Holes in leaves with no discoloration. +rep for help

DannyGreenEyes

Well-Known Member
I'm growing 7 plants in FFOF, mixed bone & blood meal in with FFOF when I mixed pots thanks to some bad advice.

The small & fairly rare nute burns stopped a week ago so when I watered 2 days ago I put 1/3 teaspoon of Tiger Bloom in each gallon of water and gave each 5 galon pot 4 cups.

All looked great the next day except the Durban Poisons that just looked normal. And my 1 runt looked like she grew an inch in 24 hours. She's now catching up to the rest.

Today I was looking and I saw small holes in some of the leaves and I've been trying to figure it out because there's no discoloration. I have 4 ideas.

1 - After I added nutes I pH'd the water even though the directions said not to. When I tested after adding nutes it had dropped the pH of the water to about a 4.3, I got it back up to 6.3. I thought maybe this somehow was a mess up.

2 - I have a fan blowing on hi speed because I was told it would make the branches stronger. I thought maybe this could be wind damage.

3 - Maybe I have some kind of lone beatle of some kind chewing on a leaf hear and a leaf there while traveling from plant to plant.

4 - I started them on UVB 4 days ago. I put the bulbs a little too close for a little too long and some of the newer leaves curled. I took most of the curled leaves when I took clones. I haven't turned the UVB back on yet, but I thought this might be some kind of delayed damage from the UVB 4 days ago.

Can it be a result of any of those 4 things?

Let me know if you need pics. I figured since there was no discoloration you wouldn't need to see.

P.S. I did see one new leaf getting yellow on the bottom of one plant, no damage on that leaf so I think it's unrelated.

P.S.S. After the UVB incident I did notice that the leaves had gotten pretty dry feeling and rough, like fine sandpaper almost. I've been looking for a way to moisturize the leaves, but 40% is the highest I can get the humidity, and I have the lights on 24/0 so I can't mist.
 

DannyGreenEyes

Well-Known Member
Ok, here we go. I have a lousy cam, so I hope the pics are good enough to see what's going on.

The first 3 pics are of 2 leaves that are almost cut in half except for the vein that runs up the center.

Next 3 pics are of 3 leaves with holes

Next 4 pics are of brown spots that I didn't see till I moved them into different light.

Next 2 are nute problems I think, first one is yellow but the secong is yellow but the tips (about half the lenght of the leaf) are dry & brown. These are the only 2 leaves showing nute problems (except possibly for brown spots that turn into holes) and they're on the same plant. I'll pinch them tommorow.

I'm pretty sure some of this is due to the UVB, but do you also think the brown spots are nutes? And if so, which nute, N? or P maybe? Or a minor nute deficiency?

The two that are almost cut in half I think might be wind damage to a leaf that's not as moist as it should be. I didn't take a pic because you wouldn't be able to see it in a pic, but there was another leaf that had a crack starting under the skin of the leaf.

What do you guys think?
 

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DannyGreenEyes

Well-Known Member
Can anyone please help with this. I haven't noticed anything moving around in the soil so I don't think it's gnats. Any help would be appreciated.

Especially if you've had experience with UVB damage.
 

figtree

Active Member
dont know about the uvb, but you def have a ph issue, see those malformed leaves? ph fluctuations, will cause your deficiencies, and lock out your nutes. so fix that first. always, always, always check your ph before giving your plants any water or nutes, even if the directions say not to. i ph every drop that i give my plants. i bet if you get control of your ph the deficiency will disapear, i bet most of your problems will disapear. those damaged leaves wont go back to normal but the new ones will.
 

DannyGreenEyes

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info. +rep

I've been pHing the whole time, but for the first 3 weeks I was testing the water with a pH probe tester that I found out is made for the dirt only. The last week or week and a half I've been using an aquarium tester and have kept it between 6.3 to 6.5, that's why I thought I might have messed up pHing water after adding nutes. Thought maybe there was something I didn't know.

I've been using vinegar & baking soda to adjust Distilled water that usually comes to me at a 6.0 or lower and I adjust it. Could it be the distilled white vinegar or baking soda, most people say that's ok to use.

I haven't been pHing the water in the humidifier, someone told me that I didn't have to. Could that be it maybe?
 

figtree

Active Member
baking soda and vinegar work in a bind, i would not rely on it as a permanent ph adjuster. get yourself some ph up and ph down from general hydroponics. $15.00 a bottle and will last a long time, i use about 9 drops of ph up per gallon of solution. you will be thankful you did.
 

DannyGreenEyes

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info, but cash it tight right now. I'll get some as soon as I can.

The damage that wasn't done by the pH (holes in leaves) was done by a White Mite called the Broad Mite. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/broad_mite.htm Nasty little SOBs.

I also had Spider Mites & Fungus Gnats. So I bought Mite X, a Neem Oil concentrate, and a Neem Oil & Fungicide ready to use combo. I sprayed everything heavily with the Mite X then cleaned everything in the room and released 3,000 lady bugs.

The White Mites came back though. The lady bugs took care of the rest of the Spider Mites & Fungus Gnats, but they wont completely kill off their food supply so I still had/have a White Mite problem. I sprayed again last Friday and I'll be releasing another 3,000 lady bugs the first chance I get (they've been dieing pretty quickly). And I plan on treating again this Fri & the next just to be on the safe side. The lady bugs have kept them on the verge of extinction for me.

Hope the info on the Broad Mites helps others. They were hard to identify because no one seemed to know what they were.
 
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