Fratricide, has anyone experianced this?

[DW2]

Yesterday I noticed some wilting leaves, two smaller female plants, I think, are being killed off by their big sister! The larger plant was either shading out the smaller ones (and YES I hear you green75!). The remaining plant is very healthy, building up buds, and 51 inches tall. I remember watching a show on PBS Nova about some of the ways some plants communicate and defend them selves from other plants. I wonder if the cannabis is capable of the same response to other plants too close?
The pH, temperatures, and nutrients have all been in the preferred ranges (and the same as the other reservoir). When I removed the deceased ones, I noticed that the root mass, of the big plant, had completely over grown the roots of the other two plants.

[dontknownuttin]

51 inches WOW! GOOD JOB!

[DW2]

Thanks. She's also smelly, sticky, and sparkly too! I'm gonna punish her in a couple of months for choking her sisters, BURN THE BITCH !!!! lol

[rwdyredhead]

Fratricide or just a Bad Bitch DW2? Lol Sounds like you have a Cersei Lannister on your hands!

[alltatup]

Bad bitch cannabis... Can't live without her, can't live without her...

[DW2]

ALL of the above!

[Canuck147]

The cannabis plant does defend itself, mostly for repelling herbivores. Or to attract predators of herbivores. And the defense is the odor, you can thank the terpenes for the odor.

[DW2]

Thanks for that information. I remember back in 1978, there was a massive pot grow bust in Colorado. The cops found several acres of weed growing scattered amongst a corn field. The rational of growing it there (other than just hiding green in green), was according to an article, the corn repelled bugs that would munch on the weed. The only funny thing coming out of the bust was, that there was so much evidence that the cops decided to burn the bulk of it at the edge of the field. The bust was a big deal and was being covered live on TV in Denver.The field was adjacent to Interstate Highway (emphasis on Hi) 40. Before they knew it, there were cars and micro busses lined up, down wind along the side of the highway with all of the hippies from Denver inhaling deeply!

[alltatup]

You know that stupid sticks to cops like white on rice...

[Komatchi]

If you post a picture I could tell you more. Phenolic exudation is what those plant videos you are referring to generally talk about. You find it happening in tissue culture a lot. Basically, they are chemicals the plant excretes through the root system to fend off competition.

[DW2]

Komatchi, Greetings and thanks. Sorry for the delay, but I had to get the latest photos from my phone. My plants were germinated on 10/22/2016, 12 bag seeds, with only eight sprouting. Of the eight sprouts, five turned out to be female. Only one plant remained in reservoir 2 (the one on the left in the photos) and three in reservoir 1. I do not do a lot of defoliation on my plants and did not notice that plants I and V (in res. 1) were becoming stunted until, while I was adding some plant supports (the buds are gaining weight!), I noticed some wilted leaves in the lower portion of the canopy. I first thought the it was just from shade, but as I dug deeper, the plants were dead or dying. The remaining plant,II (roman numerals), is growing and healthy, although stretchy, and building up the buds.

[Komatchi]

Oh that's just nitrogen toxicity.

In bloom the plants utilize nitrogen differently. Instead of using it to grow new shoots, they use N to increase some turpene's production and put out extra leafs. It will also aid in creating chlorophyll. I know it's nitrogen toxicity because of:
1.) ALL the older leafs are very dark green. Link
2.) That downward curling on the edges is caused by nitrogen toxicity. Link

To fix it cut your nitrogen down to 1/4th of what you are using it at. Video Link
Since you are in flower increase your Fe, Zn, Ca, Mg, Mn, P, K while reducing your nitrogen. It will aid in boosting the beneficial vitamins and turpene's
Since tomatoes use very similar nutrients to produce their fruit, the way I like to think about it is what are the ideal nutrients the plant would use. Link

You will run into Powdery Mildew and spider mite problems with nitrogen toxicity.
o) PM can latch onto the plant easier when the cells are rapidly growing to the point of curling. Video Link TURN VOLUME DOWN AT THE START
o) Spider mites like sucking on that growth as well.


On another note,
I also highly recommend pruning differently.

It will help:
o) Increase airflow
o) Improve bud size
o) Naturally prevent pests and diseases.
o) Maximize your light efficiency.

Here is a wonderful guide on how I suggest pruning in veg. Link
Peach trees have the same problems as cannabis in terms of bud/peach weight and growth habit.
Make sure to cut off all the lower growth because shading just hurts yield and reduces the entire production of your other buds in terms of growth, trichrome production, and turpene production.


- Komatchi

[DW2]

Thanks for the information. I am using GH MaxiBloom, 5-15-14, it also has calcium 5%, magnesium 3.5%, sulfur 4%, and iron 0.1%. the only other supplement that I use during bloom (that has any nitrogen in it) is the Floralicious Plus and it only has 1% nitrogen and is used at the rate of 1 ml per gallon. The other supplements that I use are Liquid KoolBloom 0-10-10, Armor Si 0-0-4 with 10% SiO2, and FloraNector 0-0-1 with 0.5% magnesium, 0.5% sulfur, and 5% molasses.
How could the nitrogen be reduced 0r countered using a pre-mix fertilizer?