Buds always light/airy/ fluffy...help!

David Ferguson said:

Thank you.

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Welcome. Btw I'm not saying go out and go nuts buying lights. Use what you have and learn while you save up. After you get a grip with how things work then yes, maybe think about another light. For now use what you have and learn with that.
Like I said bud, it takes time. You seem off to a good start! Just need to figure a few things out and learn, learn, learn. Every run will be better than the last as long as you can figure out what's going on.

StareCase said:

Agreed! You find out that hard way that the marketing by these manufacturers is total BS. One 600 W "equivalent" LED is not 600 watts and they don't have 3' x 3' coverage - 2' x 2' max. Had I have known earlier ...

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Hey, have you watched that documentary on Netflix? It's called staircase. Saw your name and it reminded me of it. It's a good watch, very interesting stuff.

StareCase said:

Agreed! You find out that hard way that the marketing by these manufacturers is total BS. One 600 W "equivalent" LED is not 600 watts and they don't have 3' x 3' coverage - 2' x 2' max. Had I have known earlier ...

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Yes and it pisses me off beyond belief. I had not grown in over 10 years. When I decided to grow again alot of things changed. I was going to go out and go nuts buying all of this shit. I decided to come here and look/ask around before I did buy anything. I'm happy I did & didnt fall victim to the bullshit.

David Ferguson said:

Only circulate BUT with the tent door open, it probably "escapes" some too. Should there be 1 fan outside of tent and 2 inside, perhaps?
The reason it's open is because of room temps during summer. During winter, it's good temps with door open. Not sure on closed, never tried.
Does the humidity escape due to open door negatively affect the structure too, due to low/escaping humidity?

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You're loosing alot of light keeping the tent open. That will also contribute to fluff a nuggs.

SoMe_EfFin_MasS_HoLe said:

Hey, have you watched that documentary on Netflix? It's called staircase. Saw your name and it reminded me of it. It's a good watch, very interesting stuff.

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Heard of it ... but I haven't given it a watch. Another friend recently recommended it so I think it's going on the 2019 binge-watch list.

Starecase comes a nickname given to me from an old acquaintance. When I first started smoking many years ago, I would just stare for a few minutes while the weed took effect. And it just stuck.

StareCase said:

Heard of it ... but I haven't given it a watch. Another friend recently recommended it so I think it's going on the 2019 binge-watch list.

Starecase comes a nickname given to me from an old acquaintance. When I first started smoking many years ago, I would just stare for a few minutes while the weed took effect. And it just stuck.

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Lmao funny stuff. You will like it, it's about 10- 1 hour episodes but it's worth the time.

You should have plenty of light for that small of a space, just get your lights closer. 12 inches is the peak performance range on any light source. Look up the Inverse square law. They farther away your lights are, the less light your getting exponentially.

For the record, my 1000hps and it cooling fan only cost $30 a month to run, and I keep it 12-14 inches from my canopy to maximize what my plants get.

I'm also an advocate for as much light as possible btw. If you can add more to get more coverage and get your lights closer to get more peneration you'd be in a great boat.

Improve air exchange so your plants have more available CO2.

You should also consider some training options(lst, scrog) to maximize your canopy to allow more effective use of your light you have.

Very importantly is letting your plants actually finish maturing. The last 2 weeks of growth, most plants stop making new calyxs and begin to fatten up and swell. I've watched my plants get heavier the last 2 weeks and the buds swell.

From the pictures you posted, your plants look like they should have nice medium density buds(rock hard buds aren't always better). If you let them finish another few weeks next time I bet you would be much happier with the end results.

New guys have a tendancy to count flower time from the minute they flip to 12/12, and then cutting the plants as soon as they get to 7,8,9 weeks. Thats a big part of what causes people to cut to early. Plants don't start flowering until you see flowers start to form. Then most plants take 8-10 weeks to properly mature from that point.

David Ferguson said:

Well....if that's HONEST, then I appreciate it! What can I do to improve on this, IYO?

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You said all your fans are in the tent and you leave the door open does that mean you don't have an exhaust fan? Better lights would help improve gpw

There's a lot of ways to get from point A to point B - low cost energy and amazing buds. If you're willing to build your own LED light, I would suggest that. There's plenty of people that would guide you the right way on what LED light works best for you.

