Lower Leaves are turning yellow

MikeHunt000 · Jul 8, 2022

Saw a couple of other posts with similar issues but couldn't find an answer.

I have 2 autos growing outside/in a greenhouse. Growing in normal soil, I planted them from seed around May 15th. Haven't had any problems until now. The 2 bottom one prong leaves on both plants has gone yellow and the fan leaves directly above are starting to go yellow.

From a small amount of research I've narrowed it down to most likely over or under watering, seeing as I've only used feed 3 times 7 to 10 days apart as I'm aware of nitro burn I thought thats what it was, so just switch to water only.

I water the plants every 2 to 3 days, usually going by if the top inch of soil is dry or not.

BigCube · Jul 8, 2022

It looks a lot like over watering or lack of nutrients.

Excess nutrients normally manifest in the form of burnt leaf tips, yours look good.

If your soil doesnt have nutrients in it to begin with, you're going to have to add them. Tell me a bit more about your soil and what you're using for nutrients.

Over and under watering usually causes the rest of the plant to sag. If you've noticed the plant sagging after watering, then you're not letting it dry out enough between waterings.

mysticepipedon · Jul 8, 2022

Losing those leaves is nothing to worry about. Just make sure it's getting some good vegging nutes.

This is a mobile nutrient deficiency symptom, most likely nitrogen, but it is slight and nothing to freak out about. Don't do anything drastic. Every cannabis plant I've ever grown loses those first sets of leaves. If they don't, they'd be trimmed off, anyway.

MikeHunt000 · Jul 8, 2022

BigCube said:
It looks a lot like over watering or lack of nutrients.

Excess nutrients normally manifest in the form of burnt leaf tips, yours look good.

If your soil doesnt have nutrients in it to begin with, you're going to have to add them. Tell me a bit more about your soil and what you're using for nutrients.

Over and under watering usually causes the rest of the plant to sag. If you've noticed the plant sagging after watering, then you're not letting it dry out enough between waterings.

Yeah it may be over watering then as the plants have been sagging, not straight away but once the sun has gone.

I'm using a regular soil you'd buy from supermarket etc, so it will have some nutrients. I'm also just using all purpose plant feed 4% nitrogen, 2% phosphorus pentoxide and 5% potassium

BigCube · Jul 8, 2022

MikeHunt000 said:
Yeah it may be over watering then as the plants have been sagging, not straight away but once the sun has gone.

I'm using a regular soil you'd buy from supermarket etc, so it will have some nutrients. I'm also just using all purpose plant feed 4% nitrogen, 2% phosphorus pentoxide and 5% potassium

Plants sagging after sundown is normal. Most potting soil doesnt have nutrients included unless it says on the packaging. I'm thinking lack of nutrients now.

As stated above, 2 or 3 leaves aren't going to matter. But its est ti address the issue before it gets worse. Nothing can fix damage already done. So moving forward you're going to need to feed the plants regularly.

With liquid nutrients I feed every watering. With dry nutrients I'm not sure, I would start by following the directions on the package. You may need to up the feeding as you get in to flower.

MikeHunt000 · Jul 8, 2022

BigCube said:
Plants sagging after sundown is normal. Most potting soil doesnt have nutrients included unless it says on the packaging. I'm thinking lack of nutrients now.

As stated above, 2 or 3 leaves aren't going to matter. But its est ti address the issue before it gets worse. Nothing can fix damage already done. So moving forward you're going to need to feed the plants regularly.

With liquid nutrients I feed every watering. With dry nutrients I'm not sure, I would start by following the directions on the package. You may need to up the feeding as you get in to flower.

It's liquid feeder, the instructions say a quarter of a cap per 4.5 liters for houseplants and half a cap per the same for vegetables etc.

I had an indoor grow once and gave the plants nitro burn so I've been very conscious of doing that this time, plus information I found online said to half the manufacturer suggested amount at first so I went with the quarter cap. I've fed them today with half a cap and will feed more regularly to see if that helps

MikeHunt000 · Jul 8, 2022

BigCube · Jul 8, 2022

Nice. I don't think the plant is big enough to have exhausted all the nutrients yet. But depending in what the soil had to start with it could be getting low on some.

Now I'm oscillating back to overwatering. Lol. If you've already given it nutrients and it shows no signs of burn then maybe the soils original nutrients have started to deplete.

The way I usually diagnose overwatering vs lack of nutrients is; they both will cause yellowing of leaves. But overwatering almost always gets those dead brown spots in the center of the leaves where the plant tissue is actuall damaged. Where lack of nutrients usually starts at the bottom of the plant and will not destroy the leaf tissue rather it leaches the nutrients out of the leaf then finally it dies and just drys out from the leaf tips in to the center of the leaf.

I almost see both here, but being the bottom of the plant could be a coincidence. I would say watch your watering. I usually lift my pot if I'm unsure. It's easier to tell, if its heavy dont water it, if its light water it.

If you notice more leaf leaching after a few days of proper watering then give her some nutrients and see if it responds.

You're in a good spot right now as it's still healthy and only starting to show signs. Time is in your side. One thing always holds true when growing, less is more. Often people overreact to small changes and end up doing 10 things to try and fix it then screwing it up more. I tend to take a troubleshooters approach at it. Start simple and work up to more complex explanations. (Is it plugged in) type of stuff (did you reset your router). Lol

Step one, control your watering for 3 or 4 days. If you notice new leaf yellowing in that time; Step two, give it a shot of nutrients.

freezeland2 · Jul 8, 2022

I don’t think that is an autoflower.
You planted in Mid May and it’s now July 8th. Nope, not an auto flower. If it were that thing would be in full bloom right now with not long left to go.

