help w pest identification

[Scrappy-doo]

My plants had better looking roots than that when I found aphids. They could just be overwatered, but if it's been happening for 2 generations you should start looking more closely into bugs. For me, I needed a scope to see them. 100x to see something was on them, 200x to confirm aphids. And I had to scope them for a good 2 hours before I found them. They eat a root till it dies, then move on to the next. I finally saw them on healthy roots that were just starting to turn brown on the tips. Many different stages from 'micros' which I found to larger 'tank bettles' easier to see, to 'flyers' which are easily mistaken for fungus gnats but have fatter bodies, longer wings, and are faster. I caught them early and never saw the larger ones or flyers which are usually found hanging out around the leaves.

Don't let me put too much fear into you, it comes to mind first for me because I'm dealing with them currently. Never would have known without a scope. If you have them and they have progressed enough to see the larger ones, you can do the potato test, take a slice of potato and put it on top of soil and wait overnight. They will come up and start chowing on it. Yellow sticky traps hanging around leaves to catch flyers to identify. If that's the issue, they have had time to progress enough that you should have adults. There's a huge thread on them in the infirmary titled 'Fungus Gnats or Winged Root Aphids'. Confirm before you treat. Could just be overwatering from the downpour you had recently. Either way I would say there is an issue with your roots. Good luck.

 

[zizration]

i will try this potato test tonite. thnx!

 

[zizration]

so i did a run off test and i was over 1000 which is obviously way too high for such small plants. i feel like a bully now.

also they are soaked from the rain. so overwatered.

i have the potatoes in there and will check them later.

i sprayed one of the clones that i have w/ my home mix that i have been using. 24 hrs later it is looking like ass. the same mix has been ok on my OG plants but these malan's did not fair so well.I'm now thinking my spray is way too strong.

so i have quite a few things i can work on here. they don't seem to betting any worse so i think i should let them dry out at least another day. then maybe run some strait water thru them and try and bring down that RO..

i moved them out of the green house and into the veg space. hopefully a more controlled enviro helps them. in the mean time i have this picture. does it like anything to anybody?

 

[buzzmobile]

I have been watching and thinking about this thread. I believe the armored scale diagnosis is correct. Your latest photo looks like a crawler stage of this scale. Take a look at this link. It may not be the specific scale appearing on your plants, but it sure looks like an armored scale infestation.

http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Plant-Industry/Plant-Industry-Publications/Pest-Alerts/Pest-Alert-Lepidosaphes-chinensis-Chamberlin

 

[zizration]

thank you very much for your feed back. what I'm reading here suggests scale should be visible to the naked eye? whatever I'm dealing with is only visible at pretty strong magnification. a 10x photo loupe doesn't really bring them into sight. you pretty much need 80 x-100x to see theses things. all my photos have been taken w a celestron USB digital microscope.


i have been flipping thru scale bug pictures as well as bug pictures in general and i just can't find a match. i am submitting these pictures ,thru a friend, to a university bug guy. see if that helps at all..

all i know is i have to get this sorted out. the numbers from the last round were pretty damn low. giving this a few more days and might just do a hard restart..


i have a few more pictures i will upload and see if they help at all..



thnx again !!!! any comments are very welcome.

 

[Betterhaff]

Are there any sticky secretions or dew from them? Feel the leaves and the top of the substrate and edge of pots. That is a tell tale sign of scale.

 

[PoweredByLove]

i was gonna ask for a non microscope pic of the leaf. just a nice big pic of the underside and top of one leaf big enough to fill the viewfinder. then i accidentally hit the back button and i was like, i'm not writing all that again...but i guess 30 minutes calmed me down some lol.

anyway bugs that tiny would need massive numbers to damage your plants. i'm just not seeing it in your pics.

 

[zizration]

Are there any sticky secretions or dew from them? Feel the leaves and the top of the substrate and edge of pots. That is a tell tale sign of scale.

there is nothing like that actually.

i was gonna ask for a non microscope pic of the leaf. just a nice big pic of the underside and top of one leaf big enough to fill the viewfinder. then i accidentally hit the back button and i was like, i'm not writing all that again...but i guess 30 minutes calmed me down some lol.

anyway bugs that tiny would need massive numbers to damage your plants. i'm just not seeing it in your pics.

i will get you one. believe me i hope you are right. it is not like i'd be happy to have been on some wild goose chase this past 2 months. but to just have the problem go away would be rad.


i now think maybe i have had two different issues. the one with my flower room and now w the new vege plants. symptoms can look very similar sometimes.


I'm thinking now that when I began my preventative spray program on my new veg plants I went way too hard. the spray damaged them and i misinterpreted that as underfed. so i hit them at 450 ppm. now they were too fed, then they got sprayed again!! then they got super rained on . so a collection of errors . the two moms included in this story are showing signs of improvement. the little veg plants are as well actually. they are slowly drying out . i may lose some but i think not all. the last crop is the last crop. its still pretty tasty actually. thank you guys so much for taking the time !

 

[zizration]

so i didn't actually have the usb scope when this problem first started. so sadly i have limited pictures of the problem i had in my 12/12 room.. after the problem began i did some pretty stiff defoliations of bad leaf in an effort to remove any bugs and eggs that i could.


i have no pictures of the "donut style" holes on the undersides of the leaf that showed up about 4-5 days before the bad leaf.


the plants went from beauty green leaves , to one plant w a bad leaf to a room full of it in a matter of days.



then plant growth just halted pretty much.. as i was working at the same time i didn't document things as well as i wish i had. here is what i have of picture of the leaf problem as it showed up. i really wish i had more.

 

[PoweredByLove]

whatever is causing your issues it's not on the leaves. this is root problems. your roots are dying off, those twisted up leaves are micro deficiencies.

 

[zizration]

fuk! well. I'm offically unimpressed. I am ordering new clones and eff this shite. i haven't had this much trouble in the last 10 runs combined! somehow i super fucked up. i feel pretty bad about it actually. i have these little ones here looking all rough drying out under fans for a few days i guess see if the perk back. looking at a bleach and beer filled wknd as i super scrub this place out.

 

[PoweredByLove]

it happens i accidentally fed some anaerobic tea to my plants last week. went from this...

to this overnight...

and is finally recovering after progressing to this...

root damages, and micro deficiencies from lockout totally stop all growth in it's tracks. micros are for the new growth, the macros take care of em afterwards.

so whenever you see new growth slowing down or acting funny look to the pH, then to ppm's then if all else fails inspect the roots.

 

[zizration]

my run off at the end was 5.7 which was pretty darn low. you might be on to something here. i hope yer plants recover. appear to be on the mend..

yea fuk ups reaaly suckk!!!!


i took this picture today. it looks pretty weird to me...