plant is turning purplish black (pic)

[potluvr]

Help! A few of my friends outdoor plants are turning a weird color. Can anyone tell me if this is normal, or should we be worried? Thanks!

[budsgood]

You should be worried, that does not look healthy to me. The lower/larger leafs look healthy, so whatever you guys changed is being super hard on the plant. That new growth looks bad.

[mscaboo]

is the plant growing slow?i beleive it is showing signs of a calcium def

[potluvr]

Yes, it is growing slow. what can i do? thanks.

[Kevin Spencer]

hey dude, i have the exact same problem, and so far, i have had no luck figuring out why my stuff does that either, i dont think its a calcium def just cause the ferts i use have calcium chloride i think it is, not sure, but thats one of the main ingredeints, so i really dont know. Were do u have it, like whats around the area, (pests, animals, light, water) are they in pots or grounded, have u had this prob before ? I have had it the past 2 years. I tried using a fungicide called blue lightning but no effects i dont think so dont just put it off as not a mold, i still beleive it could be a mold im not sure, ANyways, try talking to a garden specialist about some fungicides and its very possible well most likely a fert issue so go out and buy something like silica blast for an extra calcium boost. anyways keep us posted with ur progress,

[HDFHomer]

A plant turning red is a sure sign that it too cold for it. I lost 1 of my house plants last year to the cold, it was outside and it started to turn a lovely red colour,next thing i knew its dead. It wasn't a cannabis plant tho hope that helps:pimp:

[potluvr]

The plant is outside next to a shed. It is in the ground and it has been VERY hot here lately. I also found it on another plant that is nowhere near the others. The other plant is almost 6 ft tall and is at the very top. We'll see if it starts budding here in a few weeks...
Kevin - what happened to your plants that had the same thing? Did you let them bud?
thanks!

[Kevin Spencer]

hey dude. I actually checked and i guess my ferts got calcium nitrate, lol, just figured id clear that up before people think im feeding my plants a preservative for keeping pickles crispy lol. But yea dude, i dont know what it is, i let my plants bud last year, i got mediocre results with the ones in the ground, they were about 6-7 feet, and it infected those ones first, i had a couple in pots which didnt get hit with the black stuff till 2 weeks into flower so they budded nice, but let me say, this will have a crippling affect on ur yeild, and lol even though this isnt a laughing matter, i dont know if its good to smoke considering it could be mold, hasnt stopped me, but as i said so ur plants are in the ground eh. How close are ur plants and which plant caught the black death first, I have read from some ppl that they top EVERY infected area and burn it so it doesnt spread. Now thats not a bad idea during veg, but since everything is starting to flower u have to decide. I topped most of mine, but it never fully went away. and now its plagueing all my plants, and thats to say that if it was a mold, i should have topped and burnt everything right away, but i didnt and got lazy and now my yeilds going to take one for the team. Unfortunately my friend, i have no fucking clue what to do. If u top it, MAKE SURE, and i mean MAKE SURE that u get EVERY infected area no matter were on the plant cause it will come back, QUICK, so if thats ur thing do it, before u do that,. feed it some calcium and phosophorus supplements from a local indoor gargen place or garden place, oh yea, if its possible what type of soil did u use, is there any animals around, and whats ur ph? hope this helps a bit. i really wish i could find a solution, cause i need it too!
peace bro
Kevin

[Kevin Spencer]

i also googled it and the closest thing to it was "sooty mold" which creates a black powder which is not our problem

[Kevin Spencer]

oh and a quicker, do u live north or in south america, well i mean the states obviouslyty but were abouts are u located, south or north.

[potluvr]

i live in the northeast and not that it matters, but I'm a chic, bro. LOL
I kind of wondered if it could be some sort of bug that's doing it. We have a lot of grasshoppers around the plants. Just a theory...

[mscaboo]

i was studing your pic and researching some possibilties,i beleive i was wrong on my last post.the definition of a sulfur def matches your plant to a tee.i have looked at other pics of some plants with your same condition and they look the same.and you can treat it easily with some ferts that have sulfur in it and you can suppliment with magnesium sulfate(epsom salts)

[potluvr]

Thank you! I just went out and bought a slow release plant food. This was the only one that I could find that contained sulfur. It is Expert Gardener, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll let you know if something happens. Thanks for everyones help!

[orangeman]

I believe it's lacking phosphorus. And if by "slow-released" you mean "time-released" I wouldnt use that. You never know when the nutrients may be avaliable to your plants with those types of shits.