BigCube · Jul 8, 2022

I was looking at your soil online and it seems it's a potted plant soil. So the nutrients it came with will be relatively low.

Cannabis demands lots of nutrients compared to most house plants and flowers. In the future choose a vegitable soil if you can. Ones made for veggies have a lot more nutrients in them and often advertise 3 month or 6 month or even 9 months of nutrients for the hot mixes.

For example, this is a promix 9 month hot mix 1 week in to flower. I havent given it any nutrients. But being a hot mix, the tips burn a tiny bit. By the time it flowers fully it wont be so hot, the new growth already has no tip burn.

I wouldn't be surprised if the nutrients that soil came with is running out.

If you are worried about nutrient burn, you can start with 2/3 what they reccomend. It should stop your problem.

MikeHunt000 · Jul 8, 2022

freezeland2 said:
I don’t think that is an autoflower.
You planted in Mid May and it’s now July 8th. Nope, not an auto flower. If it were that thing would be in full bloom right now with not long left to go.

I bought them online as autos. I expect they haven't had enough sunlight so are a bit stunted. I never expected a big yield from this, it was more an experiment to see if they would grow where I live lol

MikeHunt000 · Jul 8, 2022

BigCube said:
I was looking at your soil online and it seems it's a potted plant soil. So the nutrients it came with will be relatively low.

Cannabis demands lots of nutrients compared to most house plants and flowers. In the future choose a vegitable soil if you can. Ones made for veggies have a lot more nutrients in them and often advertise 3 month or 6 month or even 9 months of nutrients for the hot mixes.

For example, this is a promix 9 month hot mix 1 week in to flower. I havent given it any nutrients. But being a hot mix, the tips burn a tiny bit. By the time it flowers fully it wont be so hot, the new growth already has no tip burn.

View attachment 1259916

I wouldn't be surprised if the nutrients that soil came with is running out.

If you are worried about nutrient burn, you can start with 2/3 what they reccomend. It should stop your problem.

Thanks for you're advice

Fyi they only started flowering about 8 days ago.

freezeland2 · Jul 8, 2022

MikeHunt000 said:
Thanks for you're advice

Fyi they only started flowering about 8 days ago.

Because it’s a photo

MikeHunt000 · Jul 8, 2022

freezeland2 said:
Because it’s a photo

I was told after I bought them that autos need lots of light, when it's sunny in my garden they get about 7/8 hours, and the rest diffused light (scattered). I just assumed this is what happens when you grow autos and they don't get enough direct sunlight. I'll be getting photo ones next time anyway

Robt393 · Jul 8, 2022

mysticepipedon said:
Losing those leaves is nothing to worry about. Just make sure it's getting some good vegging nutes.

This is a mobile nutrient deficiency symptom, most likely nitrogen, but it is slight and nothing to freak out about. Don't do anything drastic. Every cannabis plant I've ever grown loses those first sets of leaves. If they don't, they'd be trimmed off, anyway.

Am I correct in saying the plant pulls the nutes to the top first, in order to feed the youngest part of the plant first?

Shaded_One · Jul 8, 2022

Robt393 said:
Am I correct in saying the plant pulls the nutes to the top first, in order to feed the youngest part of the plant first?

Plants pull from the oldest/lowest growth first

Robt393 · Jul 8, 2022

Shaded_One said:
Plants pull from the oldest/lowest growth first

I see, so yellowing bottom leaves of a young plant would indicate either lock out or over indulgence of nutes.

Shaded_One · Jul 8, 2022

Robt393 said:
I see, so yellowing bottom leaves of a young plant would indicate either lock out or over indulgence of nutes.

Yellowing bottom leaves usually indicate a lack of N or overwatering/root issues. If you see pale leaves with no brown edges or chlorosis you are most likely seeing lack of N. Overdose of nutes typically shows up on newer growth or on leaf edges. Lockouts are very rare but do happen, most of the time it's just a feed related issue.

Mechman60 · Oct 15, 2022

MikeHunt000 said:
Saw a couple of other posts with similar issues but couldn't find an answer.

I have 2 autos growing outside/in a greenhouse. Growing in normal soil, I planted them from seed around May 15th. Haven't had any problems until now. The 2 bottom one prong leaves on both plants has gone yellow and the fan leaves directly above are starting to go yellow.

From a small amount of research I've narrowed it down to most likely over or under watering, seeing as I've only used feed 3 times 7 to 10 days apart as I'm aware of nitro burn I thought thats what it was, so just switch to water only.

I water the plants every 2 to 3 days, usually going by if the top inch of soil is dry or not.
View attachment 1259859 View attachment 1259858

My autos do that every time I just take the yellow fans off. Eventually the bottom half of the plant has few. The plants always thrive tho. Those leaves won't have a purpose soon anyway. Hidden from the light from above. Seems they do it naturally.

Lower Leaves are turning yellow

Lower Leaves are turning yellow

MikeHunt000

BigCube

mysticepipedon

MikeHunt000

BigCube

MikeHunt000

MikeHunt000

BigCube

freezeland2

BigCube

MikeHunt000

MikeHunt000

freezeland2

MikeHunt000

Robt393

Shaded_One

Robt393

Shaded_One

Mechman60

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