Leafs dying, and purple stems

[Vincent16]

Over time, lots of my oldest fan leafs have been dying off. My plant grew up very tall with only one big main stem, and eventually branches sprouted out where all of the leaves were up the main stem. Well now the old fan leaves are dying off, leaving just the new branches with newer leafs. All of my top, and new growth looks very healthy, except for the fact that all of my branches are turning purple. They are just beginning to flower (lots of calyx development), are the older leafs dying off and purple branches abnormal? It was bagseed, and its a sativa, so i dont think it's a "purple" plant. Has anyone else ever experienced this?
The only change that the plant has experienced lately is underwatering, its been very dry here lately, and ive had to go out and water more than usual.

Oh and also, does anyone know how i can keep spiders away? I keep finding little ones on my plants with some webs between my branches. I dont want them to get my flowers all cobwebby.

Any advice would be very much appriciated, thanks. =]

- Vince

[APalmer]

The spiders could be the cause of the leaves dying off. Spiders can lay there eggs in the stems causing stress making stems turn purple and affecting the amount of murtients that it receives.

[Vincent16]

I don't think so. I did forget to mention almost 3 weeks ago, somthing munched out on the bottom of my main stem. It has been healing nicely, but i think it stressed the plant a little. That could be why it's turning purple, but it's been doing it very slowly over time. I'm thinking that the leaves dropping are just the plant shedding them before flowering. It has plenty more leaves, it's just dropping all of the old ones that have been replaced by new branches. The top still looks quite healthy, along with all of the new growth, and the preflowers arent looking bad either, lots of pistils =]

- Vince

[Vincent16]

*bump*

[Spanishfly]

You sure these are spiders?

Spiders are carnivores and do not harm your plant, quite the opposite, they eat harmful pests and are your friend.

But if you have webs that you describe as ´cobwebby' with leaves dying, this sounds like a classic attack by insect pests called SPIDER MITES (they are NOT spiders, despite the name). They are extremely small, and produce these cobweb like structures. You need to take drastic action, chemical warfare is called for here, they are a serious and very harmful pest. Ask for an appropriate treatment at the garden centre.

[MaStEr_SkUnK]

Originally Posted by Vincent16

Over time, lots of my oldest fan leafs have been dying off. My plant grew up very tall with only one big main stem, and eventually branches sprouted out where all of the leaves were up the main stem. Well now the old fan leaves are dying off, leaving just the new branches with newer leafs. All of my top, and new growth looks very healthy, except for the fact that all of my branches are turning purple. They are just beginning to flower (lots of calyx development), are the older leafs dying off and purple branches abnormal? It was bagseed, and its a sativa, so i dont think it's a "purple" plant. Has anyone else ever experienced this?
The only change that the plant has experienced lately is underwatering, its been very dry here lately, and ive had to go out and water more than usual.

Oh and also, does anyone know how i can keep spiders away? I keep finding little ones on my plants with some webs between my branches. I dont want them to get my flowers all cobwebby.

Any advice would be very much appriciated, thanks. =]

- Vince

Sounds like lack of potassium. Time for some bloom ferts. The fan leaves falling off is normal. Oh yeah don't kill spiders that are around your plant. They eat most of the other critters that are eating your POT!
Good luck

[Vincent16]

No its not spider mites. I know what those are. Usually its 1 or two small brown spiders. usually theres one on a leaf somewhere, and one on a web between the plant, and the fencing around it. Im just worried for later flowering and having cobwebs on the buds. They also make these cobweb like things on the very tips of the leafs.

Only the larger leaves are falling off, the spiders have nothing to do with leafs dying. And the new leaves and branches are flourishing with preflowers and the white hairs are getting larger. I have started feeding with a 10-30-15 fert.


- Vince

[MaStEr_SkUnK]

Originally Posted by Spanishfly

You sure these are spiders?

Spiders are carnivores and do not harm your plant, quite the opposite, they eat harmful pests and are your friend.

But if you have webs that you describe as ´cobwebby' with leaves dying, this sounds like a classic attack by insect pests called SPIDER MITES (they are NOT spiders, despite the name). They are extremely small, and produce these cobweb like structures. You need to take drastic action, chemical warfare is called for here, they are a serious and very harmful pest. Ask for an appropriate treatment at the garden centre.

Right on good call on the mites!! I used soap & water solution in a spray bottle to get rid of a few last year...If you do this make sure its at late evening so your leaves won't fry from misting...