Leaf Loss During Flowering

[glderguy]

Hi all. Ive posted before about my plants slow flowering, with some pretty current pics. Anyway, I take each and every leaf pretty seriously and can honestly say I havent lost one leaf during my entire grow. Well now it looks like one of my plants is starting the beginning of shedding older large fan leaves, four or five of them are starting to yellow. My other plant, in the same stage of flower still hasnt lost a leaf. Both about 4 weeks into flower, Im using GH one part Flora Nova Bloom now. I was running a weaker solution as I try not to go crazy on nutes, approx 30 percent or so. After seeing some of the fan leaves yellowing on the one plant, I have boosted nutes to 50 percent, thinking maybe the one plant may just be nute starved??? Either that or Im thinking losing a few large fan leaves during flower is pretty normal??? A current pic of both plants below. The one on the right is the one that has a few yellowing fans.
Thanks

 

[Gixxerman420]

Dude, don't worry too much, most strains tend to lose their fans later into flowering... Usually about week 5 or 6, but depending on the strain, your grow conditions, and your nutrient schedule/intake efficiency; could start sooner... I had an ice plant start wilting at 4 weeks once, check and see if any flowers are changing purple, for this is a sign your temperature may be getting low. The plants will naturally run out of nitrogen over time with application of flowering nutrients (i.e. Big bloom) and yellowing is a result, it's good for your buds though; flavor of end product is better if nitrogen depletes prior to harvest. Aside from all that, these look like beautiful ladies, I've seen much worse shape so don't fret, these guys will help you diagnose and fix any problems. Hope this helps, jump in there guys if I'm steering him wrong here!

 

[trillions of atoms]

Even healthy yellowing? Bump up the nutes!!!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I think it is a mistake to not give your plants all the nutes they can handle. Nutes are inexpensive compared to the "reward". I push my nutes until I see nute burn and then back off a little. I also find that when I use FloraNova I need to add Cal-Mag.

 

[glderguy]

Thanks guys/ladies...excuse me, that should be ladies/guys! Gixxerman,
you must ride.....me too! Yes I came to that conclusion about CAL/MAG
and GH stuff Im using...matter of fact I went down last night to find the stuff with no luck. Nute strength, Im still not totally sure on that, cost isnt a factor to me but some say hit em to the max while others say too many over nute and we dont need as much as we think, I dont know anything about which school of thought is "right"..... so I just watch the plants, try too keep them healthy and adjust accordingly, trying to be somewhat proactive. I did think about Calmag sometime ago but
just didnt bother now I think I fell behind a bit, so there goes the proactive bit out the window. I think there may be better stuff than the single part GH but I just dont want to mess w/mixing, adding this, adding that etc especially if I can keep em reasonably healthy with less hassle.
Thanks again for all the input.

 

[Melvan]

The companies who supply nutes do a lot of testing and research to see what is the proper level of feed at each stage. Follow the feed schedule provided and you'll usually be all right.

At the very end of your grow some of the plants may lose all their leaves, it is fall to them after all. Don't worry, what you have going on is normal and expected. At this point your plant is using massive amounts of energy to plump that bud, which means its using not only the nutes you feed, but the sugars stored in the fan leaves.

 

[dman1234]

it would bother me if i wasnt losing leaves and yellowing near the end of flower, but thats just me.

 

[PencilHead]

It's been said many times, many ways: late fad good; early fade bad.

 

[glderguy]

Thanks again. Like I said I boosted up nute level to around 50% max now. During veg, using GH Grow, plants seemed to like around 50% nutes best. So I started bloom nute at 30 and have now gone to 50%. Like THG said and Ive also read it from others, they have had to use cal mag with the GH 1 part bloom stuff. I was going to use it too but never got around to it, goin down to the hydro store right now to get some as next feed will be tomorrow. This whole thing has been fun and a relearn for me after 30 years, back then it was lava rocks, flood/drain system and pretty much anything I could get my hands on to throw in the nute tank! I was even known during veg to use a product called Rapid Grow with a few other additives thrown in.... dont know if they even make it anymore, actually I grew some decent plants w/that stuff! Dont think I ever heard of GH, Fox Farms, or hempy buckets back then. Honestly though, in veg anyway, best I remember my old grow technique kicked this hempy bucket/GH nute stuff butts!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

T.... while others say too many over nute and we dont need as much as we think, I dont know anything about which school of thought is "right".....

While it is normal for plants to lose leaves during flowering, IMO, 4 weeks is too early.

I, personally, have never read anywhere not to give your plants as many nutes as they can handle. Where did you read this info?

 

[glderguy]

Well, off the top of my head w/o going back looking I dont know the exact
url/etc of where I have seen this. It can be researched and found if one is really that interested. My own school of thought is...balance...in all things as a matter of fact. Underfeed and you probably stress the plants, over feed to the point of burn then back off, youve possibly stressed them as well, I try to find the middle ground and try to keep them happy and healthy w/o either extreme. I increase nutes a bit at a time till they seem to be growing well enough for me and leave it there. I have many years ago hit them very hard w/nutes, they grew like crazy, stunk like crazy, carbon filtration was way in the future then, but the entire house reeked and then some, I was afraid to answer the door!!! After they burnt a bit Id back down a bit too. Frankly best I remember after taking a less aggressive approach, I dont remember a whole lot of difference in the end. That has been many years ago though. In the end though, if your way works fer you, more power to you. Im not commercial grower, I probably wont get mega yield but over all I think plants are fine, a little yellowing of a few leaves, but they too are still living and probably will for several more weeks at least.
Maybe some kind of minor deficiency, Ill mess with it, more for the sake of messin w/it than anything else. I think in the end all will be OK.
Thanks

 

[StoneyBud]

I've found that after growing the same strain for several grows, I learn what that specific strain will do under various circumstances. I doubt that there are two strains that exist that will react exactly the same in all circumstances.