[Kevin Spencer]

hey dude, get ur soil and water ph tested. Went to a freind who owns garden store and says from the looks that it looks like a ph prob, give some different water to it somehow

[Kevin Spencer]

sorry i keep forgetting ur a chick lol

[Kevin Spencer]

how do u get water? From town, well, cystern, creek, pond,etc.

[potluvr]

it's town water. i don't have any natural running water near me. :(
I've been trying to let the water sit for a day before i use it on them. i have not tested the ph.

[Kevin Spencer]

Im actually off in 20 minutes to get ph tested and soil, ill let u know what happens. Im pretty sure thats the problem, and that would explain slow growth, poor nutrient uptake and curling of the leaves. Its a good idea even if im wrong to check ur ph of both the soil(what kind of soil did u use) and ur town water.

[mendokid]

If your water comes from a reservoir, river or ground water the PH will vary throughout the year. In general the lower the water table the more acidic the water. Of course acid rain blows this theory so if you live in a heavily industrialized area the PH may actually drop after a rain.

In short test several times a year.

Test AFTER mixing your ferts too! After all that IS what they are trying to take up no?

[JerryBerries420]

i had that happen when my plants were young bout 10 inch nd with one dose of MG plant food it was bak to green idk if that helps cause im not as experienced as all these others but i believe it was either due to phosphurus deficiency o sumtin also the garden store guy said that to much rain can cause that too we were talkn bout tomatoe plants

[HARDDON]

Your plant has an internal infection.

If you look at the very top....you will see a black spot that sits where a fan leaf has been plucked, pulled, cut, eaten or whatever. The black spot is likely the point of entry into the plant.

As well you have a major bug / predator problem.

The infection is systemic and probably there is nothing you can do, topically, to alter its course.

This IS NOT a cold weather issue or a pH or nutrient lack problem. Its an internal sickness / disease brought about by nature and your plant was exposed by vermin or something else in the open the wound.

It could even be caused by toxic water splashing off the cracked paint or whatever it is on the backside of the structure.

Either way, it will start with the youngest most infantile foilage and then work its way down thru the healthier, more vigorous green.

PROGNOSIS: Probable eventual death.

Sorry.

[Kevin Spencer]

hey i just checked my ph of water and its 8, and with the ferts i use it knocks it back to 7 which is nice. I also got my soil checked for ph and ec(ppm). My ec of the water i had was .15. We used the water at the garden store, which has an ec of .35. We filled my dirt up with this water and did an ec test after with the water and it only reached .4. From what the guy thought it seems to be completely underferted. So tonight im giving a double dosage and going to see what happens. Potluvr, do u use any ferts, and if yes what kind and how much/how often. I might be an internal infection, im really hoping its not, but from what harddon said, it seems to have to have an entry point, i just moved a couple smaller ones outside, there is no and i mean visable damage to plant(no broken/eaten/torn/repaired branches) and it started to get it at the tops. Its a fucking problem and a half and i hope this fertilizing i do will help a couple, im just doing it on 2 to see if its a fert prob. Ill get back to u's all. And for our sakes lets pray that HARDDON was wrong(says with lil confidence)

[Kevin Spencer]

Hey jerryberry, u said u had this prob eh, do u have any pics of it from before? or are u almost positive that it was the same, oh and what kind of MG food did u use and what nute's are in it with the ratio's.

[JerryBerries420]

dude sry but i think u gota listen to hard on on this one he seems very wise nd look at his post count.....mine wasnt nearly that bad and was at the internode and a lil on the leaf but i justed used reg MG i dnt hav ne pics

[HARDDON]

There is no nute lack that will cause the discoloration to purple in the foilage.

You plant is having problems regulating internal temps despite environments that are acceptable.

Your plant has the equivalent of a fever.

Burning up on the inside...but freezing to death on the outside.

The ONLY thing I would do is give a massive dose of SUPERTHRIVE...and some clear corn syrup...pH the water to 10.0

Then pray.

Good luck lil farmer.

[Kevin Spencer]

hey harddon, it does seem ur the man to go to, and i believe what ur saying about the nute problem but im unclear as to what to do. So u beleive its an internal temp problem, well that might be possible seeing that i have all my stuff in 2 gallon pots, and there black. But atleast from the temps around here, if anything id beleive its to hot around here, i know it hasnt been to cold, except these last 2 days with temps at night reaching 14 C but this happened before, while it was almost always atleast 20 C at night. And with the clear corn syrup im just confused, ph buffer?etc, so if u could elaborate on that a lil more....and also why should i raise the ph to 10, will it kill infestation or fever?! anyways thanks man, there is much i can do...

