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Mystery Pest - Help!


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Some weird maggot type thing appeared on a plant in my closet a few weeks ago. It eats the young leaves of the plant and keeps them from growing. Particularly the tips, which gives them a characteristic shape that doesn't look right at all. It looks like there's little orange specks all over the infested leaves, and they feel very resinous. I have tried spraynig with 1/4tsp rosemary oil with a squirt of soap in a gallon of water, and the same with peppermint, a mixture of rosemary and peppermint, and now cinnamon. I even dried dunking all the plants completely in a tub of rosemary oil and soap. The best result I've had is the "maggots" being suppressed for a few days at most. They keep coming back and I have clones I took from them to replace them (switching to hydro, they're soil and infested anyway). But I'm worried they're going to start suffreing from the same thing, and I feel like dunking isn't going to help.

 

WHAT DO i do?! I don't even know what this pest is so I can't possibly fight it. The only thing I havent tried is throwing diatomaceous earth all over them, but I'm not sure that could give coverage as good as spraying a liquid. GAH!

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I didn't realize how good this old camera is... you can see these things better than I can with the naked eye. They're clearly visible here.

 

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I am so burnt out by fighting these pests. I feel like I'm playing a really sh1tty video game where each level is harder - first fungus gnats, then spider mites, then root aphids, and now the Boss Guy who seems to be totally invincible. This is the last thing I need as I just found out I have shingles which at least explains the crazy headaches I've had in the past and why my side has felt like it was on fire for the last few weeks. Sure wish I had health insurance. But at least I have this. Someone, please help me keep these alive!! :( :( :(

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Ah darn - I have never seen anything like this (something you never want to hear a doctor or grower say!)

 

The plant damage could be from your sprays.

 

I still haven't seen your pest - but I am assuming its nemocytes - I have seen tiny clear looking maggots, attacking the roots and stem of a new clone. These maggots are almost transparent.

 

Shingles - you need medicine for that, it can get worst. The stress is not going to help it. You need antivirals, pain meds, and cortosteroids. Right now, over the counter creams with Capsaicin could help. If your skin is broken, that cream is going to burn!

 

A friend with clones can help you quickly get re-started with new plants. It might just be easier to say 'fuc* 'em' and start over.

 

DN

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I wish there was something I could do about th eshingles, but alas, I can barely afford to eat anymore after changes to the food stamp program, and unless I can get charity health care somehow, it's just not going to be able to happen. I have a lot of other health issues that have been ignored for far too long. :( Can't believe my luck - who on earth gets shingles in their 20s?

 

Very apprceiative of the offer of clones :thumbsu: :thumbsu: :thumbsu: , I've been worried that if these died, that would be it. The plant damage appeared long before the sprays btw - i saw the damage but didn't look closely, I just blamed the root aphids, until the infestation got so bad it started to spread. I swabbed everything with rubbing alcohol just now, including a clone I just planted... if that fails, then yeah, I guess f&ck it would be the wise thing to do, especially considering the shingles.

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Ah darn - I have never seen anything like this (something you never want to hear a doctor or grower say!)

 

The plant damage could be from your sprays.

 

I still haven't seen your pest - but I am assuming its nemocytes - I have seen tiny clear looking maggots, attacking the roots and stem of a new clone. These maggots are almost transparent.

 

Shingles - you need medicine for that, it can get worst. The stress is not going to help it. You need antivirals, pain meds, and cortosteroids. Right now, over the counter creams with Capsaicin could help. If your skin is broken, that cream is going to burn!

 

A friend with clones can help you quickly get re-started with new plants. It might just be easier to say 'fuc* 'em' and start over.

 

DN

 

If you click on the photos and enlarge them, you can see the ugly Bass-Turds. I don't know what they are, but there are alot of them. If these are your mother plants, you should be able to use something a little stronger on them if you won't be smoking the meds from these plants. They do look like maggots, I'm sure they can be killed with something that is safe. I wish I new what they were so I could suggest what to use.

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Unfortunately I'm in Ann Arbor and don't have a vehicle (not even a bicycle now, it got stolen :growl: ) so I don't think it'd be possible for me to make it there. Thanks for the offer though!

