yellow/lime blotches on leaves?

Hi, Chester here. First time personal grow and I am about 5 weeks in with 4 plants.

I started noticing that some of the leaves have yellow/lime green blotches on and I'm concerned beause it appears to be getting worse, albeit very slowly.
Plants still seem to be growing, but I just wondered if this is something I should be particularly concerned with?

My soil pH is 6.5-6.8 and I recently installed a dehumidifier as the room was showing 90+% humidity, although I am waiting on delivery of a more accurate hygrometer as my current one is still showing around 80% despite the dehumidifier being off (it is set to switch off between 55-65%).

I have some BioBizz grow nutrients which I had crudely mixed with some water and I'm wondering if this yellowing is because I over-did it? Anyway, I have stopped ALL nutrients for now until I can contain the problem.

I am using a 200w Envirolite (blue spectrum) and I also wondered if I had it too close to the plants and the yellowing was a sign of burning? Some, not all, of the leaves do have a little dry curl at the tips. I've since raised the light to a good 24-36 inch away from the plants.

Temperature is good in my room and, without supplemental heating, sits at between 24-27o and, at night, never dropping below 20-21o.

Am I perhaps overwatering?

Anyway, please find attached 2 pictures of the problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, whilst I'm seeking advice...how long now before I should be able to determine sex? And how long should I let these plants (Northern Lights) grow, in the vegetative period before swtiching to 12/12? I am currently providing them with 20/4.

Really appreciate the advice.
Chester Atkins
Nashville

your plant needs some more N (maybe some magnesium as well), after 5 weeks you should be feeding em regularly. do a half-strength feed and see how they go in a few days. if the leaves get darker but you still have some lighter patches between the veins then try some magensium as well (epsom salts).

NL is very tough with nutes so overfeeding has to be extreme to cause problems. I think you have probably been too cautious with the feeding.

apart from that they look healthy so i don't think you're overwatering. its a good idea to let them get dry out a bit every now and then - I wait for the bottom leaves to begin drooping a bit before every third watering.

pre-flowers usuall appear after the 5th node - but your gonna need some magnification to seem them initially.

I use evirolites and as long as the leaves are not touching the tube it'll be fine - the closer the better, i have mine 1-2cm away.

I agree with emmpey. Try what he said with your nutes. Its not a over feeding problem, if it was i think the leaf tips would be browning and crispy.

emmpey, when you say "I wait...before every third watering", what do you mean "third watering"? You water them in between the drooping? Or you feed them every 3rd watering?

I thought I had over-watered them - I should only really be watering every 3-4 days right? Soil seems quite soggy if I do more than that. Also, should I be adding "nutes" for every watering?

Yes, someone told me that I could have the envirolite close to the plants but when I saw the yellowing, I wanted to rule the lights out as a cause. Thanks for clarifying this for me.

Where can I get epsom salts? A regular store? Do I apply the salts to the water?

I bought a x30 pen microscope. Is it worth me trying to take a photo of the 4th/5th/6th node and perhaps people on here could help me out? How many weeks, considering I am at week 5, will it take before I should be able to confidently determine sex?

And how many weeks away, roughly, would you say I am from changing to 12/12 photoperiod?

With that in mind, am I right in thinking that I should switch to a red-spectrum envirolite for flowering?

L3G10N - the leaf tips are curled a little, and seem quite dry, but are not browning right enough. I'll try halfing the nutrients and see if the yellowing clears.

So many questions!! Thanks everyone. REALLY appreciate it.
Regards
Chester

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Originally Posted by chesteratkins

emmpey, when you say "I wait...before every third watering", what do you mean "third watering"? You water them in between the drooping? Or you feed them every 3rd watering?

I thought I had over-watered them - I should only really be watering every 3-4 days right? Soil seems quite soggy if I do more than that. Also, should I be adding "nutes" for every watering?

