For those who don't know, azamax is a pesticide made out of the same shit as neem oil, if I remember correctly. However, unlike neem oil, azamax actually works. I had to spray my plants to attack some spider mites, (will probably have to spray again), and some of it leaked past the neoprenes in the lids holding the plants stalks into the tub below. It forms a very soaplike bubbly foam, it actually comes right up through the roots, not just around them.

(The instructions do say you can apply to a reservior, it's not supposed to hurt the roots.)

I was wondering if I stumbled upon some kind of hydro grow secret to raising the amount of oxygen in your root zone or something, until I started seeing a reduction in clones rooting with this. (I sprayed my cloners and the same thing happened, leaked into the dwc container below.) I didn't keep track of it, but I'd guess out of 35 clones, I had maybe 10 dead with completely rotted stems. Normally I'd see at most just a few dead ones. The temp, humidity, etc does vary in my clone room and the cloning success rate stays pretty close. Then azamax makes them all bubbly, and stems start rotting right up to the neoprenes before even having a chance to root. I figure it has to be the azamax causing that, I don't know what else it would be.


I was wondering if any fellow growers ever had anything bubbly like this in your dwc setups, and if you did, what were the effects on the roots and the plants?

The plants in this tub so far look normal above it.

p.s. my camera never shows the right color, the roots are a lighter brown in reality.

Good morning Harvey,


You are correct, the only active ingredient listed in AzaMax is Azadirachtin (1.2%), which is the most well-known and studied triterpenoid in neem oil. That leaves 98.8% listed as "other ingredients".


Yes, you will, probably once a week for three weeks at least. AzaMax is systemic and will get into the plant and then you will not have to spray as often. With my plants in vegetation, I spray once a week for three weeks and then once again when I move them over to flowering. You can use AzaMax in flowering if necessary but stop four to five weeks before harvest, as it persists both on the plant and in the plant for four weeks.


Yeah, I read those instructions... I was having a problem with fungus gnat larvae. I mixed up a 0.6% solution as per the instructions for these pests in a hydroponic system. That comes out to 23.7 ml per gallon. My flower tubs alone required 474 ml.



After I followed the directions, and spent almost four hundred dollars for this shit, for vegetation and flowering, it made my roots look like an old grey mop sitting in a dirty bucket of water. The air stones all clogged up and I had a ring of dried foam around all of the tubs with an oily feeling on everything inside the tubs, below the ring. It got into my pumps, top feed lines, and stopped up my drip rings, requiring a major and thorough cleaning of the whole system and replacement of some parts.

Oh... and I lost all four flowering plants and three in vegetation, suffocated by the AzaMax.

I'll still use AzaMax as a foliar spray, until I use it up, but only when my plants are sitting in a spare tub of water and never on the tubs that they live in.

Though it was a tough lesson learned, I try to keep smiling... 52.

I am not into organics or anything so don't have any prejudice against chemicals per say but I would not add anything to my plants that could have this kind of negative potential. It actually integrates into the plants system and we must remember we are what we eat. I couldnt smoke the stuff later, much less expect one of my patients too.

My answer to this issue is never allow my root zone to go to a high enough tempature to have a need for such drastic measures. If one zeroes in on prevention in the first place they will never have to poison their plants to keep them alive, how silly we are.

If you had posted up here and asked about doing this before you did it, if I had seen the thread, I would have suggested that you not add anywhere near the "recommended" amount.

The "recommended" amount for roots is insane. The amount that it took to cause the bubbles in my pic is probably only a few ml, in 45 gallons of water. I cannot imagine what 23.7ml would do to One gallon.

Holy Fuck.

I normally foliar spray with about 3oz of azamax in my 2 gallon sprayer, and I used about half of what was in the sprayer on the plants, and only a little bit of that leaked into the tubs.

I don't really see where you're coming from with the temperature thing. I mean, 1952hd didn't say his tubs were getting too warm and that's what caused the fungus gnat larvae to try to take over, and I didn't even add it to my tubs on purpose, so temperature had absolutely nothing to do with what I did.

I tried to look up the ideal temp for fungus gnat larvae, came across this after a few seconds of searching, "Fungus gnat larvae feed and develop for about two weeks at 72F". If they can develop in a 72 degree tub, they can probably develop in like 98% of dwc setups out there.

Evening Dawg and Harvey,

I just had a few more thoughts, comments and clarifications concerning AzaMax...


First, what is AzaMax and is it an organic or a chemical?


So, what is neem oil?

From Wikipedia; Neem oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem (Azadirachta indica), an evergreen tree that is endemic to the Indian subcontinent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics. It is the most important of the commercially available products of neem for organic farming and medicines.


