I’ll start from the top. These were started from seed in fertilome soil. I use Fox Farm trio , but have only fed them twice as the soil was a tad “hot” for seedlings , and when I fed them it was at 1/2 strength as it was their first feedings. Fast forward a week later, we had a hail storm so whatever damage you might see on the lower part of the plant is caused from that. Now, when the hail hit , it also topped my plant. Lol. Now those 2 toos were growing great , except now , one top is getting eaten up. Or something , and only on the one branch. I thought it was a nute deficiency, so I milled in some worm castings since I knew they wont burn the plant . But that top only got worse. I cant find any bug on it , but I’m positive now it’s not a nute problem as the other top would experience the same I would assume. It’s just the one top on the one branch , but a new top trying to form out of this “contaminated” (for lack of a better word) top just lower is coming in looking bleached as well. Has anyone ever seen this? Lol.
Welcome to the forum!
Have you checked the plant at dusk or after dark?
When you look, are you checking the underside of the leaves all over the plant, not just damaged areas?
Yes, I am. You can even see a leaf in the picture , a green one with trails on it , from a previous bug I found , but since then the top has gotten worse. Cant find the culprit. Over , under, upside down, I even look with my tongue flopped to one side of my mouth. No luck!
This plant is a mere 10weeks old, it started growing very very fast , starting stinking up a storm so I kept it around. Now the growing as kinda slowed because of whatever hurting the plant. I may end up just topping it down to its healthier parts , and get some insecticide powders or something. But as I’m growing medicine, hahahahahaha, I cant exactly do that.
Spray with Capt Jacks Deadbug, should kill whatever it is.
I’m not sure if you answered my question about checking at night. Regardless, I think it’s probably a few types of pests. I suspect leaf miners and caterpillars.
Foliar NEEM and BT are organic chemical remedies. You can remove all the damage and cover the plants with a moth cloth. As far as if NEEM and BT are safe for a plant you’re going to ingest, that’s something you’ll need to determine on your own.
Yes , it’s dark now and just got done looking. The only place I cant look is inside the tightly packed “new” growth unless I just top it and dismantle the tiny top for a further visual inspection. In any case , no ones said it looks like a nute problem , so I think I’m right to assume it’s a bug. I’ve just never ran across this problem. Whatever it is it’s not exactly eating the plant material , it mainly looks like its sucking the nutrients right out of the top its self.
Thanks for the info on the neem/moth cover , and thanks to the other guy recommending capt. Jack’s. I’ve looked that up says its organic. I’ll give that a whirl. Thanks guys. I’ll report back in a week or so with an update.
@Hellraiser leaf miners would be more close together wouldn’t they? That was my first thought, as those light green “tracks” jumped out at me.
@Meatskeet Get the stuff @Hellraiser said, he wouldn’t lead you wrong.