Loving Your Plants to Death: Three Common Ways MMJ Growers Over Do It
Too Much TLC Can Equal Less THC! 
Medical marijuana gardeners love their plants by providing them with light, nutrients, CO2, water and the tender care they need to thrive. There are times, however, that too much “love” can cause more harm than good in a medical marijuana garden.
Beware Of Over-Watering Your Medical Marijuana
Probably the most common mistake made by novice soil gardeners is overwatering. New growers do not want to deprive their plants, so they continually water them until, to their surprise, their plants become sickly.
What many growers don’t realize is that a plant’s roots need oxygen as much as they need water and nutrients. If the soil stays saturated there is no room for oxygen and this leaves the medium open to a number of anaerobic organisms. Anaerobic organisms thrive in oxygen depleted environments and are detrimental to root growth and the ability for proper nutrient uptake. Pythium (root rot) is the most common pathogen that plagues overwatered soil containers.
A moisture meter is a good investment for novice soil growers and will help determine when a plant needs water. In my opinion, the best method is to physically lift the soil container. A huge difference can be felt in a container that needs water compared to one that does not.
Over-Fertilizing Your Crop Can Be Worse Than Under-Fertilizing
A very common problem for novice and experienced growers is over-fertilization. Many times growers want to push their plants to the highest level of performance so they increase nutrient levels in order to “drive” their gardens to bigger yields. Unfortunately, this creates the opposite effect that the grower is looking for.
Over-fertilization causes immense stress which is hard for plants to recover from and usually results in a substantial loss in yield. TDS or PPM meters offer growers a way to test the concentration of their nutrients and are a good tool for growers of any experience level.
Paying close attention to your plants is my preferred method in catching a nutrient overdose before it becomes detrimental. If the very tips of the fan leaves on a medical marijuana plant are becoming yellow or brown it is a good indication that the maximum nutrient levels have been reached. If the discoloration starts to creep up the side of the leaf or the “saw blade,” then the nutrient solution should be reduced.
The best treatment for over-fertilized plants is reducing nutrient concentration (half-strength) and raising the lights a foot higher off the plant canopy for a few days. This allows the plant to “heal” without being pushed by intense lighting or high nutrient concentration.
Over-Lighting Can Literally Burn Your Medical Marijuana Plants
High intensity discharge lighting has immense radiant heat. When a plant canopy is too close to this radiant heat it can burn, causing a scorched effect on the top flower sites. Plants bleaching out (turn white on top) is another good sign that the light intensity is too great and the lights should be raised slightly. The sweet-spot for indoor lighting is as close to the light source as you can be without scorching or bleaching the tops of the plants.
Sometimes it is best to hold back some of that “love” when you see stress in your plants so they can make a solid recovery. We all want a full fledged high performance garden at all times, but in the case of stressed plants, less is definitely more.
