Strange Pest? Can anyone identify this?

I am growing in a coco-perlite mix, and I am in my first week of 12/12 lighting. I just found these strange "scale-like" blobs on the stem of a fan leaf. Is this an insect or insect feces that anyone has seen before? I've attached pictures of the blob at 80x magnification. It seems the larger blob is about 1mm in diameter, and the smaller one is about 0.5mm. When I crushed the larger blob, it seemed it had a hard shell and was filled with white dust of some kind. Please let me know what this is!

0.5mm blob:





1mm blob:






1mm blob crushed (felt like it had a glass-like shell):

Nothing to worry about man. Do you have any signs on your leaves of any bugs?

I have some holes/tears and rust colored spots on some leaves, but I think that is due to physical damage from me SCROGing, a calcium deficiency, and delicate leaves that tear easily due to a few days of 10% humidity. I am really weirded out by these blobs on that one stem, and if it isn't a bug I still would like to know what it is. Any ideas?

just a guess but it looks like the dried nutrients as the plant sweats its probably leaching salts that are drying on the stems

Kipn said:

just a guess but it looks like the dried nutrients as the plant sweats its probably leaching salts that are drying on the stems

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Wow, I had no idea that was possible. I think you nailed it, since it does appear to be the same color as the GH Micro that I'm feeding with and it is also crystalline like a salt. I have white flakes on the tops of fan leaves that comes off very easily if I shake the leaf and looks crystalline too (and it's not on the underside of leaves). Do you think this may also be salts? Are these things common, or is it a sign that something is wrong with my plants?

Pics?

SH420

shrxhky420 said:

Pics?

SH420

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Do you agree that the pictures in the original post could be salts?

It doesn't show up too well in photographs, but here is one picture of a flake:

Here is one zoomed in 80x. They don't all look identical to this though, which is why I don't think it is a bug. Maybe perlite dust? Salts?

beepy1 said:

Wow, I had no idea that was possible. I think you nailed it, since it does appear to be the same color as the GH Micro that I'm feeding with and it is also crystalline like a salt. I have white flakes on the tops of fan leaves that comes off very easily if I shake the leaf and looks crystalline too (and it's not on the underside of leaves). Do you think this may also be salts? Are these things common, or is it a sign that something is wrong with my plants?

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i mean no disrespect but them leaves look fine in the photo if your stressing over that small mark on the leave you are nuts and have too much time on your hands its nothing to stress over id like your camera can i have it if not what is it so i can buy one

Kipn said:

i mean no disrespect but them leaves look fine in the photo if your stressing over that small mark on the leave you are nuts and have too much time on your hands its nothing to stress over id like your camera can i have it if not what is it so i can buy one

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I am not "stressing", and the photo just shows one flake. I couldn't find a photo that shows the many flakes that I am seeing, so I just showed one as an example. I'm asking these questions so I can learn things, not because I have any worry about the plants.

beepy1 said:

I am not "stressing", and the photo just shows one flake. I couldn't find a photo that shows the many flakes that I am seeing, so I just showed one as an example. I'm asking these questions so I can learn things, not because I have any worry about the plants.

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its worth documenting as its not a common thing to see so up close