Dark Purple Disease Affecting New Growth?

[mike1980]

So this is last year's purple disease thing and what the plant finished to be. Symptoms start same time of season early flower last year and this year

 

[TomH]

They claim Azomite is not harmful to the soil, or microbes and also helps fight off fungal, viral, and bacterial infection in the soil, and increases the immune system of the plants.



The use of natural materials such as Azomite® facilitates healthy soil conditions where beneficial microorganisms out-compete pathogens and make growing a profitable crop much easier. Without life-giving microbes in the soil we are in trouble. These microbes contribute to the release of minerals to our crops, the build-up of organic matter, and protection from pathogenic fungi. Complete and balanced mineralization, adequate organic matter, and proper soil moisture are necessary ingredients for healthy, living soil with healthy, beneficial microbes.

AZOMITE can be used to help plants fight against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. As the fungi are reduced, the plant’s immune system gets stronger.

Ive been using it for 20 years as my trace mineral source.

I can add some today, but I can't water it in for a day or so.

 

[TomH]

I can add some today, but I can't water it in for a day or so.

Both Azomite (0-0-0.2) and Langbenite (0-0-22) added.
The azomite is finer grained so perhaps more available??

It's probably more than needed, but, why not?

 

[Jmaes Mabley]

Cant say about adding langbenite. I use 0-0-52 in my mix before planting. Along with 19-19-19. I assume if its not overdone it would be fine. Azomite starts breaking down in 1-2 weeks. Main thing is to have proper ratios of everything. The soluable fertilizer I use inside is chemical, and comes out to 19.5-20-39.

The base formula is 4-20-39, then add 15.5-0- Calcium Nitrate, and Epsom Salts. I just basically try and emulate this ratio in my outdoor mix. I get the soluable fertilizer from Hydro Gardens. Theyve been making fertilizer since the 70s, and plant specific fertilizer since the 80s. The fert I use indoors is plant specific to weed. I also use the same mix from start to finish, and dont change when flowering. I do use Monopotassium Phosphate in weeks 4-5 for an 8 weeks flowering strain for indoors. But use the 4-20-39-15.5-0-0 and epsom salts from start to finish. I just use smaller amounts on seedlings, and slowly increase until week 6 in flowering for an 8 weeks strain, and then cut in half the last 2 weeks. I dont flush. I just reduce nutrients. But do increase all nutrients until the 6th week of flowering. Its also a myth to cut out Nitrogen in flowering.

 

[TomH]

I noticed this morning, my purple colored plant already has a few trichomes showing on some of the upper sugar leaves on the top cola.
Smells like lemons.

It’s mid week two if I calculated right, it’s moving along more rapidly than her green sister. The green sister is about 10 percent smaller, a little droopier and appears about a week behind in bud development.
Green actually showed pre flowers two days earlier and showed earliest bud formation indications a few days before purple.
Purple took off once it showed purple.

 

[JohnnyButtons]

Those

So this is last year's purple disease thing and what the plant finished to be. Symptoms start same time of season early flower last year and this year

Looks like they finished just fine. Any noticable difference at all?

 

[mike1980]

Those

Looks like they finished just fine. Any noticable difference at all?

Hard to say because never grew that strain before. They we're harvested little early because started to see some Botrytis.

 

[JohnnyButtons]

One thing I've noticed over the last couple weeks is the difference between my sativa and indica strains. For whatever reason, the sativa dominant strains seem to be way more resistant to whatever is going on. My Indica dominant strains are getting hammered.

I did end up feeding more boron and it didn't make a difference. I had been feeding plenty of boron throughout the year in my micro package anyway. I think it's safe to rule that out at this point. The only thing that seems to help is weekly feedings of a liquid potassium. We're entering that time of year where we should be cranking up our p and K levels anyway.

 

[Seawood]

I have one plant that has had pretty much all branches/bud sites affected. Here’s pics from today. I did up the P/K and added some Si as well. Every other plant is the same as previous years with only isolated areas being affected. I think preventative maintenance is the key with this virus/condition. The one plant being affected the worst had a rough start in life which may have made it more vulnerable. Also, I think the Si would be more inline with prevention…don’t think it would turn the tides but I guess we will see how things progress over the next 6 weeks.

 

[JohnnyButtons]

I have one plant that has had pretty much all branches/bud sites affected. Here’s pics from today. I did up the P/K and added some Si as well. Every other plant is the same as previous years with only isolated areas being affected. I think preventative maintenance is the key with this virus/condition. The one plant being affected the worst had a rough start in life which may have made it more vulnerable. Also, I think the Si would be more inline with prevention…don’t think it would turn the tides but I guess we will see how things progress over the next 6 weeks.

I found something interesting over the the month. I use 2 different types of P+K. One is a chelated liquid, the other is a water soluble granular. The chelated liquid works dramatically better than water soluble stuff. I think the chelation is key. I had switched to the water soluble stuff for 3 weeks, and I noticed the purpling re-emerging. I got back to the chelated liquid, and the purpling is subsiding again. Still have one plant that is super, super purple. Just beginning to flower and everything seems to be super, super tight and compact up top. Don't know why this one plant won't respond to treatments. I had a couple plants that were almost black when I first started treatments. I was able to get those back to somewhat normal with K treatments.

