Beginner's Questions

[realPragmatic]

I'm getting into growing my own plants for the first time. I got started late, potted some clones late june, early july. Besides being small, I've gotten them to behave and grow the way I've wanted them to through trial and error.

I've started with 4 plants, 3 different strains. I've put them into 18" plastic culvert with Promix filling the culvert and the bottoms are open.(No screening or anything, just set into the natural dirt a few inches) The natural dirt where 3 are(I'm trying two locations with the duplicate strain to see which is the better spot) is sandy and rocky. Grass and weeds grew there fine before I dozed the top layer of dirt off to get rid of foreign root systems.

I've got two questions that I'm looking for clarification on. 1) With my setup would it even be possible for me to over water my plants? I've been giving them 1-2 gallons of water depending on how dry it's been each day. Should I give them more to make sure they're getting all they need?

My second question refers to the attached pic. If you look, you'll see white spotting all over the leaves. This is on all 4 plants on almost every leaf. It doesn't seem to vary with any changes to water, food, nutes. I can't seem to find the same "problem"(if it even is a problem) through searching here or google. Does anyone know what it is? Should I be worried?

Thank you ahead of time for any help!

 

[Calvados]

My guess. Insects of some sort.

 

[redmud]

The pest could be mites or thrips find a damaged leaf and get some magnification on the underside see if there are tiny spiders or winged insects on them.
If they do have bugs, I have been spraying mine down with the garden hose every night for a week then I sprayed Azamax left them for three days now and sprayed them down with the hose let them dry and am spraying Azamax again tonight.
They should be starting to want to flower soon so root development will slow to a crawl giving them a dry cycle isn't a good thing in flower it can slow them down so I like to keep them mostly moist meaning I let them get almost dry so I don't rot the existing roots. It might be hard to judge since they are on the ground but I just turn the top soil a bit and if it is dry down to the where the roots bunch I water.

 

[realPragmatic]

Thank you both. I've gathered that I do have spider mites through a different forum and further examination. My question is, since I definitely want to take care of this ASAP, my local store only had one kind of insecticide that mentioned spider mites specifically. It says it's for use on veggies and fruits along with all other kinds of plants so I'm assuming it'd be safe for mine especially where they aren't flowering yet. But I'd rather have input from someone instead of potentially poisoning the bud/myself.

This is the stuff I'd found locally.

I am headed into Bangor tomorrow so I may have time to find other stuff, may not tho. Is anyone familiar with the insecticide I've found at my local store? And if I do have time, what should I look for in Bangor? Something with ease of application and safety in mind. If I have to apply it ten days in a row I don't care as long as I don't have to sit there and handwipe every single leaf.

Thank you again!

 

[redmud]

I just did a Google search and permathrin is a derivative of pyrethrin which is an extract of Chrysanthemum flower so you should be good it's actually in head lice treatment products and is safe to use on yourself for scabies and head live lol I was curious one day and got out everything I could find in the house that would kill a mite so if you want to know for sure grab a leaf with mites spray that on it in the right amounts and watch those bugs to see if they die or shake them onto a piece of paper circle the bugs with a pen and spray them if they don't move out of the circle it works.

 

[Calvados]

Kunta's Spider Mite Advice

There are a number of links on this site dealing specifically with mites.

 

[redmud]

But if want to rid your grow of mites you gotta vary the attack I personally like to rotate 3 different types of insecticide/miticides. It's why I suggested spraying with water then Azamax I mechanically remove and drowned the mites first then I sprayed the Azamax and next insecticide is going to be spinossd then pyrethrin. So I'm guessing the half life to be short on permathrin and if your worried about damage do a test branch, but with a short half life you gotta get complete saturation otherwise hours later that deadly spot is no longer deadly and they venture on inter breed with the ones that were directly sprayed and survived and build immunities to permathrin. So figure your Not going to eradicate them with the first spray of any sort and do yourself a favor and don't make supermites. Other things i use lavender essential oil and castil soap, lemongrass essential oil and castil soap, pyrethrin sulfur spray, nuke em, and like I said mechanical I will cut and remove badly infested leaves