what changes have YOU made and seen the biggest improvement in quality?

My first hydro grow was dwc and I got about 4 oz off a sour ak and bagseed in 2 gallon buckets and two 150w hps with cooltube and 4" inline fan.

I'm debating a 4 plant organic soil grow in an indoor 24x48 tent 6-7 ft high 400w mh/hps or another dwc. I know I want to try ghs super lemon haze, ho blue dream, and g13 white widow... not sure what to get for plant 4... something indica. Maybe 2 dwc and 2 organic. We'll see.

I take my time mixing my nutrients. I dilute each nutrient in 5 gal buckets as I add it to my res. Trying to avoid lock out. I do this as a posed to pouring concentrated nutrients into my res. I was guilty of this for a while. I also dilute my pH down instead of dropping it right into the res. Especially running beneficials. pretty sure a concentrated drop will kill benys on contact.

Using fluroscent lighting to flower with. that's the ticket!

I find that I can produce a more potent, taster, better looking product with fluro lights in flowering cycle, then with any type of HID lighting.

You might want to check one of my videos on the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7EhvM2doww&feature=plcp

Super soil, EWC's , mixed spectrum, mollasas, cooler temps=frosty buds, running fans when it is dark, CO2, Less = more, 3 days of dark before harvest, letting the plants FADE.

BUdbuddysmile said:

I take my time mixing my nutrients. I dilute each nutrient in 5 gal buckets as I add it to my res. Trying to avoid lock out. I do this as a posed to pouring concentrated nutrients into my res. I was guilty of this for a while. I also dilute my pH down instead of dropping it right into the res. Especially running beneficials. pretty sure a concentrated drop will kill benys on contact.

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I learned the hard way also my friend lol. Bet them babies are acting way better the way you do it now. Mine sure like it much better (steadily adding in my nute mix into the rez)

sheik yerbouti said:

- +1 for defoliating. Took me quite a few grows and losing out on some good yields to really see the difference what taking the fan leaves off can do. Really lets the lower buds thicken up and become nice useable nugs. I don't post much but I tried to chime in on a conversation about removing fan leaves on this site and the amount of people that roasted me for saying it made my crops better was pretty funny. I'm not re posting articles or some bs I found on the internet I'm saying I've done it and got better yields, somehow that's not good enough.

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At what point should I remove fan leaves? Is there a point when it is too late to remove the leaves? Do I remove all of them? I have a lot of under growth and while I have done a good job of tying them up so that they get more light, I can see how removing fan leaves can be beneficial. Especially if it won't do harm to the plant.

firsttimegrow1 said:

so if i use the stuff designed for tomatoes like the feed and feeding guidlines ill get good healthy plant matter ( nice healthy plants no stress )

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AS much dissing as you see about it. I know plenty of growers who have used nothing but miracle-gro soil and tomato ferts and grow good ass weed.

....not as good as fat organic sticky dank ass straight up living dirt grown weed though.

those shake and feed ferts worked so well on my maters this year that i am tempted to try them on a plant or two this winter. my maters were from seed and looked rather yellow and slow growing until i added those shake and feed ferts. after? i had more maters than the ducks and chickens could even take care of.

flyer81 said:

At what point should I remove fan leaves? Is there a point when it is too late to remove the leaves? Do I remove all of them? I have a lot of under growth and while I have done a good job of tying them up so that they get more light, I can see how removing fan leaves can be beneficial. Especially if it won't do harm to the plant.

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Its definitely a sensitive topic, but for me I like to chop out much of the undergrowth small stem stuff that will only produce airy bud anyway and I usually remove most fan leaves except the top layer just before flipping to flower and then in week four. Then I just sorta take fan leaves off as I feel, if its too big and shady or starting to yellow. I feel it's quite strain and style dependent so a nice happy medium of leaving good fan leaves and getting air and light to the lower buds and such. It makes all the difference in the lower nugs. I find my cola's are the same whether fan leafing or not but the lower nugs just seem to harden off and get fuller when I fan leaf.

