Amy Gardner Of Eden: Perpetually Organic
- Thread starter Amy Gardner
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- #982
Update: Rootopsy, Gnats and Something Else(s)
Shoud call it a back-up-a-bit-date really! Doing the rootopsy was one thing, then going through the pics enough to be confident there was no root aphids was another. Unsurprisingly, it then took me a long time to get the energy together to prepare them to share - and there was a transplant to get done in the meantime as well (more on that later).
First up - WARNING to @Virgin Ground (and anyone else to whom it may be relevant) that this post contains pics of fungus gnat larvae and they are not unlike tiny clearish whiteish worm things, maybe a bit like a caterpillar (not really, but i thought it best not tot take the chance, and want you
)First up a few pics of the little flying things stuck on the sticky traps. Mostly fungus gnats (dusted in DE from their escape from the soil), and a few of some other kind. These other ones are similar to the fungus gnats but with some different features. I’ll post this post over at the Predators of Eden as well and hope that the usual brains trust is on hand to help.
This one below is definitely a fungus gnat, I’m pretty sure. But when I was researching about root aphids, I read that one way to distinguish them from gnats was that RA have 2 ‘tailpipes’ at the back end - so this feature on the gnats that’s visible here (and i was seeing it through the loupe at that time) was a contributor to my thinking I might have the RA. Pretty sure it’s a gnat though - that article I linked a few pages back on root aphids shows the ‘tailpipes’ as looking quite different. Phewf! I think...
These below are all something that’s not a FG - yet to be identified. They were also in the soil.
So now we get to the rootball! We saw quite a few crawling and lots flying out and there were larvae and eggs too - I think I managed a photo of an egg attached to a root. There were lots of those. There is also a pic that shows some damaged root - we saw lots of that - and a FG head poking out below. Culprit!
You can see how the larvae hangout along the root - munching into it. Li’l buggers!
Pics:
I can see why Panama had a stoppage at the end and I’m glad I chucked that pot of soil. There was just a population explosion there for a bit. I have taken heavier steps to mitigate in the grow space and numbers have dropped to nearly nothing, I just need to keep up with more IPM ‘prongs’ of approach and replenish the mosquito dink in the res more regularly.
I have used a product called Eco Neem to drench all the pots (that was back last week) and the tent got a complete clean, vinegar and followed up with a clove spray followed up with another essential oils based spray called Bug Boss that kills eggs (And mould too i think).
Right at the end of inspecting the rootball, this funky looking thing was amongst the soil. We were just working on cardboard put straight down on the grass tho’ so I’m not sure this critter was in the pot. Regardless, it looks to me like the kind of predator bug that uses those forward fronds to scoop up eggs. I want to know what it is so I had to include it. And maybe it did come out of the pot, we will never know
That’s the pest analysis done for now - hopefully for good! Or a good good while
Well...that was certainly a deep dive into the roots! I never expected to be brought back to 1966 and Fantastic Voyage. 
I don't know a lick about entomology, but do generic old fungus gnats also have two tailpipes? I hope that Pt is around for your posts on the Friend/Foe thread.
Excellent pics by the way, and it's nice that the live ones pose for you. You're a regular Dr. Dolittle when it comes to photographing critters.
I don't know a lick about entomology, but do generic old fungus gnats also have two tailpipes? I hope that Pt is around for your posts on the Friend/Foe thread.
Excellent pics by the way, and it's nice that the live ones pose for you. You're a regular Dr. Dolittle when it comes to photographing critters.
syenite
Well-Known Member
Brilliant photos and write-up Amy. Thank you 
The larvae is like a beautiful glass noodle! But a bad beautiful glass noodle.
How did you excavate? Just slowly pulling the rootball apart?
The larvae is like a beautiful glass noodle! But a bad beautiful glass noodle.
How did you excavate? Just slowly pulling the rootball apart?
