Oh no - I need help And maybe some water

[BarnacleBill]

I recently went on vacation only to return to severely dehydrated plants. There were curled brown crispy leaves on the lower canopy and the entire plant was wilted. I watered heavy for a day and they pulled back rather nicely, that is except for the largest of the cola which is still wilted heavy:

They are just moving into the flower stage and I dont really want to loose that main cola. Advice? Suggestions? Help!

 

[PeytonManning]

Looks like there could be a little nitrogen toxicity, but it's hard to tell with a watering problem.

 

[jg106256]

Re: Oh no. I need help. And maybe some water.

What kind of soil and nutes are you using?

 

[BarnacleBill]

Re: Oh no. I need help. And maybe some water.

The soil medium is 75% natural aged compost from horse manure, two years leached naturally and 25% pearlite. The feet regiment is every 8 to 10 days with good earth 4-4-4. It's an all organic fert. My pH is 6.2. There was signs of a nitrogen defiency early in the grow but that was rectified. All the plants looked whilted when I got back from vacation and everything else bounced back except the large primary cola. As far as nuets are concerned they will no longer be receiving nitrogen since they have entered the flowering stage.

 

[jg106256]

Re: Oh no. I need help. And maybe some water.

I hope it wasn't over stressed. How long has it been since you got back from vacation?

 

[BarnacleBill]

Re: Oh no. I need help. And maybe some water.

It hadn't received H2O for six days! Never trust someone to do a job for you no matter how long you've known them....lol. This may seem radical and extreme and goes against everything I believe but let me put this idea out there. Since this seems to be isolated to only one of the cola and I'm entering the flowering stage what if I trim back the fan leaves from the cola. Wilted like that they are not productive, if anything counter productive. Or water heavy again and put in the shade to allow the plant to regain turgidity?

 

[BarnacleBill]

Re: Oh no. I need help. And maybe some water.

Okay talking this through has really helped me out. Here is my game plan at this point. The open cells for transpiration are located on the under side of the leaf. That's why leaves roll under and wilt when they dehydrate, in order to compensat for dehydration and conserve water. I'm going to move baby girl into the shade for a day and mist the underside of the leaves. Plants can take a minor amour of water in through their leaves, that's why leaves turn up and out on a tree when a rain storm approaches in the summer. Possibly I can uncurl those fan leaves. What's your input? Soil is moist at the moment and I'm not thinking a soaking is in order. If they don't uncurl what do you think about cutting the fan leaves off or should I just leave them?

 

[jg106256]

Re: Oh no. I need help. And maybe some water.

Okay talking this through has really helped me out. Here is my game plan at this point. The open cells for transpiration are located on the under side of the leaf. That's why leaves roll under and wilt when they dehydrate, in order to compensat for dehydration and conserve water. I'm going to move baby girl into the shade for a day and mist the underside of the leaves. Plants can take a minor amour of water in through their leaves, that's why leaves turn up and out on a tree when a rain storm approaches in the summer. Possibly I can uncurl those fan leaves. What's your input? Soil is moist at the moment and I'm not thinking a soaking is in order. If they don't uncurl what do you think about cutting the fan leaves off or should I just leave them?

Putting it in the shade and giving her some TLC should definitely help her out. I'd flush also while in the shade.

 

[BarnacleBill]

Re: Oh no. I need help. And maybe some water.

Okay, I ran the gambit yesterday. Kept her in the shade. Flushed the soil. Spray misted her. The end result, no change. Those fan leaves on the one cola are still turned under. The other three major cola on the same plant look totally normal as does the rest of the plant. No discoloration to the leaf. Its still supple and not brittle. There are signs of new growth that appears uneffected and shows no abnormal symptoms. I'm confused as to what to do next

 

[labexperiment]

Removing the main cola will just force the plant to choose another cola as the new main.

 

[BarnacleBill]

There was still acceptable growth on the cola. So I had no intentions of removing the entire cola. What I was considering (and ended up doing) was to remove the wilted fan leaves from that particular cola. It went three days without recovering and I assume that the damaged stressed leaves were more of a hindrance than a benefit. Since no one could give me an answer I acted on what I thought was the best solution. So far the plant seems none the worse and is activly flowering. Also it wasn't the main cola, it was just the largest of the six on that plant. I will post a picture of the results when I get a chance.