Seven Hazes

[Stunger]

I wonder re the watering. The demise of my Mulanje last year could have been from excess top dressing, but my suspicion is that it declined not so much by over watering, but by watering too frequently. I am probably way wrong about that, but I became over confident with the hot summer days and my very drilled out pots that I was freely giving her water up to 3 times a day which on reflection was not allowing the pH drift down after a watering and possibly blocking some necessary nutrient take up (not that I was watering with nutes). That experience made me consider the importance of letting the soil go through a range of saturation between waterings. But I presume your issue is not watering too frequently. I hope you're soon soon seeing it pick up.

 

[greenjeans]

I was freely giving her water up to 3 times a day

Hey strunger - my understanding is that they need a "wet - dry" cycle - go from run off then leave until pretty much dry to the bottom before they get anymore. The roots need to get air - if they are constantly wet they can't breath.

 

[Stunger]

Hey strunger - my understanding is that they need a "wet - dry" cycle - go from run off then leave until pretty much dry to the bottom before they get anymore. The roots need to get air - if they are constantly wet they can't breath.

Hey gj, on that grow I got over confident because of how quickly my heavily drilled pots would lose water, just as you point out the roots need to first get down to a near-dry state, something I hopefully have learnt from!

 

[Emeraldo]

Hey @Stunger, @greenjeans, @Tokin Roll

I agree about how important it is to let the plants dry out after watering. In summer of course, a lot more water is needed. This Malawi of mine had from Oct 6 until 16 between watering, and the weather and temperature was warm again, a sort of Indian summer. On the 16th she was very dry. I stuck my finger down two inches and it was dry. So she had a nice dry period until last Sunday and Monday when I gave her approx 3 L spread out over two days, with runoff.

I did spray her again today with epsom salts in mineral water, and I must say I am not so concerned as I was yesterday. Her green leaves look good. The dark browning of the leaf tips seems to have slowed or maybe even stopped. And yes, Stunger, the rest of the plant looks good, apart from those leaf tips. The best part is, the buds seem to be unaffected.

The plant is obviously removing something from these fan leaves, some mobile element like N, Mg, etc. How many such mobile elements are there? It ought to be possible to go down a list and eliminate the ones it isn't. But the silver lining is it doesn't seem to be worse today, which is already a relief. Here a larger view and some close ups from a few minutes ago.

Malawi after Mg:Eps foliar 20.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 20, 2022

Malawi after Mg:Eps-Salt foliar 20.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 20, 2022

Malawi after Mg:Epsom foliar 20.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 20, 2022

Thanks to all for your input! It is so helpful to get your responses!

 

[Tokin Roll]

If possible take some of those old dried up leaves off so you can judge her health better.

 

[Emeraldo]

If possible take some of those old dried up leaves off so you can judge her health better.

Yes, I will do that, or at least cut off the dead part so I'll see if the condition continues. After comparing my photos with various sites on the web it seems the closest conditions are what you said: heat stress or potassium deficiency. Of those two, I know there was heat stress in the covered area after it was closed off and the warm weather returned. I wasn't around so the heat could build up inside, at the top area it got around 34C which is way too hot for flowering. I am hesitant to give her more K as I know I gave plenty of that all season, and it is possible, I've read, to overdo it with K, and I might create an excess situation there. So at this point it is looking like cooler weather, so I'll just let her be and see how things develop. None of the other plants have had that extreme reaction, and the Malawi is in a position where the heat could accumulate. So, we'll see how she turns out.

 

[Emeraldo]

Potassium deficiency in flowering. Have gone back to school on K def, reading what I can find. Apparently, and this is new to me, K def can be caused by a variety of situations, and it can show a variety of symptoms. It's not necessarily about insufficient presence of K in my soil or water or feeding. One of the causes is stress (resulting variously from heat and temperature fluctuations, from transplanting, or from poor pruning). Other causes -- which don't seem to apply to my organic outdoor grow -- include pH fluctuations, excess salts, and light burn.

Maybe the best presentation of this information was this: How To Fix Cannabis Potassium Deficiency (K) Photos & Chart.

In flowering, the plants are more vulnerable or sensitive to K def owing to stress. In flowering, potassium deficiency does not necessarily reflect a nutrient deficiency in the soil or feeding. The deficiency symptoms can be triggered by excessive heat, and the plant is stressed and for that reason is unable to access the potassium. This isn't a lockout caused by too much of another nutritional source, it's just a reaction to the stress from heat. The plant is like, "upset", or physiologically "out of balance" for a time.

The variety of causes is also made confusing by a variety of symptoms. The K def can manifest itself in typical and untypical ways. I really couldn't find photos of K def that looked like my leaves in this case, but the overall dark browning of the leaf tips is consistent with K def caused by heat stress. The position of my Malawi in the covered Grow Zone area is also a corner that is exposed to accumulated heat when the sun comes out and the tarps keep the heat in.

