Hey cannabis growers! We all know how annoying nutrient problems can be. And obviously, the best thing to do for your cannabis plant to prevent growing problems is give them the conditions they need to thrive. But did you know some strains are naturally more resilient than others? Certain genetics are less likely to experience problems. Yes, some special strains can experience sub-optimal conditions and still thrive.

Some cannabis strains make amazing buds even if you make some mistakes.

But which ones? These strains typically share some features…

• Fast-Flowering Strains – Perhaps it’s because they just don’t get enough time to get sick, but fast-flowering plants are often ready to harvest before you start running into significant problems even in sub-optimal conditions.
• Buds Grow as Nuggets, Not “Colas” – “Cola” is Spanish for tail, some growers use the word cola do describe a long fat bud. Sometimes these types of buds are called “baseball bats” (or in less polite company, “donkey d**ks”). These strains are high-yielding, but also prone to bud rot because they focus energy on producing long, fat colas. And for the purposes of today’s subject, tend to take out literally everything they can from the plant to their own detriment. These strains happily kill themselves to make buds. Which is kind of cool in its own way, but if you’re just looking to get a solid harvest with high bud quality, you’ll find the strains that tend to grow buds as small nuggets tend to thrive and stay healthy while their cola-wielding friends are sucking out every last nutrient as the plant slowly dies around the buds.
• Stable, Established Strains – Strains that are well-bred to be predictable tend to be more resistant to problems than raw crosses or experimental strains. That’s because breeders often refine their best strains for years to ensure that every batch of seeds grows exactly the same – fast and healthy!
• Legendary Strains – Some strains become legendary for a reason. Often, it’s because they just have something special to offer. Strains like Blue Dream, Girl Scout Cookies, Bruce Banner, and others were developed over years by home growers and commercial growers together. They’ve stuck around because they are all around great strains, and that’s also why you see they are some prominent in the history of so many new strains. Although not all versions of these legendary strains are great, I’ve found when you get them from a good breeder, they’re more likely to perform above-average than when you’re growing a strain you’ve never heard the name of. I love a strain name like “Candy Pegasus” as much as the next person, but you need to be more wary of brand new strains.
• Direct-to-Grower Breeders – Strains from breeders that sell directly to customers are often a great choice. I think it’s because they’re also the ones answering questions when growers run into plant problems. The further removed the breeder is from the grower, the less they may be thinking about how plants grow, since breeders are usually growing in ideal conditions. These growers breed only for what the buds are like, and may not “stress test” their plants, unlike breeders who also consider growth patterns. Direct-to-growers breeders pay extra attention to ensure their strains tends to germinate quickly, efficiently use nutrients, grow fast, and never herm. For example, I have found the homegrown strains from Seed Supreme, Seedsman, and MSNL tend to be easy to germinate, fast-growing, and overall resistant to problems.

Looking for some specific recommendations? Let’s explore some hardy cannabis strains that can handle a challenge!

Blue Dream by DNA Genetics

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage.
• Stable, Established Strain – This version has been stabilized from the original clone-only strain over several years.
• Legendary Strain – Blue Dream is the gift that keeps on giving. Every year there’s a new, even better Blue Dream. It has that special something that can only be accomplished by growers all over the world working together to develop a strain for years.
• Direct-to-grower – Get is straight from DNA Genetics off their website.

Ideal For: Growers looking for a balanced high (strong yet extremely relaxing) with a forgiving growth cycle.

Get Blue Dream – Buds get tinges of purple with strong enough light

Growing Blue Dream Tips 

Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage, this version is exceedingly easy to grow. Plants are just not picky. Responds well to training and can handle relatively higher levels of nutrients. Does well outdoors but really thrives indoors.

Girl Scout Cookies (GSC) by Seed Supreme

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage. These buds won’t “go long” on you.
• Stable, Established Strain – This version has been stabilized from the original clone-only strain over several years.
• Legendary Strain – Anyone who’s been watching cannabis cups or visits dispensaries has probably seen this strain many times. There are sooooo many “Cookies” strains that have been developed from this strain as well. It’s legendary for a reason, and this refined version may have even better bud effects and sweet “cookies” smell than the original clone.

Ideal For: Those seeking a strong, euphoric effect, sweet-smelling buds, and a resilient growth profile.

Get Girl Scout Cookies – Famous for a reason!

Growing Girl Scout Cookies Tips

Easy to grow, easy to train. Can handle warmer temperatures than some other strains, which makes it a good choice if you’re struggling to control the heat in your grow room, or live in a very warm climate. Great yields even if you make some mistakes.

Honorable Mention: Platinum Cookies is a Cookies cross that has that special something. Check out my full Platinum Cookies strain review.

Purple Ghost Candy by Seedsman

Why It’s Resilient

• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Chunky, dense nugs galore. Often grows with purple tinges all over the buds as long as you provide high levels of light.
• Stable, Established Strain – This strain was a banger from the beginning, but has been refined over the last few years into a gold standard stabilized strain.
• Direct-to-grower – Seedsman runs a full seed bank full of strains from many different breeders, but I’ve consistently found their in-house strains are just all around easy to grow with great germination rates and lower chances of problems.

Ideal For: Growers looking for a potent high and a sturdy plant with big yields. Best for growers with a bigger grow space. This plant needs room to stretch (either tall or wide). Performs great as a single plant as it tends to completely fill up the grow space available.

Get Purple Ghost Candy – One of my favorite strains lately!

Growing Purple Ghost Candy Tips

I’ve found this strains tends to grow big plants with huge yields, yet grows buds as nuggets so you don’t run into the same problems as other high-yield strains. Grows lots of side branches and responds very well to pruning, bending branches, and defoliation.

One of the reasons I chose this strain over the others I’ve grown from Seedsman is the outstanding bud quality. Buds tend to grow dense, beautiful, and POTENT. Make sure to wait until buds are totally mature before harvesting for the best bud quality. Not for the faint of heart or casual smokers!

Dirty Unicorn by Dirty Bird Genetics

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Typically ready to harvest in about 9 weeks from 12/12.
• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Buds are dense and sparkly, and produce tight nugs.
• Stable, Established Strain – Dirty Bird Genetics took a famous Thug Pug strain (Unicorn Poop – a non-feminized strain that is always sold out) and worked with it for over two years to make an amazingly consistent strain that gives you the wonders of the original genetics but in feminized, stabilized form.
• Direct-to-grower – Get it straight from the breeders.

Ideal For: Those who want a clear-headed, energetic high with top-of-the-line bud appearance and smell.

Get Dirty Unicorn – Unusual name, memorable buds!

Growing Unicorn Poop Tips

Plants tend to grow on the taller side, with extra space between nodes, but that actually makes it really easy to train this plant to grow into whatever shape you want. Vigorous, fast growth. The seeds germinate fast and seedlings tend to start strong.

Bruce Banner by Seed Supreme

Why It’s Resilient

• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Dense, tight nugs galore!
• Stable, Established Strain – Developed over years
• Direct-to-grower – Get it straight from the source.

Ideal For: New growers, low-maintenance gardens, and those prone to minor nutrient mishaps. Offers a powerful, uplifting high.

Get Bruce Banner – Named after the Incredible Hulk for the sheet potency of buds

Growing Bruce Banner Tips

A robust strain that can take extra nutrients and warmer temperatures. Great yields, easy to grow, and overall just a pleasure of a plant.

Choosing the right cannabis strain can make a big difference. Hardy strains are known for their ability to thrive in less-than-perfect conditions, which makes them perfect if you’re looking for a consistent harvest with minimal issues. It can help when you opt for fast-flowering strains, those that grow buds as nuggets, stable and established genetics, legendary strains, and those from direct-to-grower breeders. Remember, the best cannabis strains are the ones that give you what you want, how you want it!

