Almost Week 9 Flower, Deficiency or Plant Finishing?

Hey, hoping to get some insight. My grow is coming up on Week 9 of flower (~Week 11 from 12/12 flip), two of them have been developing some leaf symptoms over the last week+ that I'd welcome some opinions on. These are the first leaf-based symptoms these plants have given me at all throughout the entire grow, which is making me question whether or not this is deficiency/overfeeding or just the plant finishing up its lifecycle. I'll be more specific about each of the issues I'm looking at below with pics, but first maybe a brief overview of my grow conditions would be helpful -

- 3 plants in a 2x4 space rather tightly fit. indica domincant strains mostly I think (Love Potion, Gorilla Glue and Zkittlez)
- 1x 240w Samsung LED Board and an amazon Cree COB light
- grown in coco/perlite mix, 5gal fabric pots
- I've been fertigating minimum 1x per day throughout the entire flower cycle, sometimes 2-4x per day. I always water untill I get some runoff which is cleared out right away for the most part.
- Night time temperatures can drop as low as about 15.5 decrees celcius in my basement where the tent is for a few hours, day time I've measured the highest around 30C, I can typically keep it between 22C - 27C.
- For nutrients I'm using Innovative Garden Products 'High Output Garden' which comes in Grow, Micro and Bloom solutions that you blend a ratio of as per the stage of the plant. I've been using these as baseline nutes with some Advanced Nutrients Supplements, Big Bud Coco was used for first 5-6 weeks of flower, I've been adding Overdrive since, Bud Candy in small doses most of the time along the way as well. I have been adding Sensi CalMag to my feeds for the entire grow at roughly 2ml/L.
- I started my plants around 1.5 EC at start of flower, a couple weeks ago I had them up as high as 2.5-3.0 for a while. I was measuring runoff to see if things were staying consistent and as far as I could tell the plants seemed to be fine, but there got to be a point where I noticed the leaves either getting a little crispy or pointing up/down and I got worried so I backed off to the current feed strength which has been between ~1.2-1.6. I usually float PH between ~5.7 - 6.3 every few waterings to get access to different nutrient absorption sweet spots. I use the tap water of my major canadian city which is known for having great water for drinking at least, EC out of the tap is about 0.4 / ~180ppm.

The leaf problems have been persisting however so now I'm trying to get some answers. If I forgot any useful info please just ask. Also I'm sorry, but I had to use my LED lights as a light source as the area is too dark without them to photograph, any other supplement lighting would have been more leds...

PROBLEM PLANT #1 - Love Potion - Leaf Necrosis, early finish?

This girl grew the most normal looking buds of my three plants, now the main cola (some of the others are starting to follow suit) has having its leaves crisping up and dying on it. The buds still have plenty of white/yellowish pistil action happening and the trichomes are mostly cloudy with very few to no amber ones yet, this is why I am hesitating to think that the leaf necrosis is coming from end of life as I'd best guess she could still use another week or two (or more) to mature. Also noticed little burnt tips on many satellite bud leafs. The way the big leaves are decaying looks a lot like CalMag issues I see pictures of, i hesitate to think that's the case just because I've been keeping on top of the calmag but who knows.




PROBLEM PLANT #2 - Gorilla Glue - brown edges, crispy leaves, thin colas

This girl has grown some of the frostiest buds I've ever seen up close, I've been really excited for her. One thing that struck me as odd is I've been waiting for the colas on this thing to fatten up forever and they just don't seem to have the intention to. All the tops have decent looking buds on them, and the satellites have been developing pretty nicely as well, but nothing fattened out the way the above plant did or I generally expect them to. The trichome coverage in places is really quite insane, and an important note with her is that roughly 5-10% of the trichomes have turned amber at this point and it's climbing slowly day by day, which suggests to me that she's probably on her last stretch here and her symptoms may in fact be just finishing up the life cycle. Her deal, aside from not growing that fat at the colas, is her top leaves are browning at the edges, crisping and pointing up.




