First Grow, Yellow Leaves???

[Verdant Stroke]

Hi all,
This is my first grow and its a guerilla operation. There are 5 ladies and a few of them (particularly the two Lemon Skunk) have leaves that are turning yellow.
At first it began only at the bottom of the plant and I figured that it was just leaves that had gotten soil on them during the rain. But now, the yellowing leaves are beginning to appear higher up in the middles of the bushes.
As you can see in the pictures, the other leaves seem to be a healthy green shade, but when one goes yellow, it goes completely yellow throughout and will start to shrivel up after a few days (I usually end up pulling them off before they fully shrivel).

Does anyone have any clue what this could be?

FYI: I live in a very hot/dry climate. The plants are being watered every 1-3 days and I am using a 6-12-6 liquid fertilizer diluted in water about every 7-10 days. And, I've just started them on a regular neem spraying schedule.

Any help is greatly appreciated,
Verdant Stroke

P.S. This is the first post on which I've posted pictures... I know these are sideways but on my computer they are saved vertically. How do I keep them from posting sideways in the future?

 

[nomaad]

edit: i originally posted that you needed nitrogen... not so sure after looking and re-reading.

 

[Weedninja]

Looks like N or Mg. Can you get in tighter on the affected leaves?

 

[Verdant Stroke]

Yeah, good idea... I'll go take some pictures tomorrow and put them back up. Thanks for taking a look.

 

[Widow Maker]

my guess is nitrogen since its mainly the lower leaves, and slowly moving up.. you should feed them every other water instead of 7-10 days imho. The roots aren't in a pot they are in the ground so salts and ferts dont really ever get backed up. If you feed her more often im guessing you'll be fine in the long run. The yellow leaves you have now wont ever really recover most likely will just fall off but don't worry, nature will take care of her i think they look great

~WM

your computer probably auto rotates pictures depending on the height/width ratio.. if you take the picture with the camera level ie: not sideways, it will show up normal

 

[Peksman]

Yeah and try more balanced fertilizer like 20-20-20

 

[nomaad]

Obviously, yellow=nitrogen is the first instinct for anybody, but this seems strangely localized to individual leaves... with most of the N defs I have seen there seems to be a more general yellowing.

Are you foliar feeding at all? I would start with a half strength N complex foliar...add a micronutrient product as well. This allows you to feed without waiting for your soil to dry or risking overwatering. edit: make sure you do it right before your shut off the lights (or you seriously risk heat burn) and don't forget the underside of the leaves where the majority of the stomata are located.

 

[Verdant Stroke]

thanks for the advice everyone.
i'm going to start trying a more regular fertilization regiment and see if that does anything. also, i think i will start using a foliar spray. if i'm foliar feeding should i cut back on watering the soil with nutrients or should i just keep going with that as well?

 

[nomaad]

I'm just trying to keep it all in balance... sure, if you're going to feed some N in a foliar and you have a root feeding coming up, you may want to pull back on the N in the root feeding to compensate. Personally, I am trying to feed as heavily and often as possible without burning my plants.

In another thread I posted about a suspected Calcium def in about 15% of my plants... I am waiting for the new moon to do a root feed, so I put some Botanicaire CalMag+ in a foliar (even though there was no instructions for a foliar application on the container.) I added some mychorizae because I haven't put that into the foliar zone yet. You can't over-do the biologicals.

Its been very cool here in the 707 for the last 3 weeks. We started to bounce back into the 80's every day at the beginning of this past week and now we're finally looking forward to 90's- real summer. Stupidly, when I filled my smartpots (Roots/707 in 18x65gal and 18x200gal- more, but the sheriff made me take some down) I watered them through. I think that was a mistake, because combined with the cool temps, the plants barely need to be watered.

My plants were rootbound when transpanted into their final pots and there were deficiencies all over the place... two weeks later with almost no root feeding and a regular foliar regimen, and they have all bounced back amazingly.

I am thinking of starting a grow journal... but its a big grow and therefor a big commitment... we'll see.

 

[Widow Maker]

thanks for the advice everyone.
i'm going to start trying a more regular fertilization regiment and see if that does anything. also, i think i will start using a foliar spray. if i'm foliar feeding should i cut back on watering the soil with nutrients or should i just keep going with that as well?

nope, keep it the same.. foliar feeding is best in early am or right before dark, since its outside i would recommend early morning once a week with nutes for foliar

 

[Verdant Stroke]

alright...i'll start with a weekly foliar spray. also, i just got some tennessee brown phosphate that i'm going to dress the ladies in and wash down with some water. hopefully those things, combined with the regular 6-12-6 nutrient flushings will take care of this problem.
i'll keep everyone posted.