Complete Pictoral Guide Helping You Diagnose Your Sick Plants

Discussion in 'Sick Plants and Problems' started by seaf0ur, May 14, 2013.

  1. Leaf miners

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    These Little creatures are a pain to get rid of, the miners eat and dig squiggly lines into your leaves all the while planting there larvae in them making it hard to get rid of them. They plant there eggs in the leaves in mid When they hatch they feed off of your leaves untill they get big enough to pupate. Pupation occurs within the leaf or in the soil beneath the plant. After they emerge the entire cycle will start over and you will have a bigger infestation. You can tell you have leaf miners by looking at your leaves; it will look like someone carved scribble lines all over the plants leaves. Leaf miners also can leave your plant open to pathogens and fungus and low yields from the damage to the leaves. The females dig into the leaves and lay there eggs, the sap that is secreted when the leaf minors do damage attract ants and flies. If your plants are affected during late flowering or close to harvest, please try to use the cleanest means of control to be safe to your health.

     
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  2. Grey Mold / Bud Rot (Botrytis cinerea)

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    Botrytis blight or gray mold is a common fungus disease which can cause blights; the most common is Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis infections often thrive in cool (60 degrees Fahrenheit or 15 degrees Celsius), rainy spring and summer weather. Gray mold can be particularly damaging when rainy, drizzly weather continues over several days. Look for masses of silver-gray spores on infected plant parts that are growing in humid areas. Tiny, black, shiny specks might also be seen embedded in diseased plant tissue. These are sclerotia of Botrytis: they allow the fungus to survive the winter. Botrytis blight can affect leaves, stems, crowns, flowers, flower buds, seeds, seedlings, bulbs, and just about any other part of a plant with the exception of the roots.

    The best way to manage this disease is keeping humidity low, maintaining good air circulation, and by regularly inspecting and removing of infected parts of the plant immediately. NEVER SPRAY YOUR BUDS WITH ANYTHING. Once a bud has been infected, you need to remove the affected parts. Remove infected flowers, leaves, or the entire plant if it's infected at the base, and take it far far away from your grow area to dispose if it.

    Low humidity slows down and prevents mold (50% or less humidity is optimal, especially towards the end of the flowering stage). Also try to maintain lots of air movement with oscillating fans, and lots of air exchange if possible ( via Exhuast air and Supply air). If you find mold remove it immediately. Once you first find mold, you need to watch your plants like a hawk, as mold spreads quickly. It is best not to do any mold removal while plants are wet since this could help spread fungal spores during conditions which favor infection. Also avoid overhead watering, or misting plants, especially if you have had trouble with grey mold in the past. To promote rapid drying of plants, try to space them to allow good air circulation, and don't hesitate to use fans to help promote good air circulation.

    Sanitation and cleanliness alone is not sufficient to control this fungus.

    The fungus can produce 60,000 or more spores on a piece of plant tissue the size of your small finger nail.
    Even one spore can infect a plant and cause disease. So, avoid injuring plants in any way. Do not leave large tubs of stems when taking cuttings. Ventilate your grow space to prevent high humidity conditions. Even lowering the humidity slightly can have a significant effect on Botrytis. Outdoor planting should be planned to provide good air circulation patterns. This is the most important means of stopping this fungus.

    Added protection is available for many crops by applying a fungicide or combination of fungicides. However, Botrytis can develop resistance to certain chemicals. An ozone treatment is also an option, ozone is excellent for decimating spore counts in the grow room and a decent UV tube unit placed high in the room with a fan blowing through it can reduce dramatically the risk of botrytis.

    Don't spray or burn Sulfer in the flowering stage! You will ruin your crop as Sulfer makes your bud taste really bad, like REALLY TERRIBLE. However, it is safe to use sulfur in Veg to treat mold, before the buds have started forming. Sulfer seems to get right into the essence of the bud and the taste/smell is impossible to remove. Sulfure will TOTALLY ruin your crop if used in the flowering stage!

     
     


  3. Powdery Mildew


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    Mildew spores can be brought into the grow room through air ventilation into your grow room, your cloths, pets and be carried by animals outdoors. and land on the plant infecting other parts of the plant, buds, stems, stalks and leaves, also spores can land on indoor grow room walls, tubes, growing equipment, hoods, ballast's, cords and etc. Spores can remain dormant until environment factors trigger it, like high humidity and cool temperatures, poor air circulation. Powdery mildew in vegetative growth is much easier to rid than in the later stages of flowering. Night time temperatures and moisture triggers spores to be released. The mildew eventually covers and coats the plant thus reducing the process of photosynthesis. If left untreated powdery mildew will infect all plants in your garden and coat your plants in flour like substance and cause leaves to “suffocate” Yellow and die off. If your plants are in flowering, depending how far into flowering, your buds will eventually become infected and will not be able to be used. Buds will have a stale moist smell and will be coated with a white powdery substance that can't be removed no matter what you do. Very early detection in flowering plants that have powdery mildew is extremely important, the longer you wait in flowering the more impossible it gets to eradicate this, due to this, bud size gets bigger in flowering and having high humidity temperatures over 65% can trigger active spores to start, not only powdery mildew, but triggers other problems from it, like bud rot. Not only will you have lower yield, but you won't have any buds, due to the fact mold has crippled your harvest. Strains vary in susceptibility to molds, just like other pathogens and nutrient requirements and care.

