Curling and discolored leaves. any help?




Trying to figure out why leaves are curling, new grower here so excuse my ignorance, they are almost 3 weeks old and 2 out of the 3 do not have curling, only the largest plant does, growing in a tent in a shed gorilla glue autoflower
Watered every 3-4 days and only recently fed grow big for the first time. We did have a heat wave come through right before the curling began and the temps in the tent got to 92 for a while during the day, but I would think this would affect all of the plants not just one. leaves are not dry or crispy ,and even the new growth seems to be curling Any help would be greatly appreciated

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kind of looks like “tacoing” where they’re too close to the light. What kind of light (brand, wattage, LED? etc) are you running and how close to the tops of those is it? Did the manuf have any documentation showing heights for different stages of growth or is it dimmable?

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@TheVirginian I am running Mars hydro tsw 2000 at 18” above the plants that’s what I understood to do from the lights instruction book, sound right?
Oh and yes it is dimmable, started about at 50% at week one at 30”, then dropped the light to 18” and slowly creeped up to 100% by the end of week 2

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wait for others to reply also, but if it were me and no one said anything i’d move my light up 2 more inches to 20 or to 21" and see how they responded in a day or three :wink: or take it to like 60-75% power if dimmable

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@TheVirginian any idea why only 1 out of three are doing this? I would think that the light would affect all 3, the one that is curling was planted one day before the others while I waited on bigger tap roots from the other 2

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annnnd that’s why i said wait for others to chime in. they might know to ask better questions. is it the center plant directly under the light or off to the side more? There are several things which mimick tacoing i think and i’m NOT versed enough in growing to provide you those answers. let’s wait and see what others chime in to say.

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They are all evenly under the light centered as well as possible, really appreciate the info man, thanks!

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That’s one of my lights. If that’s all I had, I wouldn’t use it for seedlings. A cheap CFL will do in a pinch for the first week or so. I use a cheapo (about $30) LED grow light from the box store. After their first transplant (2 weeks or so) they get 50% power. Early flower gets 75% and at mid flower I crank her up to 100%.

Happy growing…

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@oldmarine so you think I should cut the light down for now or raise it up higher? I read not to transplant autos so I just put the seed straight into a 5 gal pot

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I have no clue what your problem is caused by and until you’re sure it’s better to err on the side of caution. Move the light a little higher and/or decrease the intensity. Best I can do for you.

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Smart move when dealing with autos.

I was strictly talking personal experience. I wasn’t advocating a course of action and my advice was geared more to the issue you have. This is what I do. These are the steps. This is the timeline even if you grow them in solo cups.

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You may have answered the question yourself. High temps can cause leaves to curl like a taco. Heat can also be caused by the light. You will hear this a lot. Each plant is an individual. Very general characteristic are usually common between plants of the strain ./ genetics. But it is very often one will react differently than the others. A common thread is " I have 3 plants that are 4’ tall and the 4th is a runt at half the size",
I have read low humidity can also do it. The plants are young so I would do as @oldmarine suggest. Raise the light a bit and see if it helps. They will all have time to catch up on that little bit of light lost.

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It’s the high temps. 100%. Had this issue on my last grow. I blamed the light distance. But in reality, the tent was hitting 90’s every now and then. Leaf tips curled up, leaves started to taco on me. DO NOT let this continue. I let it go and fried almost all the leaves. I believe it also had an effect on the THC as well. (Weak smoke)

My fix? I have the same light but I turned the veg side down from 100 to 25%. I also was dumb and didn’t have an intake fan… I upgraded to an AC Infinity for Exhaust and added a cheap intake fan. Highest my temps get is 84 now but normally sits around 80 during the day. Hope this helps and keep us posted!

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@beardless @oldmarine @OooWee1184 thanks for the help I raised the light to 24” and turned it down to 75% and I guess I’ll wait to see if that helps. I really appreciate the info! I came back the next day and the temps seem to be much better so far 80-85°
Humidity 70-90%, so do I just look at the new growth to make sure they aren’t curling? Because I wouldn’t think the other leaves would un-curl, so what’s the best way to monitor it?

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Yep. The best you can do.

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Good! Yes, just keep an eye on new growth. Once she gets to flowering, you’re gonna want to get that humidity down too. They have small dehumidifiers on Amazon. Keep us updated and let us know how she does!

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Here are side by side pics 48 hrs after raising the light

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good call and good move on the light :wink:

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@TheVirginian i really really appreciate the help from everyone, y’all are real life savers

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no problem, glad to have been of help if so. it’s a learning process and i am learning daily also :slight_smile: MUCH to learn i still have (in my yoda voice :smiley: )

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