Please help! This is my second year growing outdoor and all together. I have a purple kush clone that is about 8 weeks into flowering and shes looking pretty beat. All of her major fan leaves are turning yellow drying out and dying off. Also all other leaves are curling down. This started about a week and a half ago. Ive been trying to troubleshoot with my grow guide and online help. Ive come to conclusion that I'm over watering or poor drainage leading to root rot. Any suggestions? Specs. -Planted in early June Veg. 8weeks -17 Gal. pot -Nutes - Fox Farm trio (Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom) -PH no less than 6 no more than 6.5 -Standard outdoor potting soil -Average temp outdoor 85 to 90 degrees F. (Daytime) - Feeding 3 times every 2 weeks, with light watering in between and a flush after second week
Its actually pretty dry and hot mostly. I do nutrient feed when I water. I'm still green so I just followed the directions on the bottle on how much to use.
The normal potting soil likely has really terrible drainage and thus, the soil is not drying out. Are you watering per a schedule (it seems you are) or are you watering when the plant needs it? I'd tend to agree with overwatering based on how the plants look as it's similar to what I saw when I encountered the same, but I am in hydro and can get a much better look at the roots than you can. As for fixing it, it took a while to really work, but I picked up a bottle of Hygrozyme based on recommendations from experienced growers here on GC. Its an enzyme that actually breaks down the rotted roots and makes it something the plant can actually feed off of and it will generate new roots. It did take nearly 2 weeks for the plants to really show signs of recovering, but it is working. It will be tough with a 17g pot, but you should note the weight of the pot when freshly watered. Also, note the weight of the pot with just the soil in it (having a second pot to compare would help). This way, you can tell, by weight, how wet/dry the soil is. Then, only water when it gets mostly dry.
thats pretty close to harvest, isnt it? Id just water without nutes at that point and harvest within a week or two... your plants could be greener still, but in my opinion thats ok. either way its too late to fix it.
^this. Adding anything could cause additional problems that you don't want this late in flower. Water less frequently and use this experience to improve your next grow. Also, it's normal for big fan leaves to yellow late in flowering, keep that in mind.
I like the idea of weighing the pots to compare the water level. that could be useful in the future. Also i think she is very close to being done. Not much bud or pistil development lately. I figured there wasn't much I could do, but understanding what went wrong was what I wanted to learn from for next year. I want to agree that the soil had poor drainage. (That's what i get for being cheap!) I've read that perlite is good for soil aeration. If anyone knows better please lemme know! By the way, all feedback is much appreciated!
Perlite is good. Check out the link in my sig for an easy organic soil mix that you can make for a lot cheaper than that bagged potting soil you're buying. hth