wtf are these?

DawgMountain

DawgMountain

Active Member
SSHZ said:
It still amazes me the chemicals people put on/into their pot plants. ONLY use something organic and make sure it's for edible fruit UP TIL THE LAST DAY OF HARVEST. It will say it clearly on the container. Many of these chemicals are or can turn into cancer causing agents that you're ingesting. May not happen in 20 years but I know a few old farmers that died nasty deaths being around some of these kind of additives. Not trying to scare anyone- just give it some thought and proceed cautiously.
Click to expand...
Natural's better. Get some Praying Mantis's...
 
#1Raiderfan420

#1Raiderfan420

Well-Known Member
They are fungas gnats IMHO. I have had them before and the best and safeest solution is to do a soil drench with azamax, the shit works. The guy that said they are spider mites has no idea what he is talking about. Fungas gnats larvae does look like a worm with a black head, but the adolecents hop around like little white or light brown fleas. Mix the azamax at 15-20 mls per gal of water and if your in a pot and can actually submerge the pot in a larger container of solution it will work best, but if not just makes sure you really drench the soil. They feed on new roots and with a infestation that severe I would get on it asap and do a follow up treatment in about 10 days. They have a 30 day life cycle and will come back if you don't stay on top of them. One more thing. After you have them under control, I would use some H&G root excel to help the plant recover faster.
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
SSHZ said:
It still amazes me the chemicals people put on/into their pot plants. ONLY use something organic and make sure it's for edible fruit UP TIL THE LAST DAY OF HARVEST. It will say it clearly on the container. Many of these chemicals are or can turn into cancer causing agents that you're ingesting. May not happen in 20 years but I know a few old farmers that died nasty deaths being around some of these kind of additives. Not trying to scare anyone- just give it some thought and proceed cautiously.
Click to expand...
naturalyte contains SPINOSAD which was first discovered in an old RUM producing factory its OMRI listed as organic .

J
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
#1Raiderfan420 said:
They are fungas gnats IMHO. I have had them before and the best and safeest solution is to do a soil drench with azamax, the shit works. The guy that said they are spider mites has no idea what he is talking about. Fungas gnats larvae does look like a worm with a black head, but the adolecents hop around like little white or light brown fleas. Mix the azamax at 15-20 mls per gal of water and if your in a pot and can actually submerge the pot in a larger container of solution it will work best, but if not just makes sure you really drench the soil. They feed on new roots and with a infestation that severe I would get on it asap and do a follow up treatment in about 10 days. They have a 30 day life cycle and will come back if you don't stay on top of them. One more thing. After you have them under control, I would use some H&G root excel to help the plant recover faster.
Click to expand...

hey raider

not trying to rub you up but here is a diagram of the fungus gnats life cycle .

http://www.umass.edu/umext/floriculture/fact_sheets/pest_management/images/gnatlife.gif

could you tell me where the jumping flea stage is ???

or has UMASS got it wrong?


J
 
DST

DST

Well-Known Member
Well if its Thrips you should see them crawling up onto your leaves and feeding so I don't know about it being thrips. Soil lice sounds viable....please clarify, are they only in the soil, or are they on the plants as well? Perhaps try this, even if it's not thrips, it should kill these things at larvae stage.....my man Hayduke put me onto this.....


Diatomaceous Earth. It is sold in garden stores as a crawling insect killer and in feed stores as a dietary supplement and de-wormer. It is the calcareous skeletons of ancient diatoms. Some of it is mined from marine sources and the organic OMRI CODEX human grade is mined from ancient lake beds in New Mexico. It is sometimes called Fossil Shell Flour also. The microscopic spiny skeletons make little cuts in the exoskeleton of insects and then dessicates them.

I have used the garden center in the garden, but I also now have the human grade for a wormer for the cat and dog during flea season as well as mineral supplement.

Thrips larval stage is in the soil, they pupate, crawl around in the soil for a bit, then looking for the goose that laid the golden egg , climb the bean...er pot stalk to rasp away on our chloroplasts.

I put the white powder in a salt shaker and apply to soil surface after a good watering, but also after the very top of the soil has dried a little. I have also read of making a paste with water and painting on the trunks of fruit trees (good white wash for fences also!) I am not sure if the paste would be ok for MJ plants or not. the top layer gets watered in and adds some calcium ad other minerals, I also do not fully know the ramifications of this though I suspect in moderation it is beneficial.

