"fall colors" at end of grow... mostly genetics or other causes?

[Humanrob]

I've always appreciated plants that turn beautiful colors towards the end of the grow. In the years I grew photos, maybe 25% would put out really vivid colors, most stayed green through finish (unless it was cold, and then they might lean purple/dark red). I'm still adapting to autos needs, and in my current small run I've got six plants and almost all have gone full color spectrum by the end of the 8th week. I'm wondering if this is something autos are more likely to do, or if this is more of an environment issue?

thanks for sharing your knowledge

 

[nizmoKush]

This is grown organically and usually my grows always fade nicely. Past rounds have faded nicely.
This is SSSC black lebanon no cold temps mostly 80s

 

[Humanrob]

This is grown organically and usually my grows always fade nicely. Past rounds have faded nicely.
This is SSSC black lebanon no cold temps mostly 80sView attachment 1406029

Beautiful plants! That's going to be a great harvest.

 

[nizmoKush]

Beautiful plants! That's going to be a great harvest.

thanks man And definitely it’s gonna be a great one the smells are amazing. Berries and some else

 

[Humanrob]

thanks man And definitely it’s gonna be a great one the smells are amazing. Berries and some else

Mine is a grow for samples, so it's six smaller plants, all different strains, four different breeders. The overall smell is potent, but I really have to get in there and stick my nose in each one to pick apart their individual contributions.

I'm not as focused a grower as I used to be. To that end, they all get the exact same treatment -- soil, nutes, even the amount of water they get. Some will do better than others, and that's just the way it goes, and I'm OK with it. It's the same way we plant our veggie garden every spring -- over-plant, give them food and care, and then whatever does well, does well.

I am curious about global environmental impacts though, for instance, it would be very easy to turn up the exhaust fan and run the tent a few degrees cooler (it's currently between 79-83º) if that would slow down what I'm feeling like is almost premature aging. I'm only running the lights at 19 hours, nothing too extreme. I can also alter my soil set up, but I'm not sure if that has impact on how quickly they fade. I guess that's my primary concern, I feel as though these are starting to fade too early in the grow.

This run:
RocBud
-Magic Cookies
-Purple Rolex
Mephisto
-Sour Stomper
-CDLC x Skywalker (first freebie I'm trying)
Dutch Passion
-Cindy Jack
Fast Buds
-Jack Herer

Started with two that didn't pop, Night Owl's Spotless Mind and DP Brooklyn Sunrise. Will try them again another time.

 

[fryge]

it's both genetics and environment.

if you grow outdoor, you'll notice the enviromental part a lot. in autumn as the nights are getting chillier, suddenly a lot of plants will develop some slight purple. for example the edges of the little leaves sticking out of the bud, or the growing tips.
and some plants will turn fully dark purple too, given some cold and at the end of their life.
but meanwhile in that same cold weather you'll see some plants that stay fully green (although ime, the vast majority of plants does at least get a little bit of purple in the growing tips as the nights get chilly).

also in veg you'll see it as you put plants outdoors in spring when nights are still a bit cold, you'll see the purple in the vegging growth tip.

but not every purple is the same. some will turn purple no matter the weather.
for example in one of my lines I found a specific purpleing that shows up even in the plants I have right now in the windowsill for the next generation of seeds (i.e. indoor warmth). but this is a pretty specific purple: seems to inherit in a co-dominant way, as in f1's it still shows itself but not as fully purple, in an f1 it looks more red (which I actually like the most, looks-wise), and shows up as a coloring on the calyxes mostly.
but, most interesting imo, it also turns the seed coat purple. in ripe, dry seeds it's not that noticable (they just look very dark), but if you scratch open the calyx on an unripe seed it is purple instead of green.
so it's pretty different from the different kinds of purple I have seen before in other lines.

sunlight can also influence it btw, one of my lines has some capacity to turn it's stem red/purple. as a young plant the stem will still be green, as it ages the older parts of the stem get a reddish tone, but interestingly you can see in the red/purple coloration where the sun is shining.
the side facing the sun will get the purple color, while the side facing away from the sun will stay green. likewise the upside of the petioles will turn red, but the underside will stay green.

 

[The Bedroom Gardener UK]

I find it depends on the plant. I grow a lot of purple plants, which go the coloured way. Cold also turns the leaf, but you have to watch that if the low temps are prolonged.

Nice plants btw.

 

[Humanrob]

Lights have been on 19/5, during which the temps have been in the low 80's. 'Lights off' the temps never go below 68º, so I really don't think low temps are the cause. I did mistakenly put my light at 400w when I meant to have it at 300w, and it was like that for a long time before I caught it, like most of the flowering part of the grow. It never bleached the top leaves the way too much light can do, but I don't know if that had any impact on leaves turning. After discovering it, I turned it down and raised it a bit.

During the last week and for the rest of the run I kicked the fan up a notch, moving the temps down to around 76º. Even if the colors might look pretty, the plants look stressed to me. I think over the next couple of weeks I'll be at least harvesting the tops. Since it's a dense run and since I have one Dutch Passion plant that has many weeks left to go, I'll probably do a staggered harvest and cut the main buds while the lower parts of the plants get some light and mature some more.

 

[420autoflower]

I’m growing in a garage with less than perfect conditions. I know temps got below 68 a few nights.

 

[Humanrob]

I’m growing in a garage with less than perfect conditions. I know temps got below 68 a few nights.

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Nice looking grow! Your SOG turned into a SOC (sea of color)! What size tent and bags are those?

Your cola development looks great, have you been trimming them much? Normally I would have trimmed mine to let more light into the lower branches, but with the leaves turning I felt like the plants were using that energy so I didn't want to deny them that in case they needed it. That might be my misunderstanding of how things work, but it's what I was going on.