Help identify " Black Death " in Hawaii

kalopatchkid · Mar 23, 2016

Yeah, I havent seen the purpling on the Girl Kandy clone in over a month. I did have to cull a plant yesterday that seemed to have dudded.

First saw it about a year ago on a cookie and cream cut I passed to my friend in Puna and then got back later. After I got it back it always had the purple thing going on and the leaves would grow out all blistered and chewed up looking...the plant eventually died in 3 weeks of flower and the main stem did look all grey inside like it was something fungal.

Havent seen it since until I got clones from the same guy Surfd mentioned and he even mentioned the purple new growth when I picked them up. I also picked up russets on these clones but I dont think they are responsible for the purple.

I've been doing heavy foliar sprays for the russets and seem to have them beat. The foliar regime combined with getting the plants out in the sun seems to have taken them out.
I did two spinosad treatments and one sulfur spray. That knocked em back, now I rotate between neem with aloe and yucca and natural mystic every other day. Using aloe in every watering and spray as well.

I've read on another thread of people using pure water solubal chitosan powder and it cures plants that have dudded. Seems a little pricey but worth a try if you might lose something rare.

JOJO420 · Mar 24, 2016

I get the same story all the time, still no one can positivly identify this . Im gonna

I am doing a full coverage spray regime myself, to no avail everyone.
I started with pyrethrum sprays and even used triazicide sprayed every 3 days for 3 weeks and I still got it.
Im doing Nuke em sprayed twice a day , so far no luck with this either.
It does not kill PM like the bottle says either. Not sure what it is doing other than costing me big $$$
Same with Actinovate....
I am spraying and doing soil drenches. I have even used it up to triple strength. I still have PM and I see new tips with Black Death... frustrating is a word that keeps coming up..
I spray Natural Mistik also. It doesnt do squat for PM, black leaf spot, botrytis or black death.
I like it for other reasons.

As to having bannanas, yes I do. Not sure if I have bunchy top or not, have not checked in awhile.
I was thinking that this might be something related to the rapid ohia death fungus?. Seeing more and more dead and dying ohia. IDK??

SurfdOut · Mar 24, 2016

Yep, hope we find out what it is. Actinovate is best for damping off. Matural Mistic is awesome but like you said is just a preventetive. Only Serenade will stop botrytis, PM is easy to control. This Black Lime Reserve cut had it when I got it in from Kona and now she and her cuts are ok.

kalopatchkid · Mar 24, 2016

Here is an interesting article that talks about purpling tops on phytoplasma infected plants. A lot of the symptoms you described are mentioned early in the article. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3925944/

Tribune herald also just did an article this week about a beetle they believe is contributing to the spread of Ohia wilt. The reason I asked about the bananas and bunchy top, is that aphids are responsible for transmission of bunchy top and phytoplasmas are transmitted the same way.

I have not found actinovate to be the least bit useful, in my experience.

razzcazz4200 · Mar 24, 2016

This is a super interesting article. I hope you guys can figure it out. like people have mentioned i would try a judicious serving of tea or acct with some local "weeds". Actinovate is owned by monsanto. dont use that.

The Revolution · Mar 24, 2016

I have seen this happen to individual plants only a cpl of times. Plants stop growing turn purplish black. This affected tip seems to perforate and fall off. I always just pitched the plant. It should b noted, I'm the northeast

SurfdOut · Mar 24, 2016

Kalo, next time you get cuts damping off...use the Actinovate with Iron in the black bag...will stop it quickly. Other than that, worthless.

SurfdOut · Mar 24, 2016

I think it is fungal, but cant figure out how it mutates the leaf so much.

JOJO420 · Jun 14, 2016

Ok I am back.
Aloha!!
So far I am gonna go out on a limb and say it is NOT fungal primarily.
I'm saying it's a microscopic bug. Some kind of mite to be exact.
Here is my reasoning.
First and foremost no spray made to assult fungal issues works on any level to make this issue go away.
Second when I do mite prevention with Nuke em every day I see progress . If I stop spraying it returns.
The black death moves from plant to plant without sharing space, water ect..

I have been doing examinations on root crowns of affected plants and have found no evidence of any fungal issues on affected plants at First.
However I have found fungal issues later after the black death has overtaken a plant. So two problems sometimes three manifest.
It starts and progresses like this.

1-Healthy plant

2-Small hooked leaf tips and plants slow vertical growth, plants start horizontal bushy type growth. Most people think " wow what a compact, bushy plant, gonna be a monsta " WRONG....

3-Blistered mutated leaves appear, leaves grow small. Yellowing of lowest leaves kicks into overdrive.

4- The growing tips look slightly twisted and if you look closely, black/purple discoloration on the leaves.
5-You got da black death..

JackCough · Jun 15, 2016

I think K-patch is on the right path with phytoplasma/spiroplasma infections.
Thanks for the link. :tiphat:

Potatoe purple top, aster yellows, sweet potatoe little leaf, witches broom all seem to be spread by a bug biting the plant and transferring the bacteria into vein system of the plant.Leafhoppers seem to be the largest culprit, aphids and psyllids also.

