First grow 3 weeks into flowering, yellow edges, yellow fan leaves? NEED HELP FAST

This is my first grow, I'm 3 weeks into flowering using an ebb and flow system with 4 plants and Hydroton medium which I cleaned thoroughly. I have a 15 gal reservoir with about 12 gallons in it, I've been using distilled water since vegetation and always ph balance after i mix my nutrients and I keep the PH around 6.0

Nutrients: Botanicare:

Pro Bloom
Silica Blast
Hydroplex
CalMag
GenHydro Diamond Nectar as Foliar Spray(once a week)

Light: 400watt HPS Hortilux, red spectrum (just added a big cfl light as well for more lumens yesterday)

Temp: 78 day about 68 night

Humid: 40-50

I noticed about a week or week and a half into flowering that the lower fan leaves on a few plants have turned a very pale yellow and others near the tops are getting those nasty yellow looking edges and the tips are starting to turn a little brown on the leaves as well. I heard it was completely normal for the fans to turn yellow due to phosphorus consumption of the plant but I thought that would be more later in the flowering phase. I really want to get this taken care of fast, I was under the impression that it could be the beginning of nutrient burn which is possible because I don't have an EC or PPM meter yet, I just follow the directions on the back of the Botanicare products. I'm not exactly sure if anyone used CalMag during flowering either? I used it in Veg just thought it would help to use a little in flowering, not sure. If anyone can help me out, it will be much appreciated, I really want to get this problem fixed fast so my girls can be extra healthy throughout their remaining 5 weeks or so! The flowers actually seem to be doing very well despite these other problems. Just don't like to see my leaves all jacked up like that! Unless that's normal or something. Sorry for the huge images. The first pics a little blurry but you can see the problem in the other one too.

My guess is you decreased nitrogen and upped the phosphorous as you were supposed to for flowering? Have you flushed the plants lately? Judging by your picture the leaves in question are below the canopy? Can you take a couple of pictures with your lamp off? The color is almost non-existent in this shot.

The fan leaves should be offering up their stored nitrogen to the plant and begin falling off soon anyways. How are the fan leaves near the buds?

Yea bro I wouldnt sweat it if its toward the bottom of the plant...I'm about 4 1/2 weeks into flower, and I have pulled off quite a few huge yellowed leaves lower down on my plants...shit last night I walked out the grow room with a handful!!!! as long as your flowers and tops look good...roll with it!!!

Serapis: Yes I decreased Nitrogen and increased Phosphorus for sure, During the transition phase I gave them a little veg nuts just to help them transition over smoothly, I'm more worried about the fan leaves close to the top of the canopy which have yellow edges, I noticed a few more the other day with this problem, They are very near the buds at the top, about the first set of fan leaves from the top are the ones with the yellowing edges. Hopefully it doesn't spread too much further. And, no I haven't flushed them with pure water or any kind of flushing agents at all since the beginning when they were clones. Do you recommend I do? Any other advice

I'm not a hydro guy and I hate to give you a "yes, flush" but i think you may want to do just that. Let's see if a hydro grower agrees. Whatever you do, please don't flush because I suggest it. Make sure it is what you need to do. I suspect you have a salt build up that is locking some nutrients out and you need to flush with straight water for a couple of days. Get a second and a third opinion.

Thanks for the info!! Any fellow hydroponic growers with any flushing advice??? Please help, I want to solve this problemo soon, thanks!!

I know that flushing will not hurt your plants, so if you hear from no one, do what you must.... inaction could have bad consequences.. Also verify your PH and PPM with test strips if you have to.

did u totaly cut off veg nutes??? u should use nitrogen mixed with ur flower nutes first 3-4 weeks of flowering... flowering is where the most growth happens so dont cut off nitrogen completly... i use a 2 part veg nutes and use the part with the higher N with my flowering nutes... i see sum burn in ur tips but i wouldnt be overly concerned with it... if ur gonna do anything, dump the res and re add nutes at a lil lower level then b4 and add a dose of N... u should not see yellow leaves till the last weeks when ur flushig., espeacily in a hydro system.. all my plants r green when i chop

phoperous desnt keep ur leaves green.. nitrogen does...

resinraider said:

did u totaly cut off veg nutes??? u should use nitrogen mixed with ur flower nutes first 3-4 weeks of flowering... flowering is where the most growth happens so dont cut off nitrogen completly... i use a 2 part veg nutes and use the part with the higher N with my flowering nutes...

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Thats an excellent question. I had assumed he did not as he stated he fed em nitrogen for the transition but now that you mention it, I don't see anything about nitrogen currently. If he has been giving it nitrogen, is it time for flushing to remove excess salts?

nah... the leaves would be more burt if it needed flushing... as its jus the tips and i see some that rnt burned, i would say they r at the most it can handle.. the burns say, ok thats enuff... when in serious doubt, always dup res and start over.. nvr add shit trying to help cuz it will create more problems...

a plant makes energy with light and uses it at night.. thats y a plant on 18/6 will be taller, lankeyer then 1 on 22/2... when they go to 12/12 theres a longer darkness so the plant is now making less food(less light) and useing more in the dark(longer dark)... thats y u get that big strech when u enter 12/12... since its useing more enegry it needs more food.. nitrogen is food for growth... leaves wont yellow from salt build up, jus burns... his ph could be off and that could cause lock out or a deffiency... either way, nvr cut off nitrogen cuz it will kill ur leaves and u need leaves to make food

Good advice. I do soil, one day I may venture into Hydro, but not anytime soon. I like the buffer soil gives me, it allows me to make minor mistakes in feeding and not having the pant take the full effect right away.

