Need help diagnosing, weird new growth

[Aknott87]

Need help figuring what is going on with these plants in veg.
I've been growing in the same space for years with no problems like this. I'm growing in rockwool with flood and drain tables under T5s, for veg.
I was thinking it was possibly from over feeding but I've dropped the nutes down from full to half to a quarter of normal.
Temps are between 75 and 80, humidity is usually 45-55%. This strain is "black" and I've had it for 5 years with nothing like this happening. I did get some clones from a dispensary about a month before I started to see this start happening.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Aroxol]

Just out of curiosity do the undersides of leaves have like crystal looking things? This kind of looks like edema to me (which is no big deal) and just from too heavy of a watering.

If it’s not that, kind of looks like perhaps the environment is too hot and/or TMV (unlikely). If you did a heavy water, that would be my guess.

I don’t think this is a big deal TBH. Stay the course and balance watering for a bit.

 

[Aknott87]

What is edema? I couldn't find anything online. It could be a little warm but I have 3 other strains that aren't being affected. Every plant is in a 4x4x4 inch rockwool cube all sitting on a 3x6 ft tray that waters about a half inch deep for 15 minutes. Maybe I'll try take the sick ones out and hand water and try drop the temp a bit.

Thank you

 

[Aroxol]

You won’t find much/ anything on google for edema and cannabis, you will find it if you search “edema plants” - Here’s an example from my personal garden of what happened when I intentionally overwatered because I was heading out of town. The classic edema symptoms were only clear on my pepper plants, but the marijuana plants just had jacked up growth (like your image) for a while. Here’s what mine looked like, and it bounced back no problem after a few new leaf sets once water and nutes we’re back on track. I’d keep your plants as I think they just need a little new growth to get back on track.

 

[Aknott87]

Hmm I think I've actually seen your pictures before when trying to diagnose my problems lol. Well I think I need to change something for them because they are basically not growing currently.

 

[Aroxol]

Yeah maybe pull them aside and try a little less water and let them dry out a bit to see if that impacts anything. Sorry for the bad blurple picture (I was testing a few new
LEDs), but these are the very same two messed up plants in the pic above. Def don’t give up on them!

 

[Aroxol]

How are your plants doing? Did less water make an impact?

 

[Aknott87]

It seems to be doing the trick. They are slowly coming around. They should be even better once they get some nicer new growth going. I also bought them new bulbs for the T5 they are under, which is helping also. I really appreciate the advice, you would think after 5 years of doing this a guy would know it all. Lol

 

[Aroxol]

Awesome man, glad to hear they’re looking better and hopefully that’s the ticket and they perk right up! Haha if we knew everything it’d get way too boring way too fast.

 

[Aknott87]

Well I have some bad news, this problem seems to be spreading to my other ladies. First pic is my gorilla glue. Second picture is of my blue dream. I'm thinking it could be a root rot problem from overwatering. They share a resivour. The only other thing I've heard is a possible chlorine overdose..I'll add some root pictures at the end. Let me know what you think.

 

[Aroxol]

Can you explain the D2W setup you have going on right now in a private convo? Heading to bed now, but want to solve this for you and have a few ideas once I understand the setup. Don’t fret.

 

[Aknott87]

It's not a d2w setup. I run a 50 gallon open resivour under a flood table. I use a pump on a timer to flood the tray from underneath and it gravity drains back into the resivour. Generally I run a 18/6 hour day/night schedule and water 4 times per light period. The water only fills the tray about 1". I Change the water every 7 days and run a pH about 5.8-6. I use a good 3 part nute system with a calimag as well. I've ran this system for about 5 years with great results.

 

[Aroxol]

TBH, I don’t know with any confidence what the issue is being caused by given your last comment. It really looked water related to me, but if you’ve run this exact same setup issue free for 5 years...that feels unlikely.

Those original plants you posted (very first post), - when you moved those out and/ or watered less, did you say that helped? I’ve had plants that look almost identical to yours and the issue in my case was too much water (drowning) and excess humidity; HOWEVER, the fact that this happened after you brought home clones from elsewhere, I’m wondering if it could be something like TMV.

 

[Aknott87]

Yea it might be a combination of things. High heat and humidity, with to much water. But also my friend has the same strain/genetics and his is starting to do something the same thing. But it could also be from to much watering. It's definitely frustrating, I've had this happen to a handful of plants in the last 6 months. I'm gonna try a few different things.

 

[Aroxol]

Just out of curiosity, I’m sure you’ve already researched tobacco mosaic virus, but do any of the plants show any clear cut signs of that (from you or your buddy)?

 

[Aknott87]

I have researched that in the past and don't really think it's that. I took some pictures of leaves and stems today. Shows a couple things. I'm gonna try look through the deficiency/excess charts now.

 

[Aknott87]

I figured it out guys, it's fricken russet mites!!

 

[Aroxol]

Oh no, man! Had no clue mites caused that, but sure enough just googled after you said it... was half of what we thought, just the wrong half! I’ve heard mites are a pretty big uphill battle, but throw some garlic plants in your grow room ASAP as they don’t like them/ can prevent more. I’m sorry you gotta deal with this, but rest assured you can definitely get rid of them and come out on top! Good news is you know what it is, that’s 80% of the battle.

 

[Aknott87]

OMG I know, I'm fine with fighting something but not know what you're fighting is impossible. I feel stupid for not putting my scope on the leaves yet. I just thought it was like a sugar but it's actually the larva stage of the mites. I threw away a whole room because this stuff like 6 months ago. I'm pissed I have them but so happy I finally figured out what the problem is.

 

[Aroxol]

Lemme see if I can pull some info from a guy I know who had them. He finally got rid of them, and I know garlic was a part, but I’ll try and find all the stuff he did in case there are tidbits that might be useful for you.