Doesn't look like these infections are too curable after the fact. Class of bacteriums that are fairly immune to antibiotics.

IF this is what's happening it reminds me of the dengue outbreak.
Stop the initial bite, identify eliminate pest hot spots , keep infected out of the loop.

Hope you get it licked.

Congrats on the Puna D

kalopatchkid · Jun 16, 2016

The Girl Kandy clone I received with the purpled growth has been symptom free for a while and in mid-flower right now. So it can be beat.

First time I noticed it was a year ago, when I got this Cookie and Cream cut back from a friend in Leilani. Some kona guys also said they were experiencing the same thing. I attached a pic of the purple damage but the plant in question made it to about week 3 in flower then the entire plant wilted and died. I never experienced symptoms after that until I got the Girl Kandy clone from Kona.

corky1968 · Jun 16, 2016

I think you need to make a fire and burn everything when your done.

It's probably systemic all over the jungle island now.

Only a big fire can clean that up.

Slash, burn and the grow like the jungle farmers and you'll be alright.

SurfdOut · Jun 16, 2016

Had a little bit this run, that came in with Broad mites. I was able to clean both out, but I did a get a bit of purpling on the under canopy low light branches before I pruned. I did spray a fair bit of citric acid/enzymes like Nuke Em, but it didnt do much more than keeping it from spreading. Pruned it out and it is gone.

BakedBandit · Jun 16, 2016

Has anyone tried aspirin in the Rez to combat this? Sounds similar to how people use it to fight broad might damage.

SurfdOut · Oct 5, 2017

Bump, any more info on this?

Dog Star · Oct 5, 2017

No except those your data that other farmers experience same problems...

to me it looks like plant experience effects of radiation,radionuclides made
this weird illness,specialy cause Hawaii are on a way of Fuku plume and cause
of this kind of problem no body sees before and thats why you didnt get
your answer till now...

i never sees those "black death" and i cruising on forums for long time now..
but i will love to test mine weed on radionuclides if a laboratory exist on island..

Japan still didnt estuinguish those mess and it still burns in underground,steam goes
out after 6 years.. and you get via Kuroshio current most of plume,all kinds of weird
radionuclides.. and our plants are like sponges,they absorb even by breathing
as its well known fact that plant can use water from athmosphere..

so even they are in greenhouse that is better in this situation of plume,plants
still have possibility to absorb and a Cannabis ciclus is prety long,it grows for months..

Do you know one person from those ones that have "Black Death" that tested their
weed on radionuclides???

Wish you best and good health of course

Capt.Ahab · Oct 5, 2017

Reminds me somewhat of TPLD (Tomato Purple Leaf Disorder) .

SurfdOut · Oct 5, 2017

Dog Star said:
No except those your data that other farmers experience same problems...

to me it looks like plant experience effects of radiation,radionuclides made
this weird illness,specialy cause Hawaii are on a way of Fuku plume and cause
of this kind of problem no body sees before and thats why you didnt get
your answer till now...

i never sees those "black death" and i cruising on forums for long time now..
but i will love to test mine weed on radionuclides if a laboratory exist on island..

Japan still didnt estuinguish those mess and it still burns in underground,steam goes
out after 6 years.. and you get via Kuroshio current most of plume,all kinds of weird
radionuclides.. and our plants are like sponges,they absorb even by breathing
as its well known fact that plant can use water from athmosphere..

so even they are in greenhouse that is better in this situation of plume,plants
still have possibility to absorb and a Cannabis ciclus is prety long,it grows for months..

Do you know one person from those ones that have "Black Death" that tested their
weed on radionuclides???

Wish you best and good health of course

No, this has been seen from before that happened.

Hrpuffnkush · Mar 30, 2018

I saw a couple plants Oahu recently 1 on Big I, that had broad/russet mites , If your plants show visual damage then there infested , these things are the hardest pest to get rid of , traditional mite toxic chemical pesticides will not work on them , you will only notice them with a 22x Lupe or higher , aspirin will not kill them , it will nullify the poison the mites inject in to plant , i.e. plant will green up but problem will still be there , I think its 1 350mg non coated aspirin per gallon . the mites have a barb like a tic , there very difficult to wash off as well . I found green clean works best when clones are dunked then spray every few days , it will dry out egg's .. very few pesticides will do that .. if your plants are replaceable. kill them
god for bid they get in Hawaii's natural environment , I'm sure they will thrive ...

TanzanianMagic · Mar 30, 2018

Looks like you actually have a plant that needs nitrogen. They are growing very quickly, if you look at the golden/green grow tips. Nitrogen is the growth nutrient. The purpling of the leaves is a sign of nutrient deficiency.

You should first check if it isn't lockout, and there aren't excessive nutrients in the medium. You should also check for insects, because sometimes insect infestation can lead to nutrient deficiencies.

However the basic issue is nitrogen deficiency. It can be remedied quickly and carefully with a foliar spray.

(Always make sure that the sprayer is super clean - either brand new or disinfected with bleach or hydrogen peroxide and really well rinsed - to avoid infecting the plant with mildew or anaerobic bacteria.)

Otherwise, the plants look great.

Help identify " Black Death " in Hawaii

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