Happy growing!
Nebula Haze

The post Which Strains Get Fewer Nutrient Problems or Deficiencies? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

GrowWeedEasy.com teaches you how easy it is to grow weed. Growing weed can be easy when you know what to do, but most “how to grow marijuana” tutorials make it seem like you need a degree in horticulture.

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Even first-time growers produce great harvests when they follow our tutorials.

Who Made GrowWeedEasy.com?

Grow Weed Easy.com was started in 2010 by home growers Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside. Together, they built a free online “encyclopedia of cannabis home grow” with 650+ expert home cannabis cultivation tutorials about every aspect of growing weed.

GrowWeedEasy.com is now the biggest and most comprehensive source of free home grow information in the world.  We show you how easy it is to grow your own marijuana at home.

The GrowWeedEasy.com Ethos

Our Goal: You grow as much top-shelf weed as possible, with as little time and effort needed to grow your desired yields and cannabis bud quality.

Whether you’re a total beginner who wants to start growing cannabis indoors for the first time, or an experienced grower who wants to upgrade your skills to Pro level, this website was built for you.

Looking for a complete harvest system?

If you want dense, beautiful, great-smelling weed, our new digital book gives you our complete harvest system. Follow the straightforward instructions and massively upgrade your results every harvest. A few small changes can make all the difference.

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If you’re reading this right now, you want to grow great cannabis at home.

Cannabis plants isn’t a regular house plant, but learning how to grow isn’t as complicated growers make it seem. We’ve spent the last 16 years breaking down the home grow process so anyone can learn it.

The key to consistent harvest results is simple: follow a proven system developed for home growers.

You could waste an entire grow learning through trial and error…

Or take the shortcut and harvest a sea of fat, dense, beautiful buds that smell great. At home!

Follow our 5-week course and get walked through each part step-by-step. Build by experienced home growers and honed with hundreds of students since 2019, we ensure you achieve great results on your very next harvest.

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You may be asking yourself these common growing questions:

“How do I grow marijuana indoors?”

Read this guide on how to grow marijuana indoors. Or check out this article to learn what materials you need to get started growing your own marijuana!

Luckily, it’s really easy to get a cannabis seed to sprout!

“How much money will it cost to get started?”

If you’re considering growing weed, it costs as little as $300 to get started growing or a bit more for a semi-automatic, high-yielding bubbleponics grow system. See examples of yields to expect, electricity use & startup costs for different setups. Read this article to see even more growing styles with different price ranges.

“Where can I get marijuana seeds?”

Check out our How to Buy Marijuana Seeds Online Guide (with delivery to every state of the USA) to safely get your hands on good genetics. Starting with good seeds lets you choose the looks, smell, and effects of your buds!

Learn where it’s safe to buy cannabis seeds online (2026 update).

What do good cannabis seeds look like?

Learn about the best marijuana beginner strains and how to research and find the right strain.

Cannabis buds are generally green, but can also be pink or purple with certain strains.

“How much will electricity cost each month?”

If you’re just growing a few marijuana plants for personal use, it will cost you $20-$100+/month for electricity, depending on what grow lights (electricity) and nutrients you use. On average, I’d say a hobby-size grower might pay about $50/month to grow, but it depends greatly on your setup and local electricity costs! How much will electricity cost each month?

“How can I increase my marijuana yields?”

We have quite a few techniques to choose from or combine! See some of our most popular pages:

• Super Cropping – A simple technique to bigger yields
• Simplest Guide to Growing Short & Bushy Marijuana Plants
• LST (Low Stress Training) – Training your plants can easily double your harvest!
• Or check out our page on the controversial defoliation technique

Even More Ways to Increase Cannabis Yields

1. Increase Light Intensity (plus choose right light for desired yields & possibly add CO2)
2. Manipulate How Plants Grow (a free way to yield more bud indoors)
3. Provide Right Nutrients (low Nitrogen in the flowering stage, and remember sometimes less is more!)
4. Control Growing Environment (let the growing environment work for you)
5. Harvest Plants Properly (most importantly, don’t harvest early!)
6. Lastly, it’s important to remember that the strain has a major effect on yields!

Two small cannabis plants can yield several ounces of premium weed!

“How can I grow weed privately?”

Read guide on growing weed indoors without anyone knowing. But remember the most important factors to stealth growing: “No tell, no smell, no sell.” Never tell anyone, not even your best friend, that you’re growing. Be on top of preventing smells, and never ever sell cannabis. Breaking one of those 3 principles is how 99% of growers get found out!

“What if my plants get sick?”

The most common issue a grower runs into is a pH imbalance. Barring that, your marijuana plants likely either have a nutrient deficiency, heat or light stress, or are being attacked by some sort of marijuana mold, pest or bug. Whether you call it weed, cannabis, sinsemilla, skunk, pot, marijuana, or something else, the plant known as Cannabis Sativa is a hardy weed in the wild and can actually be easy to grow indoors at home when you know what to do.

Growing Medical Marijuana

“Medical marijuana” has become a household name. The body of evidence for medical marijuana in the treatment of cancer and other illnesses is growing every day. And for those who need medical marijuana, growing weed indoors is the perfect way to ensure a safe, regular supply of buds, for cheap.

In fact, when you grow weed indoors for personal use, you often end up with way too much. If you catch the growing bug like I did, and if you start enjoying the process of tending your cannabis garden just for the sake of gardening, you’re going to have to find a way to press, cook, freeze, and concentrate all your extra buds. 🙂

As you probably know, both medical marijuana and recreational cannabis have been decriminalized or legalized in many places around the world and weed is becoming legal in more places every day! Yet there still aren’t many simple indoor “how to grow weed” guides for beginners (even for those who legally grow, such as medical marijuana users and those who live in places where marijuana is legalized for personal use).

If so, I know how you feel. It can be hard to weed out all the bad information on the internet and find well-researched, free tips or instructions on how to grow your own cannabis. That’s why Grow Weed Easy.com aims to be a simple online resource that explains from start to finish what you need to do when growing cannabis so you can learn how to grow cannabis with great yields and potent buds, even if you only have a small grow space like a closet or even a computer case.

We’ve grown cannabis out of closets and have gotten ounces of buds and you can too. Grow Weed Easy.com covers many popular cannabis cultivation topics, including:

• A comparison between different cannabis grow lights including experience-based information about LED grow lights
• A page that teaches you the basics of how to grow weed
• Detailed how-to weed growing tutorials
• How to start growing weed tomorrow  (simplest cannabis growing guide!)
• Grow 4 oz with a 100W LED <– An Easy Way to Start Growing!
• Our famous grow guide that teaches you how to grow weed using bubbleponics (hydro).

Start Growing Weed Today!

Grow Weed Easy is run by a panel of experienced cannabis growers, including the founders Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside, who originally teamed together to bring you GrowWeedEasy.com. Due to the demand for more marijuana growing information, we’ve also started an inbox magazine all about how to grow weed, with additional tutorials, tips, and tactics sent to you each week. Simply sign up to start getting free expert growing articles delivered to you! All the information available at GrowWeedEasy.com is completely free and we regularly update the site and make new additions.

Looking for a growing book?

If you are interested in doing a bit of reading or would like to know more about the science behind marijuana hydroponics or horticulture, I strongly recommend viewing our page of Marijuana Grow Book Reviews. Read reviews of marijuana grow books. We would love to hear about your experiences with growing cannabis. Whether you are a pro grower already or are just starting your first plant, we have learned so much from our readers both beginners and masters! If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, or just want to ask some questions about your marijuana grow, please contact us!

Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside

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The post Grow Weed Easy – Learn How to Grow Cannabis Tutorials appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Emergency Resources for Sick Seedlings!

If you’ve got unhappy cannabis seedlings, I’ve got the solutions. Sometimes the hardest part of growing cannabis is just germinating the seeds and caring for seedlings. If you’ve never gardened or planted a seed before, you may have to learn everything from scratch. And with expensive and hard-to-get marijuana seeds, there’s a lot of pressure to get things right the first time.

This tutorial will help you with some of the most common seedling problems, so you can quickly get the fix. Make it so that your first few weeks go without a hitch.

Note: At GrowWeedEasy.com, we have resources for almost every common growing problem, so check out our cannabis plant doctor or use the search bar on the side of the website if you have a specific problem.

My Seedling Problem is…

If your seedlings are sick and you’re still investigating the problem, move your grow light up and don’t attempt to train your plants or do anything new until they’re better! If you avoid stressing them out any further, they often recover much more quickly.

Germination Problems

• Soil or Coco: Fail-Proof Germination Guide
• Hydroponics or DWC: Fail-Proof Germination Guide
• Are My Seeds Good? (How to Know if Seeds Are Viable)
• Seedling Growing Upside Down with Root Up

Germination problems? We’ve got you covered!

Yellow Leaves

• Why do seedlings turn yellow? – There are many reasons you might see a yellowing leaf on young plants, but this tutorial breaks down the most common.

This yellow seedling was overwatered. Seedlings don’t like “wet feet”. Too much water is the most common reason you’ll see yellow leaves on seedlings.

Curling or Clawing Leaves

• Clawing or curling leaves – Like yellow leaves, there are actually a few different triggers for clawing or curling, including watering practices and nutrient levels.

In this case, the clawed leaves are also from too much water. Small seedlings in big pots need careful watering until they’re drinking more.

Bad soil will sabotage you! Thick muddy soil prevents seedling roots from getting enough oxygen

Seedling is Wilting or Droopy

If you notice your plant is droopy all the time (even in the mornings right after lights turn on, when plants are at their perkiest), it usually means there’s something going on at the roots. The seedling might be getting too much or too little water at a time, possibly watering too often or infrequently, or its roots could be sick/damaged. The other major cause of drooping and wilting is high or low temperatures, and occasionally really high or low humidity.

• Overwatering vs Underwatering: How do you know?
• Root problems (coco or soil)
• Root Rot (hydro)
• Heat Stress
• Temperature Tutorial
• Humidity Tutorial

This seedling was given too much water for many days. Notice the green algae growing on top of the soil.

Underwatered seedling – When there’s not enough water at the roots, leaves are dark green, possibly clawed or droopy, and growth is slow

In hydroponics, when you see a droopy seedling it usually means there’s something bad happening at the roots

Burnt Leaf Tips

• Usually caused by nutrient burn (too much nutrients)
• Sometimes caused by a deficiency such as a copper deficiency
• Also caused by incorrect pH or overwatering/underwatering

Seedling with a single burnt leaf due to slight underwatering. You can tell it’s not nutrient burn because it’s only affecting a single leaf (nutrient burn tends to affect leaves all over the plant).

Why Are Stems Purple or Red?

• Could just be the genetics
• Can be triggered by cool temperatures or too-bright light
• Sometimes it’s a sign of stress or a deficiency
• Learn whether your red or purple stems are normal

Purple stems are normal for some strains, though they also appear on plants that are cold, stressed or experiencing a nutrient deficiency. Sometimes bright light triggers purple stems, like a tan.

This seedling appears healthy. If you don’t see any other symptoms, you probably don’t need to worry about it. But keep a close eye. If a seedling with purple stems also grows slow or has markings on the leaves, it means something is wrong. Investigate!

Why is My Seedling So Tall?

• If your seedling keeps growing taller and taller without a lot of leaves, it usually means it needs more light.

Tall, “leggy” seedlings need more light. They’re doing their best to stretch towards the nearest light source! Quick aside: Avoid germinating multiple seedlings in the same pot. It can be difficult to separate them.

Why Are Leaves Curling?

• This is often caused by heat stress or overwatering
• Sometimes too much light or very dry air can trigger it, too

These wavy leaves are the result of too much heat, and possibly slight overwatering

Another example of heat damage plus overwatering (the same triggers can be expressed in multiple ways)

More heat damage

Bugs or Pests

• Learn how to avoid Fungus Gnats (most common bug for new growers)
• Other Common Cannabis Pests

Learn more about fungus gnats

Something Else?

• Diagnose Your Sick Plant!

Re-vegging (pictured below) and other plant problems can be hard to diagnose. Use our free plant doctor tool to check your symptoms.

Bonus Articles!

• Common Seedling Problems and Mistakes
• 7 Common New Grower Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• How to Test Cannabis Seedlings for Sex and Future Potency

​What to Focus on During Your Seedling’s First Month

• Perfect Environment – humidity, temperature, airflow, CO2/fresh air, reflective walls, etc
• Enough Light – If your seedlings are growing tall it means that they want more light! Remember, in the flowering stage your yields will be directly related to how much light your buds are getting!
• Not Too Much of Light – Too much light can hurt your plants even in cool temperatures! Seedlings are more sensitive than adult plants, so be careful not to overload them with light too quickly! If you think your seedlings may be stressed from too high levels of light, move your grow light up a few inches and see if they improve.
• Watering properly (one of the hardest parts for a lot of new growers!) – How to Water Plants Perfectly Every Time. I promise it gets easier!
• Not Too Much Love – Seedlings need some breathing room! (i.e. avoid overwatering, touching/messing with plants too much, giving too high levels of nutrients or supplements, etc.). They want you to love them and watch out for them, but they also need to get work done 🙂
• Start Thinking About Plant Sex – For several weeks after germination, a plant’s sex is hidden and has little effect on how your plants grow. However, if you are not familiar with the difference between male and female plants (only female plants make buds), now is the perfect time to read up!

The post Cannabis Seedling Help Handbook appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

The following symptoms are for when your cannabis leaves are “clawing” or curling up or curling down. Sometimes known as “The Claw”. I’ll give a short explanation with pictures of each problem, plus links to the solutions! Fix this common (but hard to diagnose) marijuana problem today!

Nitrogen Toxicity

A Nitrogen toxicity is the result of the plant getting too much Nitrogen (usually from too high levels of nutrients overall, or by using a Vegetative nutrient in the flowering stage). It causes dark green leaves and curled tips (“the claw”).

One of the main symptoms of a Nitrogen toxicity is curled tips (“the claw”)

A plant with a Nitrogen toxicity tends to be dark green all over

​

Learn more about a cannabis Nitrogen Toxicity

Wind Burn

Caused by too much wind. You’ll notice that the leaves further from the fan don’t have symptoms.

Example of too much wind on your leaves

Learn more about cannabis wind burn

Bad Soil / Overwatering / Underwatering

You can help prevent over and under-watering your cannabis plants by always starting with good soil or coco coir.

Bad Soil

Bad soil is usually thick and muddy. Plants in poor soil will droop (often with unhappy curly leaves) no matter your watering practices.

Avoid thick soil that stays wet for a long time and doesn’t drain well

Overwatering

Overwatering makes leaves fat with water, and they tend to curl down and droop

Overwatering (especially when combined with heat) can also cause leaves to curl up

This plant was grown in muddy soil, and the curling, unhealthy leaves kept getting worse and worse over time!

