Nutrient Loss from plants....please help

[rollingjoe]

hey everybody... my girls are acting funny and not sure if this is normal or not so i would appreciate your input. This is my first grow so i'm not sure what to expect here towards the end.

My setup:
-400W sodium in air cooled reflector
-homemade Deep Water Culture 27 gallon reservoir w pump for misters filled to 6 gallons
-inside 2'x3'x6'H cab.
-reservoir temp. high(day) 78 F Low(night) 72 F
-int. cab temp. high(day) 88 F low(night) 68 F
-two girls -unknown cali. seeds, indica looking with strong citrus smell on buds
-into 6th week of flowering, 1/3-1/2 of buds have changed to brown pistils
-using technaflora starter kit at 1/2 strength followed exact recommendations, keep PH at 5.8

The problem is...for the last 2-3 wks, I flush, add fresh nutes at 1/2 strength, record EC and PPM and then everyday after these levels creep up. I also noticed the leaves are changing to lighter green and lower leaves are yellowing. They look similiar to N deficiency. I know my temps are too high, been trying all kinds of stuff to lower the temps in there.

Is it normal towards the end of flowering that the plants are putting out nutrients or is it the temperature problems i'm having with the cab. and res. that is causing the outflow of nutrients or is it the nutrients?

thanks for your input

 

[Hogdady]

i'm not a hydro guy, so i can't comment on the nute issue. as far as the leaves changing color, that is natural at this point. there are folks here that could explain in greater detail about what changes are physically occuring, but in the end they would tell you that it's normal. good luck!

 

[Zodiakgrower7]

Hey Rolling Joe, welcome to the site buddy. Regardless of whether you are growing hydro or soil towards the end of the flowering cycle your leaves will do that. Basically towards the end the plant will suck all available nutrients from the fan leaves to finish the buds which causes the leaves to yellow or lighten their green color. Good luck man, hope to see some pics bro.

 

[rollingjoe]

thanks Zodiak- i figured this might be normal but considering ive been having high temp. problems throughout the grow(which is probably the reason for short, stunted plants) i wasn't sure. Then you add the fact that they are leeching their nutes into the reservoir water...puzzled me even more.

thanks hogdady.

 

[Stretchtastic]

I agree with hogdady it's normal for a plant to drop it leaves at the end of it's life cycle. But I was reading a post i think on here about flushing plants that convinced me to never flush for weeks at the end. It pretty well said that commercial growers flush for weeks cause they don't trim all the leaves off the buds. Cause when you flush your flushing nutes out of the leaves not the buds. The buds don't have as much chlorophyll as the leaves and that's what gives buds a bad and harsh taste ( the chlorophyll). Also why we cure buds, it allows the chlorophyll to break down even more. So if you Trim all or almost all the leaves off your buds then you don't need to flush for weeks. If your using chem nutes flush for maybe a day or two or just drain the res. and let it do it's thing for a couple days with no water or nutes(helps speed drying without harming taste). Hope that helps

 

[ol hippy]

Are you still having temp issues ? Have you removed the water pump and drip lines from your resevoir ? (if you used them) the pump will cause heat problems. Put a fan on the res with a few frozen water bottles in front of the fan to help cool it. I usually drain out a gal and replace with colder water if need be. Should be under 70 degrees .Hope that was some help ..

 

[rollingjoe]

thanks old hippy... since I only have another week or so til harvest, I lowered the wattage on my ballast from 400 to 275. that helped a bit. now I'm only maxing out at 82 outside the Res. for the next grow, I think I will invest in a chiller to keep the res. temps between 66-68. I figure if the roots are kept cool then the leaves of the plants can tolerate mid 80's temps while the lights are on. what do u you guys think?