NAME THIS BUG and you can do what no other can

[Treetroit City]

Interesting to say the least. I had similar looking white dots on some plants, very few compared to yours. I finally figured that somehow the plant was excreting water and these were salt deposits left after the water evaporated. Drove me nuts for a few weeks.
Are you sure they're animal? Could be salt.
I wanna prize if I'm right.

Edit. Just noticed this is in the organic forum. I was in coco feeding synthetics at the time. I'm stumped.

 

[inreplyavalon]

Interesting to say the least. I had similar looking white dots on some plants, very few compared to yours. I finally figured that somehow the plant was excreting water and these were salt deposits left after the water evaporated. Drove me nuts for a few weeks.
Are you sure they're animal? Could be salt.
I wanna prize if I'm right.

Dude if you're right, i will walk an ounce of dank to your doorstep. barefoot. in the snow.
How did you determine they were salt deposits?
I am pretty sure they are insect as they are less prevalent when i treat them with a systemic insecticide. I also came across one thread where someone had the same issues i do and they determined it was scale. I'll try and find it.

 

[inreplyavalon]

Edit. Just noticed this is in the organic forum. I was in coco feeding synthetics at the time. I'm stumped.

This got moved here. I too am in coco feeding mostly synthetics. I hope all you organic heads wont write me off now

 

[Treetroit City]

Process of elimination, 100x scope, they crushed into powder. Still not 100% but that's what I chalked it up to. Also was using Pro-tekt silicone, you ever see what that leaves behind when dry? Looked the same to me.

 

[fuzzywuzzy]

What Third Coast says about salt deposits makes total sense. Im stickin with Silica after the 100x magnification

I was treating 100% Canna Coco with GH Micro/Bloom, Cal-Mag, and Silica. The spots became more apparent after the plant went into full flowering in the summer as well.

The more water/nutrients transpiring the faster the bumps appear?

Hmmmmm

 

[jaykush]

some sort of fungi or scale is my guess. if its scale some water with a little organic soap will get rid of em. if its a fungus in the wood thats a different story.

 

[Weezard]

Dem bumps

Dem bumps

Easy enough to check.
Just hold a wet cloth against the stem and see if they soften, then dissolve.

Weeze

 

[Bowlsworth]

could they be your snail things eggs or maybe some other type of egg layed?

 

[Claude Hopper]

I'm with the others who say scale. There are a vast number of scale insects.

 

[inreplyavalon]

could they be your snail things eggs or maybe some other type of egg layed?

Hey there bowlsworth. The snail looking thing was really like a nautilus shaped crustaceon that was white and immobile. I only saw a couple of them over a few month period and they were about 3x the size of these things. If there were a lot they would have been seen.


ThirdCoast I am going to pick up a 100x mag and check it out. My 30x just can't confirm or deny anything for me.

Fuzzywuzzy hmm so you have had a similar experience? Thats about the same nute regimen that i rotate into my garden. If this is not an insect my mind will be blown. I hope my mind is blown...

Jaykush yeah i need to be more vigilant taking these things off. Its not hard...just with 50 4 ft plants takes a little time! They are worse than ever before and i attribute it to no pesticide used.

Weezard Aloha bro! Yeah that is a simple and conclusive way to test and i will be undertaking said action! Mahalo

 

[inreplyavalon]

I'm with the others who say scale. There are a vast number of scale insects.

Thanks Claude for voting.

Has anyone ever dealt with Scale INSIDE? Never heard of it in an indoor garden. Anyone have any prefered methods? A kind soul once told me that his sister uses safari insecticide on her orchids to fight scale.
What i need to do is start a little bit more of an IPM battle using different sprays and systemics. Up until now i have just given one systemic dose in veg and then let them be. I don't like the idea of using chemical systemic pesticides and think maybe if i go a bit more vigilant than maybe, just maybe i can wipe them out for good. Of course when you don't know what your battling its a bit of a guessing game.
Thanks y'all for even having this discussion with me, makes me feel like i am not alone

 

[Herborizer]

So these things have been in my garden for nearly a year now.
Whast do you think they are? I am nearly certain i know, but cannot get a confirmation from anyone.