    Symptoms of your plants having powdery mildew include: white blotches of furry stuff and white spots or splotches that you can wipe off, having humidity that is over 65%, also starts on darker areas of the plant and spreads to the top. Darker areas on your plant that do not get a lot of light will start to show this first, then when spores become active it spreads to everything. The longer you let it go the harder it will be to eradicate. Late flowering plants that have this are extremely hard to get rid of, due to bud density thicker in late flowering plants. You can't cure mildew once it affects the buds.(also known as Bud Rot) Plants that are stressed from environment factors, or fighting pest's will be taken over more by this mold, due to the fact it's already fighting problems. If you see your stressed plants getting it first, try to isolate the plant and bring down humidity, better air ventilation and or negative air pressure grow room. If you have mildew with your fans running, you will need to take them down and clean them as the fans can spread spores around the room. You will need to wash down everything in your indoor grow room, spores land on everything, so everything needs to be washed with mild hot water and bleach solution. Removing infected leaves from the grow room is critical, carefully removing them and trying to not knock spores into the air is a challenge. Applying a bag over infected leaves and tying it shut then removing it helps out with not knocking up spores in the air. Making sure you use h202 on stems that have open wounds from leaves that was removed.

    DO NOT water when lights are going to be going out, doing this keeps water on the plants soil and causes higher humidity levels, this goes for foliar feeding. Water plants when lights first come on or there is at least 5 hours left of lights on. You want to reduce the amount of humidity as much as possible if your levels of RH are high. You want to keep your humidity levels around 40 to 50%, and anything over 60% is going to trigger problems. Also keeping plants spaced apart allowing maximum air flow in between plants will help minimize plant to plant infection.

    A Sulphur Burner is another way to prevent and kill powdery mildew by vaporizing spores in the air. (Do not apply sulfur when air temperature is near or over 90F) Controlling your mildew outdoors can be somewhat of a challenge, you can't control outdoor temperatures, or environmental factors.
     
     
  4. #24 seaf0ur, May 14, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: May 14, 2013


    Hemp Russet Mite and Broad Mites

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    To show just how small these mites are, Here are some broad mites on a white fly.
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    These mites are almost microscopic (less than 0.2 millimeter long). They are translucent and colorless to pale brown. There are four pairs of legs; the last pair in the female ends in a long hair; the last pair on the male ends in a strong claw. These mites have a large host range including 60 families of plants (including Cannabis). Damage is caused by secretion of a plant growth regulator or toxin as the mite feeds, and significant damage can occur at very low pest density. Symptoms include leaf and fruit distortions, shortening of internodes, blistering, shriveling and curling of leaves, and leaf discoloration. Much of this can be easily confused with viral disease, micronutrient deficiency, or herbicide injury. Damage may appear for weeks after the mites have been controlled, and when combined with the difficulty in detecting mites, makes evaluation of control measures difficult and has led to reports of control failures.

    These mites attack the growing point and the underside of young leaves causing hardening and distortion with a patchy leathery look and feel. Broad mite damage is often confused with injury caused by hormone herbicides because in both cases the leaves become twisted and claw-like with prominent veins. Grey or bronze scar tissue between the veins on the underside of the leaves distinguishes mite from hormone damage. Broad mite infestation can sometimes be confirmed with a X 10 hand lens although they have often disappeared before the damage is noticed. The characteristic egg can be seen near the veins beneath the leaf as a translucent, flat oval with a stippling of white dots. The mite itself is flat but is less easily identified than its egg.

    Infested plants become unhealthy. Leaves curl downward and turn coppery or purplish. Internodes shorten and lateral buds break more than normal. This new growth may also be stunted or killed, which forces out additional shoots. Flowers are distorted and fail to open normally. Unless controlled, broad mites usually destroy the commercial value of infested ornamental corps. Broad mites damage flowers and foliage of begonia and cyclamen, and bronze the lower leaf surfaces. These mites are so small that they are virtually invisible on the host plant even with a good hand lens. They are very damaging usually going after the top growing tender shoots first rather than the bottom fans & working up. Neoseiulus Californicus predator mites have been shown to be effective.
     
