Can too much nutrients harm cannabis plants?

One answer “Can too much nutrients harm cannabis plants?”

1. Yes, it is possible to add too much nutrients to cannabis plants. Too much nutrients can damage the plant, its development, and even its potency and yield. Cannabis plants require a precise balance of vital nutrients to remain healthy and develop of a high quality product. Poor nutrition creates a weaker, lower quality final product, or it can even kill the plant.

   Essentially, your plants can become nutrient-burned or “over-fertilized” when too many, or the wrong amounts, of essential nutrients are introduced. Nutrient burn usually manifests as yellow, brown, or white patchy discoloration on the leaves of your plants. The nutrient-burned areas can become weak and brittle, with leaves often dying and turning brown.

   Some telltale signs of burgeoning nutrient burn in cannabis are wilting, yellowing of new growth and the oldest growth, and curling, brown leaves. As the problem progresses, brown to black lesions might appear near the tips, along the margins, and between the veins of the plant’s leaves. As nutrient burn takes further shape, the entire cannabis plant can exhibit a yellowing or whitening of the leaves, then wilting and death. Ironically, too many of the very nutrients that help promote growth and health can just as easily be the cause of the plant’s undoing.

   The causes of nutrient burn are a combination of not enough of the essential nutrients, and sometimes having too much. Too much fertilizer can “burn” away the plant cells because of salt buildup. Nutrient burn can be caused not only by a change in the quality of the nutrient mix, or the concentration being too high, but also from application of lots of water. That being said, over-watering a cannabis plant, or giving it too much water, is also a common cause of a nutrient-overdose.

   To fix nutrient burn, cease feeding the plant nutrients and increase the pH level of the water, which helps the plant uptake nutrients somehow. If the burn is bad,it is the best way to flush any leftover nutrients from the plant’s root system. Flushing requires changing the pH of the water and flushing the soil with high-pH water, which helps to reduce the salt content in the soil.

   When caring for your cannabis plants and adding nutrients, it is important to remember that less is more. Using the right amounts of the right nutrients, both quality and quantity are important considerations. Too much of any nutrient can give your plants too much salt and risk nutrient burn, and too little can starve them for necessary elements to survive and thrive.

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