Budding well, but plants not looking great

[airdawg13]

I am still a beginner but I believe that your plants are looking great! It is normal for the fan leaves to turn yellow when your plant enters the flower stage. The plant is focusing on producing big buds, not keeping fan leaves alive. They start to turn yellow because the plant is sucking the nutrients from the leaf and using it for bud production. If you were still in the vegetative growth, then I would worry. But I wouldn't worry now and keep doing what you are doing! If anything clean up the plants a little bit by picking off the leaves that are over 50% yellow or dead.

Your PH is fine I wouldn't stress too much about buying professional PH kit. A lot of growers are picky with their PH, but it seems a little over rated to me. As long as your within a 6-7 range, you should be fine. A quick fix would to fill up a huge container with your tap water. Let the water sit for a couple of days, then water your plants with that. I think it help stabilizes the PH and evaporates salts and other stuff that you don't want. Also 2 weeks before harvest I would flush your soil. You don't want your plants to taste like fertilizers. Using molasses a few days before harvest should be fine though.

As far as a bug problem, it looks like you have thrips. Those little black dots look like thrip poo. They suck nutrients out of your leaves. They also plant their eggs in the leaf and in the soil. You have to spray the soil, just not the plant. Also make sure you get under the leaves sprayed. I would spray in the morning, then follow up a couple of days later with another spray. Make sure you spray any plants near your babies too. My favorite spray is neem oil. You can use that stuff up to a week before harvest and its organic! A good alternative to spraying is buying nematodes and pirate bugs. Maybe plan for that next time around. Also lightly rinsing your plants down in the morning is a good idea. Bugs hate moisture and spraying them will knock them down a little bit. Watch out though because when in the flower stage you don't want too much humidity because it can create a mold problem.

If you want you can feed the plants a little bit of nitrogen. But I would focus feeding the plants with phosphorous and potash (potassium). I use Fox Farm Big Bloom, Fox Farm Tiger Bloom, Molasses every other watering. I might also pick up some Fox Farm Cha Ching. Bat Guano is also good, but watch out with manures because if you use too much you can burn your plants. Try to only use 100% organic fertilizers, it taste better than chemical ferts and less chances of burning your plants.

[cigarettes42]

i am not going to sidetrack this growers thread. soil ph does matter when flowering. in flowering stage your plant likes a more acidic soil rather than a ph around 7. if your soil is around that then i would definitely not add more nutes to correct this problem, especially N during the flowering phase

[Rusty Trichome]

Not to step on anyone's helpful insight, but:

Early in flower you can add a dose or two of your growth formula. Matter of fact, the Fox Farms Weekly Feeding Schedule (on their website) recommends this. I'd say iffy (situational) for mid to late flowering though, because of the plants inherant ability to scavenge the nitrogen from the leaves, which nitrogen makes the bud less tasty anyway, which is why we feel yellowing fans in flower...natural and desirable, and no big deal. Usually. The severe yellowing too early indicates an issue. Likely not a big one, but an issue nontheless.
But, the growth formula can elongate the buds. (stretch)

For mid-flower, It seems to me to be a bit early for such yellowing, and might end-up costing ya when it's time for the buds to fill-in. Nothing stored to build with. (leaves have already scavenged the nutrients and yellowed and died, which was where the plant was going to get it's stored nitrogen from) Too easy to goo too far too quickly with additional nitrogen in late flower. Bad things can happen quickly with this approach.

No, adjusting ph with nutrients isn't a good idea. Matter of fact, it's a real bad idea long-term. What if you need to water inbetween feedings on hot days, or if you need to skip a watering or two in the humid season? Best to get the right tool for the job, and respect your meds. :thumbsup:

[eugenegreen]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I did another sample of my tap water with a more reliable source and found it closer to 8. I'm in Oregon, probably about 4 weeks from harvest, and the leaves are looking yellower every day. Is slow and steady with the new treated water the best way to go about this, or do I want to over-acidify the water slightly to help bring them back? I'm worried I'm running out of time. . .

Also, still a few gnat-looking things hanging around the bottoms of the plants, after I fogged 5 days ago. Do I need to worry that these may be causing part of the problem, and fog them again?