​

Underwatering

Underwatering causes symptoms that often look like overwatering, but you’ll know it’s underwatering if the plants perk up each time after you water them.

Root Problems

Although often caused by overwatering, once the roots are sick you’ll see symptoms for a little while even after you start watering your plants properly.

Unhealthy roots can cause all sorts of problems including curling and clawing!

Unhealthy Roots in Soil/Coco

This plant’s roots were damaged from being overwatered and too hot for several days. As a result, the leaves took on a strange, blistery appearance.

This plant suffered from heat combined with overwatering for several days. This damaged the roots and gave it this odd leaf curling.

Learn more about root problem and symptoms

Root Rot

Root rot is something marijuana hydroponic growers can suffer from if pathogens attack the roots. It is often triggered by heat and/or lack of bubbles near the roots.

Root rot can cause curling leaves and brown patches as well as sometimes other nutrient deficiencies

Rootbound

If a plant stays in the same container for too long, the roots will eventually start wrapping around the edges of the pot. This is known as being “rootbound” and causes symptoms similar to other root problems.

A rootbound plant has been in the same container for too long. Roots wrap around the edges and “choke” the plant.

Rootbound plants often droop, appear yellow, get nutrient deficiencies, and stay small. Even if you’re caring for them perfectly!

If you see tons of white roots when transplanted, that means the plant was in that container too long

When this happens, the main solution is to transplant the plant into a bigger container. Another solution is to grow in fabric pots or air pots. These types of pots let air in from the sides, killing the circling roots (“air-pruning” them) and prevents the plant from getting rootbound for months.

To help a rootbound plant, transplant to a bigger container with fresh potting mix

Or start with air pots or fabric pots in order to prevent plants from getting rootbound at all

Heat Stress

If plants are experiencing a lot of heat, it can make leaves droop and/or curl. Some strains can handle a lot of heat, while other strains tend to droop when it gets warm.

Heat can cause leaves to curl up

Read more about heat and growing weed:

• Cannabis Heat Stress Guide
• Air Circulation and Exhaust Tutorial
• 5 Ways to Deal with Heat While Growing Cannabis
• 3 Proven Supplements that Help with Heat Stress

Light Burn

Plants can get light burn (sort of like a sunburn) even if the temperature is completely under control. The symptoms are usually concentrated close to the grow lights. Sometimes this can cause leaves to claw and curl downwards.

Light burn can cause the leaves closest to the light to turn yellow

Learn more about light burn

Bugs & Pests

Often a bug infestation caused general plant unhappiness, but these are some of the most likely to cause curling or clawing leaves.

Broad Mites

Usually, you can’t see broad mites because they live inside the plant. The main symptom of an infestation is strange leaf curling that is specific to this pest, as well as “wet” looking leaves.

Hemp Russet Mites

Hemp russet mites can also cause drooping and other strange symptoms, but the bugs are so small many growers don’t realize what they’re dealing with.

Hemp russet mites cause drooping and yellow mold-like growth on the tops of plants

A closeup of the hemp russet mites

Learn how to get rid of hemp russet mites!

Fungus Gnats

Fungus gnats look like tiny flies buzzing around your topsoil. Although a few fungus gnats won’t really hurt your plants, a big infestation can damage the roots, causing symptoms similar to other types of root problems.

Learn about other types of bugs and pests that can attack your cannabis plants!

Jump to…

7 Step Fix to 99% of Cannabis Growing Problems

Pictures of Marijuana Plant Problems

What does pH have to do with nutrient deficiencies?

10-Step Quick Start Guide to Growing

The post Why are Leaves Curling or Clawing? (“The Claw”) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Table of Contents

Why Flush Cannabis Plants in the First Place?

• Which growers should flush?
• How to prevent the need to flush

How to Flush a Sick Marijuana Plant (without harming it)

How to Fix Incorrect pH Without Flushing – Do this if possible!

Why Should I Flush My Sick Marijuana Plants?

The main reason to flush your sick cannabis plants is to try to correct something wrong at the roots. Flushing means watering your plants with lots of plain water at once. All that extra water leaches out extra nutrients or salt buildup in soil or coco coir. Flushing can also be used to address nutrient deficiencies caused by incorrect pH near the roots. However, flushing is stressful for plants, so it should be avoided unless you have no other choice. This tutorial will teach you when to flush your plants, and when you should address your sick cannabis plants a different way.

Flushing plants with lots of water makes them droopy, and should be avoided if possible. Take good care of plants and you’ll never need to flush. But when it comes to growing, things don’t always go according to plan! If that happens, this tutorial will guide you on what to do.

The following cannabis plants were flushed due to nutrient deficiencies.

When flushing is done properly, your cannabis plants should quickly bounce back and start growing healthy without deficiencies.

Related Article: How to Flush Cannabis Plants Before Harvest to Improve Bud Taste

The most common reasons to flush sicks plants are…

• Fix pH – The pH at the roots is several points too high or too low, causing major nutrient deficiencies
• Flush Out Additives That Made Plant Sick – It’s important to flush a plant that has been watered with something that has made it sick, for example if it is losing leaves because it was recently watered with a pesticide, nutrient or supplement that was too strong.
• Leach Out Time-Release Nutrients – If transplanting isn’t an option, sometimes a grower will flush a plant that is being grown in soil with “time release” nutrients (like Miracle-Gro soil). This idea is to try to leach out extra nutrients (specifically nitrogen) before the flowering stage begins. Too much nitrogen in the flowering stage can give buds a “green” taste as well as actually prevent buds from getting as big as they normally would. Since time-release soils slowly releases nitrogen for months it’s important to flush that out before your plant starts making buds.

If your cannabis plant gets sick the day after you add a new supplement for the first time, you should probably flush your plant to “start fresh” at the roots.

Which Growers Should Flush Their Plants?

Flushing sick plants is for…

• Soil
• Coco coir
• Other soilless mediums

Flushing sick plants is NOT for…

• Hydroponic or DWC grow setups – if you have a nutrient or pH problem, just change the reservoir so it has exactly what you want

How to Prevent the Need to Flush Your Plants

• Start Nutrients at 1/2 Strength – When using a new type of nutrients for your cannabis plants, it’s a good idea to start at 1/2 strength at first. It’s also a good idea to start any pesticides or supplements at half strength until you see how your plant reacts.
• Give More Nutrients to Pale Plants – Increase nutrient dose if the overall plant is starting to look pale or lime green.
• Lower Nutrients for Dark Leaves or Nutrient Burn – If you notice plants are getting dark green in color, try lowering nutrient levels or giving plain water every other watering until their color has improved. If you notice brown crispy tips on the leaves all over the plant, that’s another sign of the plant overall getting too much “stuff” (whether nutrients or supplements) in the water. If the dark leaves or brown tips are the result of too much nutrients, usually you’ll see these symptoms all over the plant instead of just a few leaves.
• Check pH for Other Nutrient Deficiencies – If you seen nutrient deficiencies like yellow leaves, spots, or brown markings, the first step is to check and adjust the pH of the water you give your plants. Maintaining the right pH is the #1 way to prevent nutrient deficiencies. Simply do this one check when you water, and you’ll dramatically reduce the chance you’ll even need to flush (pH being too high or too low is the main reason to flush plants). Learn more about nutrient deficiencies.
• Reduce Light Levels on Sick Plants – When plants are sick, try moving the grow light up a few inches or even a foot. This will help your plant recover more effectively from many nutrient problems, whether you end up flushing the plants or not.

Try to prevent nutrients problems before they happen so you never need to flush!