Aww. Thanks sweetie. Nice to have someone looking out for me.First up - WARNING to @Virgin Ground (and anyone else to whom it may be relevant) that this post contains pics of fungus gnat larvae and they are not unlike tiny cleanish whiteish worm things, maybe a bit like a caterpillar (not really, but i thought it best not tot take the chance, and want you
I do find worms gross but they don't have the same effect that the 'pillars do.
I actually loved Wooly Bears when I was really young. I also loved bananas back then too.
I usually read posts and look for mention before I look at pics. If I have a bad feeling I'll ask the BF to look at a pic first.
I think he's sick of this approach.
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- #986
Not that slowly at times either! I had to be quick to catch those pics of the winged gnats crawling on the soil.Thanks! I took a gazillion pics and most of them were crappy so I‘m glad there were a few that scrubbed up well for a good look.
Totally! They are easier to photograph too because they move slowly.
deep dive ... back to 1966 and Fantastic Voyage.
when you say “rootopsy!” I take it seriously 
Well, jury is still out i guess. I saw ones that looked identical to each other apart from having a pointed tail end and a forked one. I’ve seen some internet pics of FG that looked ab bit like that too, but you can never be really sure, right? The authors of that article - which I should re-link to - use ths photo to distinguish the winged form:
Left is the fungus gnat. None of mine had that stumpy body like the one on the right and in other pics of RA the 2 tailpipes are short and at the side and angled outwards ( a bit like the single one that’s visible on the right of the backend of the bug on the right of the pic. Phew - that was a convoluted sentence LOL!
It’s still a bit ambiguous and like you i am still curious about the forked tail on that so-called gnat! So yes I too hope that the bug man is around
Nice to have someone looking out for me.
I must say it did occur to me that it was a paradox to call your attention to it, in order to warn you off it... 
You're a regular Dr. Dolittle when it comes to photographing critters.
thanks buddy! I do love them - Thread starter
- #987
ANd thankyou for the link @InTheShed ... I was someone who thought the film was based on Asimov’s book, but I was mistaken. Such a great concept for the original film
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- #988
Other pics exist of supposed fungus gnats with that forked tail thing... image search on google for fungus gnat tail
Incl. This one from Flies and Maggots Found on Flowers and Foliage | NC State Extension Publications
Figure 91. Darkwinged fungus gnat. Figure 92A. Liriomyza spp. Figure 92B. Shore fly.
2 little forks on that tail!
Makes me fairly confident that they’re gnats. Those other ones with the proboscis and the spotty wings tho’... wonder that they are!
True that it's an edu site, but this seems to be the only one with the dual exhausts.
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- #990
Then there was this one which i didn’t include in the post...
a tiny forked fork - shorter in length. I saw gnats that had no fork, a fork like this and a fork like that other one (in my pic, and both those edu sources) so maybe each of them can be what a FG tail looks like ... hopefully Pt will surface and tell!
You can see why I thought - “2 prongs in the tail, it’s root aphids!”.
a tiny forked fork - shorter in length. I saw gnats that had no fork, a fork like this and a fork like that other one (in my pic, and both those edu sources) so maybe each of them can be what a FG tail looks like ... hopefully Pt will surface and tell!
You can see why I thought - “2 prongs in the tail, it’s root aphids!”.
For sure!
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- #992
Enough bugs Off to have Saturday morning coffee and tokes! 
and stare at the forest.
Off to have Saturday morning coffee and tokes! and stare at the forest. 
dynamo1
Well-Known Member
Wonderful sightseeing through the looking glass Amy, I'm awestruck. Hi Shed
I was stricken with a fungus gnat infestation 2 years ago, both with my girlz, and garden seedlings...with some skepticism, I tried Grub Grenade, available on the Zon, and that with some stickies, made relatively quick work of the fookerz...cheerz... 
...h00k...
...
...h00k......
Hey Amy & Company!
Wow more critters.... its a rootopsy critter bonanza. You are freaking me out because the fungus gnat wars I thought were over here... may have reached a temporary impasse.
