Cannabis Nutrient Burn How to Spot and Fix

Growing cannabis can be fun and rewarding. Imagine the feeling of having your garden taking care of your bids for weeks and finally harvesting it. Awesome isn’t it? The number of cannabis cultivators is rapidly increasing as cannabis has been legalized in many states and countries allowing the use of cannabis for recreational and medical purposes and also allowing growers to grow cannabis on their home.

Growing cannabis is not just a smooth journey. You need to be careful as problems like cannabis nutrient burn may arise during the growth process. In growing your bud, it is important to be aware of important details like the amount of light that your plants are exposed to the sun, plant hydration, and temperature. 

One of the things that that you might encounter while growing your cannabis garden is cannabis nutrient burn. Read on as we give discuss more cannabis nutrient burn, how to spot it, and how to fix it.

What is Cannabis Nutrient Burn?

Also known as “Nute Burn”, cannabis nutrient burn happens when there is an overabundance of nutrients that the seedling or plant may be getting. It can happen when you plant your seedling in an already rich nutrient soil which is more than what your plant should take.

The overabundance of nutrients in the plants especially in their early stages of growth is not good. Young plants just need a minimum amount of nutrients during the early phase. Nutrient burn occurs if plants or seedlings are grown directly on a very rich soil like compost, nutrient amended soil mix, or manure.

Nutrient burn is one of the common problems that beginner growers encounter. This is because they think that giving a large number of nutrients to the plant will make it healthy. Well, now we don’t need to hold on to that notion.

How to spot Cannabis Nutrient Burn?

Look closely at your plant. Do you see yellow or brown leaf tips? If you do, then your plant is suffering from a nutrient burn. Nutrient burn can be spotted if there is a yellowish or brown color on your plant’s leaves. This is caused by too-high levels of nutrients from the roots. The high amount of nutrients disrupts the flow of the water through the plant which results in the discoloration on the tips of your plant’s leaf.  

Here are the signs that your plant may be suffering from nutrient burn:

• Bending or curling tips
• The tips are bent in about 90 degrees
• Yellow sugar calyxes and leaves
• Dark green leaves with fluorescent tips
• Yellow foliage
• Browning or yellow buds
• The stalks and the branches will turn into deep red, purple, or magenta.

The symptoms of a nutrient burn will be widespread as it can affect the whole plant. Burnt tips are common and it can be fixed easily but when the yellowing intensifies you must do something about it very soon. Nutrient burn can go gradual or it can spread fast depending on the amount of over-fertilization.

What causes cannabis nutrient burn?

There is a big difference between nutrient deficiency and nutrient burn. Nutrient deficiency happens when your plant gets little nutrients while cannabis nutrient burn occurs when the seedlings or the plant is getting more nutrients than it should be getting. Here are the common causes of nutrient burn:

• Mixing strong nutrients – your plants especially the young ones are very fragile. The nutrients that you feed to your plants will affect it at all stages of its growth. Plants will also struggle if they are overfed. Make sure to check the concentration of the products that you are trying to mix for your plants. If you are not sure, ask an expert grower or your local seedling bank so they can give you the right kind of mix that your cannabis plant needs.
• Very dry soil – It is important to retain some water on your soil. Drying out the soil will keep the lower the content of the remaining fertilizer increases. Make sure that you won’t dry the soil because it can cause spike which can burn your plant’s roots.
• Overuse of bloom-boosters – Bloom-boosters is used to provide cannabis plants with a high concentration of potassium (K) and phosphorous (P). These minerals are very helpful especially in boosting your plant growth and quality of the harvest. But too much of these nutrients can also have negative effects. 
• Overuse of growth-stimulators – fertilizers are a great way of ensuring that your plant is getting the right food to grow and stay healthy but too much feeding may also leave your plant to end up stunting and it can affect its growth. 

How to Fix Cannabis Burn?

As soon as you see symptoms that your plant is suffering from a nutrient burn, take action right away. Nutrient burn is something that you, as a grower must avoid. If you notice that your bud is showing signs of nutrient burn, here’s what you need to do:

• Trim the affected area – carefully remove the affected part. You may carefully break the damaged leaf or leaves. Remove florette by tracing the calyx cluster back to their branch. 
• Flush out the nutrients – you need to water the plants to excessively with the right pH. Make sure to saturate the plants for about 15 minutes. Repeat the process to make sure that the nutrients in the soil have been runoff by water.

Preventing nutrient burn is simple. To not give your plant too many nutrients. Less is more. Make sure you have good soil, natural water, and expose your plants to enough sunshine. Cannabis growers tend to become very excited about growing their plants that they want to provide more to keep their plants healthy. That is not the case. Avoid overfeeding your plant to prevent cannabis nutrient burn.

It is important to know the content of the material you have and how is it compatible with your seeds or plant. If you have no idea, ask an expert grower or check if what you have is what your plant needs.

In general, too much of something is not good. It holds in avoiding and preventing cannabis nutrient burn. Don’t get too excited and do not rush your plant’s growth process. Growing cannabis should be a fun experience, make it right so you will have a rewarding growing journey.