Nitrogen Deficiency During Flowering - What to do?

[Mastrosso]

I have a friend who has a slight nitrogen deficiency and his plants just started flowering. He keeps giving them lots of nitrogen, at least as much nitrogen as phosphorus.

I've always been taught that too much nitrogen during flower will make the plant focus on growing branches and leaves rather than buds. Of course, a severe nitrogen deficiency is a problem at any stage of growth. But what about a mild deficiency of nitrogen during flower? I'm wondering what different people's opinions are on the matter. I personally have mixed feelings about it.

 

[Trash_2002]

ime too dark green plants bearing N overfeed the flower onset is slower and buds smaller overall,
more adequate nitrogen when switching to flower makes them flower bigger and faster.

That being said some phenos are darker green than others by nature.
Also i wouldn't recommend switching to full bloom nutrients before the streach flower phase is near end around 15-21 days, for most cultivars.

cheers

 

[Mastrosso]

ime too dark green plants bearing N overfeed the flower onset is slower and buds smaller overall,
more adequate nitrogen when switching to flower makes them flower bigger and faster.

That being said some phenos are darker green than others by nature.
Also i wouldn't recommend switching to full bloom nutrients before the streach flower phase is near end around 15-21 days.

cheers

I had given him a half pint of buddha bloom and a quarter pint of fish emulsion for the first couple weeks of flower. I would have given him buddha grow but none of the grow shops around me were out of stock, and fish is a good nitrogen heavy organic fertilizer.

NPK of buddha bloom is 0.5 - 2 - 1 and NPK of Alaska Fish Emulsion is 5 - 1 - 1, I told him use twice the amount of buddha bloom as the fish because the fish is a stronger fertilizer overall. But then he also started top dressing with blood meal to add even more nitrogen. Thing is blood meal is slow release so my concern is it could release alot of nitrogen during the whole flower stage. I do also swing by his house to give them some fox farm nutes based on the soil feeding g schedule, and they get nitrogen from that too.

My plants are flowering much more strongly than his and I suspect it's due to differences in nitrogen. Here are the pics of the plants he suspects had a nitrogen deficiency. At this point we both agree the deficiency is pretty much gone by now, although I don't think it was ever too bad. Every time he sees a few yellowing leaves he begins to panic. But I think a few yellowing leaves at the bottom is okay during flower, I would rather not feed too much N during flower which is probably why mine are blooming much more. The two plants in these pictures are Blue Dreams.

 

[Trash_2002]

I had given him a half pint of buddha bloom and a quarter pint of fish emulsion for the first couple weeks of flower. I would have given him buddha grow but none of the grow shops around me were out of stock, and fish is a good nitrogen heavy organic fertilizer.

NPK of buddha bloom is 0.5 - 2 - 1 and NPK of Alaska Fish Emulsion is 5 - 1 - 1, I told him use twice the amount of buddha bloom as the fish because the fish is a stronger fertilizer overall. But then he also started top dressing with blood meal to add even more nitrogen. Thing is blood meal is slow release so my concern is it could release alot of nitrogen during the whole flower stage. I do also swing by his house to give them some fox farm nutes based on the soil feeding g schedule, and they get nitrogen from that too.

My plants are flowering much more strongly than his and I suspect it's due to differences in nitrogen. Here are the pics of the plants he suspects had a nitrogen deficiency. At this point we both agree the deficiency is pretty much gone by now, although I don't think it was ever too bad. Every time he sees a few yellowing leaves he begins to panic. But I think a few yellowing leaves at the bottom is okay during flower, I would rather not feed too much N during flower which is probably why mine are blooming much more. The two plants in these pictures are Blue Dreams.

for plants of that size is very normal to have a few lower leafs yellowing, that size plants are nitrogen hogs and move nitrogen up pretty fast.

 

[Captspaulding]

Yep, fade happens down low. But if you are crazy worried about it you can hit it with a top dressing of castings or blood meal to feed a slow dose nitrogen while you stay on your normal bloom regiment.

 

[2Water]

Could always water with used coffee grounds

 

[Captspaulding]

Could always water with used coffee grounds

I see you buddy hahaha, coffee grounds do indeed supply that good nitrogen.

 

[2Water]

I see you buddy hahaha, coffee grounds do indeed supply that good nitrogen.

Also some beneficial micros as well. I like cheap and homemade fixes

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Fade can be caused by magnesium deficiency because magnesium is the central core of the chlorophyll molecule in plant tissue. So, you could try watering in a solution of Epsom salts or perhaps a foliar feed. One tablespoon per gallon is a good mixture ratio. Magnesium is a mobile micronutrient, meaning it can move within the plant. This can be a cause of lower leaves fading as the plant is taking mobile nutrients from those leaves to use them in the upper part of the plant.

