Six Ways To Prevent Disease In Cannabis Plants – Medicinal …
Use a thermometer and hygrometer to measure the temperature and humidity in your grow room. Use fans to move air around your plants. Use a ventilation system to circulate air in and out of your grow room. Use low-heat LED grow lights. If you’re an outdoor grower dealing with extreme heat or cold, pay attention to the weather report and bring your plants inside when temperatures are expected to reach peak highs/lows.
CANNABIS MOULDS: BUD ROT AND POWDERY MILDEW Mould is a big problem for cannabis growers. Not only does it suck the life from your plants, but some moulds also directly target the buds, destroying them before you even get a chance to harvest. The two most common moulds affecting cannabis are white powdery mildew (WPM) and Botrytis (bud rot).
Eventually, the mould spreads to the rest of the plant, interrupting photosynthesis and slowly turning leaves yellow before killing them off completely. In advanced stages, WPM may leave small black spores on your plants that can become airborne and spread. There is no way to completely cure an infected plant; instead, you’ll have to fight the mould and try to minimize its spread while letting the healthy sections of your plant grow.
Some of the first signs of a Botrytis infection are dry, withering, and discoloured leaves on single buds or entire colas. Take a close look at the affected buds and you’ll find grey or blueish mould growing on them. As it matures, Botrytis will also produce small black spores that can spread to other plants via direct contact or through the air.
The first thing you’ll have to do is assess the specific infection your plant is dealing with. From there, you can decide whether it is worth trying to save or not. Bud rot and powdery mildew Bud rot and powdery mildew IDENTIFYING COMMON CANNABIS FUNGI A fungal infection can be detrimental to the size and quality of your harvest.
Spotting And Treating Sick Marijuana Plants – Weedseedshop
Able to lay dormant in the soil for years and strike without any telltale symptoms, Fusarium is notoriously hard to detect. When it does strike, it goes straight for the roots, causing them to rot while also interrupting the flow of nutrients and water through the plant. Affected plants will droop, wilt, and—sometimes within a matter of days—die.
Alternaria loves warm, humid conditions. It also targets plants growing in poor soil, those that have had other fungal issues in the past, or those suffering from poor nutrient management. While it can strike at any stage of a plant’s life cycle, Alternaria tends to affect blooming plants the most.
Sometimes, you might also detect small black spores of the fungus covering your leaves (known as conidia). Unfortunately, there is no way to treat Alternaria. It is a seed-borne fungus that spreads quickly from one plant to another, leaving the fruits infected and inedible. VERTICILLIUM Verticillium is another devastating plant fungus.
TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS First identified in tobacco plantations, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) causes malformed, curved leaves with distinct yellow, mosaic-like spots. Some plants may also develop weak, discoloured stems (usually red or purple), while others may carry the virus without developing any symptoms at all. While it is rare, the tobacco mosaic virus has no cure.
Spider mites are particularly resistant to a lot of commercial pesticides. To treat a spider mite infestation, we recommend pruning the affected leaves, hosing down your plants with a mix of neem oil and water, and using ladybugs to kill off mites and prevent a future infestation. APHIDS Aphids are one of the most destructive pests affecting cultivated plants, including cannabis.
Cannabis Crop Diseases: How To Spot, Treat, And Prevent Them
Young leaf miners usually hide out in soil during winter and emerge in spring. Once they’re mature, they’ll work their way up to the leaves to lay eggs. This new batch of offspring will then hatch and feed off the leaves until they drop to the ground to repeat the process.
Like with spider mites and aphids, you’ll want to remove any affected leaves, hose your plants with a water and neem oil mix, and use predatory insects to deal with leaf miners. CATERPILLARS There are over 20,000 species of caterpillars out there, and they all have something in common: They can completely destroy your cannabis.
OTHER COMMON CANNABIS PROBLEMS A variety of other issues can arise in the grow room, from revegetation to pollination. Here’s what you need to know to prevent these cannabis-specific issues. HERMAPHRODITES AND BANANAS Cannabis is dioecious, meaning it produces plants with distinct male and female reproductive organs. Hermaphrodites, however, can produce both sexual organs on the same plant.
Your best bet is to cull any males, analyze how pollinated your other females are, and decide whether to keep them alive or cull them and start a new grow from scratch.
Indoor growers have far greater control over the environment. But even if you grow outdoors, two basic principles can and should be applied to every grow-op. First, the grow space should be clean and tidy. Second, it must be quarantined as much as possible. Good housekeeping goes a long way with weed.
Cannabis Crop Diseases: How To Spot, Treat, And Prevent Them
Spread of bud rot The causes of bud rot include dead leaves falling with the arrival of autumn, spiders webs, the larvae and cocoons of insects… they all rot in your plant. The most usual cause and a very common fungal disease in cannabis are Pythium. This mould leads to root rot and rotting of the lowest section of the stems.
Bigger, healthier plants are much less susceptible to Pythium. In serious infestations of Pythium, the plant gets ‘toppling disease’. We don’t have to spell out what that means. Pythium can be recognized by the way the bark turns brown at the base of the stem. In the beginning, the brown scale can easily be removed, later the rotting process goes even deeper into the base of the plant.
