SOIL Update (1st grow): Do I water? Feed? Wait longer?

[Gingerbeard]

How much webbing does it take to concern you?
Spider mites are not the only insects to spin webs. It could actually be a spider. Cocoons are wrapped and stuck with webbing. However, quantum spider mites are a real thing, and you should be spending a lot of time looking for them. Quantum sea slugs are a good deterrent.
And it could be dirt. You know better what you have going on because you have the plant. We can only talk about what we see.
There are options for keeping your plant moist for a week or two. A good watering just before you go will give you a week, maybe. Then there are watering globe things you stick in the soil. You have options for away time.

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[realhuuuman420]

Gingerbeard these pics were the most difficult pics I ever took, but they show what I mean by "webbing"... on both of them you can see a white strand of, well, webbing? the second one is blurry, but still there.

It's literally like 3-4 strands in total. There are some specks of dirt/soil on some of them, like the black one on the picture. They are about 10x thinner than hair, so even with a microscope, I can barely see it at all. I only spotted it at first because some of these specks of dirt were floating in the air, and after adjusting the lenses, the 'webbing' appeared.

So, I mean, quantum spider mites? )

Is there anything else that could cause white spots like that?

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[Gingerbeard]

Spider mites are not the only leaf suckers. Spider mites seem to be the most common web spinning leaf suckers people post about. So, let's keep talking about them, based on the information you have provided. But let's call them quantum web spinning leaf suckers (qwespils) because it looks like you have webbing, and it looks like you have sucked leaf white spots, but we do not see any spider mites. And we will assume from the pictures that the white spots are qwespils damage.
It doesn't take but a single qwespils to spin a few threads. At most, it takes two qwespilses to proper populate your plant. One or two qwespilses are suuuper hard to see, even with a microscope. The more powerful the microscope, the harder it will be to see only a handful of qwespilses since the more you magnify, the less area you see. A jeweler's loupe is pretty common for magnification and area coverage.
Keep an eye on things. Watch for more webbing and white spots. Keep leaves from touching. Get your fan to your plant. I keep a 6" fan about 12"-16" on the lowest setting.

 

[Rootsruler]

realhuuuman420

If you have a current android phone, the zoom should be enough to be able to get a close picture. I have a Samsung S23 and the zoom is sufficient to be able to see spider mites clearly. Inspect the top and bottom of the leaves. Mature Spider Mites will be on both the top and bottom of the leaves but they are VERY small so it can be hard to see them unless you have a good zoom. Better to look for the eggs which they like to use the bottom of the leaves for.

All I see in your pics is a reflection of your eye and some hazy shit that is hard to discern what it is. Try and take better pics so that we can see what the issue is. Hopefully they aren't Mendo mites or Russet mites. Those bastards are REALLY hard to kill off completely. If you're seeing webbing I'm sorry to say that you are already in the late stages of your infestation so the plan is to control rather than exterminate. In these cases I like to use a product called Azamax. It's a broad spectrum miticide that will kill a lot of different insects you don't want in your garden. It's OMRI certified and the manufacturer says you can spray it on fruits and vegetables 10 days prior to harvest but I wouldn't feel comfortable using it that close to harvest. Maybe 4 weeks from harvest but no closer than that.

Also, if you do have a mite infestation, you're going to need to bleach down the tent it's in and the lung room the tent is in after you harvest. Even then I can't say with all certainty that you'll get rid of them all.

I've had friends that got mite infestations, and they had to abandon the room for a year to make sure the mites were gone even though they bleached the room and tent. Hopefully that's not the case for you.

When I worked in licensed grow ops I used to think the cleanliness protocols we had to follow were excessive but having to deal with 500 infected plants in a room is no fun and can be VERY costly. I get it and try and follow them as closely as I can. Some people think I'm being redundant and overly cautious but I can say I haven't had to deal with bugs for over a decade now.

 

[Gingerbeard]

... and check the bottoms of leaves...

 

[Bowhunterwoody]

Definitely the underside.

 

[realhuuuman420]

Thanks a lot for all your comments. I will keep checking, will also bleach the whole tent and the area around it.

I just went to inspect my other plants, which are 3 rooms away and outside, but, oh, crap, they are completely infested by spider mites, leaf miners, AND aphids. It's like all these fuckers are having Diversity Day Party.

So it's totally possible one of these hitched a ride on my clothes. Despite me changing clothes and washing after handing the outside plants, the fucker might have been on my skin or something.

I'll keep looking for them and try to take better photos, too.

