# why are my plants turning purple?



## blake roberts (Oct 13, 2010)

hey i gots a question why is my plants turnin purple??i left it out overnight and it turned purple around the stems and the bottom of the buds thanx.. peace out


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## Brick Top (Oct 13, 2010)

If the temperature dropped to 50 degrees (F.) or below that will inhibit the uptake of phosphorus and that will cause plants to turn purple.


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## produce2smoke (Oct 13, 2010)

brick tops right!


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## Green Love (Oct 13, 2010)

Your plants are turning purple, cause their "Horny."


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## Medi 1 (Oct 13, 2010)

leaves turn cause the chloraphyll has stopped and buds are from genetics.. cold will stop the chlorophyl production. and lower the potency. if its cold then they take energyt away form what you want to try and fix the issues of purpling but they cant so its just keeps taking away from the plant


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## Brick Top (Oct 13, 2010)

*Phosphorus (P) Mobile Element and Macro Element*

Benefit: Phosphorus does a lot of things for the plant. One of the most important parts of Phosphorus is: It aids in root growth and influences the vigor of the plant and is one of the most important elements in flowering as well helps to germinate seedlings.
Phosphorus is an essential plant nutrient, and since it is needed in large amounts, it is classified as a macronutrient. Phosphorus is a MAJOR important nutrient in the plants reproductive stages. Without this element the plants will have a lot of problems blooming without proper levels of Phosphorus.


*When your plants are deficient in phosphorus*, this can overall reduce the size of your plants. Not enough causes slow growth and causes the plant to become weak, to little amount of Phosphorus causes slow growths in leaves that may or may not drop off. The edges all around the leaves or half of the leaves can be brownish and work its way inwards a bit causing the part of the leaves to curl up in the air a bit. *Fan leaves will show dark greenish/purplish and yellowish tones along with a dullish blue color to them.* Sometimes the stems can be red, along with red petioles that can happen when having a Phosphorus deficiency. This isn&#8217;t a sure sure sign of you having one though, but can be a sign. Some strains just show the red petioles and stems from its genes.

So pretty much the overall dark green color *with a purple, red, or blue tint to the fan leaves is a good sign of a Phosphorus deficiency. *

*Having Cold weather (below 50F/10C) can make phosphorous absorption very troublesome for plants.*

Many people get a Phosphorus deficiency confused with a fungus problem because the ends of the leaves look like a fungus problem, But the damage occurs at the end of the leaves. side of the leaves and has a glass like feeling to it as if it had a ph problem. Parts affected by a phosphorus deficiency are: Older Leaves, Whole plant, Petioles.

Too much Phosphorus levels affect plant growth by suppressing the uptake of: Iron, potassium and Zinc, potentially causing deficiency symptoms of these nutrients to occur def in plants. A Zinc deficiency is most common under excessive phosphorus conditions, as well as causing other nutrients to have absorption troubles like zinc and copper. Phosphorus fluctuates when concentrated and combined with calcium



*Problems with Phosphorus being locked out by PH troubles*

Cold wet soils, acid or very alkaline soils, compacted soil.


*Soil*

Phosphorus gets locked out of soil growing at ph levels of 4.0-5.5
Phosphorus is absorbed best in soil at a ph level of 6.0-7.5 (wouldn&#8217;t recommend having a ph of over 7.0 in soil) Anything out of the ranges listed will contribute to a Phosphorus deficiency.


*Hydro and Soil less Mediums*

Phosphorus gets locked out of Hydro and Soil less Mediums at ph levels of 6.0-8.5.
Phosphorus is absorbed best in Hydro and Soil less Mediums at ph levels of 4.0- 5.8. (Wouldn&#8217;t recommend having a ph over 6.5 in hydro and soil less mediums.) Best range for hydro and soil less mediums is 5.0 to 6.0. Anything out of the ranges listed will contribute to a Phosphorus Deficiency.



*Solution to fixing a Phosphorus deficiency*
Some deficiency during flowering is normal, but too much shouldn't be tolerated. Any chemical or organic fertilizers that have Phosphorus in them will fix a Phosphorus deficiency. If you have a phosphorus deficiency you should use any N-P-K ratio that is over 5.Again Peters all purpose 20-20-20 is a good mix. Miracle grow Tomato plant food, Miracle grow All purpose plant food (Only mixing at ½ strength when using chemical nutrients, or it will cause nutrient burn!) Other forms of phosphorus supplements are: Bone meal, which is gradual absorption, I suggest making it into a tea for faster use, where bone/blood meal is slow acting, but when made into a tea it works quicker! Fruit eating bat guano, which is fast absorption, Worm castings, which is gradual absorption, Fish meal, which is medium absorption, Soft Rock Phosphate, which is medium absorption, Jamaican or Indonesian Guano, which is fast absorption. Crabshell, which is slow absorption. Tiger Bloom , which is fast absorption.

