Tiny bright white dots - Actinovate?

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
I have an outbreak of tiny bright white dots occuring in random places on all of my plants. They are brighter white than any powdery mildew I have seen and not fuzzy or connected. Under 60X magnification they do not look like mold, do not look like bug poop, and do not look like bug or spider mite marks (they have mass). They are more like little globules that under magnification have an organic structure similar to a coral reef. They can be removed with a fingernail pulled across them.

I am using Actinovate every 7-10 days for powdery mildew prevention and my best guess is that these are colonies of the streptomyces lydicus bacteria (active ingredient). Anybody else using this product seeing anything similar? Other ideas? I have a call into the company so will update if they reply. Will post a pic under magnification later if needed, will have to borrow a camera first.
bacteria colony.jpg
 
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ayr0n

Well-Known Member
I have an outbreak of tiny bright white dots occuring in random places on all of my plants. They are brighter white than any powdery mildew I have seen and not fuzzy or connected. Under 60X magnification they do not look like mold, do not look like bug poop, and do not look like bug or spider mite marks (they have mass). They are more like little globules that under magnification have an organic structure similar to a coral reef. They can be removed with a fingernail pulled across them.

I am using Actinovate every 7-10 days for powdery mildew prevention and my best guess is that these are colonies of the streptomyces lydicus bacteria (active ingredient). Anybody else using this product seeing anything similar? Other ideas? I have a call into the company so will update if they reply. Will post a pic under magnification later if needed, will have to borrow a camera first.
View attachment 3221090
I've got something similar but I thought it was just little pieces of perlite from the fan blowing em around...?

Berry-Ryder---Day-31.jpgperlite.png
 

SpicySativa

Well-Known Member
It looks to me like a few specks of the Actinovate didn't dissolve completely in the spray bottle and ended up stuck to your leaves. Whatever it is, I am confident that it's NOT powdery mildew.
 

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
It looks to me like a few specks of the Actinovate didn't dissolve completely in the spray bottle and ended up stuck to your leaves. Whatever it is, I am confident that it's NOT powdery mildew.
Thanks Spicy, just got a voice mail back from the company and they seemed to agree with you. They thought it was likely the dextrose in the powder that is a carrier for the bacteria. Seems to me like new spots keep popping up, but maybe it is just me being more observant for it? Anyway, will keep an eye on it and send them some pics to their sales rep if it continues.
 

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
New spots are definitely forming, haven't sprayed in a week. When water is applied, the spots dissolve. So my new theory is that it is a sugar crystal that is forming as the leaves transpire and move the thin layer of dextrose around the leaf surface and then dry as it cools overnight. Under magnification the spots look a little too rounded and too white to be sugar crystals but that is where I am at on this. Sprayed some leaves with water and some with a diluted H2O2 solution and we will see if the spots come back as they dry out.

I'm not terribly concerned at this point but I will continue to post as I learn more for the sake of others searching the web.

@mods - possible to move this thread to "Plant Problems"? - was told it is more appropriate there.
 

Warpedpassage

Well-Known Member
Hey bugeye, i needed to resurrect this thread. Im wondering if you concluded the spots were in fact an actinovate byproduct? I noticed these spots popping up a few days after an actinovate foliar. Second week of flowering, humidity kind of high,60-70%. Also could use some more airflow. 6 plants under 600wat. I applied a drop of water to one of the spots and it seems to completey dissolve it in matter of seconds. Dont think p.m dissolves like that. Any idea? Hate to start plucking away leaves unnecessarily.
 

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
Good chance it is dextrose from the Actinovate, especially if you mix it up stronger than the directions say, which is fine with that product. If you know what pm looks like under magnification it is easy to tell. Or wash one leaf clean with water and mark the leaf to see if anything comes back on it the next day. If dextrose it won't come back. Doesn't look like pm to me, too clumped in the middle.
 

Blitski

Member
Hey bugeye and warped, hoping to resurrect the thread because this seems to be the only source of info I can find on something like this. Under 60x this doesn’t look like pm, there’s no structures sticking up, just this dissolved calcium pool looking blob on almost leaves. This also happened a few weeks after my last actinovate foliar, both of which I used a lot of actinovate and applied until the leaves were soaked. I put together that on my 4 large plants that I have a heavier spray to the spotting is more widespread. The colonies look nothing like pm from what I can tell but maybe I’m wrong. I used very cold tap water on my foliar so maybe this is undissolved dextrose as well. Either way tell me what you guys think. I’m only so worried because my dehumidifier shut off and the humidity spiked last night but it’s usually around 40%30E64B3E-E0AF-418C-BA8E-4CB22945185C.jpegFE8E5118-F171-4899-9DEF-D445BC854172.jpegimage.jpg
 

Warpedpassage

Well-Known Member
Hmmm... hard to say. Does the stuff wash off easily? Are you seeing this stuff on your flowers? Try pulling apart some flowers and look for some webbing like stuff. I recently came across some type of mold that looks like that. It popped up when the room was foolishly allowed to climb up to 70%rh for a of couple weeks with not not enugh air flow. I posted pics in other threads, im sure you can find them.

Good luck, hopefully its just the actinovate, but i have not seen it leave residue like that before.
 

Bugeye

Well-Known Member
Hey bugeye and warped, hoping to resurrect the thread because this seems to be the only source of info I can find on something like this. Under 60x this doesn’t look like pm, there’s no structures sticking up, just this dissolved calcium pool looking blob on almost leaves. This also happened a few weeks after my last actinovate foliar, both of which I used a lot of actinovate and applied until the leaves were soaked. I put together that on my 4 large plants that I have a heavier spray to the spotting is more widespread. The colonies look nothing like pm from what I can tell but maybe I’m wrong. I used very cold tap water on my foliar so maybe this is undissolved dextrose as well. Either way tell me what you guys think. I’m only so worried because my dehumidifier shut off and the humidity spiked last night but it’s usually around 40%View attachment 4074844View attachment 4074845View attachment 4074846
Hard to say for sure but looks possible to be mainly residue. Not PM like I have ever seen but maybe another variety. Wipe a few leaves off with water and wipe a few off with diluted h202 and see if anything comes back on either. Mark the leaves with a twist tie or something. If both leaves stay clean, it is residue, if some white comes back it probably is fungal.
 

Blitski

Member
Warped did you treat it like PM ? Dropped water on a bunch of affected leaves with a syringe and checked back a couple hours later with nothing. I’ll see if it comes back tomorrow but I think I might just be getting paranoid because my AC/ dehumidifier circuit tripped last night so humidity hit 80% but not for more than 24 hours. Thanks for the help guys.
 
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