grow disaster 5 weeks into flowering ( with pics) please help

Plants were a lush green and growing strong all the way until about 4 weeks into flowering . Growing in regular size (home depot) buckets with Flower Power potting soil. All of a sudden the leaves started going pale and turning yellow starting at the bottom and quickly spreading upwards. by 5 1/2 weeks in these pictures were taken . at 8 weeks there were almost no leaves on the plant. and the buds just seem pale as well. Please help!

the buds look good. are you feeding it? if so what?

smoke and coke said:

the buds look good. are you feeding it? if so what?

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I had them growing in "Flower power" potting soil. I did not add anything but water. My understanding is that the soil already had everything needed for MJ plants. I bought it at the hydro store.

my mate grows in bio bizz soil with all nutes in it,, and occasionally adds some topmax as a top up, it helps as sometimes the plant can use all its available nutes from the soil before the cycle is finished, check wit the pros wat nutes 2 use nxt time but im sure ya crop will be sweet anyways, at least it wont taste of nutes wat is the flowering time of ya strain? if u have like 3 weeks left u cud prob add some nutes now an flush again at the end, if only 1 week then prob best 2 just leave her go as she is, they look lush an just as they shud at end of floqwering period, but if they are yellow after only 5 weeks then prob sum nutes wanted enjoy ya crop well done

throw it out and start over.....

kidding..... those buds look deliciuos. i would add a couple tablespoons of molassas to a gallon of ditilled water and feed those buds a carbo load, flush after a week and wait to harvest. i dont know what went wrong but it looks like your buds are sucking everything they can out of those leaves way ealier than they should be but they look real good. the molassas will plump them up a little. i use the technoflora line and the last thing you feed them before harvest is Sugar Daddy, i read the ingredients and its just sugar water, same as molassas n water. i use that now instead of SD, works great and way cheaper. Nice nugs man - good jpb.

sweetsmoker said:

my mate grows in bio bizz soil with all nutes in it,, and occasionally adds some topmax as a top up, it helps as sometimes the plant can use all its available nutes from the soil before the cycle is finished, check wit the pros wat nutes 2 use nxt time but im sure ya crop will be sweet anyways, at least it wont taste of nutes wat is the flowering time of ya strain? if u have like 3 weeks left u cud prob add some nutes now an flush again at the end, if only 1 week then prob best 2 just leave her go as she is, they look lush an just as they shud at end of floqwering period, but if they are yellow after only 5 weeks then prob sum nutes wanted enjoy ya crop well done

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Thanks bro. yea i think i shoud have added some nutes.

smokiedog said:

kidding..... those buds look deliciuos. i would add a couple tablespoons of molassas to a gallon of ditilled water and feed those buds a carbo load, flush after a week and wait to harvest. i dont know what went wrong but it looks like your buds are sucking everything they can out of those leaves way ealier than they should be but they look real good. the molassas will plump them up a little. i use the technoflora line and the last thing you feed them before harvest is Sugar Daddy, i read the ingredients and its just sugar water, same as molassas n water. i use that now instead of SD, works great and way cheaper. Nice nugs man - good jpb.

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I have heard of the sugar water technique before but never tried it because you dont see it much in major grow books.at least i didnt. But when you describe it, sounds right. Im gonna try it next time. the buds seemed dry ,bland and not too impressive too me i think the sugar will help. So i need to flush this stuff? whats the worst think an overdose of sugar can do to your plants?

An over dose of carbohydrates can lock out nitrogen, which i think your plant is already starving for.

I dont think ther is an advers effect of a sugar overdose, never delt with it but from what I read is that the plant just stops growing leafs and stems because the plant doesnt have to make its own sugar. Since it doesnt have to make it anymore it doesnt need to grow leafs to collect it. So it puts all of its energy to making flowers.

But it has to be the right kind of sugar. IE naturall sugar like what is found in mollasses.

Edit: looks like I was wrong about the overdose according to the post above...

itsgrowinglikeaweed said:

An over dose of carbohydrates can lock out nitrogen, which i think your plant is already starving for.

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Ahh..... good point. i will keep that in mind.thanks

I hope Ohsogreen doesn't mind but i've been sharing his method of useing molasses. This is from Ohsogreen in the organics forum. This will actually ADD a bit of N.
Here is how you do it. - by Ohsogreen
"First use only unsulphured molasses, like Briar Rabbit or Grandma's Molasses (brands). Mix one ounce to one gallon of chlorine free water. If you only have tap water, let it set for two days & 99% of the chlorine will evaporate. Then you can add the molasses.
.
You can bubble (oxygenate) it using a cheap aquarium pump & air stone for at least one day. Or just pour it from one clean container (jug or bucket) to another a couple of times a day, for at least two days.
.
This provides extra oxygen to the good micro-beaties, they then eat, mutiply, & kill off - the not so nice micro-beaties. The longer you oygenate this mix, the more good guys you end up with. Their eating & pooping out the NPK (bioconversion) is what make it highly soluble. Over time their bioconversion reduces the N and pumps up the P & K slightly. Not a big shift, just a point or two.
.
This makes a good growth stage fertilizer (that's cheap).
.
Just mix it light the first time & water in lightly - like one quart per plant.
Start low & build slow. This prevents overfertilizing.
.
Use this mix one week & plain water the next.
.
You can add nutes to the mix, but remember your adding to a mix with a NPK of about 5-1-3 already"
P.S. The organics forum ROCKS!!

