Chlorotic leaves or yellowing early into the flowering stage - seeking consensus

This is my very first post in this community. Consequently, for my very first indoor grow since I was a kid. While this is my first legitimate grow, I've had the opportunity to observe numerous friends and family start their operations over the past five years or so and therefore I've had the benefit of seeing total failures and many corrective actions yet I'm still one of those guys who has to see it for himself before he believes anything for sure. I'm not going to offer pics or journals just yet as this is more of a request for info than anything else. I consider myself well advise and schooled on this first grow though I'm still learning daily from first hand results. My grow operation is very well funded and setup and I'll leave it that for now unless there are questions until I update my profile on the site.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

I've recently moved my plants from veg to bloom. (4 plants, three strains... two Northern Lights, one Blueberry Cheese Cake and one Chocolope). My cut-over was simple... move plants from veg room to flower room, nute full flower dosage without added N and flip lights to 12/12... no weaning from veg nutes or anything like that. I use synthetics... Soul Synthetics. I did however boost a little P to address valid concerns with stem strength. On the second day of the second week I started to notice that first original FAN leaf connected at the first node of the main stalk on the NLs and the BB was completely yellow with lots of veins.

CURRENT DIAGNOSIS (need some help)

No big panic... I removed the leave to see if it would spread to another leave. One day at a time, one yellow leaf and one pluck... so the symptom is that this appears to be contained to a single new leave each day three days in a row into week 2. Researching this, I came to conclude it was either high pH causing macro lockout or second week flower growth spurt causing the plant to start to cannibalism older leaves for N to complete the spurt. I've tested the pH going in and coming out. 6.2 going in and around 6.5 going out into the trays of each plant, all three strains. I've also checked my pH tester against another one to validate that it's accurate and not screwing me.

Since this was my normal flush feed (clean pH water) in between nutes, I was in a good place so I flushed them with x2 water just to clear the slate before I go adding N or chasing down some phantom deficiency or burn symptom. Before I add supplemental N on the next nute feed, I want to drive consensus about what I think is an N deficiency during week two growth spurt. Factoring in the symptoms and the research I've reported may I please get some input and feedback from the rollitup community?

I realize I may not be in the correct forum as I'm still learning the site. I will start posting pics and journal info if I get a good response. I'll invest in you if you invest in me. Thanks for your consideration and I'm looking forward to sharing more with this group in the future and maybe I'll help you out some time.

I just don't want to go down the rabbit hole of "yellow leaves" and make it worse if there a simple way to know definitively for sure.


Kind regards,

Sheesh420

I flushed with x2 water after posting this. It does not appear to be a burn or def... I'll update with pics and results in the near future.

Hope to get some comments on yellowing during early flower.

Ya, pics would help. Is it just the lower bottom leaves that arent getting any sun? If it is then its probably just normal. If the leaves are coming off easily then its probly ok. If you really have to tug them off then its probably burn. How do you deal with your run off. Does the plant sit in it and reabsorb the water or do you empty the trays theyre in or have a drain to waste system in effect? If its sittin in the run off it could be salt buildup causing lockout. If the ph is fine on the run off then thats eliminated. Have you checked the ppm of the run off...oh ya, you said you just flushed like crazy right? If you would have checked before you flushed and it was at around 2500-3000 ppm it was probly salt build up. If you check it now and its at 15-1800 then thats probly what it was but its all a bunch of speculation until the pics are up. Good luck.

Thank you much for replying. Not able to upload pics until the wife gets home with the USB cable for my Nikon. You may have hit the nail on the head. I was emptying the runoff in veg but I have to water more frequently as of the first week of flower and more conservatively due to being in 3 gals with multiple feedings weekly with little to no run off in the trays.

The last veg feed that I gave them I let the runoff sit and it dried in the tray. I thought of this but figured, 1 DOSE at the end of veg? This very well could be it. Do you think the one flush x2 is enough if it is a pH problem? I have to get a PPM meter this week... only have a pH tester. I don't trust the soil testers.


Veg from clones under 16 4' T5 tubes. Veg after clone transplant is 4 weeks. Soul Sythetics with Orca micros and super thrive weekly, once a week with occasional foliage feeding with just pH 6.3 and super thrive from time to time. 5x10 room empties every three minutes based on intake, exhaust and square footage. Temp is 75-80 with 40-60 humidity fluctuating in a basement. Room is sealed in plastic almost to hospital standards not counting the intake and exhausts.

Flower under 2 Raptor 8 1000s. Natural Co2 induction through a filter. Temp and humidity is constantly regulated at 77 F and 49% humidity. Same nute company with full bloom dosages for weeks 1 and 2 so far with a x2 flush in week 2, today. Added 2-5-0 organic fert. for a little N and some root and stem health on week 1 which contradicts what I said above. All four plants (three strains) have extremely healthy vegetation with 15-20 or more colas. Colas are all perfect shade of green with nice flowers starting to form everywhere.

I'll post some pics later if I can or at some point regardless. Right now, I'm just looking for general feedback from the community on the most common causes of yellowing early into flowering stage so please people KEEP THEM COMING... this isn't a big deal as far as I know but it's something most people misdiagnose according to what I've seen and read. If you saw the plants you'd probably tell me it's no big deal they are that healthy... still I sure would like to know what's up with the trend I'm seeing.

So despite the bad color from the HPS and the fact that I only have one bad leave just starting to go, this doesn't give too much insight into my problem but as you can see they healthy plants at 8 weeks (2 in clone machine, 4 in veg and into 10 days of flowering) and the flowers are developing nicely. I'll get a pic uploaded with HPS off and with one of the leaves ASAP.

here's a full shot of the four...

Ninja the stems are still quite healthy and tough... just the leaves are dying one at a time ... the biggest oldest ones inside the plant towards the bottom.

oops dupe post...


Ninja the stems are still quite healthy and tough... just the leaves are dying one at a time ... the biggest oldest ones inside the plant towards the bottom

Well turns out that my early yellow leaves were due to poor ventilation under the canopy and this was fixed with a small fan rotating under the canopy.

Here is one of the NLs in late week six.



Here is the Blueberry Cheese - simply the best aroma I've ever experienced!!!



Group shots... I'll post some night time shots later tonight.

Not bad for my first grow despite my half-assed journal in my messed up post in the wrong forum