Was thinking of you today as I broke down my air pots for deep cleaning & remembered a previous post. I tried to put them together backwards and couldn’t..... what I found was the screws should go in from the outside, the screws should go into the side wall funnel that is indented inwards towards the inside of the container. To put it together backwards one would have to put the screws on the inside of the container. The holes are made for one way use, the stock screws don’t thread in but one way unless you switch to a smaller screw, force it or drill the hole out. Clear as mud right? This is bush engineering and not according to anything official from air pots. As long as the air pot doesn’t fall apart it should work either way, but thought I would pass it along.
All right cheers! You all be safe out there...
Wow more critters.... its a rootopsy critter bonanza. You are freaking me out because the fungus gnat wars I thought were over here... may have reached a temporary impasse.
Was thinking of you today as I broke down my air pots for deep cleaning & remembered a previous post. I tried to put them together backwards and couldn’t..... what I found was the screws should go in from the outside, the screws should go into the side wall funnel that is indented inwards towards the inside of the container. To put it together backwards one would have to put the screws on the inside of the container. The holes are made for one way use, the stock screws don’t thread in but one way unless you switch to a smaller screw, force it or drill the hole out. Clear as mud right? This is bush engineering and not according to anything official from air pots. As long as the air pot doesn’t fall apart it should work either way, but thought I would pass it along.
All right cheers! You all be safe out there...
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- #997
Hey thirteen! The li’l buggers come back don’t they! I have resigned to do regular alternating neem and other root drenches to the soil in veg.
I did my pots that way - with the holes pointing out and the screws from the outside. I know other growers have successfully done it backwards tho. I am thinking that my proximity to the forest makes those AirPots a risky business. I didn’t have gnats in them this time, but that soil was low in organic matter, and this new stuff I’m using is high. There are all sort of bugs including gnats right outside my door so the less access they have to the pots the better. I am taking to lining pots and covering soil again, which makes me think, “hmmm, AirPots, maybe not so much..”
Cheers to you too - hope you are staying safe as well
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- #998
52 hours later at light-on...
12 hours after that... meet the new kid!
Meet the parents ...
Nepal Jam
Kali China
This is a test run of the cross and I have more seeds of it. I expect it could go very well outside here so I’m running it now to see if i like it and if so I will plan it for outside next year.
I am hoping to give it a very short veg, top it early and flower it in a 4gal AutoPot with the new soil (which is being treated in storage to hopefully reduce gnats etc. - we’re thinking about gnat targeting nematodes too...)
Hope y’all are well as you can be!
Now I believe it, and it looks very happy!
JimJonesJr
Member
Funny you mentioned the low dose. I've wondered about that before. The last 1/2oz I had to buy I made it stretch a month. I seemed to get just as high off one bong rip verses half a joint. Your comment just made me remember that.Hi Boo! Thanks
I’m not sure canvas would give you the required resistance - the weight of the powerboards and plugs is pretty significant. PLus I like the solidness for ‘purchase’ when plugging and unplugging.
Not al all. Interestingly it is likely a microdose of the same strain could actually ease anxiety for you, when/if you have it. I am experimenting with that ATM with some success. EG a tiny, tiny hit of panama this morning and I am happy as a lamb
The reason I say a super tiny amount might suit you is becasue cannabis has been shown to be “biphasic” which means a higher dose may give an opposite effect to a low dose. So more does not necessarily give of the same effect.
On that note, I am actually setting up today to make some batches of dosing oil with Sour Bubba and Panama, followed by a big batch of CBD oil with some Candida CD-1. We are nearly out of CBD oil!
I finally got the pics from the
sorted out, culled and edited so... that’s next!
Now that I'm starting to put in a harvest I want to look into the oils and other ways to dose the weed. I love edibles made of my own butter but there again...to much and it's a freaking horror story..lol.
It's like that time you ate one to many mushrooms...to late ride begins now...hang on.