I’ve been trying to fix some various problems with my plants. I’m working on diagnosing the exact issue (for ALL of the extensive information that I’ve given and received, go here: What’s going on with my plants?! - #81 by BudzAldrin). But yesterday I noticed something strange and I haven’t been able to find any literature on it. I’ve found that on 3 of my plants (2 white widow and 1 gold leaf photos) some new growth is coming in red. The other 3 plants aren’t exhibiting these symptoms. Here are some pictures—sorry, I tried to get better ones but it’s overcast today
The other issues I’ve been working on have involved thrips, caterpillars, water, and pH and I’m trying to figure out if I have a nitrogen or potassium deficiency (or both) based on the yellowed leaves with burnt tips, the way they’re yellowing, some leaves turn completely yellow so I pluck them off, and some other symptoms. But does anyone recognize this or have any idea what might be going on? None of my stems or shoots are red, just some new growth—and it’s not the new growth all over the plant, just in some places. They’re not mites from what I can tell. Here’s a couple leaves from one of the affected plants (though the other affected plants are not nearly as damaged as this one).
Any idea why my new growth is red, what the issue is, and how I should move forward? Any and all help is appreciated.
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Strain: I have 4 white widows and 2 gold leafs. All of them have yellowing leaves at the bottom but only 2 white widow and 1 gold leaf have the new red growth. 1 white widow (pictured above) has yellowing leaves reaching half way up her stalk but none others have it so high
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Type (fem/auto/reg): feminized photoperiod plants
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Climate (indoor/outdoor): outdoor
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Medium (soil/hydro/details): in pots with soil. Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil with a small percentage of worm castings
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pH of runoff or solution in reservoir: most affected plant: 6.54, the other red-affected: GL-6.45, WW-6.40. The rest range from 6.39-6.50
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Nutrient mix strength (EC/TDS): unknown, but I use ILGM’s Growtime fertilizer as directed
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Light type & schedule: sun/natural
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Temperatures day & night: it’s been in the 100’s for a couple weeks but this week was in the 80’s. Nighttime temperatures are in the 60’s
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Humidity day & night: unknown
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Ventilation: natural air
I’m gonna do this in a couple of replies. The red growth, I wouldn’t be pressed at the moment
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The yellowing leaves at bottom, it happens. Older growth does that
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In one picture I do see a tiny sign of nutrient burn but wouldn’t worry. You need to get your ph under control before anything
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Hey, thanks for responding! Today it’s only 70 by the way. Very gloomy and overcast
Definitely trying to get pH under control but in my other post i was told the sweet spot for my situation is 6.5. These three are pretty close to that. Where do you think I should be?
At what point should I worry about the red growth? Do you know what it is/why it happened?
And the yellowing leaves I wouldn’t worry as much, but for weeks I’ve been coming out each day and finding new ones. It’s not all old growth either, though save for the one it is toward the bottom like this:
All my girls sprouted between 4/5-4/6 so they’re not even 3 months old yet. They’re in their vegetative phase and have had this yellowing for weeks. It’s gotten better now that I water more and have brought the pH to around 6.5, but there are still some new cases I think. I know the old leaves won’t repair themselves, but I’m pretty sure I’ve still got some new cases. The most affected plant, with her big yellowed leaves has come weaker stems too. You don’t think it might be nitrogen or potassium deficiency?
And the most affected plant also has this going on with the leaves starting to curl inward:
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Heat stress is what I see. You might want to water to runoff with distilled or R/O and measure the last bit of runoff. It could be high.
When it’s hot like that you should cut back on nutrients as the plant is moving a LOT of water now.
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@BudzAldrin
suggest you shade the plants. cut back on the water. maybe add a little more nitrogen.
Ideal temp range is around 65F to 80F…more than that and the plants get beat up too much.
Good Luck…
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Hey, thank you for responding!
So you both are thinking I’ve got some heat stress going? Is that what the new red growth is or do you think that’s what the yellowing leaves are? Or both? It’s definitely been hot for a couple weeks—into the 100’s—but this week wasn’t bad. They’re outdoor plants so I’ve only got so much control over their temperature. I thought about shading but I also remember reading that could promote early flowering. Are you thinking shade cloth or just put them out of direct sunlight or what do you suggest?
How would you suggest to add the nitrogen? A foliar feeding of cal-nitrate or is there a different product/method you’d suggest? Do you think the nitrogen is the problem for my girl who has the yellowed leaves going so far up her stalk or all of them?
