What do these signs mean?

[OMGReptar]

Hey all, it has been about two weeks since I’ve had to ask any questions on here and my plants have definitely grown and survived me splitting their stalks. Now I have a couple new issues.

1. I’m starting to see purple on some branches.
2. Tips of leaves look a little burnt. This is in newer leaves and older leaves.
3. Light green coloring starting to take over leaves that are on the top of the plant.

Some notes:
-Plants are 43 days old today.
-I know my plants look droopy, that’s because they need to be watered today.
-5 days ago I watered each plant with 1tsp of cal-mag in 1 gallon of water. Approx 6.6 pH
-11 days ago I fed plants using the fox farm trio schedule per @Emilya instructions. Approx 6.5 pH and 660ppm
-My plants are in 5 gallon pots in ocean forest soil.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi OMG... you are making good progress. Here are a few comments:
At 6.2-6.3 your nutrients will work even better in that soil and that would be one simple but very effective change that you can make. PPM isn't usually used in soil grows, so most soil growers won't have any idea what that number means. Just follow the feeding schedule with so many tsp/gallon and you will be fine. Purple on branches is normal... it is how the plant shows stress points as the branches move around, but it isn't anything to worry about. Worry instead about what the leaves are doing... they are your indicators, not the branches. Light green is normal in the new growth. It will darken up after a few days... nothing there to worry about. If you are giving the proper amount of nutes, or in other words, the amount it takes to survive, plus a bit extra for strong and rapid growth, you will get a little tip burn all over the plant. Even in my organic grows, where I give no outside nutrients, the leaves all get these tip burns as the plant finds everything it needs, plus a little bit more, in the soil. There is an adage out here in the cannabis world... if you aren't at least burning the tips, you aren't trying hard enough... so again, nothing to worry about there.
It all looks good to me except for the overall droop.... I think that suggests that you are watering too often. When my plants want water, the top is reaching as hard as it can upward toward the light, and the bottom third of the plant starts to droop.

 

[VetSmoke85]

I'd like to see how this goes for you. Had the same yellowing leaves on my last grow and never managed to figure it out. Just got progressively worse no matter what I did. Same thing is happening again on my 2 week old plant now. Had guidance saying maybe too much N in the soil as I added worm castings. Plan is to water with plain ph'd water the next couple of feeds and see how that goes.

 

[013]

When you lift plants out I bet those saucers are still wet, I think a lot of folks are experiencing wet feet and need plant elevators to get air under the grow bags and to let the excess moisture drip out so the plant is not sitting in her own pee.... nobody like wet undies - especially not your weed girls.

 

[Azsmoker420]

When you lift plants out I bet those saucers are still wet, I think a lot of folks are experiencing wet feet and need plant elevators to get air under the grow bags and to let the excess moisture drip out so the plant is not sitting in her own pee.... nobody like wet undies - especially not your weed girls.

That's what I need next. Plant elevator that a fantastic idea.

 

[VetSmoke85]

When you lift plants out I bet those saucers are still wet, I think a lot of folks are experiencing wet feet and need plant elevators to get air under the grow bags and to let the excess moisture drip out so the plant is not sitting in her own pee.... nobody like wet undies - especially not your weed girls.

Good point. Need to find something suitable to stand mine on.

 

[OMGReptar]

Hi OMG... you are making good progress. Here are a few comments:
At 6.2-6.3 your nutrients will work even better in that soil and that would be one simple but very effective change that you can make. PPM isn't usually used in soil grows, so most soil growers won't have any idea what that number means. Just follow the feeding schedule with so many tsp/gallon and you will be fine. Purple on branches is normal... it is how the plant shows stress points as the branches move around, but it isn't anything to worry about. Worry instead about what the leaves are doing... they are your indicators, not the branches. Light green is normal in the new growth. It will darken up after a few days... nothing there to worry about. If you are giving the proper amount of nutes, or in other words, the amount it takes to survive, plus a bit extra for strong and rapid growth, you will get a little tip burn all over the plant. Even in my organic grows, where I give no outside nutrients, the leaves all get these tip burns as the plant finds everything it needs, plus a little bit more, in the soil. There is an adage out here in the cannabis world... if you aren't at least burning the tips, you aren't trying hard enough... so again, nothing to worry about there.
It all looks good to me except for the overall droop.... I think that suggests that you are watering too often. When my plants want water, the top is reaching as hard as it can upward toward the light, and the bottom third of the plant starts to droop.

