Dying plants. What to do next?

I have some outdoor growing, but have been having problems lately. They've all lost a huge amount of leaves and it's only getting worse. It started with the older, lower leaves yellowing and then dying and falling off. Then it started moving up, and now it's out of control. They're dropping handfuls of leaves every day. They're not flowering yet, but do have pistils all over the place. The tops still look pretty good, but there is just so much yellowing and dying everywhere else.

I've been feeding some locally made chemical nutrients that were recommended by the people at the hydro shop, and my friend uses the same stuff with great success. They're in good soil in ten gallon pots. I've used the same type of soil all their lives (4 months) and they've seemed to love it until recently. I don't know my ph, but the people at the hydro shop and my friend told me that our water is good for growing, and that ph likely isn't the issue. I don't know enough to agree or disagree, so I took their word for it. I have very limited knowledge about growing, but from some things I've read, it seems to me like they have some type of nutrient lock-out.

I came home from work today to the usual pile of dead leaves on the ground and I felt like I had to do something, so I flushed each ten gallon pot with thirty gallons of straight water. They've never been flushed before today. I don't know if this was a good or bad thing to do, but obviously what I've been doing hasn't been working. So now I'm wondering what I should do next. Should I give them a couple of days to dry out a bit and then give a light feeding? Should I stick with just water for a while? Is there anything else I should be doing?

This is my first grow, and up until this point it has been pretty trouble-free. Now I'm quite worried that after all this time and effort I'm not even going to see any buds. I don't know what else to do. I'd greatly appreciate any advice that might help these girls get through the season.

These pictures are about a week and a half old. The problem has gotten much, much worse since then.

looks like nute deficiency imo.
definitely check the soil ph with a simple ph soil meter from you local hardware store. it should be 5.5 - 6.5
flush is a good thing. let it dry out then give a lot of nutes imo, and check the soil ph with meter next time you water (soil needs to be wet).
those plants are quite large and look too big for their pots possibly, which again would indicate nute def.
if it's rootbound, it could easily show negative signs such as nute deficiency.
you have some burnt tips though, which could be a toxicity, the recent flush might have cleared that up.
some yellowing and losing of lower fan leaves is natural though, especially if not much light gets to them and/or it's in flowering phase.

They may have other issues, but I'm down with one of the theories, so well presented above ^^ That they may be too big for their pots and aren't getting enough nutrition (for their size) so they are cannibalizing themselves. Are you seeing roots coming out the bottom holes? If so, it's gonna be a Mo-Fo to repot those fukin' amazons. The rootball is probably packed in there tight.

Hey, go for it!! WTF! No guts no glory...and fewer BIG ASS JUICY BUDzzzzzzz

Good Luck and one day I hope one day to grow a plant that tall

its gonna need more N you dont want yellow taking over that thing

Hey guys. Thanks for the responses. Root bound could definitely be a possibility, although I don't really see much coming out the bottom. There are a few peeking out the top though. I do have to water them pretty much every day or they get really droopy. They always perk back up right after I water, but the yellowing keeps getting worse. Would it be ok to transplant this close to flowering? Days are down to about 14 hours here now, and the girls are covered in pistils. Transplanting now would be a bitch. They're already in ten gallon pots, and space has become a major issue also.

I guess I'll try more nutes now that I've flushed, and if thing don't get better I may have to look into transplanting. I really want to make it to the finish here. I appreciate your guys' help.

Re-potting should be fine up to maybe the 2nd week of flowering. I've done that and seen no ill effects and lots of beneficial ones. You can try feeding it more N, but it may still need more "root room" in order to be able to absorb the extra nutes. Get someone to help you transplant them into 20 gal pots soon and look into LST, if you have height limitations.

Good Luck

Putting a heavy eater plant like cannabis into a pot and not feeding it is like putting a lion in a cage and not feeding it. If you are going to hold this plant captive in a pot you better feed her or you get this result. Feed her, pull the yellow leaves off so you can see the results after

Diabolical666 said:

Putting a heavy eater plant like cannabis into a pot and not feeding it is like putting a lion in a cage and not feeding it. If you are going to hold this plant captive in a pot you better feed her or you get this result. Feed her, pull the yellow leaves off so you can see the results after

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i agree. i think a repot and a good feeding would be the way to go, use a quality potting soil so it hase nutes in it already and give a normal dose of fertilizer, maybe even a 3/4 strength dose for your first watering in then after a week increase (dont want to go too overboard with the nutes in the soil and added ferts)

Let the lion out of its cage!

