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Why is my unflushed plant turning yellow and dying?

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*mistress*

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should be noted that most of the plants 'food' is actually stored in the roots, not the leaves... the leaves manufacture the 'food', then sends it back down the stem to storage sites - stems, fruit & roots.

after carbon dioxide & water are converted into simple sugars, in the leaves, the sugars are transported into roots, mainly...

it is transpiration that moves stored sugars up from the roots, to the leaves, where they are then sent to fruits/flowers...

out of the 100% solution of water + food that the plant sends up the xylem, ~95% of the solution passes thru the leaves into the environment - as water vapor. the other 1-5% is the 'food', or broken-down & internally-chemically processed minerals, amino acids, etc the plant requires...

once the roots have a lack of a certain element, the plant draws that element out of the lowest leaves 1st... if the concentration in the root zone is not replentished, the plant simply just keeps extracting all of the small storage sites - away from the roots - until the deficiency is corrected.

if it is not corrected, the plant literally eats itself up... this has nothing to do w/ flushing, organics, chemical fertilizers, or amendments... this is basic plant physiology....

once leaves are steadily drained of normal chemical supplies, photosynthesis suffers, & leaves die... which leads to less & less photosynthesis. photosythesis is the process of making the food to store...

if there are less production sites (less healthy leaves), there will be less food transferred to fruits. @ this poit, plant is just trying to stay alive w/ reserves left in roots & remaining leaves.

so... will not be sending food to flowers...

again, has nothing to do w/ flushing, but providing adequate amount of essential fruiting/flowering elements... mainly magnesium, calcium, iron & potassium...

if do 100% organic gardening, there are 100% organic calcium sources such as oyster shell & gypsum... & of course, epsom salts for mg...

flushing is remove excess salts - but if there not enough specific salts there to begin w/, is not contributing to health of plant/flowers by w/holding what they need.

if, however, maryjohn has concluded that those leaves are indeed healthy & that the down-turned & yellowing leaves are a natural process in the annual-plant cycle...:yes:...

though, have re-vegged plants that dont yellow & turn leaf tips... because mg & cal are either foliar sprayed &/or applied...

1 reason why many, many companies - including 100% organic - have cal-mg type ferts...

enjoy your garden!
 

jmansweed

Member
Mj, I now your intension was not to have a discussion on flushing your soil. But let me ask you a few more things in regards to that.
I'm an avid outdoor vegitable gardener. I understand your point in that many crops can be grown under similar soil conditions as the plants essentailly controll what and when they decide to exchange exudates for nutes. I would never really consider flushing under those conditions. My outdoor Marijuana (in ground) never gets flushed either for the record.


Indoors, however, inside a container I have a different view. Adding only water to your plants is not quite the same as flushing imo. When I flush - actually flush - I allow about 150% runoff. I've always been under the impression that even microbial life can get washed away at this point. This allows for less nutreint uptake under even all organic conditions. The plant continues to absorb fluids (although less effeciently) that are more diluted in ppm hence eventually lowering overall nutreint content in it's tissue. Untill I flush I rarely experience any yellowing or leaf loss. ?
 

maryjohn

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"Their roots ride the underground “rhizosphere” and engage in cross-cultural and microbial trade. " Referring to mycorrhiza I assume?

I don't like it when science try to simplify or "humanize" plants ability to adapt. Like the knowledge about the R<->fR interaction in the phytochrome can be used to our advantage only if we fully understand it.

To my knowledge, the use of extra solutions is not to boost bacteria growth in general (besides molasses for fungi), but to feed the bacteria with other protein molecules, for another range of nutrients to be used by the plant.

"Rhizosphere" means where the roots are. "Rhizo-" denotes relating to roots. And no, mycorrhizae may be the most famous root symbiote after the nitrogen fixing bacterium that colonizes legumes, but it is not - by far - the only microbe doing such business.

Our resident madman, Microbeman, is the best person around to describe the crazy world down there. I am content knowing I've got to keep my treasures stored in microbes, not in bags of nitrates.

It's seeing plants as passive, by the way, that imposes human values on them. The more we know them for what they are, the more we realize we are not unique organisms, not as humans, not as animals.

I see a plant nearing the end. I wanted to know, if I looked through NPK lenses, if I would see this as a problem. I failed to mention that, purposely, that in the time it took for the "symptoms" to appear, the buds have put on weight and crystals, a pleasant scent, and a interesting reddish tint (the cold?).

