Its freaking important if your growing in soil... I got some bad soil and never even realized it until it was nearly too late. Expensive organic soil and i ended up with a very very nasty Root Aphid infestation that I'm now fighting.. All damage i "thought" was nute related.. has been because of these fuckers. In short, always at least check the roots on one plant to make sure you do not have bugs, i should have done this first.. would have saved some money for sure.
Right now I'm using SNS 203 and Neem Oil Extract along with Spinosad on the foliar areas after I apply SNS or Neem - I'm going to be rotating the neem and SNS until they are all gone. I just applied SNS 203 about 2 hours ago and my clones are all looking better. The one girl that was infested pretty bad already had a ton of dead bugs on the top as they tried to run but they got to the top found gnat traps, sticky paper and spinosad covered foliage. From what I can gather, Root Aphids are not easy to deal with the SNS worsk well, ther eare some other harsher things out there that i refuse to try thus far.
wow, what soil are you using? hope the SNS works, I have some on the shelf waiting, but haven't had to use it yet.
im not sure if liking other websites is aloud here (im very new to gc) but this is how to make homemaid afid spray Organic Aphid Sprays - Two Homemade Organic Sprays for Fighting Aphids