I'm no expert but from what I've gathered from people on here, it's actually a good idea to spray the soil, bugs and eggs with fall into it
Thanks, since my last picture taking, I've been getting black spots on the leaves, and it's spreading. I had been plucking some of the more intensely spotted leaves but was worried the plant needed all the leaves for photosynthesis during flower. I was going to wait for my predator mites before attempting to spray because I wanted to see an unalduterated test of the predators, but after rereading what colo mmj was saying about shoot first ask later mentality and the spreading spots I decided to "shoot."
I mixed 8 drops peppermint essential oil, 2-3 drops Dawn (until there was a slight foam layer on top when the spray bottle was shaken but not enough Dawn to overtake the entire volume of the container w foam) and about 15% ISO(91%) by volume in a standard handheld spray bottle. I doused the plants and mixed the same recipe 3x (talk about soar forearm lol).Sprayed all while the lights were on and the fan was off. The alcohol I think helped to evaporate the miticide more quickly and makes me think that's why I didn't get any sun spots from the sitting moisture refracting the light.
After spraying thoroughly, I plucked any remaining leaves with any black spots on them as I read that black spots that seem to be "raised" is from bugs biting and the plant reacting. When I turned the leaves over containing the black spots, the area underneath was raised as described in what I read. So I fervently plucked them all.
*Also I was plucking black spot leaves in between my 3 sprayings and could see within 45min or so the black spots would spread to other leaves.
The next day..
I went to check on her and sure enough those black spots had spread to other leaves, although it looked like I had an impact because the newly infected leaves seemed much less and almost few and far between, but still present.
I went to look up more info on what I was dealing with because the black spots seemed to be a consistent symtom in addition to what I had already been experiencing when I hypothesised broad mites.
I came across a parasite affecting the roots called pythium. When looking at the symtom related to pythium I started to suspect root and fungal issues. This was supported I thought by the excess water I felt was still in my medium though it had been days since I flushed. So I was on a warpath looking up sulfur based fungacides ect.
Then I realized I hadn't got the mail...
So of course I wasnt expecting the predators to arrive for a few days longer (why I tried to spray, thought it would be gone by the time the predators showed up) but there they were in the mail box.
I mixed up a lil soap and water and tried to rinse off the plant as best I could.
I let it sit for a min and opened the predators package. I ordered 1000x A. Cucumeris and it came in a slow release sachet that you hang on a branch. Per the company that sold me, 1000x cucumeris was more than enough for a 2x2 canopy so I decided to cut open the sachet slightly and sprinkle some of the mite habitat medium (looks like sawdust) onto all the buds too get em going. Then I hung the sachet containing the rest of the mite habitat from a branch.
Since I first sprinkled the cucumeris on the wet buds (from dawn/water rinse) I have seen 5 new leaves grow spots and after I plucked them yesterday, have not seen any since today. 2 days ago when I was spraying you could tell that within a lil time more leaves were becoming infected with black spots, but the spray was keeping them at Bay. Then I added the cucumeris, and literally almost instantly have seen improvement. I was anticipating a small spread of black spots like I had before in between my sprayings, but literally after I sprinkled the predators there was almost no spreading (minimal within the first half hour, and after they were plucked nothing) that happened for the remainder of that day, and when I woke up to check on them a day later there is still no black spots.
So...
I think I got a lot of adult mites with my peppermint spray, and which ultimately took them down a good notch, but then I added what was supposed to be slow release predators (1000 over 5wks) in a quicker fashion and I think the cucumeris is finishing them off quite nicely now.
*Also was wondering if the ISO, and peppermint oil that had dripped down into the soil was actually killing all the parasites I thought I may have had before I got the mail and added the cucumeris.
Anyways, I had dying hairs, stunted growth, disease looking symptoms, black spots, raised up when the leaf was turned over (kinda like black brail), and after spraying with peppermint oil/ISO/Dawn the night before adding predators (cucumeris) I'm reporting no black spot spread anymore, and when I touch the buds they are starting to actually smell like weed (like the other one i planted the same time) instead of grass.
