I just dropped 4 seeds about a week ago. 3 seedlings have sprouted so I did some digging on the 4th and found these tiny white bugs chowing down on the tap root and the innards of the seed…? I’ve removed the cup that seedling was in… should I be worried about the 3 seedlings? How do I get rid of them if they have made it to the seedlings pots? Any help would be greatly appreciated
Welcome!!! Do you have any pics? If the plants are in soil/Coco and there were bugs in one this early, then the bugs may have came in the bag when it was purchased. May want to inspect your medium a few inches away from the stem to make sure they aren’t in all of them.
They’re in soil… I’ve just checked 2 of the seedlings and as far as I can tell they aren’t in either of them. I didnt wanna dig too much and accidentally rip off what little roots they do have…
I didnt see any in the surrounding soil they were all just dog piled on the seed where it had opened up to let the tap root out… I’ll bet they’re all in the soil. I had 1/4 of a bag left from my last grow that’s just been sitting for the past 6 months
Welcome to the community! Wow that’s concerning. Maybe need to mix some type of insect control in with your medium before planting. @Lacewing what do you think?
Happy Growing @jacobfuchs22
So I’ve just found them in with my last seedling… so I’m going to assume they’re in with the other 2 and that I just missed them… how do i kill them without harming the plants? I ordered soil the other day that should be in on the 9th or 10th
You can sprinkle DE on top and as you water it’ll kinda flow down. Like glass for bugs. Not sure if it’ll work since they’re ridiculously tiny, but it won’t hurt your plant. I spray with Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Juice 1-2 times a week as prevention, but seed infestation is pretty strange.
I know dead bug from jacks should do the trick or u can use superworm frass as well you take a cup of superworm frass and you put it in a two ltr sprayer u can use it for keeping pest off ur plant it helps with fungus nats but the best thing is you fertilize while doin pest control i seen it on YouTube and it says it on the paperwork you get to tell u how to use it ,over there yous call it insect frass
Awesome. I’ll def try to order some today… I think for now I’m going to pour some peroxide on the ones that got my seed and see if that neutralizes them and will get em by till the soil and dead bug I’m ordering gets here… thank you all for the help/advice. It’s much appreciated
I would almost guess root aphids? Just a guess. Azadirachtin should do it, from what I’ve read.
Those are root aphids !!! Tough to get rid of .
I’m sure @NYDon has some answers …
Thank you guys. About how long does it take for them to kill a seedling? I’m worried about em dying before anything I order gets here…
As @Borderryan22 stated Diatomaceous Earth is great for killing soil bound bugs/larvae. Top dress a layer and it will wick through your medium during watering, like shards of fine glass and will destroy their exoskeleton. I add mosquito bits as well
Thanks for the tag!
Root Aphids are tough to get rid of without the right stuff. The only thing that worked for me was a root drench with Botanigard 22WP. When you do the drench, you must water it very slowly and make sure you drench all of the dirt. Pour it right up to the stalk. Actually, most of the solution should be poured up to the stalk as root aphids live on the roots; so you want to drench the roots the best you can. This stuff is expensive, but it will work and you don’t use much in the solutionso it will last a long time. With root aphids, in my opinion, every other treatment is a waste of time and money.
DE only works on the surface of the dirt and/or directly on the plants and it has to be DRY. It works well for what it is but it is slow and is rendered inert the second it gets wet. It can not be “watered” into the soil. It will be 100% ineffective after it gets wet and its killing properties will not return even if it dries.
I had this same problem this year , out of 10 Runtz seeds I have 2 sprouts out of 6 seeds so far and 2 Black Widow out of 6 so far, these are subject to die and at the least infect other plants near by. I sprouted 2 seeds of each the first time then repeated twice. I used different mediums in each batch with same results. Tested each medium and found nothing in them only in the medium the sprout was in telling me that’s most likely where they started from. I made two purchases from another seeds bank and had no problems using the same mediums. I’ve always used ILGM seeds for my personal grows and never had a problem but all data points to a purchase problem. It’s easier to suck up the hundreds of dollars you loose on one incident than continue with trying to fix it, anyone familiar with aphids knows how expensive trying to kill them out can cost DON’T stop purchasing your seeds from your current provider because of one incident, like they say shit happens, Murphy’s law is in effect always. I’ve been growing since 12 yrs old, I’m now 63 yr.old and grow every year and believe me I’ve seen a lot and need to learn even more. Get new everything from a different place and see if you have the same problem, my bet is you won’t but may encounter different problems.