white spots on fan leaves not spider mites

[toris1981]

So the other day I noticed a few white spots on all my vegging plants. Sorry I cant post pics. After consulting my grow bible I was sure it was spider mites but after examining with a microscope, I'm pretty sure its not. It exhibits the normal white spots like spider mites, yet (1) the white spots seem to be glossy with no webbing in sight, and (2) I found the little fuckers under a microscope. They seem to like the area where the leaves meet. I can't find any pest in my bible that fits the description, so I'll do my best....
They are white to translucent, have six legs with a very large abdomen (under a microscope and compared to the rest of their body), obviously leave white marks on my newly vegged plants (it hasn't spread to my flower tent), however it does appear to be in small evidence (its not rampant but I see then little fuckers on a few leaves) in my mother/clone tent. The white spots seem glossy in color and it doesn't seem to be affecting my plants in a very harmful way.
A few background notes that might help whoever stops on this page,
I live in high altitude colorado, I have a controlled tent/tents for a small time personal grow room. No webbing and I can visibly see the infestation and it doesn't look like mites in the slightest. Its not mold or any of the other answers a quick search on google gave me.

Please help!

 

[Jimmy Sparkle]

Withought seeing the insect it's a little hard to say. I have been around insects and all sorts of gardening for years and to me what you described is an aphid. Aphids come in all different colors and sizes and the white spots that you speak of is called "honeydew" basically its aphid poop. Its also extremely rich in sugars that ants just love. Usually,but not always ants and aphids can be found together due to the ants liking the sticky sweet aphid poop. 1 get a spray bottle 2 get some dawn or palmolive{i like palmolive} dish soap. 3 add about a quarter teaspoon of soap to the bottle and fill the rest of the way with water. Spray when lights are out a couple times a week for 1 week and it will be the end of that shit and the soap wont hurt anything. Hope you figure it out.

 

[DeeTee]

I have seen white spots on my leaves many times and could never find the cause, no matter how I tried, I therefore cam to the conclusion that it's nothing and ignore them, in fact I currently have a white widow 8 weeks 12/12 with white spots and no signs of harming the plant, my conclusion? it no longer bothers me and has no effect on the plants, that is to say as long as you don't see any bugs, don't bother abt it.....just my opinion.

 

[UncleBuck]

So the other day I noticed a few white spots on all my vegging plants. Sorry I cant post pics. After consulting my grow bible I was sure it was spider mites but after examining with a microscope, I'm pretty sure its not. It exhibits the normal white spots like spider mites, yet (1) the white spots seem to be glossy with no webbing in sight, and (2) I found the little fuckers under a microscope. They seem to like the area where the leaves meet. I can't find any pest in my bible that fits the description, so I'll do my best....
They are white to translucent, have six legs with a very large abdomen (under a microscope and compared to the rest of their body), obviously leave white marks on my newly vegged plants (it hasn't spread to my flower tent), however it does appear to be in small evidence (its not rampant but I see then little fuckers on a few leaves) in my mother/clone tent. The white spots seem glossy in color and it doesn't seem to be affecting my plants in a very harmful way.
A few background notes that might help whoever stops on this page,
I live in high altitude colorado, I have a controlled tent/tents for a small time personal grow room. No webbing and I can visibly see the infestation and it doesn't look like mites in the slightest. Its not mold or any of the other answers a quick search on google gave me.

Please help!

i don't recall the name of the other common pest that causes similar leaf damage to mites, but if i do remember correctly, it was a similar treatment to get rid of them.

a good neem oil treatment in a 3-5-7 day cycle on any plant showing symptoms. hit them once to kill the living mites, then in 3, 5 and 7 days later to kill any new ones as eggs hatch.

also a good idea just to use it preventively on plants that don't even show symptoms. i always neem after transplanting or when starting flower (and once after that a few days later) even if the plants show no signs of an infection or symptoms. it's just good practice.

there is no eradicating mites or other creatures, that is a futile chore. all you can do is prevent with clean, suitable conditions and mitigate with safe pest control measures.

 

[UncleBuck]

Withought seeing the insect it's a little hard to say. I have been around insects and all sorts of gardening for years and to me what you described is an aphid. Aphids come in all different colors and sizes and the white spots that you speak of is called "honeydew" basically its aphid poop. Its also extremely rich in sugars that ants just love. Usually,but not always ants and aphids can be found together due to the ants liking the sticky sweet aphid poop. 1 get a spray bottle 2 get some dawn or palmolive{i like palmolive} dish soap. 3 add about a quarter teaspoon of soap to the bottle and fill the rest of the way with water. Spray when lights are out a couple times a week for 1 week and it will be the end of that shit and the soap wont hurt anything. Hope you figure it out.

this is solid advice. i use a drop of soap with the neem oil as a surfactant (mixer).

