Purple Stems

berkman858

Well-Known Member
My plants' stems are getting progressively more purple and I can't figure out why. I have already looked through all of the nutrient deficiency stickys without luck. A little background on this grow; I was burning the plants for the last two weeks by using the nutes at full strength AND using tap water. I am now using R/O water and 50% strength on the nutes. If you would like to see any other parts of the plants or close-ups, let me know and I will post them. Thanks for reading.


Here is my setup and environment:


  • 1000 watt metal halide light on 18/6 schedule
  • Undercurrent DWC hydro system
  • R/O water (PH @ 6.2 / PPM @ 0)
  • House and Garden Aqua Flakes A & B nutrients at 50% strength (currently at week 2 veg)
  • Water Temp at 68 degrees
  • Air Temp at 78-80 during lights on and 68-70 with lights off
  • Relative Humidity at 40-47%
  • PH at 5.8-5.9
  • PPM at 320 (3 days ago) and 340 (today after bumping up nutes last night)


Here are some pics:

3 days ago:
Purple Stems - 3 days ago.jpgPurple Stems - 3 days ago - CloseUp.jpg


Today:

Purple Stems - today.jpgPurple Stems - today - CloseUp.jpgPurple Stems - today - top view.jpg
(the plants actually a little deeper of a green than the pictures are showing, probably because of the light)
 

kermit2692

Well-Known Member
thats normal your totally fine...alot of strains turn purple on the stems and stripe like that sometimes only on certain branches...its no problem at all...your growth looks green and healthy to me
 

berkman858

Well-Known Member
thats normal your totally fine...alot of strains turn purple on the stems and stripe like that sometimes only on certain branches...its no problem at all...your growth looks green and healthy to me
I hope its normal, I have read about Phosphorous deficiency and that may very well be true since I am doing half strength nutes with no additives. I can slowly bump the nutes up but I already burnt them so I would rather be a little low than a little high.
 

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
yep creep the nute up you got it man. and as dude said some purpleing is normal especially in DWC because the cold water (this plays into P absorption but wont affect nothing unless it gets too cold or wrong pH)
 
I noted on my grow that when the purple was present the stem actually strengthened and then the stem turned green shortly after. Your plants seem to be gaining weight so thats prolly what it is. .02
 

carlaharris

Member
looks like a nitrogen def.as small as that plant is p is the last thing it should be short on.purple stems mean it need nitrogen 95% of the time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Socalpride619?feature=mhee
Ya definitely NOT Nitrogen deficiency.... See how the leaves are green... they would be lighter color. I have the same thing and my plants are taking heavy N. Please don't give wrong advice... Its irritating and confusing for people. If you don't know say so. You don't have to lie to kick it.
 

kermit2692

Well-Known Member
ya for sure i see alot of ppl guessing or saying hey you could have this problem but you could have the exact opposite problem as well...wtf?? lol .....ill tell ya what im 110 percent sure from your pics its nothing to worry about but id start heading toward full strength on the nutes anyway, still a small plant but id get it there within the next few weeks just because its about time nothing to do with the purple tho!
 

berkman858

Well-Known Member
I am glad everyone jumped on that misinformation. I see a lot of that here and it's kind of irritating. I know most people are trying to help but just throwing ideas out there that have not been thoroughly crafted hurts everyone on this forum.

Nothing personal SocalPride619, but your information seems incorrect. I have not read anywhere that N deficiency will cause purple stems. Light green yes, but purple no.
 
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