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i feed them every watering which is about every 3 days - when the pots are dry at the top 2" and it feels light. but on the third i leave it until i notice the bottom leaves droop - i don't think its important, i just like doing it :)

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Yes, someone told me that I could have the envirolite close to the plants but when I saw the yellowing, I wanted to rule the lights out as a cause. Thanks for clarifying this for me.

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yeah, they're not very good at penetration but they are cool so you can get em real close.

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Where can I get epsom salts? A regular store? Do I apply the salts to the water?

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pharmacy/drug store/chemist usually. 1 tsp per gallon, you should dissolve it in a little warm water then add it to the feed water. only do it if the light patches remain on the leaves after you've done a feed.

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I bought a x30 pen microscope. Is it worth me trying to take a photo of the 4th/5th/6th node and perhaps people on here could help me out? How many weeks, considering I am at week 5, will it take before I should be able to confidently determine sex?

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you should be able to tell with x30 - look for the wispy white hairs and post a pic :)

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And how many weeks away, roughly, would you say I am from changing to 12/12 photoperiod?

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dunno, usually you want to veg for 6-8 weeks - how many plants you got?

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With that in mind, am I right in thinking that I should switch to a red-spectrum envirolite for flowering?

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yep :thumbsup:

hello i don't think you have anything to worry about, your pic doesn't really show any problems it may be that your lights are too close to the plant? i would need more info to really help, however i am just moved to nashville and i am looking for new smoking friends as all mine are in ohio. would love to chat more with you.

if u ask me ur plant looks fine and ur looking at everything and thinking about it too much, dont worry just let it grow

Hi. Here is an update, on week 6-7 of my personal grow.

I wanted to ask which were the pre-flowers and where they appear? On the photo attached you'll notice I've marked 3 points; A, B & C. Which, if any, are the pre-flowers?

A question relating to this is...do I move to 12/12 BEFORE determining sex or after? I have decided to give them a couple more weeks in the veg stage anyway, but I don't want the males to take over so I'd take any advice on this.

Thanks again. This board is great for asking questions etc.

Hi to amy also and all subsequent posters! :jointsmile:

Hope to hear from you.
Best Regards
Chester Atkins
Nashville

hey emmpey, you said Northern Lights needs a lot of nutes (something along those lines)? I have a NL plant and it is way smaller than all the rest of my plants, and it is lime green in color rather than being darker. Should I just up the N like crazy and see what happens?

hey dutch.lover, I have NL too and I've noticed the lime greeny color. In a way it's reassuring to know that it might just be the variety as opposed to a deficiency of any kind.

I'm feeding 2ml bio-bizz grow organic nutrients per 2L water just now as I was worried I was over-doing it with the nutrients before, however my plants do seem to look reasonably healthy and continue to grow. As aznson01 said, I'm probably thinking about it too much and should just let them grow.

I'd still appreciate any advice on when to switch to 12/12 though. What am I looking for, in terms of pre-flower in the veg stage, to know, firstly, what sex they are and, secondly, that they are mature and ready for 12/12. Any indication from my picture, above, or is it too early to tell?

Thanks again y'all.

Regards
Chester Atkins
Nashville

They aren't going to show sex until approx 10-14 days AFTER you switch to 12/12.

Actually, let me correct that somewhat....they will pre-flower at a certain stage and some will show a few pistils in the preflower....I have never tossed a plant until after switching to 12/12 and making sure....perhaps others have a better way to tell pre-flowering males/females. I personally have made several assumptions on the sex of plants only to be found wrong later (not new). I don't wait for preflowering to turn them...just do it and cull the herd later..

Hi Weedhound. Thanks for the advice.
I'm getting kind of contradictory advice with regard when to determine sex and when to move to 12/12.

Some have recommended waiting until pre-flowering has commenced before switching to 12/12, although I take your advice on sexing the plant in the 12/12 period to be absolutely sure, prior to "culling the herd" (can the leaves of early, culled, males be used to make hash?).

Reckon I'm going to wait a couple of weeks yet, although my plants are getting big now in a small space.

