After fighting these things for the last 4-5 months, today I decided not to devote any more of my time, money or resources fighting a battle I seemingly will never win. With that, I'm destroying all my live plants, tossing all the soil and doing a major sterilization of my grow space.
I have tried all the organic solutions and most of the toxic as fuck chemical solutions as well to no avail.
Realistically, I 've been fighting these things for about a year, but just recently diagnose the real deal. At first, it will appear as a nutrient deficiency where you'll have yellowing leaves and weird growth, low yields. Being unsuspecting and unknowledgeable, I went to my gro-shop and each time came out with $50-100 of fucking snake oil to chase a phantom deficiency and what non-organic growers refer to as nutrient lockouts, PH issues, cal-mag deficiencies. And to make matters worse, I started recycling my soil which only multiplied the aphid colonies and carried them into my next cycle. Also, the final product of plants that are infected is different. My last grow had no odor hardly during flowering. THe buds weren't as dense, crystally or melodorous. You may also get hermies from the stress these things inflict on the plant.
Where most people fuck up is first misdiagnosing the problem as a nutrient or lockout issue. Second, they assume the flyers in the room are fungus gnats, when in fact they one of the many life cycles of the aphid population in their grow rooms. These fuckers go undiagnosed because when you ultimately see the flyers, it's too late! They come out of the root mass and grow wings when the pot becomes overpopulated so they can populate other plants in your room. Thirdly, most will buy the magic bullet cure, assume all is well because the activity dies out for a few weeks only to find later they they are back. Aphids have the perfect hiding spot deep inside of the root mass, protected by 5-20 lbs of soil where even the most heaviest of soil drenches can miss one. And thats all it takes. You miss one and weeks later, you're in the same position. They are born pregnant, and are asexual so reproduction is almost simultaneous.
And, if you don't completely wipe them out with whatever you are using, when they come back and they will, they come back resistant to whatever chemical you used.
To show how tough these things are, today as I cut down one of my girls, I notice a couple of them moving around in the soil. I took a 50/50 mixture of water and bleach and sprayed them several times. They continued moving about the pot like it was nothing. Bleach wouldn't even kill them!!!
So save time and money, make cuts of all your strains and sequester them in another area until you can toss and sterilize everything. Besides tossing all your soil, how can you sterilize your space? The only way I have found effective is with high concentrations of Ozone. Seal off the room and let the thing run full bore min of 24 hours hours, preferably 48. This will kill EVERYTHING in the room and even get in cracks and crevices that no spray bottle or rag could ever get. An hour after using Ozone, the room will be ready to occupy again
I'm sure there will be others with different opinions, this is just mine. Also, be aware that from what I have seen, there are many species and sub-species of these things. Perhaps you'll get lucky and get one that can be chemically exterminated. Just know when its time to throw in the towel and not spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars chasing this problem...hope this helps some of you
I have tried all the organic solutions and most of the toxic as fuck chemical solutions as well to no avail.
Realistically, I 've been fighting these things for about a year, but just recently diagnose the real deal. At first, it will appear as a nutrient deficiency where you'll have yellowing leaves and weird growth, low yields. Being unsuspecting and unknowledgeable, I went to my gro-shop and each time came out with $50-100 of fucking snake oil to chase a phantom deficiency and what non-organic growers refer to as nutrient lockouts, PH issues, cal-mag deficiencies. And to make matters worse, I started recycling my soil which only multiplied the aphid colonies and carried them into my next cycle. Also, the final product of plants that are infected is different. My last grow had no odor hardly during flowering. THe buds weren't as dense, crystally or melodorous. You may also get hermies from the stress these things inflict on the plant.
Where most people fuck up is first misdiagnosing the problem as a nutrient or lockout issue. Second, they assume the flyers in the room are fungus gnats, when in fact they one of the many life cycles of the aphid population in their grow rooms. These fuckers go undiagnosed because when you ultimately see the flyers, it's too late! They come out of the root mass and grow wings when the pot becomes overpopulated so they can populate other plants in your room. Thirdly, most will buy the magic bullet cure, assume all is well because the activity dies out for a few weeks only to find later they they are back. Aphids have the perfect hiding spot deep inside of the root mass, protected by 5-20 lbs of soil where even the most heaviest of soil drenches can miss one. And thats all it takes. You miss one and weeks later, you're in the same position. They are born pregnant, and are asexual so reproduction is almost simultaneous.
And, if you don't completely wipe them out with whatever you are using, when they come back and they will, they come back resistant to whatever chemical you used.
To show how tough these things are, today as I cut down one of my girls, I notice a couple of them moving around in the soil. I took a 50/50 mixture of water and bleach and sprayed them several times. They continued moving about the pot like it was nothing. Bleach wouldn't even kill them!!!
So save time and money, make cuts of all your strains and sequester them in another area until you can toss and sterilize everything. Besides tossing all your soil, how can you sterilize your space? The only way I have found effective is with high concentrations of Ozone. Seal off the room and let the thing run full bore min of 24 hours hours, preferably 48. This will kill EVERYTHING in the room and even get in cracks and crevices that no spray bottle or rag could ever get. An hour after using Ozone, the room will be ready to occupy again
I'm sure there will be others with different opinions, this is just mine. Also, be aware that from what I have seen, there are many species and sub-species of these things. Perhaps you'll get lucky and get one that can be chemically exterminated. Just know when its time to throw in the towel and not spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars chasing this problem...hope this helps some of you