How to Flush Sick Cannabis Plants

1. Make up water with low levels of nutrients (1/4 strength or seedling dose). You want to take out the bad and replace with the good.
2. Give 3x the pot size – Use enough water so that you’re giving the plant 3x as much water as the volume of the pot. It may take a little while. Remove all runoff water immediately, you don’t want your plant to suck the bad stuff back up!
3. Give regular strength nutrients at the end – Make up one last batch of nutrient water at regular strength, and give this to your plants. You are replacing what you took out with what you want to be there – fresh, pH’ed nutrient water!
4. Make sure there is a fan blowing over the top of the growing medium to help it dry out so plants don’t get as droopy from being overwatered. There should be plenty of air circulation in the grow space, with access to lots of fresh air.
5. Raise your grow lights up a few inches while your plant is recovering. Your plant definitely needs plenty of light, but you don’t want to make it work too hard during the recovery period.
6. Wait a few days for improvement – Although your plant may get droopy at first, you should start to see improvement within a few days. Try not to water it again until the top inch is starting to dry. It’s not recommended to flush a plant two times in a row. After the first flush you should have flushed out what was hurting the plant in the soil. At this point, it’s time to give your plants some TLC while you get things back on track.

How to Fix Incorrect pH Without Flushing

1.) Determine your target pH

• Soil: 6-7 pH
• Coco: 5.5-6.5 pH

2.) Collect runoff

Give your water at the correct pH, and collect runoff water out the bottom. Is the pH too high or low? If the pH is higher or lower than the correct range, don’t panic! At the very least you’re already giving your water at the correct pH from on top. That will help the plant stay healthy while you fix whatever is going on at the roots. Now, onto fixing your pH.

3.) Start fixing the pH the next time you water your plants.

If you already have major nutrient problems, you might consider flushing as stated above. But if you don’t see problems yet, or if you only see just a little bit of leaf discoloration or yellowing, there’s no need to flush. Flushing is very stressful for plants and may prevent them from recovering as fast as they could, so it should be avoided if possible.

Most of the time, if your runoff pH was too high or too low, it’s better to wait until your next watering to start correcting it.

4.) Always give water in the correct pH range, but at the opposite end.

Next time you water your plants give water in the correct range, but at the opposite end of the range to start trying to get it to move in the other direction.

If your runoff water is coming out at 4.5 pH, it means you should water your plants at the high end of your desired pH range. So for soil you would water your plants at 7.0 pH, and with coco you’d water your plants at 6.5 pH.

This ensures that your roots are getting some amount of nutrient water at the correct pH, while also starting to leach out whatever is in the growing medium that’s dragging the pH down.

5.) When pH of water going in and out mostly match, you’re good!

Eventually, your pH is going to start coming out the bottom of the plant in the right pH range, even if it takes a few weeks.

Collect the runoff water and check to make sure the pH isn’t too high or low. Proper pH stops most nutrient deficiencies!

I’ve found that correcting the pH following this process seems to stop most nutrient problems within just a few days, while preventing your plant from getting stressed from a true “flush.”

—

I wish I had known this before I started growing. I’ve done too many unnecessary flushes and unintentionally stressed out my plants. I hope this help guides you to better results in your cannabis growing journey.

Happy growing!

Nebula Haze

Jump to…​

Diagnose My Sick Plants!

How To Get To Harvest As Fast As Possible

Where to Get Marijuana Seeds Online

The Perpetual Harvest

The post How to Flush a Sick Cannabis Plant appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

In addition to the search bar, this link guide helps you navigate through the Grow Weed Easy website. Learn about growing topics you won’t find anywhere else! This is a shortened list of all our cannabis growing tutorials, as the website has over 500 articles and tutorials!

Full List of EVERYTHING on GWE  ← Over 500 Articles & Growing Tutorials!

Start Here – Beginner Grow Guides

• Complete Beginner’s Guide
• How do I start growing my own weed indoors? (get help choosing your setup)
• How to Grow Weed in 10 Steps
• Simplest Cannabis Grow Guide Ever!
• How Long Does It Take to Grow Weed? (Marijuana Growth Timeline)
• 3 Steps from Beginner to Legendary Grower
• Complete New Grower’s Shopping List

Cannabis Life Stages

• Germination
• Vegetative Stage (Getting Bigger)
• Flowering Stage (Making Buds)
• Harvest

Choosing…

• Best Type of Nutrients
• Choosing the Best Grow Light
• Soil vs Hydro
• How Many Plants Should I Grow?
• What Part of the House Should I Grow In?
• What Setup Should I Get?
• Best Strains for Beginners
• Where to Get Seeds (including the U.S.)

Common New Grower Topics

• How Much Will Electricity Cost?
• Stealth Growing: How NOT to Get Caught Growing Weed
• What Equipment Do I Need?
• Germinate Your Seeds
• 7 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I First Started Growing Weed
• How to Save Money When Growing Weed
• How to Store Weed Properly (so it never loses smell or potency!)
• Ask Questions & Get Answers From Real Growers! (In Our Free Growing Community)
• Cannabis Grower’s Glossary

Problems & Symptoms

• Cannabis Problems Guide
  • How to Help Yellow Seedlings
  • How to Fix Yellow Cannabis Leaves
  • How to Fix Curling and Clawing Cannabis Leaves
  • What Causes Dry or Crispy Leaves?
  • What Causes Brown Spots on Cannabis Leaves?
  • What Causes Bananas (“Nanners”) on Cannabis Buds?
  • Is This Nutrient Burn on My Marijuana Plant?
  • What causes red stems in cannabis plants?
• Diagnose Your Sick Plant
• Bugs & Other Cannabis Pests
• How to Prevent Nutrient Deficiencies
  • Which Nutrient Deficiencies are Caused by pH? (picture guide)
  • How to Stop Flowering Stage Nutrient Deficiencies
• 7 Reasons Why Cannabis Plants Grow Slow
• 5-Step Remedy That Fixes 99% of Grow Problems
• All-Natural Pesticides – Safe Up to Harvest!

Plant Training (Indoor Tricks for Bigger Yields)

• Simplest Plant Training Guide Ever!
• How to Control Height of Indoor Cannabis Plants
• Complete Plant Training Guide
• Breakdown of Techniques​
  • Low Stress Training (LST) Tutorial
  • Topping vs FIMing Tutorial
  • LBH’s Famous ScrOG Tutorial
  • Supercropping: Magic Technique to Control Cannabis Plant Height
  • Sea of Green (SoG) Tutorial
  • 12-12 from Seed – Flowering Plants Early
  • Nebula’s Manifold Tutorial
  • How to Manifold Clones
  • Nebula’s Bud-Based Defoliation Tutorial
  • Alternate Defoliation Tutorial ​
  • What is Re-Vegging / Monstercropping?
• How Can I Train an Auto-Flowering Plant?
• 7 Unfortunate Plant Training Mistakes

Grow Mediums

• What’s the Best Growing Medium?
• Soil vs Coco vs Hydro
• Basic Soil Guide
• Organic Soil Compost Guide (Super Soil) – Just Add Water!
• Coco Coir Guide
  • Coco Coir: The Most Flexible Cannabis Grow Medium
• Hydro/DWC/Bubbleponics Guide
• “True” Organic Growing vs Just Using Organic Nutrients
• Can You Use Miracle-Gro?

