What would you do?!? Yellowing leaves 4 weeks into flower

I am looking for comments from experienced growers.

What I do not need is newbies, guesses or links to nute def charts! k?

I am a veteren grower with lots of experience. I usually do indoor but took advantage of great weather this year.

They are in week 4. The girl that has a lot of yellow leaves is a pure sativa YGriega. In the same pot is a Matero blue. They reside in a 100 gallon smart pot that is cut open underneath and directly over scratched ground.

The pot takes 3+ days to dry out with a full watering/flush. I left for 2 weeks and had a sprinkler on them every morning. Normally they get hand watered.

I came back to this. Notes:

Losing fan leaves at this stage is normal
This YG seems to be eating more leaves than normal
I fed them 600ppm the first day. Nothing day 2. Day 3 (today) they look better, greener and leaf eating is slowing, but still happening.

I suspect it was from the pot getting waterlogged. For 2 weeks the soil never got dry (especially at the center of this big ass pot).

SO, John quinones...... WHAT WOULD YOU DO?????

Bud growth isnt explosive, but consistent with prior grows. The plant is almost 4 feet in diameter and over 4 ft tall. It is holding a tremendous amt of budding sites.

I want to feed it again, but there should be plenty of food available. Foilar feeding had no effect. Worthy to note other growers in my area report larger than normal leaf loss. Our weather has been sunny 80's and perfect. Zero rain.

Im staring at them drinking a cup of joe and I decided to come here to see what others think.

I cant check for runoff as the pot is on the ground. Yes, PH is 6.5 and adjusted for feedings.

Pic1 is the girl most affected. Pic2 is same strain, 2 girls in a 150gallon pot. They are not as yeller as the girl in pic1. Shown for comparison. Buds are about the same size. In week 4 of 12 week flower.

 

also worthy to note. Some of the leaves turned red/rust brown in the middle. Then they curled upward as the plant ate the whole leaf. It looked like nute burn at first, but Im pretty sure this plant is eating its own leaves faster than it should be.

No matter how many grows I put under my belt, I still see things that make me scratch my head.

 

Yes. They share a 100 gallon pot. I know. This sometimes causes problems as they compete for food. But it is a huge pot, and their roots can go thru the pot into the ground.

It has been my experience plants sharing pots dont do as good as isolated pots. So yes, this is not a positive thing. To complicate it, I have 2 different strains in one pot. It appears the Matero Blue has control of the medium. The YGriega is starving and the BM seems fine.

My theory is due to the constant dampness of the pot over 2 weeks, that some of the lower root zone has shut down due to excessive bacterial activity. I am giving this 100 gallon pot shots of water of like 16 ounces at a time. Today most of the pot is dry. To get it completely dry on the inside would require 3 days of zero water.

Overall they are improving. I just want to retain as many leaves as I can for the final push at the end of flower. My issue is wanting to feed them (ie more water) when I suspect the pot took a hit being waterlogged for 2 weeks.

It also doesnt help I used a sprinkler that watered the whole plant, not just the ground. I did what I had to do. They survived fine. Now I am home, looking to get them healthier as quickly as possible. A hard thing to do in mid flower.

 

To support logger's theory of multiple plants per pot, this is a single matero blue in a 25 gallon pot. She is the healthiest of all the girls.

 

Krypto: the new club guidelines, they like to see under 50% cloudy. Old school is 75% cloudy with a dot here and there of amber. I'd say flush hard and when all your leaves yellow you should be good.

As far as my girls, madness may be on to something. I went to the store. My runoff PH is a little over 7 in one of the pots. My tap water is 8-8.2!!! Iron absorbs best at 6.0 and below. I think ph lockout isnt allowing for transfer of iron and other micros.

Tomorrow I will heavy flush then hit her with 6.5. Next day 6.0, then finally a 5.5. Tonight I am going to foilar feed a 5.5 @100ppm of GH microblast targeting the most deficient of leaves.

 

Never overlook the simple things! Woke up at dawn to flush. I had 25 gallons of premade, bubbled 6.0 water ready. As I sat sipping coffee waiting for enough light to work, up walked my cat. He gave some love, then promptly climbed in the 100 gallon pot and peed!!!

That lil bugger! It was quite a scene as I literally exploded in shocked tone at her. She scuttled back still peeing hit the fence and fell behind the pot. The smart pot, not the pot pot.

I considered having her urine analyzed for ph and nutrient content, but after another cup of joe I opted to continue with my flush.

Take note newbies!!! If you have issues with your plant, flushing the soil with lots of clean water is your key. I flushed with tap water for 15 minutes drowning the pot. This dilutes whatever is in the soil and the runoff takes it away.

I let the pot drain for 10 minutes. Remember, it is on the ground so not a true flush like an elavated pot.

I then ran the last 25 gallons of ph'ed 6.0 water. This forces the tap water out and floods down with correct ph water.

Sometimes the plants react bc of the high water content. These girls looked relieved. I used tap water as it has chlorine in it. This kills bacteria, both good and bad. Thats okay as it slows down and/or halts the conversion of organic material into usable food. Not all bacteria will die. They reproduce every 20 minutes or so. By end of day bacterial load should return to normal.

This will give the soil time to adjust. Now the ph is good, plants should be able to absorb micros. Micronutes absorb best below 6.0.

If you are going to flood your pots, know this can cause stress. Flush at first light so as to give the pot a full light cycle to dry out and balance.

Not what I wanted to do at dawn, but a good grower does what is needed to give MJ its best shot at life. Now for a doob and some Halo Wars.

 

Mataro Blue (by Kannabia Seeds) :: SeedFinder :: Strain Info