5 weeks into flower.... lower leaves dying off

ipackEdThISbowl4twO, (i made some of that up, homage to ya, such a cool name) have you flushed her yet? ckckck is partially right, about photos. But this time, we don't need them. I know exactly what is wrong with your plant, and what you need to do to save it.
I cannot tell you if you are deficient in any 1 particuliar nutrient, that does take some pictures. But from your leaves dying off bottom first, and buds underdeveloped, it's pH issues. And it's lockout.
Here are some pics of my Estella today, this is about what, 4 or 5 days since I flushed her and pH'ed the water? Somewhere around there lol. She is thriving big time. Just sucking up water, nutes, filling out, more trichs, etc.
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leaves that were dying, are now getting stable. I just fed her tonight, first nutes since the flush. And I bet tomorrow, we see some extra growth because of it. I should have fed her after I flushed, but I didn't. That was bad. So flush her, feed her, and put her to bed to rest lol.

Ya i flushed her this morning and will prolly see some results in a few days. I flushed like 7 gallons through that bitch and the pH finally stayed at 6. So wee will see i guess.

cool beans! good! from now on when you water or feed, just pH your water/feed solution to somewhere between 6.3 and 6.9, and you will be good to go! I just fed Estella this morning, she needed it, and added full strength nutes to her. Can't wait to see if she blows up after this feeding lol. She's getting closer and closer to harvest each day. loving it. Good luck with your grow, I'm pulling for ya! I'm sure it will be fine now that you have the pH under control.

Its been five days six days since the flush and im telling you this grow has been a HUGE learning experience. I know for a fact every grow after this I will continue to learn more. Anyways back to the plant lol she recovered and is doin MUCH better. I dropped the extra coin and bought a milwaukee pH meter..... cost me 100 dollars but after this whole pH problem and since my next grow will be a bubble bucket I figured its money well spent. My runoff pH was in the lower fives almost four so ya she was in total lockout. It took me an hour to flush out everything and stabilize her pH at 6.5 . I have since just watered her and given her nutes at 1/2 strength. I figured being that im so close to the end it would not be smart to pump her full of nutes. The lower foliage has stopped dying off and is now gradually starting to discolor which all the reading ive done says that this is normal. The BUDs themselves have EXPLODED with the mollasses and distilled water ive been feeding her. To everyone I appreciate the input and I am thankful to have gotten the response that i did........which is pretty damn good considering I didnt post any pics. allforit you are a life saver bud if i knew how to do the whole rep thing i would .......anyone help me out with this? oh ya MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My first thought was that it was genetic. Over the years, I've had varieties the drop all their leaves the last two weeks. Some never do, but some do.

I'm not a fan of too much flushing, unless you are having real problem. Starving your buds from their nutes is not optimal, if your pH is good and it is just a genetic thing. Also, one should check pH a few times a week to prevent nutrient lockout.

Hum215 in your avatar pic.... are those YOUR buds? I am striving to get buds that big lol I topped her and shes under 400w of hps all by herself but the all the colas are prolly five inches at the most. I figure she still has three weeks to go or more..... i wonder how big they will get. Will dirt grows produce those kind of colas?

And the genetics of the plant are unknown seeing as it came from bagseed. I can say this is an interesting starin whatever its is, very sensitive to EVERYTHING def not a good plant to start with but a good one to learn from. She smells absolutely amazing, VERY sweet smell and really frosty.

allforit said:

Eh, also. Were you giving her plenty of N during veg? If not, that will cause your lower leaves to die sooner too. The buds need the leaves, they give them nutrients. Bud says: hey, gimme some nute! Leaf says, fuck you, I ain't got none! Leaf then dies lol.

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Haha good analogy, maybe these leaves need their mouths washed out with soap, bad kids!!

Hey, glad it worked for ya,iPACKEDthisBOWL4TWO!! Excellent news!!! That made my day lol. I'm glad I was able to help. I have learned so much on this grow of mine it's not even funny. I'm glad you are learning too. Our next grows will be so much better for our knowledge! I checked on my baby last night, she is definately getting closer. It's so tempting to chop her down and dry her out and smoke her lol. But I won't. Not until she is ready lol.
Purplekrunchie, thanks lol. Bad kids indeed! lol

ya i dont know when to chop her down.... i know the whole trichs thing but she still has a while i think, she still has alot of white hairs.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNKWZY/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0965248410&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1W30AGAGJE0W0PWQ1TMT

BAM! Yeah man, PH really dicked with my plants at first also. Grab one of these for $12 it's a life saver. I keep 5 gallons of nute water pre-adjusted to a PH of 6 (give or take a decimal or two). I test run off every other week and my shitz stay nice and tight in the 6.0 - 6.5 range =)

Lots of good info in this thread =)

iPACKEDthisBOWL4TWO said:

Hum215 in your avatar pic.... are those YOUR buds? I am striving to get buds that big lol I topped her and shes under 400w of hps all by herself but the all the colas are prolly five inches at the most. I figure she still has three weeks to go or more..... i wonder how big they will get. Will dirt grows produce those kind of colas?

