Help with mystery nematode leaf miner hybrid from hell

[Poptart Smoothie]

At first it was what I believed to be fungus gnats with very aggressive faces. Theyve proven to be unaffected by bacillus or spinosad. The last few harvests, my bud smells amazing at the chop. Cure goes well but during the cure, what used to be grapes, pine or gas becomes straight up animal farm poop smell and taste.

No mold was immediately aparent and there isn't any obvious damage to my plants. But then I used a really cheap 120x loup off Amazon and spotted this in multiple areas. In fact, every leaf I checked had these. Which are smaller than mites, about the size of a undeveloped trichome stock.

I thought maybe it was a fungal hyphae but then it started to move and wiggle around. So now I'm partinoid about foliar nematodes or a undiscovered variant of birch leafminers. Can anyone help me identify this pest?

I gotta tell you, I'm about to pour 60mg of nicotine water into my plant as a last ditch effort before I toss these gems and do a hard reset. Which would honestly be devastating considering I put a lot of work into pheno hunting these keepers and they're a step above anything else in my small town. A tahow OG leaning peho of ocean fruit and a cap junky leaning cross with grape Rock candy. I really want to save these. Thank you for your help guys.

 

[Poptart Smoothie]

That corkscrew wiggles around like a worm and it gives me the chills that I even smoked a bowl of that. Those plants pictured have been harvested already and are unsalvageable but the clones is very much like to save if I can.

 

[Poptart Smoothie]

Update if anyone's curious. A new cannabis pest entered the chat. Its Foliar nematodes, Confirmed by a soil scientist I emailed. Almost impossible to treat, impossible to kill without also killing the plant. They're in every leaf, every stem, in every cutting. They're found only in America and Japan.

Everything unfortunately is getting chopped. I'm gonna bleach the entire room. Use some UVC as well. I could use beneficial but it wouldn't ever go away, just managed and so I might as well reset when I can.

As for where they came from, nature. My towns water source is a lake in a forest reservation. I strongly suspect my water source. The aggressive looking fungus gnats was another issue entirely.

Signs and symptoms - leaf twists on impacted/infested growth. Cloning becomes impossible as cuttings are unable to root. And a distinct horse/cow barn poop smell when you chop. Ruins entire harvest and progressively gets worst regardless of humidity. If you're a decent grower, the plants stay green throughout and is easy to dismiss.

 

[Creeperpark]

Update if anyone's curious. A new cannabis pest entered the chat. Its Foliar nematodes, Confirmed by a soil scientist I emailed. Almost impossible to treat, impossible to kill without also killing the plant. They're in every leaf, every stem, in every cutting. They're found only in America and Japan.

Everything unfortunately is getting chopped. I'm gonna bleach the entire room. Use some UVC as well. I could use beneficial but it wouldn't ever go away, just managed and so I might as well reset when I can.

As for where they came from, nature. My towns water source is a lake in a forest reservation. I strongly suspect my water source. The aggressive looking fungus gnats was another issue entirely.

Signs and symptoms - leaf twists on impacted/infested growth. Cloning becomes impossible as cuttings are unable to root. And a distinct horse/cow barn poop smell when you chop. Ruins entire harvest and progressively gets worst regardless of humidity. If you're a decent grower, the plants stay green throughout and is easy to dismiss.

I'm sorry to hear that, friend. Maybe on the next one, you can buy some beneficial nematodes and put them in the soil to kill them. Please keep us posted and thanks for sharing.

 

[Poptart Smoothie]

I'm sorry to hear that, friend. Maybe on the next one, you can buy some beneficial nematodes and put them in the soil to kill them. Please keep us posted and thanks for sharing.

Hey, I actually do have an update and it's terrifying and potentially a new concern we have to contend with in cannabis. Or this is a very unique case. But I contacted a soil scientist in Canada. She works for a company that specializes in mycorrhiza products. She's 1000% sure these are foliar nematodes.

Apparently they're notoriously difficult to get rid of as they operate like leaf miners embedded in the plant tissue. Even the eggs are inside the plant tissue. Short of avermectin nimicide systemics, there's really nothing that can be done beyond a clean reset.