PROBLEM (maybe no problem?) PLANT #3 - Zkittlez - strange buds, leaves clawing up

This plant just grew strange, to the point where I'm thinking the genetics are just wilding out and I got a black sheep seed. The buds that this plant has been forming are pretty odd, long and thin. Nice and frosty, but still weird as hell, looks nothing like any picture of a Zkittlez plant I can find. The tops almost all have a little 'crown' bud in the middle on top surrounded by about 3 sausage like things poking up in various directions. One of the colas (pictured below) just has a thin perpetual top crown of pistils that hasn't changed in about 2-3 weeks. The trichomes on this plant are mostly cloudy with very very few turned amber. The leaves aren't discoloring on her at this time but they are a little crispy and clawing up.



--


So... what do you think. Are my girls acting up because they're old and wanna go or do I have some chemistry to do?

I'd say chemistry. I burnt the piss out of some autos in flower not long ago that did the same things. Leaves dying, browning crumbling, clawing up and down. Nitrogen toxicity was my prob. Everywhere I read said to yank em and start over. I didnt and managed to save them by flushing a couple of times. The worst one of the group tasted like hot sick dead ass. As far as the edges curling toward center of the leaf, my best guess would be heat stress. I vote backing off on the nutes a bit for the remainder. You should be at the flushing point being at week 9. Hope it helps.

Blindeye said:

I'd say chemistry. I burnt the piss out of some autos in flower not long ago that did the same things. Leaves dying, browning crumbling, clawing up and down. Nitrogen toxicity was my prob. Everywhere I read said to yank em and start over. I didnt and managed to save them by flushing a couple of times. The worst one of the group tasted like hot sick dead ass. As far as the edges curling toward center of the leaf, my best guess would be heat stress. I vote backing off on the nutes a bit for the remainder. You should be at the flushing point being at week 9. Hope it helps.

Click to expand...

That makes sense, thanks. This is the first grow i've done both with half-proper measuring tools for the nutrients and ph w/ daily coco fertigating so I've been charting some new waters with the doses. I'll probably opt for a lighter feeding routine next round to see how that pans out in comparison.

Id say drop maybe a 1/4 of what your giving em. If they're super deep green, they got lots of nitrogen. I hadnt tried coco. Ive Been using regular miracle gro potting mix. I've read bad stuff on it, but there is a trick to using the stuff.

Here are some common problems when marijuana leaves are curling.

Many of your leaves are curling. Id say much of your problem is overfertilization.

Also have they ever gotten bone Dry?? If yes, when they get really dry, this concentrates the fertilizer, and when watered/fed again it burns them because you have rehydrated concentrated fertilizer, and if you have also fed them at this time creates a double trouble situation.

