Bud not to growing to full potential, hit and miss

[JamesOaceO]

Here's my dilemma: I have 5 or 6 grows under my belt now but my bud seems to always be turning out a little harsh or not tasty and sometimes too compact. Some plants have been fine and been a little sweeter, but most have been dark greenish and just a harsher smoke. I think I am messing up the last few weeks leading up to harvest.

Here is my setup and what I have been using:

• Two 4x4 tents; one for veg, one for flower
• Veg tent: 1500w full-spectrum LED, running 18 hours light on, 6 hours off, small fan running during lights on
• Flower tent: 1000w full-spectrum LED & 400w HPS, running 12 hours lights on, 12 hours off (both tents are light proof), fan running 24/7
• Fox Farms Happy Frog soil
• 7-gal. fabric pots
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Grow for vegging
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Bloom for flower
• General Hydroponics Liquid Kool Bloom
• General Hydroponics Cal/Mag
• General Hydroponics pH down
• General Hydroponics NovaClear (flushing agent)
• Seeds used are all bought from a single, reputable seed bank in the Netherlands

I follow the GH recommended feeding schedule reduced in half.

About half way through flower, some plants will get brown leaves that turn to yellow then fall off. Some plants stay a darker green or the same green as veg and get brown spots. These usually produce the denser and kinda metallic (?) tasting buds. I've had only 5 plants out of about 30 give me results that I was truly satisfied with. Sometimes the leaves start curl up and die. Sometimes the stems turn really purple, well, a lot of the time. I try to combat this by using more liquid kool bloom. I always pH my tap water down to 6.0-6.2 range from my tap's 7.7ish range after I mix any nutes, if feeding. I water using a 2-liter bottle with a few holes in the cap with the water coming from a city tap into a large can that sits out more than 24 hours before being used. I reduce nutes 2 weeks before harvest and I flush one week before harvest, using plain tap water the last week only, no pH down.

I harvest my bud when the trichs are a mix of amber and cloudy. I wet trim, then hang to dry in a 30-40% humidity, dark area with good air flow. Once dried, final trim then into clean mason jars, with burping and checking for moisture the first few days, then sealing and putting in dark space for 2 months, with occasional burp and shake up.

I know I'm doing something to cause the same type of taste, look, and smell in numerous strains. Maybe overnuting? What about the purple stems? Isnt that lack of phosphorus? Metallic, not real good end taste?

I would LOVE to grow in a medium where I didn't have to add nutes or at least have something that was truly organic that would last from seed to harvest without needing a ton of nutrient attention.

Suggestions? Comments? Please help! Thank you.

 

[BigDannel]

Here's my dilemma: I have 5 or 6 grows under my belt now but my bud seems to always be turning out a little harsh or not tasty and sometimes too compact. Some plants have been fine and been a little sweeter, but most have been dark greenish and just a harsher smoke. I think I am messing up the last few weeks leading up to harvest.

Here is my setup and what I have been using:

• Two 4x4 tents; one for veg, one for flower
• Veg tent: 1500w full-spectrum LED, running 18 hours light on, 6 hours off, small fan running during lights on
• Flower tent: 1000w full-spectrum LED & 400w HPS, running 12 hours lights on, 12 hours off (both tents are light proof), fan running 24/7
• Fox Farms Happy Frog soil
• 7-gal. fabric pots
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Grow for vegging
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Bloom for flower
• General Hydroponics Liquid Kool Bloom
• General Hydroponics Cal/Mag
• General Hydroponics pH down
• General Hydroponics NovaClear (flushing agent)
• Seeds used are all bought from a single, reputable seed bank in the Netherlands

I follow the GH recommended feeding schedule reduced in half.

About half way through flower, some plants will get brown leaves that turn to yellow then fall off. Some plants stay a darker green or the same green as veg and get brown spots. These usually produce the denser and kinda metallic (?) tasting buds. I've had only 5 plants out of about 30 give me results that I was truly satisfied with. Sometimes the leaves start curl up and die. Sometimes the stems turn really purple, well, a lot of the time. I try to combat this by using more liquid kool bloom. I always pH my tap water down to 6.0-6.2 range from my tap's 7.7ish range after I mix any nutes, if feeding. I water using a 2-liter bottle with a few holes in the cap with the water coming from a city tap into a large can that sits out more than 24 hours before being used. I reduce nutes 2 weeks before harvest and I flush one week before harvest, using plain tap water the last week only, no pH down.