 

[mike1980]

getting worse on one plant. The plant is vigorous and biggest one but has the purple virus. kind of a bummer. Been giving it potassium packed liquid nutrients too. It's the most behind in flowering production and just starting to show, strain related or virus who knows. Collecting rain water off shingles roof but probably nothing to do with it. H2O Ph is 6, PPM is 60 before nutrients.

 

[nashobaTHC]

I’ve abandoned plants that are continually sick and not vigorous compared to others. That’s a lot of effort for a plant that will likely break your heart and wallet trying to heal her. I would Concentrate on the healthy ones. Good luck.

 

[JohnnyButtons]

I’ve abandoned plants that are continually sick and not vigorous compared to others. That’s a lot of effort for a plant that will likely break your heart and wallet trying to heal her. I would Concentrate on the healthy ones. Good luck.

My exact plan next year. All my blue cheese is perfect... Knock on wood. Super skunk is a struggle

 

[mike1980]

Some updated pictures of mine. Has anyone noticed it resembles some symptoms of Copper deficiency or is that me being crazy?

 

[Seawood]

Not sure about copper as most theories relate the condition to a K deficiency.

To sum it up, the three most plausible explanations so far are:

1. K deficiency
2. Virus/phytoplasma (potentially vectored by leafhoppers)
3. Genetic mutation possibly as a result of extensive cross-breeding (ployhybrid)

 

[Seawood]

Any updates? I can now say with fairly high confidence that I agree with the leafhopper/virus theory. The plant I have that was most affected is not developing buds properly and seems to have just stalled. Previous grows have shown only isolated branches but did not affect the overall yield/quality of the flowers.

Moving forward, I will incorporate a more aggressive IPM strategy to control hoppers earlier in the growth cycle. I’ll post some pics later.

 

[JohnnyButtons]

Any updates? I can now say with fairly high confidence that I agree with the leafhopper/virus theory. The plant I have that was most affected is not developing buds properly and seems to have just stalled. Previous grows have shown only isolated branches but did not affect the overall yield/quality of the flowers.

Moving forward, I will incorporate a more aggressive IPM strategy to control hoppers earlier in the growth cycle. I’ll post some pics later.

I've got good bud production. I wouldn't say it was outstanding but that could be attributed to a little too much shade as well. I really hammered the liquid potassium and it seemed to help tremendously. I left a check plant and the virus absolutely destroyed it. The leaves shriveled to nothing and ultimately the plant died. I think it is super important to sterilize equipment while pruning and using extreme caution if you are a tobacco user. From what I understand the virus can be transmitted if you are smoking a contaminated cigarette or even use dip that has been contaminated. Controlling any type of sucking insect would be advantageous as well.spinosad is a great insecticide that is basically organic.

 

[Seawood]

I've got good bud production. I wouldn't say it was outstanding but that could be attributed to a little too much shade as well. I really hammered the liquid potassium and it seemed to help tremendously. I left a check plant and the virus absolutely destroyed it. The leaves shriveled to nothing and ultimately the plant died. I think it is super important to sterilize equipment while pruning and using extreme caution if you are a tobacco user. From what I understand the virus can be transmitted if you are smoking a contaminated cigarette or even use dip that has been contaminated. Controlling any type of sucking insect would be advantageous as well.spinosad is a great insecticide that is basically organic.

So you think it’s a variation of TMV or some unrelated pathogen/virus?

 

[JohnnyButtons]

So you think it’s a variation of TMV or some unrelated pathogen/virus?

I really do. I feed a comprehensive nutrient package, amend my soil, and soil test fairly often. My pH is dead nuts accurate, and all nutrient levels are at desirable levels. These are lab results as well. Not some backyard, Amazon soil test kit (no offense to anyone who uses those). It definitely was not a nutrient issue. There isn't a nutrient that I don't account for. Even the micros. Potassium helped with keeping it in check big time, but I think the larger issue is prevention. How do we prevent this from happening in the future? Where does it come from? Is it soil born? Those are all questions I'd love to have concrete answers on. If it is indeed a TMV variant, all we can do is use caution when sourcing clones and seeds. I believe my issue was related to poor clones, and spread around through my laziness. I didn't sterilize equipment while pruning. With that being said, does it really matter if you sterilize when there are sucking insects? Viruses are the most frustrating thing to deal with because there is no cure. I had great success with light, weekly applications of a high quality K. All fertilizers are not created equal! Some may apply K and say it didn't work while others have great success. To me, that all leads back to nutrient formulation, which in the end, makes a huge difference.

 

[Seawood]

Post-harvest update…

The plant I had that was completely affected by this condition ended up being a total loss. Best I can explain is the buds never really formed…pistils/trichomes started to grow early in flower but no calyx formation. End result is all leaf. Sure would be nice to have some solid answers for this…