1. Too much marijuana fertilizer
   The most common cause of marijuana leaf cupping aka leaf margin rolling, leaf margin burn, and leaf tip curl/burn is overzealous use of marijuana plant food. In relationship to factors such as marijuana plant vigor and rate of growth. Leaf burn is often the very first sign of too much marijuana fertilizer.
   A hard, crispy feel to the marijuana leaf frequently occurs as well, as opposed to a soft and cool feel of a happy pot leaf. Back off on the amount and/or frequency of using marijuana fertilizer. Too much marijuana fertilizer can also burn the roots, especially the sensitive root tips, which then creates another set of problems. Note - as soil dries, the concentration of the remaining salts rises further exacerbating the problem.
2. High Heat
   The marijuana plant is losing water via it’s leaves faster than what can be replaced by the root system. The marijuana leaf responds by leaf margin cupping or rolling up or down (most times up) in order to conserve moisture. A good example is reflected by the appearance of broad-bladed turf grass on a hot summer day, high noon, with low soil moisture levels - the leaf blade will roll upward/inward with the grass taking on a dull, greyish-green appearance. Upon sunrise when moisture levels have returned to normal, the leaf blade will be flat. Lower the heat in the marijuana grow-op and concentrate on developing a large robust root system. An efficient and effective root system will go a long way to prevent heat induced pot leaf dessication or marijuana leaf margin curling. One short episode of high heat is enough to permanently disable or destroy leaf tissue and cause a general decline in the leaves affected, which often occurs to leaves found at the top of the cannabis plant. The damaged pot leaf (usually) does not fully recover, no matter what you do. Bummer in the summer. One can only look to new growth for indications that the problem has been corrected.
3. Too much light
   Yes, it’s true, you can give your marijuana plant too much light. Cannabis does not receive full sun from sunrise to sunset in its natural state. It is shaded or given reduced light levels because of adjacent plant material, cloudy conditions, rain, dust, twilight periods in the morning and late afternoon, and light intensity changes caused by a change in the seasons. Too much light mainly serves to bleach out and destroy chlorophyll as opposed to causing marijuana leaf cupping, but it often goes hand-in-hand with high heat for indoor marijuana growers. Turn down the time when the lights on in your marijuana grow room. If you're using a 24 hr cycle, turn it down to 20 hrs. Those on 18 - 6 marijuana growth cycle can turn their lights down two or three hours. Too much light can have many adverse effects on marijuana plants. Concentrate on developing/maintaining an efficient and robust root system.
4. Over Watering
   For marijuana growers using soil, this practice only serves to weaken the root system by depriving the roots of proper gas exchange. The marijuana plants roots are not getting enough oxygen which creates an anerobic condition inducing root rot and root decline with the end result showing up as leaf stress, stunted growth, and in severe cases, death. Over watering creates a perfect environment for damp-off disease, at, or below the soil line. Many times marijuana growers believe their cannabis plant is not getting enough marijuana fertilizers (which it can't under such adverse conditions), so they add more marijuana fertilizers. Making the problem worst. Not better. Often problem 1 and 4 go together. Too much marijuana fertilizer combined with too much water. Creating plenty of marijuana plant problems.
5. Not Enough Water
   Not only is the marijuana plant now stressed due to a low supply of adequate moisture, but carbohydrate production has been greatly compromised (screwed up). Step up the watering frequency, and if need be, organic marijuana growers may need to water from the bottom up until moisture levels reach a norm throughout the medium. One of the best methods in determining whether a marijuana plant requires watering is lifting the pots. The pots should be light to lift before a water session. After watering the marijuana plants lift the pots to get an understanding how heavy they've become fully watered. If the pot feels light to the lift - it’s time to water. Don’t wait until the soil pulls away from the side of the pot before watering. And of course, leach, once in a while to get rid of excess salts. These are the five most common problems marijuana growers encounter when growing cannabis. Correcting the problems early will save the marijuana plants, but may reduce overall yield.

jimihendrix1 said:

Here are some common problems when marijuana leaves are curling.

Many of your leaves are curling. Id say much of your problem is overfertilization.

Also have they ever gotten bone Dry?? If yes, when they get really dry, this concentrates the fertilizer, and when watered/fed again it burns them because you have rehydrated concentrated fertilizer, and if you have also fed them at this time creates a double trouble situation.

Click to expand...

I think I've managed to keep them wet always, but over fertilizing seems like it just might be the case. I read everywhere "never go only water" when it comes to watering plants in coco so my plan is to flush these girls out with a really low concentration, maybe like 0.2 EC above tap water to see if I can't save these things from an early cut.

I need to fkush my plant got bad nitogen toxicty should i do 5his before lights out or during light oms

Bro those things are done, chop em now

You got light burn, heatstress anda nute burn. Pretty much you overdid everything those are the funkiest looking things i've ever seen

And their ripe ase they Will ever be

Yeah 3.0 ec is wildly high, like double normal.

Ummm ….

Last response on dead thread was in 2020 …. Soooooooooo

Plants either were smoked or they were so fucked up it killed OP.

I guess i don't pay attention to dates or much of anything after a couple of dabs of gg4. Question is did dr sprout survive smoking that stuff?

And dr sprout if you're still alive. Fox farm sucks with coco when i switch to coco i was using fox farms and i couldn't get my shit balanced to save my life or better yet my plants lives until i switched to advanced nutrients all gravy after that

Those bud formations are foxtails and can either be genetic or heat/light induced. A lot of perfectly fine strains will kick off little foxtail calyces towards the end of flowering and they can add some serious heft to your buds.
Im guessing you did everything a couple notches too extreme. I wouldn’t give up though….they are still producing calyces and spitting off thick white pistils. But some change is in order.
Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can chime in…..but I’d start by clipping off all the dead and close to dead leaves. This will give u a better idea of the actual flower development.
Raise your light or dial it down a notch or three.
I don’t use coco but reduce the rocket fuel down to the bare minimum.
This may give them a chance to sober up and finish out.
Don’t worry about the foxtail buds:…they smoke just fine and are every bit as potent. Some cultures call it “dreadlocking” or “king’s crowning” and it’s a good thing.
There is bad foxtailing too but I don’t think yours are at that level….at least on the last plant.
Good luck….