[Rusty Trichome]

Do not over-acidify them. Get the ingoing water within range, and try to keep it there. My wellwater is 7.9, and I use 1/4 tsp of phDown (phosphoric acid) which brings me down to 6.8ish. One gallon of the stuff lasts me over a year, and my ladies love the stuff.
Your yellow leaves won't color-up, but it will slow the progression of yellowing into the new growth. :thumbsup:

To me, gnats are no big deal. But they will never go away without action. But if it's something more damaging than gnats, I'd make sure they didn't live to tell about it. If you do fog again, open your potting soil bag to fog the bugs-n-eggs in there, too. :jointsmile:

Are you in pots, or in the ground? (just curious)

[eugenegreen]

Hey Rusty,
greenhouse is sitting on top of a bunch of bark chips, so the plants are in 6 gallon buckets dug partly below the surface. I've actually wondered if I'm sometimes watering more than necessary, as I can't see how much is draining. I'd say I put an average of 2 gallons of water per pot. How important is it that I get the right amount of water in it as long as it has holes on the bottom?

[Rusty Trichome]

Most use drainage rocks to lift the rootball out of potential standing water. I set my pots on drainage rocks (that I put in the drip tray) for the same reason. But after all is said and done, with using rocks in the drip tray instead of inside the pot, I don't have to pick rocks out of the rootball for every transplant. But if the plants are in a hole, and you overwater...where does the water go? How long till a filled hole empties?

Anyway, Indoors, in soil, in 5 gallon nursery pots, in the summer, (90 to 95 degrees inside of my flowering shed) ...I sloooooolwy add between a quart, and a quart and a half of properly ph'd water per day, if they need it. But I don't water to the point of runoff every watering either. Just a little trickle. On feeding days though, I sloooowly add the solution till a fair ammount of runoff, just to make sure the nutrients get to the lower root zones. Monthly flushes (1;1 ratio of gallons of properly ph'd water to gallons of pot size) which helps prevent build-up of nutrients and salts.
During the winter season, in my region, (the SW desert) I use less water, less often. The humidity keeps the soil moister, longer.

So yes...it does sound like at least part of the problem could be overwatering.

[headshake]

Monthly flushes (1;1 ratio of gallons of properly ph'd water to gallons of pot size) which helps prevent build-up of nutrients and salts.

are the flushes as important when using organic nutes as opposed to salt based rusty?

So yes...it does sound like at least part of the problem could be overwatering.

couldn't over-watering cause the Nitrogen to leech out (along with other elements)?


hey eugene, you said you have about 4 weeks to go (in your estimation). so when is the last time you transplanted your ladies?



-shake

[Gatekeeper777]

Personally I would follar spray with liquid light, flush the crap out of it and water with miracle grow acid lovers plant for for tomatoes. full strength.

[Rusty Trichome]

are the flushes as important when using organic nutes as opposed to salt based rusty?

Depends on how you water and feed your ladies. I water till small trickle. I feed till runoff. (much more than a trickle) It's not only salts I'm flushing, it's (potential) excess nutrients I'm flushing as well. So I perform a monthly flush to 'reset' the medium.

couldn't over-watering cause the Nitrogen to leech out (along with other elements)?
-shake

Yup. Unless the source is a slow-release or chunky organic. (blood meal or worm castings, for instance) It will still leech a good quantity of those. Oversaturation makes these ammendments 'melt'.

Personally I would follar spray with liquid light, flush the crap out of it and water with miracle grow acid lovers plant for for tomatoes. full strength.

So in the middle of this plant stress, you recommend he change nutrients, add a carbo-load product (overpriced diluted molasses?) to overclock the plant's growth system, and provide an additional flush to an already saturated medium...? Perhaps your ideas are valid on an otherwise healthy plant, but this isn't recommended on an ailing plant.
Aren't you supposed to use Penetrator alongside the Liquid Light?
Do you have an ingredients list for the Liquid Light? I would love to see what they're putting in it before disassembling the reasoning behind paying that price for an 'additive'. :thumbsup: