Please help.. I've searched and I've read but I don't know whats hurting my babies

for starters heres a link to my grow journal if it helps in any way
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/566304-my-first-try-hydroponics.html

I went out of town last weekend and came back to some white mold and a little leaf discoloration. my ph stayed good and everything else seemed ok.. I sprayed some 3in1 and it took care of mold, it did leave light residue on plants but i'm only 1.5 weeks into flower so i'm not to worried about that for the time being.

My issue is what i suppose i can call leaf deformation?? i'm not sure if its related but one plant started some discoloration at the same time. not sure what the deformation is but its only affecting 2-3 plants for now but I need to figure out what the heck it is.. PLEASE HELP

I'm running AN mirco/grow/bloom at recommended on bottle mixture, also added bud candy last week at 1/3 strength.
pictures are regular camera shot followed by a shot thru my 40x and the last shot is the other discoloration that i'm not sure is related..

that looks like bug damage.

superstoner1 said:

that looks like bug damage.

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I thoroughly sprayed the 3-1 mold/insect/mite on the underside/top of all my leafs about 20 minutes ago before lights out...

i have a 40x magnifier but i didn't see any bugs (i'm still a beginner though so imight of overlooked somehting) tonight at 930 when my lights come back on i'll pull out the one that appears the worst and go over every inch looking for anything...

thanks for response! all input is greatly appreciated

superstoner1 said:

that looks like bug damage.

Click to expand...

Maybe, but the kind of bug who will eat and leave, like a termite. When was the last time your space was treated for termites, OP?

The damage also resembles pH damage. Be mindful if it spreads or reappears, but your grow looks totally healthy otherwise.

What caused the mold and where was it? Make sure you put up some ventilation!

hey, Its an old school bcnl producer grow box, I made custom ducting for my intake thats coming thru a hole in a closet next to my garage (since my box is in a non-climate controlled garage) its exhaust is filtered and vented into garage and garage is filtered and vented outdoors (just incase first filter doesn't remove all odor)

I bombed the garage when i moved in but i'm sure there can be new insects since i started the grow... the house is a 2-3 year old new construction and I have no visible termite damage anywhere else that i can find.

the mold and mildew was pure rookie mistsakes and it was on top of my rockwool. I didn't cover my rockwool and left it wet and exposed to the lighting.... since then I have bought covers and trimmed them to fit (i have the old style drip emiters so i have to cut away part of covers to fit around them) but the 3-1 spray took care of it right away...

for ph levels i'm allways in a pretty good range.. I use 2 different manufacturers test strips and since my tap water is just under 6 its easy to keep under control. (i plan on buying a digital ph tester next month i just had to wait due to the start up expenses)

I'm not sure how well it actually works but i use the advanced nutrients 3 part formulas mixed at equal parts of each (micro/grow/bloom) and they have the PH perfect technology so if the paper isn't 100% i'm hopeful the ph perfect allows me to be SLIGHTLY high or low... but again i'm not sure..

anything you can think of that i should be looking at/for?

I still don't know the culprit but i'd REALLY appreciate some help cause i'm not sure what to do.. do i pull "infected" plants and throw them on quarenteen for a few days? it will mess up their total output but might save the rest?? i'm 100% geared towards quality- i'd rather have a single oz of quality bubonic medicine then 10 oz of regular commercial nugget...

I don't think i mentioned it but i whiped up some white vinegar/water/dish soap to catch any flying insects and after 12 hrs the cup is empty so i can 90% rule out anything airborne..

i didn't study the pictures to much yet but another plant next to it appears to of gotten whatever the problem is also, heres pics of plant- close up of front of leaf- close up of back of leaf

termites dont eat bud... and if you had them you would know for sure.

It looks like bug damage... the first pic looked more like just a disfigurement for some reason but the newer ones look much more bug like...... it could be a grub/catiplier who knows.

Also the discoloration is a MG problem it looks like to me.... advanced is decent quality so idk.... you said your ph is good... what is it at? What ppm do you run?

hey emo, thanks for the input.
I keep my ppm in the +/- 825 range, as for my ph i'm using the test strips which go by color so its hard to say exact ph but both brands of strips the color stays as close as i can to halfway between the 5 and 6 (being a yellow with a slight orange tint to it).. My tap water is just about 6 so i don't need to add much of anything to keep it under control.

I think i'm going to head to the store and grab some hydrogen peroxide tonight. i havn't been using it and more oxygen can rarely hurt...

As far as the grubs/caterpillars go, i've been going over every inch of the "infected" plants with bare eye and also with the 40x loupe and I can't find any pests anywhere... i'm getting pretty frustrated...

Pick up a "duct defender" screen to go over your air intake in case bugs are getting in that way.

You really need to pick up an electronic pH meter. I can tell you've spent good money on your set up, so don't skimp on a tool that is a MUST for hydro. If your pH is too high or low, nutrients are made unavailable to the plant.

I don't think this is a fungal issue, your plants are still very healthy. Just dial in that pH!

thanks plantcity,
I definetly need a digital ph meter but i'm stuck cash wise until the 1st. I'm gonna pick up one of the hanna's that i can leave in all the time..
My intake has a "pump bag" I bought 2 sizes and used the small one on my water pump and large one in my closet on my intake. its like mesh layers with cotton spread between them.

i'll start checking/adjusting the ph 2-3 times a day instead of 1-2 times.. hopefully i can keep problems at bay until i can afford a digital meter...

dont waste money on h2o2 as a preventative. its great if you do have a rot or slime issue but the cost to use it is much more than a good beneficial bacteria. i use pondzyme and a $15 jar last almost 18 months and i have 4 50gal res's.

thanks, i'll need to look into it was looking at similar options like the heisenburg tea.

so last night (since I could buy it on the spot) i grabbed some h202 and added a little to my res and let it cycle until this morning.

this morning I drained my res and flushed ph balanced water thru my rockwool- i was worried excess 3 in 1 was in the rockrool maybe od'ing some of the plants??

so anyhow i cleaned everything and flushed everything and mixed up some fresh and clean water using my AN nutes and decided to run 2ml/gallon of h202 just to help things out until I figure out what beneficials I', going to go with.

hopefully 24 hrs of fresh solution will be what my babies need..

since I have no definitive solution to my unknown problem i just figured a good flush/cleaning couldn't do anything but good...

i'll take some pictures first thing tomarrow morning and post them up.

thanks again for any/all advise

So sometimes its better to be lucky then good, I compared photos from before flush/3-1 treatment and it looks like the problem has plateaued for the last few days. I see no further holes/issues appearing.

all plants in question have pretty nice looking new growth thats a nice shade of green and whatnot.. the next few days will tell though. It might be some kind of calm before the storm but I'm hoping thats not the case.

I really appreciate everyones input on my problems. Hopefully I won't need to post in this thread anymore...