dropping many bottom leaves in early flower. is this normal?

densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
Hello, novice grower here. Not panicking, but wondering if I should be concerned.

I'm about two weeks into 12/12 and I have a plant losing a lot of her bottom leaves all at once. Looks like she's cannibalizing herself somewhat.
Top growth is looking great though. Good vigor, very green and lots of pistils coming in. starting to smell fantastic.
I'm assuming it's a lockout or deficiency, though my watering and feeding has not significantly changed.

This plant is growing in 5 gallons of FoxFarm OceanForest, fabric smartpot.
I have good temps (low-mid 70's consistantly)
humidity stays between %40-%55
good airflow in the tent and I don't overwater.
I'm feeding:
Biogold Organic Bonsai fertilizer, water soluble (3-4-3) meant for bonsai trees I know but still seems and smells like premium stuff.
A minimal amount of "GrowMore Maxi-Cal" to supplement with some calcium and trace elements
Watering with gallons of RO or springwater from the store. as our tapwater is very alkalinic and I just don't trust it.

Judging by my leaves here, what does the problem look like to you?
This picture shows the early/mid stage of how the bottoms leaves are dying off.
 

Attachments

Dontjudgeme

Dontjudgeme

Well-Known Member
densefoggyforest said:
Hello, novice grower here. Not panicking, but wondering if I should be concerned.

I'm about two weeks into 12/12 and I have a plant losing a lot of her bottom leaves all at once. Looks like she's cannibalizing herself somewhat.
Top growth is looking great though. Good vigor, very green and lots of pistils coming in. starting to smell fantastic.
I'm assuming it's a lockout or deficiency, though my watering and feeding has not significantly changed.

This plant is growing in 5 gallons of FoxFarm OceanForest, fabric smartpot.
I have good temps (low-mid 70's consistantly)
humidity stays between %40-%55
good airflow in the tent and I don't overwater.
I'm feeding:
Biogold Organic Bonsai fertilizer, water soluble (3-4-3) meant for bonsai trees I know but still seems and smells like premium stuff.
A minimal amount of "GrowMore Maxi-Cal" to supplement with some calcium and trace elements
Watering with gallons of RO or springwater from the store. as our tapwater is very alkalinic and I just don't trust it.

Judging by my leaves here, what does the problem look like to you?
This picture shows the early/mid stage of how the bottoms leaves are dying off.
Click to expand...

That leaf looks a little burned. FFOF is pretty solid on its own without feeding anything additional, unless you bypassed the time the nutrients have been depleted from the soil, you could get away with bottle feeding. How does the whole plant look compared to that leaf? Any pics?
 
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
Sure, this was from october 14th so it's a few days dated but the leaves look about the same.

I should mention that the soil is only *mostly* FFOF, i mixed in some "black gold" seedling mix about three weeks back when I transplanted up to a 5-gallon. Needed some filler. There's pretty much no nutrients or soil life in that stuff I believe, but the moisture retention seems good.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
densefoggyforest said:
Hello, novice grower here. Not panicking, but wondering if I should be concerned.

I'm about two weeks into 12/12 and I have a plant losing a lot of her bottom leaves all at once. Looks like she's cannibalizing herself somewhat.
Top growth is looking great though. Good vigor, very green and lots of pistils coming in. starting to smell fantastic.
I'm assuming it's a lockout or deficiency, though my watering and feeding has not significantly changed.

This plant is growing in 5 gallons of FoxFarm OceanForest, fabric smartpot.
I have good temps (low-mid 70's consistantly)
humidity stays between %40-%55
good airflow in the tent and I don't overwater.
I'm feeding:
Biogold Organic Bonsai fertilizer, water soluble (3-4-3) meant for bonsai trees I know but still seems and smells like premium stuff.
A minimal amount of "GrowMore Maxi-Cal" to supplement with some calcium and trace elements
Watering with gallons of RO or springwater from the store. as our tapwater is very alkalinic and I just don't trust it.

Judging by my leaves here, what does the problem look like to you?
This picture shows the early/mid stage of how the bottoms leaves are dying off.
Click to expand...
I ran Happy Frog which performed like a champ for two months and then clang! Multiple deficiencies.
I treated it like soilless hydro from that point on. I used GH 3-part.
That brought my plants to harvest.
 
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
I'm also spraying the front left branch/shoots with colloidal silver (this is an S1 seed run)
so that's why it's slightly discolored there and a few leaves are curling. those problems are just isolated to that area (i keep it well-seperated with a big plastic bag when I spray) so I don't believe that's tied to her bottom leaves (all over the plant) having the issue
 
Last edited:
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
cannabineer said:
I ran Happy Frog which performed like a champ for two months and then clang! Multiple deficiencies.
I treated it like soilless hydro from that point on. I used GH 3-part.
That brought my plants to harvest.
Click to expand...
I'm hesitant to add synthetic bloom nutes - I don't want to salt the soil too much. I want to compost it when I'm done
 
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
7CardBud said:
If you have a dense canopy or an underpowered light the large lower fan leaves that get almost zero light will start to drop pretty fast right after stretch.
Click to expand...
Ah okay, that is something I was wondering about, thanks. Yes those leaves dying were getting pretty much no light as the canopy is dense indeed, and I'm running a "600" watt led (I don't believe it's actually 600 watts, was less than $100 on amazon) I thought a cheap light might get me through since this is only in a 2x2
 
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
cannabineer said:
Hesitant or opposed on principle? If the latter, I know next to nothing about organic. We have a good organic grower forum, and I’d ask them.
Click to expand...
Just hesitant, not completely opposed. If the problem gets worse, and I felt more certain that I needed a quick supplement to save a flowering plant, I'd use hydro nutes.
But i also don't want to be adding anything unless I know it's a full-on deficiency in the soil and not a lockout
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
densefoggyforest said:
Ah okay, that is something I was wondering about, thanks. Yes those leaves dying were getting pretty much no light as the canopy is dense indeed, and I'm running a "600" watt led (I don't believe it's actually 600 watts, was less than $100 on amazon) I thought a cheap light might get me through since this is only in a 2x2
Click to expand...
When you double your light output, you’ll be in a position to determine how the soil is behaving.
 
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
Thanks for the responses so far everyone
I'll get either a new, or second light in that tent eventually. The one I've got is bright for sure, but could be moreso. definitely room for improvement there.
 
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
7CardBud said:
Those Chinamart Blurple LEDs are usually like 1/10 the watts advertised.
Click to expand...
cannabineer said:
I’m guessing about 90-100 for that fixture
Click to expand...
yeah, I think I remember someone in the reviews measuring it at 150 but anyways this is what I have in there. they brought the price down since i bought it lol https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082NJ6L3P

I have the light raised one foot above my canopy

Edit - cannabineer I think you're right on the money because it looks like their "1000W" model measures in at 135 actual watts
 
Last edited:
densefoggyforest

densefoggyforest

Member
Update, all is not well.
I'm on day 24 of flower.
I did get a new light, (parfactworksRA2000) much more powerful than the LED I had before
but lower leaves have been shriveling and dropping much faster than they were before, and to top that off, today the entire plant just turned lime green.
To me, these pictures from today make it look kind of like N def, but prior to this it looked more like PK or magnesium def... either way, it's not getting something it needs..

(ps don't mind the "male"-bud branch in the corner, this was supposed to be a colloidal silver feminized seed run. thinking of just chopping the pollen sacks early though because I doubt it's worth trying to get seeds out of a sick plant... unless it turns around, idk.)

Would love to save this plant if anyone has advice.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top