 

[TLOnewbie]

Or
Brew an organic flowering tea

 

[Mastrosso]

Fade can be caused by magnesium deficiency because magnesium is the central core of the chlorophyll molecule in plant tissue. So, you could try watering in a solution of Epsom salts or perhaps a foliar feed. One tablespoon per gallon is a good mixture ratio. Magnesium is a mobile micronutrient, meaning it can move within the plant. This can be a cause of lower leaves fading as the plant is taking mobile nutrients from those leaves to use them in the upper part of the plant.

I gave him some of the fox farm cal mag to use on it and I hit em with cal mag a couple times since I have been giving them some fox farm

 

[Mastrosso]

My main question still hasn't been addressed much. The main thing I want to know is where is the happy medium?

It is a known fact that giving plants too much nitrogen during flower decreases yield. Basically, if you give a plant lots of phosphorus AND lots of nitrogen it will tend to prefer making use of the nitrogen to form tons of new branches and leaves rather than make more use of the phosphorus to produce more giant buds. I'm not sure why but probably has something to do with the most effective way to reproduce.

However, it is definitely not good for a plant to be TOO nitrogen deficient during flower as the plant can even die from lack of nitrogen. Even most bloom formulas have some nitrogen in them though.

So my question is essentially - where is the happy medium? We know for a fact that either extreme is bad. What I want to fully understand is how to find the perfect balance. Of course, this question is fairly open ended and subjective, I apologize for making it somewhat ambiguous in nature. But I feel many of the advanced aspects of growing plants involve a deep sense of what they need and it can be difficult to quantify. I'm looking more for general perspectives on this type of issue and how much deficiency is okay (or no deficiency is okay during flower at all).

 

[Captspaulding]

Gaining an eye for what your plants are telling you comes through redundancy and very good notes. Thing is, there is no real happy medium here, it’s incumbent as the grower to nurture the best traits out of our plants. Being able to think 5 moves ahead Akin to chess is really hard to do, unless you just stay with one strain and learn that particular program through and through, when you change genetics you are going to find yourself in similar situations. So learning to work within ever evolving constraints is the name of the game. The fundamentals remain the same, but with time, multiple grows and a keen eye some good thorough studies you will dial things in. There are a few charts out there to better help you understand the basic nutritional curve of a cannabis plants life cycle. But just keep asking questions, and read as much as you can.

 

[Captspaulding]

This will help

 

[Captspaulding]

A visual guide to cannabis deficiencies

Worried about your plant health? See a cannabis deficiency that you cannot identify? Our guide to cannabis deficiencies may help you solve your problems

dutch-passion.com

 

[BudzAldrin]

for plants of that size is very normal to have a few lower leafs yellowing, that size plants are nitrogen hogs and move nitrogen up pretty fast.

Cannabis leaves can last over 6 months.

My main question still hasn't been addressed much. The main thing I want to know is where is the happy medium?

It is a known fact that giving plants too much nitrogen during flower decreases yield.

Almost all cannabis tests deficienct in key amino acids related to quality. The vast majority of Nitrate metabolism energy goes to amino synthesis, eventually compete peptide chains. There is no way to overdo amino acids peptides or proteins in Cannabis. Most finishing products contain amino acids and peptides these days.

Lots of N deficiencies in Cannabis are actually S deficiencies, as N requires S to metabolize aminos.

Yellow new growth followed by praying leaves, and what appears to be nitrogen deficiency = -S. Marijuana uses tons of N and S.

There's some Russian clown going around youtube telling people to replace Sulfur with carbon. So, replace weed thiols with candy terps.. Replace the weed effects with vape pen effects. Replace the immune system with bug food. Replace the objective medical value with subjective recreational value.. Yeah... Does anyone want more carbohydrates and lame effects in their weed, or more thiols and good effects? When they put AI in the churches and governments, the wrong choices have already been calculated, people do not know what they want. I hope everyone realizes that. "Feed it non sulfured molasses" and "I hate sweet skunk where's sour skunk" in the same sentence around these parts.

 

[Mastrosso]

His plants are doing pretty good but I think mine are doing better. Mine are already budding up and his seem to be kinda stuck in pre-flower.

 

[Eclipted]

I see you buddy hahaha, coffee grounds do indeed supply that good nitrogen.

Little coffee grounds little banana soaked water whatever way I can get them the nutes.

 

[Imzzaudae]

 

[Week4Bytch]

This guy is saying all things vegetable's but is describing cannabis buds to the T...lmfao... love this guy, I'm so doing this..hell yeah,