Twisted growth

[013]

ditto Bluter - if it’s hemp russet mites you won’t see a damn thing with naked eye or loupe for that matter. My understanding is they are beyond microscopic and live inside plant tissue

not much help but at one point figured I had hemp russet mites on a plant. I scoped with a 1000X wifi mini microscope but never saw any concrete evidence. Even at full zoom there was nothing to see, not saying I had them / not saying I didn’t- just that scoping at 1000X gave no definitive results.

Chopped and burned the plant and dumped all the soil, bleached containers, nuked the room and started over.

might want to use 420 search bar above and look for hemp russet mites & Bobrown14 ….. for reals he’s written a few good blurbs on this sitch

best of luck to ya Fred, either way it’s not the end of the world!!!

 

[Braddah Waiheesohai]

Like everyone else is saying, use a microscope, and google google google, look at all the pictures of mite damage you can then immediately go into your room and check out your plants. Change clothes and shower before going from the contaminated room anywhere else.

ACT FAST.

Take those plants into the shower and give them all a good rough wash down, tops and bottoms of the leaves. Consider cutting off and burning all of the effected tops and leaves first.

You can try a hot water dunk, submerging your plants in hot water for 10 minutes. Or heating your grow room to 115°F (46°C) for an hour (be safe and stay vigilant so as not to start a fire if you go this route). Either of these will damage your plants, but will discourage the mites.

Mixing neem and other insecticides can hurt your plants, do your research. Wettable Sulphur is a good option. Make sure and spray the tops and bottoms of all plants, and every surface in the grow room. Repeat every 2-3 days at least 5 times. Spray insecticides at lights off.

Best of luck!

 

[Tnuc2018]

I used mix of soap only. But im not sure which mite i got. With my microscope i see a lot of small white milky "eggs". But i dont see any bugs yet. But as you can see, its prettu bad. Do you think its possible to save them ?

saveable for sure id start with a good flush and try and figure out whats laying the eggs before u go trying all sorts of things that wont help. there has to be something alive and well in there if theres eggs

 

[Fredthesmoker]

As said by others, first identify the pest. Then your options will become more clear. Study your soil for 15 minutes... see anything moving down there?

ditto Bluter - if it’s hemp russet mites you won’t see a damn thing with naked eye or loupe for that matter. My understanding is they are beyond microscopic and live inside plant tissue

not much help but at one point figured I had hemp russet mites on a plant. I scoped with a 1000X wifi mini microscope but never saw any concrete evidence. Even at full zoom there was nothing to see, not saying I had them / not saying I didn’t- just that scoping at 1000X gave no definitive results.

Chopped and burned the plant and dumped all the soil, bleached containers, nuked the room and started over.

might want to use 420 search bar above and look for hemp russet mites & Bobrown14 ….. for reals he’s written a few good blurbs on this sitch

best of luck to ya Fred, either way it’s not the end of the world!!!

One thing i starting to consider. - I see no mites, but EVERY single shot on the plant are destroyed. It happened almost "over night". I see many examples ln google, showing big patches of russets visible for the naked eye.
Considered the amount of damage done to the plants, there should be some kind of mite showing, at least with a microscope (unless there actually are different variants of russets, which actually ARE hiding inside the plant tissue)

But the fact i've been growing for three straight years, and i have never got any pest. - except for one month ago i got these thrips. Why should i suddenly get russets, really almost the same time? I didnt take in any cutting. I dont own any plants except my marihuana..

Would it be crazy to say, that it could be some kind of virus brought in by the thrips?

 

[Fredthesmoker]

Like everyone else is saying, use a microscope, and google google google, look at all the pictures of mite damage you can then immediately go into your room and check out your plants. Change clothes and shower before going from the contaminated room anywhere else.

ACT FAST.

Take those plants into the shower and give them all a good rough wash down, tops and bottoms of the leaves. Consider cutting off and burning all of the effected tops and leaves first.