Sure as hell hope I won't have to eventually kill the plant 6 weeks in, stunted or not... those buds are forming real nice, small as they are

 

[realhuuuman420]

Thanks a lot. qwespils huh

I'm not sure if or how can I keep leaves from touching. They're so dense and close to each other, all of them, bottom, top.

 

[realhuuuman420]

Fuck... it's spider mites.

Looked around thoroughly. Nothing. So I picked a random spot on a random lower leaf, thinking that if I was a spider mite, this is where I'd be.

There he was, tiny transparent/white fucker, happily spinning his web. Totally invisible to naked eye or camera, but clear as day under a microscope.

Off to cry myself to sleep, then try and figure out how to deal with this.

:super-cry:

Do I remove the affected leaves? This will mean removing most of the leaves at the very bottom - they are all very close together and all are probably infested. Plus there's some new growth there too

 

[Gingerbeard]

..........

 

[realhuuuman420]

You were absolutely right. I found the sucker on a leaf. Invisible to the naked eye. Clear as day with a 60x microscope. White asshole spinning his web...

For Azamax, I would have to order that from Amazon, which would mean waiting for a few weeks. I don't think I have that much time. Any other ideas you have?

I'm reading about spraying the plant with a 1:10 bleach:water solution, or the same but rubbing alcohol instead of bleach. Would that work?

Do I need to remove all the affected leaves? If you look at the photos, it's basically all of the leaves on the bottom. They are all very close together, and most likely all are completely infected.

 

[Rootsruler]

You can order the Azamax and, in the meantime, just give the plant a hard spray of water to knock them off the plant. The alcohol/water mix is also a good intermediate solution. I've also heard the peppermint oil works for a lot of different pests. You could give the plant a hard spray to physically knock them off then, spray the plant with the alcohol solution. When you spray the plant you want to be sure to spray both top and bottom of the leaves. Essentially you want every surface of the plant, leaves and branches, to be covered in the alcohol solution. I would also add a few spritzes of the alcohol solution to the top soil to deter any larvae from growing. After that I would spray the plant every other day with some insecticidal soap that you can also make yourself. It consists of water, vegetable oil and dish soap. Once the Azamax shows up you can do the same type of overall spray and follow the suggested program the manufacturer lists. This should keep your infestation in control until you harvest your plant. IME, with Azamax, for late stage infestations you're going to want to be spraying them at least every few days in the beginning for the first couple weeks and once you see that the population has decreased substantially you can do maintenance sprays once every couple weeks.

 

[Rootsruler]

One more thing I'd like to add to this. One thing I've noticed over the years is that plants that are healthy tend to resist pest infestations for the most part. When an infestation happens, it is a sign that your plant is not at peak health.

All plants have a defense network they use to fend off bugs that are detrimental to the plant. Trichomes on Cannabis is one example. That doesn't mean that if a swarm of mites gets wind of your plant they'll leave it alone simply because it's healthy but what a healthy plant will do is make it much harder for the bugs to drill into the stems and leaves. Silicate is a good amendment to use to help fortify your branches along with early calcium supplementation to help the plant resist pests.

 

[realhuuuman420]

Thanks a lot, Rootsruler , I sprayed the plant with 2:8 alcohol:water solution yesterday. Will order Azamax too, should at least arrive for my next growth.

Do I have to remove the bottom leaves that were infected? Do I keep them?

 

[Rwise]

that spray needs to be done every 3 days for at least 3 treatments, I myself remove anything close to the ground.

 

[realhuuuman420]

Hello! I have come with an update and more need for advice. I done fucked it up again, or so it seems!

So. Right after I posted previously about the spider mites, I applied a mild alcohol solution. Not only it didn't work, but in the next 2 days, I have found 4-5 actual living spider mites.

Thus, I have chosen violence.

It was a bad choice.

First, I have removed most of the bottom leaves. They were almost touching the ground, were half-dead, and full of spider mites.

Then, I applied a soapy-solution in a spray. I needed something quick, and the only other things I had at my disposal were rubbing alcohol, and bleach. I later realized that the soap I applied was not exactly a mild one. Not only that... I put way too much of it in the water.

But this wasn't enough for me. I smelled spider mite blood in the air. So I decided to let the soap stay for a few minutes, then wash it off by spraying the plant again with alcohol solution, which I knew already wouldn't do any harm.

Except it did. I don't know if it was the soap, or if I put too much rubbing alcohol in the water. Or was it a chemical reaction caused by combining the two? No. Clue. All I know is that 10 hours later, the leaves that were heavily sprayed were..uhh.. how to put it mildly? Fucked up. Totally fucked up.

