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SOIL Outdoors, insects + yellowing leaves

S

speaknoevil

New member
I have an outdoor grow that appears mostly healthy, but in the past week I've noticed a few things that I'm not sure how to deal with and I don't want to overreact to what may not be a major issue.

The first issue is that, on one plant, random leaves appear to be yellowing. I know it's normal for older fan leaves that aren't getting as much light to yellow and drop, but that doesn't seem to be what's happening.

There are also some white spots, lines, and even some holes with white edges, which I suspect are insect damage. One plant definitely has more damage than the other, but the overall health of the plant doesn't seem to be affected yet. The same plant, though, has some pistils turning brown which I know is normal, but seems to be happening earlier in the season than I expected.

I took pictures of the insects I noticed, except for some shiny gold/green flies which wouldn't stay still enough for a picture. There is also a spider species that is sort of cocooning itself inside the leaves, just a few of them, and they don't seem to be doing damage. That's another reason I've avoided insecticides so far -- I don't want to kill predator species if they can help control the problem.

The growing medium is generic top soil, peat moss, and sand which I've fertilized once every 2 - 4 weeks with a combination of urea, Espoma Plant-tone, and Espoma Tomato-tone. As the plants have moved into flowering, I backed off the urea and used more Tomato-tone. I don't think it's a nute deficiency or nute burn, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, pictures are worth 1000 words, so here's some of the first plant:

https://imgur.com/a/X7mtS

And the second:

https://imgur.com/a/3bW8t

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Your green and orange critter is a leafhopper; they suck fluids out of your plant and you don't want them around--squish on sight! The two other "resident"s look like cricket or grasshopper-related insects, and also are probably eating your plants. I would terminate with extreme prejudice. While I don't know what's causing your yellowing issues, all your holes and whatnot do look like pest damage. Hopefully your new pet spider will help keep that under control.

If someone chews a hole or two in a few of my leaves, I'm ok with that--as long as the plant as a whole stays healthy. But god help you if I catch you in the act!
 
Now that you've said that, the white spots do look like the picture of leafhopper damage from this site. I was afraid the spots that were in a line might be some sort of leaf miner, but the spots look more discreet than what this site shows, so maybe they're just clusters of leafhopper bites?

It sounds like you think I should keep an eye on it and hold off on the insecticides for now?

Thanks for the input!

For reference:

http://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-leafhoppers
http://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-leaf-miners
 
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If you were still in veg I would say give neem oil a try but since you're flowering, I'm a little more hesitant. Still, looks like they haven't been flowering for long so it might be worthwhile...
 
Thanks again. I think I'll kill the ones I find and watch for a few days. If it appears to be getting worse, the spinosad mentioned on the site looks like good stuff. It's less dangerous and nasty tasting than neem oil and not so harsh to spiders and other predators, if the site description is to be believed. I've never used the stuff, but have used neem oil before on indoor grows. Not sure if you (or anyone else for that matter) has thoughts on that?

Unfortunately, the one with more damage is further along in flowering, but you're right. It's still pretty early! That's actually why I was concerned about the brown pistils.
 
You may just be right about the spinosad. I've only used neem. It's funny, I still was seeing some thrips after two applications of neem so I ordered spinosad but of course since the day after I ordered it, my plants have been thrip-free. I may hit them once just to be safe... I still have a few weeks before flowering.

Googling around I found two possibilities for the brown pistils. Apparently it's normal for some pistils to die off and get replaced by others. That's your best case scenario. Browning pistils are apparently also a sign that pollination has occurred. That seems to me to be the less likely cause since they're so scattered on your plant.

Keep in mind that this is only my first grow so take what I say with a grain of salt. Hopefully someone who knows what's up will stop by and weigh in.
 
Well you've been very helpful regardless. I think you're spot on about the pollination! I didn't know it had that effect, but I had a male right at the beginning of flowering and when I cut it down I actually went and shook it out near the ladies, hoping to get just a few seeds for next season.
 
Follow up question, the spinosad label suggests adding a nonionic surfactant for spider mites but except for a couple of specialty products online, I can't find anything that seems appropriate at local retailers. Does anyone know of a commonly available nonionic surfactant? I was tempted to mix a bit of insecticidal soap but it seems that is anionic which might make the spinosad less effective.

I'm also still wondering about the random yellowing leaves, if somebody has input on that.
 
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Just fyi, and other people's information, the ingredients of Joy and Liquid Ivory (which are not listed on the label) have been changed. Here's the MSDS for Ivory Liquid which says it has anionic surfactants. I didn't even see Joy for sale anywhere around here, but it seems to have anionic surfactants now as well. I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but it seems important so I hope this information gets out there.

http://www.rsu34.org/Safety/safety/msds/Ivory dishwashing liquid.pdf
https://www.pg.com/content/pdf/01_about_pg/msds/fabric_and_homecare/dishwashing_products/Joy.pdf
 
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