Bottom leaves yellowing and falling off

doobnVA

Well-Known Member
I've read conflicting opinions on this. Basically, it's the very bottom 2 sets of leaves on some 3.5 wk old plants. The single bladed leaf and the 3 bladed leaf on the node directly above that are very slowly going yellow, drying up, and falling off. Other than that, the plants are doing wonderfully - new growth is green and healthy and all plants are about 4-5 inches high and working on their 7th nodes. Unidentified strain, but all plants are visibly indica dominant (one moreso than the others...this one is getting a mild LST treatment to allow more light to the secondary shoots that have sprouted at each node) and I'm suspecting something of a purple variety due to coloring on the main stalks.

Should I worry about the yellowing lower leaves? I've heard these bottom leaves have a tendency to fall off anyway, and as long as the plant is otherwise healthy it doesn't signify any particular problem.

What does everyone think?
 

hippiepudz024

Well-Known Member
Your problem is that your plant need nutrient, Also if the stem is purple that means a ph deficiency in your plant, so first you need to buy some veg nutrient( fox farm Grow Big is a great vegetative nutrient supplement if your doing soil, and if your doing hydro I would recommend something organic in hydro nutrients if u can find them) then you need to buy a PH kit and set the ph of ur plant at 5.5 to 6.5 And if you buy fox farm grow big for soil, give your plant a half teaspoon per gallon and your plant will spring back to life, also in soil when you water your plant NEVER give nutrient water twice in a row , always feed one watering, then next watering just water with plain water that is PH steady
 

doobnVA

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the replies =)

Is it worth the trouble of trying to get more light to the leaves that are yellowing, or are they unimportant in the grand scheme of things? Also, why would one plant out of five be getting all this secondary growth around the nodes, while the other four have none at all? The one in question has been under LST for a few weeks and the others haven't. I chose this one because it was naturally shorter with much fatter leaves than the others. Why don't the others have this secondary growth? Is it the LST or is it just genetics?
 
all plants grow different speeds and if you get rid of the small leaves and stocks around the bottom of your plant is a fairly good idea since they will not bear fruit anyway doing this helps promote more energy to the top of the plant also known as lollipopping but i would not start snipping and clipping until the plant is bigger and mature.
 

nraged

Well-Known Member
Your problem is that your plant need nutrient, Also if the stem is purple that means a ph deficiency in your plant, so first you need to buy some veg nutrient( fox farm Grow Big is a great vegetative nutrient supplement if your doing soil, and if your doing hydro I would recommend something organic in hydro nutrients if u can find them) then you need to buy a PH kit and set the ph of ur plant at 5.5 to 6.5 And if you buy fox farm grow big for soil, give your plant a half teaspoon per gallon and your plant will spring back to life, also in soil when you water your plant NEVER give nutrient water twice in a row , always feed one watering, then next watering just water with plain water that is PH steady
I agree with Bacon IT Shouldnt need Nutrients this early assuming you have soil with ferts in it. As far as the purple stem this guy should no its very common for seedlings to have purple stems. INstead of him telling you to purchase fox farms and douse your plants up with nutes he should do a little more research himself. The seed will provide the plant with nutrients the first few weeks of growth. Ocean forrest has enough nutes for first month of growth. You also mentioned your lsting your plants. Purple stems and main stalk is common in lst your putting your plants under stress and there showing you. I wouldnt go thinking its a purple strain due to these signs. Im sure this is a big misconception for new growers that are lsting bag seed. Hey it must be purp.
 

doobnVA

Well-Known Member
Your problem is that your plant need nutrient, Also if the stem is purple that means a ph deficiency in your plant, so first you need to buy some veg nutrient( fox farm Grow Big is a great vegetative nutrient supplement if your doing soil, and if your doing hydro I would recommend something organic in hydro nutrients if u can find them) then you need to buy a PH kit and set the ph of ur plant at 5.5 to 6.5 And if you buy fox farm grow big for soil, give your plant a half teaspoon per gallon and your plant will spring back to life, also in soil when you water your plant NEVER give nutrient water twice in a row , always feed one watering, then next watering just water with plain water that is PH steady
The plants are fine, they're growing like weeds :joint:, it's just the very bottom leaves that are turning yellow. They're planted in some really nice organic soil I found that has composted chicken poops in it - plus I put a layer of compost at the bottom of the pots. The top layer of soil is mixed with sphagnum, vermiculite, and perlite because this was what my seedlings were orignally planted in - they just got transplanted to the chicken poop mix a few days ago. When I transplanted them, I put some ground up eggshells in for good measure and watered with a very diluted skim milk and cinnamon concoction (keeps the fungus and the fungus gnats away and the milk is good for calcium and phosphorous and the gnats just don't like cinnamon).

These babies should have all they need for being 3.5 weeks old. I wasn't planning on adding any more until they've assimilated to the compost layer of the soil, at least.

