Pest problem on first grow - second opinion appreciated

I inspected my plant this morning and noticed some pest damage has occured overnight on one set of leaves. After a bit of research I think it may be caused by thrip's (or maybe spidermites but I haven't seen any webbing) and I'm now looking into a safe way to treat it as there is only 3-4 weeks remaining till harvest.
I've been over the affected area with a magnifying glass and a pocket microscope but I didn't see any pests.
I'd really appreciate it if any more experienced growers could confirm my suspicions based on this photo.
Only extra info I can think of is that there is no visible damage to the underside of the leaves.

Thats absoolutely nothing...slight discoloration on leaves was worth making a thread about???

grind up some garlic, mix it with water and spray it all around, pests hate garlic. it won't harm your plants at all

Never heard of the garlic trick...do u know if it works for spider mites?

It works to an extent, its really really really hard to get ride of mites 100% there will always be a few hiding in spots where you can't find, there will always be a stubborn few that just won't die

Steph187 said:

Thats absoolutely nothing...slight discoloration on leaves was worth making a thread about???

Click to expand...

ok ass... He did everything right, explained his worries, added pics and asked for help. You do not have to answer in his thread, look and move on instead of giving a smart ass remark.


DreadBaron: I have seen marks like that due to spidermites before. I would just keep a very close eye on it and if you start noticing any bugs then treat.

Instead of starting a new thread I will just use this one...sorry ahead of time to thread jack but it seems you got your info. I am growing in a DWC with CFL's. I have had a MAJOR problem. At first I started them in soil and then I transplanted them to hydro. It was a rubbermaid with airstones essentially. I live near a river so i wanted to use local rocks from the river...first mistake. I knew that there would be all kinds if critters in these rocks so I boiled the living hell outta them to try to sterilize what I could. This being my first hydro grow I didn't fully understand the importance of cleanliness. Needless to say things went badly, there was algae growth, which led to root rot which led to decimation of the levels and a virtual halt on growth....Next the bugs were an issue because of my grow location. While it is nice and cool (which is huge in the middle of summer in VA) it is a place where bugs love to dwell. On top of that there are so many varieties to deal with.....BLAH! Now I have switched the remaining plants, I lost 2 in the process but have many more germing New setup is a raft system with rockwool and perlite. Hopefully this will work....CAN ANYONE offer some advice on babying these plants to the max. Budget is a little bit of an issue but I can spend......I have a cabinet that I am painting and retro-fitting for lighting hopefully this will help over all with the pests. Thanks to anyone who can help with some advice It is greatly appreciated.