Soil and Root Infestation... Need help identifying this pest!

LJ00

LJ00

Member
Leaf miner and thips?
That snake could be bug shit, anyway you can get a closer video?
 
skiz

skiz

Well-Known Member
I will try and get more today.
There is some thrip damage to some of my garden, but very minimal.
I should've mentioned that visibly I see fungus gnats, thrip, and we just got rid of spider mites (minimal outbreak). The fungus gnats never seemed like an issue, but from what I was reading is that their larvae are what can be dangerous. Meanwhile I've been letting the fungus gnats kinda do their own thing (not sticking to my usual IPM) but the problem with the gnats has gotten out of hand at this point where I'm seeing piles of dead ones next to pots and them crawling all around the rims of the buckets.
Those are just what's on the outside that I can visibly see. When I took one my teens out to inspect the root zone after a drench, that's when I noticed all these little things crawling around. So the drench in fact did nothing, probably just made it worse since everything is wet now.
Under the scope, I couldn't visibly see larvae on the roots, but maybe because I've never seen them before and don't know what I'm looking for.
Not sure what a leaf miner is, but I'd assume that is something that dwells on live plant material instead of decomposing?
The bugs shown in that video were gathered from my pots dirt. Upon taking the plant out, the sides of dirt/roots were COVERED with these things. I also saw some fungus gnats breeding down there so I know there is larvae.
 
skiz

skiz

Well-Known Member
I've had top aphids once in my garden over the course of 6 years, but never seemed to have an issue with root dwelling pests. I've seen root aphids before and these look similar but not the same. Legs are shorter with what I'm seeing, but definitely seem to move around the same speed. I feel like soil mights would be a bit smaller, as well. Shit is stumping me! I'll try and get more photos and information today as I'm letting my pots dry. Thanks for reaching out!
 
LJ00

LJ00

Member
skiz said:
I've had top aphids once in my garden over the course of 6 years, but never seemed to have an issue with root dwelling pests. I've seen root aphids before and these look similar but not the same. Legs are shorter with what I'm seeing, but definitely seem to move around the same speed. I feel like soil mights would be a bit smaller, as well. Shit is stumping me! I'll try and get more photos and information today as I'm letting my pots dry. Thanks for reaching out!
Click to expand...
if its an outdoor garden grab some ladybugs for next season! you can get like 100 for super cheap through the mail. all natural pesticide hahaha
 
Friendly_Grower

Friendly_Grower

Well-Known Member
skiz said:
I will try and get more today.
There is some thrip damage to some of my garden, but very minimal.
I should've mentioned that visibly I see fungus gnats, thrip, and we just got rid of spider mites (minimal outbreak). The fungus gnats never seemed like an issue, but from what I was reading is that their larvae are what can be dangerous. Meanwhile I've been letting the fungus gnats kinda do their own thing (not sticking to my usual IPM) but the problem with the gnats has gotten out of hand at this point where I'm seeing piles of dead ones next to pots and them crawling all around the rims of the buckets.
Those are just what's on the outside that I can visibly see. When I took one my teens out to inspect the root zone after a drench, that's when I noticed all these little things crawling around. So the drench in fact did nothing, probably just made it worse since everything is wet now.
Under the scope, I couldn't visibly see larvae on the roots, but maybe because I've never seen them before and don't know what I'm looking for.
Not sure what a leaf miner is, but I'd assume that is something that dwells on live plant material instead of decomposing?
The bugs shown in that video were gathered from my pots dirt. Upon taking the plant out, the sides of dirt/roots were COVERED with these things. I also saw some fungus gnats breeding down there so I know there is larvae.
Click to expand...
For Thrip use BLUE Sticky Traps. For everything else use yellow sticky traps.
 
W

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
Rice Root Aphids. Congratulations, you have the worst pest ever.

Your only option is to trash everything and start over clean or if you have clones you cant lose, you will have to nuke them with Imidicloprid and then veg them out for 1-2 months. .

Organic treatments are expensive and wont work. Been there, done that. The quickest way is to nuke them or start over from scratch.
 
W

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
skiz said:
I will try and get more today.
There is some thrip damage to some of my garden, but very minimal.
I should've mentioned that visibly I see fungus gnats, thrip, and we just got rid of spider mites (minimal outbreak). The fungus gnats never seemed like an issue, but from what I was reading is that their larvae are what can be dangerous. Meanwhile I've been letting the fungus gnats kinda do their own thing (not sticking to my usual IPM) but the problem with the gnats has gotten out of hand at this point where I'm seeing piles of dead ones next to pots and them crawling all around the rims of the buckets.
Those are just what's on the outside that I can visibly see. When I took one my teens out to inspect the root zone after a drench, that's when I noticed all these little things crawling around. So the drench in fact did nothing, probably just made it worse since everything is wet now.
Under the scope, I couldn't visibly see larvae on the roots, but maybe because I've never seen them before and don't know what I'm looking for.
Not sure what a leaf miner is, but I'd assume that is something that dwells on live plant material instead of decomposing?
The bugs shown in that video were gathered from my pots dirt. Upon taking the plant out, the sides of dirt/roots were COVERED with these things. I also saw some fungus gnats breeding down there so I know there is larvae.
Click to expand...
Fungus gnats are often confused with Root Aphids. The adult Root Aphids eventually grow wings and look like gnats and by the time you are seeing flyers, you are at full blown infestation. It is likely that the piles of dead gnats you are seeing are actually piles of dead aphids. You can differentiate the two because you will see two little "tail pipes" coming out of the tail end of the aphids.
 
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