If you can make it out to Pinckney, we have a free (yes, Absolutely free!!!) clinic out here called Faith Medical. Shingles are no joke!! Do what you can to get there and get yourself checked out. Pinckney is only 20 minutes from Ann Arbor. The clinic will give you free scripts for your shingles. This can be resolved within 2 weeks if treated. They are good people with hearts of gold. If you look up Faith Medical in Pinckney and call them, they may also be able to arrange transportation for you. We can clone our ladies but we cant clone you my friend. Your health is priority one. We can get you more ladies. Be well, Medcnman.

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If the little monsters are soil based than dicotomus earth spread over the top of the soil. might help. i would also spray them with pyrethins to get the ones on the leaves.

 

Shingles my wife had em. Your'll live but it will be painful. Take the advice about that free clinic.

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Some weird maggot type thing appeared on a plant in my closet a few weeks ago. It eats the young leaves of the plant and keeps them from growing. Particularly the tips, which gives them a characteristic shape that doesn't look right at all. It looks like there's little orange specks all over the infested leaves, and they feel very resinous. I have tried spraynig with 1/4tsp rosemary oil with a squirt of soap in a gallon of water, and the same with peppermint, a mixture of rosemary and peppermint, and now cinnamon. I even dried dunking all the plants completely in a tub of rosemary oil and soap. The best result I've had is the "maggots" being suppressed for a few days at most. They keep coming back and I have clones I took from them to replace them (switching to hydro, they're soil and infested anyway). But I'm worried they're going to start suffreing from the same thing, and I feel like dunking isn't going to help.

 

WHAT DO i do?! I don't even know what this pest is so I can't possibly fight it. The only thing I havent tried is throwing diatomaceous earth all over them, but I'm not sure that could give coverage as good as spraying a liquid. GAH!

Do you see any whiteflys or gnat looking flies? These look like larvae from one of the two or even thrips. Im guessing thrips. But some of the damage looks like u over did ur attack on them.

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how do ya like that?!? hemp russett mites are in MI... interesting. 'mite' be the first official case, but that's what it looks like to me. you're going to want to go with something stronger than neem or any of the soft approaches... knew a guy that had em before, caused them much grief.

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All of the damage to the leaves was worse before I sprayed them. Each time with the sprays, I rinsed them off 10-15 minutes after application to avoiding damaging the leaves further. I haven't seen anything flying around outside of the root aphid problem that I have nearly beat. They do look kinda like those thrips larva... maybe I should get thrips/whitefly sticky strips or whatever they are and see if there's anything I'm missing...? I will try diatomaceous earth soon. And thank you all for your concern, this community is full of th e most compassionate people I've ever met. Very heartwarming. :goodjob: I have antivirals on the way.

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All of the damage to the leaves was worse before I sprayed them. Each time with the sprays, I rinsed them off 10-15 minutes after application to avoiding damaging the leaves further. I haven't seen anything flying around outside of the root aphid problem that I have nearly beat. They do look kinda like those thrips larva... maybe I should get thrips/whitefly sticky strips or whatever they are and see if there's anything I'm missing...? I will try diatomaceous earth soon. And thank you all for your concern, this community is full of th e most compassionate people I've ever met. Very heartwarming. :goodjob: I have antivirals on the way.

I hope you kill them quick, you are only 65 miles from me and I don't want them walking their way over to my plants. Glad you were able to get help with the antivirals, it can be very hard in this state for people without insurance to get help. They will let you die if you don't have $$$, or at least let you stay sick.

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Shingles in your 20s is really rare. I got them on my 31st birthday. They didn't believe my self diagnosis until they saw it. I had them on my right hip and my whole back and side hurt terribly, like cuss people out and lose your job terribly.

 

I found that heat helped the pain and stiffness a bunch, although it was not advised by the doctors, it sure helped. If you have a heating pad, you may want to try it if you are in pain.

 

Hooray on antivirals!

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I hope you kill them quick, you are only 65 miles from me and I don't want them walking their way over to my plants.

 

:P

 

Glad you were able to get help with the antivirals, it can be very hard in this state for people without insurance to get help. They will let you die if you don't have $$$, or at least let you stay sick.

 

 

 

Yes... it's terrible... I've had nothing for a long time and have ignored a lot of health problems that really should not have been ignored. It's cruel here for sure. I am very lucky I found a doctor compassionate enough to help me out. Thank god.