You can try a hot water dunk, submerging your plants in hot water for 10 minutes. Or heating your grow room to 115°F (46°C) for an hour (be safe and stay vigilant so as not to start a fire if you go this route). Either of these will damage your plants, but will discourage the mites.

Mixing neem and other insecticides can hurt your plants, do your research. Wettable Sulphur is a good option. Make sure and spray the tops and bottoms of all plants, and every surface in the grow room. Repeat every 2-3 days at least 5 times. Spray insecticides at lights off.

Best of luck!

Cutting of every single infected part of the plant, would result in every single shot taken of and only the leaves remaining..

 

[CaptainLucky]

Cutting of every single infected part of the plant, would result in every single shot taken of and only the leaves remaining..

I would recommend if you’re going to continue to grow them that you wash them in peroxide solution and inspect every bud with a scope. CL Edit: when you harvest.

 

[Fredthesmoker]

I would recommend if you’re going to continue to grow them that you wash them in peroxide solution and inspect every bud with a scope. CL Edit: when you harvest.

It will definitely be my next step. I think i will give it one more week, and carefully inspect how the development looks.. Do you know in which dosage i should use the peroxide. I've got 3% h202 .. And should it be blended together with nutrients ?

 

[CaptainLucky]

It will definitely be my next step. I think i will give it one more week, and carefully inspect how the development looks.. Do you know in which dosage i should use the peroxide. I've got 3% h202 .. And should it be blended together with nutrients ?

I think @InTheShed has the recipe for the blend. 3% is fine and I think it’s baking soda for the other ingredients. It’s supposed to create a foaming action when combined to aid in the cleaning. If it’s not Shed someone will know. Good luck and my heart goes out to you, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. CL.

 

[Fredthesmoker]

I think @InTheShed has the recipe for the blend. 3% is fine and I think it’s baking soda for the other ingredients. It’s supposed to create a foaming action when combined to aid in the cleaning. If it’s not Shed someone will know. Good luck and my heart goes out to you, I can’t imagine what you’re going through. CL.

Ohh i thought it was soil drench with peroxide you were talking about. I already have the recipe for making the bud wash afterwards.. Thanks for your thoughts. I really miss the the happiness of growing without troublemaking pests

 

[SmokingWings]

The situation right now is a bad one, since im doing perpetual. I do have three different rooms. One clone, with almost new popped seeds, the veg room (the russet infested ones in flower week 1) and then i have flower room with plants 1-3 weeks from harvest..

I have a perpetual going so I can understand what you are going through.

Several years ago I had most of the plants in the vegetating room start to look like what you have shown us in the first photos.The plants in the flowering room still looked normal. I looked up website after website and kept coming back to the Hemp/Russet Mite issue as a possible cause. I found mention of this insect problem not just on Cannabis growing sites but on all types of growing web pages.

And like you, I wanted to avoid taking down the vegetating area and eventually the flowering area. Because I had no way to see those microscopic mites and could not verify the problem I decided to come up with a last ditch project.

I started a spraying program and would spray everything in the vegetating area 2 and 3 times a day with Neem Oil. An hour or two later after each Neem Oil dose I sprayed them with Nuke 'Em which I mixed at double the "normal" dose (mentioned on the bottle and the company website that double dose is recommended for serious problems). Sprayed with the Nuke 'Em twice a day. I would move all the branches apart to be sure that every leaf received spray.

After several days of this mass spraying I did not notice any burn signs on the leaves so I kept going. The next week I took the worst looking plants outside so they could sit in the sunshine (the sun is great equalizer) so if there were any insects they might be killed off by the UV, etc. I also added an extra hour of light to the timers for the inside plants.

Most of the plants started looking and growing normally so I figured they were recovering. I brought the outside plants back in except for a few which I left out there. The cuttings did not root so I tossed those and took new ones from the recovered plants.

My perpetual is still going. Some of what I am growing right now are clones off of clones which can be back tracked to when I had that problem and even before. I have not seen the twisted leaf problem since then. Came close one time when the some of the new growth started to look like that and I would begin the mass spraying again for 3 days.