Based on what I’ve seen/read, I feel like nitrogen deficiency is part of it—then I read the symptoms of Nute Burn and they sound very similar, so it makes me question myself. I know how important it is to diagnose correctly so thank you 
@Myfriendis410 you said use R/O or distilled water to water them and test the last bit of runoff. Where should I want the pH to be?
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In soil the range is 6.3 to 6.8. Media is 5.5 to 6.0 (coco, Promix) When you run the TDS of your runoff it could be in the 3,000 to 4,000 ppm range although I think your burning/yellowing is a function of heat induced nutrient burn. This is what I alluded to in the above, that more nutrients are being transported when it’s hot so cut back on feeding numbers. Like 1/3 of what you have been.
No doubt about the heat stress based on the taco’ing of your leaves in the picture. Plants like what we like so if they are where you can’t sit for hours then get them in shade or partial shade. I do full sun all day but my nominal temps are 70F. When it’s hot they go under shade cover. Just remember when they’re hot they need less of everything except water.
Taco’ing leaves
All in all your plants look good, considering. You can cool them on hot days by placing in the shade and misting with water too. Just don’t do that in direct sunlight.
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@BudzAldrin Very high temps will make pots really REALLY HOT. And can bake the roots.
Rigging someway to get partial full sun would cut down on the heat issue.
There lots of foliar sprays that when sprayed after lights out…increase nitrogen and other goodies. Might be worth looking into.
Btw…never saw any red in the pics. some strains will have stems to the leaves turn red. Usually no big deal.
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Do these help?
Yeah, I’ve given them some foliar sprays of calmag in the past when combatting a calcium deficiency, and I created a neem oil solution for a pesticide. Is it gonna be ok to give them a nitrogen spray if they’ve got heat-induced Nute Burn going on?
Aloe water for heat stressed plants work fine, im growing in 90 plus weather(before midday ) everyday. Plastic 3gallon pots in full sun but i do cover my pots to keep roots happy, im growing in a mixture of soil, compost, peat and coco along with other amendments ive never had them wilt on me except when temp got to 115 then they went under a shady tree , i mix my raw aloe 15 ml per quart of water and spray them twice a week hopes thus helps buddy, good luck,
96 degree at the moment
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Ok…finally see a small red …sorry, dunno.
suggest avoiding neem oil. makes for a nasty taste and there are spray’s that work on pests.
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@Myfriendis410 thank you for that info. I ordered a ppm meter and it will be here today and I’m going to run through distilled water. The heat-induced Nute Burn makes a lot of sense. Today is the normal feeding day so I’ll definitely cut back the amount. Or do you think it would it be better to push it off a couple more days? It’s been suggested they may need some nitrogen—do you think I should look into a foliar feed or hold off? From what I’m finding, it sounds like nitrogen deficiency and Nute Burn have similar symptoms.
@tanlover442 Yeah I had heard not to use neem oil into flowering because of the taste. I was trying to look up something good for pests and neem oil kept coming back up. I was using ILGM’s Bug Blaster and it did NOT do the trick—not even close. My plants got devoured. Is there something else you’d suggest?
@Mrcrabs thank you for the suggestion. I’m gonna get some shade cloth to cover the pots so hopefully that’ll help, and I’ll look into aloe water. I kept her out of the sun yesterday and her leaves are already less taco’d, but she still needs some healing. Does it work as a preventative or does it help anything else? Should I spray them all or just the obviously affected plants?
Thank you so much for all your help everybody!
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I spray all my plants before bed, its like giving them a protein shake they will love u for it. Do you an interweb search lots of great info
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When I’ve done some foliar feeds before, the girls definitely seemed to appreciate it lol I do lots of searches, I just get conflicting information so I ultimately turn to voices of experience. I was looking up raw aloe—is it raw aloe gel you use or is it a juice?
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I didn’t really see any N issues. New growth is lighter in color. N deficiency would manifest by severely yellowing leaves; particularly in the understory of the plant.
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Yes ,straight from the aloe plant, like you i,ve, heard about aloe powder but ive never tried it. Googke "aloe vera high times "theres a good article on it called growing for flavor
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They do have a yellowing issue with their lower leaves, actually. I had another forum post going about it but it’s gone quiet so I started this new one to see if anyone knows about the red growth.
One girl has them going half way up her stalk but every day I come out and find yellow/yellowing leaves. When I watered them more, the problem slowed down but now i think there’s still an issue. Here are some pictures:
And now holy crap! I just saw all this on my northern lights autoflower! All these spots and some leaf curling. Is this a deficiency? Sunburn?
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