Hey up guys thinks are not going good to day

I have Smile, Chronic and some sweet seeds and a couple of DNA strains in there also, now i had fungal problems the last 2 grows so this time i started from fresh seeds and the room and gear was all well cleaned and i've been using a sulfume hotbox and also they've had a couple of treatments of essence as a preventitive but then i potted up a couple of days ago and now they've got a major fungal infection

Now my main question is that i'm wondering could it be from the compost as i never had any fungal problems until i started to use westlands compost, i always used plagron and never had a bit of bother and this is now my third grow with westlands and everyone i've had fungal problems, could it be from dust/spores blowing onto the plant during potting up or maybe the plants taking the fungus in through the roots

I'm really gutted, done everything right and the plants are getting ruined

Its actually worse than ever, it seems to spreading really quickly, in 2 days its on 40% of the leaves considering just killing them off to be honest.

Heres some pics, remember this has happened in 2 days.

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

It even seems to be eating the new growth as its coming in.

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Oh and another reason i'm pretty sure its compost related is a friend who's using westlands for the first time also has problems like this.

You know what mate this is the exact conculsion Ive come up with for my Fungal problems "Westlands".....I just cant see it being anything else with me as the minute my Cuts root out the cubes I apply Trichoderma direct to the roots,they then get PM Granules on every pot up,PM Essence every week and get a feed of PM Bio Silicon once a week yet I still cant finsish a whole grow with every plant clean of Fungus usually 3 weeks into flower thats when it strikes....The only thing Ive not changed is my Compost(Westlands MP) and also like you my buddy uses the same compost from the same place I get it and gets the same problem as me makes you wonder dont it

Anyway Ive got rid of all my Westlands and am know using Canna Terra "Professional Plus" Ive got a batch of plants nearly ready for flower that have only ever been in Canna Terra and there looking mint,so I'll let you know how I get on

Yo Lennon i'm pretty sure its due to Westlands, been thinking about it for a while now and wasn't to sure but it makes sense, never had any fungal problems until i used westlands.

Even with essence, granules, bio-silicon and even a sulfume hotbox i cant keep it away

I applied essence to them this morning, an extra strong dose and with next watering i'm going to water in a batch of essence and trichoderma to drench the compost to hopefully kill of the spores and i'm then going to apply fungus fighter in the next few days, they've got 2-3 weeks till they go into flowering so i'll only be able to use the fungus fighter once then thats it.

Really pissed off to be honest, never again will i use westlands back to plagron with maybe 20-30% loam.

The Westlands Advanced certainly seems to be lacking somewhat in the mineral department, I was getting similar problems to yourself until I upped the amount of Rockdust I was adding to the compost. Since doubling up the amount of Rockdust I add to the compost I've had virtually no leaf infections at all.

Hey Felix
Ive lost all faith in Westlands now as Im certain its where my issues are now coming from.....Since we last spoke about my issues Ive put into pratice everything you and OT1 suggested to me yet I still cant finsh a full grow clean of Fungus Some get it worse then others and some finish totally clean of Fungus

I suppose time will tell as I said Ive got a batch nearly ready for flower that have only ever been in Canna so I'll keep everyone posted....If anything Im happy knowing the Compost has been sterilized and should be nasty free from the start.Also Ive just took new cuts again of all my mum stock so once rooted they can go straight into Canna as there sitting in Westlands

Well i'm going to battle this for a couple of weeks but also going to start some cutting from a friend as back ups in case these cant be helped.

For my next pot up i'm going back to using plagron batmix and my new cutting will be going into plagron lightmix then batmix, never again will i touch westlands, it was always crawling with springtails to and the last time i had a fungus gnat problem to.

I might even be able to get a cutting or two of killer skunk so might try and get a clean mother out of them.

Anyone else having fungal problems with westlands composts?

/Raises hand.

I got LSF around 3 weeks in flower too I believe. I have essence drenched the plants twice now, picking off all infected leaves that I could find. It is still reappearing after 2 weeks or so of each essence batch is made. I'm getting those lighter green patches on the edges of the leaves on one of my plants too - it seems to happen before LSF arrives.