And neither would I... knowingly. I hope you understand that this was my first experience with this stuff and I only made one application... and I was going on the recommendations of my hydro guy who swears by this stuff and the recommended dosage in the instructions.


I actually like the idea of natural organic systemic insecticides, miticides, and nematicides, as far as giving the little buggers something nasty to try to chew on... and from what information I could find, the stuff would leave the plant in four weeks or less and thus I would recommend stopping application five weeks before harvest. I never got that far. The problem is trust. Trust in the hydro guy that sold me this stuff and trust in the company that instructed me in the proper dosage for my conditions/problems.


Yes we are what we eat, but when we burn something (and inhale it), the burning process causes all sorts of chemical reactions to take place, making all sorts of changes to those chemicals that you compare to eating. That will have to be a topic for another time and place, for as much of a science as cultivation has become, I doubt if there has been but so much research into the actual changes that take place during combustion.


I do not understand your answer here as my nutrient temperatures, being in the upper sixties to the lower seventies do not seem to have played a role here. It all started as a gnat infestation...


Thanks Harvey, looking back, I suppose I should have asked the question over here, I just had no reason to doubt the manufacturer's recommendations until it was too late. Hell, for all I know, it was a misprint, and the amount should have been 2.37ml instead of 23.7ml.

I did do a search here, going back a year, and though I found references to AzaMax, there was no information such as we are discussing.

And after it was over, and I was cussing and cleaning tubs and everything below the nutrient line, I did post over on Floger's/my thread What they don't tell you about AzaMax, but received no response.

But I've tried to mention AzaMax as many times as possible so that the next person to do a search will find our conversation and maybe we'll save then some grief.

Goodnight guys... 52.

I saw two seperate replies asking why I would say somethng about temps in this situation. The reason is simple. If the rez is kept at 64f or less, one never will have a need for any product like this as the gnats will never produce, nor will the slime of root rot ever bother you. Low root temps are the organic way of beating all of this bullshit. IE, if folks kept their root zones in hydro at 64f, they would never have root issues, NONE, O, ZERO.

Yeah, good point there. I just wanted to be sure you and anyone else reading or skimming this knew I didn't add azamax to combat any type of root problem, I added it on accident. I just posted up to see what people thought about this stuff, and to share the weird bubbly pics.


At this point I'm leaning toward where you're coming from, that azamax should not be used in the nutrient solution at all. But I'm not really sure how much that matters though, if it's systemic, in theory it can still get into the plants by way of foliar feeding, not just through the roots. And when it comes to a foliar spray for spider mites, I don't know of a better one. The last "non toxic" thing I used killed most of my rooted clones and seriously messed up my whole crop.



I know my plants don't "like" azamax at all, the leaves get all weird looking, twisted and curled up, and they look nutient deficient and burned. I was getting frustrated thinking, "wtf is wrong with my nutrient solution Now??" until it clicked that the azamax was causing it.

However, the shit works. It kills spider mites, and usually gets rid of them for a long time, if you hold the leaves and push the plants sideways so the spray hits the bottom of the leaves and washes them off. Especially if you leave that oily coating all over the lids, etc. The mites seem to hate to walk across that shit.

But azamax is a bad move for clones it seems, and now I'm a little worried it will sabotage my new clone crop, just by being systemic. In other words, if the stems rot with even a tiny amount of azamax in the solution, taking clones from azamax treated plants with fucked up looking leaves probably isn't ideal either. Hopefully they'll all still root, if they don't, I'll definitely post up about it. I did change the solution in the cloners today before dropping the new clones in, so I know if they don't root properly, it'll be because of the leftover azamax in them, not in the solution.

ok, agreed that there is a need for sprays that will kill bugs once they have gotten onto the plants and that azamax is one of the products that work.
Now, back to a word that I like, Laziness (not saying anyone here is lazy), If we were to keep our rooms clean and not allow pets into the rooms or shoes from outside, ie, if we do due diligence and protect our grow rooms, the little bastards will never get into the room in the 1st place.
Another part of that due diligence is to employ products such as azamax to ensure that the bugs are kept away. In some areas of the world it is an almost impossible job, where I live, as long as I keep the grow room clean and unpolluted, I have no issues with bugs what so ever (other than the occasional spider.), so it can be done.
If a product such as azamax must be employed, I would then say, do not take it beyond the vegitative state into flowering or you will be smoking that product.

In summary, this shit is not liked by your plants but may at times be a necessary evil.

oh no, you mean to tell me those are not spiders in my tent, but actually giant spider mites, oh shit, I have created a perfect breeding ground for giant spider mites, help me mr wizard.