Wtf is growing on my hydroton?

[StoopheadFred]

So yea anyone got an idea? I see webs as well so I'm thinking spider mites?

 

[Weedninja]

There's probably more of a chance of an actual spider being in your medium than spider mites. If you don't have any webs or peck marks on your leaves I wouldn't worry about that.

It's hard to tell from your pics, but it looks like it might just be minerals from your nutes building up. Is it crusty or furry?

 

[StoopheadFred]

Looks more furry, and they're green little specs. They only appear above the water line, but the thing that worries me about them is the webs!

But that's a relief in a way that you don't think it's the borg. Now the only problem is figuring out what it is and if it needs to be treated.

 

[bigdrov1x]

Are your plants suffering or showing any phantom nutrient deficiency? If so, it may be root aphids. They leave a residue that looks like that and can also be waxy in nature. I fought those for the better part of the year. I did not even know what I had? I thought that my growing skills were slipping because it manifests itself as a nutrient deficiency at first. The bugs remain under the coco soil or medium for the most part. One will not see them until it becomes a bad infestation. I would have still been chasing my tail if I had not stumbled across a thread on this forum. I swear just by this forum that I have at least 100x the knowledge of some of my friends who went to that Oaksterdam and paid thousands. Anyways if that is the problem, I recommend either scrapping the grow and start from scratch(trust me it will save time and headache in the long run), or going "nuclear" and using the Bayer total insect control that can be bought at Home Depot. Happy Gardening!!

 

[Weedninja]

The borg do their damage above ground, so keep on the lookout for webs underneath the leaves and little yellow spots in the middle of the leaflets.

Sounds like you do have some sort of fungus or algae growing. It's not 100% certain that it will attack your plants, but root rot is a bastard to deal with once it gets established, so I'd probably deal with it now.

You have a lot of options and it's hard to say what will work best. I'd start with peroxide and work my way up to something like sm90 or Physan20. Actinovate is also getting good reviews: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=239283

 

[StoopheadFred]

Are your plants suffering or showing any phantom nutrient deficiency? If so, it may be root aphids. They leave a residue that looks like that and can also be waxy in nature. I fought those for the better part of the year. I did not even know what I had? I thought that my growing skills were slipping because it manifests itself as a nutrient deficiency at first. The bugs remain under the coco soil or medium for the most part. One will not see them until it becomes a bad infestation. I would have still been chasing my tail if I had not stumbled across a thread on this forum. I swear just by this forum that I have at least 100x the knowledge of some of my friends who went to that Oaksterdam and paid thousands. Anyways if that is the problem, I recommend either scrapping the grow and start from scratch(trust me it will save time and headache in the long run), or going "nuclear" and using the Bayer total insect control that can be bought at Home Depot. Happy Gardening!!

Thanks for the advice, I'm not sure if they're showing any signs of phantom nute deficiency because they are so young still and the waxy residue would be hard for me to detect at this point because I gave all my plants a bath in Neem oil and SM-90 once I saw what I thought was spider mites and that left an oily coat on all the plants and the netpot.

The borg do their damage above ground, so keep on the lookout for webs underneath the leaves and little yellow spots in the middle of the leaflets.

Sounds like you do have some sort of fungus or algae growing. It's not 100% certain that it will attack your plants, but root rot is a bastard to deal with once it gets established, so I'd probably deal with it now.

You have a lot of options and it's hard to say what will work best. I'd start with peroxide and work my way up to something like sm90 or Physan20. Actinovate is also getting good reviews: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=239283

Just picked up 3% peroxide yesterday and am applying at 3cc's/gal. Also already using SM-90 at 3cc/gal as well.

Thank you both for the advice, as long as it's not spider mites and my plants are growing steadily I wont panic for the moment but I am exploring my possible options. Physan20 has come up a lot in my searches, this is kind of what bigdrov was talking about in terms of a "nuclear" approach right?

 

[bigdrov1x]

When I say nuclear, I mean to use chemicals. In my experience, I have had mites and root aphids and powder mildew. I tried all of the so called "organic" solutions, and they have not worked for me. I am not saying that they do not work. I just want them to die, and die immediately. For me that has been through chemical warfare. For mites I have used Forbid 4f, killed them all in two applications. For Aphids I used Bayer total insect control that can be bought at Home Depot. For mildew I have used Eagle 20. I have used these once and have never seen the respective situations again.

 

[StoopheadFred]

Weedninja you win the speculation game! It was the early stages of some root rot, I've now got some clear snot on the roots.

Physan 20 to the rescue! Plants are now enjoying a nice bath, hopefully the last they'll need with this bad boy on my side!

Bigdrov I have noted all your solutions and will refer to them as needed. Thanks brotha! But wtf is with that Forbid price?! Sweet jesus that shit is pricey, but if she's a sure fire killer then maybe it's worth it to just put up the cash and shut up haha

 

[Weedninja]

What kind of system are you running-Ebb & flow, drip, dwc, etc.? What's the temp in your res?

 

[bigdrov1x]

can buy little bits of forbid 4f on ebay for like 25 bucks. I used it once last year, and have not seen any powder mold since.