Need Plant Advice/Help Please!

So my buddy is growing his first plant using a T8 (6.7k) light and another desk lamp (also 6.7K). The setup is indoors, in his closet, and has been growing for about 2 months or a little less. It's not doing too well and has yellow spots on the top leaves and yellowing/browning of the newly growing leaves. There is some twisted/deformed growth on the newer leaves. There are also tiny white/yellow bugs that seem to crawl out when it is watered and gnats flying around. He tried using ECOSMART organic pesticide. (Tried finding neem oil but couldn't). He sprayed the plant two times (leaves only not the soil) and not sure if it has worked. The bugs seem to be eating the plant, as you can see from the pictures. Also, the central node/joint where the leaves grow apart (base of the leaf) are pretty red. There is a fan in the room that is turned on sometimes.


-Miracle grow is being used as the growing medium (with timed release) in I think a 5 (or larger) gallon pot.
-It's watered about every week with a gallon of distilled water bought from the store. Its watered when the top of the soil becomes dry and crusty.
-It's in the vegging stage and is a little under 2 ft tall.
-There has been NO nutrient solution added yet.

Anyone have an idea of what can be wrong? Is it malnutrition, the bugs, or both?

Here are some pics:








Please help!

have u ever seen this before? if so please tell me how to fix it

dopejoker32x said:

View attachment 1708456have u ever seen this before? if so please tell me how to fix itView attachment 1708455

Click to expand...

Please don't Hijack my thread

Hmmmmmmm. I am thinking maybe he is watering it to much. A 5 gallon or large pot is pretty big for a 2 foot plant. I bet the bottom half of the soil is not drying out enough before he waters. Or it might be that his PH is way out of wack.

Has he been misting the plant with a spray bottle?

Myself, after hundreds and hundreds of plants, I have never seen one do that. You really need to give every little bit of information on the enviroment and all, so maybe someone can pin point the trouble.

He has not been misting it but when he waters it, he pours it over the leaves and such. The temperature hovers around 80 deg F, never goes above 85 deg F. I'm not sure about the humidity or pH level. I also don't remember if the spots where there BEFORE or AFTER the ECOSMART pesticide was sprayed.
Two branches were broken off from the light falling but other than that, I can't think of anything else to mention...

Okay so Fruit Tree spray, pH meter, sand, and mosquito dunks were bought. Some calculations were done and ended up mixing about 0.5 of a tablespoon into 32oz of distilled water in a spray bottle. It was applied generously to the top and bottom portion of the leaves when the lights were off (will turn on about 4-5 hours after application so the leaves can dry).

About 1/4 to 1/3 of a mosquito dunk ring was crushed up and applied to the top of the soil (like putting cheese on a pizza).

THEN

About 1/2 an inch to an inch of sand was poured (slightly padded down) above the soil. Water wasn't applied yet since the soil is still moist. The pH meter was used at multiple different locations and the average reading was about 6.5 so its good I'm assuming.


I'll update with how it goes.

Fruit trees???? Mosquito dunk rings?? what is all that stuff for?

Just following advice from someone who replied to the same post I left at marijuanagrowing.eu

Ok first of all with time released soil you do not want to water every week. Every time you water you are feeding. Only water when the first 2 inches are dry. And water with ph adjusted water. Second go to lowes and buy some fruit tree spray from green light. It active ingredents are neem and pyrethrins which is what you want. Also get some mosquito dunks. Spray once a week with the lights off for a couple hours so that the leaves dry and you dont burn anymore leaves. Spray the underside of leaves too. The mosquito dunks should be broken up and spread across the top of soil. when watered it will kill the fungus gnat larva. Inch and a half to two inches of play sand will also get rid of the larva. And Get a ph meter... 7 dollars at lowes. All together looking at maybe 20 to 30 dollars. GL.....



and the original thread <http://www.marijuanagrowing.eu/post493887.html#p493887>

These pictures were taken last night and the plant seems to have improved. I'm not sure what the holes are from but I assume its from the gnats.

There are only about 1 or 2 gnats now and the spray/sand/dunks seemed to have worked very well.