I harvest my bud when the trichs are a mix of amber and cloudy. I wet trim, then hang to dry in a 30-40% humidity, dark area with good air flow. Once dried, final trim then into clean mason jars, with burping and checking for moisture the first few days, then sealing and putting in dark space for 2 months, with occasional burp and shake up.

I know I'm doing something to cause the same type of taste, look, and smell in numerous strains. Maybe overnuting? What about the purple stems? Isnt that lack of phosphorus? Metallic, not real good end taste?

I would LOVE to grow in a medium where I didn't have to add nutes or at least have something that was truly organic that would last from seed to harvest without needing a ton of nutrient attention.

Suggestions? Comments? Please help! Thank you.

I'm sure better advice will follow mine, but I just wanted to say that I've always used FFOF with their line of nutrients and once I stopped over-feeding and watering them, I haven't had any issues. I don't use the whole 12 part lineup, I use Big Bloom, Grow Big and Tiger Bloom and in the past have added in Beastie Bloomz and Cha-Ching at the end. I have some Open Sesame coming this week so I'll try that out this time as well.

The FFOF soil is "hotter" than the Happy Frog so you won't have to add as many nutrients. When I started off, I was watering a lot of pure H2O in addition to feeding them, caused major over-watering and probably some ph issues. Now I just feed them and it's more than enough water, I also followed @Emilya's awesome guide here on how to correctly water a plant and make sure to let them dry out each time in between.

My other thought it that your pH is close to the low side and may be preventing the plants from getting all the nutrients they need. My tap water is about 7.4 and after nutes it's down to around 6.3, I don't add anything additional to bring it down any more. This may be a stupid question on my part so please don't be insulted, it seems like you have everything dialed in but sometimes the obvious can be missed... did you make sure you're using the nutrient line up for soil and not hydro? That would certainly cause major issues! Like I said I know the experts will come in and help more but I hope this gave you some idea of how the FFOF and their nutrient line up has worked for me.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Order some Mega Crop & make things easy on yourself. I use FFOF & Mega Crop only. No pH-ing, No Flushing, etc. Mix it in a gallon of water & feed. That's all I use.

 

[Emilya Green]

Here's my dilemma: I have 5 or 6 grows under my belt now but my bud seems to always be turning out a little harsh or not tasty and sometimes too compact. Some plants have been fine and been a little sweeter, but most have been dark greenish and just a harsher smoke. I think I am messing up the last few weeks leading up to harvest.

Here is my setup and what I have been using:

• Two 4x4 tents; one for veg, one for flower
• Veg tent: 1500w full-spectrum LED, running 18 hours light on, 6 hours off, small fan running during lights on
• Flower tent: 1000w full-spectrum LED & 400w HPS, running 12 hours lights on, 12 hours off (both tents are light proof), fan running 24/7
• Fox Farms Happy Frog soil
• 7-gal. fabric pots
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Grow for vegging
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Bloom for flower
• General Hydroponics Liquid Kool Bloom
• General Hydroponics Cal/Mag
• General Hydroponics pH down
• General Hydroponics NovaClear (flushing agent)
• Seeds used are all bought from a single, reputable seed bank in the Netherlands

I follow the GH recommended feeding schedule reduced in half.

About half way through flower, some plants will get brown leaves that turn to yellow then fall off. Some plants stay a darker green or the same green as veg and get brown spots. These usually produce the denser and kinda metallic (?) tasting buds. I've had only 5 plants out of about 30 give me results that I was truly satisfied with. Sometimes the leaves start curl up and die. Sometimes the stems turn really purple, well, a lot of the time. I try to combat this by using more liquid kool bloom. I always pH my tap water down to 6.0-6.2 range from my tap's 7.7ish range after I mix any nutes, if feeding. I water using a 2-liter bottle with a few holes in the cap with the water coming from a city tap into a large can that sits out more than 24 hours before being used. I reduce nutes 2 weeks before harvest and I flush one week before harvest, using plain tap water the last week only, no pH down.

