tiny little bugs

[dmac]

I just noticed I have about 50 tiny tiny black (white when in black tray) little bugs that like to swim and jump around in the water. They are too small to take a picture so I put them under the microscope and drew a picture. Any idea? What should I do? I have already cleaned the system with bleach water and have fly traps.

[bufo marinus]

Hey dmac, nice of you to drop by and share your infestation with us

I reckon you got fungus gnats! well your plants do, what sort of system? I've had the bastards in perlite and recirculating hydroton when I haven't cleaned the old roots from previous grows before using again.

Get down the Hydro shop and ask for Sciarid 10, it works, and is non systemic(not absorbed into the plant)

Those little shits feed on and self seed the Pythium spore which will attack the roots so you may want to also consider either a H202 treatment(HySan or Oxy-Plus) or some Pyth-Off or even Cannazyme depending on your grow.

Just a guess though, good luck and happy gardening

[Closet Grower]

Thats what I thought as well , but couldnt remember what they were called !!!

[dmac]

I am using a flood system. I thought fungus gnat larvae live in soil, I'm using hydrotron. Also, according to some pictures i can't see any similarities.

[WantDaChronic]

from that very well drawn picture i dont think its fungus gnats, you'd know if you had those bastards...i have had them for years, i get rid of them and a month later the bastards are back they'll fly around, munch on the roots and if you are using a res chances are you'll end up with hundreds, if not thousands of them in there.

 

in any case unless you are well into flower you should get yourself a good all round bug killer. i recommend maverik if you can find it, its always worked for me regardless of what bugs are trying to screw me over

[loylty gets u nothing]

get some sticky fly traps

place them around the medium

it wil attract majority

at least bring numbers down

all tha best

bil

[dmac]

I'm am 90% sure they are Sciarid Fly. I went to my hydro store and explained my problem. At first i was planning on getting gnats but they they recommended mosquitoDunks (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies). What do you think? has anyone ever used mosquitodunks?

[bufo marinus]

what the hell do those things do? if those insects are happily flitting around in the hydroton chances are the roots are full of them as well.

Sciarid 10 drenches everything. WDC likes his Maverick, not sure if it can be used to drench the roots? If so well and good, because a thorough drench of the entire medium and rootmass, followed up a week later once more, is the only way I have had success with root infestations.

Did you run any bleach over the roots? That would have caused some damage. The damaged roots would start to decompose and bacteria and fungus breed, this is what the flies sniff out and their offspring/gnats feed on, spreading disease as they go. They are everywhere outside and come indoors easily, especially when roots have been damaged and also with coco as there is something in the coco they love and sniff out here everytime I try use it without Cannazyme to break it down.

Don't be tempted to use Pyrethrun as it is too savage on the plants and will damn near kill them if the gnats don't do that first. Surface spray/Baygon on the roots won't work either, I've tried that also

Hope that helps, post back if you work out how to fix the problem because they won't just disappear unfortunately

[Frazz]

Well i reckon bufo is right on the advice if the insects are gnats ... as far as i know the only proven predatory mite against fungal gnats is Hypoaspis miles:

 

Hypoaspis is a predatory mite that offers control of fungus gnat larvae in most growing mediums. It will also feed on other soil dwelling arthropods, such as thrips pupae, and on decaying organic matter. This allows it to survive in the soil in the absence of the pest for extended periods and makes preventative application very effective.

 

but i dont think they are water-bourne ..

 

[dmac]

"mosquito dunks slowly release a long-term , biological mosquito larvicide at the water's surface. The larvicide gradually settles in the water where it is eaten by mosquito larvae growing there". "for organic production". No, the plants/ roots never came in contact with bleach.