Stem chewed

[Stumper]

Hello all,

 

Firstly, thanks for your time!

 

I was growing Big Bang auto from Greenhouse Seeds. I was growing it in a 7gallon fabric pot with a mix of cow and Chicken manure mixed with soil and organic compost. All was going well and I gave her a bit of molasses last night before lights out then in the morning noticed she was droopy and looked like she stretched a bit so I left her be and went about my day, came back and saw she was still droopy.. Looked close and what seemed a bit of stretching of stem was actually stem chewed by some insect. It looked like it had a really small insect on it that I killed of course. I'm not sure what the insect is though, does this look like the work of a cutworm? Also, I've isolated the pot from my grow tent. Do I need to take anymore precautions? Any help is appreciated!

 

Cheers,

S

[itchybromusic]

looks a lill bit more like damping off to me https://www.google.com/search?q=cannabis+damping+off&sxsrf=ALeKk01CCERRWUzjvtuRfjI7_riMvUo7Fg:1597357345591&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC56bpm5nrAhXjwjgGHR_BANIQ_AUoAXoECAwQAw&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=RUJF9o5cjK8DRM

leaves look a little yellow which could be a sign of inconsistent water either too much or too little

damping off leans towards too much water or to much moisture round the stem , can happen with 

water retaining mulch up against the stem or top dresses of casting or compost doing the same

 

the top soil looks dry so what's your watering practices or foliar spraying frequency = what , if anything

would have kept the stem above ground constantly moist to cause stem rot ?

 

try identifying bugs b4 killing them , they could be helping you by consuming the fungus that's causing the rot 

or they could be as you think eating the stem possibly both , like worms when you put kitchen scrapes in the worm

bin , the worms aren't eating the scrapes they're eating the fungus & bacteria on the scrapes , the scrapes get

consumed as a byproduct of eating organisms

 

your there on a daily , you'd know best , i'm just looking at a couple pics 

 

side note , if it is damping off that's a fungal thing , feeding molasses in this case could be feeding a pathogen

[Stumper]

looks a lill bit more like damping off to me https://www.google.com/search?q=cannabis+damping+off&sxsrf=ALeKk01CCERRWUzjvtuRfjI7_riMvUo7Fg:1597357345591&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC56bpm5nrAhXjwjgGHR_BANIQ_AUoAXoECAwQAw&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=RUJF9o5cjK8DRM

leaves look a little yellow which could be a sign of inconsistent water either too much or too little

damping off leans towards too much water or to much moisture round the stem , can happen with

water retaining mulch up against the stem or top dresses of casting or compost doing the same

 

the top soil looks dry so what's your watering practices or foliar spraying frequency = what , if anything

would have kept the stem above ground constantly moist to cause stem rot ?

 

try identifying bugs b4 killing them , they could be helping you by consuming the fungus that's causing the rot

or they could be as you think eating the stem possibly both , like worms when you put kitchen scrapes in the worm

bin , the worms aren't eating the scrapes they're eating the fungus & bacteria on the scrapes , the scrapes get

consumed as a byproduct of eating organisms

 

your there on a daily , you'd know best , i'm just looking at a couple pics

 

side note , if it is damping off that's a fungal thing , feeding molasses in this case could be feeding a pathogen

Thanks mate! This seedling has had a tough life, I overpotted her initially and she took a bit of beating due to that. The soil is damp as I had given her a bit of water before finding out what had happened. The stem was of purplish colour initially but since the day she started drooping I started seeing green coloured stem, which I later found was due to the insect nibbling on the stem. The insect was really small, I tried seeing it through my phone's camera as well as magnifying glass but it was so small that I could not figure out(possibly my old eyes).

Watering schedule was about 250ml pH balanced water (6.2) every 3 days or so only when top 1 inch of the soil is bone dry. She was under a spiderfarmer 1000W - 19/5.

[itchybromusic]

in general it should be a green stem not purple

 

the drooping can be a sign of both over watering = watering to regularly

or under watering = not watering regular enough 

 

over or under watering is about when you water not how much in volume you water

roots need air as much as they need water 

 

drooping started the same time as what i'm calling stem rot or damping off makes sense 

to being watered to frequently 

 

as i said you'd know better being there but i'm not sure an insect caused the stem damage 

i think a fungus caused that stem damage , plus if the insect was so small it would be hard 

to see if it's consuming the stem or just a soil mite ( beneficial soil dweller ) moving round 

your pot consuming decaying organic matter in the soil 

[Stumper]

in general it should be a green stem not purple

 

the drooping can be a sign of both over watering = watering to regularly

or under watering = not watering regular enough

 

over or under watering is about when you water not how much in volume you water

roots need air as much as they need water

 

drooping started the same time as what i'm calling stem rot or damping off makes sense

to being watered to frequently

 

as i said you'd know better being there but i'm not sure an insect caused the stem damage

i think a fungus caused that stem damage , plus if the insect was so small it would be hard

to see if it's consuming the stem or just a soil mite ( beneficial soil dweller ) moving round

your pot consuming decaying organic matter in the soil

Thanks mate, I do appreciate your input.

The stem was purple because of its genetics I think. She was supposed to go purple in flowering, with purple buds. I am also pretty sure it wasn't under or overwatered as the total water I had given in the last 5 days was about 250ml and I had checked the soil and weight of the pot before and after watering too. I'm also positive there was an insect as after killing the insect stem damage has stopped and it hasn't gotten any worse. I had never seen any insect nibbling on the stem, even in other plants. That's why it took me by surprise.

This is only my second grow, first one wasn't a massive success due to my mistakes.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Stumper

[itchybromusic]

no worries mate 

we all gotta start somewhere's 

 

we learn the most from our own mistakes so don't sweat it

 

keep moving forward improving taking those lessons learnt with you