Luckily I'm on 7.5 weeks now. I wouldn't say that I would have guessed it was the compost, but yeah I guess it's possible... I'll avoid next time and see what happens. I must say other than the LSF the plants seem to like the stuff, no other problems here apart from the mix looking a bit odd... stones and whatnot.

I don't suppose you picked yours up outside your shop, as opposed to indoors? I'm thinking the bags could be pretty easily become contaminated with bugs and all sorts which take along all kinds of shit with them. Then again I know fuck all really. I might just try a different brand of MP, but one picked from inside, just to be safe.

Good spot 181.

Damn I've been fighting back the LSF for months, and yep westlands here

Like yourself I've tried everything else with no cure, only damage limitation. Westlands looks like it's getting binned.

Hmmmm mad that.....i'm in westy's, first started showing signs of it at week 2 of 12/12....

Another one here! We are talking about westlands MP with JI aren't we?
Had it last two grows, since they made it more woody too.

Maybe its more of a micronutrient deficiency in the compost that enables the fungus to get a hold.. (as felix mentioned..)?..Rather than spores in the compost?

I found when one plant this grow yellowed before a pot up, the lower leaves became affected bad... Now its back on track it seems able to stave it off..
Other plants however aren't fairing as well later on in flower.... Like Lennon I thought it was my mums, but this grow is all seed, and two cuts I have in there have
no real fungal probs.

Just to add I don't use essense.. Am going to be next time though!

Maybe I should try something new too.

Hey guys, ye it westlands with added JI i use but i wreckon it would be the same with normal westlands.

I think its spores in the compost, the reson mine has spread so fast after a pot up i think is down to the spores/dust/dirt particles getting onto the leaves during potting up, it must be cause it was the next day the LSF was everywhere.

I do think it also gives you an internal infection to which is a cunt to get rid of, i'm really annoyed because i to thought it was my mothers and killed my killer skunk and MK ultra mothers because of it and started a load of new seeds including Smile and now there fucked with it, big waste of bloody money.

I'm going to get a cutting of the killer skunk and MK from a friend who i gifted them to before the mothers got the bin and veg them back and put them in plagron and see if i can get them nice and healthy, there 3 weeks in flower nearly but fuck it they should be re-veg ok, same go's for the Smile and others i've got on the go, flower these but take cuts and get them in plagron and get treating with fungus fighter which i've heard people having good results with then when thats spent treat with essence and see how we go, i'm fairly confident I wont get LSF with plagron compost.

E2a:- I for one wont be touching wetslands ever again, full of bugs and fungus spores and ye as stonehenge says full of bloody wood to.

SNAP !
Yup another grower with a crop almost wiped out by L.S.F, and using westlands multi perps + .
Francly im rather pissed off, i was wondering if it could be the compost,, this seems to have pritty much confurmed it.
Im considering switching completly from compost to a 'cleaner' alterative such as coco, its somthing toltaly new to me but i think it may be worth it.
If people continue to confurm such issues with the westlands i think it would be an idea to put some-kind of notice for people to avoid it completly, its my first time using this brand, i regretfuly chose it after reading through the forum.

Ye to right mate Westlands to me looks like its the reason so i will be advising poeple not to use it from now on.

I found a place thats doing bags of Plagron Royalty mix for £10 a bag so i'm going back to Plagron, i've only used Royalty mix once it was always Batmix i used before that, as far as i can remember it was more like dirt, like there was loam in it, not as fluffy as batmix, not sure whats better but not seen any bad reports on it, i'll use it for the final pot up in a couple of weels if i can get these clean and pulled through from this infection.

I was also considering coco and maybe rigging up a small water tank(40L) and a pump and drippers, i might just hand water though doesn't make much of a difference really.

i am also suffering bad with lsf but am potting in bio bizz mixed with miracle grow composts!have two rooms in different locations and its hit both tents with different strains in! tried all sorts and cant stop this shit!!!do peeps that do hydro suffer as much i wonder??any thoughts on this? ginge

You can get LSF from many ways but the main reason westlands is my prime suspect is it seems to be internal as essence doesn't seem to do much, bayern fungus fighter however does seem to work.

