by Nebula Haze
Even if your flowering cannabis plant is looking rough with yellowing leaves and nutrient deficiencies, there may still be time to save your marijuana harvest.
Escape the Mid-Flower Curse and harvest better weed.
Today’s cannabis grower experienced this common problem I like to call the Mid-Flower Curse. It affects almost every grower at least once. This is when plant leaves suddenly start looking sick about halfway into the flowering stage.
Note: Some strains like Purple Haze, Green Crack, and Do-Si-Dos are more resistant to problems, but the mid-flower curse can strike any cannabis plant.
If you see nutrient deficiencies after buds start forming, don’t harvest early…
- Check out this page on how to stop flowering stage deficiencies.
- See pictures of nutrient problems caused by pH (may be the most common cause of the Mid-Flower Curse).
- Or use our free cannabis plant doctor to figure out the problem.
See how one grower beat the mid-flower curse and got a great harvest.
Our student initiated the flowering stage and his plants were growing buds a few weeks later. Despite some water stress, the plants were green without spots or nutrient deficiencies.
He watched the buds get bigger each day. Everything was going smoothly. Then, about halfway through the flowering stage, he noticed a handful of green leaves turning yellow.
Yellow tips, a few pale leaves, and the occasional brown scorched spot.
At first, the symptoms seemed small. So he ignored them.
But it started spreading.
6 days later, those plants had a yellowish cast, especially on the hardest working leaves attached to the biggest buds.
When he looked closely at those leaves, he saw lots of brown and yellow scorch marks.
“Does it need a special supplement or nutrient?” he asked Sirius, who answered, “No, it looks like the pH is off. Check that.”
The grower thought, “How big a deal could that really be?” and told himself he’d do it later.
Another 7 days passed, and the yellowing was hard to ignore now.
Brown spots were everywhere. Even worse, it seemed like the buds had stopped getting bigger. Maybe it’s time to harvest now, our grower thought.
“Should I just harvest them now?” he asks Sirius, who replied, “Look at all the white hairs on the buds, they’re not ready yet. Make sure to check the pH of the runoff too. Try to keep the leaves healthy until harvest.”
The grower finally checked the pH of his runoff water, expecting around 6-7 (the pH zone that helps prevent nutrient problems in soil). After all, he was always giving them water pH’ed exactly to 6.5.
Yet he was shocked to discover his runoff water measured at 5.4 pH. Way too low.
It really was the pH causing these leaf symptoms the whole time.
Once he fixed it, the discoloration stopped spreading. And although most yellow leaves never turned green again, the buds immediately started growing bigger.
By harvest day, the buds had doubled in size.
He dried the buds in the grow tent.
After being dried and cured, the resulting buds were dense and beautiful. He beat the curse.
Lesson: How to Defeat the Mid-Flower Curse
Growers experience the mid-flower curse because most cannabis plants stop making new leaves about halfway through the flowering stage.
From then on, plants put their energy towards developing buds instead of maintaining foliage. Leaves stay green and healthy in ideal conditions even if they’re working hard. That means it’s up to you as the grower to give great care so your cannabis plants keep enough healthy leaves to last until harvest.
Happy leaves help cannabis plants produce great bud quality.
Better late than never is often true for ailing cannabis plants, especially in the middle of the budding phase. Even though you see some yellow leaves now, you might think, “Oh well, it’s already a lost cause” but the truth is every day of good care helps plants develop bigger, denser, and more beautiful buds.
Even after some leaves are lost, it is worth saving the remaining ones. Partly green leaves still help. Don’t give up on your plant just because it’s starting to look a little rough.
Leaves turn light into energy. No leaves = no energy to grow.
What do you do if leaves turn purple? Even purple leaves should look healthy without brown spots or scorch marks on the leaves or edges, like this Runtz plant with green leaves that slowly turned purple close to harvest.
Your #1 job: don’t ignore problems. If you notice yellowing leaves or spots, try to identify the cause and fix it as soon as possible instead of waiting until symptoms spread.
- Learn how to stop flowering stage deficiencies.
- See pictures of nutrient problems caused by pH (common cause of the Mid-Flower Curse).
- Use our free cannabis plant doctor tool if you still need help.
Keep your cannabis plants as healthy as possible, even after problems start forming. Too many growers give up on their plants right when they need extra care the most.
In our harvest book, we help you finish strong and harvest buds at the right time to maximize density and effects.
Main Takeaway: Aim to keep lots of healthy green (or purple) leaves to power bud growth, so your plants produce maximum yields and density.
You now have the power to prevent the mid-flower curse from attacking your harvest. Your jars will thank you.
