Downhill quickly: bug infestation the cause?

FF Soil/perlite mix 5gal
temp 65-78
humidity: 30-50
intake/outtake excellent ventilation
organic
vegged 5 weeks.. flowering now for about 40 days
ph 6.6

current nutes... no foliar feeding
iguana bloom
blackstrap molasses
guanos/tea

Two plants. One is perfectly healthy, the other has been having problems from day 1. Same nutes, etc. Different strains.

I've used sprays (safer, einstein neem oil), dunks (gnatrol, neem), to no avail. I have tried nematodes as well.

These bugs are black with some variation in color, some are a light grey. Most of the bugs stuck on the sticky tape have two clear wings on the back, they are about the size of a small pencil tip (about the size of aphids maybe?). Others crawl in the soil and do not have wings, they have antennas. Unfortunately I can't get a great picture of these bugs.

Leaves are yellowing from the bottom up, falling off. Some are getting brown splotches. flowers are in bad shape, not much resin. All of the leaf tips are burned a tiny bit... Could this be a possible nute burn? Have been 'eying' (havent really measured it out perfeclty) the iguana bloom, not using any more than a few tablespoons per gallon. I don't fert every watering.

Thanks!!

here is a stupid question.. new here bare with me.

when someone refers to flower time, are they referring to the number of days the plant is under 12/12? on seedbay for example, a plant that is '8 weeks' takes 8 weeks to flower?

any and all advice is much appreciated, please ask if you need any more info.

Looks like N and P def to me...what's the PPM/EC of the nute solution and the runoff? What is the 6.6PH from?
What's the water source, PH & PPM?

The amount of time they flower is an estimated guess in most cases...some phenos will finish quicker and some slower. For records purposes, start counting flowering days after you switch to 12/12 and the plant is sexually mature.

MTF-Sandman said:

Looks like N and P def to me...what's the PPM/EC of the nute solution and the runoff? What is the 6.6PH from?
What's the water source, PH & PPM?

The amount of time they flower is an estimated guess in most cases...some phenos will finish quicker and some slower. For records purposes, start counting flowering days after you switch to 12/12 and the plant is sexually mature.

Click to expand...

First time thing for me here, I apologize. What is PPM/EC?

Bottled spring water has been used the entire time. This water has a ph of 7 out of the bottle. From what I have read people recommend using distilled water on top of the soil and checking the PH from the runoff.. I don't have distilled water so I used the bottled spring water I normally use. When the runoff was tested it read 6.6.

In addition to the Iguana bloom NPK-4-3-6, and bat guano 1-10-.2, what else should I be using? I feel like I may be leaving something out. The tips on all of the leaves are a light yellow/brown. I thought I burned them, so I have backed off the nutes a little. If I overfertilized previously, is what I'm seeing now some sort of lock out? not sure if that is possible

as I said I have always just poured the nutes by eye, but I do a pretty good job of it and havent had problems. Maybe I need to start measuring it out.

What do you suggest I do?

Also, I have been looking around a bit and the bugs I have look like they could also be some sort of root aphid. I can't find any information on this. Can you recommend something that I can use to kill the bugs in the soil/root area? I tihnk that these bugs are contributing to the problem. thanks

Put an inch or 2 of fine grade aquarium or filter sand on top of your soil. That will keep 'em from reproducing. Also, you may want to put the entire pot in a plastic runoff dish filled with sand as well...to keep them from coming out the drain holes.

I have 2-3" of pretty fine perlite on top of the soil. I have had this here for a long time now.

i will try placing the pots in containers filled with sand, that is a good idea also. ive been fighting this the whole grow. thank you

The perilite won't keep them from emerging. It's too light. You need something heavier like sand to suffocate them. Don't worry tho...the sand wont harm your plants at all. You can water as normal right through the sand. Be sure it's washed and aquarium or filter grade sand. If it's fungus gnats, this will take care of the problem. If it's nute or ph related...that's a whole other ball of wax. You really should be measuring dosages. Keep track using a diary or grow log here.

I will try the sand today. I know I should have been measuring things out, will definitely start doing this. Should I try a liquid pyrethrum dunk? Is this organic? I'm not sure whether these are fungus gnats or some type of root aphid?

Should I treat this as a N and P deficiency and start upping the nutes? I've read that the burned yellow tips I'm seeing can be a sulfur def?

thanks guys

Is there any way you can get a pic of the entire plant?

PPM/EC is the concentration of nutes (or other disolved solids) in the water...Spring water is usually slightly alkaline as well - very few water souces are actually neutral without PH buffers being in solution.

You need to start accurately measuring the nutes that you give so you'll know down the road what they need..at least until you do a few grows and get the feel of it. I'd start feeding them more of the Iguana mix personally...

What size pot is it in and how big is the plant? How many times was it transplanted?

MTF-Sandman said:

Is there any way you can get a pic of the entire plant?

PPM/EC is the concentration of nutes (or other disolved solids) in the water...Spring water is usually slightly alkaline as well - very few water souces are actually neutral without PH buffers being in solution.

You need to start accurately measuring the nutes that you give so you'll know down the road what they need..at least until you do a few grows and get the feel of it. I'd start feeding them more of the Iguana mix personally...

What size pot is it in and how big is the plant? How many times was it transplanted?

Click to expand...

Yes I will try and get a picture up pretty quick.

Should I be using a guage/meter to check ec/ppm? I believe I have read this.

5gal pot. The plant was topped during veg. Only transplanted once, from a 3 gal pot to a 5 gal. The plant vegged for a bit after the transplant/top and it seemed to recover well (bugs were still here though, no signs of damage at this point).

It's about 5 feet tall, trying to keep it from getting taller. leggy plant, shouldve done things differently. It has several tops, sparse buds.

Yeah, a EC/PPM meter is extremely handy for growing. It lets you see how well the plants are using the nutes as well as keep track of what works best for each strain.

Reason I asked about pot size was that a plant being rootbound can cause uptake problems even if enough is present. That shouldn't be case here tho since you're in a 5 gallon. Have they possibly been overwatered? Sometimes if you don't transplant several times you'll end up with less than ideal root structure which means it'll take the plant longer to dry the pot out - and the roots at the bottom stay wet due to this.