Clay balls, fungal gnat and spidermite

[stonedstump]

Hi all.

 

If I take my three plants still vegging (about 3 weeks) out of soil, rinse them throughly with water to wash off spidermite eggs and gnats from roots as well, then repot them in clay balls and continue to hand water from top and run to waste

 

also spray room with flea bomb and let to air for a bit

 

will this work?

 

 

 

can i grow in clay balls only and hand watering?

 

will this prevent future outbrekas of pests -- any other suggestions PLEASE

 

what should i add to the to the clayballs to prevent future outbreaks..? neem oil?

 

 

 

 

 

 

treestump

[Tom]

You have spider mites as well as fungus gnats? Spider mites lay their eggs on the underside of you leaves and fungus gnats will not just rinse out of your root system, have you considered trashing this grow, cleaning out your grow room and starting again?

 

[Luke Skywalker]

Changing the media won't fix this problem, you're going to have to review growing conditions and eliminate the pests themselves.

 

Clay balls are a media best left to automated watering systems. Hand watering is theoretically possible, but I wouldn't advise it.

 

For the mites I'd suggest getting a hold of "DEAD RED", which is most excellent at killing the bastards, and has only a 1 week with-holding period.

 

For the fungus gnats you're going to have to repeatedly treat the soil with something like "success" by yates, or try and eliminate individual adults as they mature. This can be hard, particularly in soil growing indoors.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but transplanting from soil to clay balls won't solve your problem, and would likely be a big shock to the plants.

[WantDaChronic]

i recommend a product called "maverik" which is made by yates and can be bought at big-w for around $12 it'll kill all those bastards and if you apply it every 3 days for 2 weeks, you'll kill off any offspring that come from the left over eggs

[stonedstump]

Hi tom, hi luke.

 

I've leant alot from you guys already by reading posts on here but I now ask you this.

 

If I was to start again (which i might have to) I have decided on clayballs in DWC bubblers (prob 4 bubblers) I have plenty of seeds so I can always start new plants and they grow so god damn fast, ill have new ones in a few weeks.

 

which is better for preventing unwanted PESTS...should I use clayballs or lava rock?

also i will be running DM guardian through my nute tank and i will have sticky fly traps around the room.

 

i have heard of growing in bubblers with no medium..is this possible?

(i know you said no already tom but i swear ive read about it before)

the roots would have to be covered somehow as you said.

 

how do I prevent spidermite though? just spray the room with a flea bomb before i commence growing? also filter all intakes and outtakes with stockings..thats about all I can think of. Have I missed anything?

 

 

 

treestump

[SukonmiSkunk]

you are taking a real pounding with these bugs then hay...

they can be saved.. hopefully... ok you are changing to hydro... make sure every thing is clean.... warm soapy water... even new stuff needs to be washed.

You can get a yates BUG GUN ( make sure it kills red and black spidermites) from mitre10 get a few refills too. Spray the plants.. on the under side of the leaves..and separate from the room, once the room is empty drop a flea bomb.. cant hurt.. wont kill spidermites tho, they think its like acid... and love it. ...use the bug gun and spray everything.. and I mean everything.. floor, walls and roof..have ya got carpet??? spray that too.

 

the only way to get spidermites is if you brought them in.. either on the plants, if they came from outdoors or on you... most probably if you were to check your garden you will find where they are coming from.... spray that too. Spray the path that leads to the room as well

 

treat again 3 days later.... to be on the safe side I would do again 2 days later..depend on the severity of your mite prob..

once the grow area is sterile, put all the system together.

 

3days later......

then wash the roots well, get ALL the dirt out. Then make Up a wash with a little of the bug gun liquid and wash the plant...... then rinse with clean water and repot into the clay balls... straight into the system..with half strenght nutes... would be a good idea to pat them dry a bit b4 repotting....

also they might respond well to a soda water spray... and a folier feed... check in three days for any mites... should be fine tho...

 

a bit of a hassle, but it sounds like you are going to have to get rid of the mite any way.. and that aint easy... they are tough little fuckers...

 

hand watering in clay balls is not a great idea, they need to be watered every 2 hours for 30 mins.. a small aquarium pump and a timer with 15 or 30 min intervals. clay doesnt hold much and will dry out quickly, you might need to water more often.. depending on room temp... watch for wilting...as the plant might reject the transplant... should pull through... MJ is one of toughest plants and can take some shit....

