Pineapple Express Grow Problem – What Is Wrong and How To Help.

In a previous post, we mentioned helping a grower who had over-fertilized their Pineapple Express Autoflowering plant. By flushing the soil with plain, room-temperature water, we managed to get the “nutrient burn” under control, and the plant seemed on the way to recovery. Well, we got another call that the plant was not looking well, and this is what we found:

Nutrient-burned and Overheated Pineapple Express Plant

[Writer Glenn Panik’s “How To Grow Cannabis At Home: A Guide To Indoor Medical Marijuana Growing”, is available on iBooks here, for the Amazon Kindle or via Smashwords here. You can also order the ‘stealth title’ of our information-packed ebook for the Kindle here.]

Perhaps you’re here reading this post because this looks familiar to you? The crispy-taco shaped leaves, and general plant malaise?

What is the problem, and how can you save your poor plant?

Well, although this plant had suffered from over-fertilization early in the grow, we advised the home farmer to stick to a plain water diet. This helped, but after flowering was well underway, the current “rolled-up leaves” problem started.

The cause is overheating. The plant was placed too close to the grow lamp, and the intense heat was literally broiling the tips of the leaves. The plant’s reaction is to “roll up” the leaves in an attempt to conserve moisture and avoid the direct heat radiation from the lamp.

The cure is simple – back off the lamp by 8 inches or more, and allow the plant time to recover. Use your hand to gauge the heat. Can you hold your hand 4 inches from the lamp? If it feels hot to your hand, it will burn the leaves! After the plant has time to recover, you can bring the lamp in a couple more inches for more effective light use, but be sure to check back often and see how the plant reacts.

Additionally, be sure that you have proper ventilation for your grow room – even if you back off the light source, heat can build up quickly if you do not have adequate ventilation. This also changes with ambient temperatures – if the weather brings a spike in air temperature, be sure to monitor your grow room temperatures. You don’t need complicated gear with thermometers and alarms – just reach in and feel what’s up. Marijuana does not require tropical temperatures! Although there are varieties that do well in the tropics, Indica and Ruderalis varieties (and therefore many autoflowering varieties with their traits) prefer things on the cool side. Simply adding a small fan to aid air circulation in your grow room is often enough.

The Pineapple Express plant will survive, but will not be a particularly abundant producer.

Growing your own marijuana can be a challenge, but with care and the proper knowledge, you can produce buds the first time around that look more like this healthy, juicy bud the size of a beer bottle:

Prost!

-Glenn Panik

[If you’re having problems with your grow and need help, or would like to get it right the first time, then pick up Glenn Panik’s “How To Grow Cannabis At Home: A Guide To Indoor Medical Marijuana Growing” – Available on iTunes here, for the Amazon Kindle or via Smashwords (for all E-Reader Formats, PDF included) here. You can also order the ‘stealth title’ of our information-packed ebook for the Kindle here.]