[Kevin Spencer]

*there isnt much i can do

[HARDDON]

Feed a fever - starve a cold/

You plant is in dire need of some energy...it is very sick.

The corn Syrup provides instant food with very little metabolism required by the plant to feed.

Read my initial prognosis again. The exterior temps have nothing to do with your plants. Its internal and the outside or inside isnt going to alter this problem.

Its internal in the plant itself.

As for the high pH, if your infection is either viral or bacterial, a vrey alkaline solution will help the plant netralize the acidic internal environment of the plant.

Disease and infections in all life forms thrive in an acidic environment and die in an alkaline environment.

FACT***all organisms of life...plant and animals...who have cancer and hundreds of other ailments, all have ONE MAJOR THING IN COMMON...

***A BLOOD / FLUID LEVEL LOW ON THE pH SCALE***

These ailments cannot thrive in an alkaline environment.

[Kevin Spencer]

hey bro, i really and i mean really appreciate ur input. Im going to take ur advice and give it a lil corn syrup, but i was wondering how much if u knew per l/g of water to add. And what is exactly in corn syrup? can i get something else. I got a grasshopper thing, not a problem but i just dont want to attract anymore prob's towards my lil vegetable garden. But thx man, i appreciate it. I was just wondering, is alcohol acidic or basic? thats a lil side question with no revelance towards my desperate post.

[Kevin Spencer]

oh and one other thing bro, assuming ur a dude, but if ur not, sis, u recommend me buying a ph buffer to raise ph? just checking cause i can get some ph up its called from indoor gardens, anyways, thx dude

[Kevin Spencer]

just wondering if i could bug you again. I cant get a hold of any superthrive and ive been reading and it seems vitamin b1 is also good to reverse stress and is also in superthrive, is there any other suppliments i can giver? Also whats the ratio of water to corn syrup?
thx
ps....hows everything going potluvr? is it getting worse

[Kevin Spencer]

ps....hows everything going potluvr? is it getting worse, any signs of improvemnt, post back with an update if u'd like....

[potluvr]

Hey Kevin. Nothing good to report. The plant is growing, but it's still purple and the leaves are now starting to curl. I don't have high hopes for it. The others seem to be doing well despite the purplish color. We'll see come harvest time, I guess. :)

[hienuff]

Whatever the diagnosis this problem is bad.Last year it showed up in 10% of my stuff.I had to kiss it goodbye.This year i went further with my preparations thinking it was a nute problem.For all the work it has plaqued 90%.My field of dreams is a wash.Nothing I have tried has solved the issue.There is nothing like looking at plants 8 to 11 feet doing this so late in the season.I figure it to be damage brought on by cutworms in the stems.

[s7ber]

Hey I was just reading through this thread and I hope I don't have the same problem as you guys because my plant is purple too. Please look at this pic and tell me if that's what your (sick) plants look like? THANKS

[hienuff]

s7ber....feel lucky. Because you are. You are facing a completely different issue. Though cold stress isn't a good thing it isn't nearly as bad as what is going on here.

[MountainRae]

Any updates or new info on cause or cure? I came to these forums today specifically to do a search and try to figure this same problem out. Some of our plants have been doing this for the last couple years. Most will do it at mid growth and then turn back to green before maturuty and seem okay. Some aren't doing it until late in the season just before harvest. I've had young plants that turned like this die, but the larger plants seem to get through it. I'm just lost as to how to treat it but next year I'll take the advice I read here about raising the PH and giving them some "sweet feed" to help get them through it. I'd sure like to hear any new information about what causes it and how to prevent it though or even a heads-ups to other threads here that discuss it.

[Atrayou]

I seem to be having the same issues~!! I have been watering with Molasses so would this not serve as Corn Syrup would? Also this seemed to happen after 4 days of straight rain. One other thing I have thought about. I drove long wooden stakes down beside each plant so I can cover them from frost since I need to get them through to the end of October. Do you think I hurt the root systems on my plants??? I have 4 of them that are doing this same thing. The others seem fine. I posted photo's in a Thread I made called "This Happened over night" Could it be the stakes that did it to the roots? Too much rain??? I have been using fertilizer 10-52-10 plus the molasses. I am worried this is internal and if it is what comes next???? Is it the rain???? I have my plants in my garden and that has black plastic all around it. I can not remove it...too expensive. Should I prune it??? I need answers too....Please advise. Thanks. Oh I live in Maine.

[stinkyattic]

Already answered in your other thread, this thread is from 2006 and full of terrible advice.

A stake next to a plant won't significantly damage the roots. DON'T PRUNE. You expose the tissues to pathogens and will get worse rot if the stem becomes infected. I'm locking this thread.