     



  5. Scale (Outdoor Problem)


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    Scale can be found on stems, underside of branches, trunks, young trees or shrubs. They usally emerge from there eggs around March to Aug and make there homes on the plant. They pierce the cells and feed on the sap of the plant. After they have a place on your plant they devlop a very hard shell which protects them from other preadatory insects and chemical compounds to get rid of them. After they develop this hard back the secreation they drip attracts ants. Now since the ants travel over the scales thus dragging it all over your plant spreading the scale from one place to another on the plants. When the secreation falls on leaves it can make a type of mold called Sooty Mold which makes the leaves look dirty and black.

     
     


  6. Damping-off (young seedlings dying)

    Damping-off generally refers to sudden plant death in the seedling stage due to the attack of fungi. These fungi are soil borne and are stimulated to grow and infect the seed or seedling by nutrients released from a germinating seed.

    However, seedlings may be injured or killed by something other than fungi, for example, toxic materials in the soil, excess or deficient soil moisture, seed defects, temperature extremes, toxic gases in the air, etc. A correct diagnosis is the key to effective control measures.

    Damping-off disease of seedlings is widely distributed and is a problem on a worldwide basis. It occurs in most soils, temperate and tropical climates, and in greenhouses. The disease affects seeds and seedlings of various crops. The amount of damage the disease causes to seedlings depends on the fungus, soil moisture, and temperature. Normally, however, cool wet soils favor development of the disease. Seedlings in seedbeds often are completely destroyed by damping-off, or they die after transplanting. Frequently, germinating seeds are killed by damping-off fungi before they emerge from the ground, which accounts for poor stands in many crops.

    Older plants are seldom killed by damping-off fungi mainly because the development of secondary stem tissue forms a protective barrier and limits fungal penetration. However, portions of the roots and stems still can be attacked, resulting in poor growth and reduced yields. When seeds are planted in infested soils, damping-off fungi may attack them at any stage. The damping-off fungi may attack the seed prior to germination, or they may attack after the seed has germinated but before the seedling has emerged above the soil line. Infected seed becomes soft and mushy turning a brown to black color, and it eventually disintegrates. Seeds that have germinated and become infected develop water-soaked spots that enlarge and turn brown. The infected tissue collapses, resulting in death of the seedling. Penetration and death of seeds before they emerge is termed preemergence damping-off. Seedlings that have emerged are usually attacked at or below the soil line. The organism can easily penetrate the young soft stem tissue. The infected stem portion becomes discolored and begins to shrink. As this occurs, the supportive strength of the stem's invaded portion is lost, and the seedling topples over. The fungi continue to invade the remaining portion of the seedling, resulting in death. This phase of the disease is termed postemergence damping-off. Older established plants also can be attacked by damping-off fungi. Usually the new developing rootlets are infected, resulting in root rot. Infected plants show symptoms of wilting and poor growth.

    Proper conditions for seed germination and seedling emergence also favor vigorous growth of fungi that cause damping-off. Seed and roots must be kept moist and warm until the roots have penetrated the soil and the seedlings have emerged. As the seedlings continue to grow, moisture at the soil surface can be decreased, and the damping-off fungi then will have less of an advantage. When watering, thoroughly saturate the soil and then apply no more water until soil barely approaches the point of dryness at which plants wilt. This procedure will keep surface soil dry for a maximum time.
     
     
  7. It should be noted that this is not a "cure" thread. There are different methods of growing, and you probably wouldn't listen if I told you to pick dandelions and let them ferment. To cure you must first identify the problem accurately.
     
    Anything major and common that I overlooked?
     
  8. Nope, you done good my friend...excellent, down right excellent.
     
  9. Appreciate it bro, Took a bit of work.
     
  10. wow! amazing! good work! you are a god among men.
     
  11. #31 Old School Smoker, May 22, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: May 22, 2013
    Thank you so much for this excellent information. I have bookmarked this page for future reference. There is one thing missing. Green worms. IDK what they are called, but they are green and they get inside the bud and eat it. I get these everytime i plant outdoors in the ground out here in Southern California.
     
  12. AWESOME job! I've got tons of bookmarks to other sites with pics of plant issues....nice to have one here ;)
     
  13. Let me just bump this one time.
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  14. WOW...... GREAT Job Man !! :hello:
     
    Loved reading it, must have taken you a year to compile that info !!!
     
    Thanks, You are part of why this place is invaluable to our Culture !!!
     
    Later :wave:
     
  15. Someone make this a sticky. It was a good read and contained alot of useful info.
     
  16. appreciate that bro.
     
  17. #37 Darth Clitflex, Jun 23, 2013
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    very deep ... great thread, I have it bookmarked now
     
  18. great thread sea :) 
     
  19. Wow, this needs to be a sticky for sure! Thanks for this sea, one of the best resources like this I have seen, if not THE best. Great work, this surely took some serious time!
     
  20. Thankyou,
    great work! lots of help will be had from this thread!
     

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