Outdoor problem, aphids?

A question from a fellow grower:

I need assistance with a new problem with my plants which are outdoors.
I think this might be caused by Aphids. I am not sure.
Whatever it is can give a safe way to get ride of this problem without poisoning the plants or myself.
I have attached some pics of some affected plants,?Thank you for your time and advice.

Strain type; Indica ; size 6"-9"and Sative- Indica size 18-36’. Grown outdoors in natural sunlight. Day temps 24-38 degree Centigrade humidity 75-90%.
May had numerous heavy showers. The showers usually came between 12:30 and 4:30 pm. The approximately 2 hours of sunshine before sun set is usually not enough to dry the buds. Further we are located approximately 700-800 ft above sea level. Heavy dew is usual year round.
The soil type is dark loam with a layer of clay underneath that tends to become water logged if there is too much rain (>1").
I use chicken litter and liquid foliar app 12:24:12
No ventilators, ac, humidifiers or dehumidifiers’ or CO2 used. Sunrise is army approx5:30 am and sunset is at approx. 6:30 pm.
I hope that gives you a better idea of the conditions that the plants are grown. I’m not sure if you are able to see how it becomes affected. It appears as if the buds become covered by tiny cobweb-looking strands making the area appear frosty.
The area is surrounded by trees




So sad For the girls.

Hi there,

I just wrote out a detailed response to a similar question about aphids. You can find my reply here:

In the response I explain what to look for and how to treat.

Good luck with it!

Going back and rereading your article, I realize that I missed this critical piece of information at the bottom:

I’m not sure if you are able to see how it becomes affected. It appears as if the buds become covered by tiny cobweb-looking strands making the area appear frosty.

This is not aphids. However there is a very good chance that it’s spider mites. Below is a link to an excellent article with detailed photos of what to look for and how to treat.

(site)

I’d get on this immediately. Spider mites are a real pain and can reproduce insanely fast.

This could be a lot of things, my mite damage never looked like that but I don’t know, as I mentioned it could be a combination of several things.

The reason I’m responding is I’ve recently seen something about a wilt from a couple of others on this forum and it sure looks like that
-good luck

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It looks like botrytis, too, grey mold?
…some more to read

it’s definitely not the same problem my plant suffered, sorry to say.
My plant only wilted up. Never looked like this though. This is why I don’t grow outdoors, too hard to control everything.

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I suspect a wilt may look different Outdoors Under The Sun ? Consider days left in sun, lots of other variant’s …there’s also different type Wilt too, so I’m not saying is that, I’m just saying that is my first impression

I’ve seen Wilt in the vegetable world but never before in cannabis, pretty nasty stuff !

…better luck next time trees

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I envy the control that indoor growers can have over everything. Sadly, it’s not in the cards for me right now.

[quote=“Paranorman, post:5, topic:6234, full:true”]
…it could be a combination of several things. [/quote]

Ain’t that the truth. So often in gardening (as in life) one problem leads to 2 more problems…

The tiny cobwebs sure sound like spider mites though.

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Relative humidity is so important for cannabis, especially in the flowering stage, along with temperature and lighting.

As I read, it seemed every sentence accentuated the moisture from 75-90% humidity, late day rains, heavy dew daily, surrounded by trees (do they block the sun or air circulation?), moist soil…and high temps of 74-100F.

“making the area appear frosty.”…
A fungus or mold problem came to mind immediately.

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Preaching to the choir my friend !

I’ve lost whole gardens to them more than once!

I’m very familiar with that curse, but my plants never looked like that ?

… but then, I’m not an outdoor guy so I don’t know ?

-good luck

Here’s a great earlier post on mold, describes it and offers ideas

Bud Rot

Bud Rot Happens when the humidity is high, if you have fat dense buds, or if mold spores are in the air. Bud rot looks like a black brownish sludge that can quickly take over your plant and ruin your harvest. The mold spores are air-borne.

Prevent and Control

Removing any dead or dying material from the plant helps prevent bud rot so does decreasing humidity and increasing ventilation. There are also safe anti fungal sprays from hydro shops that help. If you do find gray mould, cut off the infected part of the plant well above and below the effected area and remove it from the grow room. Decreasing the humidity from 55% to around 40% will make a big difference in preventing bud mold. Also having very big buds can cause bud rot, and would advise watching the areas on your plant that have the biggest, thickest and the more dense buds. Try to have medium size buds rather than having big thick buds. Having a dehumidify around when high humidity days can help as well.

To protect them against bud rot for outside. DO NOT foliar spary at night, doing this the heat will not evaporate the water as well because it is night.
Water the plants in the day instead of so close to being night. Same as foliar spraying.

Make sure your plants are stress free as possible and checking plants often can aid in getting rid of moldy bud before the spores spread onto other areas of the plant! Have a lot of air going around the plants for bad ventilation= sick plants and a breeding ground for spores!

Keep leaves away from soil making sure they do NOT touch the soil.

Keep cooler temps at night while plants are on there down time.

If you have gotten bud rot already the best thing to do is cut off the bad buds discard them away from you’re grow and apply any of the following: Neem oil, Neem2 which is a ready made solution!
Using high ph water for foliar spray prevents them from spreading as well kills the mold. pythium is another good product to use! There are many other chemicals and organics that work, but these are the most popular and they work very very well!

Fungus

Fungus is another problem when you are in flowering, because they are susceptible to a fungus or bud rot. Growing conditions for fungus are best when temps are between 60 and 80 degrees and the humidity is high. The fungus is very destructive and spreads quickly. These kinds of fungus are air borne and can travel to other bud sites. If you already have been infected by them the best thing you can do is cut off and remove the infected area and then discard out of the grow area, then get a hold of some anti-fungal spray and apply.

Fungi can kill your crop quick, so invest in some SAFE fungicide and spray down the plants as much as you can and as soon as you can. The faster the safer… If you have had problems with fungus before, do NOT spray them you will contribute to the fungus becoming resistant to the spray/chemicals you are using. Try to keep the humidity down to the range fungus do not grow to well in. Keep a good amount of ventilation around your grow, and if you have plants outside, always keep them quarantined away you’re your indoor plants until you know they are safe.

Most fungicides are very nasty and eating them can be very dangerous so its best to use something on them that is safe on plants that you can eat., Safer makes a very safe product that can be found in most stores and hydro shops. it contains only sulfur in solution.

Control
To control to prevent fungus from forming there are a few things you should do.

DO NOT foliar feed at night, tends to make humidity higher rather than when you water in the day the water has time to evaporate where at night will linger in the air.

Same goes for watering plants at night, wait till the morning or afternoon to water!

Keep a happy plant and will not become prone to infections. Checking plants often can aid in getting rid of any fungus that may attack other leaves and or bud!

Have a lot of air going around the plants for bad ventilation= sick plants and a breeding ground for spores!

Keep leaves away from soil making sure they do NOT touch the soil.

Keep cooler temps at night while plants are on there down time.

If you have already gotten some kind of fungus there are things you can use: neem2, neem oil works wonders!! Potassium Bicarbonate, Baking soda and for other chemical agents you can use Plant Shield, Serenade and pythium! There are many other chemicals and organics that work but these are the most popular and they work very very well!

I hope this helps

Will

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