se where the bugie is at?

My main concern is interuppting the life cycle. It may take time, but fuckem!

 

[irie1]

hypoapsis miles eats larvae of gnats. and botaniguard contains beauveria bassianan a fungi that kills RA. never tryed them either, but its an organic. I think its more of a preventative though.
.the bayer works for sure, so does bleach(low concentration) i think we did that once, and not with my blessing, but it worked. It was only gnats though, unless we had the RA that turn black and fly, either way i guess they go hand in hand..
and still see a few from time to time.

 

[Seamaiden]

RAs become winged and fly. There are many, many species that are problematic in agricultural scenarios.

 

[DoobyScoo]

Brought a sample by the local Hydro store and they think it is fungus gnats.
Going to keep my prisoner around incase I meet some bug people, or become one myself.

Would make sense, been so wet in Cali recently, gnats could easily be springing up.

I'll keep you all posted. But I might just be adding some nemotodes and going the neem route.

Maybe even round down a camera for a good picture of the little fucker.

 

[amstercal]

Dooby: I don't know if someone else wrote this in this thread, but it's other places... The fungus gnats look kinda like mosquitos with long legs and wings about the same length as their body. The RA fliers look have short legs and wings much larger than their bodies. I hope that helps. Also, if you have RAs, you might also have fungus gnats. Fungus gnats enjoy the infected, damaged roots that the RAs leave behind.

Spectracide (not organic) doesn't list fungus gnats or their larvae as an insect it kills, but I had some friends assume their gnats were RAs and put Spectracide on and the plants still greened back up. They later checked the sticky traps and saw only gnats.

I personally would use Spectracide. If you want to stay organic, why not try the Evergreen (I assume it's organic because I don't actually know for sure) or watering with Azamax. Either way, be sure to pour something directly on the roots.

 

[DoobyScoo]

Yeah, they are looking like Fungus Gnats.
Long legs, wings size of body, no 'phantom mag deficiency' on the plants yet.

I am pretty sure I had RA before, with the phantom mag def, the flier (only saw one) had much bigger wings than body.
But I didn't think RA had larvae, and my E&F buckets were full of little white wiggling larvae. But I didn't have the phantom mag def and it definately came in on the Roots coco.

Just got a macro scope, so I'll be doing a little taxonomy of my own.

I just got so tired of dicking around with my different Hydro set ups. Always had benefits, but then the were disadvantages too (mainly I was spending more time/money building and deconstructing systems than growing). Just going to wait on Hydro again until I have the fucker COMPLETELY sketched out, work order style.
It was a good learning experience.
I went: Soil (kinda organic, didn't know what I was doing) - Hydro E&F in R/w - Hydro E&F in Hydroton - Hand watering r/w cubes - and was going to go into DWC/UC, but then 'learned' about recycling soil and biocontrols - so back to soil again I am.
One day I hope to ''Just add water".
So for now it is soil and the soil food web. It I have lower yields, slower growth, ect...So be it. As long as I eat, that is all that matters right now for me.
And it will be good practice for one day using that great big HPS in the sky.
Plus I am looking at it as a sustainability matter. I can no longer just go into the Hydro store with a fistful of cash and buy up all the cool looking shit.
So I am focusing on the 'operating costs' of growing and not the 'opportunity cost' side of the equation.
I had always been told that you COULDN'T reuse soil w/o risking root rot. Now that I learn that that is a bunch of bullshit, I am back to soil baby. I guess if I looked at it logically, then I would have known, but all these things that are 'special' about Marijuana make one sometimes forget it's just a WEED.

THanks for all the support guys!
I'll keep you posted, and I'll try to get a synopsis going.

Happy Hunting!
:harvest:

 

[Dorje]

It I have lower yields, slower growth, ect...So be it.

I grow in organic soil and haven't met a hydro grower that can match my yields yet although I'm sure there are some out there. Quality is subjective, so of course I think organic is better, but I've smoked great hydro weed too, so either hydro or soil can give good results and good yields. Ultimately though... a dialed soil system is less work.

 

[DoobyScoo]

Ultimately though... a dialed soil system is less work.

That's my goal. Less work, less cost.

I can't count how many hours I was dicking around with my Hydro setups. Some of it was fun, though. Appealed to the Mad Scientist in me.

