Gold Leaf yellowing - Underfeeding or just, you know, "Gold" Leaf?

My Gold Leaf photo has been steadily getting more leaf yellowing since flowering started. From what I’ve read the “Gold” part (hence the name) typically happens in late flower , and I understand that some leaf yellowing from the bottom up is normal, but in the past couple weeks it has increased. Prior to this, every couple days or so I’ve removed a couple yellowing leaves here and there but it has certainly increased this past week. Also, particularly in the past week the buds have started to get bigger and it’s starting to smell wonderful :sunglasses:

She’s gotten to be a good sized plant and has seemed to be a pretty hungry/thirsty plant this whole time. It’s pushing 7ft tall w/ the pot and for a while I’ve wondered if I’ve been underfeeding. It’s in a 10gal pot w/50-50 mix of Happy Frog and Ocean Forest, with perlite added. It drains rather well.

I use dechlorinated tap water ph’d to 6.3-6.5. I’m using the ILGM Fertilizer and have stuck to the schedule of once per week, and I give this plant 1gal of the mix. About 6wks ago I started adding 2.5ml of Fox Farm Cal-mag 1-0-0 to the weekly 1gal feeding (the label says to add 5ml/gal, but since I use tap water I’ve stayed lighter with it…) and my plants have looked great. In between the weekly feeding I usually give it a watering with a dose of Recharge, and water every 2 days or so if it doesn’t rain. Never more than 1gal at a time. If it’s hot and sunny out I need to water every 24hrs or so or it gets pretty droopy, and then just plain ph’d water. Never more than 1gal at a time.

Since flowering started and switched from the Growtime Fertilizer 19-5-20 to the Flowertime Fertilizer 16-6-30 it has started to look not quite as green after about 4-5 days. Then after feeding on day 7 it has looked good and back to greener for a few days… So this week I fed after 6 days to see how it goes. That was 2 days ago. It looks good and all, apart from the yellowing leaves. Since there was more this time I left the yellowing leaves on for taking the pics below, then picked the worst ones off.

So, is this just normal Gold Leaf behavior? Is she hungrier now that she’s starting to bulk up? Should I feed it more frequently and/or more than 1gal of mix? Add Cal-mag, subtract the Cal-Mag? Add something else? Water more or less? Or just continue on and not worry too much about it. :smile:

Pics from various angles:








For comparison, here’s my Blue Dream plant (also ILGM) right next to it. It’s a little shorter but nice and thicc, and she started flowering a little later. I feed and water it the same way:





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Plant looks fine; normal fade in flower.

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Looks fine,beautiful plant!

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If you feed it heavier and nute burn it now it will ruin those buds. I concur with the others, lovely plant and let it ride. Next year maybe start w a bigger pot or consider releasing that plant into the ground. Strain aside I find root binding causes more of that leaf fading earlier in flower. I am happy for your success in growing.

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That’s a great point, I didn’t even think of nute burn on the buds…
It’s been a couple days and so far so good on no burn after I fed it at 6 days instead of 7… if it continues that way I’ll try for 6 days again.
Also about being root bound. I’ve wondered if that might happen after seeing how this thing really took off after transplanting in the 10gal. I bet it’s a good chance that’s what’s happening now. I also recall seeing a video not too long ago by that Bill Ward guy on youtube where he had a monster outdoor plant in like a 30gal that was root bound and yellowing a lot. He dug a big hole in the ground and successfully transplanted it there. I don’t know right now if I’m up to attempting a transplant to a bigger pot, much less digging a giant hole in the ground yet. :smile:
Next year I’m definitely going for much bigger pots and maybe a plant or 2 in the ground to see how big they can get.
Thanks! :+1:

Thanks! :+1:

Thanks! :+1:

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