Big D - I think that smaller plantlet HAS to be rootbound. But remember, 4 days ago both were quite green.
 

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
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hi again mj, i must say i very seldom add any extra nutes besides what i put in the soil from the start. ive used less than half a small bottle of biobizz in a year, but still the quantity in the soil mix is finite - and i found this out myself by reducing the N guano in my mix by half which led to very early yellowing on an NL, but was still a little too much for my Blueberry.

so just to be clear, you are claiming that senescence - the plant reaching the end of its natural life - will make the leaves fade at the end, and that letting the plant run out of nutes (the method some organic growers use for flushing) has no influence on this.
in short, you think that nutrient levels in the soil when the plant finishes have no effect on the yellowing of the plant and the quality of the final smoke?

thanks

V.
 

maryjohn

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Verdant, I think if there are no excess nitrates there is no reason to flush - and that you can grow without excess nitrates. If the plant has to get what it can get via relationships or competition, why bother when the days are getting shorter? All my annuals die after breeding, so do my biennials. Regardless of weather. Ever seen broccoli grow seed pods, then start over? Lettuce unbolt? They make their seeds then just dry out.

I'm not actually after yellow plants, nor do I think only yellow plants can be first rate product. But that seems to be all anyone cares about - plants turning yellow. And I have my doubts and fears like anyone, especially 4 days ago, before they suddenly started plumping, frosting, and yellowing. Microbeman can tell you I haven't always accepted what I am trying to say. I fought against organic, I fought against no-till, I fought against microbial trading, and was finally worn down. Now I see all my past grows through a different lens.

FYI i didn't metion I will be adding some bokashi to the soil to speed up the breaking down of the roots before I plant, and adding some compost on top, but nothing else really. The compost has live worms and cocoons. And it's compost from my home, made mostly from all the most nutritious parts of plants. I don't want to say more than I can say - and I would never try it without having a wormbin or compost.

I don't know if I can get through 2 grows without amending what I have. We'll find out. But I'm pretty sure I can get quite a ways. If I do run in to trouble, we can test my patience for one, but also try to find a way to correct the problem without resorting to manure.
 

Frozenguy

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Whats up? It looks fine to me lol..

You started flowering november 6th? It's december 28th now ya? So you're on day 52. How long do landrace afghanis go? Not much longer then 60 I would imagine.

All my plants have always yellowed, sometimes severely before the chop. The times they haven't, I never liked the taste or smell that much.

I'm not sure why the nitrogen left over would make a bad taste/smell but from my experience I tend to think that. I'll have to see what nitrogen converts to after harvest.

Frozenguy :smokeit:
 

maryjohn

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Thanks Froz....

I'm really happy with them. In this last week they put on some weight and did this yellowing. It's still a landrace, and still not bag material. But that's what I expected. It had a night of 33F and the fan running with no problems, and has been hanging in the 40-50's in the day.

Asking the question in the title was a roundabout way to say these are natural life processes going on in my grow, and I have no need for flushing. Furthermore, I believe there are enough microbially sequestered nutes left in the soil to grow another plant. So now I gots me a a challenge from verdant, who thinks my soil ran out (4 days ago apparently).
 

*mistress*

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I'm not actually after yellow plants, nor do I think only yellow plants can be first rate product. But that seems to be all anyone cares about - plants turning yellow. And I have my doubts and fears like anyone, especially 4 days ago, before they suddenly started plumping, frosting, and yellowing. Microbeman can tell you I haven't always accepted what I am trying to say. I fought against organic, I fought against no-till, I fought against microbial trading, and was finally worn down. Now I see all my past grows through a different lens.
magnesium deficiency
mottled chlorosis & brown spotting on lower leaves. yellow spots in interveinal areas; veins remain green.
green margin may remain in areas where even yellow areas turned brown.
in soil, usually exists only in plant, not in the soil...

deficiency may be related to high potassium or calcium (from excessive liming), or ammonium, or low soil ph...

forces plant to move from older to newer leaves.

calcium deficiency
a calcium deficiency could develop in soils where leaching depletes calcium reserves....

enjoy your garden!
 

maryjohn

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Misstress, I don't water to overflow except by accident. Calcium cannot leach. Nothing but a few drops of anything have leached in 3 months.

It's not magnesium. Are you looking at the outer leaves? Anything that sticks out the side undergoes physical trauma and gets sandwiched and covered. I also rip many leaves during training. Chicken wire is kind of rough.