Nutrients

• Which Nutrients Are Best For Growing Cannabis?
• Soil Nutrients
• Coco Coir Nutrients
• Hydroponic Nutrients

Grow Lights

• 5 Best LED Grow Lights 2025 (Yields, Speed, & Bud Quality)
• Compare Types of Cannabis Grow Lights
  • Fluorescents (T5s) – Good for Seedlings Only (not powerful enough to produce potent buds or big yields)
  • CFLs (Spiral Bulbs) – Not Recommended (LEDs are much better)
  • LED Grow Lights – Recommended for Most Home Growers
  • MH/HPS Grow Lights – Good Alternative to LEDs, But Run Much Hotter
  • CMH / LEC Grow Lights – Good Alternative to LEDs, But Run Much Hotter
  • Plasma / Magnetic Induction Grow Lights – Not Recommended (poor cannabis growth)
• How Does Light Spectrum Affect Marijuana Plants?
• How Far Away Do I Keep My Grow Lights?
• You Can Actually Give Plants Too Much Light?!
• Grow Light Upgrade Guide: Yields & Potency Explained
• Cannabis Grow Lights: What’s the Best Size?

Best LED Grow Light Articles

• 5 Best LED Grow Lights 2025 (Yields, Speed, & Bud Quality)
• LED Grow Lights: Too Much or Not Enough Light?
• LED Grow Journal: Mars Hydro TSL-2000W vs Spider Farmer SF-2000
• LEC vs LED Grow Lights: Side-by-Side Cannabis Grow Journal
• Nebula’s Auto-Flowering Grow Journal (Topping vs Natural) – cannabis plants are grown under LED grow lights

Environment

• Create the Perfect Growing Environment
  • Temperature Tutorial
  • 5 Secrets to Heat Control
  • Control Humidity for Better Buds
  • How to Use Reflective Walls to Increase Yields Indoors
  • How to Make Plants Grow Faster with CO2
• Where’s the Best Place in the House to Grow Your Plants?
• How to Control Odors
• How to Set Up an Exhaust
• How to Set Up a Grow Tent for Better Yields (and Stealth)

Plant Care Tutorials

• Cloning
  • How to clone weed in a cup of water (easy!)
  • How to make cannabis clones with an aero cloner
• Intro to Plant Training for Bigger Yields Indoors
• How Often to Water Plants
  • The Easiest Way to Water Plants & Remove Runoff
• How (and When) to Transplant Cannabis
• Male vs Female Plants
• When to Harvest?
• Drying & Curing

How to Improve…

• Yields
• Bud Quality
  • 7 Environment Effects on Bud Quality
  • The Secret to Excellent Bud Quality
• THC Levels
• CBD Levels
• Smell/Taste
• Density
• Bud Color (How to Grow Pink or Purple Buds)
• Glitter (Make Buds Sparkle with More Trichomes)
• Bonus: What Determines Yields?

Buying Seeds

• Where to Get Seeds
• How to Find the Right Strain
• What are “Feminized” Seeds?
• Which Breeders to Trust?
• Photoperiod vs Auto-Flowering Cannabis Strains
• Bag Seed vs Hype Seed: Is it worth it to buy cannabis seeds?

Recommended Strains

• Best Autoflowering Cannabis Strains for Yields & Potency
• List of Sugar-Dusted Strains (Heavy Trichome Genetics)
• 10 Cold-Resistant Cannabis Strains
• 14 Heat-Resistant Cannabis Strains
• Which cannabis strains stay short? (Best strains for small spaces)

Auto-Flowering Strains

• Nebula’s Guide to Cannabis Auto-Flowering Strains (Photoperiod vs Auto-Flowering)
• Should I “Top” or Train an Auto-Flowering Plant?
• What’s the best light schedule for auto-flowering strains?
• Nebula’s Auto-Flowering Grow Journal (Topping vs Natural)

Edibles

• Decarboxylation: How to Decarb Your Weed (crucial step for just about every edible recipe)
• Best Weed Butter Recipe
  • How to Make Great Brownies with Weed Butter
• Canna Caps
• How to Make Cannabis Gummies (Weed Gummy Bears)
• How to Make Cannabis Tinctures
• How to Make Hash Oil (aka Cannabis Extract Oil, Rick Simpson Oil, or RSO)

Extracts (No Solvents Used in Any Recipe)

• Solventless Extraction Showdown – Bubble Hash vs. Dry-Ice Hash!
• Dry Ice Hash (Made with Dry Ice)
• How to Make Bubble Hash (Made with Ice Water)
• How To Make Your Own Homemade Rosin (dabs)

And Lots More!

• How Long Does it Take to Grow Weed?
• Vegetative vs Flowering Stage (Long Days vs Long Nights)
• Germination & Seedling Mistakes
• Simple Guide to Plant Training
• What’s the Best Pot / Container?
• Perpetual Harvest
• What Determines Yields?
• 5 Time-Savers for Busy Growers
• Breeding Techniques
• 7 Gift Ideas for Cannabis Growers
• Grow Journals
• How long can I store nutrient water?
• What is High-Frequency Fertigation?
• Where is it legal to grow weed in the USA?
• See EVERYTHING on the Site!

Safety & Preparation

• Fire Protection in the Grow Room
• Electrical Safety Tips & Tricks
• Prepare Yourself for Growing Emergencies
• Stealth Growing Indoors: How to NOT get Caught Growing Weed

Just for Fun

• Weird or What? Cannabis Mutations & More!
• Creatures on Cannabis (Cute Photo Gallery)
• 10 Gift Ideas for Cannabis Growers

Submit Pics

• Submit Trophy Pictures of your Plants!
• How to Take Better Plant Pics
• How to Fix Yellow HPS Pics

Want More?

• Complete List of EVERYTHING on GWE  ← Full List (Over 500 articles & growing!)

Thanks for visiting! We hope our website helps you find the growing tutorials you were looking for. We’ve written hundreds of growing marijuana articles and unfortunately we can’t fit them all on this page, so we encourage you to use the search bar on the right side (or top of the page for mobile users) to search for articles you don’t see here.

Happy growing!
Nebula & Sirius

Use this “Navigation” page to find the pot growing topic you’re interested in, or click here to see every single page on the website!

The post Link Guide to Growing Cannabis Tutorials appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

But the roots of a cannabis plant are the real workforce behind its success. They might not be directly responsible for growing buds, but they are responsible for many processes that allow bud growth to happen!

If the flowers/bud of a cannabis plant are movie stars (let’s be honest, bud is the star of the show), then your cannabis plants’ roots would be all the hardworking people behind the scenes who do the editing, cinematography, sound, and lighting. In fact, a plant with a healthy root system can lose its leaves and still recover to an extent. But a plant with a healthy leaf system has no chance if it loses its roots.

Here’s what healthy roots look like without soil/coco coir on them – cream-colored or white, with no brown or sliminess

(Click the picture below to see an animated version [3Mb .gif])

Today we’re going to show you how to protect your plants’ lovely roots, and your plant will pay you back in sticky home-grown bud!

Note: This is a simplified version of how a plant’s roots work; they actually do some crazy stuff!

What Roots Do for Your Cannabis Plant

Roots are the base of your plants’ wicking system
In a cannabis plant, the path from a root-to-leaf is like a straw. Water transpires from leaves which creates suction, and this helps pull water through the roots, up through the stem, and back into leaves. This is a super-efficient, low-energy way for plants to get moisture without having to take in as much water through its leaves. However, as plants get larger, their demand for water becomes more than the leaves can handle by themselves. Additionally, your plants will need water to form their first leaves, and that water comes from the plants first root.

Roots Are Necessary to Uptake Nutrients
The roots of a cannabis plant are the main site where nutrient uptake occurs. This means that your roots are the gatekeeper for most of the nutrients your plant gets, and the health of your roots determines how much (if any) of your nutrients are being used.

The leaves of a cannabis plant can also take in nutrients; growers can do this through a method called ‘foliar feeding’, where a nutrient solution is applied directly to the leaves.