Here is a list of things to help fix a Phosphrus Deficiency.

*Chemical*

Advanced nutrients Bloom (0-5-4)
Vita Bloom (0-7-5)
BC Bloom (1.1-4.4-7)
GH Flora Bloom (0-5-4)
GH Maxi Bloom (5-15-14)
GH Floranova Bloom (4-8-7)
Dyna-Gro Bloom (3-12-6)
Fox Farm Tiger Bloom (2-8-4)
Awsome Blossums

*Organic*

Dr. Hornby's Iguana Juice Bloom (4-3-6)
Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Bloom (.5-1.5-2)
Fox Farm Big Bloom (.01-.3-.7)
Earth Juice Bloom (0-3-1)
Pure Blend Bloom (2.5-2-5)
Pure Blend Pro Bloom (2.5-2-5)
Buddswell (0-7-0)
Sea Island Jamaican Bat Guano (1-10-0)
Indonesian Bat Guano (0-13-0)
Rainbow Mix Bloom (1-9-2)
Earth Juice Bloom (0-3-1)
BIO BLOOM (2-6-3.5)
AGE OLD BLOOM (5-10-5)
ALASKA MORBLOOM (0-10-10)
METANATURALS ORGANIC BLOOM (1-5-5)


Any of these will cure your phosphorus deficiency. Affected leaves will not show recovery but new growth will appear normal.


Now if you added to much chemical ferts and or organics,( which is hard to burn your plants when using organics) You need to Flush the soil with plain water. You need to use 2 times as much water as the size of the pot, for example: If you have a 5 gallon pot and need to flush it, you need to use 10 gallons of water to rinse out the soil good enough to get rid of excessive nutrients.


*Note: Blood Meal, Dried Blood, Guanos, Kelp Meal, Cotton Seed Meal, Peat Moss,
Sulfur and fish meal are all acidic and can bring your ph down, so if you add these please monitor your ph when using those.

Note: Bone Meal, Rock Phosphate, Wood Ashes pretty much all ashes, Shellfish Compost and Crab Meal are all alkaline and can make your ph go up, so if you add any of these please monitor your ph.*


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## Btownbud (Oct 13, 2010)

i have 5 Fucking incredible x Kush clones on their 3rd week of flower, and they just all of the sudden shot purple! everything is purple, nothing is yellowing at all.
Temp during the day is a steady 26c and at night the lowest it gets is 16.5c
I am using a soiless mix, premier horticulture, pro mix. i love the suff. 
I use the botanicare pure blend pro line, i am feeding it 1.7EC of the bloom. Flowers are getting massive! these plants are already bulking up, and they do more so everyday!! tops are about 7-8 inches from a 400w hps, cool tubed. The amount the grow every day is insane!
The run off PH of the medium is always quite low, 5.5ish i flush when it get to 5 or anything below(every 2-3 weeks) The run off EC never exceeds the solution i put in, if it does to dramatically i flush, usually at the same time as the ph drops. i am using 2 gallon buckets.


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## Medi 1 (Oct 14, 2010)

ya that ph copy n patse there says hues not main colour, a hue isnt a main colour we plainly see. more a secondary or tint to it at diff angles of light. so as a painter here that uses hue/chroma all the time to make my colours its not that easy to see like i thinmk this is reffering to as a pourple leaf.,
and the rest of the post that isnt bold also says many other looking signs as well. and so do other element deffiecnies. nitro can make red stems also.

it even says this isnt a sure sign.....*This isn&#8217;t a sure sure sign of you having one though,*



this last post ...ya then 5.5 run off is to low and locking out elements.


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## Brick Top (Oct 14, 2010)

Medi 1 said:


> ya that ph copy n patse there says hues not main colour, a hue isnt a main colour we plainly see. more a secondary or tint to it at diff angles of light. so as a painter here that uses hue/chroma all the time to make my colours its not that easy to see like i thinmk this is reffering to as a pourple leaf.,
> and the rest of the post that isnt bold also says many other looking signs as well. and so do other element deffiecnies. nitro can make red stems also.
> 
> it even says this isnt a sure sign.....*This isn&#8217;t a sure sure sign of you having one though,*
> ...


If you thought I posted the longer piece of information to disprove what you said because the post followed your post that is not the case. I posted it so people could learn of possible reasons for purple/bluish coloring. 

The reason I said the cause of the color change witnessed could be phosphorus deficiency due to cold temperature is because the member asking the question said they had left their plant(s) out overnight. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence too me that a normal natural genetic caused color change or even a pH problem would occur right after the plant(s) were left out overnight in the fall, when temperatures do drop from their warmer summertime levels. It seemed too me that temperature was the more likely cause. It might not be, but it is the more probable cause given the timing of the color change. Then again it could have been the straw that broke the camel's back, or as Kelly Bundy said it; 'the squaw that stroked the camel's sack," when added to a pH imbalance. 