We will see next grow when i use Plagron again, i'm betting on it being a clean grow.

Not fungal, just burnt, using John innes now 1 and 2. seems to be o.k now.

Ye I seen that thread there, mine might be burnt to actually now I think about it, the damge to the new growth could be burn, its not to much N though as theres no clawing, maybe to much P or K but theres also a bad infection for sure.

I'm using Westlands this time and like many others have had LSF, but in the past I've also had infections when using B&Q multipurpose, Homebase multipurpose, Allmix and New Horizons Organic. Just because people using Westlands have fungal problems doesn't mean it's the compost that has caused it - LSF is everywhere nowadays, and Westlands is the most popular non-organic compost by far so it's to be expected that many of those who use it will be seeing affected plants.

The speeding up/appearance of LSF the day after repotting is also a bit of a red herring, as the visible outward symptoms do not show until 10-14 days after the initial infection of the leaf. It's more likely IMO to appear to worsen after a repot because the watering through of the new compost raises the humidity, which all fungus loves. The only possible link to compost used, again IMO would be if it also contained fungus gnat eggs as the adult insects can carry LSF on their mouthparts.

Well how come it seems to be an internal infection that causes it?

It cant be airborn in my room this time because of the sulphur vapour from the sulfume hotbox plus there protected from the essence thats been applied yet new growth and old growth both get infected.

I'm going to try my next lot in plagron has a few good grows all LSF free and first time i used westlands i get all sorts of fungal infections, makes sense to me.

As I said it's just my opinion, but I would imagine that you still have an active fungal infection in the cells of the plant. Essence isn't a magic LSF cure - it just seeds the foliage with beneficial bacteria that can multiply and outcompete the fungus, but they can only do so when they have been brewed and applied correctly and conditions are optimum for both them and the plant.

The fact that you are seeing new and old growth affected could point to either a) a problem with the way the Essence was made up and applied which prevented the micro-organisms from populating the leaves in the first place or b) The fungicides you have been using have been killing off the good guys as well as the LSF, so that there is nothing to stop it from coming back with a vengeance after treatment.

Interesting topic - I've been using Westlands MP + JI for a good while. I've had problems with burn, especially just after potting up but no fungal problems using it. Quite often when potting up the lowest leaves are just starting to yellow/go necrotic from hunger in the small pots, and they just get worse after the potting up..looks like fungus but it's not..but only the lowest leaves, and the rest of the growth is always fine and luxurious after that.

Like Felix I'm quite liberal with me rockdust, and also treat leaves (and compost) with Essence. Root and plant growth has always been good.

I reckon it is quite variable from batch to batch, shop to shop depending on variations in manufacturing and storage.

i recently eradicated fungus afer a 15 year battle, i had a leak in my roof unknowns to me, water seeped dorn the cavity walls in 3 rooms, by the time the cause was fixed i had fungus in 3 room, one of them was my grow room. fungus was on the floor, walls and ceiling, and furniture, bloody nightmare.

The essence is brewed perfect, sits at 30-32 the full 12 hrs, foams up all over the place so you know when it does that its brewed up properly.

I know what your saying about the fungicide killing the good guys but the thing is these are all form seed and were only treated with essence and then a sulfume hotbox for the last 4-5 days now, i am going to use a fungicide though for the next 2 weeks then once thats spent i'll go back to using just essence.

I know i cant say for sure but its the only thing thats changed in my last 3 grows and everyone has got a fungal infection.

I take it this can happen, I mean that compost could hold fungal infections that can get into the plants? I doubt westlands is very well sterilized and it certaqinly isn't stored well.

I was also reading up about composting and found this



Now the reason i've highlighted that bit is because Westlands has been very woody this year and this indicates its not been fully/properly composted.

I think the partly composted wood is the 'West+'. If I understand correctly it's a peat replacement ingrediant, in a effort to make composts greener. UK government has set the compost manufacturing industry targets for reducing peat use.