itsgrowinglikeaweed said:

I hope Ohsogreen doesn't mind but i've been sharing his method of useing molasses. This is from Ohsogreen in the organics forum. This will actually ADD a bit of N.
Here is how you do it. - by Ohsogreen
"First use only unsulphured molasses, like Briar Rabbit or Grandma's Molasses (brands). Mix one ounce to one gallon of chlorine free water. If you only have tap water, let it set for two days & 99% of the chlorine will evaporate. Then you can add the molasses.
.
You can bubble (oxygenate) it using a cheap aquarium pump & air stone for at least one day. Or just pour it from one clean container (jug or bucket) to another a couple of times a day, for at least two days.
.
This provides extra oxygen to the good micro-beaties, they then eat, mutiply, & kill off - the not so nice micro-beaties. The longer you oygenate this mix, the more good guys you end up with. Their eating & pooping out the NPK (bioconversion) is what make it highly soluble. Over time their bioconversion reduces the N and pumps up the P & K slightly. Not a big shift, just a point or two.
.
This makes a good growth stage fertilizer (that's cheap).
.
Just mix it light the first time & water in lightly - like one quart per plant.
Start low & build slow. This prevents overfertilizing.
.
Use this mix one week & plain water the next.
.
You can add nutes to the mix, but remember your adding to a mix with a NPK of about 5-1-3 already"
P.S. The organics forum ROCKS!!

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do I use the molasses during Veg or Flowering or both?

"do I use the molasses during Veg or Flowering or both?"
That seems to be a subject for debate. Most use it just in flower. I've seen it argued both ways. I say both. However, if your going to use it during veg you've got to be really careful not to over do it. We think in terms of TBLS, cups,gallons,etc... the plant i believe "thinks" in term of molecules. I use once in veg( say week 4), twice in flower (week 4, 8 ). I'm on my 4th grow, and have successfully harvested every female I've grown. No casualties lol.

Yea... I'm not an expert but it feels like flowering more than Veg... But i Think A one time "small' dose around 3-4 weeks would be beneficial? Maybe like 1/4 strength of what you would give in flowering?

ILLISTOFSUPERCHRON said:

Yea... I'm not an expert but it feels like flowering more than Veg... But i Think A one time "small' dose around 3-4 weeks would be beneficial? Maybe like 1/4 strength of what you would give in flowering?

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Zactly!

ILLISTOFSUPERCHRON said:

Plants were a lush green and growing strong all the way until about 4 weeks into flowering . Growing in regular size (home depot) buckets with Flower Power potting soil. All of a sudden the leaves started going pale and turning yellow starting at the bottom and quickly spreading upwards. by 5 1/2 weeks in these pictures were taken . at 8 weeks there were almost no leaves on the plant. and the buds just seem pale as well. Please help! View attachment 422782

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Your plant may be yellow now but those buds look awsome!! Especially since you have not used any added nutes. I am impressed!! So your plant offers up some proof that less is good for the girls. Good job.

Every one is Congratulating me on my grow...............only I am not happy with it.............. Yea i got buds . The pics are making it look better than it was i think. I had like 5 or 6 large plants and only got about 5-6 ounces of weed (dried) one plant had about half of that. The buds just lacked pizazz! Did the job for sure, But no smell /taste. seemed " dehydrated" or something. i know some yellowing of older fan leaves is normal. but the entire plant going yellow and shedding nearly every leaf by the 8 th week is not good. I dont know. Maybe i am spoiled living in the Bay area Cali. I have a medical card as well but there has always been Dank in Cali. These were clones form the dispenserary and they just didnt turn out to be 60 + tax an 1/8 ounce pot and i want to know why! HELP

"But no smell /taste. seemed " dehydrated" or something"
Much like the growing , the drying and curing process is somthing of an art. This is (I believe) oftentimes overlooked, and under appreciated. I myself have noticed a HUGE difference between the buds I just plucked, dried and smoked and the buds that made it into a jar for a few weeks to cure. Curing enhances smell, taste, and potency. My 1st grow went very much like yours. Early (I thought) yellowing, and complete absence of fan leaves at harvest. I didn't know if it was normal or...
I kinda wanted to ask you if you knew what the Ph of your soil was near the end of your grow. I got a digital Ph meter right at the end of my 1st grow and poured some 7.0 water through the pot of a plant I just harvested (one that did just what you described yours doing). I then tested the water coming out the bottom and the results shocked me. 5.2 ph!! Whal-ahh mystery solved! My soil had gotten consistently more and more acidic over the course of the grow. I now know exactly why that happened too. Check this out > http://www.ncw.wsu.edu/treefruit/soil/lime.htm its a VERY worthy read if you are going to be growing anything seriously.
I've got it from a good source that most folks don't harvest anything decent at all until their third grow. By that measuring stick you've done a helluva job sir, and I applaud you as well!
So here i am on my fourth grow and I'm still learning a few things about what I did right and wrong on my 1st grow. Keep going, keep reading, keep growing. You'll get to where you want to be.
Have you gone through the GrowFaq here on RIU. Its great. No matter how many times I go back to it I always find something new.
FYI (and I LOVE this) the very 1st marijuana law in north america stated that every farmer with suitable land was REQUIRED to grow cannabis. Tell your congressman to put THAT in your pipe and light it for you!