What is eating my plants

[jose suarez]

I am a beginner in aquaponics just finish building my nursery one to learn all about then after if it is possible going into a bigger scale . So the challenges already started
I am noticing that my system is stable See photo 1
So some kind of dust started to show in my leaves see photo 2
Now my beans and lettuce started to show some dots and holes , what do I need to do?
Thanks for the tips in advance .

[Yron M. Retuta]

Hi Jose, my advice would be to observe your plants a little more, look for signs and symptoms, If you see dry circular spots, these may be caused by fungi, If the spots appear to be wet/damp, and gives off unpleasant odor this may be caused by bacteria, a little pruning will work . If holes appear look for worms/nematodes or slugs/ chewing insects. with the image you provided, its not that alarming. It may just be a mechanical injury  . Let's give it another day or two. post another image of the same plant/plants, and we'll work on that.

[Yron M. Retuta]

Another thing to look for are sucking insects underneath your bean leaves, maybe aphids or white-flies, as they may also cause tiny dark circular spots/dots on your leaves. Just spray a film of water with pepper/and detergent. 

[jose suarez]

thanks for the tips i will try the water/pepper and detergent i hopefully will work thanks again 

Yron M. Retuta said:

Another thing to look for are sucking insects underneath your bean leaves, maybe aphids or white-flies, as they may also cause tiny dark circular spots/dots on your leaves. Just spray a film of water with pepper/and detergent. 

[JoAnne Bell]

Hi Jose!

I can only see the photo of your lettuce. It looks like you have thrips. If the brown spots have little black dots in them. It's definitely thrips. Here are the products I use to control them: Kapow, Safer Insecticidal Soap and Capt. Jack's. I rotate the products, spraying once a week.

Kapow is lemongrass oil and works by smothering the bug. It also helps control powdery mildew (which may be the dust you have on your leaves). This is the product I use the most.

Capt Jacks contains spinosad, a bacteria naturally occurring in soil. Read the directions before spraying. Basically, you can apply it about once a month, depending on the plant.

All 3 products are safe for organic gardens. Make sure that you spray the bottoms and tops of leaves. And, avoid spraying directly over your fish tank.

Hope this helps!

JoAnne

[jose suarez]

hello joanne 

thanks for using your time to help me i will check in the morning if there is any black spots i haven't see yet but its a learning process for me as i am a beginner any help is welcome i will check on line if i can get this products 

many thanks 

JoAnne Bell said:

Hi Jose!

I can only see the photo of your lettuce. It looks like you have thrips. If the brown spots have little black dots in them. It's definitely thrips. Here are the products I use to control them: Kapow, Safer Insecticidal Soap and Capt. Jack's. I rotate the products, spraying once a week.

Kapow is lemongrass oil and works by smothering the bug. It also helps control powdery mildew (which may be the dust you have on your leaves). This is the product I use the most.

Capt Jacks contains spinosad, a bacteria naturally occurring in soil. Read the directions before spraying. Basically, you can apply it about once a month, depending on the plant.

All 3 products are safe for organic gardens. Make sure that you spray the bottoms and tops of leaves. And, avoid spraying directly over your fish tank.

Hope this helps!

JoAnne

[Vlad Jovanovic]

I had really good results with using a small thrips predator called Amblyseius cucumeris.

One year I had thrips starting to get somewhat rampant on my lettuce (DWC rafts). First, I sprayed with a product containing Spinosad A&D (they are derived from bacterial fermentation) to knock down the number of thrips...then, later in the week I introduced the A. cucumeris predators...no more thrips 

[JoAnne Bell]

Thanks Vlad for sharing the thrip predator. I noticed they require about 65%-75% humidity. Were you able to maintain that level of humidity in your grow space? I'm curious to know if they are effective at a lower humidity. Our grow space is at 33% RH.

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Oh geez...in a greenhouse with just under 20,000 liters of water in it..Springtime in Serbia...the RH (relative humidity) wasn't a problem to "maintain" 

The glazing would more often than not be wet from the inside until I aired it out in the mornings.

The thrips, and hence their predator, seemed to like to hang out around the base of the lettuce...in and around the net pots, on the underside of leaves, but especially near the crowns (where the stem meets the roots). So even on a localized level, moisture (RH) did not appear to be a problem for them...I'm guessing due to evapo/transpiration the above mentioned areas would have a high-ish RH even if the air in the GH 2 feet above the rafts was less humid...

[JoAnne Bell]

Bummer. Sounds like it's too dry in CO for that thrip predator.

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Well according to those same charts and graphs...it's too dry in CO to get thrips in the first place 

Which obviously isn't the case...those numbers given are "OPTIMUMS"...Nature often does just fine (within reason) outside of an optimum value range (again, within reason)...Besides, for $30 it might be worth trying and observing what happens?

[JoAnne Bell]

Good point. Although, I've never had luck with spidermite predators, and they prefer a higher humidity as well....But you are right. It's a small investment, so it's worth a try. Thanks! 

[jose suarez]

thanks Vlad i am really happy to be feeling that i am not alone in this learning process i forgot about the RH but mine is a little one 60 litres but was made for this purpose learn and become my main job i already got three ibc for the next stage , the leaves do not show any black dots but the amount of dot are increasing. i cant find a place to check my potassium and calcium around my town.but i might be something that i am missing but i dont give up easily

thanks

jose suarez

 

Vlad Jovanovic said:

Well according to those same charts and graphs...it's too dry in CO to get thrips in the first place 

Which obviously isn't the case...those numbers given are "OPTIMUMS"...Nature often does just fine (within reason) outside of an optimum value range (again, within reason)...Besides, for $30 it might be worth trying and observing what happens?