I only sprinkled the DE on the soil surface twice and with spinosad spray for the adults on top, they were gone quickly. The recurring problem happens when the larval stage escapes the spray, and the DE gets them good...and it is non-toxic...even people eat this stuff!
 
#1Raiderfan420

#1Raiderfan420

Well-Known Member
jondamon said:
hey raider

not trying to rub you up but here is a diagram of the fungus gnats life cycle .

http://www.umass.edu/umext/floriculture/fact_sheets/pest_management/images/gnatlife.gif

could you tell me where the jumping flea stage is ???

or has UMASS got it wrong?


J
Click to expand...
I have dealt with fungas gnats many times. When they are adolecent or immature they are white and jump around when watered. or disturbed until they can fly. I am very familar with the life cycle chart. It doens't say that they crawl either, but they do. If you don't believe me maybe you will believe Ed
http://books.google.com/books?id=dayuKZ1vcO8C&pg=PA284&lpg=PA284&dq=little+white+bugs+jumping+in+my+medium+ed+rosenthal&source=bl&ots=Uxe_hJBWbD&sig=OJLXk8A_DV23L3ihu-h1KDvj0ZQ&hl=en&ei=bIt0TJPGEIT4swOI9YiqBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Just scroll down and read the second question under fungas gnats " water Lice" and see if this sounds like what you have. Just my opinion ofcourse.
Oh and as DST said the DE will work well against gnats or thrips
 
#1Raiderfan420

#1Raiderfan420

Well-Known Member
Springtales are tiny and harmless. My opion is still that those are fungas gnats or thrips, regardless, the DE or Azamax drench will work. If you pour a layer of Diotomaceios Earth over your soil after you water it will only take a few days to kill all of them comming to the surface. The eggs will still hatch though. The reason I say after you water is that the DE will turn to mud when watered so if you water real good first, it can stay dry for a few days.
 
M

Maidaiz

Member
We sprayed the soil with Malathion, didn't water for a day. Changed from watering everyday to every other day. It seemed to take care of it. And we put jugs full of water and dish soap out, for some reason these little 'lice' things jumped in and committed all sorts of suicide!

I think we're good now...I hope
 
B

Blackie the dog

Member
I had tiny white spider looking things infesting my soil in my pots for many weeks. They were much smaller than the ones in that video, and nothing killed them. Not even insecticidal soap sprayed bulls-eye right on them. Not H2O2 solution, nothing. Suddenly they all dissappeered, no damage to the plants either. Wierd, wierd. I searched the internet but found NOTHING that truly described these tiny fast moving indestructible spiders which dove under the soil, and ran all over the lip of the pot but did not seem to go up the plant at all. Anyhow, point is, I was very concerned that they were eating the roots or doing SOMETHING nefarious to my plants, but in the end it was like no harm done, and they just got beamed up or something and all vanished the same day from every pot. No, this was not a hallucination, I have a witness.
 
statik

statik

Well-Known Member
Those are Springtails and are actually pretty harmless to your garden (depending on the type). Trust me, I've had them many times. Springtails are little white(ish) (vary in color depending on type) bugs that jump when disturbed. I understand that some kinds chew on roots etc (only a couple types do this), but there are other kinds which are beneficial in other ways such as eating pathogenic fungi spores and decaying matter like mentioned above etc.

springtails.jpg


Check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtail#Relationship_with_humans

There are many different kinds, some live around/on water as well.

Here is a little more info on springtails from the Orkin site: http://www.orkin.com/other/springtails

Just kill them off with a periodic soil drench of Azamax (basically concentrated neem) or a similar product (something organic*).
 
N

nicksevenfold

Active Member
Definitely not spider mites. As far as I know they hang out under the leaves and have little webs. I have something like those in my aloe vera and as far as I know they're totally harmless. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
 
R

RasAdam

Active Member
they are springtails. spring tails are part of normal soil ecology but improper gardening techniques, IE using to much insecticide or tilling or to much chemical fertilizer can upset the balance. they are more of a nuisance then a problem. if they arent dead after the malathion... then try watering with some compost tea along with an organic mulch to reinstate your beneficial organisms in a proper balance.
 
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