I have seen white spots on my leaves many times and could never find the cause, no matter how I tried, I therefore cam to the conclusion that it's nothing and ignore them, in fact I currently have a white widow 8 weeks 12/12 with white spots and no signs of harming the plant, my conclusion? it no longer bothers me and has no effect on the plants, that is to say as long as you don't see any bugs, don't bother abt it.....just my opinion.

i would never ignore any infestation. dotted white leaves in veg can turn into complete plant destruction by the end of flower if not treated/mitigated. you can't spray late in flower if the outbreak becomes too advanced.

 

[kryptoniteglo]

Hey Toris, read your description since you asked but have had no experience with this at all! Sounds like the soap solution might be a good one since you're still vegging. In any case, I'd take care of it before flipping, as once you've got exposed bud around you don't want to be spraying stuff on it! Good luck!

 

[yesismoke]

Thrips without pictures its a guessing game aphids. thrips too leave specks and hide in places other than back of leaves .. when im gardening and see the most oddest insects on plants

 

[Rusty Trikes]

I use neem once every two weeks on everything that is less than 6 weeks into flower. The last four weeks I spray them with COLD water in the morning once a week. I have had no pest or mold problems since I started doing this. I mist occasionally too. I have never had any funny smell or taste in the finished product. I plan on taking this preventative measure forever.

 

[toris1981]

Thanks for everyone posting! Will totally +rep for each of you! So here is what I found out. Its THRIPS and its not completely harmful but it is something that will need to be taken care of. The best remedies I've found are ladybugs, a half inch of fine sand over the soil (it suffocates the eggs that fall), and there are some easily purchased organic pesticides that will take care of the live thrips. I'll recheck this post in a couple days and update what worked, but again, thanks everyone for the quick replies. Truely appreciated!!!!

 

[kryptoniteglo]

^^^great! congrats on figuring it out pretty easily. I'll watch for the update...

 

[DeeTee]

this is solid advice. i use a drop of soap with the neem oil as a surfactant (mixer).




i would never ignore any infestation. dotted white leaves in veg can turn into complete plant destruction by the end of flower if not treated/mitigated. you can't spray late in flower if the outbreak becomes too advanced.

For one thing it's not an infestation, it doesn't spread and never has and never have I lost a grow do to it, so sorry but your wrong, I'm hydro so it can't be bugs in the soil, and of the many yrs of groweing I have never, never had bugs, if you've had bugs that's your situation, I'm just stating my situation.

 

[toris1981]

OK so I promised an update...
Firstly, I went to my local grow-shop and after talking it over I decided to go with AZAMAX. The person at the store gave me a list of reasons why he chose it which I'll share with you.
1. Its made up of the same active ingredient in Neem Oil
2. Its safe (or so he says from experience) to use on cuttings and even clones!
3. It can be used in a hydroponic system or with soil to kill the eggs where neem oil starves the bugs out but still lets the eggs hatch. Same result but with more time.
4. The nifty bottle lets you accurately add the correct amount with no chance of spilling.

After using the product I can testify to the following,
After using the product for two weeks, using two complete dowsing with a spray bottle before the lights shut off on my 18-6 schedule, there are no new spotting, or white spots on then plants. I can still see a few critters but they are much less than a week ago after my first spray. After spraying each of the plants thoroughly I put the rest of the bottle around each of the plants base to try and kill the eggs.
I also added about a half inch of sand [side note: when I went to buy the sand after inquiring where I might get it in small town colorado, I went and found a "70lb" bag that had been ripped open. I took it inside and the gentleman at the counter noticed it was ripped and only charged me a buck! I dunno, it could have only cost $2 bucks new but I still felt happy to live where I do where small town values are still upheld. Just had to throw that in!] to the base of each plant to suffocate the eggs. I had planned on adding cinnamon to the mix but forgot in my angst to get rid of these pests!
So, in conclusion, things seem to be moving in a positive manner. I plan on a 3rd application of azamax on sunday and will update if all the pests seem to be gone and the status of my cuttings with this "safe" alternative to chemicals

 

[tikitoker]

spray the plant with a 5:1 H202/ rubbing alchol 90% and add some liquid hot sauce insects don't like capsasum in the peppers and the alchol doesn't hurts plants in the slightest but it will exhaust the insect of needed moisture. zero negative effects from possible excessive pesticides. even neem oil can be over done and will clog the stomatas if not rinsed away day after application.

 

[BWG707]

I've had extremely good results eradicating thrips using Monterey with spinosad.

 

[toris1981]

Ok, so a new update. I still see maybe one or two every couple days but they're few and far between. No negative effects on my plants so I'll continue to use the product every week on sunday. Just have to remember to lower my 600 watt to 60% so I don't burn them. On a side note, I started doing something that I thought I'd share. I'm having a problem with the mother growing straight to the LED. She loves it so much! But the penetration (or lack thereof) is getting to the bottom of the plant where I would love to take clones from. So, last night, I put a pipe cleaner through the tube of a pen, and tied both ends to different parts of the plants, in effect creating spacers which are movable up and down wherever depending on how the mom continues to train! Just a thought! Hope this thread helps anyone going through what I did! Gl!