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how do ya like that?!? hemp russett mites are in MI... interesting. 'mite' be the first official case, but that's what it looks like to me. you're going to want to go with something stronger than neem or any of the soft approaches... knew a guy that had em before, caused them much grief.

 

Nice catch CleanD, you may be absolutely right, this 'mite' be the first official case of hemp russett mites in Michigan. Good job. Peace j.b.

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I think it's the hemp russet mite. Everything in the description fits. Sadly, even the scientific literature says that eradication of an infestation is literally impossible. I couldn't have gotten screwed harder on pests this grow. I've grown plants indoors for 8 years now, just not cannabis, and never had a single pest problem until I bought that bag of organic Happy Frog soil, so I have trouble imagining that the spider mites, fungus gnats, root aphids, and hemp russet mites didn't originate from it. Sad. I guess I might as well kill all the vegging plants and just finish up the one that's flowering, and hope to god it doesn't get infested too. And I thought I was almost done with pest problems... I'm pretty sure i have the root aphids beat... sigh... now i'm going to lose all my genetics. :growl:

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I'm still thinking the chance of him having that hemp russett mite is slim. Here is a closer pic of the mite. Could you please double check to see if it has 4 legs in front like the one pictured. Its very important to pin this down if it is the mite. As to where you may have got it. From new plants brought into garden. Were your plants left outside? Did you get new clones? I've been in a lot of gardens and this would be a first that I have seen or heard of it here in michigan.

 

 

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I think it's the hemp russet mite. Everything in the description fits. Sadly, even the scientific literature says that eradication of an infestation is literally impossible. I couldn't have gotten screwed harder on pests this grow. I've grown plants indoors for 8 years now, just not cannabis, and never had a single pest problem until I bought that bag of organic Happy Frog soil, so I have trouble imagining that the spider mites, fungus gnats, root aphids, and hemp russet mites didn't originate from it. Sad. I guess I might as well kill all the vegging plants and just finish up the one that's flowering, and hope to god it doesn't get infested too. And I thought I was almost done with pest problems... I'm pretty sure i have the root aphids beat... sigh... now i'm going to lose all my genetics. :growl:

Im so sorry to hear about your infestation!!! BUT..... I was very intrigued when you mentioned Happy Frog soil. I started out using Oceans Forest and noticed you get a half of a cubic foot more with Happy Frog for the same price. So i switched to Happy Frog. Within a couple weeks I noticed stippling (little yellow spots) on my leaves. I grabbed my trusty scope, flipped a leaf over and took a look. Low and behold....... There they were!!! I was infested!!! I i was able to get the little buggers under control but never able to completely eradicate them. I went to my local garden shop and handed them a handful of the soil. They called me later that day and said my soil was infested with spider mites. I was horrified!!! I figured i had gotten a bum bag of Happy Frog. So, what did I do?? Yep, i went and bought 4 NEW bags of Happy Frog and repotted all my ladies. I used Azamax foliar spray every 7 days but they were still there! I took a handful of the new soil back to my local garden center and sure enough....... MORE SPIDER MITES!!!!! I contacted the grow shop that I purchased my dirt from and told him it was infested with spider mites. He told me " its not possible." My local garden shop suggested i try Pro Mix BX. So I did. No mites in the soil but they were still on my ladies. I sprayed a alcohol solution once a day for 5 days as well as watering the Azamax into my soil. Slowly I noticed my ladies regaining their green luster and each leaf I scoped had dead mites on them. I am glad to say that I am mite free now and I stay as far away from Happy Frog as I can! I dont want to say ALL Happy Frog is infested, but I'm definantly not risking the integrity of my garden over it. I use Azamax once every two weeks up to the first week of bloom by watering it in to the soil and so far, NO MITES!!! I also spray my mothers once a month with Einstein Neem oil and a couple drops of dish soap. I never use ANYTHING other than my nutes past the first week of bloom! A friend of mine, whom is a very experienced grower, suggested that i put a heater in my tent, get the temp up to around 110F and blast them with 2500-3000 PPM of C02 for about 8 hours. This will suffocate the little buggers. Then do it again every 3-4 days for the next two weeks. I wasnt spending hundreds of dollars on a C02 system tho. The Azamax was sufficient. Thanks! Medcnman.

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