Tiny Worms Killing My Germinate Seeds

[kingkola1]

This is my 6th indoor growing season. Have been using 1/3 foxfarm, 1/3 coco, 1/3 perlite for the soil. My seeds were started by soaking in ph balanced Hydrozime in RO water (5ml/quart) until the seeds pop exposing the start of a tap root. Then the seeds are planted in the soil 1/4" deep. This has been working well in my past grows except after 14 days I still see no green plants growing out of the dirt; except 1 out of 8 OG Kush seeds did start out of the dirt after 3 days (which is the norm for this grow). I have been using Emerald Harvest Nutes at 50%.

Problem: Today I poked around in the soil and found black seeds with no signs of growth, and found once seed with little tiny worms inside one seed and another escaping back down into the dirt. The worms were white mini centipede looking things about the size of the start of a tap root maybe 1/16" to 1/8" long. Very gross. Anyone have an idea of what these long skinny worms are and how they got into my fresh grow soil? Sorry, the worms are too tiny for photos.

 

[013]

One of my soil bins has similar issues. I’m in the habit of cooking soil as in mixing and prepping a supersoil and watering it in letting it sit and sweat in a sealed tub for at least 30 days before use. My last few rounds of new beans were soaked for 24 then put in soil where I later found tiny white larvae, I didn’t see them eat the beans but none of my seeds sprouted.

Now I’m going to cook my soil in the oven, not in huge batches but a gallon or two at one time just for staring seeds.... I’ve also sprayed the tops of my soil bins with a heavy dose of Neem and I always use a combination of mosquito dunks and mosquito bit’s in all my soil bins but also mixed in top layers of soil as I fill any new pots.

Ok if you are gonna grow get used to tiny, mites are much smaller and various insect eggs will not be seen with the naked eye, you gotta have suitable magnification. Get jewelers loupe or minI microscope - you need it for critters and to see trich colors for harvest anywhere from $12 for analog to 30ish for digital usb model

 

[kingkola1]

That is a good idea on the soil cooking. How hot and long to you cook the soil?

The critter (don't know the name of it) was half in the bean and half outside of it. Very gross.

Thanks!

 

[kingkola1]

One of my soil bins has similar issues. I’m in the habit of cooking soil as in mixing and prepping a supersoil and watering it in letting it sit and sweat in a sealed tub for at least 30 days before use. My last few rounds of new beans were soaked for 24 then put in soil where I later found tiny white larvae, I didn’t see them eat the beans but none of my seeds sprouted.

Now I’m going to cook my soil in the oven, not in huge batches but a gallon or two at one time just for staring seeds.... I’ve also sprayed the tops of my soil bins with a heavy dose of Neem and I always use a combination of mosquito dunks and mosquito bit’s in all my soil bins but also mixed in top layers of soil as I fill any new pots.

Ok if you are gonna grow get used to tiny, mites are much smaller and various insect eggs will not be seen with the naked eye, you gotta have suitable magnification. Get jewelers loupe or minI microscope - you need it for critters and to see trich colors for harvest anywhere from $12 for analog to 30ish for digital usb model

Skip to 3:53.00 in the video for pictures and conversation, this is exactly what I saw. The bugs seem to have come with the seeds.

 

[013]

Not sure yet on cook time I’m trying to figure out a good game plan. mine were just larvae in the soil but if it comes out of a seed then I’d kinda be suspicious of the seed breeder. IDK, I’m just a grower not an expert by any stretch. But if it’s like the video then that’s way freaky, it didn’t come from the water unless they are pranking someone, can’t see them risking their rep on that crap. I would say it hitchhiked with the bean on the inside or outside some how as far fetched as that sounds.

gonna phone 2 friends here @Pennywise & @bobrown14. Have you guys ever seen or heard of this - Skip out to that part of the video above

 

[kingkola1]

I got my OG Kush seeds from Dr. Green Thumb in Canada. I heard a lot of good things about these guys. I think I will go somewhere else next time. Green Thumb was pretty pricey too but supposedly had great genetics and high yielding seeds. I ended up with 1 out of 14 to grow something green; the rest were dead with bugs. Not too happy. Worst yields ever.