The page linked above (drcannabis.io) on K def in flowering explains that in the context of heat stress, it's probably best to not overreact or overdo any remedial steps but just to let it play out. If it's just a stress reaction, an otherwise healthy plant will bounce back. In my case here there was heat in the Grow Zone last week in my absence (I know this because the thermometer shows the highest recent temperature until I reset it, and when I arrived on Saturday the max temp had been up to 94F/34C). Then, this week I watched as those leaf tips first curled and turned dark brown, then maybe half of a leaf-finger to that brown damaged look and died. It took about a week for that to happen. The remainder of the leaves is ok now, and so am hoping this whole episode too will pass. The Malawi has at least another month to go, the SMH probably another 6 weeks.

 

[Stunger]

From what I can see the Malawi is looking great other than those few older stressed fan leaves with the dying ends. What you mentioned above about possible heat stress does seem a possibility, and given the rest of her looks so good you wouldn't want to upset her by making changes if all she's done is sacrificed a few leaves when she got a bit hot, if that is all it is then it should pass, but regardless to me the plant looks in good health.

 

[Emeraldo]

Thanks @Stunger @Tokin Roll @stinker @Lerugged @Melville Hobbes for your emotional support during this crisis!

Today it seems the crisis is over. It had to be the heat, and this episode is one of the risks I run when I leave the growing area closed up (to keep it warm) when the weather gets colder. Two weeks ago I thought we were headed into cold weather and left it closed, but while I was away, the weather warmed up.

Here some photos of Malawi today.

Malawi22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

Malawi 22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

Malawi-22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

Malawi.22-10-22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

 

[Emeraldo]

In other news, the non-Ace strains (SLH, DTHF, and NL#5 x Haze) are getting close to being harvestable. Am surprised at Super Lemon Haze, more on that below.

Durban-Thai. Still clear and going cloudy.

DTHF 19.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

DTHF-22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

DTHF22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

NL#5 x Haze. Also clear and going cloudy.

NL#5 x Haze 22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

NL#5 x Haze-22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

Super Lemon Haze. I was expecting to harvest NL#5 x Haze first, then DTHF and finally SLH. So the big surprise for me today is that the SLH, which as I said I expected might go into November, looks close to harvest. I thought that because for the longest time her pistils/stigmas have remained fat and white and did not curl or darken. I was going by the pistils alone. But -- ahah moment! -- that would be a mistake.

First, I saw today that her pistils are starting to wilt, curl, and turn brown. Then, under the microscope, I saw her trichomes are at least half cloudy, with some showing still a bit of clear and now even amber. Even though many pistils are still white or only the tip has curled, the trichomes are telling me a different story. And a close look at the pistils after taking the photos confirms that most pistils have started to turn.

Finally, fwiw, the GHS guideline for outdoors is mid-October...

So... not long now for this prized specimen! I think I'll start with branches that have the most pistils that look ripe.

SLH22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

SLH--22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

SLH..22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

SLH.22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

SLH:22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

SLH 22.10.22.jpg

• Emeraldo
• Oct 22, 2022

 

[greenjeans]

still a bit of clear and now even amber.

Amber waits foooooooreeeeever!!!!

 

[Stunger]

Today it seems the crisis is over. It had to be the heat, and this episode is one of the risks I run when I leave the growing area closed up (to keep it warm) when the weather gets colder. Two weeks ago I thought we were headed into cold weather and left it closed, but while I was away, the weather warmed up.

I don't have a greenhouse but whenever I walk into one I am surprised at the 'heavy heat' inside. I think that an accumulation of heat can get to a point where the plant sacrifices some leaves to protect others. I recently saw a post from someone asking for help on their small plant, the pic they posted showed this small stunted plant that my initial impression was that it appeared to be cowering, and funnily enough that what is it turned out to be, the light was too low, too hot. Your Malawi's leaves showed burnt ends, but in addition, even the 'healthy' green part of the leaves looked somewhat thin and papery, which I now think that appearance may be from the plant under some temporary heat stress 'turned off' the support for those leaves and the ends were then the first to deaden off. But anyway, great the Malawi is appearing all fine again. The SLH is interesting that it is now be showing signs of getting closer to harvest. It'll be very interesting what you think of your garden choices when all is dried and cured!

 

[greenjeans]

I don't have a greenhouse

I'm real glad I have mine this time of year. I found it was nearly impossible to keep it cool enough in the summer. That's why my gals are in rolling tubs - outside all summer then back and forth at night in the fall, then inside all the time when days are cool.

