1st grow LST, yellowing leaves and TOO bushy?

These pictures are from about 4 weeks into veg and the plant is extremely bushy. The plant has been recieving Low Stress Training and appears to be too bushy (most people say this isnt possible ). However, it's not even possible to see the main stem and is becoming a bit difficult to manage.

The quality of the photo is not great but you can see how bushy she is getting, there's probably 5-6 "false tops" forming from the LST and the fan leaves are making everything cluttered. The main stem cant be more than 7" and is working on its 8th or 9th leaf set. I thought trimming some leaves to let the main stem get more light would work to make things more manageable, but many things I read said to just leave them.

I'm not sure if this is related to the bushiness, but the lower leaves starting to yellow, maybe even starting to get brown on the tips.

This is grown in MG Organic shit soil so you can't expect ideal growth but I don't know whats wrong. Looks like a Nitrogen Def maybe? but growth is constant still so I question if it could be that. From this angle you can see the bushiness very well too, its just insanity!

Hey Bob! I'm currently on my first grow too and using MG organic soil. I'm about 3-4 weeks in and doing some lst too. I'm having similar problems and found that my pH was too low today. Adding dolomite lime tomorrow to fix this. Might be your issue as well, Id suggest looking into it. Here's my thread https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/423165-looking-some-help-bagseed-cfl.html . Best of luck!

that 1 guy said:

Hey Bob! I'm currently on my first grow too and using MG organic soil. I'm about 3-4 weeks in and doing some lst too. I'm having similar problems and found that my pH was too low today. Adding dolomite lime tomorrow to fix this. Might be your issue as well, Id suggest looking into it. Here's my thread https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/423165-looking-some-help-bagseed-cfl.html . Best of luck!

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Interesting thought, I suppose the Nitrogen could be locked out from the pH. I thought that would stunt the growth? Or maybe that is why the bottom leaves are yellowing, because its using them up for energy? Kinda talking out my ass now. I don't have a digital pH tester yet and I'm stuck using these Aquarium strips. They work alright for the water you put in, but it's so hard to get a good reading of the runoff water since it's usually got a brown or yellow tint to it. From what I can tell, pH seems to be in a good range. I haven't really messed with Nutes at all since the MG has 60 days of time released nutes in it (scared of burning it). I have some 8-7-6 npk plant food which I was considering using one of these days but I guess I should get a proper pH tester first since the Nitrogen may be getting locked out

Looking at your pictures again it kind of looks like when my oldest plant yellowed and lost its first leaves(using energy in other places of the plant like you said), not really how mine looks in those pics(low pH, and probably deficiencies because of). Could just be normal and nothing to worry about since its still growing fine, mine was too. But not now with the poor pH, the brown tips spread to the top of my plant, so just watch it and see how it progresses in the next few days. I know how you're feeling though lol, so hard not to worry when your babies aren't looking the lusciously green everywhere haha!

i wouldnt trim. ever think about raising the light source to create a little stretch

Look for bugs. I have this issue with regular MG potting soil/garden soil. "Feeds for 3 months". I have just picked up a couple small bags of MG Organic as well and have my newly sprouted LSD in it. But the yellowing, I have not found a fix as of yet. I have some Spectracide as I have seen some bugs in the soil. Seems to be the norm for MG soil. I will be watering with some of that mixed in my next watering for my Jock Horror and Bubblicious.

If you find a fix, please do let us know

Also, check this post out:

http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f57/phantom-deficiencies-rapidly-yellowing-leaves-rust-spots-necrosis-root-aphids-26050/

Tokeroo said:

Look for bugs. I have this issue with regular MG potting soil/garden soil. "Feeds for 3 months". I have just picked up a couple small bags of MG Organic as well and have my newly sprouted LSD in it. But the yellowing, I have not found a fix as of yet. I have some Spectracide as I have seen some bugs in the soil. Seems to be the norm for MG soil. I will be watering with some of that mixed in my next watering for my Jock Horror and Bubblicious.

If you find a fix, please do let us know

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Thanks for this idea. I've noticed some bugs today, very small and only saw maybe 1 or 2 of them. Thought they were fungus gnats at first but that thread you linked talks about flying aphids or root aphids. Either gnats or aphids will eat up my roots so I guess I'll need some Neem oil? Will that kill the adults and the larvae? Ugh, I knew bugs were going to be the biggest annoyance of this whole thing.

94 Supra said:

i wouldnt trim. ever think about raising the light source to create a little stretch

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Yeah I really don't feel comfortable trimming anything that isnt dead yet as I understand the plant is still using the leaves. I've considered moving the lights up but theres maybe about 2-4" from the tops and were talking CFL (~200 actual watts for one plant). I think the bushiness is something to be desired, it just makes things really tough to manage. Letting it stretch is a good idea though.

To add to my worry, I found out my roomate mixed in a cap of this MG plant food, the 8-7-6 npk stuff I was talking about. One cap full in a gallon of water. Basically I was giving extra nutes these past two waterings in addition to the time released nutes from the MG Organic. Could these problems be characteristic of nutrient burn? I'm going to be feeding them with just water for the next few waterings and see if I notice a change (the leaves that are already yellow will stay yellow right? i need to watch new growth for problems?)

Bout to make these bugs wish they never fucked with me. Almost positive I'm having the same issue as that thread you linked, my bugs appear to be the same ones he describes... theyre very small but have elongated bodies with wings. If it's not fungus gnats, its aphids. Either way I'm ready to annihilate them with the Spectracide, will try to update what happens next. Plant is looking great though as far as size and growth rate. Hopefully things will improve concerning the tips and some leaves yellowing once I rid myself of these insects.

Haven't seen a single bug since yesterday's treatment. Moved the lights up a couple inches and its already a lot more manageable (pics soon!). I have to say though, it still seems extremely difficult to tie down all the side chutes that formed as a result of the LST. This baby is still so bushy, I'm not exaggerating when i say the nodes are between a half inch and an inch apart... not that im complaining but I haven't seen many plants grow this strange lol. The amount of growth really surprises me. I'm a first-time and was very impatient at first. It felt like it was taking a year for anything to develop. I know realize that the plant was building a foundation below ground and afterwards, above ground growth shot up.