Once I have a strain dialed in, I know at each stage, what the plant will do when I give it "X" amount of each growing variable.

The harvest weight, the look of the bud and its type of stoniness will tell you if what you did worked. Track each grow so you know what you did during its various cycles. You'll be able to look back that way and see what each strain will do if you repeat each process.

If you are growing a new strain, or one you aren't familiar with, all you can do is rely on others experience with that strain or you can choose a moderate method that is pretty much safe with each strain. This seems to be what you're doing now if I'm guessing correctly.

The bottom line is that if you are happy with the harvest weight, and the stoniness of your bud after using your current methods, then you're already doing it in the way that's best for you.

My general feelings about nutrient strength is much like THG. I give em all they can take right up to the minute I harvest. Every strain I've grown has followed the yellowing of the larger fan leaves and dropping of them during flowering.

I watch the new growth of buds and the smaller leaves during flowering to gauge my nute strength.

Good luck man. Your plants look great.

 

[babysnakess]

I'm growing in roots organic soil and was given the impression that it is best to give nutes every other watering at 50 percent of what is recommended, is this thinking wrong ?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Well, off the top of my head w/o going back looking I dont know the exact
url/etc of where I have seen this. It can be researched and found if one is really that interested. My own school of thought is...balance...in all things as a matter of fact. Underfeed and you probably stress the plants, over feed to the point of burn then back off, youve possibly stressed them as well, I try to find the middle ground and try to keep them happy and healthy w/o either extreme. I increase nutes a bit at a time till they seem to be growing well enough for me and leave it there. I have many years ago hit them very hard w/nutes, they grew like crazy, stunk like crazy, carbon filtration was way in the future then, but the entire house reeked and then some, I was afraid to answer the door!!! After they burnt a bit Id back down a bit too. Frankly best I remember after taking a less aggressive approach, I dont remember a whole lot of difference in the end. That has been many years ago though. In the end though, if your way works fer you, more power to you. Im not commercial grower, I probably wont get mega yield but over all I think plants are fine, a little yellowing of a few leaves, but they too are still living and probably will for several more weeks at least.
Maybe some kind of minor deficiency, Ill mess with it, more for the sake of messin w/it than anything else. I think in the end all will be OK.
Thanks

If you were giving your plants 30-50% of recommended nutes, you were underfeeding them. At 4 weeks you probably have 4-6 more weeks of flowering. I think you are loosing the fan leaves far too early.

 

[glderguy]

Well maybe, maybe not. Ok here we go just one of many urls I can direct you to although Id honestly rather not bother.

hxxp://www.420magazine.com/forums/hydroponic-gardening/66392-passive-hydro.html

Although no specific comment towards nute strength, if youve used flora nova one part, mixing by gallon you know 1 teaspoon per gallon is at the low end of the dosge. If I correctly interpreted the article, this persons Hempy grow was based on this amount. Unfortunately I believe down the line the person did have humidity issues and I feel for her. Many years ago I developed a plant that grew just one large bud and not joking it was the size of my forearm( and I have big arms)and intially til I got it under control, lost them to humidity. I did give your comments some thought and did boost nutes to over 50%....several days later now, you know what I was doing this AM.....flushing...... and believe me I am not one of those flusher types and dont do it in excess unless needed......plants werent burning but they were obviously not happy......Ill stick with my program than you.

 

[Melvan]

No live links, edit the http to hxxp, noone will follow it until you do.

Good luck!

 

[glderguy]

Thanks, not sure what you mean, I did change to hxxp and cant follow it.
Well I guess a person could just manually type in the link if they want to bother, using I would guess http..........
Thanks again

 

[StoneyBud]

Thanks, not sure what you mean, I did change to hxxp and cant follow it.
Well I guess a person could just manually type in the link if they want to bother, using I would guess http..........
Thanks again

The whole point is to make it so that it won't work as an automatic link.

All that hXXp stuff isn't necessary either. You can just post the Dot.com part of the address like with yours it would be:

420magazine.com/forums/hydroponic-gardening/66392-passive-hydro.html

This leaves it so that it isn't active but still gives the entire address needed to copy and paste into a new screen or tab.

The starting "http://www" isn't needed any more. All browsers will automatically add that to what I've shown you above.

You can even highlite it so it stands out in the post without being a live link like this:

420magazine.com/forums/hydroponic-gardening/66392-passive-hydro.html

 

[hemp319]

i def have to agree with THG. 30-50 percent may be fine as an initial dose during the first week, but dosage should be gradually increased afterwards.

 

[Hick]

Thanks, not sure what you mean, I did change to hxxp and cant follow it.
Well I guess a person could just manually type in the link if they want to bother, using I would guess http..........
Thanks again

"perfect"... thanks!