Tiny bugs in soil

[killacam88]

I am in my second week of flowering. It is a soil grow. My plants were recently moved from outside due bad weather and temps. I noticed yesterday 100's of tiny bugs that almost look like fire ants with out stingers. I am unable to get a picture because they are so small. I have only noticed a few lower fan leaves have damage and seems like growth has stopped all together. My concern is could these bugs whatever they are be feasting on my plants roots? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Bushman2008 I need ya man!

 

[IICEMAN]

Could be fungus gnats. Are they black with wings? If they are, yes the larva will feast on roots. The adult flies I belive are harmless besides laying hundreds of eggs.
I currently found a few in my soil and did 1 parts 3%hydrogen peroxide and 3 parts water. That should take care of the larva

 

[killacam88]

They are red/orange like a fire ant. They don't have wings. I only see them when I move my soil around or water.

 

[billy13778]

Could be fungus gnats. Are they black with wings? If they are, yes the larva will feast on roots. The adult flies I belive are harmless besides laying hundreds of eggs.
I currently found a few in my soil and did 1 parts 3%hydrogen peroxide and 3 parts water. That should take care of the larva[/QUOTE

I have been watering about every 5-6 days using 1 gallon of water - do you use enough hydrogen/water to water the whole plant or reduce the amount of hydrogen/water to saturate the top 2 or 3 inches?

 

[Big Sparks]

Could be fungus gnats. Are they black with wings? If they are, yes the larva will feast on roots. The adult flies I belive are harmless besides laying hundreds of eggs.
I currently found a few in my soil and did 1 parts 3%hydrogen peroxide and 3 parts water. That should take care of the larva[/QUOTE

I have been watering about every 5-6 days using 1 gallon of water - do you use enough hydrogen/water to water the whole plant or reduce the amount of hydrogen/water to saturate the top 2 or 3 inches?

Good question....I'd like to know the answer to that one too! Green luck and good growing to you!

 

[desiBud420]

They are red/orange like a fire ant. They don't have wings. I only see them when I move my soil around or water.

I had a similar situation where I kept my pots out for a few hours but in direct sunlight. When I brought them back in I noticed one of the outs had a tiny any, looked more like a termite, but same description you've given for your pests. I plucked one, then another came about around the soil. I haven't noticed any as yet, but what I did was put the pots in a water tray and give it a tiny moat effect. None got in, but also none came out. I was hoping I pinched off whatever few that did get in the pot. They seemed more interested in the soil than directly heading for the plant.

 

[IICEMAN]

Could be fungus gnats. Are they black with wings? If they are, yes the larva will feast on roots. The adult flies I belive are harmless besides laying hundreds of eggs.
I currently found a few in my soil and did 1 parts 3%hydrogen peroxide and 3 parts water. That should take care of the larva[/QUOTE

I have been watering about every 5-6 days using 1 gallon of water - do you use enough hydrogen/water to water the whole plant or reduce the amount of hydrogen/water to saturate the top 2 or 3 inches?

After I watered I just poured in about 16oz of peroxide/water mix on top of that

 

[billy13778]

thank you for helping iceman - I will give that a shot

billy

 

[killacam88]

Yeah desiBud420 that is exactly what mine look look some are a whiteish color like a termite. They dont ever get on the plant itself. Nor do they eat on the fan leaves that i pick off my plant and drop in the soil. They seem to just like the soil. I may try the peroxide thing and see if it helps. I just dont know whats going on below the soil. That my main concern.

 

[desiBud420]

Yeah desiBud420 that is exactly what mine look look some are a whiteish color like a termite. They dont ever get on the plant itself. Nor do they eat on the fan leaves that i pick off my plant and drop in the soil. They seem to just like the soil. I may try the peroxide thing and see if it helps. I just dont know whats going on below the soil. That my main concern.

I have no experience with using peroxide, but have heard that specific chemical could do the trick.. Good luck with that and do let me know how that treatment works out for your pest problem. enjoy your grow!

Peace.

 

[killacam88]

desiBud420, whats the chemical you know of? I have heard of people using peroxide for other things in there plant but not pest control so thought id give it a try.Doubt its gonna work for these guys though.

 

[desiBud420]

desiBud420, whats the chemical you know of? I have heard of people using peroxide for other things in there plant but not pest control so thought id give it a try.Doubt its gonna work for these guys though.

Give it a shot. If that doesn't work I've found more natural methods to resolve our problem than going for chemicals.

"mint leaves" deter our light-red ants problem. Ants don't like mint leaves! Also garlic is a great deterrent as well.

Have a read me through the rest as well. I thought it was pretty informative and thought to share it here as well. Keep these for reference if anything else pops up.

I've also found there are some insects that don't harm the plant but sit and wait around for insects like a praying mantis. Frankly I think they're really cool to have around and play with, but not so sure about the bigger ones snipping at my fingers. They do scare me a bit with those massive fists ready to jab. Best let them jab at ants and pests. Smaller ones would be ok. There are some other insects that can be used but personally I'd be interested in having a mint plant in my grow room, or crushed mint leaves around the pots and bit over top soil to freak the ants out and run as far away as possible.

And finally, I also found some Botanical insecticides made from plants that have natural insecticidal properties. I saw someone using neem oil for another purpose, but I gather from their experience they knew what they were doing through 2 pages of discussions. Might want to consider the below one as well in the future.

