After culling a plant with leaf holes suddenly appearing a couple weeks ago, things seemed fine. But this morning, several leaves on 2 plants have the same type of holes! I scoured my 5 plants and 7 clones for any pests, but found only this tiny white spider:
Here are the new leaf holes (not there 6 hours previously):
No, there's nothing at all on the other side (just those holes). It's like somebody's shooting out parts of my leaves with a laser when I turn my back.
A photo of the spider:
Zoomed:
I'm pretty sure that's actually a spider (and not a mite). There are no eggs, or netting, and only 1 or 2 of these little white 8-legged visitors that I could find.
But neither tiny spiders, nor spider mites, are known to create several gaping holes in leaves within minutes. I keep thinking there's a grasshopper, or a caterpillar, or something more capable of doing damage like that, but I can't find anything.
I even took the entire garden apart, today, leaving no stone unturned. Everything got wiped down and/or vacuumed and/or removed. I didn't find any nests or anything noteworthy. All is clean and organized.
I sure hope I don't wake up to several new holes! This is starting to get really annoying! And it's time to "flip", so I'd like to go into flowering stage with a clean bill of health.
Any suggestions or advice gladly welcomed! It can be a challenge doing 200% organic gardening, especially in summers, when local insect populations explode, and it becomes tough to keep indoor gardens completely sterile.
- Am I correct to assume the spider isn't the source of the holes, or any other potential issue?
- Anyone else been hit by something leaving sudden sporadic leaf holes in their garden?
Thank you, and grow (hopefully) in peace.
DRutter
