Cannabis and nutrient burning ? how to fix it ? What is it ?

Nutrient burn occurs in Marihuana plants when the grower provides them with more nutrients than they can metabolise. Fortunately, plants will recover if you act quickly. Check out our solutions for nutrient burn below.

Marihuana and nutrient burning – what causes it?

Nutrient burn occurs when a grower provides too many nutrients to marihuana plants – usually the result of human error. A grower may feed their plants too strong a mix, allow the soil to dry out or overuse flowering enhancers or growth promoters.

Too strong nutritional mixtures

One of the most common causes of nutrient burn is that the nutrient mixture is fed too hot to the plants. This means that the total dissolved solids (TDS) of the mixture is too high. You can check the TDS of the nutrient mixture with a PPM meter. An inexperienced grower may think that feeding high levels of nutrients will make the plants grow bigger. However, this is not true – in fact the opposite is true. Nutrient burn often occurs when a grower uses packaged inorganic nutrients. Natural solutions such as bat guano, compost or earthworm castings are much gentler on the soil and plants, but just as effective

Soil desiccation

Plants take up nutrients dissolved in water. However, if the water dries out, the plants lose their ability to take up nutrients. Instead, the nutrients crystallise around the plant’s root system. This can cause an increase in TDS in the soil, leading to the plant burning nutrients. For this reason, it is important to prevent the soil from drying out and to follow a regular watering schedule.

Excessive use of flowering enhancers

This is another common mistake made by novice growers. Common sense tells you that if you inflate your bloom booster plants, they should have huge flowers, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Bloom boosters are rich in phosphorus and potassium – two nutrients that are crucial for plants in the flowering phase. However, both of these minerals have a very high TDS and can quickly cause plants to experience nutrient deficiencies during flowering. Therefore, always follow the instructions on the label carefully so as not to overdo the amount of boosters.

Overuse of growth promoters

Growth stimulators are similar to flowering stimulators, but are intended for young, vegetative plants. Instead of a high potassium and phosphorus content, growth stimulators have a high nitrogen content. Although young plants are usually more resilient than older plants, they can still succumb to over-fertilisation. Often, overuse of growth stimulants can lead to nitrogen toxicity, causing the leaves of your cannabis plants to turn dark green and curl downwards instead of upwards.

How do I determine nutrient burn?

There are two main stages of nutrient burn, each with its own symptoms. As the problem develops, different symptoms begin to appear which indicate that the plants are in danger. In addition, nutrient burn symptoms can easily be confused with other problems, leading to misdiagnosis.

Nutritive burns – symptoms

For inexperienced growers, the early signs of nutrient burning may not be obvious. Initially, the leaves of the plants will turn green, except for the tips, which will be bright yellow. The leaf tips of your cannabis plants will also curl. As your marihuana plants grow, the yellowed, curling leaves will start to die and your flowers will start to turn yellow or brown.

Final Thoughts – Act Before It’s Too Late

Although over-fertilisation of marihuana plants may not be a major problem, it can quickly get out of hand. However, if you remain vigilant and water generously at the first sign of over-fertilisation, your plants should return to full health in a relatively short time.

Take a look at our cannabis seeds we have both autoflowering and feminized varieties and you will also find CBD variants.