With this guide we intend to describe how to recognize and combat the most frequent cannabis diseases .
When we start a new crop, everything seems perfect and the enthusiasm makes us forget the common and not rare marijuana diseases caused by parasites or fungi that our plants can physiologically encounter.
The main rule that applies to all crops is certainly prevention with natural products, together with some technical and agronomic measures such as:
processing in healthy environments
quality and healthiness of the substrate
pruning/cleaning of dry or rotten areas
fertilizations and stimulation of the immune defenses
controlled irrigation
But that might not be enough!
Unfortunately, plants that are perhaps genetically weak will still run the risk of getting sick, finding ourselves forced to intervene with more aggressive and less natural products, ruining the organic nature and therefore the quality of your plants.
The fundamental rule for recognizing cannabis parasites and diseases is by observation. When growing, we must learn to carefully look at our plants in both the vegetative and flowering phases. Checking branches, leaves (above and below), flowers and growing medium are tricks to be practiced continuously.
We should not be surprised at the ease with which some parasites can affect our crops even after having complied with every prevention rule. The farmer knows well that nature responds to the cynical law according to which he is always the weakest who is overwhelmed .
In this regard, we have always recommended working on prevention and stimulation of the immune defenses. Traditional chemical pesticides can fight pests and diseases, but they will certainly ruin the organoleptic properties of your crops.
In conclusion , what are the most common parasites and diseases that attack cannabis ? But above all, what are the treatments? Below is a brief legend on the most common cannabis parasites that we hope will guide you.
Cannabis insects: the spider mite
DISCOVER THE PATHOLOGY
Commonly called spider, it can be yellow but also red and is one of the most insidious cannabis insects. It attacks all green, flowering, fruit-bearing, horticultural and ornamental plants. They are imperceptible to the naked eye, but quickly colonize the underside of the leaves which quickly dry out.
Unfortunately it is a very difficult mite to fight except with very toxic systemic insecticides which can therefore only be used on ornamental plants and not on fruit, vegetable plants etc.
However, there is a completely natural method to fight it, it consists of biological control by infesting the plants with an antagonistic mite which kills the red spider mite and all its eggs and does not damage the plant.
By carrying out preventative treatments with these natural products you will avoid finding your plants covered in parasites and mites, the most aggressive enemies of our plants.
Lithotamnion
Neem oil
Potassium soap
Cannabis tripids: how to recognize them
Thrips are very harmful insects on horticultural, fruit and flower crops, capable of causing both direct and indirect damage (virus transmission). This often happens in cannabis plants too.
They are microscopic in size (less than 1mm in diameter) but it is still possible to identify them with the naked eye, they are elongated in shape (small grain of rice) and yellowish or black in color and there are three phases of their life: larval (nymph), young (nymph) and adult (phase in which the insect becomes flying).
Thrips are insects that feed on the sap sucked from leaves, flowers, fruits and young shoots. The damage they cause, in general, consists of alterations caused by the sucking of the sap and the introduction of saliva, which has phytotoxic effects.
on the leaves. initially a thrips infestation manifests itself with alterations that are mostly chromatic, with the appearance of small discolored dots accompanied by silvery reflections, an optical effect due to the penetration of air into the affected tissues.
As the attack progresses, the leaves will become a silvery grayish color and will begin to dry out, with consequent alterations in the development of the plants such as atrophy, deformations, slowing/speeding up of the life cycle, etc.
If the symptoms described above are observed, it is necessary to intervene promptly, as thrips have a very rapid reproductive cycle which allows them to colonize an entire crop in a short time.
Preventive solutions
By carrying out preventative treatments with these natural products you will avoid finding your plants covered in parasites and mites, the most aggressive enemies of our plants.
Neem oil
Sodium silicate
Cannabis afids: discover how to identify them
Small insects, commonly called lice, can also be black, green, orange or yellow. Equipped with stinging sucking mouthparts, with which they feed, sucking sap from the shoots and green parts.
They produce a waste liquid rich in sugary substances (honeydew), an ideal substrate for the development of saprophytic fungi which are called fumaggini due to their sooty appearance. The woolly aphid sucks sap from the shoots, lives in colonies and is covered with a white waxy coating.
By carrying out preventative treatments with these natural products you will avoid finding your plants covered in foliar parasites such as aphids and lice, very fierce enemies of our plants.
Rock dust
K-Nettle
Sodium silicate
Cannabis diseases: how to identify the botryts of cannabis
Anyone who has grown cannabis more than once has certainly come across one of the most common cannabis diseases, botrytis cinerea also known as gray mud. Botrytis is a mold that attacks the apical flowers of the plant at the end of flowering, causing rotting almost immediately and the consequent loss of the flower.
Situations with too much humidity favor its taking root, in fact botrytis appears with the appearance of the first rains at the end of summer. This type of mold is also well known among winemakers and fruit growers.
Unfortunately, botrytis is one of the most insidious and difficult (if not impossible to eradicate) cannabis diseases in the advanced stage, unless very aggressive fungicides are used which are harmful to the health, taste and naturalness of the fruit.
Here too the supreme rule of observation and above all prevention applies . Advanced stage botrytis is almost impossible to eradicate , and natural preventative treatments almost certainly prevent its appearance .
Preventive solutions
Preventive treatments from the first appearance of the flowers can almost certainly prevent the appearance of botrytis. Below is a list of the most effective treatments against botrytis to be sprayed on leaves and flowers during the pre-flowering weeks.
Cannabis diseases: phytium of cannabis how to recognize and prevent it
Pythium is one of the most fearsome fungi for the cannabis plant , it attacks the roots causing rotting and death of the plant in a very short time. Phityum acts on the plant's lymphatic system by blocking its vessels and preventing nutrients from flowing between them.
The photos describe his appearance well. But how do we notice this dangerous disease in time?
An expedient could be to feel the beginning of the stem, feeling its consistency which becomes softer when the plant is attacked. Even earlier, however, it is possible to find the pythum, with the appearance of anomalous and sporadic yellowing of some leaves which often coincides with the "soaking" of the stem.
Recognizing phyyium is not easy and the same prevention rule applies here too. The causes of phiyium can be too much humidity and anaerobic substrate, too much heat of the substrate (woe to mulching with plastic), poor aeration of the earth.
Preventive solutions
Here too, as with botrytis, it is almost impossible to eradicate phiyum without the help of fungicides, but it is possible to successfully prevent it with the following measures and products.
Cercospora, also known as Frog eye, is a very fearsome fungus that often attacks cannabis although it very rarely causes its death . Cercospora is a cannabis disease that presents with circular or elliptical spots, gray in the center with dark brown or yellowish margins. The causes are always the same for all mushrooms, such as high humidity and unhealthy soil. As mentioned, Cercospora is not too aggressive and it is possible to eradicate it almost easily with adequate peremptory treatments , although prevention is always the best weapon.
Preventive solutions
There are several products on the market capable of eradicating this fungus as long as they act decisively and quickly at the first appearance of Cercospora spots.