 

[Green Mopho]

Fungus gnats...I use yellow sticky paper here and there to catch em, and if I see a few, its time for mosquito dunks in all the reservoirs. Gnatrol works pretty good too if you can get it...

For aphids, don't fuck around. They will kill your plants much faster than you think, especially in hydro, cuz in soil they have other organic matter to feed on, which is why they can colonize soil and go unnoticed for so long. I recommend Bayer Complete, not the Tree and Shrub. I've seen a few folks burn their plants using the Tree and Shrub because of the extra "time release plant food" that comes mixed in. The Bayer Complete doesn't have the plant food, but it does have an additional contact killer along with the imid, so it will take out any flyers that happen to come for a return visit, along with the larvae.

 

[Green Mopho]

In veg only please...and yes, I agree....I FUCKING hate using any product made by Bayer, Dow, Johnson, etc...but this shit works. However, if someone made a super potent organic nicotine tea that was guaranteed virus free that would probably kill those fuckers just as well. Imid is a chlorinated nicotine molecule....

 

[irie1]

been doing hydro the whole time(only 2yrs.). but i think i maybee coming around to soil. It just seems like a bunch of magic, and its hard for me to trust it enough to only give it water. I took a baby step and added black gold to my coco coir, only 25%. and i got organic fertilizer laying around from my food garden, i just need to grow some balls and do a soil mix. but im not now, im only gonna feed em hydro. maybe when i re-pot.

its encouraging to hear that u kick ass in soil though dorje

and that bayer works. for sure.

 

[swisscheese]

Went to the depot and got spectracide should I have gotten the bayer instead? Any input from experience is appreciated and does this stuff burn the plants at all?

 

[amstercal]

Went to the depot and got spectracide should I have gotten the bayer instead? Any input from experience is appreciated and does this stuff burn the plants at all?

The Spectracide is good. The Spectracide, IMHO, actually does a better job of killing them immediately if you have a problem. However, the Bayer is systemic, so it stays around for a while so it does a better job of making sure they stay gone. Like with anything, alternate any treatments with other products--I suggest weekly treatments. The Bayer or Azamax would be good in the rotation.

I've never heard of anyone burning the plants with Spectracide when they used the dosage on the label, even when the plants were really sick.

 

[waywardson]

I grow in organic soil and haven't met a hydro grower that can match my yields yet although I'm sure there are some out there. Quality is subjective, so of course I think organic is better, but I've smoked great hydro weed too, so either hydro or soil can give good results and good yields. Ultimately though... a dialed soil system is less work.[/QUOTE

I would agree with most of that...hell, even I think well done organic tastes better.

but is it really less work? One has to use way more media to make it yield the same...and then one has to amend that soil and tend the soil itself between grows and I just found out that is heavy ass work. So yea...less watering but I would think more work on the media.

Still...much respect for those that go that way...and even more respect for those that make it yield.

 

[swisscheese]

The Spectracide is good. The Spectracide, IMHO, actually does a better job of killing them immediately if you have a problem. However, the Bayer is systemic, so it stays around for a while so it does a better job of making sure they stay gone. Like with anything, alternate any treatments with other products--I suggest weekly treatments. The Bayer or Azamax would be good in the rotation.

I've never heard of anyone burning the plants with Spectracide when they used the dosage on the label, even when the plants were really sick.

That's what I wanted to know! So its no biggie to mix in with a regular feeding and don't have to worry about photosensitivity? I'll throw some azamax into the rotation as well next week, thanks for the fast response. May end up being just fungus gnats but some of the plants are stunted significantly ie weeks behind for no apparent reason and seem to have continual curling leaves and another set has an amazing random deficiency of mg. Tired of these little guys already!

 

[IVIars]

Add Insecticidal soap to whatever you use, the RA leave a waxy substance on your roots and it helps clean it away. 2 min dunks have been found to kill 95% of them

 

[amstercal]

That's what I wanted to know! So its no biggie to mix in with a regular feeding and don't have to worry about photosensitivity? I'll throw some azamax into the rotation as well next week, thanks for the fast response. May end up being just fungus gnats but some of the plants are stunted significantly ie weeks behind for no apparent reason and seem to have continual curling leaves and another set has an amazing random deficiency of mg. Tired of these little guys already!

Well, if the plants are sick then "regular feeding" could be too much, depending on what you mean by that. It never hurts to back down a little on the ppms when they are sick. Totally specific to your plants though.