I have never seen anything like this before and need to know what to spray with that won't kill the clones because they just started to get roots? Thanks in advance
what are the larvae its a fly i think...neem oil is pretty popular those no pest strips are good worst case scenario you have to pour some peroxide in the soil add some friendlies tho after you do that....or just some more noncontaminated soil
Thanks for the help. Will adding peroxide hurt the plants? Should I wait until they are a little bigger because they just started to get roots?
They are not in soil or coco yet because they are still in the cubes. I can get a picture of them if it helps.
They are probably fungus gnat larvae. The best way to kill them is to let your soil dry out a little more than usual. This will kill some of them because they need to be in a moist environment to survive before becoming adults. Then water with a solution of 1 part 3% H2O2 and 4 parts water. This concentration will be safe for the plant's roots, but will kill the larvae on contact.
I let them dry up and now they seem to be gone so they probably were fungus gnat larvae. Thanks for your help
Some of the larvae could have survived, because they can go into a kind of stasis until the soil is wet enough, also some of them could be in their pupae stage in between becoming adults which can last a couple of days. Be sure to watch for any that might have made it to adult hood and get rid of them before they can re-infest your soil. Yellow sticky traps are good against fungus gnat adults.
Thanks I will definitely get some sticky traps. Any ideas on how I might have gotten them, so I can make sure to not get it again?
The sticky traps also help with spotting them, they only take a few days to get from larvae to adult form so you can get an early warning by having the yellow sticky traps near the pots. Once the first adults emerge from the soil they will go straight for the sticky trap and if you check it frequently you'll be able to treat them before they get a large population going. There are several different ways they could have gotten inside your grow area. The adults are very small flying gnats so they can get in through windows and doors or small entryways into your home, or wherever your grow is. They could have already laid their eggs in the soil before you brought it home from the store or gotten in if you stored it somewhere before using it. If a garden supply store stores their bags of soil outside at any point, gnats and other insects can enter them via small holes or tears that are often somewhere on most bags. If you brought any other cannabis plants from another place into your grow like rooted clones or other new houseplants, then they might have been infested and brought the gnats with them. The larvae will feed on algae but also on plant roots so you want to get rid of them, and though the adults don't feed on the plants they do lay hundreds of eggs per day so you want to kill them as soon as possible as well.