cuban_black23
Member
Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my bottom leaves? On all four plants I have the bottom leaves are turning yellow and some of them are brown and crispy. Rest of the plant is green and healthy.
Yellow leaves
- Thread starter cuban_black23
- Start date
Dogenzengi
Well-Known Member
In my short experience (1 year Newbie)
I Believe the plant balances itself by canibilizing it's older fan leaves.
Once the older larger leaves get less light the plant takes some of the leaves and uses the energy as the leaf dies.
In turn the leaves die pretty quickly, but the rest of the plant is healthy, yes?
The plant keeps itself balanced by doing this " I think"....
I have a few yellow leaves, but only when I flower they look the same as yours.
The above is my hypothesis
Bless,
DZ
I Believe the plant balances itself by canibilizing it's older fan leaves.
Once the older larger leaves get less light the plant takes some of the leaves and uses the energy as the leaf dies.
In turn the leaves die pretty quickly, but the rest of the plant is healthy, yes?
The plant keeps itself balanced by doing this " I think"....
I have a few yellow leaves, but only when I flower they look the same as yours.
The above is my hypothesis
Bless,
DZ
green_machine_two9er
Well-Known Member
dogenzengi is almost there, but its later in flower, that yellowing doesnt make me worry. You dont want to see to much discoloration this early in the growth cycle. yellow leaves near the bottum first sign of N def. what is your nutrient/feeding lineup? my guess is she wants a bit of N. Especially because its all four of your plants.
woody333333
Well-Known Member
^^^^^^^^^
cuban_black23
Member
I'm using tiger bloom. My girls are in week 2 of flower. I water my 3 gallons pots every 3 days and altering feedings every other water
good luck with your grow!woody333333
Well-Known Member
you should pick up the big bloom and a bag of fruit and flower....some castings...... gravy train.........
Squidbilly
Well-Known Member
Other's nailed it on the head...it's the lack of N in your flower nutes. I've made the mistake of switching to flower nutes too soon, however what your experiencing is minimal and IMO no cause for concearn. I almost completely eliminate N after week 4-5, but if I don't give my girls enough for the first couple weeks of 12/12 I'll always see my bottom leaves turing yellow. Better too little N than too much- too much N during flower actually results in lower THC levels overall, so keeping your plants 'green till chop' isn't desirable either. Usally by week 6 all my plants are starting to naturally yellow and turn all sorts of colors, just like the leaves on a tree. After my final two week flush and right before harvest, my plants have a lot of yellow and different colored leaves-a bunch have even fallen off and died at this point. It's natural for leaves to yellow and die towards the end of flower as the plant tries to complete it's life cycle, however it's not desirable this early. Just hit them with veg nutes next time you water, then start doing half veg nutes/half flower nutes, until your back on just the flower nutes. You shouldn't need to supllement any additional N after week 3 or 4. After the stretch, N is barely needed.
Squidbilly
Well-Known Member
One more thing-once leaves are damaged by a deficiency they will not recover, and they often become crispy and die. DON'T pluck them off until they definitely dead- not becaue plucking leaves is bad for the plant, but if your plants are N deficient, and N is a mobil element, your plants are able to take it from one part of the plant and use it where it is needed. If you pluck the yellowing leaves too early, your plant will take it from another leaf, so if you start plucking them because they are ugly, you will make the problem spread much quicker.
green_machine_two9er
Well-Known Member
yes !! if you want fox farm nutes run big bloom whole cycle. has ton of mirco nutes and balances ph. which got me thinking what are you run off ph levels. tiger bloom and foxfarm nues in general are heavily chelated and build up salts over time. can lower ph to point where locks out key nutrients. your could give it as much nutirnets as you want and it would never get any of it.
ps: i gave up fox farm trio about a year ago and looked into ewc and teas. . been the best move of my life.
but Big bloom is all organic and one of my staples.
green_machine_two9er
Well-Known Member
Never knew this. i just thought it caused extra stress to take off damaged leaves. thanks for the new info squidbilly!
