ok long to short i discovered yesterday i have a case of symphilids in my compost..,now these fuckers are meant to chew ur root system till ur ladies keel over n kark it!..

..my point is,i cant think how these critters could have gotten into the compost unless they were there already.
SO anyone using west plus just give it a proper check over b4 using it on ur prize canna ok?

if anyone has anything to add with regards these critters or my analysis on the matter then please feel free.


e2a...im using gnat off,but at twenty quid a bottle its not my first choice of an anti symphilid treatment.

hash m8 hope you get it sorted

OK, thats more than a little worrying as its what i use




What would I be looking for?

What exactly are symphilids?

What should i be looking for?

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?auto...showarticle=506

Compost is sterilized so it's not westland's fault. Garden centre/B&Q's storage is the problem, was at B&Q the other day and they have bags of manure right next to compost.

Aaaah maybe thats it then dr?!....fuckin has me flumoxed as to how and why?!....

lndnr420,they look just like VERY small centipedes...about 2 mm long and creamy/white in colour..,two little tenticles stickin out front.i noticed when i watered my ladies yesterday...they float to the top of the water and ya can see then wrigglin about all over....thaaaarsunds of em!

oh shit bizzaro

i hope things r ok

its not ur purple wreck is it

it would be a shame to see it killed when u ve waited so long to germ them

no its on my early queen in flower,also found em inmy flowering AK's!!

the purple wreck,cheese and viper cross will ALL be goin into brand new compost when i get round to pottin em up like...defo ditching this old stuff!

thanks for ur concern styc.

Rhs page

Try to let your pots get a bit dryer than usual as they thrive in wet conditions.
Gnat off applied to a watering may do the trick.

thanks lepsweet...the gnat off will be applied to all my girls as soon as they are dry enough...looks like im goin to have to ditch all this compost iv got...think uil invest in some plagron and start from fresh with my next lot of girls...thanks for the linky link..

Funny you should mention playgron as thats where my sylliphids came from before, must be something to do with storage or something. The gnat off will do the trick, just use it and then repeat one week after!

Yeah i think its down to storage, i have had more than a few creepy bugs when i visit the local B&Q, pallets here and there, soaking wet compost left out in all conditions, can't be good can it? I hate opening the tent to a swarm of fly's and bug's, pisses me right off!!
So is this knat off any good and is it organic, its from bio biz ain't it so maybe forget that bit.

Ooh ah, never seen any of them, il keep my eyes open for them. Nice1

Ive used gnat off for fungus gnats and it worked pretty well, three aplications and no more gnats.

Its made by Hydrogarden, active ingredient is 1% bacillus thuringiensis sub-species israelensis(b.t.i), 99% so called inert ingredients, and this is where the grey area is with it because the manufacturers wont say what these ingredients are, i did read somewhere that radioactive ingredients are used in b.t.i formulations, i did a little research on it before using it in my home, afaik its a crystal producing bacteria that when ingested by the gnat larve it breaks down their gut lining causing internal gut hoemorage or whatever its called.

B.t.i is quite species specific as to which insects its toxic too, and i think israelensis (gnat off) is specific to flying dipteran type insects like gnats and mozzies but there are other b.t formulations for targeting other species of insect, of the top of my head and if i remember rightly bacillus thuringiensis sub-species kurstaki (b.t.k) is toxic to various beetles and weevils i think

Do the look like these???

oldtimer..,hombre...YES thay bleedin well do!!!!.......

Riiiiight!!.......so there cool then..there not munching there way through my roots??

No i still dont get it!....if symphilids are bad then y does my buggs look just like them...and like the symphilids i re searched!?...all saying there bad...got ot1 telling me these look the same tho.

still confused...are they good or bad...sorry!

The spring tails you get in the uk do little or no damage to roots. Symphilids do not usually occur in the uk, they don’t float on the water, they look very different having antenna as long or longer than the body.

99.99% of the time when people say they have symphilids, in fact they have springtails.

Virtually all house and potted plants have springtails in the rootballs, they are in all garden/farm soil, most people don’t see them is all, they do an important job breaking down dead organic matter in the soil and compost freeing up and providing nutrients, you even find them in most hydro grows, especially rockwool, where they live off the algae.

There is no way I know of that can eradicate them, they are tough as old boots.

I can be mesmerised almost by watching the springtails wibble about, when I'm off my face and tending my plants. Fine ittle critters, they seem to come and go on some sort of seasonal basis. Sometimes I can see thousands, othertimes just a few, maybe one here and there.
They seem harmless, glad to know that they are!

dont springtails fly thou?

nope, just wiggle around and they jump, hence spring tail.

but the fuckers i have look exactly like symphilids!...notlike springtail?.

Diatomaceous earth is good for getting rid of a lot of compost bound nasties.

Sprinkle on compost, Wormery etc.

Great stuff!

Wear a mask though as it isn't good to breath it in

Also, you can minimise a lot of them by letting the pots dry out a bit more as they all like wet environments.

lettin my potts dry out as we speak..been nearly three days since watering.