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LOL... Yea, they were my girls. This is circa 2000. Sensi Seed Bank's "Big Bud". It was a lower quality, but the quantity was amazing! The bud on the right was 22" long and weighed 50g when dried. The stem was 8g alone!! LOL. Yes, we dissected it The bud cluster on the left was 31" long and weighted 3.5 oz when dried. These were the two biggest colas, but over all I got 2.5 lbs per light which was about a QP per plant. Indoor Hydro, Rockwool and AB Fertilizer only... no additives, no flushing, nothing but what the plant wanted....

I crossed this several times with really great strains, but never came up with anything that had this size, but a killer "punch". So, this strain went away.

I may be the only one her who believes this, but I believe that a grower cannot ever grow a see better than its genetics. The quality is genetic, we just screw it up most of the time... As growers, we can only screw it up... not make it better. So, genetics is more important than anything else. The grower is only responsible for giving genetics a perfect environment. Growing seems to have been made to be complicated for some reason, and it is not. Just keep the plants in a optimal environment and their genetics will shine...

Does this answer your question, iPtB?

For sure there is alot of good info in this thread.... when it comes to nute lockout and pH issues. Im lucky you guys stumbled in here and answered my questions lol awsome people here. Also just to add my seeds came in the mail friday so if anyone has any questions about a reliable place to order seeds I HIGHLY recommend Attitude seeds, they were awsome and for how much I payed for seeds I got 5 seeds for free. I ordered Nirvana Northern Lights, Kandy Kush, and Pure Power Plant. They threw in Five different seeds for free so Im stoked to toke ya know lol. Figured I would start off with the NL seeing as I have read that strain is easy to grow for beginners so Ill start a journal for that one. Happy Holidays all!!!!!!

Absolutely Hum215 youy answered it perfectly....... very well explained! Good on you bud im going to start my NL in a bubble bucket and do a side by side with dirt for the journal im going to start up. I have a feeeling its going to show how hydro can produce a faster and larger growing plant. But seeing as all my grows have been in dirt im curious about the taste of hydro weed. Ive been told there is a noticable difference.

iPACKEDthisBOWL4TWO said:

Absolutely Hum215 youy answered it perfectly....... very well explained! Good on you bud im going to start my NL in a bubble bucket and do a side by side with dirt for the journal im going to start up. I have a feeeling its going to show how hydro can produce a faster and larger growing plant. But seeing as all my grows have been in dirt im curious about the taste of hydro weed. Ive been told there is a noticable difference.

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I'm just one guy with an opinion and I truly that believe that opinions are like assholes, we all have them and they all stink, Having said that.... I've never once had that "hydro" or "chemical" taste or harshness that everyone talks about. I've come to believe that it is a curing or nute problem, not the way the chemicals are derived. Remember, the plant uses chemicals whether you organically break them down from poo, fish and goo or you give it to the directly in a sterile suspension. There are debatably under 20 substances that pot needs to grow. I've found that the plant doesn't care about where its substances come from as much as the grower does, LOL.

Yes, I've also heard that it could taste bad, but in my nearly 14-years of experience with hydro, I've never experienced it myself. I cure differently than most. I use a technique that the geek from Oakland taught me while discussing orchids in his garden about 10-years ago. I wet trim and hang the buds in a 100% dark room at 80% humidity and at a temperature between 55F-64F for 48-hours. He said this would fool the plan into digesting all the starches and sugars that make it harsh. Then I flash dry it as quickly as possible at 80% with a dehumidifier. It is usually done 4-days after clipping and has never once been "harsh" or "chem" tasting. Indeed I have friends who refuse to smoke anything but organic from dirt, but will smoke mine gladly. I feel this is a complement. I don't know.... I'm just doing what has worked for me. There are dozens of ways to get this "right", not one. Unfortunately, there are also hundreds of ways to "screw it up" too.

I wish you luck and thanks for the report on Attitude Seeds.

Interesting dry method..... one would think with all that darkness and high humidity would create a mold problem considering that is a perfect enviroment for it.... im just thinking out loud but you have jolted my curiosity lol

Oh yea, you hit the nail on the head. That is the main "issue". Mold is a big deal, I rarely see it but it is devastating when I do. If I do actually see mold, I get rid of the stuff that is moldy and inspect the whole room. I would then skip the dark/cold stage and nearly dry them quickly, then let them cure for a few weeks 'til they are fully dry, sweet and smooth.

That is rare, though as I'm good at keeping the mold away by choosing resistant strains, treating my room (not my plants) as a preventative, moving a lot of air in the room, and filtering my air intake. It works for me, YMMV.

what does YMMV stand for??

Your Mileage May Vary.