Thanks for the information! It makes me feel a little better. As far as the pH, I try to keep it at 6.5 only because when I was calibrating it, I think it’s off a little by .2 and I can’t remember if it’s .2 up or .2 down. I just haven’t gotten another pH reader yet.

A quick question about the watering. So I thought that the first signs that your plant needs water is that it drops on the lower portions and then the droop grows up until the whole plant begins to droop. Is that not true?

 

[OMGReptar]

When you lift plants out I bet those saucers are still wet, I think a lot of folks are experiencing wet feet and need plant elevators to get air under the grow bags and to let the excess moisture drip out so the plant is not sitting in her own pee.... nobody like wet undies - especially not your weed girls.

Lol that’s funny. But to be honest, I haven’t experienced the saucers being wet yet after I pick the pots up to feel the bottom. Well, they are wet on the same day as watering, but after that I haven’t experienced them being wet. I do run two fans in my tent, one at the canopy and one at the bottom so maybe that helps?

but you’re right, I have been looking at dish stands that I can sit my pots on that will allow airflow to hit underneath the pot.

 

[OMGReptar]

I'd like to see how this goes for you. Had the same yellowing leaves on my last grow and never managed to figure it out. Just got progressively worse no matter what I did. Same thing is happening again on my 2 week old plant now. Had guidance saying maybe too much N in the soil as I added worm castings. Plan is to water with plain ph'd water the next couple of feeds and see how that goes.

I’m hoping that it’s nothing, my plant did do that one time before, but it went back dark green like Emilya said.

 

[Emilya Green]

Thanks for the information! It makes me feel a little better. As far as the pH, I try to keep it at 6.5 only because when I was calibrating it, I think it’s off a little by .2 and I can’t remember if it’s .2 up or .2 down. I just haven’t gotten another pH reader yet.

A quick question about the watering. So I thought that the first signs that your plant needs water is that it drops on the lower portions and then the droop grows up until the whole plant begins to droop. Is that not true?

first, to droop, the plant needs to first be lifting. All of the leaves in a healthy plant should be above horizontal, and pointing to the light. When you have this normal situation to start with, then you will notice that when the container is starting to run out of water, the lower leaves will drop below horizontal. As the situation gets worse, that droop can go up to the middle of the plant or so, but the rest of the leaves above that should still be above horizontal. If ever the whole plant begins to droop the situation will be dire, and the lower leaves will not just be drooping, they will look like they are about to fall off.

No, a plant that is completely drooping, with none of the leaves rising above horizontal, is not showing you a need for water... it is showing you that its lower roots are in trouble and that this is all the water pressure it can manage to hold the plant up. When you water a plant in this situation, the upper spreader roots get water and temporarily the plant will lift up its leaves and look happy... but as soon as the water table falls below those top spreader roots again and the water pressure drops in the trunk, the droop will quickly appear again.

 

[OMGReptar]

first, to droop, the plant needs to first be lifting. All of the leaves in a healthy plant should be above horizontal, and pointing to the light. When you have this normal situation to start with, then you will notice that when the container is starting to run out of water, the lower leaves will drop below horizontal. As the situation gets worse, that droop can go up to the middle of the plant or so, but the rest of the leaves above that should still be above horizontal. If ever the whole plant begins to droop the situation will be dire, and the lower leaves will not just be drooping, they will look like they are about to fall off.

