Help...sick plant and critter ID

[bong_chat]

Ok I've been through everything I can think of, and I am feeling fairly stupid right now. I don't like having problems that I can't solve, and this one has me beat. So first the standard info...






SOIL:

How long has this problem been going on? Approx 1.5 to 2 weeks

What STRAIN are you growing? Bagseed

What was the establishing technique? (seed or clone?) seed

What is the age of your plants? about 8 weeks, give or take

How Tall are the plants? roughly 3 feet

What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? Flower

What Technique are you using? (SOG, SCROG etc) Topped

What size pots are you using? 1 plant started 16 oz cup, upped to 1 gallon, and upped again to 3 gal to finish

What substrate/medium are you using? What brand of soil mixture are you using? FFOF straight from the bag

What Nutrient's are you using?How much of each with how much water? How Often? FF Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom and Cal Mag plus. Cal Mag every watering (distilled water) BB at 1/2 strength every 3rd watering and TB at quarter strength as needed. Only had one shot of TF to date. I didn;t want to overdo anything until I know what's going on.

What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used? dunno, no PPM testor yet

What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"? 6.85 going in, runoff at 6.72

What method of pH test was administered? digital pH pen

How often are you watering? Every 3rd day unless needed. Plant is starting to need water every other day, so adjusted accordingly.

When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding? Last feeding was 6 days ago

What size bulb are you using? 400w CMH veg and flower with slight supplimental cfl for some added red spectrum

What is the distance to the canopy? 10 inches or so

What is your RH Factor? 40 - 60%

What is the canopy temperature? bout 84
What is the Day/Night Temp? 70 at lowest to 86 absolute highest (only got that high once

What is the current Air Flow? Using stanley fan mod pulling through DIY carbon filter

Is the fan blowing directly at plants? Yes, no choice on that one

Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? Hell no

Is your water HARD or SOFT? Distilled

What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? See above

Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? Not recently. Was topped at 2 weeks before 12/12 switch

Have any pest chemicals been used? If so what and when? none

Are plant's infected with pest's? Havent's seen any in or on the plant, but there is an image in here for a critter ID if anyone can lend a guess



Ok so here's the story. I checked on the 2 girls a little under 2 weeks ago, and I found one of the leafs looking a little funky. They started going downhill fast. So here it is at day 1




Then 2 days later





Then 2 more days





Then my camera batteries died, so no more pics of that leaf. But needless to say it's dead. Since then, more leafs are showing problems. It started mid plant, close to where the plant was topped. But has spread downward and partially up. Most leafs exhibit the same problems, light patches, then brown spots mid leaf, then death of the leaf. Here's a couple images of one of the bad ones as of 10 minutes ago...









And here is the critter I was talking about. It seems every time I get a bag of FFOF I find these guys. WTF is it. I took the pic about 10 seconds before it befell a...shall we say...accident.




Please help. My wife is getting really sick of me bitching about the plant, and the dog is in serious danger of being kicked if he bugs me again after dealing with this problem.

 

[MynameStitch]

I know exactly what your problem is dude, but the thing is; WTF are you going to kick your dog for; if there is one thing I hate is people who abuse animals!!!!!!!!!!



I don't take any jokes on any animals being kicked or hit or anything!

 

[MoeBudz^420]

Bug is a silverfish...


Peace

 

[bong_chat]

Hold up there stitch. I was hoping you would take a look at this thread. I have a great deal of respect for your growing knowledge. BUT you need to take a huge step back with your judgement of me. Let me tell you who you just called an animal abuser.

I have 3 animals in the house at present. 2 cats and 1 dog. Every single pet we have is a rescue animal. Her cat was declawed on all his paws, and was horribly abused by his former owners. We took him in because he needed to know not all humans are bad. He lives quite the comfortable life now. My cat was abandoned when he was 2 after being an indoor cat. His former owner decided that she was just threw with him, and just stopped feeding him or taking care of him in any way. When I got him he was skin and bones and damn near feral. Now he also enjoys a life sleeping on my laundry, but only if it's clean. He has his standards.

Now my dog. My dog was 5 years old when I adopted him. In fact that was the biggest reason for the adoption. He would have been put down otherwise. His former owners rescued him when he was 1. They took care of him sort of for about 4 years, then decided they wanted their new puppy more than him. So he was taken to the rescue, and told them he was being left there one way or another. If they didn't take him, he would be a stray that night. I know for a fact that he was beaten by his former owners. No one can get near him with a cane without him going batshit nuts on them. I'm the only one he will let near him when he gets like that. The closest thing he gets to a real "kick" from me is when he gets a prodding nudge in the butt when i'm carrying something and the goof won't move. Since I've gotten him, he has gone from an abused malnourished dog afraid of the world to a well fed, happy, and outgoing dog who is more than welcome in my family.

I have on several occasions taken in runaway or stray animals and taken them to vets on my dime. A couple of them have died because of care that was recieved too late, but I gladly paid the bill knowing that last hours of their lives were spent warm and comfortable and with full bellies.

So I ask you...do I sound like an animal abuser now? Or do i sound like someone who would actually take a bit of offence at being called something that makes me sick. I know it may come across that way with what I said, but you can only take maybe 20% of what I say seriously.

 

[bong_chat]

Thanks Moe. I just did a big ole D'OH when you said that. It's not like I haven't seen those before. But when I saw it in my grow I started thinking of all the grow related bugs it could be, and not even once thought silverfish. I always associate silverfish with bathroom or kitchen. Never the frakin grow room. One of those can't see the trees with the forest in the way moments.

Well I see some gluetraps in the future...

 

[MynameStitch]

Alright bro, sorry about that then, my sincere apologies! I seen the part about the dog and I went off was like waa?

