Think I got Root Aphids from FF, need new soil...

[Relentless]

Alright, I live on the east coast and think I got root aphids from a batch of new ffof soil..
I want to switch to something else, but I dont want to get to crazy with tons of additives and dont want to go with coir because i cant water everyday..
I know I can get promix locally..Perlite.. etc.
Suggestions?

 

[Iron_Lion]

i've seen good results from ROOTs and sunshine mix, promix has a non organic wetting agent I dont even know why its recommended in the organic forum.

The infestation could have been caused by the way it was stored at the hydro shop. I ran thru like 30 bags of FF soil just over the last year and many more in years prior and I have never had any bugs. The only time I've ever had bugs was when I switched soil once and that was it went right back to FF.

I have searched long and hard for something better than FF and so far I have come up with nothing.

 

[bubblebert]

I've gotten gnats from both Roots and FFOF, but I still use both. I think the most you can do is make you buy from a shop that stores it indoors. Even then the distributor could be storing it outside before it gets to the shop.

 

[NUG-JUG]

Why do root aphids invade soil without roots yet? Sorry if this is a stupid Q?

 

[JackTheGrower]

Make your Own soil!

I'm finding simply mixing Starbucks coffee and a peat+coir and composting that to be a fine base soil.

 

[Relentless]

id move to coir but i dont wanna water everyday.
thanks for the posts, keep em coming please!

 

[Albertine]

Hey, Nug-Jug, I've been asking myself the same question. I was thinking last night that they must come in with something that has badly cooked compost from infected plants, then once that stuff is in bags in the grow shop they migrate out into other mixes looking for food(roots). I mean, folks are getting them through hydroton! I personally imagine them to be quite smart, like any other animal, so they probably aren't reproducing much until they find a food source. Also, (I have the blue/green tank beetles, true aphids) from what I understand most aphids have an alternating reproductive life cycle, so it looks like we could be dealing with live birth only rather than eggs in the soil. It would only take one live one to cause an infestation since they poot babies out so fast. I got them this spring, and I was using EWC and soil humus in with Sunshine#4. I'm currently blaming the EWC and or the humus as they were probably sitting around in the shop for awhile. They sold me a bag of BioBizz soil amendment later on, and the morning after I opened it I had shore flies and fungus gnats, and the stuff smelled like ammonia. Nothing against Biobizz, as I think it's a question of how long stuff is sitting around at the shops.
The only option I can see for organic soil is to go with sticky control fences rigged so that if you get them they can't spread. I just can't see how an insect that lives on roots would reproduce in any numbers until it gets to a food source.
I got them and they went nuts, I got a reinfestation in veg before the infected flowering were finished, and now that I am using Tanglefoot under each pot and tossing infected ones I am finally eliminating them. I was getting a pot or two daily showing up with them, and now it's been 5 days with nothing. Doesn't sound like long but it means that the Tanglefoot is working as a control, It is so great!
Entirely passive, and I will never again get a mass outbreak - they may come in with the soil but they can not spread.

 

[guest2012y]

Make your Own soil!

Word!

 

[NUG-JUG]

I was thinking last night that they must come in with something that has badly cooked compost from infected plants, then once that stuff is in bags in the grow shop they migrate out into other mixes looking for food(roots). I mean, folks are getting them through hydroton!

All the more reason to abandon those places and make your own. Compost is easy to make, if your theory is right then it's shameful that a company supposedly making a product to grow plants makes one that kills plants.. What would the FF Pimp have to say about this?

 

[indoor/outdoor]

try 707 or light warrior by foxfarm,both of them have very little nutes added and greater water holding capasities

 

[the gnome]

Hey, Nug-Jug, I've been asking myself the same question. I was thinking last night that they must come in with something that has badly cooked compost from infected plants, then once that stuff is in bags in the grow shop they migrate out into other mixes looking for food(roots). I mean, folks are getting them through hydroton!.

all these premixed soils sit outside, its a given soil bugs will migrtae to it to look for food, doesn't matter if you mix your own, if the ingrediants are organic and came in from the outdoors you stand a chance for insects/pathogens to get into your grow room
and it doesn't matter if its FF roots or a bag of peat from lowes.

just when I think I might just use soil straight out of the bag I read one of these articles.
pasturize till the soil is @180F through and through and you'll never bring bugs or their eggs into your garden with the soil.

 

[echo_chamber]

Yeah, its not Fox Farm, been using their stuff for years, its your distributor or grow shop. Most likely along the way to its destination, it is being exposed to the elements/pests. This happened to me with Roots Organics soil. Weeks later turned out a BUNCH of people had complained about Fungus Gnats from the same Roots soil. Turned out it was being stored overnight OUTSIDE in its route to the store, duh!

 

[NUG-JUG]

pasturize till the soil is @180F through and through and you'll never bring bugs or their eggs into your garden with the soil.

You'll also never bring a single worth-while organism of the soil food web into your garden either....Why nuke every beneficial creature in the soil over some pu#%y ass aphids?

