Update: Day 33
Okay, so today I was ready to spend the necessary time needed to get down to the bottom of this. It appears I have two problems going on and I'll need a little help identifying one of them.
The first problem, like
@Jesselikes2Grow and
@Baja.Beaches suggested, is stemming from a PH issue. That's all on me for assuming the formula I've been using wouldn't change and the lack of double checking my work. Watering days have been rushed, and checking PH from time to time was an afterthought.
The first thing I did this morning was recalibrate my ph pen. The plain ole tap water measured 7.0. This was my first red flag. Over the winter and spring, it was measuring closer to 8.0. I had a feeling this was going to happen and I didn't do anything about it to watch it. Last summer and fall the tap water was 7.0. At some point during late fall or winter, the city must have adjusted their water and it changed closer to 8.0 throughout winter and spring. I was almost expecting an adjustment at some point, but I never stayed diligent to catch the switch. So I never adjusted my PH down measurement.
The second thing I did was check the tap water with my normal PH down measurement. It came out to 5.6. This would explain the lockout of nutrients.While it was spot on 6.2 when the water was closer to 8.0, it clearly dropped the floor on me when the tap water was adjusted by the city.
I also doubled checked all of the measurements with the PH drops for a second reference and the results were the same.
I was planning to take this further and measure my run-off PPMs, run-off PH, and soil PH today. As well as make the necessary adjustments. However that will need to wait until tomorrow. The soil isn't quite dry enough today.
My second issue is the flyers. I saw two today on one leaf. I briefly fingered a couple of the girl's soil and I didn't see any movement or anything noticeable. I'm not ruling that out yet. But I snapped a couple of photos of the bugs. I could use some help identifying them. I'm not sure if they're fungus gnats or mature root aphids.
I do have some sticky traps arriving today, and I can treat the soil tomorrow if necessary.
Any idea if these are fungus gnats or mature root aphids?
Shall I phone a friend and call out the big guns
@Schwaggy P
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I'm now leaning toward fungus gnats based on the abdomen structure. But it's a hard call for me.