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Issue #44 - Sunday, February 17, 2013

Dear Fellow Grower,

In today's issue you'll discover...

• The 2-Step Cure for "The Claw" that works every time
• A world-famous strain that's easy to grow... and feminized seeds are now available online!
• Discover what you need to know about storing nutrients.
  

Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)

"Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride."
― Hunter S. Thompson

Many growers believe that The Claw is caused by pH problems, watering troubles, or heat. What I've learned is that these aren't usually the real cause of clawed marijuana leaves that look like the pictures above.

Downward drooping of leaves is known as "epinasty" in the plant world, and it is true that overwatering can cause similar symptoms... but there is a crucial difference between the type of claw leaf pictured above and the kind that's caused by overwatering.

Today I'm going to explain exactly why growers think claw leaves are caused by pH problems, over or underwatering, and too much heat... and I'll reveal why they're usually wrong.

Then I'm going uncover the real reasons why claw leaves happen.

Ok, it's true that overwatering can sometimes cause The Claw. But you won't see The Claw appear out of nowhere on an otherwise healthy plant like the leaves pictured above.

When you do get The Claw by overwatering, you'll see a progression like this.

First leaves look overwatered, kinda fat, and droopy. You won't see just the tips turn down. Here's the first stage of overwatering.

If the overwatering continues and plant is still unable to get oxygen at her roots, then you may start getting other apparent nutrient problems because the plant isn't getting everything she needs.

If left unchecked, this can eventually cause The Claw.

Learn how to water your marijuana plants.

With the case of overwatering vs nitrogen toxicity, it can be confusing because these both cause leaves to point downward. Yet if you see the different problems together, you can easily learn how to spot the difference.

Now that you know what an overwatered marijuana plant looks like, let me show you what to look for in a nitrogen toxic plant. 

Ok, you ruled out overwatering, now what?

When I first got started growing, everyone kept telling me that this particular kind of leaf clawing was caused by under or overwatering my plants, pH problems, or heat problems. 

Yet in my case, I knew that it wasn't over or under watering (I was growing in hydro, where roots grow directly in water and air stones are constantly adding oxygen). I knew it wasn't pH (my reservoir water had the right pH) and I knew it wasn't heat since the grow area was slightly cooler than room temperature. 

So then what was really causing my claw leaves?

It's understandable that other growers were mistaken. It is true that many stresses will make any other problem worse. 

Plus overwatering can cause a similar kind of leaf clawing (learn more below). And if you do have nitrogen toxicity, than heat or pH problems will make the problem much worse as your plant is too weak to fight back.

Now, you may or may not know that marijuana (or any plant) needs an element known as "Nitrogen" to grow. 

In fact, nitrogen is one of the 3 nutrients that is included in almost every kind of plant food.

When looking at plant nutrients, you'll almost always see 3 numbers listed, like 3-12-6 or 5-10-5. These numbers represent the percentage of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) contained in the bottle. Just about all plant life on Earth needs these 3 elements to grow.

The very first number, "3" in the case of the picture to the right, always displays the proportion of nitrogen in this nutrient bottle compared to the other 2 nutrients (Phosphorus and Potassium respectively). 

The reason nitrogen is in all plant nutrient formulations is because it's vital to plant processes. 

For marijuana plants, when they don't get enough nitrogen, the bottom leaves start turning yellow and dying. Left unchecked, a nitrogen deficiency can cause the the whole plant to eventually die. 

What I'm here to talk to you about today is the opposite, nitrogen toxicity, or too much nitrogen.

Why You Should Treat And Prevent Nitrogen Toxicity

• Marijuana plants that get too much Nitrogen in the vegetative stage don't grow as vigorously.
  
  
• Too much nitrogen is especially harmful in the flowering stage, because this will cause your plant to produce smaller buds. 
  
  
• If you react quickly and reduce your nitrogen levels at the first sign of toxicity, your plant will quickly recover.

Note: Some strains with the word "Claw" in the name tend to do The Claw more easily than others.

Problems with excess nitrogen are not common in the wild, it's a lot more common to see nitrogen toxicity on indoor plants, especially when overzealous growers go overboard with nutrients. 

Occasionally you'll come across a strain or particular plant that likes lower levels of nutrients, and when this happens, it's important to realize the plant is showing signs of toxicity, even if all the other plants in your garden seem fine.

One of the most common signs off too-many-nutrients is "nutrient burn," or when the tips of your leaf appear brown or burned. Yet there are specific signals your plant will display when she's getting too much nitrogen...

Signs of Nitrogen Toxicity

• Dark green leaves and foliage
  
  
• Leaf tips turn down, without signs of overwatering.
  
  
• You may notice yellowing on the affected leaves or other signs of nutrient deficiencies as time goes on
  
  
• Nitrogen toxicity is often but not always accompanied by nutrient burn
  
  
• The Claw often seems random, affecting leaves here and there
  
  
• Heat and pH problems will make the clawing worse, as they stress out the plant and lower her defenses
  
  
• As time goes on, the claw leaves will eventually start turning yellow, getting spots, and dying

• The distance between the leaves to the lights or irregular light patterns from reflectors often seem to affect the condition, which is why many growers believe that light is somehow causing the problem.
  
