Bottom Leafs Turn Yellow Slowly, WHY?!

i am on my 3rd grow. every time i get a plant going the bottom leafs seem to slowly, and i mean slowly, turn a rust color around the edges, then goes full on through out the leaf, then yellow, then dries up. i usually pull them off before they dry up. someone told me plants waste energy repairing damaged or sick leafs. so i pull to save on energy. this all starts around the 3rd week. i started feeding them (my last grow) and it seems to make them turn yellow faster. this only happens on the bottom set or two. the set of leafs with one a single blade. i am using Sunshine Mix Advanced #4. it has enough nutes to get the plants started. supposedly. the first grow i had, this happened and i didn't have a PH meter so i thought my PH was off. i lost a lot, i mean a shit ton of leafs on my first grow. i thought i wasn't going to harvest anything. i walked with over 20 ounces off 10 plants. so the leafs loss on the first grow had no effect on yield. but was still alarming. i was told once, that your plants talk to you. they tell you when things are not going good. and if you can read your plants right you should be able to identify problems early before they become major issues. so i think something is wrong. especially now that this has happened more then once.

Your probably just not feeding them enough nitrogen.. what food do you using and how much and how often?

do you have any pics?

SSM#4 .... You adding any dolomite lime to that?

Besides pH, I'd bet there isn't enough cal/mag (which dolomite supplies) in that mix, for when the plants really start sucking it up in flower.

Wet

i use Botanicare. i haven't used yet, but i do use Cal/Mag by Botanicare. i will post pics very shortly. and yes, i have heard about adding the Dolomite. how much and is it a liquid or powder. i have knowledge of it, but nothing more then what it is. thanks for the advise and info.

It's a powder, or could be pellets.

It's ground up limestone rock and one of the best things you could ever use. Cost ~$5.

Wet

Its probably just lack of light at the bottom of your plant. Dont start over feeding. Specs on your lights - How big your growing them - Etc is all needed to varify this problem. The bottom of my plants get trimmed off to avoid this problem and pruning should be a part of every growers week.

You need to feed them, promix has no added nutrient so your ladies are just hungry.. And WET is totally right, they do add lime but NOT enough to feed the plant thru it's whole life cycle. 1.5 cups per 1.5 cubic feet of soil.. And this is just my opinion but general organics calmag works a million times better then botanicares calmag.

i have heard very positive comments on the Cal/Mag by Botanicare. but i will look into it. i plan on switching my medium and my nutes to BioCanna. i have future plans on switching everything around.

I agree with max, i have also used it and it seems real weak. Plus the only thing your getting is calmag, with botanicares the is a NPK ratio.. Now I'm stating this for soil, it might work much better when used with hydro. But i'm a soil type of guy

oHsiN666 said:

i have heard very positive comments on the Cal/Mag by Botanicare. but i will look into it. i plan on switching my medium and my nutes to BioCanna. i have future plans on switching everything around.

Click to expand...

and just remember "don't believe anything your hear and only half of what you see" lol

im confused by your statement. are you for or against Botanicare?

I use botanicare in addition to a couple of different additives, and have been very happy.

The results aren't miraculous, but I've found through experience any nutes that claim to be are often the worst.

i have heard products like Advanced have changed their recipe and a lot of people stopped using them and switched to BioCanna. i will be switching very soon. just waiting to find a dealer in my area. i plan on switching my medium as well. but i have heard good things and bad things about Botanicare. good thing is they are local were i live, so there products are usually fresh and readily available. and my last harvest was fan-fucking-tastic!! so why change anything. im just concerned why these fucking bottom leafs always give me problems.

I'm kinda against botanicare calmag, not their whole food line... Had problems with a magnesium def and their calmag didn't help one bit, but that's in soil and I would imagine that it probably works better in hydroponics. I have NO connection with general hydroponics but their general organics calmag works like it was sent from the heavens above.. Saved me tens of thousands of dollars

i will look into it real soon. maybe like tomorrow. thanks for the info. i do use R/O water and was told to always add Cal/Mag. some don't though. i just upped my dose to 10ml, so if that does not show me any love, then i will look into switching over to GH-Cal/Nag. thanks!!