Yellowing leaves in early flowering.

[Zompton]

I have been growing for over a year now, but for some reason my last couple of crops have had issues with yellowing leaves and then a not so sweet taste/smell after harvest. Shortly after flowering starts the leaves will start to yellow and then slowly die, it seems to hit the larger older leaves first. I know my temps are a bit high (86 at the most), but I have worked with these temps since I started and this yellowing is a new issue. The harvest will also have a not so sweet taste and smell, but this seems to vary with the different strains I have tried growing. I have been cloning lately instead of seeds, basically I just make a nice cut, put on some cloning gel and stick it in a cup of soil, success has been very good cloning this way. I have been watering the clones with water that has light veg nutes and letting them veg in that same chamber and then as they get big enough Ill take a cut or two and move them down to flower. It is a week or two into flowering when the yellowing begins.

I thought it may be a Ph issue, but my Ph seems fine in the low 6's. Here is some more information and pictures, thanks for any advice you can provide.

Recently yellowed leave.
Attachment 281332

About 3 weeks into flowering, I took the above leave from this plant.
Attachment 281333

About 6 weeks into flowering.
Attachment 281334

About 6 weeks into flowering for the left plants, 3 weeks for the far right.
Attachment 281335

The main grow area.
Attachment 281336


Novice Grower

Equipment:
1) 400w HPS
2) Abut 10-12" from the glass, I can hold my hand on the glass for over a minute.
3) EasyCool reflector.
4) There are vents around the bottom and an intake fan.
5) Exhaust fan with booster, no circulation fan though the intake fan does blow hard.
6) I veg in a small chamber with florescent then move them under the 400w HPS with a flowering bulb.

Medium:
7) Happyfrog soil
8) 7.5" square pot
9) Olivias cloning gel and put them right into a cup of soil.

Nutrients and water:
10) Tap water, I let it sit out for at least 24 hours and get ph between 6.0-6.5 before watering.
11) Add water to the test tube, add in drop and then compare to chart.
12) Ph up and down solutions.
13) Foxfarms tigerbloom (2tsp per gal) bigbloom (1tbls per gal) every other watering as specified by the foxfarms watering chart.
14) Every 4 days the soil drys up and I will only add nutes to the water every other watering. I dont do anything special, just add in the nutes (if it is a nute watering), adjust PH and then pour.
15) No additives.
16) Ph seems stable at 6.0-6.5
17) 6.0-6.5
18) No foliar feeding.

Growroom:
19) Indoor custom cabinet
20) 20"x4'x5'
21) Humidity is around 35% and temps between 72-86 degrees.
22) No infestations.

Strain:
23) Not sure on the strain, seems like every time I buy seeds the "free" seed they give me is better, so I eventually started cloning one of those.
24) Clones
25) Do not think so.

Zompton Reviewed by Zompton on 01-02-2012. Yellowing leaves in early flowering. I have been growing for over a year now, but for some reason my last couple of crops have had issues with yellowing leaves and then a not so sweet taste/smell after harvest. Shortly after flowering starts the leaves will start to yellow and then slowly die, it seems to hit the larger older leaves first. I know my temps are a bit high (86 at the most), but I have worked with these temps since I started and this yellowing is a new issue. The harvest will also have a not so sweet taste and smell, Rating: 5

[Dutch Pimp]

I prefer a soil ph in the 6.5-7.0 range.

[GanjaRobPDX]

your leaf tips are burnt pretty badly. but that isnt your major issue. your plants are rootbound as hell.
As plants grow, the roots are the first part to grow larger in order to support the growth above soil that is later to come.
remember, what you see above the soil is only a reflection of what is taking place in the soil/rootzone.

Repot plants about 1 week before flower. Instead of growing more small plants. try growing a few large plants in larger containers.
Re-potting from 1-2 gallon pots to 5 gallon buckets about 1 week before flowering should help you make it through flowering with much better results.

Also cut back your nute strength a bit. once you begin to see the slightest tip burn, cut nutes back about 100-150ppm.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for using the form, that makes helping so much easier.

[Zompton]

The reason those tips were burnt is probably because I just did a heavy feeding, but it could very well be the pot size that is causing them to yellow because I have decreased the pot size over time. I do like the plant size I am growing now, but I will try moving back to the larger pots tomorrow and see if that helps the yellowing.

[GanjaRobPDX]

try not to repot in flowering as this will cause stress to your plants.
However, if your flowering plants are in those really small containers, the sooner the better.

Also keep in mind that cannabis often doubles or triples in size when it flowers out (providing the plants have enough light, nutrients, and room for roots to grow to support this growth).
so use larger containers/pots and flower when the plants ae smaller. this cuts down your veg time and increases the number of harvests you can pull per year.

[tinytoon]

6.0-6.5 would be pretty good for Hydro but like already stated it is boarderline low for soil. When you can ditch those drops and get a real PH meter, makes things allot easier to read.

[northend]

why are you fertilizing with happy frog (fox farm dirt) as that has plenty of nutes in it already? you have burnt the crap outta them. flush a bunch of water through them give them a little more pot. and use nothing but water from now on. been seeing alot of problems with FF dirt latley. my partner has used it for the last 5 years. but the last two grows been haveing problems the dirt get so hard its like plaster went back to sunshine #4 and not one problem

[kingjustin]

Happy frog has low nute requirements, but it does still lack a lot of the goodies in Ocean Forest. The suggested feeding is a bit too rich for me; I usually do 1/4 strength and adjust from there. Try flushing and incorporating a bit more unfertilized soil, just make sure not to damage any existing root structures if you poke around too hard.