Coulpe of questions that have arisen from the responses I've received though:

1) I am at week 7 from seed and was expecting to have to keep in the veg stage for at least another couple of weeks. Can you pretty much move to 12/12 whenever you like? I assume that the younger the plant, the lower the yield and/or strength of the yield? Some of the pictures on here it seems that people are moving to 12/12 within a few weeks on really quite weak looking plants. Is this just impatience, or just a desire to keep the time-scale down?

2) I've got a 200W red spectrum envirolite for the 12/12 period. Would it do any harm keeping my 200w blue running as well? I don't want to run it if i don't have to but if it might improve things in any way, I'd consider keeping it in.

Thanks again. Sure appreciate the advice.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

Chester i'm afraid I cannot answer your question about lighting but I'm sure someone else will know and pop in with an answer. I bought the light setup I was told to buy and never looked back....or studied about it for that matter.

You've discovered the joy of this.....there are a million different approaches from all theyway around and some of them seem to actually contradict each other. What I ended up doing was attaching myself (almost literally) to someone experienced and doing things exactly the way they told me (i grow hydro) and voila....buds and things really did appear right and left (and they were good too).

I believe there are several reasons that make folks decide when to switch their plants over...I discovered as do we all that these suckers don't really take off until you are flowering....they can easily double or even triple in size during this period and go crazy; jamming up every inch of your space and lighting so turning them earlier keeps the size down. It does indeed affect the amount of your yield but not the potency....genetics does that part be it a little or a lot of yield. Also some people have continual systems where the timing of the process matters...

As far as when to turn I turn mine in hydro at six weeks...did not wait for preflowers although some do...on my first grow I waited 8 weeks for preflowers and they never really showed and i don't rely on the preflowers to sex the plants anyway. It is recommended by some to wait to avoid stress to the plant and possibly hermie....amongst other arguments....I found the waiting around to be a waste of time for me.

You really can turn your plants whenever you feel they are aready....have seen folks veg for only 2 weeks or so (after two week seedling stage) ...it's a personal preference. Once you have gotten through this grow and seen how much more these things will shoot up in flower (I couldn't believe it the first time) it will help you decide in future grows how long to wait. Space restrictions have a lot to do with it. Good luck and keep us updated!!

Ok as for when to switch your plants to 12/12, I have heard (from jorge cervantes book) that it is best to wait for your plant to pre-flower before you force it to flower, because preflowers mean your plant is mature. if you want your plant to preflower faster, you can change the lights to 18/6. As for your picture, I couldn't really see preflowers, although it was hard to tell. If you think you see preflowers, and wait for a while it will soon become obvious as to what sex it is. Little white hairs= females, balls on sticks=males.

Hello again. Really appreciate the advice offered.

I didn't want to attach myself to one way of thinking/working just in case it was the wrong way! :jointsmile:

I am really enjoying the whole experience though, as you say Weedhound. Not particularly because of any possible yield at the end, which I am, of course, excited about, but the whole process of growing a plant indoors...it's fascinating!

Yes, in terms of space I think I am close to having to make a decision about moving to 12/12, particularly if they double/treble in size as you suggest Weedhound! That would be a problem in my room.

Please find a couple of photos attached - firstly, a photo of plant 3 at almost 8 weeks....female? Then a photo of my room size at present - do you think I am going to run into problems when flowering begins?

Thanks again folks.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

female! i didn't see any balls which is a great sign. lol. From what I can tell of your room size, you appear to have lots of room. My pots are all pretty much touching each other, and it looks like you have way more room than that so I would say you are in good shape. Also, LSTing your plants is a good way to keep the size down, I don't know if you have read about it yet but it is definitely worth trying, at least as an experiment. LSTing can also make your plants more spread out, if that is what you want as well. It is beneficial cause more buds get more light that way. More light= bigger buds:D My biggest plant right now (Check out the thread entitled "All Stage Grow Log W/Lots of Pics"), was topped, and then bent over right afterwards. What has resulted is a huge (but manageable) 4-main cola plant, with many many other bud sites, all getting lots of light because of how we trained the 4 main tops to grow outwards. I'm really proud of it. Check out the pics.

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hey emmpey, you said Northern Lights needs a lot of nutes (something along those lines)?

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nah, I meant that they can take a lot of nutes, i.e. they are good for newbies because you can abuse them a bit - like I did on my first grow :) and yeah its a female in that pic. I still think it looks 'limey' though :D

Is "limey" bad? Anything I can do about it?
They are in a bright room, and they look really healthy to me, apart from a few yellowing/browning leaves at the very bottom, which I believe is natural.

They still have traces of the "yellow blotches" (see pics in the first post in this thread), but it hasn't developed any further really.

Anyway, if you've any advice on the lime effect, I'd be interested in what it is and what I can do about it.

Cheers
Chester Atkins
Nashville

Ok, first picture is a closer shot of plant 3 which you mention is a female and it does have those white, hairy, pistils and no "balls"! :D

Second pic is plant 4...female too? :rasta: :rasta: :rasta:
Heh-heh!

Chester

don't get me wrong chester, your plants look very healthy. maybe it's just the lighting :)

Yeah Chester, don't get him wrong when he says your plants look nice :). The one female certainly looks happy and really they all seem to be growing away nicely....as long as your numbers are good and they grow happily it may not be a problem. You also might post a pic of them in a new thread in the hydro section and see if any new fish bite.

Take my word for it ......they WILL grow. What are the dimensions of your grow space? And just out of curiosity...about the lime green....what kind of soil are you using? And does any of the new growth seem darker to you since increasing nutes?

Hi Weedhound & Emmpey.

The new growth is limey looking, I agree, but the larger leaves are a much darker green. They're not drooping, nor do they appear to have any problems so far so, as previously advised in this post, I'm not going to think about it too much and am just going to let them grow.

I'm growing in soil (BioMix) and I'm using the BioBizz organic nutrients. The new growth hasn't changed color since the nutes, so maybe I'm under-feeding? I don't want to burn them really, but if it's not going to harm them then I guess I could increase it a little. At the moment I'm not being very scientific about it, but it's approximately 2ml nutes per litre of water.

Growspace is 1.8m x 1m x 3m (height), lined with Mylar diamond sheeting. 1 x 200W Envirlolite (blue) for veg, 200W Envirolite (red) for flower (when I move to flower anyway!).

My new problem has been in keeping the temperature up. Dropped to 62oC for a while and, because of my room dimensions, I don't want to put a heater in for fear of fire. I could box a heater in, but this would reduce the room dimensions which are already quite small. I might have no choice though as it begins to get colder.

Thanks again for the advice offered. I shall update with some new photographs soon...almost week 9 now!

Chester Atkins
Nashville

Merry Christmas, one and all! :jointsmile:

Quick update on things. Here are a couple of images at week 9.
Switched to 12/12 today, as a little Christmas present to myself, and am going to feed with Bio Bizz Bloom from now on. I have also switched to the red spectrum Envirolite.

I am unsure about the sex of two of the plants, which haven't shown like the others (which appear to be female - see previous posts). My understanding is that males usually show pre-flowers before the females (Georges' book) so I'm hoping that, because two look very female, that the other two are just late females.

Anyway, to be sure, I'm going to wait until a week or so into 12/12 to fully determine sex, so I may be posting some images again soon. The two I'm unsure of don't have the fuzzy pistils, but they don't have "balls" either. Time will tell, I'm sure.

I had previously asked if I could/should use my blue spectrum light along with the red spectrum, during the 12/12 stage...any advice on that yet? I am currently using just the red spectrum but if it would increase yield/strength, then I would consider perhaps just hanging it slightly higher than the red.

