Major plant problem HELP!

One of my plants started showing signs of a very serious health problem two nights ago. As of now the bottom 20% of it's leaves are dying and falling off. I transplanted it yesterday to see if that would help at all but it didn't help at all.

What I don't understand is why this plant has a problem when it gets the same nutrients and treatment as the rest of my plants. They're all very healthy.

Here a couple of images I took;






If anyone can tell me what this could be please, please let me know. This is my first attempt at growing these plants and I just don't know what to do!

we need more details ,what soil, what feed, how often water? do you ph the water,what plant is it ? as much and as detailed as poss ? all the best, and it does not look too serious.ww

What light schedule are they under?

We do need more details but I will go ahead and bet that you just need to leave it alone and trust that these plants are very hardy and don't perform better with constant attention. A pot of water wont boil faster if you watch it kind of thing. Just make sure your temps are good, let the soil dry out completely before you water again, flush it with straight water next time you water if you have been feeding heavy or if the medium you transplanted into already had nutrients in it. Dont expect an immediate change just because you transplanted it. I take it you watered it good with the transplant? if so then just let it be for a few days and then check it. Those plants look unbelievably stretchy though. What strain is it? how far away is your light and what kind of light?

Thanks for the replies!

First, the conditions; The plant is 43 days old today and it's been in Dr. Earth's Home Grown potting mix. I changed this plant (they're all Papaya's) into Root's Organics original potting mix. I did that because it was virtually the same as the Dr. Earth's mix and I didn't want to change the medium too much. The soil pH is 6.8 as best as I can tell. I can only catch the runoff and measure that which is 6.4 . I don't have a soil pH meter just a Hydro meter.


The nutes have been Lucas veg formula that I pH to 6.2
Temps have been changed a bit as I just put them all under a different light source. I had it under a T5 48" x 4 bulbs 6500 K and now they're all under a new Sunmaster Cool Deluxe which is 5000K-6500K, 80,000 Lumens. So they all went from about 70-75°F to about 74-79°F on average. The air temps have cooled down but they're all indoors so they aren't effected too much by that.

This plants photoperiod is 16/8 and was on 12/12 but it started looking sick so I flipped it back. The other plants that germinated the same day have been on a 12/12 photoperiod since Wed. Oct. 30th.

The humidity has dropped quite a bit here. It went from around 50%-60% when it was hot to very dry, around 30% or so as it's cooled off over the past two weeks. Right now it's 20%! I don't have a humidifier but I obviously need one.

When I water I let them dry out completely before I water or nute them again. Usually nute them unless it's time to flush which is about every week-ten days. I flush with R.O. water. Sometimes with TAP water that's sat out to let the chlorine dissipate.

Right now I'm trying to just leave it alone and see how it does. But if this condition keep progressing I feel like I need to stop whatever is happening.

The plant is from seed so I've been trying to keep the potassium levels fairly low to influence the outcome of it's sex. I often wonder whether the potassium is too low. But the other plants are fine.

I reckon your problem rests somewhere between here

Hazy brain said:

Usually nute them unless it's time to flush which is about every week-ten days. I flush with R.O. water.

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And here

Hazy brain said:

The plant is from seed so I've been trying to keep the potassium levels fairly low

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Two things you not only don't need to do, but will reap more problems than benefits. Stop doing those two things and go from there.

What are your lowest night temps?

That is normal, those leaves have done the job they grew for and now there is plenty more for processing photosynsthastate, don't worry, potting them on will have done what was needed. It looks like a phosphorus related problem and could well be down to depleted nutrient in the substrate which potting on will solve. Otherwise there was not enough light for the plants auxins to keep them and also sustain new growth.

Aardwolf said:

That is normal, those leaves have done their job

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In a healthy grow, that's not normal. It's a sign of something wrong, be it a process or an environmental issue, it's something which shouldn't be happening. If my plants looked like that, I wouldn't be happy.

It's not the end of the world by any means, unless it's root rot causing it, but nobody should think that is a normal look for a healthy plant.

It's normal for bottom leaves to yellow and drop off. But those drooping leaves look sickly with necrotic spots.

Was this plant originally in a container that had been used for tomatoes?

There is the possibility that you're dealing with a fungal infection, Fusarium Wilt. Normally the fungus enters the plant through the roots and works it's way up by growing fungal strands through the vascular tissue. This clogs the plant's plumbing making it difficult to get enough water to the leaves for adequate transpiration.

With young plants the infection expresses itself with older bottom leaves developing spots of necrotic tissue, turning a pale gray-yellow-green, and drooping but not falling off.