This is a picture of a stem 18 inches, 1 1/2 feet from the bottom of the plant. These are not root nubs

My guess is that they are: Scale

 

[inreplyavalon]

This is the other thread that deals with scale. The only other one i have found, except for the one i started in the infirmary many months ago. I have some of the symptoms but not all. No little black crawlers. No leaf damage. Yes to the white looking thing and the bumps. Another guy also adds pics of the scale he is dealing with and they are the more commonly recognized type. Well i'll pick up a 100x mag and get to the bottom of this.


https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=59865&highlight=scale

 

[pearlemae]

My thoughts are scale, two ways to go about getting rid of it. If it's scale, try touching some of them with a Q tip dipped in alcohol, it will kill them and not hurt the plant. Otherwise you can spray them and the plant, with a light horticultural oil and that will smother them, won't hurt the plants. Scale that small will have crawlers that are microscopic so you may never see them.
Try the alcohol or the oil. I think that scale is the problem.

 

[supersmallgiant]

I'm really interested in the results from the wet rag test.

 

[Treetroit City]

I'm sorry inreplyavalon but this is exciting, I can't wait to hear what they are. Like I said, I had way fewer, like 10-20 over six plants. I'm not sure my theory works with as many as you have. I sure hope I'm right though.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

I learned the white dots near the stump of the plant were salt deposits, or, plant shit. Never seen them go that far up the stalk in such numbers though. They do however look just like that.

 

[GoneRooty]

Ok, can't tell by the pictures alone, but have you looked into lenticels? They are basically pores in the stems of certain plants. Check this out and see what you think, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticel

Other than that my best guess would be scale, but scale is usually bigger.
Are the bumps affecting your plant in any negative way?

 

[inreplyavalon]

My thoughts are scale, two ways to go about getting rid of it. If it's scale, try touching some of them with a Q tip dipped in alcohol, it will kill them and not hurt the plant. Otherwise you can spray them and the plant, with a light horticultural oil and that will smother them, won't hurt the plants. Scale that small will have crawlers that are microscopic so you may never see them.
Try the alcohol or the oil. I think that scale is the problem.

Yeah Pearle the qtip method is definitely effective, though it would surely be time consuming. There's thousands on each plant. I have found that a cloth or my fingers work well too. I should really spend more time manuially removing them as opposed to trying to figure out exactly what species they are.

Supersmallgiant i will do the experiment tomorrow afternoon. Today was day one of flower and took some chores to switch the switch. and its dumping snow here and the ski mountain is reopening for memorial day weekend. Now where'd i put my darn goggles...

Thirdcoast i did not realize you had so few. I have a few thousand a plant i would think. maybe few hundred. hard to tell.
Glad were all hoping for the best though

PureK allright good to hear another folk think it could be salt deposits. Not sure how i feel about my plants crapping on themselves but my daughter does it all the time so whatever.

GoneRooty thanks for the link on lenticels. I did not look into those until i saw that link. Thats a cool phenomenon. They are sort of like plant 'gills'. One difference i am seeing in what i have is that these are avove the surface of the plant where it looks like the lenticels may be more of an opening on the surface or below. Though can't rule them out quite yet.

I am going to do the wet towel test tomorrow and the 100x magnification on monday assuming i pick one up in town.
I'll keep y'all updated for certain

 

[GoneRooty]

Lenticels are found as raised circular, oval, or elongated areas on stems and roots.

Not saying for sure this is what they are, but the "raised circular" part really seems to fit. You can't go by just the pictures in the link, since they only show a few examples, and lenticels happen on a wide variety of plants.
Either way, hope you get it figured out and it's not anything serious.