Poor leaf health near harvest; leaves curling down with edges curled up.

[LetEmTree]

I think it is about week 8 or 9 of 12/12 on these plants I've been growing and finally decided I should get help.. tho it may be too late to do much about it. I haven't been able to do much with these plants at all lately but water when I could, but I want to get them healthier if possible now.

There's been a lot of leaf loss in the past few weeks, that I just trim away, and the leaves are currently very dry and stiff. As you can see from the pictures, a lot of the leaves have an intense curl upwards towards the edges, while the rest of the leaf will curl down altogether. From what I've read this is most likely a combination of problems.

For what I've been doing recently:

two plants (unknown genetics) in 4 gallon-ish pots
light: single 400 watt HPS
feed: 15-30-15 miracle-gro water soluble bloom booster (terrible I know)
water: once a week about 2 liters, and once each day about 8oz (drip system)

One thing I did notice this week that I haven't before, was the appearance of small bugs around the soil and near the leaves. They had wings and were flying around a bit, and I have no idea how they got in there (the enclosure is closed off). I don't think if I can blame them entirely for the poor plant health.

I do think my problem is over-watering. From the beginning I was starving the plants but since it's gotten colder, I've noticed the soil staying wet longer. Perhaps the plants are getting cold? I threw in a heater on a thermostat to heat up to 72F ( I noticed temps range from 59-85). As far as PH goes, I just got a cheap meter and noticed its running at just under 7. So I think I should be okay there. I have no clue about ppm but I use tap water. The water here is not hard though; everything runs through a water softener.

On the other hand, I understand my nute regiment is far from ideal; and perhaps have gone overboard on the last couple feedings. I actually fed them the first time 3 weeks into flowering, skipped a week, and then proceeded last week and now this week. At this point, It may actually be time to start flushing as I can see some amber strands already.

Anyway.. you be the judge; help me out!



Also.. slightly unrelated, but there are more than a few very undeveloped bud sites on the lower leaves of the plant. It's like they started at some point, but never really took off. If I harvest the mature buds and trim the plant up, will it give a chance for the lower bud sites to mature? Or if nothing has happened with them yet, should I not expect much more?

 

[Mother's Finest]

Here's an example of Potassium deficiency during flowering:

 

[LetEmTree]

So does this really look like a K deficiency? Is it because I'm not feeding it enough K or is it possibly being locked up by something else?

 

[Mother's Finest]

I'm not sure- the reason I just posted the pic. The leaf curling looks similar. The other thing I'd say it looks like would be heat stress but since it tops out at 85, I didn't mention it.

 

[nl5882]

I'd just start flushing with water. since alot of plants fall into that flowerring time anyways. The pistils is just letting you know the plant is really mature, but you have to check the Trich's for harvesting time. And i'd say the look underwatered as overwatered usually doesnt have leaf curling unless, u have heat stress also. But it looks like a few other probs.. Just pay a little closer to ur babies next time

 

[keep it real.]

looks like slight nute burn or salt build up i would just flush her really good with 3x the pot size and let her dry and see if it gets better. i would not add anything until she has dried out and see if it gets better.

 

[Snow Crash]

No. It looks like a Nitrogen Toxicity. Those leaves are super lush green. REALLY green. A build up of NH4+ and NO3- can impact how all elements are absorbed which could show Phosphate (PO4-) deficiency or a Potassium (K+) deficiency.

Flush them now. Might as well anyway. Keep an eye on those trichomes and watch for the clear heads to be <10% of them. I don't go off of Amber or Cloudy. Just try to keep about 1 clear Trichome for every 9 not clear trichomes.

 

[LetEmTree]

No. It looks like a Nitrogen Toxicity. Those leaves are super lush green. REALLY green. A build up of NH4+ and NO3- can impact how all elements are absorbed which could show Phosphate (PO4-) deficiency or a Potassium (K+) deficiency.

Flush them now. Might as well anyway. Keep an eye on those trichomes and watch for the clear heads to be <10% of them. I don't go off of Amber or Cloudy. Just try to keep about 1 clear Trichome for every 9 not clear trichomes.

That's more of what I was thinking.. I just fed them again a very light dose of nutes before posting last night. Should I go ahead and water over that? I've afraid I'll be drowning the roots at this point if I haven't been already.

About heat stress, I suppose that's a possibility as well, but I can't do a whole lot about it. My enclosure is tight and can't move my plants much farther from the light as it is. I did raise it just a tad but they're still within about 1.5-2ft from the lights.

Oh and.. if I'm flushing, how much water? and should I go tap (as I have been) or bottled?

 

[Snow Crash]

Well, if you just fed them I'd give them a day or two.

Then take 2 gallons of water for every 1 gallon of soil. Run this water through the soil 16 ounces at a time (use a party cup). Try to go slow and steady.

The run off should be basically clear when the soil is clean. This might take 4 or 5 gallons of water per gallon of soil, so make sure you have plenty of water on hand.

And yes, standard tap water is fine. You'll want to leave it out for 24 hours to allow the chloramines to off gas and pH Balance it to 6.5 before using.

You'll probably want to do this in a shower or bath tub. Wherever there is a drain will work. Once the plant is flushed just let that girl go. No more food, no more water. If the soil goes dry, let it go dry. This will induce stress on your plant late in flowering that can increase turpin and trichome production. From the look of your plants you're probably around 10 days away from harvest. So 2 more days, flush, then a good week of just chilling out should work out perfectly. If the soil does go dry, and the plant still needs a day or two, try turning off the lights and letting her sit in the dark for a few days. This will decrease water needs while still allowing the plant to mature to that perfect point.

 

[LetEmTree]

I was never able to flush them as much as I'd like, but it is definitely harvest time. Thing is, only the upper most buds look 'ready' while several of the lower buds seem fairly undeveloped and have mostly white hairs, as opposed to the very red/brown hairs on the top most nodes.

Is it OK to harvest the top half of each plant, the then harvest the bottom half in a week or so when the buds mature a little more?

Also.. I noticed the appearance of more bugs since when I checked last.. I had a bucket of water (for a little more humidity) and noticed like 10 or more of these flies in the water, all dead, and just a couple around the soil. They are fairly small, maybe 3-5mm in length, and have a thin, elongated body. Are they anything to worry about, especially that it's almost harvest time? I do usually spray the leaves with tap water every now and then as I hear it helps.