You are correct that after listing possible signs of a phosphorus deficiency it does say; "This isn&#8217;t a sure sure sign of you having one though, *but can be a sign.* Some strains just show the red petioles and stems from its genes." Again though, consider the timing of the color change. Plant(s) are left out overnight in the fall, a color change follows. It would be an amazing coincidence if the plant's genetics for natural color change chose that precise time to kick into high gear. 

The more logical explanation would be cooler temperatures or cooler temperatures with a pH imbalance that had not gotten to the point of causing a color change on it's own combining to cause the change.


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## Medi 1 (Oct 14, 2010)

ok sorry. miss took post. yes cold temps will stop chlorophyl. this is what is relay going on is what i meant. many things can be the cause, like ph or cold or others.... and isnt always a phos dfeff. puple stems can be nitro deff as well.

either way purple leaves or stem isnt good. but bud purple is ok. may be weeker but tis not meaning its deff. but to be honest i dont see 1 night in cold doing this. takes more than 1 night to show the signs of the cold stress...unless maybe it snowed on them....lol


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## decrimCA (Oct 21, 2010)

Sounds like you already knew the answer to your question when you got to the board. 

As soon as you said the plant was outside for a bit, that was the answer for me. Whenever you change something in your plant's environment, you need to take any changes that happen after that as probably being caused by that one change.

It sounds so simple, but it's often true.

Keep the plant in steady conditions, check the pH and you'll probably notice things turn around fairly quickly.


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## Aeimaxos (Jan 28, 2016)

do you guys think this is some kind of phosphorus def? is this the same problem you are talking about here?im having this darkening on the leaves


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## Ragsmiley (Apr 8, 2016)

Those buds look very sick..


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## dgx (Jul 5, 2016)

Aeimaxos said:


> do you guys think this is some kind of phosphorus def? is this the same problem you are talking about here?im having this darkening on the leaves


Aeimaxos, did you ever determine what the condition of your plants was? i.e. phosphorous deficiency, bud rot, or ??? Mine look the same right now as the pics you posted. Leaves do not pull out easily or look/feel dried out. When I open up the buds there appears to be nothing wrong inside - no dark color, fuzz.


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## drgreenberry (Mar 28, 2017)

Is this a defincency


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## Craigson (May 3, 2017)

Is this phosphorous or ph issue? Or something else?

2xBB in 1/2 Promix HP and1/2 Promix BX w added perlite n worm castings n dolomite lime.
NFTG sample kit nutes + ca/mg a couple times.
Been feeding at 6-6.2ph, havent tested runoff
Temps are 28C lights on and 19C lights off
7-1/2 weeks veg
Had same thing happen on 2 clones from same plants but They went pretty dry for a day and got water only (ph'd) by my wife when I was away for a few days. It corrected when I fed it next, all new growth was fine and didnt get any worse on affected leaves.
Now over the last few days the big plants are going purple. Ive been going feed, feed, water for the last 2 weeks since I was away.


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## Aeimaxos (May 3, 2017)

dgx said:


> Aeimaxos, did you ever determine what the condition of your plants was? i.e. phosphorous deficiency, bud rot, or ??? Mine look the same right now as the pics you posted. Leaves do not pull out easily or look/feel dried out. When I open up the buds there appears to be nothing wrong inside - no dark color, fuzz.


Well i never figured out what caused this exactly. I can think of light/heat stress because of the lamp being too close to the plant. Second thing that came in my mind that the soil i used on that specific plant was reused soil that probably never rested enough or maybe had extra nutrients that caused some kind of stress.


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## roldgoldrlg (May 4, 2017)

Just finished topping this rooted mess.
Saw talk of purple, had too post. Hopefully the tops take and have a girl, first night of 12 dark.


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## Tye Andrews (Jul 13, 2017)

Craigson said:


> Is this phosphorous or ph issue? Or something else?
> 
> 2xBB in 1/2 Promix HP and1/2 Promix BX w added perlite n worm castings n dolomite lime.
> NFTG sample kit nutes + ca/mg a couple times.
> ...


Looks like a combo of things. Temp, pH, salt build up. All 3 will cause P deficiency.


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## Dann0 (Jul 2, 2018)

Yeah, Phos deficiency yellow margins start at the bottom (at least mine did) and work up.

Know its an old post but people are always asking (myself very much included) about nutrient deficiency so would love to know what was diagnosis as im going through (I think) a P lockout due to low pH peat based soil. I think.

It's a process, lol


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## hebrewdiver (Dec 28, 2018)

I’m about to weeks from harvest and most of my leaves have turned dark purple and it happened after my heat went down to around 60-65 at night. So I’m thinking phosphorus deficiency. What harm will this deficiency do to my plant? How can I correct or should I do anything at all?What are the symptoms if you have to much phosphorus?


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## Wahoo68 (Mar 14, 2020)

Yeah I was wondering that too my plants I have two plants in the same pot and only one of them turning purple


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