Root Aphids? Mites? Help ID please.

[Master_Roachi]

Been having tons of issues over the past few months in increasing amounts. Finally found a possible cause today. I usually use fabric pots, this is the first time I have used plastic with exposed soil/roots on the bottom. I cannot find anything on the surface of my pots, any of them. Just the bottom holes in the plastic pots. I will link to two videos I caught of them just now. From what I can see on google it looks like a root aphid, I have caught maybe 5 bugs on my traps total ever, and they appeared to be gnats but now possibly I am thinking root aphids there too. The root area also just looks kinda gross down there.

I feed every 24 hours and usually flush with almost a gallon, per gallon pot, at each watering. Because I have had issues with salt buildup and lockout in the past. Could this be an issue?

Edit, to clarify, in the first video it isn't really until the second half that you see the bug.




Sorry about the loud music, I uploaded from my phone and didn't think to do anything about it.

 

[Master_Roachi]

Info from my other thread, which I am trying to delete, I guess all I did was mark it for deletion? Sorry still new to the forum stuff.

Problem: weird looking leaves. Light colored but not yellow. More gray/silver tinged. Can't find signs of pests. It does not rub off or feel like a powder on the leaves aka PM.

Medium/grow method:
Coco Loco 2gal fabric pots and 1 gal plastic pots

Feed: and supplements used:
Greenleaf: MegaCrop, Sweet Candy, Kelp Extract, CalMag.
Realgrowers Recharge.
SLF100
MadFarmer pH Get Down

Foliar sprayed OverGrow by Optic Foliar every few days.

water source:
Tap water thru a garden filter that takes out chlorine and chloramine.
200ppm 7.0ph after

Strain/age:
FastBuds Tangie and Gorilla Glue day 30ish
Mephisto Mixed strains, Orange Diesel, Strawberry Nuggets, Forgotten Cookies, Forum Stomper, Fugue State. Age day 50ish

light used:
Meph under Autocobs
Fastbuds under HLG Quantum Boards

Climate:
79-81 degrees
Lights 24/7
Rh 50-60
Oscillating fans, exhaust fan, AC blows onto plants sometimes.

Additional info:
Can't find signs of bugs on the plants. Have found springtails around my room. Only ever caught few fungus gnats. Have yellow sticky traps as IPM.

Photos of said area

 

[namvet25]

What exactly are those pictures of.

 

[Mossy]

The Holes in the bottom of the pot @namvet25

I usually use fabric pots, this is the first time I have used plastic with exposed soil/roots on the bottom. I cannot find anything on the surface of my pots, any of them. Just the bottom holes in the plastic pots.

 

[namvet25]

If your entire root system looks like that she is to far gone to help

 

[Mossy]

If your entire root system looks like that she is to far gone to help

Couldn't be salts build up @namvet25 ...too much food...?

 

[Waira]

Roshi- I think the white and the brown-ish blobs are either fungal and/or bacterial colonies,... not uncommon at the base with open air access,... the bug is a mite, probably a soil mite, not an pest type bug thankfully!
..I forget, did I ask you about your coco-growing knowledge? Many problems come form treating it like true soil, and not like the soilless medium it is,.. lots of do's and don't's with coco,.. Are you running drain to waste, with about 20% run-off each time,.. never water alone,... measuring pH and ppm/EC going in and going out?

 

[Master_Roachi]

If your entire root system looks like that she is to far gone to help

It seems to just be the bottom. I don't really want to pull it out of the pot because it's trained to it. There's no signs of anything on the top, even with the scope. These have two weeks-ish left so I'm hoping they'll last.

Couldn't be salts build up @namvet25 ...too much food...?

I've been trying to keep ppms low and flush often. I think it's mainly just around the bottom, but yeah I think there's buildup down there. I'll be going back to fabric pots for sure.


So I'm seeing everywhere around the web that if these are root aphids, which I'm pretty sure they are, I have to nuke my grow and start from scratch... Is this true? My grow room is in my 150+year old house which is hard to keep pest and contaminant free. I think I'm going to build a whole new room in another building on my property. Only problem is it has no water so I'll have to deal with that issue. But should be easier to keep sterile as I can bomb it before hand and spray regularly without worrying about my pets, and myself. Any ideas on storing water for a whole grow? I have 20 days to plan and build this out before starting seeds. This is killing my budget if I have to scrap the 6 plants that are in veg, and showing bad signs of aphids already. I'm basically in denial right now...

My last 3 runs of plants have all had phantom deficiencies, that seemed like mag or cal issues, or pH issues. I know I was running everything currently and even monitoring runoff every single day. I'm starting to see flyers and I thought they were just random gnats, but those videos look like aphids to me. Can I please get some confirmation?

 

[Master_Roachi]

Roshi- I think the white and the brown-ish blobs are either fungal and/or bacterial colonies,... not uncommon at the base with open air access,... the bug is a mite, probably a soil mite, not an pest type bug thankfully!
..I forget, did I ask you about your coco-growing knowledge? Many problems come form treating it like true soil, and not like the soilless medium it is,.. lots of do's and don't's with coco,.. Are you running drain to waste, with about 20% run-off each time,.. never water alone,... measuring pH and ppm/EC going in and going out?

I water every 24 hours. I water my 6, 1 gallon pots with 4-5 gallons of water, which is basically a flush. I end up with almost the full amount back. ( I dont waste it I feed it to my outdoor garden). I check ppm and ph(5.8-6.2 depending on veg or flower) basically yes, trying to do everything "by the book".

And thanks for any help guys, I am stressing the fuck out about this.

I cannot afford to treat the aphids. I will have to scrap and build a new room, I have enough supplies to do so.

 

[Waira]

if you pulled out a root and confirmed it's root aphids, that's one thing, but I don't see any in the pics,... just the soil mite,... the constant moisture and feeds make for fine habitat for fungal and certain bacterials,.. most aren't a danger though,...