The Roots Are the Most Important Part of Your Cannabis Plant
What is a ‘vital organ’? It’s an organ that’s absolutely vital to the life of the organism it inhabits. To a cannabis plant, the roots are its vital ‘organ’.

When a cannabis plant isn’t getting enough nutrients, it’s leaves/stems get damaged, but the roots are left alone. When a plant gets too many nutrients, the leaves get nutrient burn, but the roots are left alone. When a cannabis plant gets overwatered…you guessed it, the leaves/stems are what suffer.

Think of the leaves of a cannabis plant as the first line of defense against less-than-perfect conditions. The leaves can also act as backup systems for a few of the functions the roots perform, such as nutrient/water uptake. But since cannabis plants already have a primary method of water/nutrient delivery (that has better protection by being underground), the leaves become expendable in hard times.

How to Protect Your Roots:
Most problems that people encounter with the roots of their cannabis plant can be boiled down to one of only a handful of causes. These include:

Being “Rootbound” (Not Enough Space for Roots to Grow)
A plant’s size is determined in part by the amount of space the roots have to grow. Once the roots run out of space – known as being ‘rootbound’ – the plant’s growth will grind to a halt unless conditions change. Although this won’t necessarily degrade the health of the roots directly, the rest of the plant will directly suffer in the form of stunted growth.

What You Can Do: Make sure you’re planning to use an appropriately sized pot for your grow. I know that’s harder than it sounds, but luckily we’ve got all the info you need right here! Also, remember that while your plant is in the vegetative stage, you have the option to replant it in a different container if necessary.

Overwatering or Underwatering (Too Much or Not Enough Water)
Overwatering is the term used to describe when there isn’t enough oxygen available at the roots of a plant. This usually happens when there is an excess of water in the medium (not counting DWC), so we call it overwatering. Paradoxically, plants grown in DWC can also show signs of being overwatered if there isn’t enough oxygen in the reservoir water.

Underwatering is exactly what it sounds like. Weirdly enough, if a plant isn’t getting enough water, it starts to suffer in a way that looks just like overwatering.

In both cases, the plant will droop which makes it confusing for those who aren’t familiar with the problem. Thinking back to your recent history with the plant can help. If you watered right before the problem started and the soil still feels wet to the touch while the plant is drooping, it was likely overwatered. If you haven’t watered in 2+ days, it’s probably underwatered.

What You Can Do: If you’re having trouble dialing in how to water, check out our page on the subject. If you grow in coco coir, we have a page specifically for that, too!

pH (Acidity or Alkalinity)
The pH of the medium (soil/coco coir/water) your roots are resting in determines what nutrients they can uptake at that time. For example: if you’re growing hydroponically and the pH of your medium is 5.0, your plant will be unable to uptake calcium even if your nutrient water has a lot of it.

The pH range in which nutrients become available is pretty small; only a 1.0 variance for the entire acceptable range if you want to get the essential minerals. In soil, this range is 6.0 – 7.0, while in hydroponics it’s 5.5 – 6.5. That being said, it’s best to avoid getting close to the minimum or maximum for either of those two ranges. The charts below illustrate the pH needed for specific nutrients to become available.

What You Can Do: If you’re using properly amended soil, you’re most likely good to go. Lucky! Everyone else should make a point to check the pH of their root zone often to ensure proper nutrient uptake. Bad pH equates to inadequate nutrient uptake, which equates to damaged-looking leaves and plants.

Root Rot (Pythium)
Although Root Rot is a larger problem for hydroponic growers (such as those doing DWC), it can affect any grow where the roots are sitting in stagnating water. That includes the saucers some growers use underneath those old-style pots. This is far less likely to happen in outdoor grows in soil since water can go further underground.

Root Rot is especially dangerous because it kills the roots first. In some cases, a cannabis plant can appear to be healthy until the roots have been utterly demolished. Luckily, Root Rot has a tell-tale smell that is absolutely awful. Checking for this smell only takes a second, and it can help you ensure you won’t get surprised by a plant that’s suddenly dying! Of course, this check should be paired with preventive measures (i.e., beneficial organisms), so you’re not just waiting for a problem to show up.

What You Can Do: A proper watering regimen (How Often to Water?) will prevent most root rot issues. It’s also a good idea to add beneficial organisms to your root zone. This way, if pythium does show up, it will quickly be outcompeted by the resident organisms. I suggest Hydroguard as such a product, but Subculture and Great White have also personally given me good results.

Fungus Gnats
Of all the pests that can infest a cannabis plant, the Fungus Gnat isn’t the worst. However, they’re uniquely annoying in that they infest your medium and directly attack your plants’ roots. A fungus gnat infestation is a sign of a different problem: overwatered topsoil!

Fungus Gnats need a wet environment to be able to reproduce successfully. Although there are products like diatomaceous earth that directly attack the gnats larvae, making sure not to overwater the medium will make it so they don’t even get the chance. Of course, an especially cautious grower could combine methods for an even more effective means of preventing this pest!

What You Can Do: I hate to say it again, but this is another problem that doesn’t exist unless you overwater. Fungus Gnats need water to procreate, and a semi-dry medium is their doom. Adding diatomaceous earth as additional protection is completely safe and won’t even let them land to try living with your plants!

Jump to…

What’s the Best Pot? Containers Explained

How to pH Cannabis – Best pH for Soil or Hydro

Root Rot

Fungus Gnats

The post Roots: The Most Important Part of Your Plant! appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Here's a series of pictures of a couple marijuana clones I had a few years ago.

I was experimenting with growing an entire plant from clone to harvest in a solo cup, which is why you can see flowering plants in such small containers. Each of these were flowered as soon as the clones took root. This technique is often called "Flowering from seed" or "12-12 from seed" and just means that you force the plant to start flowering at a very young age. I wanted to see how small I could get flowering plants.

Each clone was give the exact same nutrients, conditions, etc. They were green and healthy when I left for a 3-day trip.

Situation: I was leaving for 3 days, and these flowering marijuana clones needed to be watered almost daily since their containers were so small.

In an attempt to give them enough water to last the trip, I over watered them before I left.

When I got back, the plants looked like they had practically died!

Look at how different all of the symptoms were with each of these plants, when the problem was actually the same for all of them:

Same Underlying Problem For Each of These Clones

• Overwatered
• Kept in a grow room that was way too hot (it got up over 100 degrees while I was out of town, and they were kept in these temps for 2-3 days)
• Too small container for their roots (with bigger root mass, marijuana plants are much more resilient to problems)

(remember, these clones were ALL green and healthy before I left, so I feel certain these problems were all caused by the reasons stated above)

Resulting Symptoms Varied Greatly

Clone 1: leaves yellowing and curling up like elf feet, tip burn

Clone 2: curling, rusty brown edges and brown spots

Clone 3: Gets a different type of rusty brown spots

Clone 4: Lime color and curling upwards towards the top of the plant, and yet another type of rusty brown spots and yellowing / curling towards the bottom (looks like a nitrogen deficiency on bottom)

Clone 5: brown spots on top, taco leaves, browning, curling of lower leaves, like a phosphorus deficiency (this is the only clone the appears to have what looked like a phosphorus deficieny in the lower leaves)

Clone 6: rusty outer edges, brown spotting

The truth is, when the marijuana plant's roots are not happy, and when plants get too hot, they freak out!

Often the symptoms may vary quite a bit, even if you have the same underlying problem.

I fixed the problem (controlled heat, and proper watering practices). Symptoms stopped getting worse. Nearly all of them pulled through and made it to harvest.

