What's eating my plants?!?

[RubbaDub]

This morning I went to check on my plants and noticed that some of the leaves were missing little chunks from them, as if a caterpillar or some other garden critter had been munching on them. Caterpillars are unlikely, since this is an indoor grow. Here's three photos that demonstrate the problem:







When I zoomed into the original images, I noticed little white dots on the leaves, but I'm not sure if this even related.


Any idea of what I'm dealing with? Any tips on clearing up the problem?

 

[MynameStitch]

You got pets? That looks like a pet took a bite out of it more than a pest.

But if you have no pets, then the bug that did do it will plenty be big enough to be seen by the naked eye. Is this the only plant that has this?
Cats are nuts for cannabis plants, they will always take a bite and afterwards they are hooked and will start eating the plants.

 

[RubbaDub]

The pics are from three different plants. One or two others had nibbles like that, but much less noticeable.

I do have three cats, but there's no way that they can get in there. I keep them out of the basement, and getting into the grow room is impossible for them since I keep it sealed when I'm not inside of it.

I'm glad it's nothing obvious like thrips or spider mites. I'll get myself an insect trap and see if that doesn't take care of the culprit.

 

[HeadyPete]

Looks like deformed leaves from incorrect ph.

A caterpillar would keep eating, semi circle missing spots, and black little "poos" on leaves.

 

[Pistil Whipped]

I would suspect caterpillars. Look for little brown nuggets near the damage that it may have left behind.

Pistil Whipped

 

[MynameStitch]

Ya, just keep an eye on them cats man, cause like I said before it looks like a cat nibbled on those leaves, but just watch out for them, anything can happen when you have cats and cannabis plants around.

But no, there is no spidermite damage or thrip damage from those pics you posted. Hope whatever caused it does not damage it anymore

REmember just watch out for them cats man! You can find horror stories all over the place here, I too have had a few, my cat single pawed 20+ seedlings and sneaked right behind my back before.

Sneaky little felines!

 

[RubbaDub]

Thank you for your replies so far!

I talked to a local gardner and she said her first guess would be a caterpillar - one from a cabbage moth. She recently had problems with one and took her a long time to track down.

I'll check the pH, to be thorough, even though the plants aren't showing any other symptoms of pH imbalance.

 

[MynameStitch]

If it's catapillars you would be able to see them so there must be more than one if all was affected, because one catapillar is not going to eat a few leaves from one plant and not eat the rest on the plant and decides it wants to eat another plant lol.

so there is more than one...... just have to look
If so hand pick them wil be the easiest as long as there is not many.

 

[RubbaDub]

The mystery deepens....

In case this makes any difference, the plants are Mandala Hashberry and Sadhu, plus a couple of PPPs.

I searched thoroughly for caterpillars and came up with nothing. This evening I looked again and noticed that there were white spots on leaves of many of my plants, such as this one:



I looked underneath one of them and noticed that the spots were turning into holes. This pic kinda shows what I mean:



I think I've got some sort of infestation. It's not caterpillars that are eating holes into my leaves, it's something much smaller....



I'm noticing an increasing amount of little white specks on my plants' leaves. Considering that they have been in veg for 2 months, I doubt that they're thc crystals... is this the borg?!?

Groan.....

 

[redheadedbitch]

i have the same problem with one of the leaves on one of my plants, no white spots though. sorry no pics cuz i still can't upload but it looks similar to Rubbadubs top pic only with 3 little chunks out if it. i do have a cat and she did get into my room for a minute but i also had a ph of 7.4 till yesterday when it was time to water again. Never use soil testers, they bite the big one. this intrigues me. any more info would be much appreciated. thank you for all sofar. ~red

 

[MynameStitch]

Mites are not going to leave perfect white spotting in a line like that, they randomly leave white spots from them chewing on the leaves..... looks like you may have some larva somewhere on the plants or soil.....

I would add some neem oil to your plants to stop them from munching on them.
It's organic and works for most pests.
Did you fully check every underside of the leaves? even ones that were not affected?

 

[treble]

I have similar thing alhough in places I have stems and those thicker "veins" in the leaves being chewed through. The pests I have are a small bug about 4mm (0.157 inch) in length. They start out green and are hard to see on the plant, then they go dark grey.

they look like a cross between a moth and a grasshopper. They will walk or hop but dont seem to fly. I don't know where they come from but there is always one or two each day.

so far 1 of my sprouts seems to have had its main sprouting part eaten away. I don't think its going to grow any more. the others are still managing.

I wonder if thats the problem you have. Perhaps the pest is not on the plant when you are looking but somewhere else in the space...on the walls or up near the lamp.

I have tried camphor with no luck so am going to try a moth bait and see if that sucks them in and off the plants. neem is the next thing on my list.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

looks like wierd deformaties...