When infected older plants are half way through flowering, it really manifests with wilting and browning or pale graying of leaves, browning pistils, and death of flowers which turn a pale gray. This is most pronounced in plant parts close to the light. Because the vascular tissue is clogged, leaves and flowers can't obtain enough water and nutrients. Plant parts close to hot lights can't transpire enough to cool overheated tissues. It's contagious and difficult to eradicate once an area is contaminated.

Your mentioning a recent drop in humidity makes me think of leaves needing to transpire more.

Maybe I'm over reacting but I'd toss that plant and all the soil it's been in contact with into the trash and disinfect any tools associated with it. If you hang onto the plant, keep it separate from the others. Consider any run off and dead tissue to be full of spores. Disinfect scissors after use.

been told that you need to add cal/mag to RO water. Do you do that?

think your drowning them and with all the flushing.

you did the best thing though by TPing.

Reminds me of a time I had a off gassing problem with a tent I once had. Did this to my plants and took me over a year to figure out the cause.

too wet. lets the pots dry out let the roots replenish and you will be alright.

One I would stop with all the flushing you are really doing it no good to keep the roots soggy all the time and what made you lower potassium levels I would most likely say you have two problems the first is a potassium defiency because potassium helps with water uptake and 2 all the flushing you are doing u are flushing all the nutrients and benny's out of the soil which basically if you are not adding them back into your soil your soil pretty much becomes useless. Also I have grown in soil and never ph'd my feed or water alot of people have different opinions on this but I have never ran into a defiency when I never ph'ed my feed and water because of the natural buffers that soil has. Whenever I did ph my feed every once in a while some defiency would sometimes occur. But I would say stop the flushing and start bumping up your potassium levels to normal again. Here is a article post about potassium. Peace mike.


Potassium is present throughout plants and is required for all water-related transport activities in plants including opening and closing the stomas. Potassium is also responsible for the plants’ strength and quality and it controls countless other processes such as carbohydrate management.

Oh and I must point one thing out about my last post when I was talking about not ph'ing my feed and water in soil that was plants being grown in promix with no added nutes like fox farm ocean forest or some other soil company's that add feed to there soil mixes. I was just saying my experience with promix with microrizzae added but no feed. Peace mike

Hazy brain said:

When I water I let them dry out completely before I water or nute them again. Usually nute them unless it's time to flush which is about every week-ten days. I flush with R.O. water. Sometimes with TAP water that's sat out to let the chlorine dissipate.

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I'm having trouble understanding this. You say that you let them dry out completely before watering or adding nutes ... and you flush every week-ten days. Seems it would be pretty difficult to fit watering and nuting, and flushing and drying into a ten day period, ... in what, three or five gallon containers?

The watering/nuting are one and the same. What I should have said was "I feed my plants....and then flush when needed."

That plant had such a major issue within 4 days of my original post 70% of the leaves had dried up and dropped off. I believe it was disease of some sort perhaps a virus of bacterial infection.


I'm new to growing this plant and I'd appreciate you offering advice rather than criticism. That's why posted this, to ask for advice not to be dragged across the coals or torn apart for my mistakes or how I try to explain what I'm doing with these plants. Please remember this the first time I've grown M.J. with multiple plants and only once before with a single plant.

I do appreciate the advice on this. Don't get me wrong, I have a great deal to learn and I know that. I learn, like everyone, from my mistakes and the results of them.

I don't think anyone was trying to be overly harsh or anything. I've had plants (outdoors) get weird infections and just die (too much rain), it happens sometimes. I'd agree to check your watering. Most people only flush at the end of flower, it's not usually necessary beforehand unless you had some over-ferting issue. You said switched that plant to 12/12 then back to 18/6 when it started looking sick, this probably cause a lot of stress for it and worsened the problem. I would've left it in flower and watched it carefully. The way it sounds now, if it's still alive, I would cut my losses and ditch it, incase whatever happened is contagious.

Good luck with your grow, hope I could be helpful in someway!

Hey hazy it almost looks like you got some sort of root rot. From the plants being overwatered the best way to water in soil is to pick up the pot and if it feels light then give it water. Also IMO that when a small plant is in to big of a pot at first what I would do is give it water but not a lot until the root system is bigger and the plant can handle drinking that much water. It makes the roots stretch to look for water when you keep your soil dryer.

Also if you are ph'ing anything you put in water or feed you have to make sure that 1 you have a ph pen to check and 2 try to get it dead on every time. Your ph should range like 6.2 to 6.5 for feed and water should be around the same. If you ph swings to fast that can also cause lots of issues.

My best advice I can give you as a new grower would be try to keep plants a little dryer especially when up potting to a bigger pot. Only water when the pot is light when you pick it up this shows that the soil is mostly dry. Last but not least don't feed In vegetative state unless the plants look hungry and start to feed them slowly then increase less is more remember that also make sure if you do ph make sure it is dead on every time. Peace mike