Anyway kind of off-topic - I think the proof will be if your change of medium gets rid of your fungal problem once and for all.

I've been using WMP+JI for a couple of years now. I don't think I have ever had fungal problems that have been down to the soil

Anything that looks fungal, I can usually pinpoint to some kind of abuse that I induced. Dry pots, over fert etc.... I always thought that I was lowering my plants ability to fight bad off fungal spores (that are bloody everywhere, especially at this time of year) by subjecting them to my clumsy fingers But honestly, it's never been that much of a problem in the WMP.

It'll be interesting to see how you get on 181.

Thanks for that mate,good to now.

Just a thought, but are you in part of the country which has had a pretty wet summer? My corner (SE) has been pretty dry and is most years.

Most garden centres store compost outdoors, maybe if you live in a part of the country that gets more than it's fair share of rain garden centre bought composts are more likely to have been damp/soaked and gone sour and anerobic or have been infected with pythium spores or whatever. Whereas peeps from dryer parts are more likely to be buying reasonably dry compost and suffer less problems?

Could explain the vastly different experience some peeps have with certain brands....?

Hi Felix, could you post me a link to Rockdust please? (either a thread here or a direct link to a supplier). I've not heard of it before but if you use it then I want some!! TIA.

Hi all

Touch wood im rid of LSF after nearly a year!

only one mother survived !

I started putting PM granules on clones straight out of propagator

BIO silicon has helped speed them up and go dark green in veg

Essence i mix up 1 litre every month and blast the lot - veg and flower ( bio wetter helps coverage )

Pot covers have reduced pests like thrips damaging leaves

all this stuff can cause burn

essence i only use 0.5mil per litre of catalyst

silicon 0.25mil per litre

Using west container + hanging basket 5% more loam than WMP and less wood pulp

thinking back to when LSF started i was using B+Q mp

hb

I may not be down to just Westlands, maybe its the way places like B&Q store there compost as there outside getting soaking all the time, some of my bags were mega heavy cause they were so wet.

I really do doubt any of them will be as clean as stuff like Plagron, Bio-Bizz or Canna composts.

That could be your problem then, it pays to be picky when buying compo from the garden centre (taking from the middle of the pallet and the like......). I've never bought growshop compo, but I guess most store it undercover??

Ye most gets stored indoors in the back of the shops from what i've seen, where I am all the garden centres store it outside which could well be the problem.

i was in the local B&Q yesterday & they had pallets of mp outside getting soaked,
was thinking about getting some but after reading this thread, im glad i didnt

Well now just been up to see them there and i'm certain now that not only have i got a fungal infection but i'm having the same problem as pots, major over ferting which is whats causing the damage at the new growth

Never had this problem with Westlands before when potting plants of this age into it, they were like 3-4 weeks old by the time they got put in it, i'm guessing this batch must be very strong.

funny i was saying this to seedsandsticks months ago
ive just used westlands for my ks seeds all got lsf .only 2 made it to end of flower well next week..
i had taken cutting from all the plants and put them in my aero to root...number 4 had bad bad lsf but in hydro setup not a sign of it
so im stearing clear of westlands now ...

Hey Nicedreams thats good to hear hopefully the LSF will stay away for you in the hydro setup

I really do feel Westlands has something to do with it, every grow since i've used it i've got LSF and the friend who i suggested using westlands for the first time has now got the exact same infection as me and hes been growing for about 4-5 years and never had an infection until now, for me its down to westlands.

ive grown in soil for best part of 14 years and never untill now had lsf ..i use soil for new strains or if a like a pick and mix grow ..but mostly im in nft easyer for me
i always used that gold bag stuff for years untill my being a sheep like the rest jumped on the allmix band wagon and was having bad probs woth lock out and to hot for littlens ect so i read about on here and everyone was saying the same and was starting to use westlands...
should start a poll see who has lsf with westlands...thing you have to remember is most soil companys use the same BIG place to buy and make up there brand
so it might be in more other brands because of this..

think i got the dreaded lsf been surfacing over the last week taking out the lower leaves and a couple of the upper fan leaves complete nightmare and yes im using westlands .

not that happy really got 6 weeks to go and can no longer use my fungus fighter or copper sulphate! such a bitch this will defo affect my eventual crop but only 1 of the 2 strains seems really bad the bubblegum seems fine except for a couple of lower leaves.