So I thought, okay, what is done is done. I've been checking for spider mites every day thoroughly since then. No webbing, no spider mites, and no signs of them either. Well, at least I got them fuckers, yea?

The damage was definitely done by one or both of the sprays, because the leaves kind of lost some color, and/or got burned, well, as if they were sprayed with acid. I figured it must have been too much alcohol. There was no change between 10 hours after spraying, and now, and it has been 10 days.

Until 3 days ago....I noticed leaves beginning to lose color. I didn't think too much of it, it was rather mild at first, but now, I am again in panic mode. A few of them are almost fully.. well, colorless? Not white or yellow, just.. losing color. Check the pics - they are from today. This discoloration was very mild only yesterday. It's progressing rapidly...

Please, good people of GWE, save me one more time. I am so close to harvest. Look at how beautiful those buds look like. Small, sure, but LOOK at them. My first baby. It can't just...die. Not like this.


Details:
watering: every 3-4 days, depending on weight, 1L of water (last 2 times only tap water)
feeding: every watering, except once, between 1-1.5ml of BioBizz Bloom. Last 2 feedings I started adding BioBizz TopMax 0.8ml.
pH of water going in: around 6.5. Last time was yesterday, and the pH seemed to be a bit too high. Could not get a reliable reading but could have been as high as 6.8.
Light was moved by another 5-ish centimeters closer yesterday. I moved it back up by 8cm right now, seeing the damage.
Temp: 29-31C. Stupidly hot here again.
rH: 40-60% (goes up to 65 after watering

Is this toxicity? Did I overfeed it? I mean I really gave it not even minimum, not even half of the recommended dose... actually more like 20% of the recommended. But it's small and stunted...

Or is this the damage from that soapy spray followed by the alcohol spray? Manifesting only after 9 days?

Is this some fungus or root rot? Did the spider fuckers return?

PS: if you see any visible strands of hair, that is cat hair. I try to remove it all the time but ... yeah, my cats shed a lot.
PS2: those little white dots on some bottom leaves are NOT from spider mites. That's the damage from those sprays - they appeared right the next day and stayed the same ever since.

Please, have mercy on me.​

 

[Allenpro]

If the brix is over 8% bugs wont even see the plants.

 

[Bluey]

Your plant will be ready soon. The yellowing of the bottom leaves is natural. If you want to turn them green again the best way is to use a green can of spray paint, but this will kill the plant.

Why did you wash the soapy water off the plant and the spider mites? It won't work if you wash it off.

Did the alcohol you use to wash off the soapy water drip into the soil? This is probably not good, although I havent tried it before.

Don't put anything on your buds. Ever!

Keep watering as per good watering practice. This will reduce as your plant approaches harvest time.

Your cats will continue to infest your plants with all wonderful types of pests unless you spray them also. Cats don't like being sprayed, so keep them out of the grow room.

 

[Rootsruler]

Lesson learned......more is not always better.

The problem with spider mites is they proliferate VERY quickly. The hotter the temps in the room the faster they proliferate.

You've beat this plant up so many times you need to name it Rocky. It takes a licking from you but keeps coming back!

 

[realhuuuman420]

I was under the impression that it kills the spiders on contact, and was paranoid that if i leave it on long, it might damage the leaves but thankfully, I was instinctively smart enough to not put any spray on the buds. Few drops may have ended up on the bottom ones, but the majority of the buds are untouched.

You are so correct, it is almost ready. I barely smelled anything until 3 days ago, but the scent is increasing exponentially every day. Now, the whole room stinks like hell. Because my fan is not powerful enough for my home-made carbon filter, I had to order a stronger exhaust fan urgently. I love the smell, but this is not stealthy!

The alcohol didn't really drip down, but the top layer of the soil was also lightly sprayed in an attempt to murder any surviving spider mites or eggs.

I just inspected the buds now and the trichomes seem to be... hmm... mostly cloudy actually. A very few are completely clear. Also, a lot of the pistils/hairs are curling and turning brown. These are all signs of harvest, right?

Should I wait until a few trichomes start turning brown-ish?

I cannot lock the kitties out of the room, unfortunately I will think about other solutions. Separating the grow area somehow from the rest of the room. May have to get really creative, but... yeah, it is what it is.

EDIT: Let me just emphasize that the pistils are way more curled in than they were yesterday when I took the photos. But I'm terrified of harvesting too early and having no potency. Guess I'll wait as long as possible.