Just beginning to flower need help.

I have Cherry Pie clones outdoors in holes filled with FFOF soil. They are 4 to 5 ft. tall and about 4 ft wide and bushy. Overall plants look healthy but I'm seeing bottom leaves yellowing with red stems and dying. Not a lot but I'm alittle concerned. All the other leaf stems are green, although I've seen a slight redding on a couple of the upper leaves. They are preflowering but no white hair buttons have formed on the top branches but they are white hairs popping out more and more with leaves growing up parallel to the stems. I've been feeding 2 tbls per gal. FF BB and a few feedings of 1 tsp per gal FF GB. Am I under feeding? Also they drink lots of water, I'm in Nor Cal and it's been pretty hot and very windy just about every day. Should I bump up the Grow Big to 2tsp or maybe switch to Tiger Bloom? This is my first outdoor grow. Thanks for any comments. Just want to get things sorted out before going into full blown flowering.

Some yellowing here and there is normal.

Pictures Help..Yah know what I mean

I'll get pics soon. I'm using carbon filtered tap water and let it sit for about 24 hrs. Just ordered a ph meter. It sounds like a nitrogen def. but I heard while plants are preflowering you shouldn't feed nit. Because it would inhibit flowering. I have other younger plants in ground and in pots are they are all doing great. I have gone very, very light on feeding nutes to all plants. I'm thinking maybe these older plants showing the symptoms have used up all the nutes already. I guess water ph could be a problem but I've haven't seen any problems throughout the veg and with the other plants. The plants are very bushy and dense. Growth seems to be a bit slow maybe, but the bud sites are popping out. The new leaves seem to be smaller. Is that normal when starting to flower?

Bump. Any other ideas? Is smaller leaf growth normal during flowering? Also I'm getting less than 5hrs of direct sunlight, I'm sure this has something to do with the smaller growth.

yeah the smaller leaves you see are "crowning" that's where your kola tops come in... as far as deficiency, I don't see any, things will naturally yellow along the way. If you were yellowing up top, it'd be cause for concern, those big fan leaves on the stalk ain't shit.

That's exactly what's going on- on the younger plants (a couple that aren't in this set of pics- SleeslackxSkunk#1) the lower, big fan leaves on the stalk are yellowing and falling off. The older plants, Cherry Pie clones, just have a few smaller leaves underneath in the bushy interior dying off here and there, not that bad. The one plant in the black Smartpot has been doing great- TNT Kush. The other 2 smallest plants- Girl Scout Cookie clones are healthy as hell, wish I would have started them sooner. They really took a long time to take, I almost replaced them but after about 2 weeks they started the take off- very unique looking strain, they look completely different from all the other plants. I'm figure I'm at the half way point about now and of course my biggest concern is rippers. Been steadily beefing up security should be complete in a couple weeks. Thanks for the input.

dang, look good to me. I use 20-20-20 all they way through my grow out doors and there growing like weeds

You're doing great brother... Security now that's a whole 'nother topic. Being Robbed at gunpoint taught me not to grow 13ft trees...razors on the fence caused one of em feeling in their hand when they tried to come back! Having a 38 helped that time too. Seriously tho it's best to just let it go, not worth dying over or risking your family. If you got juice and insist on confronting any potentials tho, get some fishing rod bells and hang em upside down on your branches so you know if they a re being messed with.

I've got several motion and heat sensors covering the area. I've put up an extra fence around my garden that just needs to be connected to a source if I feel the need. Also if I start feeling threatened ill have a tent up right next to the garden. I'm putting up a "Beware of Dog" sign but I'm not putting a dog out because too many people have been poisoning pets to get at plants- really pitiful and sad. On top of that I rarely go anywhere, I'm disabled, and when I do someone else is always home. I'm mainly using things as deterrents because as you said it's not worth risking someone's health or life over. But don't get me wrong i will do what I need to protect my home and family. I've noticed a lot of cities starting to pass city ordinances that prohibit growing outdoors or they make you enclose your grow area with a locked gated fence. Many of us don't have the extra space or money to grow indoors and many of us prefer the sunlight. I know if something happens its going to be kids, a garden of my size doesn't make it worth it for most seasoned criminals to risk it. I know one thing it will not be from anyone I know because the only people that know about my garden are my Dad and my Brother. My best friends don't even know- its been kinda hard at times trying to make excuses for friends not to come over, I end up just telling them lets just meet somewhere. Thanks for the encouraging comments everyone. I've learned an awful lot from reading and researching but it's really nice to be able to communicate with all the experienced growers on this forum

Everything looks really good to me too. Mine are showing a little more yellowing leaves (which is normal) I usually see what I'm seeing now in mid-august...But we have had hot, dry, windy, weather here and that will do it...There are a LOT of other things that can naturally affect the leaves besides under or over feeding.

One of my plants is crowning too. 3 weeks after I topped her I thought "wtf? this is an indica and it's growing like a sativa all of sudden? What did I screw up?". The odd leaf falling off is normal and it can be caused by a number of things. When I see yellowing leaves I just tug on 'em a little, if they fall off, the plant has used up almost all of the starches and minerals that it's stored in that leaf and it can make it's way to the compost. Don't cut them off, if it wants to stay on the plant, the plant still wants to take the last few starches and minerals out of that leaf and put that into the new growth before it goes.

Funny, now all the sudden my plants are thriving. They look great and growth has taken off again. Definitely ready to start popping flowers on top. They already have white hairs sprouting around the the bud sights but no top buds yet. All the leaves on the bud sites are growing straight up and getting gnarly. Feeling much better about what's going on. I'm wondering if now would be a good time to start bloom nutes? I'll be using FF Tiger Bloom and experimenting on a couple plants with FF Open Sesame, Beastie Bloom, and Chaching. Not sure about the Open Sesame, might skip that one. Any suggestions?