Small white/tan bugs in my soil. They are very small, like mite small. They are destroying everything we have in our small veg room. . I have yet to be able to identify them even with the help of several local growers and hours spent researching on the internet. The have affected the lower leaves the worst, but despite scoping them for months I can’t find a single bug actually on the leaves. At first i thought they where spider mites but again they aren’t on either side of the leaf and no webbing, and with the amount of bugs crawling around on the surface of the soil you would think they would be leaving webs on the plants. Under the scope they have between 4 and 8 legs which I’m guessing is just there different life stages? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this or experienced it? I’d appreciate any input at this point. Thanks💖
Can you get some pictures of your affected leaves ? Maybe that would help us . Probably the bugs are to small to get a picture of them .
I had root aphids when I grew in soil, switched to coco and haven’t had them since. Try diatomdiatomaceous earth or a layer of perlite on top. The de is like the bugs walking on razor blades and I believe the the perlite works in the same manner
They are not root aphids. To small and look nothing like the images I’ve seen of them. Thank you for responding though😃
Hey I posted some images you’re right they are way to small for me to get pics of.but you can see how much damage these little buggers have done…this room was lush and green two months ago.
They look really bad . I’m sorry you got invaded by these monsters . If you want to try and save them I would take a shop vacuum and take about a inch or so of the soil off the top of each plant and replace with fresh soil . Then apply the diatomdiatomaceous earth . Maybe try some neem oil spray on the plant . I would like to know what kind of bugs they are because they are bad and I hope I never get them .
I agree they look pretty bad. I would definitely start doing something before It’s too late. I’ve also read this being safe and effective for most insects. Hope it helps, happy growing!
Safer Brand 5110-6 Insect Killing Soap, 32 oz.
It’s the weirdest thing. Our flower closet is doing wondeful.and it’s only one closet over from the veg closet. We have been using neem oil, green clean and Nuke Em, all of which are more organic options than something like avid or forbid. We have already knocked most of the dirt off of several of the the larger plants and put them in New soil. They are over buding with the ones that are doing so well. I just don’t get it though. How can one room look so bad and the other which I know has to have the same problem be flourishing? I think they might not like the heat on the bud side, we use fluorescent on the veg side and it’s not nearly as warm over there. I’m positive they are some kind of mite, but unless they are some kind of mutant they are not broad mites, or spider mites. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Mystery solved about what kind of bugs they are. Definitely spider mites. We put a plant out in the green house that is unused and after about a week when we went and looked at it and now it’s covered in small webs. I think the fans and organic pest removers where keeping them from webbing or going onto the leaves much. We are going to finish the ones that are already almost 70 days into flower and look amazing and then tear the closest down and clean everything. I’m even going to bug bomb the house. Does anyone have any suggestions in regard to how long I should let the closest sit empty? We had thrips about 4 years ago and I had to do this then as well. But I know spider mites are much harder to eradicate. I read they can lay dormant for years.