We discovered these running around the clay and after reading a few other posts they sound like fungus gnats, but i've got no idea. What do you all think?
Holy **** ya got a few of them, whatever they be. Here look for them here..http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.home.html
Did you? Looks alot like these li'l buggers to me. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7404.html
Certainly did Ive seen aphids before and the damage they cause and its not them on our plants. Theres only 2-3 weeks left now so we're just gonna let them go.....they don't appear to be eating the plant, but maybe the roots. Thanks for looking though
those are definately not aphids. i dont know what they are, but i know they're not aphids. they look sorta like springtails.. do they jump?
They didn't jump, but they do fly. I've had small infestations of them in a few grows I have done since and I've moved the grow, using ALL NEW equipment and they still show up. I have started using Dutch Master's ZONE (a root zone conditioner) in the water that kills them over a couple of weeks, or if you use the conditioner from the start they never show up.... Does anyone know the bugs are?
No, there is no visible damage to the plant (apart from leaves dropping off and general slow growth). They must be eating the roots
if they ARE gnats.... Iv had gnat larvae that only appeared at feeding time and they love to live in moist soil,the eggs are planted by the 'f gnat' and hundreds hatch within days..the only good thing is that they have like a 6 day life cycle but you look to have a mighty infestation although im not sure they are actually gnats. I basically dried out the pot for days,then repotted and scraped away all surrounding soil except the roots,etc.I used a fresh medium and invest in some sticky yellow cards to catch the f ones(if they ARE gnats).Use a good layer of perlite among the top of your soil and only water every 3-5days so the soil drys up good in between cos they thrivce and only lay eggs on moist soil.If they are gnats i hope this is of a help to you.Im sure wakenbake at the time advised me to use a peroxide of some kind as another means to kill them but id need to search back over the boards.Good luck
Yes this is EXACTLY what gnat larvae do aswell as laying their eggs... you MUST re-pot using all new soil(preferably a quality one) and perlite mix.Keep it dry like the sahara in between waterings and feedings..dont keep moisting your soil cos thats what attracts the f ones to land... My blueberry plant did recover from this and i got rid of them all but as i said wakenbake told me about a peroxide solution to use.If you scan back the boards you will see the thread i started and a link to a gardeners forum(no one here could identify what i had in my pot) which describes them in great detail with pictures....mines didnt reach the f stage.Even as an emergency procedure right nowe go and scrape the whole top layer of your soil cos thats where most of them breed/live.Peace
