Week 5 - how much yellowing is normal?

Outdoor plants in 12 gal pots (promix). Only the two oldest of a couple different strains having been yellowing and losing older fans for a couple weeks. I’d guess 70+% have yellowed. The sugar leaves and younger fans are all still green and healthy and buds keep progressing every day. Is this normal? I did check a few other local grows and they have way more green vegetation on them. Been giving a steady supply of nutes and lots of water so that’s not it and got another strain that isn’t yellowing near as bad. Sorry about the crappy pic.

How old are they? Yellowing is natural once they're getting close to finishing. if they're still quite young you may have other issues, ones that I'm not qualified to diagnose.

spilly1 said:

How old are they? Yellowing is natural once they're getting close to finishing. if they're still quite young you may have other issues, ones that I'm not qualified to diagnose.

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The oldest plants, ones losing the fans, are 4.5 months old and approx 4 weeks left until chop. I know it’s a natural part of aging but seemed excessive. First time for me so I have nothing to go off of. I’ve taken a few clones from these plants of various ages and none of them are doing this. Thanks.

Its not actually natural for cannabis to yellow and loose a lot of fan leaves towards the end. A few here and there yes, but not 70%. High P and super low N "bloom" nutes are usually to blame. With a month left I would give them a bit more N to try and slow the progression. The greener and healthier you can keep them to the end. The better your yield will be. Those fan leaves are the driving force of the plant.

Seawood said:

The oldest plants, ones losing the fans, are 4.5 months old and approx 4 weeks left until chop. I know it’s a natural part of aging but seemed excessive. First time for me so I have nothing to go off of. I’ve taken a few clones from these plants of various ages and none of them are doing this. Thanks.

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Is the side the they are yellowing on the side that gets thw most sun? I have noticed this myself with just my L.A strains. They are 3 weeks into flower and the south side of them is a much much lighter shade if green/yellow. The north side is a nice dark green like they were all through veg. I don't think you have anything to worry about, it looks to be a happy plant and the yellowing might just be some chlorophyll getting taken out by the sunny side. Picking off older fan leaves is a daily chore, good luck!

Is this a different thread or did you make two like this, cuz I answered this yesterday somewhere? Guess there's a lot of this going around?

Just in case I already answered this in a different thread I'll be brief, I believe most of this is caused because people switch from veg nutes to flower nutes too quickly, therefore the yellow fade comes a few weeks premature.

Use 'transition-to-bloom' nutrients for at least the first two weeks of stretch and this will stop happening! Good luck!

Beachwalker said:

Is this a different thread or did you make two like this, cuz I answered this yesterday somewhere? Guess there's a lot of this going around?

Just in case I already answered this in a different thread I'll be brief, I believe most of this is caused because people switch from veg nutes to flower nutes too quickly, therefore the yellow fade comes a few weeks premature.

Use 'transition-to-bloom' nutrients for at least the first two weeks of stretch and this will stop happening! Good luck!

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Something like this eh?
https://futureharvest.com/products/liquid-bud-start
It's what I use for the first week of flower, didn't know it stifled the yellowing effect.

Swashp said:

Something like this eh?
https://futureharvest.com/products/liquid-bud-start
It's what I use for the first week of flower, didn't know it stifled the yellowing effect.

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I suppose but it's really just a blending of vegetative and flowering nutrients into yet a third nutrient called transition nutrients, hold on I'll get a picture of a label on gh flora that will explain it better than I
Experienced Growers can take a 3 part and do about anything with it. I don't buy fancy pricy bottles of stuff, I simply adjust my three part..

there's also a product called Mega crop which you can search on here which is a one part product you can use all the way through a grow. I've just started it but my plants love it and it's even simpler to use

I guess my point is the yellowing usually comes on too soon when people drop the nitrogen too early. The longer you can keep it green the better it's going to grow!

I often use transition nutes for a month (occasionally even longer on a long bloomer), give it a try if you want to finish them up with more green on them next time

Ahh I've never seen a chart like that, neat!

No wonder NASA uses GH haha

Swashp said:

Ahh I've never seen a chart like that, neat!

No wonder NASA uses GH haha

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Root issues of some sort. Cultivate the top few inches of medium well. Use a long thin rod to pierce all the way to the bottom of the container. Multiple times . It will not hurt the roots. Medium tends to compact and especially the lower part. Like a puck. Then Lucas formula feeding that reaches the bottom of the container. 8 ml Micros and 16 ml Bloom plus Cal Mag. Enough nitrogen in those to cover but the yellowing is too high for normal late flower yellowing.

Swashp said:

Is the side the they are yellowing on the side that gets thw most sun? I have noticed this myself with just my L.A strains. They are 3 weeks into flower and the south side of them is a much much lighter shade if green/yellow. The north side is a nice dark green like they were all through veg. I don't think you have anything to worry about, it looks to be a happy plant and the yellowing might just be some chlorophyll getting taken out by the sunny side. Picking off older fan leaves is a daily chore, good luck!

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Plants are in pots so I rotate them every few days. Seems to have slowed down and plants are just maintaining now.

I also never switched to flower nutes...just started mixing mid veg and flower nutes yesterday so that’s not it.

I used some insecticidal soap for mites at the start of August and the older fan leaves took a beating from it. I suspect that has a lot to do with it.

Swashp said:

Something like this eh?
https://futureharvest.com/products/liquid-bud-start
It's what I use for the first week of flower, didn't know it stifled the yellowing effect.

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So when you said this^, I assumed that after that first week you switched to flowering nutes ?

So that's different! I agree with Harley, roots! Possibly rootbound, maybe watering habits? need more info
-good luck

ps. It's not that bad

No question mine are rootbound. They’re 6-7’ trees in 12 gal pots outside. I need to water them every day with 3 gallons each. Live and learn. Hopefully they still finish ok. Thanks.

@Seawood, how far into flower are they?

CannaCountry said:

@Seawood, how far into flower are they?

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5-6 weeks. The yellowing has stabilized...it’s like they went through a phase. The most yellowing occurred in weeks 3-4. Looks like I’ve got another 3-4 weeks to go and won’t be many fans left but all the new fans/sugar leaves look great. I really think it was the soap I sprayed for mites as I looked at two other grows with the same strains/genetics and they never lost as many fans to date. Just hoping it doesn’t affect yield.

Yeah, you may be spot on with your analysis. At any rate they are pretty deep into flower and honestly, they look pretty darn good. I would stay the course and just keep observing. Looks like you're going to have a great harvest; I'm jealous. Good luck friend.