I've accepted this but I started experimenting with nicotine and uvc. This plants so vigorous, it handled 30min of UVC without issue. Nicotine apparently can kill them systemically so I'm going to try that by making a hot tea with tobacco and giving it a foliar spray.

As for the symptoms, leaf twists and mild deficiency. As they start to die off and cycle in the buds, it develops a rancid animal farm dung smell that takes over. Every leaf, every stem, every bud if I rip it open and use a scope, they're there. Worth mentioning, you need a pretty strong scope to see them. They're thinner than hair. Smaller than any mites etc

 

[haze*ekiel420]

Damn Bro Sounds horrible, thumbs pressend that you can erradicate them..

Take Care 🪬

 

[TanzanianMagic]

At first it was what I believed to be fungus gnats with very aggressive faces. Theyve proven to be unaffected by bacillus or spinosad. The last few harvests, my bud smells amazing at the chop. Cure goes well but during the cure, what used to be grapes, pine or gas becomes straight up animal farm poop smell and taste.

No mold was immediately aparent and there isn't any obvious damage to my plants. But then I used a really cheap 120x loup off Amazon and spotted this in multiple areas. In fact, every leaf I checked had these. Which are smaller than mites, about the size of a undeveloped trichome stock.

I thought maybe it was a fungal hyphae but then it started to move and wiggle around. So now I'm partinoid about foliar nematodes or a undiscovered variant of birch leafminers. Can anyone help me identify this pest?

I gotta tell you, I'm about to pour 60mg of nicotine water into my plant as a last ditch effort before I toss these gems and do a hard reset. Which would honestly be devastating considering I put a lot of work into pheno hunting these keepers and they're a step above anything else in my small town. A tahow OG leaning peho of ocean fruit and a cap junky leaning cross with grape Rock candy. I really want to save these. Thank you for your help guys.

Clove contains eugenol, which works against mites, and from personal observation, also kills leafminers in the leaf.

You can put a bunch of cloves near the base of the plant, or let a few cloves soak in water and feed that to the plant.

Eugenol, a major component of clove oil and its analogues –acetyleugenol and isoeugenol, demonstrated levels of toxicity comparable to benzyl benzoate, the positive control acaricide, killing mites within an hour of contact.

Cielo Pasay et al. 2010. Acaricidal Activity of Eugenol Based Compounds against Scabies Mites. PLoS One.

 

[Hasch]

Wow mate, that sounds gruesome! Hard reset is the pits
Am glad that you could identify them and there is some kind of "cure".

Thanks for the info and the updates

Good luck with the ERADICATION of the critters!

 

[Creeperpark]

Are you using the same soil over and over? I would use only new soil and if you mix your own you should solarize it with heat before using it.

 

[GreenDawn]

How big a nematodes? Just yesterday I found in an unpopped seed, that I operated out of a flower pot, that it started dancing in the petry dish. Within seconds after soaking it with water again.
And then docens of white hair apeared, up to 4 mm long. I first thought I was wittnes of lightening root growth. Actually the whole seed walked throw the petri dish.
Like a drunken beetle.
Its been about 25 to 100 little worms.
And i filmed it.( Actually its pretty cool quality, for just a mobile.)
I guess the seed will not make it?
I will edit the footage and put online later this week.
That small critters where fast. However.
Better keep it in Quarantaine ? I mean...
it can be anything. It was in living soil. And thats what living soil should do.
Maybee not eating my seeds, lol.
I want to belief its just 'beneficial' nematodes. lol.
I also want to belief they are good animals.
lol.
They seemed to live in the seed and did not like the water. Maybee.

Nature is cute. Like the butterfly caterpillars, that ate my cabagge, in a week. 80 kg or so.
Who doesnt like Butterflies?
Nice grave decoration for those who died starving. 200 years ago or so.

Might make an own thread, when I am orientated. I am still traumatised and must structure.

The seed was a good one.
Rinsing with liquor or preserve the petridish for scientific investigation?