 

[HeadyPete]

those spots are the start of ph issues...look at the tips of the serrated edge of the leaf, they are yellowing - calcium def and the blotches are likely Phos def.

A caterpillar would definitely made more damage by now.

Redhed, 7.4 ph will definitely show problems in your plants.

 

[HeadyPete]

This is a cabbage looper and this is the damage they cause (notice holes are rounded, not jagged/ripped like yours):

If you had them there would be holes like this (plus noticable deposits of excrement) and the caterpillar would not stop until it turned into a moth.

It causes damage similar to that of the imported cabbage worm. Feeding from the underside, it causes ragged holes in leaves and deposits dark pellets of excrement. Attacks leaves of many plants, including all members of the cabbage family, lettuce, cotton, tobacco, soybeans, tomatoes, and several annual flowering plants.

 

[RubbaDub]

High all!

I think I've ruled out caterpillars.... no poops near the leaf holes. It might be one of those little hopper things that treble mentioned. Keeping a close lookout for any insects. I put up a sticky strip with hopes that I'll capture one of the fiends. So far it only has hairs from my forearm on it. (c;

I got a nice PH meter yesterday and checked the soil's PH... it's at 6.8, so I'm gonna rule out PH problems.

One thing I should mention - Two weekends ago I repotted my plants from the 3/4 gallon pots to 2 gallon growbags. The shop I normally go to didn't have Fox Farms Ocean Forest, which is what I used to start the grow. I went to a regular garden shop that has "grower friendly" employees to see if they had any. They didn't, but they recommended Down to Earth worm compost (http://downtoearthdistributors.com/wormcompost.html). I used that mixed with perlite and dolomite for the new soil. I'm wondering if the weirdness that I'm seeing is being caused by the roots moving from the FFOF to the new compost... maybe a form of nute burn? The label on the compost bag says "will not burn plants"....

OK, if the compost is causing the problem - what do I do? Pull the plants out of the grow bags and dump out as much of the compost as possible and replace it with FFOF?

I'm really glad I haven't promised anyone bud from my first grow. I feel like my newby mistakes are gonna kill my plants before I reap any smoke....

 

[HeadyPete]

Doesn't mean your ph was correct back when this leaf damage occurred, and 6.8 is on the high side.

What kind of meter did you get and how did you check the soil's ph?

I trim my roots on my mom's pretty extensively and don't get damage like that. I do get individual leaves yellowing and dropping off because the root system that supported it is no longer there, but it stops as soon as the excess leaves are gone and/or new root growth takes up the slack.

That worm casting soil is a problem. You are supposed to add like 20% to your soil mix, not use it as soil and it doesn't burn if used as directed, but straight it might be an issue. I don't see nuteburn, though.

Transplant into FFOF and you can add that worm casting to the mix 20%.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

those spots are the start of ph issues...look at the tips of the serrated edge of the leaf, they are yellowing - calcium def and the blotches are likely Phos def.

A caterpillar would definitely made more damage by now.

Redhed, 7.4 ph will definitely show problems in your plants.

thats a big 10-4 there buddy!
dont know why i didnt think of that, it makes sence...

 

[RubbaDub]

Doesn't mean your ph was correct back when this leaf damage occurred, and 6.8 is on the high side.

What kind of meter did you get and how did you check the soil's ph?

Hmm... I thought as close to 7 as possible is desirable.

My new meter is a Control Wizard PH8. (http://www.controlwizardproducts.com/proddetail.php?prod=CW525&cat=87). Unlike the Rapitest piece of crap that I bought, this one actually registers changes in pH.

That worm casting soil is a problem. You are supposed to add like 20% to your soil mix, not use it as soil and it doesn't burn if used as directed, but straight it might be an issue. I don't see nuteburn, though.

Transplant into FFOF and you can add that worm casting to the mix 20%.

Eep! I'll redo the soil as soon as I get a chance. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[redheadedbitch]

thanks Pete!!! as soon as i saw how high my ph really was i brought it down real quick. they seem to be doing just fine now. hopefully someday when im an old fart (experienced grower) ill be able to help out the kiddies with their little mishaps. i know my MG soil would have killed my seedlings if Stitch hadn't told me to flush the hell outta them. (THANK YOU Stitch, my babies made it to flowering because of you)

Rubbadub, Petes right, that ph is kinda high, ur using soiless right? if yes than lower ur ph to around 6.2. there's an excellent thread somewhere on here that tells u the appropriate ph for the medium ur using and the ph needed for proper nutrient uptake (depends on the type of medium ur using (soil, soiless, hydro) Isn't learning fun!!! I know i've made some mistakes during my grow but i've also learned alot too. follow the directions these guys give ya and ur sure to come out with atleast alittle bud, providing u get atleast one girl. Best wishes and good luck. peaceout~red