Quick question for EXPERIENCED soil growers that have grown LARGE plants (FDD?)

so i got some extra large ladies growing in 3.5 gallon pots.

they are about 47 inches tall, flowered at 24 inches.. they are now 3 weeks into flowering

i am using canna terra nutes
ph of runoff is 6.5
i just fed them with 900ppm, runoff was about 750 ppm
they look good but i am starting to get some yellowing starting at the lower leaves.

i have come to the conclusion that it is most likely a nitrogen def.

now my question is i have been feeding them every other watering, and giving phd RO water when i do not feed but they still seem deficient.. so i am wondering because of the large plants and being in relatively small containers should i start feeding them every watering?
everything i read says to feed every other watering or third watering but it just does not make sense because now the yellowing has gone almost half way up the plants..

so anyways should i start feeding them every watering because they are so large? has anyone experienced this?

thanks

FLo

Someone? Anyone?

is it indoor or outdoor... if indoor its prolly a lack of light getting to the lower part of the plant coupled with it useing up nitrogen. if its not bad let it go if it is getting worse fast pop a lil n to the soil

thats all i grow is 7 footers indoors. can you post a pic. you realy should have them in bigger pots. no dont feed every watering. every 3 4 days pending on how dry the soil.

the lower leaves will turn yellow due to the lack of light penitrating the canopy. you would have much better results in larger pots, plus a lot less watering. I have found that the bigger the root ball, the bigger the plant. Your plants should start to yellow about week six anyway as the plant finishes it's life cycle and draws all the sugars out of the water leaves. If the leaves are yellowing at the tops already, there must be a deficiency. Also with small pots you could have a build up of salts that wont allow the plant to take up the nutes. Try flushing the soil with straight water till it runs through clear, then resume feeding

I agree with not sweating the lower fan leaves yellowing towards the finish (last two weeks). If you still have a month to go, then an adjustment is needed.
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The RO water will actually pull minerals & nutes out of your soil, if used too often.
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Get some cheap bottled water from Walmart. Mix up a quarter strength grow nute, with 1/2 strength flowering nutes in that water - give each girl a whole gallon.
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If the plant looks better the next day - problem solved. Wait four days, repeat - then after that resume your regular schedule.
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Hope this helps...
Keep it Real...Organic....

it is indoor and i know it is not a lack of penetration because i run a vertical system so there is even light distribution

and i know i shouldnt water every feeding but when i just run regular RO water on my off days it seems like they start to get worse, and when i give em nutes they perk up and reach for the ceiling.. its odd

also i feed my smaller plants the same way and they all look good so i know it is a deficiency i just dont know if it is bad to feed them every watering which is about every 4 days for the larger ones.

and i know yellowing should not be happening a foot up the plant in week 3.. i have grown in hydro for years i just have not done soil in like 4 years lol

last night i went ahead and mixed half grow nutes half bloom nutes and fed em.. i was thinking about putting em in larger pots but i dont want to shock em or anything like that.. i see people grow huge outdoors in like 5 gallon pots so i dont see how a 3.5 gallon wont be plenty big

Flojo.... 3.5 gallon pots are adequte, but just that. For large plants, 5 gallons is good, 7 is better and 10 is the shit. Bigger rootballs equal bigger yeilds.
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RO is a good thing, only if micro-nutes / minerals are added in to level it out. Otherwise, it will strip soil of things needed by the plant. Consider, getting some Microblast to add to your RO water. Or do some cheap bottled water with your ferts to level out the nutes/minerals in the rootzone. Either way, things that are being pulled out by the RO water, need to be added.
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Hope it helps....
Keep it Real...Organic....

FLoJo said:

it is indoor and i know it is not a lack of penetration because i run a vertical system so there is even light distribution

and i know i shouldnt water every feeding but when i just run regular RO water on my off days it seems like they start to get worse, and when i give em nutes they perk up and reach for the ceiling.. its odd

also i feed my smaller plants the same way and they all look good so i know it is a deficiency i just dont know if it is bad to feed them every watering which is about every 4 days for the larger ones.

and i know yellowing should not be happening a foot up the plant in week 3.. i have grown in hydro for years i just have not done soil in like 4 years lol

last night i went ahead and mixed half grow nutes half bloom nutes and fed em.. i was thinking about putting em in larger pots but i dont want to shock em or anything like that.. i see people grow huge outdoors in like 5 gallon pots so i dont see how a 3.5 gallon wont be plenty big

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Listen to the plants, they don't lie. You said they perk up and reach for the sky when you give them nutrients and don't like your water alone.

