Fan leaves drying out at the bottom (going pale green, not yellow, not falling off)

Hi everyone! I've got a 43 day old Red Sugar from BSF seeds that is in full flowering. It's been a really good and worry-free grow so far and she is growing really strong. This is my third grow and I think she'll be the biggest plant I had.

However, around 10 days ago the first set of leaves (one tipped) started drying out, then a couple of days ago the second lower set of fan leaves started being affected too, and now the third one is a bit dry at the edges (not a lot). Earlier I had a small issue with gnats and therefore I was slightly underwatering her and now the gnats are almost gone. Also, I was giving the nutes only half or 3/4 strength.

The most interesting thing that by now the growth is not affected in any way and she's growing really quickly and surprisingly well. And the leaves are not easily plucked and neither they go yellow. They simply dry out starting at the tips and edges, turning pale green/brown and do not fall.

The upper and mid leaves are looking great and there are no other issues whatsoever with the plant. Just to be on the safe side, I gave it full strength of nutes last watering (nitrogen and some bloom sugar nutes as well as some kelp) and I'll start watering her more often now as she started drinking a lot of water.

I do PH my water and PH has always been at 6.2 to 6.5 range. The medium is soil, pot size is 12 liters (3 gal), 55% humidity and 20 to 23 degree celcius temperatures. Earlier I was watering her with around 2 to 2.5 liters once a week (to get rid of gnats) until runoff, but I just started to give her 2.5 liters of water until runoff once a week and then 1 or 1.5 liter of water another time the same week. She's kind of thirsty with the pot drying out in 3 days.

I was thinking it's due to underwatering and moderate feeding of nitrogen, but I'm asking for help here in order to stay on the safe side and make sure it's not anything more serious. It's her watering time tomorrow. Should I add more nitrogen nutes (it'll be over the highest recommended weekly dose as per the nutrient manufacturer) or simply give it plain water? Anything else? Thanks for help everyone!

Updating here as tomorrow is her watering and feeding day. Last watering I gave it magnesium+sulfur to be on the safe side. The plant grows vigorously and flowering continues, the topic's issue did not affect growth in any way as it stretched for about 10 to 12 cm in just three days. She's 46 days old from sprout.

However, the leaves drying problem is still present and slowly progressing upwards. The second set of leaves is completely dry/necrotic by now, the third set of leaves is affected, and it already started affecting the fourth set of fan leaves too. I know that the plant is really bushy, but I don't like the idea of it affecting more and more leaves.

To me it looks like the plant is feeding on its leaves and consuming itself (please correct me if I'm wrong). But why? Underwatering? Nitrogen def? Something else? Is it serious? Don't want to lose the girl as she is growing so well. Thanks a lot to everyone!

If you have 3 weeks or less till harvest I wouldn’t worry about the yellowing, especially with the lack of nitro nutes. Leaves look like their pointing up qhich could be too much light without the burn or magnesium def

PurpleBuckwheat said:

Updating here as tomorrow is her watering and feeding day. Last watering I gave it magnesium+sulfur to be on the safe side. The plant grows vigorously and flowering continues, the topic's issue did not affect growth in any way as it stretched for about 10 to 12 cm in just three days. She's 46 days old from sprout.

However, the leaves drying problem is still present and slowly progressing upwards. The second set of leaves is completely dry/necrotic by now, the third set of leaves is affected, and it already started affecting the fourth set of fan leaves too. I know that the plant is really bushy, but I don't like the idea of it affecting more and more leaves.

To me it looks like the plant is feeding on its leaves and consuming itself (please correct me if I'm wrong). But why? Underwatering? Nitrogen def? Something else? Is it serious? Don't want to lose the girl as she is growing so well. Thanks a lot to everyone!

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Its pulling nutrients from old bottom growth that isnt getting hardly any light. It can be a sign of deficiency but it is also something pretty much every plant ive grown has done to some extent. Looks like youve got a pretty thick canopy there.... Most people would strip those lower fan leaves before they even got to this point.

Manguy said:

If you have 3 weeks or less till harvest I wouldn’t worry about the yellowing, especially with the lack of nitro nutes. Leaves look like their pointing up qhich could be too much light without the burn or magnesium def

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He has a lot more than 3 weeks before harvest but it looks pretty normal to me. Pretty much every plant ive grown pulled nutrients from its first few sets of fan leaves in early to mid flower.

JoeBlow5823 said:

Its pulling nutrients from old bottom growth that isnt getting hardly any light. It can be a sign of deficiency but it is also something pretty much every plant ive grown has done to some extent. Looks like youve got a pretty thick canopy there.... Most people would strip those lower fan leaves before they even got to this point.

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Thanks for your reply so much! Actually, I think the plant got about 5 weeks more until harvest so I won't defoliate just now and wait until the stretch is over in order to defoliate it well in one go.

Also, I think I'll go a bit stronger on the nutes today as she shows virtually no signs of nute burn. Up until now I was giving it 800 PPM. And I'll measure the runoff PH today too. Will update in a couple of days.

The goal is to kill every plant , just not too soon

Just updating over here. Everything's well and the plant is growing perfectly. I decided to place a LED strip at the lower part of my tent on Friday and I think that did it. Drying of leaves almost stopped or at least slowed down to a pace that I can't really notice. Thanks everyone!

PurpleBuckwheat said:

Just updating over here. Everything's well and the plant is growing perfectly. I decided to place a LED strip at the lower part of my tent on Friday and I think that did it. Drying of leaves almost stopped or at least slowed down to a pace that I can't really notice. Thanks everyone!

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You appear to be someone that is just as anal about NOT cutting your fan leaves and I am about cutting them. IDK why I do it but when a fan leaf starts looking pale green and unhealthy looking, I instantly think about the plant and wonder if it is putting any energy into feeding that leaf and not getting enough to my flowers so I whack it! Yep, at the first sign of not being dark green. I guess to each their own.

Silky T said:

wonder if it is putting any energy into feeding that leaf

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No, its pulling energy away from that leaf.

Silky T said:

You appear to be someone that is just as anal about NOT cutting your fan leaves and I am about cutting them. IDK why I do it but when a fan leaf starts looking pale green and unhealthy looking, I instantly think about the plant and wonder if it is putting any energy into feeding that leaf and not getting enough to my flowers so I whack it! Yep, at the first sign of not being dark green. I guess to each their own.

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Just a heads up but by doing this you are just shifting that need to a new leaf. Better to figure out the deficit and then pull that leave to guage it.

Pulling the leave without dealing with the issue just attempts to pluck away an issue. Which doesn't work.

Wizzlebiz said:

Just a heads up but by doing this you are just shifting that need to a new leaf. Better to figure out the deficit and then pull that leave to guage it.

Pulling the leave without dealing with the issue just attempts to pluck away an issue. Which doesn't work.

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I leave my ugly leaves on for awhile to see if whatever I did made it stop or is it still spreading and at what pace

Dopesmoka said:

I leave my ugly leaves on for awhile to see if whatever I did made it stop or is it still spreading and at what pace

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Yeah, that's basically what I did and I found out that was the lack of light. So I installed a LED strip and it helped a lot, which is basically problem solved.

PurpleBuckwheat said:

Yeah, that's basically what I did and I found out that was the lack of light. So I installed a LED strip and it helped a lot, which is basically problem solved.

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Yup did you ever harvest yet bro ?