The results I've seen from blurple or inexpensive led lights is sub-par to low grade buds. Only way to really see what the lights you have are producing is to use a meter at the wall to measure watts being used, and get a cheap lumens meter for a baseline measure. If you have someone that has par meter micromol sensor($200-500), then you can tell exactly what the light is producing at your canopy height. Then you can adjust the light height accordingly so that you don't harm the plants and find the "sweet spot." Lux/lumens meter are cheap $10-25 each and can be used to measure lumens from the light. Only thing is is good for is to tell what the lumens are at any given height so you can adjust the light accordingly. It's a baseline test.

I've built my own LED light and just finished a trial run with it. The results were amazing. I've always grown with HPS for the last 12-13 years and I didn't think LED could perform as good or better than HPS/CMH, etc. Here's the link to my trial run and the led build I did. https://www.rollitup.org/t/samsung-h-influx-l09-strip-led-light-grow-proof-in-the-pudding.981706/#post-14651803

Someone complained on a post few days back about how they had went from a 5 gal container, to a 3.5 gal and noticed that the same strain was producing airy lighter buds in the smaller container, so you might look into what container size you're working with, and if there's a problem there maybe try to find more of a custom sized container for your grow.

StareCase said:

Heard of it ... but I haven't given it a watch. Another friend recently recommended it so I think it's going on the 2019 binge-watch list.

Starecase comes a nickname given to me from an old acquaintance. When I first started smoking many years ago, I would just stare for a few minutes while the weed took effect. And it just stuck.

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That documentary is awesome....and nickname even BETTER!

Thundercat said:

You should have plenty of light for that small of a space, just get your lights closer. 12 inches is the peak performance range on any light source. Look up the Inverse square law. They farther away your lights are, the less light your getting exponentially. For the record, my 1000hps and it cooling fan only cost $30 a month to run.

I'm also an advocate for as much light as possible btw. If you can add more to get more coverage and get your lights closer to get more peneration you'd be in a great boat.

Improve air exchange so your plants have more available CO2.

You should also consider some training options(lst, scrog) to maximize your canopy to allow more effective use of your light you have.

Very importantly is letting your plants actually finish maturing. The last 2 weeks of growth, most plants stop making new calyxs and begin to fatten up and swell. I've watched my plants get heavier the last 2 weeks and the buds swell.

From the pictures you posted, your plants look like they should have nice medium density buds(rock hard buds aren't always better). If you let them finish another few weeks next time I bet you would be much happier with the end results.

New guys have a tendancy to count flower time from the minute they flip to 12/12, and then cutting the plants as soon as they get to 7,8,9 weeks. Thats a big part of what causes people to cut to early. Plants don't start flowering until you see flowers start to form. Then most plants take 8-10 weeks to properly mature from that point.

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Thank you...definitely have closed my door (3 fans still running inside), lights closer, etc.
As far as CO2....how to achieve that? Do I have to buy manufactured CO2 stuff, or what?
For heat- would it benefit me to add (more?) Silica?
For maturing plants. No problem letting them go longer to finish. Done! My question is- when do I stop adding notes? When to flush? Great advice btw.
Lighting question- in veg 24 hours a day? Bloom 12/12? Or a better lighting regimen?

David Ferguson said:

Thank you...definitely have closed my door (3 fans still running inside), lights closer, etc.
As far as CO2....how to achieve that? Do I have to buy manufactured CO2 stuff, or what?
For heat- would it benefit me to add (more?) Silica?
For maturing plants. No problem letting them go longer to finish. Done! My question is- when do I stop adding notes? When to flush? Great advice btw.
Lighting question- in veg 24 hours a day? Bloom 12/12? Or a better lighting regimen?

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1.co2- you can get plenty of co2 for this size grow from the environment around. You need to get air from the circulating in and out of the tent. The fresh air you pull in from outside the tent will have co2 in it for the plants. Fresh air exchange is what this is called, and its very important. Most people put a carbon filter on the exhaust air that blows back into the room to prevent smells. The intake side a shouldn't need one.

2.heat-good fresh air exchange will help drastically with heat to start with. Moving the hot air out of the top of the tent and pulling cooler air from the room outside in the bottom. Then if you cool (or heat if needed) the outer room it can help control temps even more .