I've always been taught to Veg 24 hours a day, as the plant needs no rest at this stage. I've read that in Ed Rosenthall's books as well. What is the benefit of doing 16/8 other than saving on power?

save on power and a taller plants with farther node spacing.. good for scrogging, LSTing/supercropping and or mothers so u have better branches to clone... u know what, venture into hydro.. make a small cheep DWC and check it out... its way ezer then soil... way more give... nuffins worse then being buzy or outta town and knowing u need to water plants and see them drying up.. no more sweeping dirt off the floor or buying big bulky bags of it.. no dirt on ur hands... another give is what ur roots r in... u nvr know whats in ur soil, u could have old nutes stuck in there... nuffin worse then hauling 20+ 4ft plants to ur bathroom and huckin them in the shower for an hr to leach shit out... plz serapis, make a 15$ DWC and see the growth difference.. ull change ur set up to hydro

resinraider said:

save on power and a taller plants with farther node spacing.. good for scrogging, LSTing/supercropping and or mothers so u have better branches to clone... u know what, venture into hydro.. make a small cheep DWC and check it out... its way ezer then soil... way more give... nuffins worse then being buzy or outta town and knowing u need to water plants and see them drying up.. no more sweeping dirt off the floor or buying big bulky bags of it.. no dirt on ur hands... another give is what ur roots r in... u nvr know whats in ur soil, u could have old nutes stuck in there... nuffin worse then hauling 20+ 4ft plants to ur bathroom and huckin them in the shower for an hr to leach shit out... plz serapis, make a 15$ DWC and see the growth difference.. ull change ur set up to hydro

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You make good points. I will give it a shot on my clones. I have indica seedlings on 24 hr flouro now, they are only into 5th day since I placed into peat pots and are already 3" tall. I may give em a rest or raise flouros a little to encourage stretching because I'm gonna scrog fer sure, only have 4 good seeds out of 5 and I expect to lose at least one of these. I'll research DWC and give it a go. I already have a tote filled with PH 6.5 water and a 2' air stone. I like to feed my ladies oxygenated water.

Serapis said:

You make good points. I will give it a shot on my clones. I have indica seedlings on 24 hr flouro now, they are only into 5th day since I placed into peat pots and are already 3" tall. I may give em a rest or raise flouros a little to encourage stretching because I'm gonna scrog fer sure, only have 4 good seeds out of 5 and I expect to lose at least one of these. I'll research DWC and give it a go. I already have a tote filled with PH 6.5 water and a 2' air stone. I like to feed my ladies oxygenated water.

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all u need is some hole in the lid and ur set! its worth checking out, u can always go bak.. good luck!

Thanks for the input everyone! I actually just did a reservoir change a few days ago and I added some Pura Vida grow fertilizer that has a good amount of Nit but I only used a few table spoons this time because I've always been cautious about nutrient burn, hopefully I'm not under fertilizing! If I'm following the directions on the back I figure I'm ok, just hope my colas start getting big soon! And Nut recommendations? Organic vs non-organic? I heard gen hydroponics was pretty good but also heard good about advanced nuts and botanicare! Just seems like my ladies should be excelling faster! They've grown about 8 in since I put them in my flowering room 3 weeks ago. I thought they would have done better, guess maybe more nitrogen?

It just depends on the strain, some don't stretch that much and others do. The third or forth week is when they really start to take off.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm gonna give them another week and see how they do, the flowers are looking really nice, so I can't complain!!! Anyone using CalMag in flowering or no about using it in flowering? I figured the plants still need a fair amount of calcium and Magnesium during the flowering phase as well, if anyone can shed some light it will help! I'm also going to be using some shooting powders for the last few weeks of flowering to up the ante! I used 1 tsp during the transition to help provoke flowering, that could have also contributed to the burns, not sure. I know it says that regular nutrients may need to be cut in half when using some of these strong powders! I really need an EC/PPM!!

Here's some pics of my ladies 5 weeks in, I'm thinking about harvesting very soon, I just starting using MOAB power in conjunction with Shooting Powder yesterday, I wish I would have started about a week ago but I didn't anticipating on my girls getting ripe so soon!! Guess that's how it is with some clones of certain strains! Wish they were a little bigger though! I've been drying a little bud I harvested early to taste test and it was super potent!! Didn't taste any nasty fertilizer at all, so the Botanicare line seems pretty organic. The high snuck up on me and was very energetic at first then very Cerebral!

I think my nutrient burn problem was from stagnant solution remaining in the planter since my drain off valve sticks up about an 8th of an inch from the bottom of the container and it's not letting all the solution drain out properly so I think this was the problem, not over-ferting. The roots at the bottom are staying soaked in the stagnant water and that's what must be contributing to the burn because one of my plants on the other side shows no signs of burn. I'm thinking about using Clearex to flush so I can use fert up until the last 4 or 5 days before harvest. Any advice on flushing? How many days should I flush for? and any advice on flushing solutions? Thanks!!

I harvested on Sunday, pretty satisfied for my first grow, wish I had some higher yielding strains and a 1000w of course! Thinking about making a cheap DWC setup!