 

[Admiral Canna]

Only a shitty hydro store would store quality soils outdoors. The store I shop at keeps everything inside. Outdoor storage is for big box stuff that will not be damaged.

 

[the gnome]

You'll also never bring a single worth-while organism of the soil food web into your garden either....Why nuke every beneficial creature in the soil over some pu#%y ass aphids?

that is a worth while point nug.
But 1st off, your pasturizing, your not nuking
although the same thing can be done in a microwave
for smaller amounts.


unless your NOT using pure organic products on your plants, which most on the boards do your killing bene's in your soil with ferts.
using something as benign as cal-mag kills benes' because of the EDTD in it.

but for the organic growers benefit, it would seem bene's can be reintroduced A lot easier+cheaper with tea's and mychoreal additives that usually added anyways
as opposed to getting rid of a roomfull of pussyass aphids.
personaly I don't want to risk losing possible hundred$ maybe thousand$ in product while I'm spending my valuable time fookin around stressing plants trying to get rid of bugs out of 150 gallons of soil.
its an easy prob to avoid by being proactive rather than reactive.

and because I choose to be proactive and pasturize you probably won't find me starting threads like this one

but in the end it all boils down to personal choice my friend.

 

[NUG-JUG]

that is a worth while point nug.
But 1st off, your pasturizing, your not nuking
although the same thing can be done in a microwave
for smaller amounts.

Well I meant nuking as a metaphor to explain that you're over-doing it with pastuerizing..sure you're killing the root munchers but also everything else.
The idea of putting soil in a micro-wave is wrong in so many ways...

unless your NOT using pure organic products on your plants, which most on the boards do your killing bene's in your soil with ferts.
using something as benign as cal-mag kills benes' because of the EDTD in it.

You mean unless you are using pure organic products you're killing your soil's life.. Right? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're stoned. I'm not familiar with EDTD what's this?

but for the organic growers benefit, it would seem bene's can be reintroduced A lot easier+cheaper with tea's and mychoreal additives that usually added anyways
as opposed to getting rid of a roomfull of pussyass aphids.
personaly I don't want to risk losing possible hundred$ maybe thousand$ in product while I'm spending my valuable time fookin around stressing plants trying to get rid of bugs out of 150 gallons of soil.
its an easy prob to avoid by being proactive rather than reactive.

I agree teas are great, but they won't magically make your soil as active as mixing in fresh compost and ammendments then letting that cook...with teas in addition.

This is my opinion; Soil kept in bags is a treat for root aphids. Think about it...there's no competition in that environment. It's just a perfect place to hang out and wait for some poor grower to come pay $20 for a cu ft. of aphids...When you make your own soil this chance is extremely reduced..Since the jerk at the hydro hut doesn't give two shits how long the bags have been sitting...This is why Relentless got them in the first place. You really have no way of knowing..Why pay for an already overpriced soil then have to sweat out trying to pastuerize or whatever. If anything those shmucks at FF should do that for you..

 

[Muleskinner]

All the soil I've ever used have come with some degree of fungus gnats. There are two VERY easy and cheap ways to eliminate them completely:

- Buy a small bottle of Gnatrol and use a light dose the first time you plant or transplant. 100% organic, it's Bti

- Buy a few sponges of beneficial nemotodes and again use them the first time you water the container. 100% organic

The nematodes in particular will wipe out ALL soil pests, but Gnatrol usually does it for me. I also used to cook my soil to wipe out fungus gnats, until I learned about the above two options.

Also, if you can't find Gnatrol, you can buy Bti mosquito dunks (disks) and break off a few pieces and put them in your water. That will do the trick for the gnats too.

 

[The Baphomet]

We recently had a big root aphid problem , and we traced it back to a very popular grow shop . We found flyers in bags of black gold compost ,and fox farm soil . This particular store keeps all of its stock indoors .

 

[Norkali]

i've seen good results from ROOTs and sunshine mix, promix has a non organic wetting agent I dont even know why its recommended in the organic forum.

The infestation could have been caused by the way it was stored at the hydro shop. I ran thru like 30 bags of FF soil just over the last year and many more in years prior and I have never had any bugs. The only time I've ever had bugs was when I switched soil once and that was it went right back to FF.

I have searched long and hard for something better than FF and so far I have come up with nothing.

I also highly doubt it was root aphids coming from Fox Farms....methinks your hydro store is infested...I know I won't be going into mine for the next 6-12+ months due to possible cross-contamination (you should have seen a yellow sticky trap the owner left out for a couple days - I've never seen one so covered...ugh; fungus gnats/adult aphid flyers EVERYWHERE); everybody and their mother has root aphids over here it seems like right now, and they all go straight down to the hydro shop, bringing them down to show in vials, probably all over their clothes, crawling into everything, AHHHH!!!

 

[The Baphomet]

I think IT is coming from the soil companies I have never seen or even heard of these on the east coast until recently ,and a few other people I have spoken with also found them in ff products that were brought in different states .