Advice

[golfnrl]

I put my girls in flower on November 16. So, 5th week of flower. I'm wondering if I have a nitrogen deficiency? The girls have produced lots of buds. But because the leaves are pale green and the pistils are still white I am concerned. If I have a nitrogen deficiency how do I dose them?

Also have a concern bout the red/purple stems. From what I read today on GWE it might just be the strain (Dutch Passion Purple #1). But it kinda looks like a problem for the areas of the stems that get the most light. Not sure.

[Emomajic]

You have something going on. What type medium are you using. I've seen nitrogen deficiency before but never on every leaf and even your buds look off some unless it's your camera. I would flush them and maybye use a comeback formula like Fox farms puts out. Of course before flushing it's important to know the medium your growing in. 2 thoughts not directly pertaining to your ?. I always start my flower count when I see pre flower usually 10 to 20 days after you change time. Not from day one. Also I found that if I don't completely strip the bottom branches leaving some growth I get a better yield up top and my branches seem to remain strong to hold that yield. Just saying. Been growing since 2015 so I have seen a lot. But hopefully some of the more experienced growers can help you more.

[golfnrl]

I've got these plants in Fox Farm Ocean/Forest blend soil. I've read a good deal but haven't really seen anything like you have explained about counting the time. What you said makes sense. I'll try the flush and see what happens.

[Eliot Pryor]

I don't grow in soil but in my hydro experience I have seen the same purple streaks in lots of strains. After you get the flowers that far along there is not much to do but hope you left enough foliage to last. In hydro I'm still feeding a bit of foliage-pro but a reduced amount. Auto's get yellow really fast compared to photo's. Good looking grow !!

[SoOrbudgal]

Happy KC sunday blizzard sunday football and i'm a tad high ! golfnrl sure looks N issue to me. I'm guessing that you are doing a lollypop type of training? I'm looking at the removal of so many leaves left starving for N. If they were given to me I would put some fish/guano/Epsom salt ( helps heal plants good for greening and gentle excellent for roses) and may look at light distance/temps. Gooo Seahawks

[Gingerbeard]

I've not had an issue with purple stems. Nor have I seen anyone who has. Lot's of theories and opinions. Stress, strain, nutes, strain, light, temperature. My neighbors plants are pretty much purple all over. Save the leaves.

[Woodsman67]

Just curious, are you possibly overwatering?

[golfnrl]

Not sure about the over watering, I use the finger/lift method to determine when to water. These plants seemed to like their water about every 3rd day.

[golfnrl]

Me thinks you might be on to something...I may have made a rookie mistake. I'll know more in a day or so.

[dphipps1020]

As far as the deficiency, I don't know. As for the purple, I feel like it's a strain thing. I have several with the same coloring and leaves are all fine, no deficiencies or discoloration at all. I wouldn't worry about the purple. Hopefully you can see these pretty good.

[Cali]

Honestly don’t do a flush your just going to wash off whatever nutes are left in that soil. Looks like overwatering to me. How about top dressing with that soil you have and wait a while before you water the ladies and just water enough to get the soil moist don’t get it to wet. And make sure your watering at proper ph. If it was N deficiency the bottom leafs would be falling off first. Most blindly it’s overwatering and ph problems

[golfnrl]

I last watered these plants on the 13th. The PH has been a consistent 6.3-6.4 every time they get water.

[Woodsman67]

It really looks like overwatering. Purple is nothing but cool looking. I'd let the soil dry out and only water when top inch is dry and pot feels light.

[DingusKhan]

I agree with the above advice pertaining to overwatering and NOT flushing. I too would let it get good and dry.

If you are sure it's a deficiency, you could give it one light feeding with fertilizer AFTER you've let it dry. Like some fish guano tea, or something like that. But take it easy, try a light dose and see if it helps a little bit before giving a strong feeding.

[Obi-Wan]

Based on your signature and description it looks like the plants are at week 5 of flower in 3 gal. pots of fox farm ocean forest and you are supplementing with molasses and Fox Farm Big Bloom. If this is correct I would suspect that the soil is exhausted of its nutrients and you will need to supplement with something that has a bit more nitrogen than the Big Bloom. If you want to keep it organic look for a flowering stage compost tea. If organic isn’t a must I would suggest picking up a bottle of Tiger Bloom as it will also contain trace minerals. Tiger Bloom will provide enough nitrogen to bring the color back to your leaves but not enough to over do it.

[golfnrl]

Thx Obi-Wan. After DingusKhan's comment and yours I did a thorough review of my watering schedule. I use the finger dip/pot lift method to determine when to water all of my plants, but I was only lifting the one with easiest access. I think I made a rookie mistake. I assumed since they are all relatively the same size that they would be using approximately the same amount of water. All three plants feel dry when I stick my finger in the dirt, but two of them feel too heavy even though today would be a water day. I'm going to let them dry another day and see what they feel like. I hope I can save them.

[alwaystoned]

Why is everyone so obsessed with defoliation, plants (in general, not just weed) store nutes in their leaves... you remove the juiciest leaves so early on & your plant is going to suck what little are left dry

[DingusKhan]

Defoliating has been debated on this board for at least 3 years. @mr.green was one of the first to start posting journals showing that if you take SOME leaves off, not too many, he'd gotten bigger yields, healthier plants nicely trained. Some of us have tried it and got similar results and posted them. For those of us who have participated, we get the solar panels/nutrient storage points, but most of those who have chimed in have been convinced that plants make more leaves than they need for optimal bud production. Have you read any grow journals of defolators?

Also,. especially for wpm, she needs better ventilation in her canopy and physically removing mold is easier than killing it in place.

[DingusKhan]

But still, I'm pretty sure no one will fly off the handle if you disagree. There are still a few growers here who grow good pot and keep ALL their leaves as a rule.

[Gingerbeard]

I have to defoliate or I will have a tent full of leaves blocking LED light from getting to lower buds. I get more buds/colas. It opens the plant to get circulation. It's easier to handle a plant that has some good defoliation going on. It's easier to train. The one plant I was able to get several hours of sunlight too took zero defoliation because there was plenty of light.

[golfnrl]

After a lot of worry, watching, and work my conclusion is my problems were caused by over watering. Thx Obiwan and others for steering me in the right direction. I tried a few things but eventually harvested one of my plants early because she was just in such poor shape. all but just a few of the leaves were yellow with brown spots. The trichomes were cloudy with some amber on the biggest buds but I thought she wasn't going to finish so I did the chop. In my quest to solve/determine the source of my problem I used Real Growers Recharge, Boomerrang, Tiger Bloom, and Cal Mag after letting my pots dry out completely. I was so unsure about the over watering that I wanted to see if my plants were rootbound, so I did what isn't recommended and transplanted into bigger pots, and you guessed it, plants weren't rootbound. I over watered. Two of my girls bounced back nicely. It's a hard lesson to learn, but was a real life example of how over watering can cause your plant to look like there's nute problems. I won't make that mistake again. Here's a couple of pics...won't be long now.

[SoOrbudgal]

This happens to the best of us, boy you sure have some nice buds though great job in recovery of plants.