# Fan leaves yellowing late in flower while buds keep ripening: likely causes and fixes

> Fan leaves yellowing late in flower while buds keep ripening on cannabis is most often Normal late-flower fade (senescence). How to tell them apart, the fix for each and what recovery looks like.

Also called: fade, autumn colours, leaves yellowing near harvest, fan leaves dying week 7, senescence.

Run the checker with this sign: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diagnose/?at=old&s=late-flower-fade

## Likely causes, most likely first

### Normal late-flower fade (senescence) (Likely)

- Kind: Normal ageing; urgency: Low urgency
- Fix: Nothing to fix in the last 2-3 weeks of flower. Keep feeding at stage strength with N tapered; don't 'flush' (pre-harvest flushing starves the plant while it packs on final weight and resin, and controlled studies show no quality gain). Fade before week 5-6 of flower suggests N was cut too early.
- Recovery: Buds keep swelling and ripening normally while fan leaves fade.
- Confirm: Measure runoff EC against input EC: Water to 10-20% runoff, collect the runoff in a clean cup and measure EC of both with a calibrated meter (1.413 mS/cm standard). Runoff more than ~0.5 mS/cm above input means salt build-up; well below input means the plant is hungry or you are over-leaching. In hydro, compare reservoir EC with the EC you mixed.
- Article: [Yellowing lower leaves on cannabis: a differential](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diagnosis/yellowing-lower-leaves.md)

## Note

Guidance, not a guarantee. The checker weighs common causes against what you tell it; confirm with the tests before you treat, change one thing at a time and watch the new growth.