Thanks again. Happy holidays to y'all.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

dual specs would help you to cut down on flower stretching, the period when the plant doubles or tripples it's size... as for an increase in yeild, more lumens=more buds... as for potency, it's been stated above; that's in the genes babe, but northern lights is sure to please you;)

at week nine of veg, your plants are deffinitely sexually mature and ready for flowering (12-12) all of your plants should show preflowers now... but waiting for confirmation is all the ticket, no doubts, just buds...

and btw, your plants look very healthy and lush; i don't think they have any defficiency at all, it's just the plant's natural colour...

hope this helps, and i'll be back:)

love, kp:p

Hi Princess.

Yes, I chose NL because they were reasonably cheap (€15). I'm looking forward to trying it but I've got a good few weeks to go so patience is a must!

That's interesting to know about the lumens. I may well try that then because I don't want them to become too tall! With my inexperience, I can't decide on the sex of two of the plants so I've moved to 12/12 and hope that this will become more obvious.
I'm checking every day (mainly because I'm like a kid at Christmas about it!) so I'll take some images, if I'm still stuck, and maybe you can help me identify them?

I am very pleased with how they're looking. The lime concerned me, but they weren't getting any worse so I thought it best to leave them.

Quick question...as they get bigger, will the fact that they are beginning to overlap matter too much? Some have suggested "LST" 'ing the plants, but I'm really not sure if that's possible, now they've reached the size that they have.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted! Nice to meet you.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

Just been reading your post KP - "KP's Cannabis College: Cannabis Issues, Facts and Guide."

Very interesting stuff. I'm slightly concerned that my, potentially, male plants might pollinate the females as early as 12 hours into 12/12, although I assume this is quite rare? I think I'll need to take some pictures asap into the 12/12 stage and get some advice on the sex.

Really useful information though, thanks for the link.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

Chester your plants are monsters!! At this point who cares if they are fuschia because they obviously are happy, healthy beasts! And if you think they are impressive at that size just WAIT!!

Yes, they are rather nice aren't they!

I was reading that some sativas can grow to 15 feet, which is a worry in my small space! I think I am going to hang the blue envirolite in with the red though, during flowering, to try and slow the vertical growth.

Anyway, that's me into day 3 of 12/12 now. When do you think the sex will show? I think there are 2 males, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, I will take some close up pics tonight and post an update later.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

I don't usually wait for pre-flowering before I turn them so it usually takes between 7-14 days for mine....the males start looking a little different at about day seven but sometimes the females will take up to the 13th or 14th day before I'm sure enough to toss the males. I do use the leaves for cooking or smoking...cooking gets better use out of them for me. I'm sure you can use them for hash-making as well although I don't know what the quality of the hash would be.

Almost 1 week into 12/12 now and I have a photo update.
Can anyone confirm that this is a male (see photos)? I'm pretty sure that it is, but it's my first grow so I want to make sure.

Best to simply cull this plant? Is there anything worth smoking in this plant?

Thanks
Chester Atkins
Nashville

hey chester,

sorry to say it is a male. if u haven't had a puff for a few weeks you could dry out the growing tips and roll 'em up (flush first or it will taste rough from the nutes). you will get a mild buzz if you smoke it 'neat'. there's about 3% thc in dried growing tips so i read somewehere. it goes something like:

(% as dried weight)
roots: no thc
stems: 1%
fan leaves: 1%
growing tips: 2-3%
immature flowers: 3-5%
mature flowers: 10-20%

male-o-rama

So I should remove this from the room as soon as possible then?

I'm not particularly fussy about the mild tips, so I think I'll just admit defeat on this plant and nurture the others. Seems a shame to destroy something so beautiful though.

Thanks for the confirmation though. I really appreciate it, and I think it has confirmed to me that I can identify them myself really, but it's nice to get a 2nd opinion from more experienced growers. Cheers.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

If you don't want your females pollinated then yes, remove at as soon as possible and as far away from your grow room as possible also. If you really don't have the heart to destroy it perhaps your dear old aunt would like a nice houseplant.