 

[NuttyProfessor]

i run boiled water through my starter pots now , i also add pesticide soap to the top of my pots before transplant , i soak the first 3 inch down and let it dry out , this will not affect the medium at all. and will kill soft body pests that try to eat my plants when i re pot , there is always something trying to get our girls lol

 

[SmokingWings]

Not sure yet on cook time I’m trying to figure out a good game plan. mine were just larvae in the soil but if it comes out of a seed then I’d kinda be suspicious of the seed breeder. <snip>

My experience has been that most of the time the insect's lay their eggs in the soil or on the seed itself and the larvae drills a tiny hole in and eats it from the inside out.

I have bought vegetable seeds from reputable companies and the seed germinate like they are supposed to. Then the next spring I open up a package of left over seeds and I can see the little hole. The insect ended up laying eggs while the seeds were stored in paper envelopes.

 

[SmokingWings]

That is a good idea on the soil cooking. How hot and long to you cook the soil?

The critter (don't know the name of it) was half in the bean and half outside of it. Very gross.

Thanks!

There are two ways of cooking soil.

One is to let a newly mixed soil sit in buckets or bins or whatever for several weeks, sometimes up to a month. This lets the soil organisms start to multiply and start to digest and break down the organic material. The soil temperature goes up a degree or two and many of us call it "cooking the soil". After awhile it is cooked and ready to be used for planting.

The other way of cooking soil is to actually cook it with heat or steam. It is sterilizing the soil. This method kills most, if not all, of the soil organisms. It will kill the bad bugs and microorganisms. It kills fungus and molds that are in the soil. It will also kill any seeds that are already in the soil. The soil is cooked in placed in pots or on trays put in the oven for about a half hour to an hour. Recommended temperature is from 140 to 150 degrees. That is on the Fahrenheit scale. Hotter temperatures can be used but over 150 the heat will start to kill off the organisms that needed for proper decomposing of the organic materials. After the soil cools the microorganisms start to return and reproduce and the soil is soon usable once again.

In both examples of "cooking soil" if earthworms will live in the soil then it has finished cooking and returned to a temperature level that most plants will live in.

I have seen heat treated soil mixes in better, and often more expensive, gardening stores.

Not all that long ago @Emilya was talking about her method of heat treating and prepping her soil. She might remember the thread and can provide a link to it.

 

[Emilya Green]

Not all that long ago @Emilya was talking about her method of heat treating and prepping her soil. She might remember the thread and can provide a link to it.

I actually sterilize my soil with much higher heat than you have recommended, 250° for 20 minutes, because I want to make sure to kill off everything... microbes, fungi... everything.

Microbes and fungi are easy to get going again... having sterilized soil is more important to me than keeping all that going during the cleaning process.

Also, "cooking" the soil as far as composting the amendments into the soil, takes a bit longer than 3 weeks... closer to 3 months. A whole different class of microbes and acids are working at this point to break down the raw elements and to combine the various organics into a "soil." Until this happens, the mix will be unable to support life, no matter how many microbes you throw at it during a grow... a raw still cooking soil will have pockets of high and low pH in there that will really mess with your plants... and you will very likely have terrible nutrient deficiencies, even though the raw elements are in there. Preparing an organic soil takes time... and so far I have not found a shortcut that takes that out of the equation.

 

[013]

Thanks Smoking Wings, yes I believe in cooking soil to get microbe activity primed and I do a minimum of 30 days cook in the bins before any use. As I mentioned my soil bins that are several months old began to have significant larvae action, undetermined species tiny white larvae about 1/18 to 1/4 inch long. Never did get pics of them but sprayed top of soil with Neem then Spinosad.

But yes I’m going to bake or sterilize a few small batches in oven for starting seedlings

 

[013]

Thanks Emilya!

I watched Docs crew early on and saw the benefits of cooking, my oldest bin has about 9 months cook time, my newest has 5 months cook time. I don’t know if I can sterilize a whole bin that would take a Herculean effort. I figured I’d sterilze a small batch or two for starting seedlings and hit them again with azos, mycos and real growers recharge which is standard fare for my soil. I’d like to get beneficial nematodes working too. I just wish I new what larvae I was killing beforehand