Ya know thats good advice and if i read you giving it to someone else, i'd tell them to consider carefully what you are saying. And there was a time i considered it carefully. I then spent hours viewing the Aphids under a 30x loupe. At that magnification they are fairly easy to tell the difference between Root Aphids and other soil creatures like soil mites.
So yeah i am certain that the aphids are around. I never had them in the numbers that some folks post, but have always been able to find them in a pot with not much effort. Why not now? Well i have treated pretty heavy in veg for them, have used triazicide, met52, and bayer complete, and i believe their numbers to possibly not be too high, and i also really found these other bugs within the first five minutes of using the scope. On both occasions. Tomorrow i will be catching a video of the Aphids. Promise
Anyone that's had the bastards knows that a few in a 5 gallon pot can easily decimate said plant... I have actually seen the same exact ones as in this pic, from what i can tell:
http://indoorgardeningu.com/how-to-get-rid-of-root-aphids/
I am sure all these new critters are a result of the long war i have been waging with the aphids. My best guess, the met52 is being used at possibly too high a dose, cause fungus to grow like crazy in the coco, the worms are feeding on the fungus, and maybe the soil mites are eating an occassional worm and/or root aphid. and i want to get some more predators and throw them into the bug soup!
As for the coco being wet in the vid, its true i filmed one of those right after a watering. I do let them dry out between waterings as its helpful to keep Aphid numbers lower, but i can and will keep them even drier. Time to thirst some of those nematodes(?) to death!