1) I notice my plants are now always budding at a faster rate with tucking large fan leaves on the heavy indicas, as well as sativa doms too so the buds get more light. I never pulled fan leaves off they are obviously there for a reason to enhance growth/photosynthesis was always my assumption.

2) Increasing air circulation in room.

3) lowering my temps during flowering

4) Following RIU members advice kiss-ass haha

True story. The RIU advice part.

Stop using Ph drops and getting a Ph pen

Less=more. Growing smaller numbers of plants instead of packing them into grow room= bigger plants with bigger buds, less maintenance, more attention paid to each plant, less money spent on supplies.

Foliar feeding

Low Stress Training (LST). Topping and fimming and bending branches horizontally so each node gets sufficient light.

Self watering containers for soil/coco (Eco pots, Tomato Barrel, Auto pots, etc.)

Digital timers for lights and water pumps

Josepi7 said:

Stop using Ph drops and getting a Ph pen

Less=more. Growing smaller numbers of plants instead of packing them into grow room= bigger plants with bigger buds, less maintenance, more attention paid to each plant, less money spent on supplies.

Foliar feeding

Low Stress Training (LST). Topping and fimming and bending branches horizontally so each node gets sufficient light.

Self watering containers for soil/coco (Eco pots, Tomato Barrel, Auto pots, etc.)

Digital timers for lights and water pumps

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Good job on getting rid of the drops. I did the same thing. Glad I did too!

So on that note I guess I'll throw in...spending good coin on high quality gear!

beenthere said:

With all due respect, have you experimented with it?
You are absolutely correct about it triggering a strong hormonal change but the part about the florigen levels stabilizing as soon as the 12/12 cycle starts, I might have to disagree with you on this.

When I start my 12/12 cycle with 48hrs of uninterrupted darkness, it's more to reduce stretching than to jump start flowering, I should have added in my post that I also turn the lights completely out for another 24hrs right after week one.

But hey if it doesn't sound good to you, no worries bro, it's pretty simple, don't do it.

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the surge of florigen is what causes the stretch...so in your scenario it would induce more stretch not limit it

cannawizard said:

can someone point in the direction of published data -- where specific hormones/florigen from dark photo periods help reduce stretching in cannabis sativa strains? not here to argue about anyone's opinion, just trying to see if there is any scientific study done to lend to that notion.

*i'm currently reading this http://www.plantcell.org/content/18/8/1783.full (its on "florigen")

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florigen is a hypothesis...no one has identified what they are as of yet

I know someone said it before but ppm meters are clutch. They really allow the guess work to be taken out of fertilizing, which is where a lot of mistakes are made. I'm also on my first organic grow and I've noticed its significantly easier than chemical, which i have been doing for years. With chemicals the nutes instantly hit the plant, making burn very easy. I feel that deficiencies are also more common in chemical grows because the nutrients are sucked up faster than proper watering allows. WIth organic grows the nutrients are slowly absorbed, making burn more difficult and ensuring a steady supply of nutrients

cannawizard said:

--i was under the assumption that it wasn't the purple spectrum (ultra violet) that degraded THC+ but the visible spectrum (blue/red/green) of sunlight.. ?

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moreso the blue...also of interest is uv stimulates all the same thing as blue light with the sole exception of photosynthesizing...some suspect it even is used as is uv in the synthesis of thc from the precursor canabinoids

legallyflying said:

So on that note I guess I'll throw in...spending good coin on high quality gear!

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Seriously, the more you invest, the better your return. Yeah we all can't start at krondizzel status, but, everyone strives to get there.

It's not so much the coin you spend, but the quality of the gear.

Kite High said:

moreso the blue...also of interest is uv stimulates all the same thing as blue light with the sole exception of photosynthesizing...some suspect it even is used as is uv in the synthesis of thc from the precursor canabinoids

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Wait... let me get this straight... are you saying blue light spectrum degrades THC?