Not saying that this will work in your situation but it might be something to consider.

 

[SmokingWings]

But the fact i've been growing for three straight years, and i have never got any pest. - except for one month ago i got these thrips. Why should i suddenly get russets, really almost the same time? I didnt take in any cutting. I dont own any plants except my marihuana..

The Thrip problem could easily weaken the plants that were infected. A weakened plant is usually the first ones that any new problem insect will go to to start feeding and reproducing. Then when their population on the weak plants gets large they will start to search out new plants to live on.

I dont own any plants except my marihuana..

Sorry to hear that. Plants in other parts of the house or the backyard can sometimes attract the problem insects and make it easier to get rid of them.

 

[CaptainLucky]

Ohh i thought it was soil drench with peroxide you were talking about. I already have the recipe for making the bud wash afterwards.. Thanks for your thoughts. I really miss the the happiness of growing without troublemaking pests

You can also try adding 500 mg. of crushed regular aspirin to your water monthly. The Salicylic acid will trigger your plants immunity response to help it fight off any pathogens or parasites. I use it monthly for the entire grow. CL

 

[bluter]

i'm pretty much positive you've got them. no matter what you think you can't see russets. the photos online are taken with specialized microscopes. you'll never see them with the naked eye unless you've got billions upon billions.

russets aren't that uncommon anymore. 90% of the time they are brought in by the grower picking them up elsewhere then infecting the plant when they handle it. they absolutely love perps, as it takes a few generations of them to become fatal.

russets used to be almost regional. now they are worldwide. they were literally unheard of here until about a decade ago. now i hear of at least 2 - 3 cases local each year.

you can try stuff, you might get lucky. i wouldn't hold my breathe on it. the danger in trying to control them is they can quickly rebound and wipe you completely out.

i do know growers that have fought them over years. none got ahead of the issue until shutting down for months at a time, and sterilizing everything. two of them have since been re-infected.

edit : there's more than a good chance they hitched a ride with the thrips. both russets and common two-spot mites are known to piggy back on other insects.

 

[bluter]

Ohh i thought it was soil drench with peroxide you were talking about. I already have the recipe for making the bud wash afterwards.. Thanks for your thoughts. I really miss the the happiness of growing without troublemaking pests

for a root drench h202 flush i use 27 - 30% h202 from a grow shop at 1ml per liter. it's strong enough to cause shock, but it will scrub the roots and kill most anything down there. the stuff will literally bubble, you'll need gloves.

i do a flood drench. in soil that means putting the pot inside a bigger bucket, and filling with the flush / h202 mix until the top is literally flooded. i let it sit for at least 20 min before removing the pot and letting the plant drain.

refeed within 24hrs, don't wait for a dry cycle.

the 3% pharmacy peroxide is like a toy gun when you need an AR.

 

[CaptainLucky]

for a root drench h202 flush i use 27 - 30% h202 from a grow shop at 1ml per liter. it's strong enough to cause shock, but it will scrub the roots and kill most anything down there. the stuff will literally bubble, you'll need gloves.

i do a flood drench. in soil that means putting the pot inside a bigger bucket, and filling with the flush / h202 mix until the top is literally flooded. i let it sit for at least 20 min before removing the pot and letting the plant drain.

refeed within 24hrs, don't wait for a dry cycle.

the 3% pharmacy peroxide is like a toy gun when you need an AR.

Like a BB gun when you need a nuclear weapon? CL.