Squidbilly
Well-Known Member
Taking off leaves will cause some stress, but in my experience it's minimal-if you have a healthy plant removing up to a 1/3 of it's leaves will have little noticable impact on overall growth. In fact, I am ALWAYS removing leaves during veg and flower, both to prevent crowding and shading and to keep nice air flow through my canopy. When your experiencing an N deficiency, of any other mobile element, it's advisable NOT to remove those leaves until you definitely have the deficiency corrected, otherwise your plant will take the available nitrogen from a different leaf, making the problem 'spread' much quicker. I've made this mistake before and it seams like for every yellow leaf you remove, they would be 2 yellow leaves the next day, lol! It's taking nitrogen from those leaves, so it you remove them too soon, and you haven't corrected the deficiency, it will take it from another leaf.
Squidbilly
Well-Known Member
another tip- always look at new growth when your trying to correct a deficiency. Like I mentioned before, damaged leaves are damaged and will not recover. New growth will tell you if your on the right track. For example, underfed plants in veg will often have streaky purple stems and veins in their leaves-this purple will never go away, it may fade slightly as the plant grows, but once you have corrected the the deficiency all the new growth should look healhty and green, and the new stems/veins will be green and healthy also. Thats just an example
Squidbilly
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't go to crazy with increasing N. Just hit it a few times with some 'veg' nutes and you should be right back on track. Once your plants are done stretching, you need very little N and your bloom nutes should be fine. Sometimes lower leaves that are constantly in the shade will yellow regaurdless of what you do. If they aren't getting enough sunlight they become a burden on the plant to keep alive-they require energy to stay alive, and if they aren't getting a lot of light they become more of an energy drain than an energy source. These lower leaves are often refered to as 'water leaves' and the plant keeps them around as water and nutrient reserves. When the plant has more than enough leaves to complete photosynthesis and protect against natural deficiencies and draught, it sometimes start to shed these lower 'un-needed' leaves naturally.
This is also a reason why complete defoliation is risky, more than detremental to bud size and development- if you remove all or way too many of your leaves, you'll have no 'buffer' in case of draught(like forgetting to water one night) or deficiencies. Leaves aren't just for photosythesis, they are also energy stores/reserves for your plant. If they need something your not giving them, they will try to get it themselves
If you've got a N deficiency and you pluck the yellowing leaves, it will get it from another one.
This is also a reason why complete defoliation is risky, more than detremental to bud size and development- if you remove all or way too many of your leaves, you'll have no 'buffer' in case of draught(like forgetting to water one night) or deficiencies. Leaves aren't just for photosythesis, they are also energy stores/reserves for your plant. If they need something your not giving them, they will try to get it themselves
If you've got a N deficiency and you pluck the yellowing leaves, it will get it from another one.woody333333
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't go to crazy with increasing N. Just hit it a few times with some 'veg' nutes and you should be right back on track. Once your plants are done stretching, you need very little N and your bloom nutes should be fine. Sometimes lower leaves that are constantly in the shade will yellow regaurdless of what you do. If they aren't getting enough sunlight they become a burden on the plant to keep alive-they require energy to stay alive, and if they aren't getting a lot of light they become more of an energy drain than an energy source. These lower leaves are often refered to as 'water leaves' and the plant keeps them around as water and nutrient reserves. When the plant has more than enough leaves to complete photosynthesis and protect against natural deficiencies and draught, it sometimes start to shed these lower 'un-needed' leaves naturally.
This is also a reason why complete defoliation is risky, more than detremental to bud size and development- if you remove all or way too many of your leaves, you'll have no 'buffer' in case of draught(like forgetting to water one night) or deficiencies. Leaves aren't just for photosythesis, they are also energy stores/reserves for your plant. If they need something your not giving them, they will try to get it themselves
feed those plants right and those leaves will go green again..... I stopped reading what you said somewhere around that..... its just bs.... they might have a little damage but I could make those ones dark green again.....
woody333333
Well-Known Member
I take it back..... not those ones theyre too far gone.... but just because a leaf fades doesn't mean it will never be healthy again....
LetsGetCritical
Well-Known Member
this is so true. its hard not to pluck them but that is what happens if you do
Squidbilly
Well-Known Member
LOL, I didn't realize this for quite some time