Severe Neem/Light Burn... perservere or start over?

[mamerica]

I'm a semi-experienced medical mj provider for several deserving patients, doing my best but still locking down certain aspects of my technique..... I'm into my third large grow, all has been going smoothly. However, I recently discovered some spider mites in my flower room (low population), destroyed the plant they were affecting most, and treated the rest with a foliar spray of neem, wetting agent (dawn) and H20 (not ph'd--oops?). The problem is that in my mini-freakout over the mites, I forgot to shut the lights down after I sprayed....resulting (duh) in some pretty severe burns. I think the burns are a combo of light burn from being sprayed with the lights on and possibly from the neem itself (I was heavy handed due to my FEAR of freakin spider mites). So now I basically have a garden of three week old buds with very few fan leaves, as much of the veg growth has become brittle, and fallen off. The plants still have thier buds and beginning cola leaves intact. I sprayed the following day with plain water to rinse away some of the neem so the stomata wouldn't clog, and shut the lights down to allow drying.... at that point it was too little too late, my girls are fried. I'm thinking they could recover, if I give them a few un-fucked with weeks.... any thoughts? I'm trying to decide if i should ditch em and throw my next batch into flower or stick it out and see if they still produce..... I'm hopeful I'll at least get popcorn buds. My pts need whatever they can get, and I'm not into throwing away money, time, or ,meds...
Anyone ever burnt thier girls? If so, can they recover three weeks into flower?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

mamerica Reviewed by mamerica on 12-05-2009. Severe Neem/Light Burn... perservere or start over? I'm a semi-experienced medical mj provider for several deserving patients, doing my best but still locking down certain aspects of my technique..... I'm into my third large grow, all has been going smoothly. However, I recently discovered some spider mites in my flower room (low population), destroyed the plant they were affecting most, and treated the rest with a foliar spray of neem, wetting agent (dawn) and H20 (not ph'd--oops?). The problem is that in my mini-freakout over the mites, I Rating: 5

[achilles]

I've seen plants recover from worse, just be very gentle on them. Only time will tell

[DreadedHermie]

mamerica, fill out the troubleshooting form in my sig for help. Hopefully no one is going to advise you to harvest early based on such little info.

Be careful with dish soap on plant leaves. You may want to read the linked article.

Today, dishwashing liquids contain both anionic and nonionic surfactants. In most circumstances, their combined effects are synergistic and very potent. None are labeled for use on plants.

From:
Using Surfactants, Wetting Agents, and Adjuvants in the Greenhouse

[mamerica]

okay, here's the info....:thumbsup:

What is your experience level? novice

Your Equipment:
.1) Type and wattage of lights.
1000 watt HPS
.2) Distance from tops?
approz 12-18 "
.3) Reflector type?
cool tubes
.4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply?
intake vent in veg room, a/c only in flower room
.5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan?
exhaust fan
.6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule?
1000 watts, 12/12 in flower 24 in veg

Your medium:
.7) Specific brand and type of soil, (coco, peat based soilless...) and anything you've added to it.
Just Right Extra brand peat based soil with myco, humus, etc
.8) Size of container.
3 gal growbags
.9) Did you use peat pucks (or similar) to root clones or germinate seedlings? I use an aeroponic cloning box

Your nutrients and water:
10) Source of water? (tap, bottled or filtered) What's it's ph before adjusting?R/O filtered tap, low Ph before adjusting, 4.0 or lower
11) Method of checking water ph:
gen hydro test kit
12) Method of adjusting water ph:
PHup, PHdown
13) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle.
Canna system, 100 ml per 5 gals, approx every 5 days
15) Any additives or tea's?
CalMag, Advanced Nutrients Big Bud, Cannazyme, Canna Boost, Rhizotonic
16) Are your ph levels stable, or do they fluctuate?
stable
17) What is your ingoing water's ph?
ingoing approx 6.0, run off not sure
18) Do you foliar feed? If so, with what, how often, and at what time do you spray?
no

Your growroom:
19) Indoors or outdoors?
indoors
20) What size of closet, room or hut?
2 rooms, approx 10 by 10
21) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? ...With lights off?
temps in grow, approx 75-80, bloom stable at 70. Humidity 50%. Lights off, not sure (my a/c switches off during the dark cycle)
22) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom?
Yes, ongoing fungus gnats (I use dunks to keep population low), and recently small pop of spider mites, hence this post

Your strain:
23) What strain are you growing?
A haze strain, unclear as to which specific haze it is. The source of my initial clone said it was "purple haze" although I've heard that strain is very rare so I'm not certain if it is.... I suspect it is some local variant of a haze strain.
24) From seeds or clones?
clones
25) Is this an autoflower strain?
no.

[mamerica]

PS, thanks to anyone who takes the time to read my grow stats

[DreadedHermie]

I wonder if you can post a pic...I think the software says you can't until 'X' posts, but that may not be so. I'd like to see the plants. Even if you've lost all the fans, if the buds are green and 'bushy' there's probably enough of a photosynthetic engine left to sustain the plants through harvest. I starve mine pretty severely towards the end, they lose all their fans, and they all seem to pull through. :thumbsup:

From reading your responses on the form, I can't disagree with your initial diagnosis. That nute application rate looks high to me, but I just use the (cheapo) stuff that's like 5mg/gal. (So if everything's been all right up to now, jes' forget I said anything...)

Please keep us posted. I would certainly try and save them.

[1olddog]

hi any fluid on leaves with the intense heat and light of grow lamps is prone to burning, water absorbs heat and concentrates it also magnifies it, spray when lights are off or raise them till dry, any chemicals in the water can concentrate and crystallize and burn leaves.i have done the same as you with neem u should have taken the plants out and sprayed them with a mist from hose,then raised the lights. using detergent can b toxic,don't use it! cut off the burnt parts and baby the plants ,feed them immune boost organics, raise lights etc.i saved my plants and got rid off the spider mites for good by accident by spraying neem into the soil with no detergent! the spiders r gone for good within 2 weeks no bad effects on plants.neem is a
systemic spray.spray under the leaves .then no burn!