 

[Fredthesmoker]

You can also try adding 500 mg. of crushed regular aspirin to your water monthly. The Salicylic acid will trigger your plants immunity response to help it fight off any pathogens or parasites. I use it monthly for the entire grow. CL

Salicylic acid ordered

i'm pretty much positive you've got them. no matter what you think you can't see russets. the photos online are taken with specialized microscopes. you'll never see them with the naked eye unless you've got billions upon billions.

russets aren't that uncommon anymore. 90% of the time they are brought in by the grower picking them up elsewhere then infecting the plant when they handle it. they absolutely love perps, as it takes a few generations of them to become fatal.

russets used to be almost regional. now they are worldwide. they were literally unheard of here until about a decade ago. now i hear of at least 2 - 3 cases local each year.

you can try stuff, you might get lucky. i wouldn't hold my breathe on it. the danger in trying to control them is they can quickly rebound and wipe you completely out.

i do know growers that have fought them over years. none got ahead of the issue until shutting down for months at a time, and sterilizing everything. two of them have since been re-infected.

edit : there's more than a good chance they hitched a ride with the thrips. both russets and common two-spot mites are known to piggy back on other insects.

I guess i might see some new leaves sprouting out the tops today, after application of avid yesterday. I ordered som sulphur aswell to give the g-dam mites some new experiences.

I see you dont trust a total eradication so much, but i really got no other option right now to take the fight.. I got too much to loose right now, and spent too much money trying to eradicate thrips and now russets..

The leaves are praying tonight and the plants are in OK condition, if we do not look at all of the damage made by the mites..

But do you think sulfur and avid are okay options to atleast give them fight till the end ??

 

[CaptainLucky]

Salicylic acid ordered

I guess i might see some new leaves sprouting out the tops today, after application of avid yesterday. I ordered som sulphur aswell to give the g-dam mites some new experiences.

I see you dont trust a total eradication so much, but i really got no other option right now to take the fight.. I got too much to loose right now, and spent too much money trying to eradicate thrips and now russets..

The leaves are praying tonight and the plants are in OK condition, if we do not look at all of the damage made by the mites..

But do you think sulfur and avid are okay options to atleast give them fight till the end ??

I have no experience with either product but I’m sure another member will advise you. Good luck n happy growing. CL.

 

[Roy Growin]

Not too late to chop them tops off and encourage new growth

 

[Fredthesmoker]

I have a perpetual going so I can understand what you are going through.

Several years ago I had most of the plants in the vegetating room start to look like what you have shown us in the first photos.The plants in the flowering room still looked normal. I looked up website after website and kept coming back to the Hemp/Russet Mite issue as a possible cause. I found mention of this insect problem not just on Cannabis growing sites but on all types of growing web pages.

And like you, I wanted to avoid taking down the vegetating area and eventually the flowering area. Because I had no way to see those microscopic mites and could not verify the problem I decided to come up with a last ditch project.

I started a spraying program and would spray everything in the vegetating area 2 and 3 times a day with Neem Oil. An hour or two later after each Neem Oil dose I sprayed them with Nuke 'Em which I mixed at double the "normal" dose (mentioned on the bottle and the company website that double dose is recommended for serious problems). Sprayed with the Nuke 'Em twice a day. I would move all the branches apart to be sure that every leaf received spray.

After several days of this mass spraying I did not notice any burn signs on the leaves so I kept going. The next week I took the worst looking plants outside so they could sit in the sunshine (the sun is great equalizer) so if there were any insects they might be killed off by the UV, etc. I also added an extra hour of light to the timers for the inside plants.

Most of the plants started looking and growing normally so I figured they were recovering. I brought the outside plants back in except for a few which I left out there. The cuttings did not root so I tossed those and took new ones from the recovered plants.

My perpetual is still going. Some of what I am growing right now are clones off of clones which can be back tracked to when I had that problem and even before. I have not seen the twisted leaf problem since then. Came close one time when the some of the new growth started to look like that and I would begin the mass spraying again for 3 days.

Not saying that this will work in your situation but it might be something to consider.

Sounds good with a positive story with russets.. I will do something similar with spraying like a maniac. I just cant get them outside, and im going for a try with avid and sulfur, and neem for the small seedlings. I guess sulfur and insecticides can be too strong for small seedlings ?

 

[Fredthesmoker]

Not too late to chop them tops off and encourage new growth

Every single top all the way down to the bottom of them are destroyed. I guess i have to just wait for new growth coming, and hope the insecticide taking care of the infected areas