Mites in the rootzone

[KeepItPushin]

Wow.. the ignorance in this room is unbearable. Not even a qualifying question from you guys, and already you think you've solved my problem?

MI no disrespect man, and I apologize for taking space in your thread. I do not mean to stir the pot, and I thank you for allowing me to post.

George, im sorry but youre wrong. I'll get a professional opinion elsewhere.

 

[michigan.mmma]

just state the differences in the pics. you saw them through that fancy scope so you should be able to list the differences. i myself cant see them but i dont know much....thats why i asked what you see visibly different in those pictures.

everyone has tried to help so far and everyone has been kind. i dont take any disrespect from you - you can post here and we can all learn what those bugs are. i cant speak for him but maybe george thought the pics matched and the question was answered.

 

[purpleberry]

I have had to battle soil gnats, Dont get them anymore since using Merit. Ive been battleing i believe soil aphids, They never got out of control, I always check soil and leaves so i saw them coming, and went to war and they will pop back up even after cleaning out everything and starting from clone, they show up weeks later. Either way they never cause a problem or get very large numbers since i treat with merit 2x in veg then go to caps teas, azatrol, ect. going into the first few weeks of flower. Now i got met52 to use also. I know there a bitch to get rid of, But if you keep up on them they shouldnt get out of control.
I think i got rid of them, Now im finding some fast moving white mite looking bugs,you can see there legs, very small, Im hoping they are the good one? Either way they have been surviving my treatments.

 

[zor]

George, im sorry but youre wrong. I'll get a professional opinion elsewhere.

keepitpushin,

you have fungus gnats. ive had ones that were identical to yours. The mites in your soil are something else...

 

[medicalmj]

Wish I had that scope...mine is a toy.

Anyway, are the fliers causing damage? Doesn't quite look like gnats, thrips or shore flies. Thing is, if that insect is not causing economic losses to commercial growers then researchers will ignore it as a pest. Not that it's not a serious pest for you and others, but that someone needs to send the speciman to the lab so that it can be investigated as such. Kinda like when fungus gnats were discounted as merely a nuisance, but eventually enough growers got the attention of researchers toi look into it. And if its only affecting mj, we'll never hear about it.

If it is causing damage, what do contribute to it? Are these the only two pest identified?

 

[michigan.mmma]

so i have 4 plants in 3gal coco air pots that have been 12/12 for 1 week. they look ok but you can tell there is definitely something not right. they are not stretching as bad as the plants before have been and they are a bit greener.(possibly from the new and more accurate ph pen i have been using)

i know there were mites on these before i transplanted them from solo cups into these pots. i am using H&G, hand-watering, and this time i also added met52 as i still thought they were RAs at the time.

i have not been adding any bennies or ACT to these but the mite population has really exploded and may be larger than i have ever seen. i have used met52 before in coco and i dont remember there being so many mites like there are now but i may not have been looking close enough.

i tried using the USB scope to get pics and videos of the white fuzzy roots that stick out of the top of the coco but i cant get it to focus. i look through the 30X loupe and see them near these roots but i dont see any crawling on them or eating them yet. most of the mite population i see on top of the soil are much smaller than the adults. when all of these are adult size they may start eating them - ill keep checking.

i tried to take and post pics showing the top of the coco to show how many mites are in these pots and what the plants look like with all these in the soil. i know its hard to see but every white speck is a mite.

i also took a couple shots of some leaves that have some unusual growth. these are 2 leaves from 2 separate plants - mites may have caused this by spreading infection or disease.

EDIT: i forgot to mention at a trip to the grow store today the owner suggested i use floramite as a soil drench.

 

[ballplayer 2]

Thanx for keeping this thread moving guys. I dont have much to add, just wanted to say thank you.

I always had fliers present in my grow. I assumed they were fungus gnats or root aphid fliers, to go along with the crawlers. Honestly, I have no idea what species of flier they were. My fliers acted more darty and hoppy (coordinated) than most gnats I had experience with in the past. Most gnats I had experienced lumbered and hovered, generally pretty easy to kill. I know that GoGnats had no effect on the crawler population, the flier population did not explode or decrease. I do know the one time I had a confirmed fungus gnat infest, Gnatrol knocked it out in 3 days or so.

I have not started a grow back up, kind of waiting to see what shakes out of this thread before I move forward. I am certain I have the same bugs as you Michiganmmma. I am contemplating the use of Avid, Floramite, and/or Forbid. I want to be certain before moving forward with such treatments though. Thank you for your time and help guys.

BP2

 

[GeorgeSmiley]

....

 

[KeepItPushin]

MI, do your mites hang out at the top of the coco like that when it's dry? Mine never come to the surface until I water, otherwise I would never even know they were there. I've had good results lately with Azamax at 1oz/gal in the root zone. Mine seem to be down in numbers compared to previous runs, although the flyers are still present.

Everything I've heard about floramite says its toxic in the root zone, and you should NEVER apply as a drench. Can anyone validate this?

