What's eating my plant from the inside?

[nickeluring]

I just realised this little plant is under attack. It seems like something is eating her from the inside. It's only the main cola that is affected. That cola doesn't grow anymore - it's dying. Does anyone know what it is?
I think I'll do a late topping and cut the whole top part off the main cola. The plant grows as if it has been topped already, all the satellite buds around it is growing way fatter than the buds on other plants.

Gorilla attack 2.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 3.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 4.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 5.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 6.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 1.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

 

[TorturedSoul]

I don't know but, YIKES! If there is actually something inside that stem, munching away, I'd cut it off below the visible damage (possibly well below it), and either dispose of it at another location or burn it to ash. Imagine if a critter in there starts eating its way downward...

And, from the looks of things, that stem might not be salvageable anyway.

 

[nickeluring]

I'll chop it now and have a look inside...

 

[nickeluring]

Well, it's something for sure, but I have no idea what. I didn't see anything that moved in there.
Whatever that thing was, it was working its way inside the stem both up and down. It's now gone from the plant and I have a fair bit of very early harvested bud to sample while waiting for the rest to mature...

Gorilla attack 10.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 9.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 8.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

Gorilla attack 7.jpg

• nickeluring
• Apr 26, 2020

 

[The Celt]

Whatever it was, it’s not something I’ve ever seen in this neck of the woods or heard of.

 

[TorturedSoul]

The brown and grey areas inside the stem look like they could be the precursor to mold/rot. One of the side-effects of such attacks, sadly,that are as bad or even worse than the actual physical damage the critters cause.

I just got on that "Google" thing and typed:

cannabis something eating inside stem

,,,and it told me that there are about 6,590,000 results, I then added:

site:420magazine.com

...and still got 1,870 results. The above causes Google to perform what is known as a "site-search," in other words, to search only one website (in the above example, this one). You should probably do the same thing. Just from glancing at the summary of the results on the first page, I see mention of beetle borers. Looks like there are other things mentioned, too. Here is one of the threads that discusses (among other things) the beetle borers:

Guide To Identifying Your Pests

Since the inception of agriculture, mankind has been struggling against the constant predatory aspect of nature trying to eat the crop first. Animals and the elements are problems faced by outdoor growers, however everyone is put to battle with bugs at some point or another. Pests are a constant...

www.420magazine.com

 

[nickeluring]

Thanks mate, it sure seems like a beetle borer. The main stem had the "brown trail of death".

 

[Pat Puffer]

Yeah my 1st thought was "corn borer". That is what they are called in Jorge Cervantes' Cannabis Encyclopedia. I have never seen them. Only read about them.

 

[nickeluring]

I never saw it either...as far as I could see the stem was empty when I cut it open.

 

[Liqurd4tay0z]

I never saw it either...as far as I could see the stem was empty when I cut it open.

This summer I had some kind of insect trying to get inside my stems also. I did my best to eradicate all insects in my grow and got em all before they could do any real damage. In a matter of 12 hours or so it chewed the fuck out of the bottom of the stem, nothing like your damaged cola but still had me wondering what the heck was going on.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

Borrowing insect like leaf miner or beetle larva ?

 

[Pennywise]

Worms = caterpillars

 

[BeanTownFan420]

You posted that months ago huh?

 

[nickeluring]

They are nasty little critters. Now I have all my plants indoors and the only bugs I see are fungus gnats, but they don't cause any noticeable harm to my plants. I'm happy I don't have to worry about hungry insects anymore.
In my future outdoor grows I will make sure to spray all plants preventably to make my plants less tasty...

 

[SmokingWings]

My first thought when seeing the photos was a burrowing insect. It looks like a side stem or large leaf was stripped off and pulled some of the bark off at the same time. This left a small opening and the insect got into the center of the stem. Then when old enough it turned into some sort of insect with legs and walked away.

Fungus gnats are hungry little insects. They are not as innocent as they look because they are so small. They lay their eggs on the soil. The eggs hatch and a small pupae crawls into the soil, living there in the first few inches. They will eat some of the organic material and that does help with the breakdown into organic nutrients. Only problem is that they also like to eat small, young and tender roots.

It is not all that hard to get rid of Fungus Grats. Lot easier than battling Mites.

Have a great day.

 

[nickeluring]

My first thought when seeing the photos was a burrowing insect. It looks like a side stem or large leaf was stripped off and pulled some of the bark off at the same time. This left a small opening and the insect got into the center of the stem. Then when old enough it turned into some sort of insect with legs and walked away.

Fungus gnats are hungry little insects. They are not as innocent as they look because they are so small. They lay their eggs on the soil. The eggs hatch and a small pupae crawls into the soil, living there in the first few inches. They will eat some of the organic material and that does help with the breakdown into organic nutrients. Only problem is that they also like to eat small, young and tender roots.

It is not all that hard to get rid of Fungus Grats. Lot easier than battling Mites.

Have a great day.

Cheers, mate. You're probably right. Looking at the pics again, there's a branch on the other side of the stem so most likely there used to be one on the damaged side as well.

Regarding the fungus gnats I really don't worry about them. They might eat some of the roots, but I think my plants regrow roots faster than they're being eaten. My plants grow really well and I can't be bothered with yellow sticky traps anymore. I have some still, but I get glue on everything if I use them. I sometimes give the girls a H2O2 bath to kill off the larvaes, but I haven't done that with my last batch of girls and they are happy. I also bought a bag of sand to have a layer of sand in my coco to rip the larvaes apart, but I keep forgetting to add it when planting a new seed. I'm always too excited about the new baby...
I get the gnats on every grow from feeding multiple times a day in coco, but I'm ok with them so far. I'll try to remember the sand on my next grow though.