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Bits of leaves missing!

Hi all,

Ok.......Basically new growth and some of the older smaller growth has big chunks taken out of the leafs..the below pics were taken 3 days ago and the shredding is getting worse although they seem to be growing at the normal rate (done the exact strain before and were cuttings taken off the same mum) I am watching them on a camera and can see the leaves droop a couple of times a day the perk up etc so they are nice and healthy

Before they went into the main area and were in the nursery tent I noticed scaling on on the tops of the leaves and when I looked under a microscrope I could see thrip larvae.

Over 10 days I hit them with 3 different insecticide sprays and also used a smoke bomb on them...I also covered the tops of the coco in washed sand (childrens play sand)

After I did this not long after the below started to happen

Ive been all over the net trying to get some answers but the little info ive found on this basically blame it on every imaginary scenario (pests, diseases, ph, EC, temps, humidity, bad nutes etc etc)

My stats are bang on and have a ph of 5.8, EC 0.8, 27 degrees C temp and about 40-50% humidity)

I have spent literally hours examining them and can see no pests and it would seem my brutal use of pesticides etc has got rid of them...so basically I am 99.9% sure they are pest free (even if they wernt I can think of no indoor pest here in the UK that would basically take chunks out of the plant)

They look the correct colour and are growing at about the same usual rate (same strain, set up and stats as the last spot on run)

They are in coco..I havent sprayed them with anything other than the pesticides

They are getting 400ml of water per 24 hours........

Now if they were to pull through what im concerned about is how does a plant actually grow :tumbleweed: What I mean by this is the top you see of say a seedling or cutting the actual main top of a 5 foot plant i.e the main cola and they grow from the base up or.....do they grow in an upwards direction from the top of the plant?...ive googled this but cant get a decent explanation...obviously if the tops are shredded up like this how can they continue to go upwards?

I am ideally looking for someone who this has personally happened to....its not mutaded as such as the structure of the plant is normal its just the leaves getting shredded....

Thanks







 

Kcar

There are FOUR lights!
Veteran
I think the 'Thrip larvae' you saw may have been broad mites...
 

diseasedmind

Active member
I have the same exact problem, also pretty sure I had thrips too. Hit them with spinosad and put up a hot shots no pest strip.

does anyone know if thrips take chunks out of leaves like that?
 
Its getting worse if anything so if theres pest/s still there then im kind of screwed...It does make sense though i.e already grown leaves cant just disapear..something got to be feeding on them....
 

blastfrompast

Active member
Veteran
Thrip damage is different, you are missing chunks of leaves...

Caterpillar of some sort.

When I got thrips the leaves curled, got a speckled sheen...and went yellow with crinkly appearance.

Cricket or grasshopper :p ?
 
Ok here are some updated pictures of there current state...

The below 4 pics are of 2 x left overs of which have been living in the nursery tent...as you can see they are in a hell of a mess.....







 
Now these below 2 have been living along side the above ones and are 2 weeks younger (were intended as new mothers) These wernt given quite the same level of spraying as the rest of them due to only being freshly transplanted from rooted cubes into small coco pots at the time when I was spraying everything...As you can see they are in a lot better condition although still a bit damaged...



 


I have been examining them for about an hour with magnifying glass etc and can safely say there are no bugs anywhere that can be seen...or anything else unusual living on them i.e eggs etc

I have measured them with a tape measure to see if they are going in an upwards direction over the next few days (I cant see how they can if the tops are damaged)....I dont know exactly how a plant grows :)

The pesticides used were

growth technology SB plant invigorator (soaked them all apart from the 4 new ones at the time)

http://www.growthtechnology.com/product/sb-plant-invigorator/

5 days later I sprayed the lot with Provado ultimate bug killer

http://www.bayergarden.co.uk/en/data/Products/p/Provado-Ultimate-Bug-Killer-Ready-to-Use.aspx

A few days after that in the day I sprayed them with Trounce concentrate (diluted as of instructions)

http://www.deepimpactplantcare.co.uk/amateur-products

I then set off a 3.5g Mini Fortefog "P" Fumer about 8 hours later (in the whole grow area)

http://www.agropharm.co.uk/Home-And-Garden-Pests/Home-Pest-Products/Product-Home-Pest-Products



This points to them being poisoned by the pesticides and smoke bomb..has anyone ever had first hand experience with this?
 

blastfrompast

Active member
Veteran
Is it just the new growth?

Almost looks like the old Fan leaves closer to the base of the plant are fine.

With all of the chemicals you dumped on them I would be surprised if anything would like...

Reminds me of damage my Cabbage gets by being eaten in my garden tho by the little green caterpillars that I hate soo much.
 
Is it just the new growth?

Almost looks like the old Fan leaves closer to the base of the plant are fine.

With all of the chemicals you dumped on them I would be surprised if anything would like...

Reminds me of damage my Cabbage gets by being eaten in my garden tho by the little green caterpillars that I hate soo much.

Mainly new growth and some of the older growth i.e some of the fan leaves near the top have been stripped......
 

blastfrompast

Active member
Veteran
Still looks like something is EATING them... Since even new leaves are showing signs of damage even after nuking them I am kinda stumped.

any traces of the missing leaves...dried bits, or just gone...

Perhaps a webcam might help...let it record over 12 hours..lol
 
Still looks like something is EATING them... Since even new leaves are showing signs of damage even after nuking them I am kinda stumped.

any traces of the missing leaves...dried bits, or just gone...

Perhaps a webcam might help...let it record over 12 hours..lol

leaves have just gone...I know there not likely to vanish into thin air....later I will pull every individual one out, put on a table and go over each one with a magnifying glass.....For something to be eating them then ive got to be surely able to see the pests with my eyes....
 

EastCoast710

Well-known member
Veteran
see ive seen weird growth like this.. but it didn't look like it was eaten.. what I have seen with stuff like this.. it seems like a weird mutation.. caused by nutes. or environment or maybe broad mites.. but when I saw this it was growing like this. not actually being eaten
 

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