Somethings munchin on my plants

I noticed random leaves being biten, nothing major i guess, but I am a newbie, so what do I know. At first guess I wanna say a stray bug got in a bit a leaf or 2 being that the problem areas are on 1 leaf of 2 different plants. Besides I check them out several times a day to mist their leaves and I don't see any bugs. I used to have a few stray gnats and they would start flying around when I started misting the leaves. So I don't think its an infestation, but again what do I know?

Doesn't look like much to worry about.

Spider mites are the hardest thing to get rid of. Most other pest are fairly easy to kill. And this is most certainly not mites

Just get some yellow sticky cards if it annoys you or your just curious what it is.

Zod said:

Doesn't look like much to worry about.

Spider mites are the hardest thing to get rid of. Most other pest are fairly easy to kill. And this is most certainly not mites

Just get some yellow sticky cards if it annoys you or your just curious what it is.

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Zod, I highly disagree. Yes spider mites suck but thrips are not easy to kill. They can reproduce asexually and bury their eggs in leaf tissue protecting them from pesticides.

My advice, and I've had thrips BAD, is to treat it immediately. A "no big deal" becomes an infestation fast.

Spinosad spray works great on thrips, only one catch....because of their life cycle, you have to spray three times, 3-4 days apart...dont deviate from that. Also be sure to spray under the leaves.

Those bastards will eat an entire fan leaf in a couple days and they are so small you cant really see them, just their damage.

Should I see some bugs crawling around in the dirt, on the leaves, or stems? I haven't seen anything in there since I had a few gnats flying around from plant to plant weeks ago. I was thinking it just some damage caused by an ant, one of them big ass black army ants. I did stomp one of them out as it was walking in front of my tent as I was misting the leaves.

bigbrew said:

Zod, I highly disagree. Yes spider mites suck but thrips are not easy to kill. They can reproduce asexually and bury their eggs in leaf tissue protecting them from pesticides.

My advice, and I've had thrips BAD, is to treat it immediately. A "no big deal" becomes an infestation fast.

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Perhaps I understated it a bit. Your right, you should always be on your guard for any problems whether bugs or deficiency. And you should always know the cause of any leaf damage you see. If you catch things early you can fix most anything.

That being said...

I don't think this is thrips. It just looks like two leaves got munched by a caterpillar or something big. Just keep your eyes open for any more damage or flying/crawling insects. If you find anything let us know.

This is thrip damage.....

thrips creep me out

that looks like the way a caterpillar eats a leaf

I haven't smoked yet, but you guys got me paranoid like I'm high!! I know in normal gardening (I've done it to my peach trees when there were beetles on it) a drop or 2 of dawn dish detergent (specifically, the blue one) is dropped in a spray bottle full of water and sprayed on a plant or infected leaves to get rid of bugs. Being that to something to kill them is @ a store several hrs drive away, or days away if ordered online, could that be used in a pinch? Or am I risking ruining my soil and/or killing my plants?

I'd go with caterpillars too.
But it might as well be light-burns. You said your misting your plants, right? the water drops can act as a magnifier glass and cut your leaves leaving marks like this.

If your humidity is over 50% in the room there is no need for misting. If it isn't - lower the air circulation and it will.

I never mist my plants after they have 3 leaves.
In the very delicate phases that actualy REQUIER misting I put a humidity dome on - does the same trick.

Night Claptoman said:

I'd go with caterpillars too.
But it might as well be light-burns. You said your misting your plants, right? the water drops can act as a magnifier glass and cut your leaves leaving marks like this.

If your humidity is over 50% in the room there is no need for misting. If it isn't - lower the air circulation and it will.

I never mist my plants after they have 3 leaves.
In the very delicate phases that actualy REQUIER misting I put a humidity dome on - does the same trick.

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I like that explanation. I really like that explanation!!!