Anyways
Your problem is your frying your plants, reduce the ppms of the plant....

FF Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom and Cal Mag plus. Cal Mag every watering (distilled water) BB at 1/2 strength every 3rd watering and TB at quarter strength as needed. Only had one shot of TF to date. I didn;t want to overdo anything until I know what's going on.

What is the dosage you are using now and how often?

How often you water? I think I missed it or you did not write it......

Either way flush your plants out with a lot of water, each plant will need around 4-5 gallons of water to do a proper flush, use tap water if you have to, it will be alright for a flush.

 

[bong_chat]

No problem. Water under the bridge, and totally dropped.

I water this one every other day. I was using an every 3rd day watering, but this girl just wanted more. If I wait till the 3rd day, the whole plant droops. So it will be an every 2 day thing from now on.

As far as overfert, I noticed I left some info out. I gave more of a planned schedule then an actual history. So here's what's happened to date. During the entire veg process, I used the food in the FFOF only. I didn't feed at all, and used the transplants to provide that extra kick they needed until I flowered.

When I switched to 12/12 she got a tiny bit of molasses only. Like 1/2 tsp per gallon of distilled. Not even any cal mag.

There has only been one feeding since. Using Big Bloom 1/2 strength. Also at the same time about 1/4 strength per gallon. Also every watering has has added 1tsp of cal mag because I use distilled.

The problem started a tad before the first feeding.

So tomorrow is my next scheduled watering for the problem child. With this added info, you still reccommend a full flush? I'll probably use straight distilled for the flush, no cal mag or anything. Should I hold off on any feeding after the flush until I see some improvement or should I add a very light nute feed after the flush?

 

[MynameStitch]

I would still flush the plant for now.

Are you testing the pH run off from the plant or the pH of the water when you water the plant?

After flush start to feed normally.

I would also transplant into 5 gallon size pots too; your plant size to pot size is getting a little tight and would also cause problems you are seeing to happen now.

Another thing I also seen and forgot to say, the temps on some of those leaves tell me the heat is too high, some of the leaves are curling upwards a bit, this happens when the heat from light or air causing the leaves to dry out faster than the plant can transpire in that area resulting in the leave curling upwards to protect itself.

Is there anyway you can lower your temp below 80 and get the canopy temps down slightly?

 

[bong_chat]

Yeah I was wondering about about the pot size. I have everything I need to do a transplant, but I was worried about trying to transplant while it is in full out flower mode. Is it safe to do a transplant this far in?

I am working on the temps atm. Since my light is a CMH I don't have as much heat as when I was using the HPS. It is a very intense light, but it doesn't throw heat like the HPS does. But I am working on getting more heat out of the room. I'm even thinking about pulling my carbon filter and just running the straight exhaust into the room. The scent is vented into the attic anyway, so keeing the room neg pressured should keep the scent down. But that's the best I can do to keep my temps lower atm.

As far as my pH testing, I do both. I test the water going in, and then test the runoff and compare the numbers. My pH at last test was 6.85 going in, and the runoff was 6.72. So I ruled out pH as my problem.

 

[MynameStitch]

How far into flowering are they; they don't look too far in..... yes it's safe as long as you do it quickly; have the other pot all ready and pull the plant out of the small pot and pluck it right into the big pot and water with some superthrive; she won't even notice she was changed!

Ahhh, you have your setup just like I had mine! Neg air pressure into a carbon scrubber and the air vented into somewhere else!

I loved that setup!

I had issue with temps like that too which is why I had some fans blowing on mine, when I say heat it could mean different things, dry heat meaning the intensity of the light drying the leaves out quickly or the amount of lumens hitting it at close range or the overall room temps.

No pH problem, has to be nutrient related, flush your plants out real good and then start to feed them weekly after a week of the flush; use your cal mag though every watering since you are using distilled.

How much of wach nutrient you use with how much water?

 

[bong_chat]

They're probably about 3 weeks into flower by this point. I try to not make a habit of keeping track of how long my plants flower. I get impatient that way and start getting ansy. And when that happens I start messing with stuff that I shouldn't.

The flush was actually done last night. I figured why wait while the problem gets worse. I know I shouldn't t-plant with still damp soil, but I may not have a choice, since the plant is going south fast, and I will have company over the weekend all weekend. Really putting my stealth to the test. I've known the guy for 15 years and I know he wouldn't rat me out...unless he wants to sit there with me. But why take the chance?

Yeah I like the neg pressure through the carbon filter alot. Really keeps my house smelling nice and fresh. No bud smell ever makes it out unless I have the grow room door opened. However the dry heat kinda struck a note in the grey matter. If your location is correct, then you know exactly what I mean about dry ass winter. My home has been so dry I've been like a walking static generator. My dog wouldn't let me pet him for the longest cause I kept shocking his ears. It's gotten better lately what with the warm up and the change in ambient humidity.

As far as my planned nutes, since I am transplanting up soon, I don;t have to worry so much about it for now. I plant in straight FFOF and I find that after any t-plant I generally don't have to do anything. There's enough good stuff in the soil to keep it going for a bit before feeding. Besides that I give molasses at 1tsp per gallon every other watering or so, and the 1 tsp cal/mag per gallon. Cal/mag goes in all my distilled water all the time.

Then when I do need to feed, I generally give 1 tbsp of big bloom instead of the 4 reccommended once a week, and 1/4 strength tiger bloom maybe 3 times in the plants flowering life. Doesn't seem like anything I've grown to date need much more than that.

Check out the link below if you want to see the first full grow I did. This is my second, and my first time topping a plant. I really like how the budsites look using this method and I can see where the better light penetration is going to help my yield...if the plant will stay alive.