@Lazerus00 You didn't come off wrong at all man. No reason to ever look negative towards valid perspectives; right? I was actually glad you brought up that other places are saying 2. The only possible downside then, is that I relayed redundant info haha.
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I guess with the small pot / rootbound thing; I'm just about always in that situation / have dealt with that quite a bit. Most technically the term itself is in reference to roots binding (choking) each other.
IMHO A plant can go quite a ways into being rootbound without issue. Though it becomes much more important to not lose any roots the closer you get to that point. Whereas in larger pots you can be losing roots all the time, while new grows (i.e. normal) and you'd never know it was happening. Whether that loss is from localized EC variations, dry soil, nutrient imbalance or even roots choking themselves. The roots choking themselves is the point of no return / plant must be up-potted. If you DO lose many roots as a result of any items above; then there will be a period of correction even after an up-pot, so I try to up-pot just before if given an option.
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@gravekat303
I'm very comfortable with maximum rooting density with coir, peat or combos of the two; but not familiar with
FFOF maximum density, so i could not offer if that (rootbound) would be the case for you.
-I agree with Tnelz that being negatively impacted via root density issues can / does show the effects your seeing.
-I also wonder,........did this plant get too dry a week to ten days ago by chance? Drying out can instigate lockout scenarios too.
On a separate note but of possible value here; there are a couple other elements that can cause the effects your seeing. Again this is an IMHO thing, but I've noticed that in particular week 2-4 of flower is the most probable time to see some loss of "a couple" lower shade leaves. When I switched to the new / correct methods, I would lose maybe 6-7 leaves whereas my old "Wrong" ways; would only lose 3-4. (again I don't remove any leaves as training, some loss is normal).
This was something that intrigued me as my old methods had no N+ and new methods quite obviously did. I wondered (and also asked a well respected person on the forum several times) why this was happening when everything should be right. By any book or diagnosis, if I were to show you a lower leaf pic from then; all would say N-. If I were to show a top leaf, all diagnosis would say N+. I wondered how that could even be possible. In the end I finally got this senescence back to normal. again IMHO.
-Mg (minus) during week 2-4 can cause an increase in loss of lower leaves. *without necessarily having necrotic early signs.
-P (minus) during week 2-4 can also cause an increased loss of lower leaves. *also without necrotic spots and further without any yield related P issues if P is unchanged for the remainder of flower. (provided P- is not from poor root health).
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In your situation gravekat the ideas already suggested should correct your issue. I'm not suggesting you throw P or Mg....or not to up-pot; rather just to post some findings / things I focus on in that particular period of flower.
You'll get her back in shape!!
Last. --------- I hope everyone has a good New Year!!!!
