Looks like I have some kind of aphid, possibly root aphids. My plants are in mid to late flower, I guess between week 5 and 7 of flower, they are bag seed but seem like indica dominant strains to me and I am not expecting them to go past 9 or 10 weeks.
I watered my plants today and about 5 minutes later I noticed there were a lot of green bugs leaving the soil and crawling up the insides of the pot. Upon closer inspection of my plants there are little black bugs on the undersides of my leaves and a couple of my buds had dead little winged creatures on them. I should mention at this point that, although the majority of the bugs on the soil were green, some flies like the ones on my buds also emerged from the soil which leads me to believe that all 3 of these bugs are the same species of bug at various stages in its life cycle, I am relatively confident they are some type of aphid.
I am not in total crisis mode yet as my plants aren't looking too unhealthy, however, given how late I am in my grow I fear there is little I can do to battle these bastards. I have some neem oil but I am apprehensive to use it as I have read it will give my buds a bad taste if used this late in flower. I don't know if that just applies to spraying it though, I was thinking a soil drench would be a more appropriate response to this problem.
I am seeking the advice of experienced growers on what the best way(s) to eliminate or reduce populations of this pest are with little to no impact on the quality of my smoke. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
