Has anyone noticed these little suckers in your bcuzz coco...? wtf?!
-
Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
-
Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!
Bcuzz coco, Mites in the media!
- Thread starter smurfin'herb
- Start date
Nothing new, loose coco can come with bugs and a higher price. 5 kg blocks which are way cheaper are steam compressed killing them and because they are compressed so tight there is no where for invaders to crawl in and live along the supply chain. This is where the lucky loose baggers chime in, 'Mine didn't have no bugs"
stevewinthrop
Member
Looks like an isopod.
DONAJTHEIII
Member
never seen this kind of bug before. I usually hit my coco with nutes + azamax rinse before use. I also add sm-90 constantly so I dont really see to many bugs just the common wormtail once in awhile. If it is hypoaspis miles you should me happy because that means bcuzz is taking preventative measures cause there a predatory mite against fungus gnat pupae. You got a pretty good snap of it but you can only tell if thats a Hypo. Miles mite i cant tell because i dont have it in front of me with a microscope. They have really long front and back legs lanky mofos not short and stubby legs ! either way hit id hit it just in case with a azamax dunk before putting any ladies into that coco.
AJAE
AJAE
DONAJTHEIII
Member
o shit never seen an isopod that color either hmmm is the back of that bug have a bumpy texture or smooth ? bumpy in a sense like car speed bumps put side by side
AJAE
AJAE
rootfingers
Active member
I recall recently reading that some coir companies are putting predator mites in the product as a preventative.
Nothing new, loose coco can come with bugs and a higher price. 5 kg blocks which are way cheaper are steam compressed killing them and because they are compressed so tight there is no where for invaders to crawl in and live along the supply chain. This is where the lucky loose baggers chime in, 'Mine didn't have no bugs"
You can keep your blocks. Steaming kills thrichoderma too. Always scope my coco before using, and NEVER found anything that wasn't supposed to be there. That's with Canna.
NOTE: they are counterfeiting coco too. Bags are perfect. Coco is crap. There is nothing the Chinese will not copy and sell. Gotta know your supplier.
stevewinthrop
Member
I buy the cheapest coco I can find, always have always will, never had a problem with it. So what it takes some flushing before you use it, it's about 10 times cheaper.
are they little white mites? they're not harmful they breakdown the dead things in the soil. i'm sure mine came from the EWC i added to my mix and not from the coco itself. i don't see how they could survive being in a dry brick for months before you take it home and use it.
10 times cheaper? I think not. And it takes flushing and charging, not to mention that steaming kills the trichoderma. You can add trichoderma, but up goes the price. Nothing compares to quality, bagged coco.
stevewinthrop
Member
OK, a little hyperbole, but it is loads cheaper, and much easier for people to get. I've never "charged" anything and have been fine. I have a 20 gallon tote with holes in the bottom, put a 5kg bale in and stick in the hose and go have a beer. Come back and it's flushed.
Either way, bagged coco or not, those isopods in his coco were probably not put there on purpose. If they happen to be predatory isopods, it would be by chance. No way isopods would survive in a bag of dry coco for long.
I use General Hydroponics 5 KG blocks. It's dead dry when you buy it, no bugs to be found. The bugs like the bagged fluffy stuff because of the moisture, and it gets contaminated somehow before it makes it to your grow.
EDIT...
EDIT...
Nothing new, loose coco can come with bugs and a higher price. 5 kg blocks which are way cheaper are steam compressed killing them and because they are compressed so tight there is no where for invaders to crawl in and live along the supply chain. This is where the lucky loose baggers chime in, 'Mine didn't have no bugs"
Weeded1s
Member
I have a big ass tub (the biggest) from wallmart . I load it 3/4 full and spray with spinasad and close the top. Come back in a few days. Never seen anything crawling ever. Extra work ..yep. but compared to bugs in the tents whats an extra 3 minutes to mix and spray. Then I load up smarties and run a 3/4.5 flush through them in the bath tub (way less messy than soil) and then transplant. Superthrive helps at 1 drop per gal for plant stress. Works 4 me 
rootfingers
Active member
All coir comes dehydrated, can't remember the exact spec but that blocked stuff has like 6% moisture content, and compressed from the manufacturer, shipping doesn't make sense otherwise (10k plus to get 40' can from Sri Lanka stateside). Blocks are then re-hydrated and fluffed then bagged. Usually with just local water and in an inside/outside facility (soil mixing yard). I've seen coir just sit outside, unwrapped for days and weeks before being processed. Shit gets in it. This is how its done all over the world.
i mean sure bugs can get in if sitting outside and moistened. but how do they survive being crushed into a brick under hundreds of PSI and being bone dry for who knows how many months and years?
Microscopic eggs could live anywhere.
Ever find bugs in your flour.. that was stored in an entirely sealed container on your kitchen counter.
..
Most of this stuff comes from the same sources. Just re-hydrated and well rinsed by different US distributors. I've seen several shops doing in house mixes where they are simply knocking over a few pallets of the compressed blocks and letting rain/sprinklers hydrate it for a few days-week. They then flush/rinse some more with some calcite lime to help strip out the salts before pushing it into large piles in drain away/dry a little before bagging.
Smurf, I believe I see the same type of bugs in my atami coco as well.. I've also been trying Cyco as well. I've never tried to rid them as I'm not sure I've ever witnessed problems as a result of them. I figured they were just some harmless soil mite. I see them for a second while watering before the water sinks down into the coco and then they appear to hide/become non visible.
Are you seeing negative effects in your gardens as a result of these bugs?
Ever find bugs in your flour.. that was stored in an entirely sealed container on your kitchen counter.
..
Most of this stuff comes from the same sources. Just re-hydrated and well rinsed by different US distributors. I've seen several shops doing in house mixes where they are simply knocking over a few pallets of the compressed blocks and letting rain/sprinklers hydrate it for a few days-week. They then flush/rinse some more with some calcite lime to help strip out the salts before pushing it into large piles in drain away/dry a little before bagging.
Smurf, I believe I see the same type of bugs in my atami coco as well.. I've also been trying Cyco as well. I've never tried to rid them as I'm not sure I've ever witnessed problems as a result of them. I figured they were just some harmless soil mite. I see them for a second while watering before the water sinks down into the coco and then they appear to hide/become non visible.
Are you seeing negative effects in your gardens as a result of these bugs?
Hey Flowerfarmer, good to see ya around these parts still. Honestly, i do not know if these bugs affect much with the plants. I have done runs with them where it didnt seem to matter. But it does seem that when there is a decent colony, there may be some damage being done. When leaves start dropping, its either a K deficiency most likely from lockout, or bugs eating the roots. Either way, i am sending a sample away to get the bugs identified. Peace of mind on the issue.
yeah microscopic eggs could live anywhere, but i never see gnats in any coco i've ever had. the cure for fungus gnats is even to let the media dry out so that the larvae and eggs die. so i'm all like (in my brain) how can they survive being crushed into a brick 10x smaller than the original size and dry as a bone for months.