I'm using a t5 and a whole bunch of cfls but the plants are so short that it's hard to believe light isn't getting to those leaves - especially since I've made it a point to get them light since I've noticed the yellowing.
 

nraged

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the replies =)

Is it worth the trouble of trying to get more light to the leaves that are yellowing, or are they unimportant in the grand scheme of things? Also, why would one plant out of five be getting all this secondary growth around the nodes, while the other four have none at all? The one in question has been under LST for a few weeks and the others haven't. I chose this one because it was naturally shorter with much fatter leaves than the others. Why don't the others have this secondary growth? Is it the LST or is it just genetics?
Its the lst its forming more main stalks those will all putrude out of the node intersections. the others will show growth as it gets older and starts to flower. The lst plant thinks its damaged and is trying to speed up growth to ensure it survival and the new growth your seeing is the new stalks forming.
 

doobnVA

Well-Known Member
all plants grow different speeds and if you get rid of the small leaves and stocks around the bottom of your plant is a fairly good idea since they will not bear fruit anyway doing this helps promote more energy to the top of the plant also known as lollipopping but i would not start snipping and clipping until the plant is bigger and mature.
That makes sense. One question: will new shoots grow where the others died off?
 

doobnVA

Well-Known Member
Its the lst its forming more main stalks those will all putrude out of the node intersections. the others will show growth as it gets older and starts to flower. The lst plant thinks its damaged and is trying to speed up growth to ensure it survival and the new growth your seeing is the new stalks forming.

Hmmm, makes me want to go bend the rest of those babies over :hump::hump::hump::hump:

Know what I mean?

It never even occurred to me until I was typing up the part about the new shoots on the LST plant that it could be a result of the LST! I mean, DUH, the whole point of LST is to trick the plant into growing more colas, right? I guess maybe I should lay off the :joint:

I think I'll fashion up some sort of cannabis torture rack this afternoon and tie the rest of them up. They've been practicing a little already, as I've been pinching the stems and bending them around since they were first sprouted.
 

nraged

Well-Known Member
The plants are fine, they're growing like weeds :joint:, it's just the very bottom leaves that are turning yellow. They're planted in some really nice organic soil I found that has composted chicken poops in it - plus I put a layer of compost at the bottom of the pots. The top layer of soil is mixed with sphagnum, vermiculite, and perlite because this was what my seedlings were orignally planted in - they just got transplanted to the chicken poop mix a few days ago. When I transplanted them, I put some ground up eggshells in for good measure and watered with a very diluted skim milk and cinnamon concoction (keeps the fungus and the fungus gnats away and the milk is good for calcium and phosphorous and the gnats just don't like cinnamon).

These babies should have all they need for being 3.5 weeks old. I wasn't planning on adding any more until they've assimilated to the compost layer of the soil, at least.

I'm using a t5 and a whole bunch of cfls but the plants are so short that it's hard to believe light isn't getting to those leaves - especially since I've made it a point to get them light since I've noticed the yellowing.
Hmmm probably should have posted this info first they may be slightly burning from introducing them to the new soil with chicken ferts in them. Could also be its growing and using energy out of first leave sets to promote more growth. A leaf or two that is yellow is normal while the plant grows when your seeing alot you have to worry.
 

nraged

Well-Known Member
Hmmm, makes me want to go bend the rest of those babies over :hump::hump::hump::hump:

Know what I mean?

It never even occurred to me until I was typing up the part about the new shoots on the LST plant that it could be a result of the LST! I mean, DUH, the whole point of LST is to trick the plant into growing more colas, right? I guess maybe I should lay off the :joint:

I think I'll fashion up some sort of cannabis torture rack this afternoon and tie the rest of them up. They've been practicing a little already, as I've been pinching the stems and bending them around since they were first sprouted.
Well if you do tie more down see if those leaf stems and the main stem show purple especially if there green currently then you will know your purple is being caused by lst. Not a nute problem or purp strain.
 

doobnVA

Well-Known Member
Well, the chicken poops were mixed into the organic soil I bought and the bag says it's "composted chicken manure" and makes up a relatively small percentage of the soil mixture.

The yellowing actually began before the transplant. Prior to that, they were growing in sphagnum/vermiculite/perlite in 5 inch pots with the bottom 1/4 filled with a "cool" compost. other than that, they haven't had any fertilizers. There was one incidence of overwatering when I went on vacation for a few days and gave them too much to drink before I left. Only 2 plants were really affected - one showed some yellowing which turned into brown spots on the first set of 5 bladed leaves and another had some yellowing that never progressed to browning. These were allowed to dry out thoroughly and have regained most of their green color where they could.

The purpling in the stems is constant on all the plants, not just the one that's been LST'ed.
 

nraged

Well-Known Member
Purple could be from being young then as well. But if your lucky you got a good strain growing :)
 
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