Calm down. People who aren't familiar with bugs often don't describe them properly. Maybe they looked like little white worms to him? No one can do anything but make guesses until HE posts some pictures of what he's talking about. Based on the fact that he says they're not mites...they are making "weird spots" on the leaves..."clear/white" in color.....doing damage. I mean, what do YOU propose they might be if not thrips? Thrips is the best guess at this point, in my opinion.
Moth larvae or similar stay on the plant at birh whereas thrips drop to the soil and spend their larvae stage there. You wont see thrips until the increase in numbers, centuries have seen them develop into masters off hiding, disturb one and it will hide straight away, try and squash it and it will jump down to the soil.
Just the fact you can easily see them makes me think its not thrips. Thrips are highly evolved, moth larvae arent such.
Some random old forum members years ago showed me how to bring a thrip out of hiding by gently breathing on a leaf, Co2 makes them inquisitive and thats if they arent hiding in the soil where they generally spend their down time.
Just treating a plant dosent always rid you off thrips, preadator mites and wasps are required to seek out the stubborn ones.
There is a lot to thrips whereas moths and such bugs follow a much simpler pattern with their young. Eventually the thrips take to the air, a futher identification and at the point they start egg laying again.
The favourite place for a thrip to lay its eggs is on a lower leaf directly above moist soil, that way the young drop straight into the soil for two instella phases before growing legs and climbing their food source.
Indoors thrips will pull down a six foot plant if populations permit, outdoors its not so severe, scratching the leaf surface to feed really hurts the leaf and vectors disease.
Thrips suck which is why i know so much about them and any indication leads me to hunt them for a more positive identification. With low numbers i can erradicate and hunt them to extinction with just my two fingers, any more and its time to bring in the big guns.
Far too much experience with these fuckers and one of the few pests that actually need dealing with in the Uk. Our mites and other bugs dont seem too interested in cannabis.
Did i also mention that i know a lot about springtails, harmless but one of the few other common bugs that come with growing weed. Moth larvae i see nearer the end of summer, this year i had a few batches infest my plants but easy to find and kill manually, moths in or near my tent is usually a sign to start checking for batches of eggs...