There is no deficiency, anymore than my grandma has a deficiency. They are reaching the end of their lives, and systems are shutting down one by one.
 

MrFista

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jmans weed - in a healthy organic soil water comes out cleaner than it went in. So, not to be rude but, flushing organics in the context you mention is invalid.

Now, senescence...

"Senescence is the final stage of development during which the plant reclaims the valuable cellular building blocks that have been deposited in the leaves and other parts of the plant during growth. Maintaining an efficient senescence process is essential for survival of the plant or its future generations. Senescence is a complex highly regulated process that requires new gene expression and involves the interactions of many signalling pathways.

Leaf senescence occurs when the leaf is no longer of use to the plant. This may be due to the stage of development of the plant, the age of the leaf or be induced by environmental factors. As plants enter the flowering and seed development stage, the nutrients within the leaves are required for the seed development and so, in this case, senescence is induced by developmental signals. Alternatively, plant growth results in the leaves at the base of the plant becoming shaded and restricted in their photosynthetic potential, in this case senescence is induced by environmentally controlled signals. Other types of environmental stress such as water and nutrient limitation or pathogen attack can also affect plant growth and bring about premature senescence. Senescence is at its most obvious in the autumn when the dramatic colours of deciduous trees are striking reminder of the changing seasons. This senescence is caused by seasonal changes such as light and temperature. A detailed molecular study in poplar in Sweden has indicated that senescence starts on exactly the same day each year irrespective of environmental condition and follows the same degradative pathways. This implies that, for this species, photoperiod is the sole regulator causing the onset of senescence.

Once a leaf is destined for senescence, it enters a highly regulated programmed series of events by which its cellular components are dismantled, degraded and mobilized. Over 80% of the nitrogen and phosphorous were reclaimed from the senescing leaves of the poplars. This process is controlled and usually the leaf is maintained in a viable state until the remobilization is complete. The high degree of control is shown clearly by the fact that senescence can be reversed, if the process has not proceeded beyond a certain stage. Chloroplasts can be induced to regreen and to start photosynthesizing again.

Loss of chlorophyll, with the resulting yellowing of the leaves is the most obvious sign of senescence and in some cases the additional synthesis of anthocyanins during senescence results in dramatic orange, red and even purple coloration. Synthesis of anthocyanins by certain species has been shown to be important to protect the leaf from photooxidative damage and maintain viability as senescence progresses. Cells around the veins are kept active until maximum mobilization has occurred.

The formation of large electron dense globules called plastoglobuli is characteristic of the senescence of chloroplasts. These bodies are thought to have a role in lipid mobilization but may also be involved in the degradation of chlorophyll.

Once chlorophyll is separated from the proteins that bind it in the chloroplast membranes it becomes highly toxic, being very reactive to light. Therefore it is very important that chlorophyll is rapidly degraded as a protective measure against phototoxicity. Therefore having a functional chlorophyll degradation pathway is vitally important for plant development and survival.

Senescence is the final stage of plant development and has a key role to play in generating sufficient reserves for the plant to survive, either in following seasons or in the next generations. Cereal plants that have been bred to remain green longer have higher yields and increased tolerance to stress. Premature senescence induced by stress results in reduced yield and quality in crops. Post-harvest senescence also has a severe implication on nutrient quality of both forage crops and green vegetables."

Excerpts from: Senescence in Plants, Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences, Vicky Buchanan-Wollaston. 2007.

Unfortunately that last paragraph seems to add fuel to the debate that reducing senescence via environmental inputs increases yield. However, if senescence is solely activated by photoperiod, nutritional inputs will have little to no bearing on a plants going into this phase whether it is visibly detectable as leaves yellowing or not. The chlorophyll should be broken down to get a clean smoke, we know this, and the above reading about chlorophyll gives further weight to the arguement a plant should be allowed to run it's course with senescense playing an important role in the degredation of undesirable content in your weed.

Senescence is involved in many pathways with hundreds of genes identified that are activated or switched off at this time. It's role in flower and seed production has been established in annuals, and it's role in nutrient storage/recycling for perennials as well. It is these few words - Premature senescence induced by stress - that hint at the fine line between a perfect grow and getting less than you could.

A lot of this will come down to a growers skill once the above is understood. Senescence should occur naturally as part of the plants cycle and is begun when you flip the lights. A soil with all a plant requires will still show visible signs of senescence (as it should) in flower. With some it's more noticeable than others.