Edited February 21, 2006 by SukonmiSkunk

[stonedstump]

thanks sukonmi your reply was really helpful

 

I am going to sterilize and spray with mite spray as you said but I am not sure if I want to risk missing an egg or one of the gnats and then being reinfested again so I might start again with new plants that never go outside

 

clay balls should prevent my fungus gnat problem as they dry out quickly but I will also be using DM guardian and sticky traps

 

are you sure a flea bomb won't kill any that are left in the grow room? :scratchin

do these things need a plant to survive like a flea needs a dog? or do they live on like a cockroach no matter what?

 

I may even continue to grow these plants then take clones (making sure to wash the clones THROUGHLY before rooting)

 

any more input is appreciated on this topic of spidermites, clay balls, dwc, lava rocks, fungus gnat etc.. preventative measures espesically :thumbsup

 

 

 

treestump

[SukonmiSkunk]

the best thing would be to start again... either way you need to clean everything.. and yes spidermites will live on.. could also wah the room with bleach ...

 

you outside garden needs to be treated too. otherwise they will be back within days...

 

you can save the plants... ultimately.. if ya have more seed.. then ditch em and replant more when the room is clean.

 

remember a clean system doenst have problems.. so always keep your room tidy and clean....

Edited February 21, 2006 by SukonmiSkunk

[Pa-uul]

...can i grow in clay balls only and hand watering?...

…hand watering in clay balls is not a great idea…

I hand water with clay balls. It is a legitimate method.

...Changing the media won't fix this problem...

Changing the media can work for the scarid fly issue in my view. The plants grows a little slower than for hand-watered coco peat or for automatically watered clay balls but have the advantage over the coco peat that the scarid fly don't like it. I had scarid fly in my coco peat and only steinernema feltiae, an entomopathogenic nematode, did the trick to get rid of it, and even then only for 8 weeks.

…they need to be watered every 2 hours for 30 mins…

You don't need to water it every two hours like Sukonmi said. If you don't water all day the plants won't die, though they may wilt a bit. You should try to water them several times a day during your waking hours, maybe two or four times as much as for organic media. This is sufficient and can produce reasonably quick results if the rest of your setup is good. There will be plenty of run-off and plenty of waste, so you will need a reasonable volume underneath for a run-off pool. I intend to upgrade my system to a flood and drain soon to stop the waste and increase the convenience. There's another problem with the run-off pool and that's that it can develop algae. It's best to drain it.

 

I live in a hot climate here in S-E Qld. Unless I had a hermetically sealed grow-room with a sophisticated filtration unit and split cycle air-conditioning I wouldn't use anything more hospitable to scarid fly than clay balls. It's as barren as the moon so, in the long run it's far better than anything organic like soil. That's my view though, others on this site may have their chemical solutions that can be added to the organic media the say'll work but it never has for me.

 

As far as your existing plants, if you transplant them it could easily be a life threatening operation. Steinernema feltiae will fix the problem but will cost you a minimum of $55 from ecogrow.com.au in Sydney. It expensive but far better than the alternative of "washing away the soil" and replanting. If you go ahead with the latter I would try severely pruning the roots and a great deal of the foliage to try and let it as much as possible grow new roots in something else. Either way, replanting is going to cost you big time. :thumbdown

[stonedstump]

The plants are still small so I should be able to buy some clay balls today transplant them to new pots with just clay balls and I will hand water as many times daily as I can.

 

I will wash the plants with water and maybe get a mite spray or something when I get the clay balls. I will also wash the roots to get rid of fungus gnat.

 

Before I do all that though I will let off a flea bomb in the grow room and I won't take the plants outside anymore for some natural sunlight -- they are indoors only from now on but they will still get 16hrs of light (all I can work into my sleep routine, the GR is my closet in my bedroom and the noise of the light keeps me awake)

 

I might put a couple of sticky traps up just in case and thats about it I guess

 

and the plants will be suspended in their pots in 10L buckets so they drip dry and dont leak over my carpet. I will then empty the buckets outside.

 

I am still going to a CLEAN DWC system for my next grow though and I will re-use the clay balls. I will be taking clones from these plants if all goes well.

 

 

 

treestump :-)