  
• You may notice this clawing first appears on dark green leaves that aren't getting enough light (they aren't able to use up all their nitrogen and become nitrogen toxic).

• If you use vegetative plant nutrients during the flowering stage, then they'll deliver too much nitrogen. This is why you need to get special nutrients meant for the blooming / flowering stage. You'll notice that flowering nutrients always contain a smaller percentage of nitrogen  (the first number) compared to nutrients for the vegetative stage. Learn more about marijuana nutrients here.
  
  
• Many growers mistakenly keep raising nutrient levels or adding additional nitrogen when they see yellow leaves in the flowering stage, not realizing that it's natural for plant leaves to start yellowing as harvest approaches. Adding too much nitrogen in the flowering stage can cause nitrogen toxicity even when you can see yellow lower leaves

Note: During the last few weeks before harvest, marijuana plants starts pulling all the remaining nitrogen from her leaves as part of the bud-making process. This causes yellowing leaves starting towards the bottom of the plant. This is part of the natural flowering process and you don't need to fight it.You may notice that marijuana leaves are yellowing in almost all pictures of marijuana plants with big buds that are close to harvest. You tend to get smaller yields from nitrogen-toxic plants with dark green leaves at harvest.

Marijuana Leaves Often Turn Yellow As Harvest Time Approaches

I know a lot of marijuana plant problems can look similar, but now that you're armed with the right information, you'll know exactly what to do if you see The Claw.

I hope that the information in today's article helps you as much as it would have helped me when I first started growing! 

A special message from Nebula & Sirius:

Subject: Tell us what you want to learn about!

Dear Reader,

Thank you for being a subscriber to our newsletter. At GrowWeedEasy.com, it is our #1 goal to give you the information you need to succeed in all your growing goals.

That's why we love hearing from you about how we're doing. You are the reason why the 2 of us run this newsletter. We want to deliver exactly what you want. 

Because we receive 100s of emails these days, we can't personally answer all the messages but we do read every single one. 

After our last newsletter, we received several great suggestions for future newsletter topics, and we want to encourage you to write us about your ideas. 

If you have a suggestion for us, just hit "Reply," type in what you want to learn more about, and hit "Send." That's it!

Happy Growing!

Nebula and Sirius

P.S. Stay tuned for next Sunday's newsletter article, as suggested by you:

• Next week: Marijuana Yields and CO2

P.P.S. Seriously, just hit the "Reply" button in your email program, type in a growing topic, and hit the "Send" button. 

We can't wait to hear what you want to learn more about!

Comments by growers on Master Kush seeds by Nirvana:

"I got a little over an ounce dried per plant in a cabinet under 400w HPS, one of my favorites from Nirvana."

"Really stealth plant! These girls don't smell a lot so u can grow them with no worry of five O. I veg them 6 weeks 18/6 lights and they grow really well in SCROG and then I switch 12/12 and flowered them 9 weeks. I got all around really good buds! This was my first grow so cant really compare this to other strains yet, but It was really easy to grow and I would recommend it for beginners!"

"Master Kush is the true winner in my collection. Very natural smooth smoke with perfectly shaped all body buzz. Buds grow dense and fat, quite a huge yielder. Super quality seeds."

See Nirvana Master Kush plants in action!

Hello,

Nutrients in their original bottles are good for months, however you don't want to pre-mix your nutrient water more than 24 hours ahead of time or you may start growing mold, algae, and bad bacteria in the water which can harm your plants.

If you must store pre-mixed nutrient water for more than 24 hours, buy an air pump and  air stone to constantly mix / oxygenate the water and prevent bad stuff from growing. 

With constant oxygenation from an air pump and air stone, you can keep pre-mixed nutrient water for up to a week.

An air pump and air stone  can be found online, at hydroponic stores or at fish/aquarium stores.

As far as pH, the most important thing to remember is you are trying to achieve the desired pH at the roots of your plant. This allows them to absorb nutrients. If the pH is too high or low near the roots, the plants will start showing nutrient deficiencies even if the nutrients are there.

So to answer your 2nd question, you always want to check and adjust the pH of water right before you water your plants.

That means you always check/adjust pH AFTER you've added nutrients or supplements, and after any major amount of time has passed. You should know the exact pH of the water going into your plants.

If you're growing in soil or a soilless medium, also check the pH of the runoff water coming out the bottom. If this is too high or low, you'll know that the pH at the roots is wrong, even if the water you put in was the right pH. When this happens, flush the plant with plain pH'ed water and try again.

When everything is good, the pH of the water going in should be about the same as the pH of the water coming out. If it's not matching up, you likely have extra nutrient salt buildup in the soil that's affecting the pH, which is why it's recommended to give your plants a flush and wash that buildup away.

In soil, your pH at the roots should be between 6.0 - 7.0 (anything in that range is okay).

If growing in hydro or a soilless medium like coco coir / perlite, then the pH at the roots should range between 5.5 - 6.5.

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Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial, Legal, or any other kind of Advice. The contributors to this magazine grow legally under their local laws. If you cannot legally grow where you live, we DO NOT recommend that you start growing marijuana, as you can be arrested, put in prison, or worse! 

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