Infestation! Need help!

[Luvinbuds33]

Grow setup: 4 HSO Purple Trainwreck under 1000w HPS. Medium is a 50/50 of Fox Farm Ocean Forest/Happy Frog. Plants are on week 5 from seed, and appear to be very healthy with the exception of the infestation.

I have searched for pest problems and have not been able to find anything relating to the symptoms that the rather large, spider looking pests have induced. They are eating the tips of the leaves, but there aren't any visible eggs/larvae or webs. There are not spots on the leaves either. I just discovered them, but they seem to be detrimental at a fast rate.

I have found 4 of the larger spider like pests, they have gray/white lines on them. I also found what appears to be a small mite of some kind.

I am new to growing so any information/solution(s) to this will help!

 

[labexperiment]

Re: Infestation!! Need help!

They look like they have been topped or FIMd.

 

[Luvinbuds33]

Re: Infestation!! Need help!

The plants have been FIM'd bu the leaves are being eaten by something.

 

[Luvinbuds33]

Re: Infestation!! Need help!

Here is a better picture. It appears like the leave tips have been cut clean by scissors, but I have not done that. They are being devoured and I'm not sure if it was the spider-like thing I caught, or the small, beetle/mite looking thing.

 

[labexperiment]

Re: Infestation!! Need help!

Those are definitely the cut marks from a FIM job(IMO).

Insects to not eat straight lines, at least not that I have ever seen.

 

[Luvinbuds33]

Re: Infestation!! Need help!

Hence my dilemma! I did not cut those leaves, and it has appeared over night on the rest of my plants on a select few leaves. It's really strange.

 

[labexperiment]

Weather you realize it or not when you FIM a plant you cut the leaves you probably just had not noticed it before, but the straight edges are from a FIM. I am 99.9% positive.

 

[Luvinbuds33]

Well I didn't cut them, and now more sets of leaves are disappearing in the same fashion. I can look at the edges where they are flat and clearly can see they are not cut. I never cut them and more are missing now. What is this?

 

[Luvinbuds33]

This is clearly not cut, it looks like it's been ripped, or eaten in a pattern like a caterpillar would eat a leaf.

 

[David Bowman]

Sounds like a leaf cutting insect is loose in your grow environment. I'm not aware of any spiders doing damage like that to leaves although I wouldn't be that surprised if there were. If this is happening overnight then I suggest you periodically check into your grow with a flashlight during lights off to see if you can locate the culprit(s). It shouldn't cause too much stress during vegging which if I'm not mistaken is the stage of your grow correct? If you are in flowering, I would still risk it as this could terminate your grow if it remains unresolved.

 

[Marzbadrock]

I too believe its from FIM. The damaged leaves prob grew out over a day or two time period and was unnoticed. The pic you show has 2 new tops forming, your fucked up leaves are directly under the new growth where you cut.

 

[Luvinbuds33]

Yes I am in week 5 of veg, and I will be prospecting to flower next week if I can resolve this. I guess I didn't think about trying to catch them in the act at night and I will try and do so! If I find anything I will make sure to post immediately!

 

[labexperiment]

Nice crop of your earlier image. Try cutting off about half of one of your small leaves just starting to grow, tie a yellow ribbon around the stem near it and look at it again in 2 weeks. It will not grow perfectly straight.

Good luck.

 

[Luvinbuds33]

Well it appears the bugs have eaten a few more leaves on all the plants and some of the nodes but it has stopped as of recently. I haven't noticed anything drastic within the ladies in a few days. The leaves are also not being further devoured past what they already have taken off. Very strange and I'm wondering if it could be genetics?

 

[ironnthunder]

Pardon my ignorance.........FIM?

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

When you fem, you are not cutting off from the stem, but our either pinching with your finger nails or cutting the top leaves starting to grow. You probably FIM'ed with your finger nails, correct?

When you FIM with finger nails, after those leaves do grow, they look like the pictures you have posted.

 

[manx]

those spiders are your friends

 

[Marzbadrock]

Fuck I Missed. Seriously that's what it means.

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

That's one theory of how the term came about, but no one knows for sure why it was first called FIM.