Jump to…

Learn how to fix cannabis root problems

7-Step Cure to 99% of Marijuana Problems

Marijuana Problems – Picture Guide

Compare Different Grow Lights – Which one will work best for me?

The post Pictures of marijuana symptoms caused by over-watering, too much heat, and small containers appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Additional info: Grown in coco coir with Fox Farms nutrients. Have been growing this plant from a seed and was in veg state growing very well with CFL lights (6500k) 24/7. Very full and bushy plant with many leaves and smelled nice.

Switched to the flowering stage by changing the lights to 12/12 (2700k). Two days later, the plant leaves were drooping, curling inwards, drying out and tips were turning black. Other leaves were a bright green and now almost yellow.

During veg stage plant was getting PH’d water and a mixture of Grow Big and Big Bloom. On 5/9 plant got a mixture of Tiger Bloom and Big Bloom. Plants have always been watered with PH’d water but noticed as of recently it wasn’t drinking as much. As of 5/11, I have flushed the plant with PH’d water 3 times in case there was salt buildup. I have also hand sprayed the plant hoping it would help the very dry leaves that were close to dying. After all this, the plant looks worse today and hoping I can still save. Not sure what has caused it to start dying but please help.

Answer: This plant is showing classic signs of root problems like root rot. The fact that your plant is drinking less than normal also seems to indicate that there’s a problem at the roots. When the whole plant seems to just “deflate” overnight, it’s often caused by root problems. Heat can be a trigger (root bacteria love warm temps) and will also make this problem worse.

Root problems often hit growers in soil or coco coir soon after the flip to the flowering stage, especially with less powerful lights like CFLs. This is because plants use a lot more water when they’re receiving 24 hours of light a day. When you flip to 12/12 light for the flowering stage, it’s easy to overwater plants if you continue watering them on the same schedule.

It’s important to user proper watering practices throughout your grow.

What to do:

If you think you may have root problems, there are two easy ways to deal with this.

1.) You can purchase Hydrogen Peroxide in 3% – 35% strength.

Mix 1 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide with a gallon of water. For 35% strength Hydrogen Peroxide, mix one tablespoon to a gallon of water.

Water your plants with the mixture to kill any bacteria living in your root area. Unfortunately, hydrogen peroxide also kills good bacteria, which can protect your plant from future infections.

2.) (My preferred method) Conversely, you can start adding Hydroguard to your nutrient-water when you feed.

This will build up colonies of good bacteria that out-compete the bad bacteria and actually promote plant growth.

In addition, the beneficial bacteria will offer protection for those times when the temperature of the grow area rises at a time when you can’t control it. When I first got started with bubbleponics, I had a few tough bouts with root rot.

Over the last few years, I’ve tried many “good bacteria” products including the ($$$) Great White and Subculture B additives, but no product has ever worked 1/4 as good at maintaining healthy roots as super cheap, readily available Hydroguard.

My soil/coco coir / growing medium seems to stay wet no matter what

If the plant medium seems to stay wet no matter what you do, you may need better drainage. It may also help to move plants to a smaller pot until they get bigger and start drinking more.

Make sure that water drains freely from the bottom of your container (it’s recommended that you provide enough water to get at least 20% extra runoff every time you water your plants). You should see water coming out the bottom within a minute or two after watering. Then don’t water your plants again until the soil is dry up to your first knuckle.

For soil/coco coir grows, you generally only want to water the plant when the soil feels dry if you press a finger in it. You can also use the “lift the pot” method to decide when to water your plants (basically wait until your pot feels “light” since the plants have used up all the water). For other growing mediums besides soil, your watering method will vary, but if your plants are drooping and you’ve been feeding them a lot of water, it’s a good idea to cut back and see if that helps.

If your plants are already overwatered, you can try to increase airflow to help the water evaporate more quickly. You can also use a pencil to gently poke some air holes into the growing medium to provide extra aeration and oxygen to the roots. Some growers will even replant a heavily overwatered plant, to get some oxygen immediately to the roots.

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Help! My Leaves are Dying

Learn more about marijuana nutrients

How do I manage pH in my marijuana grow?

How to Grow Weed: The Basics

How to grow short, bushy plants

Check 6 Things to Cure 99% of Marijuana Growing Problems

The post Why is my whole plant wilting, curling, with tips turning black and leaves turning yellow? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Question: Why do my marijuana seedlings get tall and die? They grow all stretchy with long stems, and don’t make new sets of leaves. ~Many Growers

Answer: Tall seedlings need LIGHT. 

Get bushier plants with a great grow light, like this SF-2000 LED.

Wide, bushy cannabis plants produce more weed!

When marijuana seedlings are growing tall and thin, it means they need more light. Typically from a weak grow light.

Example: This cannabis seedling grew tall and thin (almost falling down) because it is starving for light.

Plants without enough light keep getting tall without growing many leaves. It is “reaching” up towards the light.

More “leggy” cannabis seedlings. These seedlings each need their own pot and a lot more light!

When young marijuana seedlings are starving for light, they often show signs of lots of other problems, but if they’re getting really tall without making any leaves, it’s a sure sign it needs a brighter environment.

To increase the amount of light, you either need to get stronger grow lights (what grow lights work for growing cannabis?), or move your current grow light closer to your plants.

Some growers bury the extra stem to make seedlings short again, which works, but as long as you start giving your seedling light it will do a “push up” and rise back up, strengthening its stem in the process! Here’s what to do right away…

Get a Small LED Grow light

A small cheap LED grow light like the SF-1000 can support as many cannabis seedlings as you can fit in a 2’x2′ grow space. Seedlings under this grow light won’t stretch as long as you keep it the recommended distance away.

The SF-1000 is powerful enough to grow a single plant to harvest, so it can be a great starter light for a grower just “dipping a toe” into the cannabis grow world. Learn more.

After adding light for your too-tall cannabis seedlings, the plant should start growing leaves closer together. However, the original stems will not get new leaves.

Should you bury the stems? No need.

Some growers bury taller plants to “shorten” the stem. However, that can cause the stem to rot under the soil.

Usually once you give light and let the plant grow out naturally, the stems don’t seem nearly as long. No need to bury the stems!

A seedling might be tall…

​

…but give it light and you soon can’t tell.

Learn about other common cannabis seedling problems!

What Do Healthy Seedlings Look Like?

Common Seedling Problems

   1.) Overwatering

• Symptoms: ​Drooping, yellow leaves, not growing and/or damping off (dying)

   2.) Underwatering

• Symptoms: ​Drooping leaves and/or wilting

   3.) Nutrient Problems

• Symptoms: ​Leaves are yellow, burnt, discolored, crispy or have spots

   4.) Too Much Heat

• Symptoms: ​Leaves fold in the middle so they look like canoes/tacos, leaves turn up at the edges, wilting, strange spotting, symptoms usually appear after temperature starts climbing

   5.) Wrong Amount of Light

• Symptoms (​too much light): burned or crinkled leaves
• Symptoms (not enough light): seedlings are too tall with too much space between nodes. Looks stretched/leggy and tends fall over

Frequently Asked Questions About Seedlings

Help! My Leaves are Dying!

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• Complete Beginner’s Guide to Growing
• How to Grow Weed in 10 Steps
• Cannabis Nutrients
• Which Grow Lights?
• Soil or Hydro?
• Where to Get Seeds (even in the U.S.)
• Germination Help

Plant Problems & Symptoms

• Cannabis Problems Guide
• Diagnose Your Sick Plant
• Bugs, Mold & Other Cannabis Pests
• Stop Nutrient Deficiencies!
• 7-Step Remedy That Fixes 99% of Grow Problems

Gain total harvest mastery by the end of today!

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