Hi. Ha! Yes, my aunt would appreciate being led away by law enforcement! :D

Please find a picture update of my grow (attached). Week 1 of 12/12, and week 10 overall (from seed).

I've attached pictures of what I'm sure is another male, which I would appreciate a second opinion on. I'm pretty sure it is though. I have removed it anyway, just to be safe.

You'll also find a picture of the remaining plants. Two are definitely female and one hasn't shown yet so my thoughts are, considering the females have already shown, that it will also be male, leaving me with two nice females which is probably about right for my space I guess. Also attached are some pictures of the female pre-flowers.

Anyway, I would appreciate confirmation that this is another male. Cheers.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

Yes Chester I'm afraid that is another male. :( Auntie is going to be having quite a collection over at her place. Your last one--that hasn't shown yet---I would guess is going to be a female as well.....usually the lagging ones are since the males tend to show first so there is one little ray of hope anyway. The photo at the bottom shows several nice happy healthy plants that will come bursting out of that grow room (is that wrapping paper on the sides?) very soon now.

i know you may have raised the light for the photo - if not then you should lower it some. :)

Just found out my aunt breed's top quality seed, so she is chuffed to bits with the two Northern Lights lads! lol. :rastasmoke: (not) :)

Yes, looked again tonight and the third is looking female - so I'm now taking care of 3 nice females (best not tell "the wife"!).

The wall is mylar which has a kind of diamond pattern on it. Apparently it reflects x% more light than standard mylar, so I went for that.

At the moment I have them in 15 litre pots which are about 80% full (soil mix). Should I re-pot into something larger or is it probably too late now? I don't want to unduly stress the plants, but I also don't want to experience problems later on in the flowering stage. The two males that I've got rid of did have a good, healthy looking, root system but I'm concerned that, as they flower, the roots will grow as rapidly as the veg/flower and that the pots might not be big enough. The roots on the males were already through the soil at the bottom and sides of the pot, although there was still a lot of soil showing. Anyway, I'd appreciate some advice on that.

My thinking now is that perhaps I've let them grow too big before moving to 12/12? I think I might try tying them in future as well, although I need to get used to how they will look when in flower and, therefore, which bits to tie. Is there any good instruction on that?

Hi again emmpey. Yes, I could probably still lower the light some, considering they are envirolites, but I have added the blue spectrum light back in now to try and keep the height down (as advised by KP, above) and I'm having a little problem keeping the temperature down. It was previously sitting nice at about 73o-75o with the single red light, but is now at 80o-85o with both lights running. Humidity is good, as I bought a good 12litre dehumidifier which I think has saved me from a lot of problems, but the temperature concerns me. Will 80-85 be ok?

Thanks again for the advice and information. Peace.

Chester Atkins
Nashville

Chester I'm afraid you will have to ask the soil questions of actual soil people...kp, stinky etc can steer you in the right direction there as I know nothing about growing in it. Our first hydro grow....I had tried to grow in soil previously and could not make it happen....we let the plants get to about 2 feet before we turned them. By the end they were about at the five foot level so now I turn them at about 15 inches but I top them several times during veg to help them stay short.

I tried lst for the first time in my last grow and was very happy with the results but found out that whether you grow them up or sideways you will need room....3 plants lst'd took up the same amount of room as my five plants growing straight up, only sideways....but gave me close to the same yield also. I just slapped mine down with some gardening ties willy-nilly and they did ok but I doubt that is a proper tutorial for you, lol. I'm sure there are some detailed instructions around on this forum somewhere. There are so many things I do to/with my plants simply because I was told to do them by people who know and half the time I don't know the hows or whys; just that when I do what I'm told it works.

As for you temps...80 should be ok but I don't know if 85 is starting to push the envelope somewhat...again the wise ones can help you better than I. Sounds to me like you've used me up information-wise Chester....I've never seen that pattern on mylar either....I feel old.....Good luck!