Treating leaves with cytokinin delays the onset of senescence. Now you might know why some growers don't use seaweed in flower, and others swear by it.

The first mob likes the colours they get, and the cleaner tasting smoke, without using kelp in flower (why it affects taste - it slows chlorophyll degradation).

The second mob like the delayed senescence resulting in more grass of lower quality.

That oughta set the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons. :elf:
 

maryjohn

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i'm vaporizing some now. tastes like hash, with a citrusy-lavender thing that is not my style. i licked my finger after picking the bud, and it was very peppery - and kind of a wood tannin thing going on.
 

Owl Mirror

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i'm vaporizing some now. tastes like hash, with a citrusy-lavender thing that is not my style. i licked my finger after picking the bud, and it was very peppery - and kind of a wood tannin thing going on.

DITTO

share.gif
 

maryjohn

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Indoors, however, inside a container I have a different view. Adding only water to your plants is not quite the same as flushing imo. When I flush - actually flush - I allow about 150% runoff. I've always been under the impression that even microbial life can get washed away at this point. This allows for less nutreint uptake under even all organic conditions.

Well, something to look up. There is nothing I can site that would satisfy, other than my experience with very sensitive carnivorous plants that require the conditions growers think they are giving MJ when they flush.

Take drosera adelae. Any amount of nutes in quantities that can support a herd, and even marginal N availability, will kill the plant. when I got my very first one, I put it under a light and gave it water. It started to look very bad, so I looked it up. It can not tolerate the nutrients in tap water for long, because microbes use it to gain a foothold and start turning your bog into soil.

To save my drosera, I had to discard the media, including what clung to the roots (you can rinse it off). Years later it is still going strong, but I am very careful to only give RO or distilled water. The offending nute was soluble, my container small, and my medium light, and my plant soft rooted, yet I still could not flush it of even the nitrates present, much less the microgang (not my friends in that case).

So do I think you are washing very much away of what is soluble, and more than negligible amounts of what isn't? Nope. Probably not from the free medium, definitely not from the root ball. Try growing sundews. Do I think you can kill your plant early (not necessarily bad) through stress? Sure, including water torture. If MJ does better with stress during flower formation, I would not be surprised. A sign you are about to lose a good perennial houseplant is very profuse and beautiful flowering.
 

jmansweed

Member
Thanks Fista - my statement was meant more as a question......


The way I read it is - In organic soil conditions your saying the grower must apply the correct ratio of included nutreints to naturally induce the plant to use up the available nutes at approximately the same time scenecence occurs? - or - Does the plant naturally stop the absorbtion of specific items to decrease chlorophylle levels on it's own to induce scenecence?

Thanks Mj - I understand your point, I'm going to have to do aome more comparisons
 

MrFista

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No problem jman. On flushing/flooding healthy soils. I liken it to rivers flooding lowland areas each year. It doesn't leach nutrients it adds them. It enriches the entire area and those who farm these places don't need fertiliser. A healthy soil is full of things attracted to particles, and that particles are attracted to, making it a great filter. Of course, depending on what it is filtering, it may become an unhealthy soil...

A plant undergoing senescence wants to start breaking things down in the leaves to use them for all sorts of other jobs, including those involved in flowering. A plants nutritional requirements change, but if the nutrition is available in the soil this is never a problem. A healthy plant takes what it needs from several sources at this stage of life, atmospheric, roots, and via senescence.

If nature is left to run it's course the plant will make changes in metabolic pathways and nutritional uptake will change with it, and among many other things, you will see signs of senescence.

If you spray things on the leaves to correct imbalances after flowering cycle you are likely messing with the plants ability to finish properly. With kelp you will be. It may increase yield, I don't really know. I do think a lot of soil imbalances come from people adding too much of everything believing this will equate to more pot for them. Then they see problems and start spraying stuff, band aiding the real problem.

Less is best when it comes to nutes and senescence is completely natural. There's plenty of good recipes to show growers how to load a soil up when mixing it, and then they don't need a cupboard full of expensive shit to try correct things later when it's too late. A good soil mix, with 2-3 compost teas (not nute soups), will give a grower all they require nutritionally from start to finish.

When it comes to soil mixes I'm a fan of adding nutrient laden char, compost and worm castings, and recycling my soil. For compost teas I listen to what our resident scientists have to say, and get results because of this. My old nute soups were completely average in contrast to what a good tea can do (to really see the difference try it outdoors on some garden that is shitty).

Wrote a rant... time for another smoke then. :tree:
 
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