Hey rebirth dude good to see you back about

Ye well i'm going to get fungus fighter on mine in the next few days as they've got roughly 8-14 days before they go into flowering and i'm also using a sulfume hotbox so hopefully i'll get control of it before flowering begins.

I know people out there get LSF/fungal infections while using plagron. bio-bizz etc but it doesn't seem quite as common.

Interesting stuff 181..I just used bayern ff in hope of stopping the spread.I have culled my warlock and uk cheese mothers in compost recently through fungus.I use compost for my mums(BnQ) and it was sodden and woody when i opened it... Fingers crossed everyone with the problem can get it sorted.I got rid off spidermite and thrips a piece of piss compared to this..Remember when everyone had a bastard job getting rid of mites an thrips?Now it's all about LSF eh.. Good luck folks..

PP..

I just scrapped the top layer of compost out of the pot and replaced with 1" of coco coir in the hope that any spores in the medium stay in the pot..

PP..

Good thread guys!

My B+Q stores outside - pissing down today !

worse still different composts etc on higher shelves dripping down on to another product - not good

went round the corner to a garden centre and picked one off a pallet under cover

they had a couple of pallets of WMP outside - but sealed with green plastic

when the pallet under cover runs out - sold out they bring in a fresh dry one

hb

Well my plants are starting to recover from the nute burn and the LSF isn't as bad which i'm presuming is down to less stress as there not over ferted anymore and also they got a blast of bayern fungicide a few days ago.

It says to leave it every 10-14 days or something like that but as canna is so fast growing i'm going to ignore that and give it every 5-7 days so i'll give them another blast in the morning.

On the up side i've got a good root system on them now as i took a quick peak earlier and also 3-4 plants that are alot stronger than the others, 3 are Smile and one is Green Poison, the rest are recovering but not aswell as these 4, hopefully get a male out of the Smile to

Bugger! I have just bought 3 bags of Westlands. Plants are doing fine in it but then the plants are only about 3 weeks from germination...

Just a quick thought. Seems like the LSF starts about 2 - 3 weeks after 12/12 in their final pots. Does anyone think it might be a good idea to fill the final pots up with Westlland soil now before they are needed and water in put a healthy dose of fungus fighter into the soil , whilst there are no plants in it?

That way hopefully when I come to pot up in the final pots, hopefully it will be in completely fungus free soil, with the added benefit that the Fungus Fighter crap will have had a chance to break down without being absorbed into the plants.

I really would like anyone's opinion please because if I can prevent the problem, it would be brilliant!

A fungicide in the compost would not doubt kill the fungus but not sure how much of an impact it would have on the microherd.

In my opinion £10 a bag of plagron is worth not having this hassle.

yup i use westlands with added JI and im in the 2nd week of flower and guess what,,,,,yep lsf only on 1 of my 8 plants at the mo, it creeped up on my red diesel, now i have read a lot of people using silicon??? is this the best way to get rid of lsf?

Using silicon increases the stem size and helps protect the leaves from heat, insects and dodgy fungi. However it is something to use as a preventative to help protect your plant from harm and won't help raging LSF. If you have spotted LSF on one plant, treat it now before it totally knackers your entire grow.

The only thing that seems to consistently work to nuke LSF for pretty much everyone on this site who has used it, is Plant Magic Essence. Costs alot and is a right hassle to brew but can be used well into the flowering stage, is non toxic and apparently IT WORKS!

I am unfortunately using Westlands with added John Inns in Veg and all is currently well. However as a precaution I am regularly using Plant Magic Silicon, Plant Magic Essence and regular doses of Piranha. Time will tell if this helps me avoid the dreaded LSF a couple of weeks into flower...