 

[KeepItPushin]

Also, can fungus gnats damage the plant? I've always read they were just a nuisance..

 

[Corvette Doc]

I have never figured out exactly what kinds of mites i have. I only know the spider mites by looking at them and am certain of at least 2 other types but not sure what they are. My numbers are now knocked down so low that i have to spend a lot of time searching to find any. There are STILL some spider mites but i can't find any in the soil, but am scared to dig too much this late into flowering.
I started with a good spraying of Bayer Advanced on evening 1, on day 2 i put a DoctorDoom 2oz bomb in there.
Day 3 and 4 i did the same things over.
Day 5 washed with safer soap on all 6 plants. I then started some very intense trimming to remove almost all effected leaves, took off all the swollen branches to several nodes before the swelling, and elimintated almost all the inner (popcorn buds) flowering sites to promote fuller budding up top and at ends of major branches on the jah kush plant...poor thing looks like the bottom third is completely stipped bare. the budding on the top half has really taken off this week though. I did some clean-up trimming on the other 5 but no where near as drastic.
On day 6 sprayed azotrol again. i don't know why i think this might help, but i had it on hand and have been spraying it once a week since i put these in soil.
I couldn't find any live roots while looking in the soil that have the bulges on them...looks like all the roots have died in the first 2-3 inches of soil but some newer ones are coming out a little deeper and the ones running on top of the soil are starting to look like they are getting (i guess you call it bark) growing over them.

The floramite arrived Friday but i haven't figured out how much to use to make just one gallon at a time. Any suggestions on amount per gallon? Should i even bother this late into the summer?
Thank-you guys. With-out this thread i never would have known there are more than just spider mites or even thought to look at the soil closer. Not sure i had the same thing(s) but learning is better than being completely oblivious.

 

[KeepItPushin]

Floramite to be used at 1.5-2.5ml / gal. How far into flower are you?

 

[KeepItPushin]

And are these plants Outside? Need more info..

 

[medicalmj]

MMMA - Showed some mites to a pretty exp grower and said they looked like mites that feed on fungus. Said to worry about the fungus more than mites.

 

[medicalmj]

The fliers are a nuisance. However the larvae will cause serious damage. Plants will get nute lock. Growth slows and yields will be low.

 

[Corvette Doc]

And are these plants Outside? Need more info..

Sorry, thought i covered all that before.
In my case that isn't an easy question to answer straight. I guess that technically they are outside, but the top is covered by solexx panels while they are in walls that are just chain-link fence with shade cloth all around to keep out the stray eyes...so open green-house might be the best answer.

the 3 kush plants have been trying to flower since i got the clones in April and they took off like mad after i cut off the cfl lights on the 4th of july. I ran them from dusk till midnight then 4am till after sunrise on auto timer plug-in strip to trick them into thinking the sun was longer. The lifesaver indicas started showing about 2 weeks after that.

Thank-you on the dose info. I was trying to find a large syringe to figure out how many CCs in 1/4ounce. I swear it is agrivating when the instructions only give 100 gallon mix instructions and i only need 1 gallon at a time. A 2 CC syringe is easy to find.

 

[KeepItPushin]

MMMA - Showed some mites to a pretty exp grower and said they looked like mites that feed on fungus. Said to worry about the fungus more than mites.

So what kind of fungus might they feed on? How does it get there, by using organics? How to get rid of the fungus itself? Which species of fungus?

So many questions..

 

[medicalmj]

So what kind of fungus might they feed on? How does it get there, by using organics? How to get rid of the fungus itself? Which species of fungus?

So many questions..

I'll ask him those questions ... now you got me thinking. As we both know there's a derth of info on this subject and it's driving me nuts. My other friend, who's in the nursery business, said he'd have to send to the lab and have a ento and patho check out the mite(s) and roots. Just might have him send them.

I am currently brewing up some EWC tea. And will be pulling 1 bucket from both veg and flwr to run a side by side to compare my H2O2 sterile v microbial soup. Many have recommended it to address some root issues I have. Who knows maybe that'll provide a needed balance and the plants will thrive.

20 years ago did rockwool slabs and just Europonics A&B bloom the whole way. And the kicker is I never had any problems and the yields were huge!

 

[medicalmj]

OK I finally found a video that shows one of the mites I have and it's a species of Histiostomatidae.

I've been watchin these buggers under a 400x scope for a while and they are identical. Ecspecially the way the mouth parts look and move. See this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Sa7x1AxeU

This researcher states:
Belonging to a lineage coming out of the soil mites (Oribatidae), mites presented in this film are called the Histiostomatidae. They belong to the astigmatid mites, thus are relatives of well known species such as the house dust mites or the scabies mites.
But histiostomatids are no pests and no parasites, but free living feeders of microorganisms (mostly bacteria).
As results of evolution, they possess highly modified mouthparts, which enable the filter-feeding of microorganisms. Examples are presented in this film.

 

[KeepItPushin]

Wow those look nasty. DEFINATELY not same as mine..