Aphids? And possibly mold?

[Curiousnoob]

Hello my 420 fam bam,
A couple of questions hopefully some of you good peeps could help me answer.
First one is, I have just noticed what I though was moisture on one of the sugar leaves. Turns out it is sap like also noticing around the sap little white bugs? Are these aphids?

(Not best pic) black ones are dead gnats Problem is I am possibly another week away from harvest should I harvest now? I will be washing with Doc Buds, bud wash either way.

Second question is my clones that are about to go in after these guys are harvested are developing a white like cover on the top of the coco is this mold or maybe salt build up, maybe to much moisture?

This one was in but taken out as she didn't survive, I did over feed them by accident.

This is a close up

I have watered them with a 10% h202 solution 2 days ago which seemed to run over it and not be absorbent? Yesterday they didn't seem to have changed at all.
Thanks in advance for the help and guidance

 

[Carcass]

I'm not sure what those white dots are,but aphids will be on the undersides of the leaves,which is why they can infest without being apparent until you look under the leaves.

That does look like mold on your soil-try the H202 again,but add a couple of drops of mild dish soap to the solution-it breaks the surface tension and allows the h202 to "stick" instead of just balling up and rolling off the mold.

If you're growing in living soil,just dampen the surface with the h202-if you drench the soil with it,you'll kill
all the beneficial critters in the soil.
You need more air circulation over that soil-mold only grows in still,damp areas-you don't need to blast the area with a fan-just induce a little circulation in that area .

Hopefully someone else will chime in on the dots-pics of the leaves in normal light will make it easier to identify the problem,so you might want to post up a few...

 

[Curiousnoob]

Thanks @carcass, ok pretty sure there is nothing under the leaves will check again tonight and try get a better pic.
Growing in Coco, will try a little dish soap pulled the one that was dying apart a little mold further down the main stem but none Through the cocoons long do you recommend waiting before watering with h202 again has been 3 days do you think this sufficient?

 

[Carcass]

You can do the peroxide thing as often as you want-since you're growing in coco (I should of seen that,it's right there in your sig ), you can't really let the growing medium dry out,so I'd say keep it up till the mold goes away,or at least stops growing.
Yeah,it's probably not aphids,but it doesn't hurt to check under the leaves to be sure...

 

[Curiousnoob]

Ok great, thanks will try it again this evening.

 

[Archiweedies]

Hi Curiousnoob
Carcass gave you some great advice and being that I am fighting aphids I thought I’d chime in.
The sticky sappy substance you are finding could very well be aphids. They can leave the sap behind and use it to entice ants to feed on the sap and then they feed on the ants.
Have you considered releasing lady bugs in your grow tent? They will, so long as the population isn’t too crazy, put a serious hurting on the aphids.

I can’t speak to the H2O2 dilemma. I will say that bud washing is one of those things that once you do it and see what comes off the plant into the water, you likely will wash your buds from now on. With you’re harvest around the corner, I think you’ll be fine. Cheers

 

[Mayne]

throw them out, start over. sick plants at this stage will give crap buds. For mold prevention, mix cinnamon into medium.

 

[Curiousnoob]

Oh man, yep they are aphids...

@Archiweedies can you use a h202 spray when in flower? Thinking it shouldn't hurt will be washing it all in doc buds wash which has h202 in it? Might harvest a couple days early incase of further Infestation. How do you usually combat aphids?

Thanks @Mayne appreciate the advice, I would like to try everything else before trashing them incase of further issues. Hit them tonight with soMe h202 and dish soap seemed to absorb better will wait and see.

 

[Nunyabiz]

At this point in flower you're basically hosed.
I would suggest on you next grow to thoroughly clean your grow room, bleach it, and then use something like Tweetmint once a week or so to kill critters.

 

[Carcass]

Aphids can become a large problem,real fast-they're born pregnant,and their babies are all clones.
If you also see any ants ,they have a symbiotic relationship with the aphids-the ants eat the sap (called honeydew) that the aphids excrete,and they will also move the aphids around the plant to keep them eatingfrom the "good" parts of the plant.

The ants actually"milk" the aphids by stroking the three little hairs around the aphids "butt" area with their antennae-when they do this,a little drop of goo will come out of the aphids ass area,and the ants eat it,or take it back to their nest to feed the queen.
So,the aphids don't eat the ants,and the ants don't eat the aphids-they work together to infest the host plant.

With that being said-when they get into the buds,they go too deep to be washed off,and they won't leave when the buds start to dry-they just keep on a suckin' till they die of thirst....
Don't use neem oil on your buds-it's too close to harvest to spray anything stinky on them...

The way I get rid of them is to use a little of the nicotine that I use for my vape juice,mix up a weak solution (1tbsp per qt. of water,with a couple drops of dish soap) and spray the crap out of them.
The nicotine will biodegrade in about 24 hours,and leaves no taste or residue on the buds.
If you don't have access to nicotine,there are other organic alternatives,or you could try spraying them with isopropyl alcohol-1 cup to a quart of water-you'll need to spray it pretty heavy,because if it doesn't touch them,it won't kill them.
The problem with anything that kills them,is they die in the buds,and cleaning them out is possible,but it's a tedious job.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do....aphids suck...literally

 

[Curiousnoob]

First time having them. I know how I did it aswell, was working in the garden and straight after went to my tent for a check up but realised when it was to late. Usually I'm really good with cleanliness and hygiene shower after work then check on my ladies. This lesson learnt the hard way. thanks for the help and advice.

 

[Archiweedies]

First time having them. I know how I did it aswell, was working in the garden and straight after went to my tent for a check up but realised when it was to late. Usually I'm really good with cleanliness and hygiene shower after work then check on my ladies. This lesson learnt the hard way. thanks for the help and advice.

Keep in mind, Spring is when the aphids wake from overwintering so they are the most abundant right now.

 

[Archiweedies]

By the way @carcass, super solid advice giving brother!

He’s right cleaning the buds out could be really challenging.
For what it’s worth, Docs bud wash has baking soda and lemon juice in the first bucket as a surfactant. The last two buckets are just plain water.
I’m not sure how effective H2O2 will be in killing bugs when you go to wash them. I imagine it would dislodge many of them, but not all.

I don’t know if you are familiar with Doc Buds kit, but it uses foliars as part of the system. Several folks are mixing the foliars at quarter strength and it acts a integrated pest management by constantly spraying bugs off the leaves and generally being agitated. They often leave the plants alone once they fall off. These foliars, purchaseable on the ‘zon, have trace elements in them and will be okay for your plants even if you aren’t in Docs soil.
Destress and Brix are the two products your looking for. I’d say you’d likely be fine with just Destress. He also has a product called leaf wash. It has Neem oil, and a broad spectrum of nutrients. The Leaf Wash can’t be sprayed in flower though.