Plant Moisture Stress - Symptoms and Solutions

hello Uncle Ben, respects for sharing your knowledge and maintaining this thread
now im not new to growing, but i have an issue i could really use an experts advice with
i have 5 girls 4 in 7Gal pots and one in 25Gal pot (recently moved)
growing under the sun, they get sun through out the day (full exposure) with no light competition
i water the pots twice a day with about 2Gal per pot each time, this seems to keep the girls hydrated throughout the day
two of my girls already developed heavy bud production while the other are still lagging behind
im using GH flora and been feeding them twice a week; a slightly modified Lucas 12m 18b their entire life cycle
the plants always seem to have yellowing at the lower leaf region to the point that im losing all fan leaves as time progress
its ok in late flowering, but not though transition and veg period,
what am i doing wrong?

Most likely the NPK ratio is out of whack with N too low and K too high. What NPK values are they "seeing"?

Uncle Ben said:

What NPK values are they "seeing"?

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Thanks Uncle Ben, they're seeing roughly 1.5/1/2
i give them 12m(hw) 18b comes out to -
(not counting tap residues)

NPK broken down to rough ppm as follows
N-150, P-120, K-210, MG-80

Uncle Ben said:

Thanks man! Really happy to be here! The abundance of master gardeners and the good will of the general membership is refreshing.

Still learning after all these years,
Uncle Ben

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Aw man, i just lost a Top Cola of one of my biggest best Sweet Melon plants, it was the same size as in your picture and i am pretty depressed..

It was so sFat and Dense that i needed to upgrade my airflow, but i did not realise this at the time because mostly i have grown Topped plants in the past and this Sweet Melon was a Beast.. i actually nicknamed it 'The Hulk' as it was displaying Massive Strength and Vigour ( i have 4 diff phenotypes of this S.M.) now into the 9th week flowering the top Cola looked brown and dry on some of the flowers! I had to decapitate her and lost the middle part of over 12 inch cola..
Like you said dood, we need to learn as we g(r)o and Read our plants.
This was my biggest Fattest Plant in 5 years of growing but i still have other fat Airy Bigger Budding phenotypes and also different strains i am growing.
So although it is a Big Dissapointment.. i have learned from it and also i have learned a lot from reading your thread, i thank you for your input.. i hope one day again to grow Big Fat Colas.. heh

Peace

Great work Uncle Ben, We all appreciate the help.

SOG said:

Thanks Uncle Ben, they're seeing roughly 1.5/1/2
i give them 12m(hw) 18b comes out to -

[email protected]	1174
[email protected]	838
EC/mS	1.68
EC/uS	1677

(not counting tap residues)

NPK broken down to rough ppm as follows
N-150, P-120, K-210, MG-80

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That's what I thought.

You'll find a common theme in my posts regarding NPK values, and that is, most foods do not support foliage during flowering due to the all pervasive industry standard of cramming high K while scrimping on N. It's foliage that produces bud, not some GH Flora. In spite of the well grown plants with nice colas you've shown, you've compromised potential production due to the loss of foliage. Let me put to you in another gardeners realm. I grow commercially, and one of my crops is wine grapes. It takes about 15 healthy leaves to support/finish a cluster of grapes. Now.....if for whatever reason I lose foliage, I drop the grapes. If I don't, the grapes will never ripen and the chemistry will be off. Same applies to cannabis. If you don't have really nice, GREEN foliage come harvest, you'll compromise potential bud production. So.........how many green, healthy fan leaves is required to support an ounce of bud for the typical sativa/indica mutt?

It's all in the balance.......

SOG said:

im well aware of he potential loss, trying to mitigate this
N-150 ppm
P-120 ppm
K-210 ppm
MG-80 ppm
(12m/18b per gallon) still not enough N?
what ratio should i be aiming for to correct this?

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30-10-10 aka 3-1-1 or a 5-1-1.....something along those values.

Uncle Ben said:

30-10-10 aka 3-1-1 or a 5-1-1.....something along those values.

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Thank you Uncle Ben
is this for transition or throughout flowering?
you happen to know the GH baseline for that ratio?

Uncle Ben said:

30-10-10 aka 3-1-1 or a 5-1-1.....something along those values.

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Continued with a 10-30-20 once in flower I presume?

SOG said:

Thank you Uncle Ben
is this for transition or throughout flowering?
you happen to know the GH baseline for that ratio?

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The industry has sucked you into the bloom foods hype.....as you continue to lose the very plant unit that produces bud. You have a choice, support the leaves with increased N foods or continue to compromise leaf health by using bloom foods that induce micros and N deficiencies. I use a slow release 18-5-9 from start to finish.

Nine times outta ten, if it's popular amongst the cannabis crowd, it sucks big time.

Can't help you on the GH foods. Don't use them. You can always add high N goodies like blood meal, fish emulsion, UAN, ammonium sulfate. You are growing in soil, right?

Good luck,
Uncle Ben

kinetic said:

Continued with a 10-30-20 once in flower I presume?

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And why would you want to do that?

• And why would you want to do that?​
  
  
  
  

I would deduce that the 3-1-1 would continue to feed the foliage while I added something like peters blossom booster 10-30-20 for budding. Am I incorrect in this thought process? I'm close to getting away from my organics to go with peters....

Uncle Ben said:

You are growing in soil, right?

Good luck,
Uncle Ben

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yep its a perlite and peat moss mix, i will look into further supplementing N
Thanks again for your help Uncle Ben; much appreciated!

kinetic said:

• And why would you want to do that?​
  
  
  
  

I would deduce that the 3-1-1 would continue to feed the foliage while I added something like peters blossom booster 10-30-20 for budding. Am I incorrect in this thought process? I'm close to getting away from my organics to go with peters....

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You don't need a humanly produced, marketed, hyped "bloom booster" to get maximum production. You need a food that will support and maintain the most amount of healthy foliage until harvest. Bud production is driven by phytocrhome, hormonal responses, not more P in somebody's product that is selling you on your own dreams. Now, if you 'feel' you can do what I've prescribed, then use your blossom booster. Obviously it eventually gets everyone in trouble as reflected in SOG's post which is one in about 20 ongoing complaints. Folks just don't get it. Having said that, Peter's Bloom 10-30-20 has a lot going for it regarding the N source blend, more Fe and Mg. High P foods tend to lock out micros, the last thing you want happening as the impending chlorotic trend is usually impossible to reverse.

I'll stick to a 18-5-9 myself. It has plenty of K and P to support plant health, which drives production.

UB

SOG said:

yep its a perlite and peat moss mix, i will look into further supplementing N
Thanks again for your help Uncle Ben; much appreciated!

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I'd look into Dyna-Gro if I were you.

Uncle Ben said:

I'll stick to a 18-5-9 myself. It has plenty of K and P to support plant health, which drives production.

UB

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Turf fertilizer?

Thank you uncle Ben, that's the Hi-N-Pro 10-5-5 your hinting there, correct?

i'm guessing you're happy camper with Osmocote as a base for the run, what do you supplement with?

Polygon.

Osmocote is fine. No supplements.

Uncle Ben said:

Polygon.

Osmocote is fine. No supplements.

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Being an organic guy I have the normal worries about chems. do you flush Uncle Ben? I know it's debated but I have tendency to listen to your senior wisdom...