 

[Emeraldo]

I don't have a greenhouse

I'm real glad I have mine this time of year. I found it was nearly impossible to keep it cool enough in the summer. That's why my gals are in rolling tubs - outside all summer then back and forth at night in the fall, then inside all the time when days are cool.

I don't mean this like it sounds, but I actually have two "greenhouses". Here's my experiences with that.

The first is out of glass and aluminium, with those little flap windows that can be left elevated for air circulation, and a sliding door. I bought it at a garden supply store and had no hand in how it was designed, and I was not even thinking about stealth. It was a piece of work to assemble. The problem for any grow is keeping the interior at a plant-friendly temperature. Like @greenjeans says, it can get really hot in there, so "hothouse" would be more accurate. In fact, after about mid-May, on sunny days it is way too hot in there for a grow. The real advantage of that greenhouse is in the off-seasons, like early Spring and then again after Summer's heat has faded in the Fall when it gets cold. It "lengthens" the growing season on both ends, but plants have to be moved out during the heat. It is also too small for the kind of plants I like to grow.

The second structure is the one currently in use, and built it myself. I designed it for stealth as well as for air circulation. Open on both ends, I set it up so the prevailing winds from the NE pass through from N to S. It faces E and gets good light from early morning till mid-afternoon in summer. On hot summer days, that NE breeze brings air movement and cooler temps inside, and the afternoon shade is more tolerable than the hot sun. (The plants are also on wheels, and can be rolled out if needed.) Then, when the weather gets cooler, tarps can be hung and later even a heater started up.

Overall it has been a real improvement for the grow, it enables me to offer the late-flowering sativas an environment they can tolerate. In fact, strains like the Malawi or Super Malawi Haze would hardly be possible for me to grow at this Northern latitude without it, because these tropical sativa strains finish in late November or early December. PHxM and Oldtimer's Haze would go into January, and maybe that is something for next year, depending on how this year's go. Downside is obviously I am still learning about how to manage the heat that accumulates when it is closed up and the sun comes out, or the humidity spikes after a foliar spray (which can be lowered by taking off the front tarp and opening a back "window" to let the airflow through to remove the moist air). Like @Grand Daddy Black says: Live and learn, in that order!

If It had a little humidity It'd be perfect !!!!

 

[Lerugged]

Malawi should handle extreme heat with ease. Outdoors they sit in unfiltered direct sunlight under 35c plus Temps with no signs of stress. Humidity might be your issue if not the potassium. Cheers and glad she is coming around for you.

 

[Emeraldo]

Malawi should handle extreme heat with ease. Outdoors they sit in unfiltered direct sunlight under 35c plus Temps with no signs of stress...

Thanks @Lerugged, yes, outdoors that is so. There is always a little breeze. But as you may know in a closed-off greenhouse if there is little to no air movement, and the heat becomes intolerable because the leaves cannot transpire (which is how they cool themselves). Take away the breeze and the plants cannot survive, imho.

Cheers

P.S., @Lerugged that said, Malawi, a tropical African sativa, absolutely likes hot weather! And is pest and fungus resistant, a real tough strain and easy to grow.

 

[Lerugged]

100 percent agree.

 

[Emeraldo]

... The SLH is interesting that it is now be showing signs of getting closer to harvest. It'll be very interesting what you think of your garden choices when all is dried and cured....

@Stunger Now that is what I've been thinking too. Makes me nervous to think I'm making the wrong choice. It's very interesting to research and read what folks say about how to tell when to harvest. The standard advice is wait until trichomes turn mostly milky or amber, depending on your preference.

But... I've read quite a few comments from growers whose plants' pistils stayed largely white or lighter color even though the trichomes were milky and amber. So it's not unheard of what I am seeing. Am leaning towards a staggered harvest of some of the riper branches now, and letting the less ripe go for another week.

Another odd thing I saw under the microscope: On some SLH buds, the trichomes under the scope looked orangish-pink, not milky. This is also unusual for me, I've never seen that before. But apparently it's not unheard of either. On grow weed easy, good ol' Nebula H noted, after stating the conventional advice, in parentheses:

(note: the trichomes of some strains turn purple or pink instead of amber/gold/yellow)

So, do orangish or pinkish trichomes indicate ripeness? Has anyone reading this had this experience?

 

[greenjeans]

Am leaning towards a staggered harvest of some of the riper branches now, and letting the less ripe go for another week.

That's what I'm trying but over a few weeks time frame - or - as the plant tells me.

 

[Danishoes21]

Some less obvious sign is the plant slows metabolism/photosynthesis and eventually stops nutrient uptake, you will see the pheno start to yellow, wilt, and eventually molding and/or be more vulnerable to disseas. The plant just seem to stop at some point once the flower is ripe.