3.Nutes-this is a highly debated topic, and I usually suggest trying different things yourself to see what you prefer. Personally I've tried lots of methods over the last 13 years, and I feed till the day I harvest. I also don't feed heavy to start with. I give the plants what they want to be healthy and don't try to give them any more. I have tried flushing, and reducing feed near finish. Frankly once I learned how to dry properly I never saw a difference with flushed or not. The last 2 weeks of flower are when the plant is swelling up and putting on lots of weight. I personally hate to starve my plant during that time.

4.lighting- also highly discussed, and I've tried a bunch of stuff. I usually run 18/6 during veg, I like the idea of giving the plants some rest time. I also noticed more stretch during veg when running longer light cycles. I do mean stretch as well, as in distance between nodes. The plants would produce the same number of nodes, but farther apart, and that's not what I was looking for.

I've tried some different light cycles in flower as well. For many years I just ran 12/12 because I've never noticed a drastic different in growth in the things I tried. However the last few years I've been running 13 dark, 11 light in hopes to trigger a faster flower from higher auxin counts. I'm not gonna say its made a drastic difference, just another thing I'm playing with. I've read qoutes from breeders that talk about getting optimum growth from non 12/12 cycles, but they didn't say exactly what they used.....

Thundercat said:

1.co2- you can get plenty of co2 for this size grow from the environment around. You need to get air from the circulating in and out of the tent. The fresh air you pull in from outside the tent will have co2 in it for the plants. Fresh air exchange is what this is called, and its very important. Most people put a carbon filter on the exhaust air that blows back into the room to prevent smells. The intake side a shouldn't need one.

2.heat-good fresh air exchange will help drastically with heat to start with. Moving the hot air out of the top of the tent and pulling cooler air from the room outside in the bottom. Then if you cool (or heat if needed) the outer room it can help control temps even more .

3.Nutes-this is a highly debated topic, and I usually suggest trying different things yourself to see what you prefer. Personally I've tried lots of methods over the last 13 years, and I feed till the day I harvest. I also don't feed heavy to start with. I give the plants what they want to be healthy and don't try to give them any more. I have tried flushing, and reducing feed near finish. Frankly once I learned how to dry properly I never saw a difference with flushed or not. The last 2 weeks of flower are when the plant is swelling up and putting on lots of weight. I personally hate to starve my plant during that time.

4.lighting- also highly discussed, and I've tried a bunch of stuff. I usually run 18/6 during veg, I like the idea of giving the plants some rest time. I also noticed more stretch during veg when running longer light cycles. I do mean stretch as well, as in distance between nodes. The plants would produce the same number of nodes, but farther apart, and that's not what I was looking for.

I've tried some different light cycles in flower as well. For many years I just ran 12/12 because I've never noticed a drastic different in growth in the things I tried. However the last few years I've been running 13 dark, 11 light in hopes to trigger a faster flower from higher auxin counts. I'm not gonna say its made a drastic difference, just another thing I'm playing with. I've read qoutes from breeders that talk about getting optimum growth from non 12/12 cycles, but they didn't say exactly what they used.....

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^^ what he said

If you're only growing those couple plants at a time, I'd shove them both under the one larger light. There is a lot of empty space.. filler up!

And you've learned your first big lesson.. U gotta let them hoes finish

I will mention again. I am a fan of more light is better. If I could I would build a room with 360 LED coverage to really max out the plants. Maybe even with a vertically hung HID in the middle for some extra punch. And the plants would be on slowly spinning plant movers so they took total advantage of it all. There was a awesome grower on here many years ago before he passed away. He built a similar room but with floros instead of leds. It was amazing, he pulled weight of beautiful buds.

I don't currently run side lighting, but I've seen the benefit in others grows. Adding more light to a plant where it's not getting light currently is almost always a good thing.

I also understand being limited on space(I started growing under a bathroom sink, and in an attic, then moved to a closet before I got a realish room). I only run one flower light because my wife doesn't want to risk running anymore or getting any bigger since I grow underground. So I get where your coming from here .

David Ferguson said:

Some white, some orange. At least 99% "curled".

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Sorry I missed the pics until now, but that's why I wanted to see them. Im sure a few folks will have mentioned it but yeah a good few weeks short of been ready in those pics.
The hairs fully recede after turning colour and the buds really swell and stack most of the weight on at that point. That's the point to look at the trichs
It will be why your not getting dense buds.
Looking at them they have the potential to be real solid if you had of waited.
Its easy done when your not used to it and looking at the plants from first few weeks of flower to a few weeks before the end its easy to think they are done.

Just stick with it david. Next run you will see the difference!