Plants not doing so good... possibly insects

My plants are all growing kind of slowly, but now they're starting to look like they have problems. They're two weeks old now, and they're under T12 daylight fluorescent lights.

I haven't fertilized them at all. They're mandala hashberry and satori plants, and fertilizer wasn't recommended. They're growing in straight topsoil, that I bought from my local nursery. This soil is very loose, and could probably use some peat so it holds water better, but it's too late for that. Still, I don't think that's a huge problem. I haven't been watering much, but when i stick my finger in the dirt, it feels moist under the surface. The surface is dry, and my plants haven't been showing signs of wilting, so i think they're getting enough water from the soil.

The main suspect is these grub-looking insects I keep seeing. They move kind of fast, and they're maybe about a quarter inch long. One will occasionally pop out of the soil, then pop back in. They always seem to be near my plants, which is what worries me. I attached a few pictures of one that I caught.

First, does this look like the problem? Second, what do I do about them? These are young plants so I'm not too concerned about blasting them with insecticide. But if the problem is something else, I don't want to potentially make things worse.

Thanks!

I grow satori, easy plant to grow very resisitent to mites and you'll love the buzz if you havent tried this yet

your plants have the appearance of too much water, slightly swollen
cut back on the watering amounts and frequency

put a fan on the plants to help them dry out,

satori..... you can start feeding 2-3rd week, start @ 50% strength
this plant does waaaay better, if topped several times, it will double your yield, if not it does put out 1 huge mother of a cola, but half the final weight

as to your unwanted visitors I found that Neem Oil handles most any insect , mould or mildew problems
mix 3 tablespoons of neem oil to a litre of water and water plants with solution, repeat next watering to get any new hatchlings

I think you might have ph issues or heat probs.

Here's a great link to check out and see if you can pinpoint the issue. Just doesn't look like an insect thing to me.

International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums - The Complete guide to Sick Plants,pH, and Pest troubles!

Good luck. :)

The only neem oil i could find was in a spray bottle, in like a 1% solution. I didn't buy it. I have some pyrethrum spray already, but I'm not sure if it'd damage the roots.

If it is an insect problem, it's caused by them eating the roots, not the leaves. But it could also be a pH problem. I got some lime today that's supposed to be really safe for plants, and I mixed it up with water and put a little of it on a couple of them. Then i put some plain water on them so it didn't end up too concentrated.

Did you check the ph of your soil or water before you added the lime and put it in there? Or maybe after....?

I have no means to check my pH... well, I have one of those electronic tester things, but it turns out it's a piece of crap. It can measure light, dampness, pH, and EC, but only the light and dampness meters work.

I put very little of the lime I bought on. I'll be surprised if there's even an effect.

K go to the pet store and buy a ph tester....you can get strips or a liquid that turns a certain color.....very inexpensive but they are accurate.......one additional thought....no ph adjuster for aquariums for your plants....only ph testers.. ;) :)

Swing and a miss... pH tested at exactly 7.0.

This leaves the bugs, although I have no idea how bugs would have gotten into my soil. Possibly through my vent again, but how the hell are they so good at finding my soil? Hmm... I did store an old growing container full of dirt in the same room... there's a lesson learned the hard way.

Now, I have to treat these insects somehow. My local nursery sells this organic pesticide that contains rotenone and pyrethrins. Would this work for treating root-eating insects?

I mixed up the pyrethrin/rotenone insecticide and put it on my plants. On one hand, they stopped getting worse, so that's good. On the other hand, the stuff I put on them smelled strongly of mineral spirits/kerosene in its concentrated form. I accidentally got a few drops of the diluted mix on one of my plants and it killed the leaves that it got on. Why the hell do they mix that stuff with kerosene? The lady at the nursery said it wouldn't hurt my plants, shows what she knows.

I STILL don't know for sure what my problem is.

sometimes the bug eggs are in the soil,get rid of that siol and transplant into new soil,it looks like p.h and heat problems to me are the tips off the leaves crispi.and if you cant get neen oil use garlic crush it up and mix with water and spray the plant it kills all bugs and it dont dammage the plant.you mite be sufforcating your roots cos that soil looks a little tight to me.good luck you need to talk to surreys princess or stinky cos they are the soil queens of canna

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Originally Posted by xxxhazexxx

sometimes the bug eggs are in the soil,get rid of that siol and transplant into new soil,

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Not really an option at this point, and I think that might do more harm than good.

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it looks like p.h and heat problems to me are the tips off the leaves crispi.

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Yes, the affected leaves are all dry and crispy now. But I did test the pH and it came out as 7.0 exactly. I used the test with powder and a test tube too, not my electronic meter. I did find out that my electronic meter is not that bad, it just only detects acidity, not alkalinity.

There may have been a short period of excessive heat that caused the problems, I guess, although the problem manifested itself during a period where it was actually quite cool in there. Still, it's gotten cooler since then, and the problem seems to have stopped getting worse. My plants were also not ventilated very well, which I didn't think was a problem because they were so small, but that might have been it too. One thing that doesn't make sense though, is that it was the lower leaves that got burned, not the higher ones near the grow tip.

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and if you cant get neen oil use garlic crush it up and mix with water and spray the plant it kills all bugs and it dont dammage the plant.

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I've heard water with cigarette butts soaked in it works well too.

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you mite be sufforcating your roots cos that soil looks a little tight to me.

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Oh believe me, it's not. I'll pour a glass of water on the top, and ten seconds later it's running out the bottom. If anything, I think it might be too well-drained. But it does hold moisture, so I'm pretty sure that's not the case.

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good luck you need to talk to surreys princess or stinky cos they are the soil queens of canna

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Sounds good, maybe they'll answer this. :)

Oh, here's some pictures, of some plants that were damaged further, and of my setup. I've since removed the mylar on one side for better ventilation. I still want it on the other side though, so it doesn't disturb my flowering plant.

Ok...ph is good but you weren't able to test before you started so..... Did you fert recently?

No, I haven't fertilized at all up until the problem started. After it started I added a very small amount of fertilizer and a very small amount of lime. Probably not enough to do anything.

Oh, I only added lime to a few of the plants, and when I tested the soil sample, it was on the side of the container that I added no lime to.