Repot in 30 gallons and new soil and your good to go. Them plants are depending on you. To be or not to be the best cultivator of your own garden. Grow strong bro.

I'm going to see if I can pull one out and get a good look at the roots. I'm sure you guys are probably right about them being badly root bound. Looks like I may be transplanting tonight.

no matter what you do they will grow to the size of the container...i have had plants in 30 gal tote and STILL get rootbound. people swear up and down that staring in the original pot is the way to go but i prefer stepping up and transplanting into a pot no less than 50% bigger 2-3 weeks before flower. this lets them gets the roots growing good before preflower stretch and then fill it in nicely for flowering.

Well, I transplanted into 20 gallon pots. I didn't want to go much bigger than that because I didn't want to spend a fortune on soil, and space is already a major issue. I was only able to do three of them because I underestimated how much soil I was going to need. I'll do the other two tomorrow if I can get off work before the nursery closes. I was pretty rough on them, but re-potting plants this big is no simple task, especially since I was by myself. I also did something incredibly stupid which really didn't help - I transplanted into one, not realizing it was actually two pots together. I only realized after it was filled up, so it was a HUGE struggle for me to get them separated because they're made of really thin, flimsy plastic. I eventually got them apart, but the plant took a bit of a shit kicking. I'm hoping it'll be okay.

So hopefully this is what they needed to get them through the season. If this doesn't work I don't know what else to do. I'll post more pictures in a few days to show how they're doing in their new homes.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

RetiredMatthebrute said:

no matter what you do they will grow to the size of the container...i have had plants in 30 gal tote and STILL get rootbound. people swear up and down that staring in the original pot is the way to go but i prefer stepping up and transplanting into a pot no less than 50% bigger 2-3 weeks before flower. this lets them gets the roots growing good before preflower stretch and then fill it in nicely for flowering.

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Thats a excellent peice of knowledge. I commend that. That makes alot of sence.

Give 'em a few days. Shit kickin' ain't always bad. Some plants seem to benefit from a bit of adversity. Like they kick it into another gear And I'm sure that the extra room to "root around" will be appreciated. Keep us updated < as he hides his puny 5-7 gal potted pot....lol >

Good Luck

Hell I use 7 gal. pots for autos. Photo's need ROOM 15 to 25 is more like it.

Capt. Trips said:

Well, I transplanted into 20 gallon pots. I didn't want to go much bigger than that because I didn't want to spend a fortune on soil, and space is already a major issue. I was only able to do three of them because I underestimated how much soil I was going to need. I'll do the other two tomorrow if I can get off work before the nursery closes. I was pretty rough on them, but re-potting plants this big is no simple task, especially since I was by myself. I also did something incredibly stupid which really didn't help - I transplanted into one, not realizing it was actually two pots together. I only realized after it was filled up, so it was a HUGE struggle for me to get them separated because they're made of really thin, flimsy plastic. I eventually got them apart, but the plant took a bit of a shit kicking. I'm hoping it'll be okay.

So hopefully this is what they needed to get them through the season. If this doesn't work I don't know what else to do. I'll post more pictures in a few days to show how they're doing in their new homes.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

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My strategy would

Rold2Tight said:

Give 'em a few days. Shit kickin' ain't always bad. Some plants seem to benefit from a bit of adversity. Like they kick it into another gear And I'm sure that the extra room to "root around" will be appreciated. Keep us updated < as he hides his puny 5-7 gal potted pot....lol >

Good Luck

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That made me grin

Hey Capt. next time try 20 gal. Root Pouches even if they get real big they will
air prune in these and not get circle root, rain drains easier to, this is what I use
best price is at A. M. Leonard look under container production they're about
$6.00 ea. when you get 10 and they last 4-5 yrs.
Keep it green.

I appreciate all the advice from you kind folks. I'm definitely going to have to take a look at those bags. It seems like it could save a big headache. When I pulled them out of the old pots I could see that they were in fact very root bound. I'm hoping they bounce back and start flowering, soon. It's starting to feel like it's never going to happen! Thanks again for the help, my marijuana cultivating friends.

There is a large group of great folks here, ask and you shall receive
my friend, good luck and keep in touch.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em