See what's up with the water, try water from elsewhere, and then maybe go to feeding every time you water if the water itself wasn't the problem.

OregonMeds said:

Listen to the plants, they don't lie.

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Excellent advice always!

im just afraid to over nute the ladies.. i havent read of anyone feeding every time they water but i suppose i will go ahead and try it out..

would it be too much of a shock to transplant them while they are 3 weeks into flowering if i am very careful?

FLoJo said:

im just afraid to over nute the ladies.. i havent read of anyone feeding every time they water but i suppose i will go ahead and try it out..

would it be too much of a shock to transplant them while they are 3 weeks into flowering if i am very careful?

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If you're feeling timid try 3 days nutes/1 day plain RO.

Dicey re-potting at that stage - major growth going on. I probably wouldn't do it and would just ramp up nutes to balance the root bind. But others may disagree and may be right. Good Luck Flo!

i feel the same way.. and really only 1 looks really bad, 2 look pretty good and the others all look great so its not a big deal.. i will probably expirament with a couple of em and feed em every time and give the others ro water and see how they look.. i will post some pics here in about 45 mins when the lights come on so yall can get a better idea of what is going on

But aside from the liking more nutrients it does sound like they don't like your water. I'm serious about trying other water, at least on one. There may be a problem with your filter or with some crap being put in your water supply.

On the nutrients you don't have to give it every time, you could just up the dose you give every other watering.

uploading pics.. please hold haha

Ok so here are some pics.. i will start with the leaves.
it looks to me like a classic nitrogen deficiency.



now here is the largest one which is coincidentally the worst looking one.. see the yellowing goes from the bottom to the top.. but the tops are looking great.. nice bud formation.. no curling or burnt tips.. other than the yellowing they look good. and dont mind the purple stems.. these are trainwreck and thats what they do! now i know a little bit of it is light bleaching but for the most part it is the nitrogen.. or so i think





now this next one is not as bad, but still had the yellowing in a few of the larger leaves and is moving towards the top.. see how light green they are.. they should be a tad darker at this stage in flowering.





and the third big lady





and here is a smaller one.. as you can see the leaves are all fine.. just barely burnt tips so they are looking good.. they are showing a slight mg def. so i have been giving em water with epsom salts.. these babies are the main reason that i think it is a N def.




and another kiddo with what looks like a mg def. other than that they are looking all good





so after all the pics n stuff what do you guys think?

i'm with OregonMeds... the plants don't lie. I think you should of upped the N before it even got to that point (on the top plant). Forget the 'advice' you hear about watering. If the plants look like they need more nutes, they need more nutes. Some plants will also go through/utilize more nutes than others.

but, i also don't see why a person needs to do 1/2 strength fertilizer, no fertilzer, 1/2 strength, no, etc. why not just do 1/4 strength on every feeding? or 1/3 strength? just don't make sense to me the whole feast or famine thing. i say give em what they need when they need it.

other than the top one, they don't look bad at all. the top will definitely be stunted until you get some green back into it though.

ya i thought that top one had just had some light bleaching until i started to see the other ones showing the same signs.. plus i dont look at at night so its harder to see yellow under the hps lol bad excuse but its true.. anyways it really is not as bad as it looks.. well that one is bad but the rest of em are pretty good lookin.. i am going to go ahead and feed em every time will about 700ppms and say fuck it.. lol what do you guys think

by the way everyone says soil is easier i have much more respect to them dirt farmers lol i think growing in hydro is waaaay easier.. i can look at a plant know whats wrong and fix it in an hour.. you gotta wait days to fix shit with soil lol.. again i shoulda been more proactive but as they say better late than never right?

Are you using the wrong kind of fertilizer or something? Hydro ferts? Are you following the directions? (I don't know anything about your brand, I've heard of it is all.)


They are absolutely starving. Horribly starving. Really really worse than I had expected from your original post.

What's the ph of your soil on the worst ones? Could be nutrient lockout or could be too many other particles in your water blocking nutrient uptake.

Whatever it is, it's bad...