When growing cannabis, you come to appreciate a good grow room setup. A bad grow room setup can cause trouble for your plants - like light burn and wind burn. Wind burn may sound peculiar, but it can affect your cannabis plants’ overall health and can negatively impact the yield. But luckily the fix is easy once you identify the root cause. This article will not only provide you with ways to correctly diagnose wind burn but will also provide you with tips to fix the issue.
What is Wind Burn?
Fans are needed in your grow room for air circulation. A light breeze slightly rustling the leaves is good for the plants, but if the fans are too strong and running too fast, it can potentially damage the leaves. It can also happen if the fans are sitting too close to the plants. Wind burn is a condition in which cannabis plants suffer damage from the direct harsh breeze or the air blowing from the fans. If the fan near the cannabis plant is blowing air harshly then the constant shaking of leaves results in them transpiring faster and drying up.
Wind burn stress can also affect the harvest as the leaves curl and desiccate, leading to a poor harvest. For an optimal yield, it is important that you quickly fix the issue.
Signs of Wind Burn
The best way to find out if your plant has wind burn is by taking a close look at the leaves. The main sign of wind burn is oddly curved leaves that look like a claw. Clawed leaves are also a symptom of other conditions like nitrogen toxicity, pest infestation, and overwatering. The way to determine if your plants indeed have wind burn is by taking a look at the leaves that are closest to the fan. If the leaves closest to the fan are clawing more than the leaves that are further from the fan, then it is an indicator that the leaves have wind burn. You may also find brown or bronze burn spots on the leaves which result from the leaves drying up. In short, look for these signs of wind burn on your cannabis plants:
Clawed or curled leaves, particularly in the leaves closest to the fan
Bronze or brown spots from desiccation
Twisted and purplish stem
Broken stems
Torn leaves
Treatment
If you were able to successfully diagnose the issue to determine it is wind burn, don't panic, this problem can easily be fixed. The key is to make some changes in your grow room when it comes to the fans or airflow. This can be done in three ways; you can either move the fans away from the plants, move the plants away from the fans, or change the fan settings to lower the speed - if you have a fan with multiple speed settings. Set your fans to oscillate if that option is available. Do not put your fans on a setting that makes your plant or its leaves significantly shake/wave. Ideally, the whole canopy or all parts of the plant should get some air in form of a gentle breeze and oscillating fans are good for that purpose. Do not point a fan directly at the plants if the fan blows air in a harsh manner. Consider buying multiple small fans instead of one big fan. If you cannot invest in small fans and your existing fan is causing wind burn, try facing it towards the wall.
You should not take the fans away entirely as they are needed to keep air from getting stagnant, for healthy transpiration and even stem strength. Here is why air circulation is important in the grow room:
It keeps mold and other pests away from your cannabis plants
It also blows away pests like fungus gnats and mites
It helps moderate the heat in the grow room
It plays a role in strengthening the stems
It prevents hot spots in the room
Having one fan above the canopy and another pushing air through the canopy blowing in the opposite direction makes a good setup. Remember, fan placement and speed settings are the key to prevent the problem from happening again. These tips will set your plants on the path to recovery and will also prevent the issue from occurring in the future.
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