For now I think Mint Leaves and garlic cloves are our ticket to telling the ants to bugger off. If it keeps away vampires and brings hot dates to a grinding halt, I guess our ants should be running off pretty soon as well.

Nowhere have I found a proper explanation in how's hydro.peroxide works, othan than just it kills the ants. But what about our plant? How does it affect thte roots/soil/pH, etc??
the use of hydrogen peroxide mixed with water to kill the ants....I'm still looking into that. I found these more easily than hydrogen peroxide as any alternative. I not saying anyone here is wrong, in fact I could be misinformed as well, but I would like a couple of link/articles to upgrade my knowledge if that is the case with cannabis plants specifically. If there are a safer, non-toxic methods, I'd prefer to go down that route until I know how to handle something like hydrogen peroxide.
I still have questions around HP like what if we use too much and not enough water. Will we kill our plants and/or root system. How would we counter that and overall is it something we/and plant can bounce back from should an overdose of sorts occur using HP in water. I think we have safer chances recovering from natural methods rather than one that might affect our plants negatively in there long run. As a last resort, I might goto HP but do my thorough research for cannabis (not just what it does, but really how it works in killing or reducing pest infestations).

Cheers.

 

[rhetorrikz]

Desi + reps mate! Great post.!

 

[desiBud420]

Desi + reps mate! Great post.!

Thanks rhetorrikz!

I'm still new to growing, but I like to be really thorough and learn whatever problems others might encounter, the advice that's given by other experienced users coupled with my own research, to come to a final conclusion. Everyone here is helpful and if they are experienced users you will get a direct answer. I like to be a bit more thorough in my explanations and always ask questions.

I'm also growing Venus flytraps and a date plant, and recently started on some goji berries (wolf berries, some kind of superfood that the Chinese rate as #1 on their herbal/medicinal plants) from someone who was interested in how to grow them. I've got the seeds soaking in distilled for almost a day to transfer to wet paper towers method (those 2 streamlined together work best I've found from trying a variety of seeds at my disposal.

Apart that I'm keeping a close eye on my crown royale that's blooming after my first Top, and a black Indica that I FIMmed, both 2 days ago. This is all really exciting but stretched out over days, so patience really is a factor I've begun to understand and respect as well when growing anything, especially cannabis.

I hope my posts help those who find it useful.

Cheers mate and happy growing to all! =D

 

[killacam88]

Thanks so much desiBud420. So I was going to give the mint leaves a try. Today before I went out to get it I checked to make sure the little bugs were still there and poof! Gone. Only thing I have done is let the soil really dry out More than usual. I watered today after no bugs showed and none came out after I watered. I am gonna keep my eye on it and do some research I have to find out what kind of bugs they are.

 

[killacam88]

OK so found out some interesting stuff. They are soil mites. They are actually very beneficial in your soil as they eat anything decomposing In your soil. They also eat mold and have never been found to harm plants. They are basically a filter for your soil. They are most commonly found around compost or any decomposing matter. They come in may colors any sizes but all do basically the same thing. Here is a picture of what mine looked like or similar to.

 

[desiBud420]

Great find!

I also let mine dry out last few days and they disappeared too. If I find one I'll magnify it by 30x and post it up to share.

So far my grow with The CR I topped is really taking a lead ahead of the black Indica (into5th week start for both. I want them to veg for another 2-3 weeks so I can train the shit out of them and see what happens and take time to let them heal before I flip to 12/12). I've 35% concluded that this particular strain Black a indica is a slow one to grow. It's doing fine, but growth is really slow with no deficiencies I can notice as such.

(Crown Royale)

Node connections are thickening up after Top and FIM respectively as one of the signs all the energy is going to new cola points below topped area.

(Crown Royale - bulging stems at nodes new leaf growth)

I FIMmed this one instead of a top to see how it would react. It's begun to grow new leaf formations it slower than the Crown royale.

(Black Indica)

And now there's a new addition to the grow box, bubblegummer! 4 days after sprout and growing faster than the other 2 when they were at this stage.

(Bubblegummer)

Keep us posted on your progress. Thanks!

 

[killacam88]

Beautiful! I'm ready for my first legit strain grow. I have only grow just bag seed haven't have the courage to order seeds yet, considering my location. I just feel like i could get better weight and quality out of ordered seeds. I will definitely post some pics of my girl soon. I put her back in to veg. for a few more weeks. I also topped mine and started a little LST with a tomato cage. Interested to see how it works out.

 

[thehiker]

I had a minor fungus gnat problem that I controlled by covering the surface of the soil with diatomaceous earth. I also sprinkled some into the plates that the pots rest in to get gnats crawling out the bottom holes of the pots. DE is a fine powder to our touch, but is actually tiny sharp, glass-like particles. It gets into the joints of the insects and acts as an abrasive that damages their "skin" and lets fluids leak out....killing the bug.

I also bought some "mosquito dunks" that contain BTi (Bacillus thuringensis var israelii). I ground up a dunk and put the stuff into water for an hour. Then I watered the plants with this. The bacteria and their toxins attack the gnat larvae, killing the source of the problem.

Your problem doesn't sound like gnats, but the DE can help with any crawling insects.

 

[IICEMAN]

Glad you got it figured out cam