No, a plant that is completely drooping, with none of the leaves rising above horizontal, is not showing you a need for water... it is showing you that its lower roots are in trouble and that this is all the water pressure it can manage to hold the plant up. When you water a plant in this situation, the upper spreader roots get water and temporarily the plant will lift up its leaves and look happy... but as soon as the water table falls below those top spreader roots again and the water pressure drops in the trunk, the droop will quickly appear again.

Thank u!

 

[HydroponicFireman]

1 looks like nutrient burn starting out, just water with only water the next time or two it doesnt look serious (but could be so be careful) oops, I was wrong, see below
2 the purple branches could be genetics, I know blueberry does this, could be a deficiency also
3 that suggests nutrient deficiency with Nitrogen but more important looking to me is the "spindley" look of the top young leaves, i think this is a micronutrient of some type (nailed it!)

Matter of fact, let me CONSULT THE MANUAL! LOL

From Ed Rosenthals Marijuana Growers Handbook:

Issue .................................................................................... suspected nutrient deficiency
Yellowing of young leaves - .............................................. Fe (Iron) , Mn (Manganese)
Spindly leaves (the young ones on top in the last pic) -... N (Nitrogen)
Leaf tip burn, older leaves - .......................................... N, Zn (Nitrogen, Zinc)

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

Good point. Need to find something suitable to stand mine on.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

these work fantastic and come in different sizes on the big A ,and are cheap last for ever and take alot of weight ,i love them just put a drip tray underneath them and you are good to go , i dont work for the big A but these really work . Outside the water has the ability to drain away , when you grow in pots the water accumulates in the bottom of your pot witch doesnt allow the roots to breath and dry hence the elevators .

 

[VetSmoke85]

these work fantastic and come in different sizes on the big A ,and are cheap last for ever and take alot of weight ,i love them just put a drip tray underneath them and you are good to go , i dont work for the big A but these really work . Outside the water has the ability to drain away , when you grow in pots the water accumulates in the bottom of your pot witch doesnt allow the roots to breath and dry hence the elevators .

On it. I was looking at air fryer racks but these are better.

 

[VetSmoke85]

Can't find these. What search text do I need? Cheers.
Got it, was missing the word elevator

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

air fryer racks rust ,these don't made of high strength plastic and are dishwasher safe too if you need to clean them after a grow , i just take out the top rack of my dishwasher and run them through a rinse cycle , ya i know I'm lazy !i use the 16 inch size for my 10 gallon pots , and 14 inch for 5 gallon if you are doing coco grow etc

 

[VetSmoke85]

air fryer racks rust ,these don't made of high strength plastic and are dishwasher safe too if you need to clean them after a grow , i just take out the top rack of my dishwasher and run them through a rinse cycle , ya i know I'm lazy !i use the 16 inch size for my 10 gallon pots , and 14 inch for 5 gallon if you are doing coco grow etc

Yeah they look great but unfortunately the UK seems to have not caught on to these and unless I want to pay a fortune for shipping I can't get them. All the ones I've found so far are from abroad. I'll find a substitute.

 

[013]

dont know if you have it across the pond but some of that coated wire closet shelving system stuff looks pretty good, here it’s cut by the foot and prop it with a 2X4 or brick

 

[OMGReptar]

1 looks like nutrient burn starting out, just water with only water the next time or two it doesnt look serious (but could be so be careful) oops, I was wrong, see below
2 the purple branches could be genetics, I know blueberry does this, could be a deficiency also
3 that suggests nutrient deficiency with Nitrogen but more important looking to me is the "spindley" look of the top young leaves, i think this is a micronutrient of some type (nailed it!)

Matter of fact, let me CONSULT THE MANUAL! LOL

From Ed Rosenthals Marijuana Growers Handbook:

Issue .................................................................................... suspected nutrient deficiency
Yellowing of young leaves - .............................................. Fe (Iron) , Mn (Manganese)
Spindly leaves (the young ones on top in the last pic) -... N (Nitrogen)
Leaf tip burn, older leaves - .......................................... N, Zn (Nitrogen, Zinc)

I am growing a blueberry strain, so I guess that’s the cause of the purpling. For the micronutrients, is it suggesting too much or too little?