I harvest my bud when the trichs are a mix of amber and cloudy. I wet trim, then hang to dry in a 30-40% humidity, dark area with good air flow. Once dried, final trim then into clean mason jars, with burping and checking for moisture the first few days, then sealing and putting in dark space for 2 months, with occasional burp and shake up.

I know I'm doing something to cause the same type of taste, look, and smell in numerous strains. Maybe overnuting? What about the purple stems? Isnt that lack of phosphorus? Metallic, not real good end taste?

I would LOVE to grow in a medium where I didn't have to add nutes or at least have something that was truly organic that would last from seed to harvest without needing a ton of nutrient attention.

Suggestions? Comments? Please help! Thank you.

I would like to suggest organic gardening for you, and get away from the particular taste that comes from certain lines of nutes.
From your descriptions of a typical grow I would suggest that you are not correctly meeting the nutritional needs of the plants in your nute program and the deficiencies you are getting as well as how that shapes the taste profile in the end, probably has a lot to do with nutrition.

You can get into organic growing surprisingly easy these days. Buy enough SuperSoil out on the internet to fill the bottom third of each of your containers as you up-pot through the grow. Instead of the weak Happy Frog that was originally intended to start seedlings in, get some of the premier product, Ocean Forest, and use it for the top 2/3 of all of your containers as you up-pot to your final container.
Next, get some microbial infusion product, such as RealGrower's Recharge, URB or Voodoo Juice, and there are now others, both in liquid and (inexpensive) powder form. These microbes will be your worker bees... and they will feed your plants for you, exactly the nutrients that your plants call for. All you will have to do is add good water and you won't even have to worry about adjusting pH. After the grow, throw all your trimmings and stems and roots in a bin with some more of the Ocean Forest soil, and it will all compost together and reenergize the soil so that you can use it over and over and over again.
Or, if you wish to change the taste of your pot, change your nute line. Whether it is learning a new system and adjusting to it, or changing the nutes themselves, you do tend to get a bit different of a product.

Good luck!

 

[Justin Goody]

Order some Mega Crop & make things easy on yourself. I use FFOF & Mega Crop only. No pH-ing, No Flushing, etc. Mix it in a gallon of water & feed. That's all I use.

I used FoxFarm for years. Mega crop has been a life saver in easing my stress about feeding. Anyone having problems with using 10-12 different thing to grow should get a free bag and Just try it once. Hard to go back now, it’s just too easy.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I used FoxFarm for years. Mega crop has been a life saver in easing my stress about feeding. Anyone having problems with using 10-12 different thing to grow should get a free bag and Just try it once. Hard to go back now, it’s just too easy.

I totally agree. And I got some of my best harvests yet using it.

 

[Sugarleaf84]

Here's my dilemma: I have 5 or 6 grows under my belt now but my bud seems to always be turning out a little harsh or not tasty and sometimes too compact. Some plants have been fine and been a little sweeter, but most have been dark greenish and just a harsher smoke. I think I am messing up the last few weeks leading up to harvest.

Here is my setup and what I have been using:

• Two 4x4 tents; one for veg, one for flower
• Veg tent: 1500w full-spectrum LED, running 18 hours light on, 6 hours off, small fan running during lights on
• Flower tent: 1000w full-spectrum LED & 400w HPS, running 12 hours lights on, 12 hours off (both tents are light proof), fan running 24/7
• Fox Farms Happy Frog soil
• 7-gal. fabric pots
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Grow for vegging
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Bloom for flower
• General Hydroponics Liquid Kool Bloom
• General Hydroponics Cal/Mag
• General Hydroponics pH down
• General Hydroponics NovaClear (flushing agent)
• Seeds used are all bought from a single, reputable seed bank in the Netherlands

I follow the GH recommended feeding schedule reduced in half.

About half way through flower, some plants will get brown leaves that turn to yellow then fall off. Some plants stay a darker green or the same green as veg and get brown spots. These usually produce the denser and kinda metallic (?) tasting buds. I've had only 5 plants out of about 30 give me results that I was truly satisfied with. Sometimes the leaves start curl up and die. Sometimes the stems turn really purple, well, a lot of the time. I try to combat this by using more liquid kool bloom. I always pH my tap water down to 6.0-6.2 range from my tap's 7.7ish range after I mix any nutes, if feeding. I water using a 2-liter bottle with a few holes in the cap with the water coming from a city tap into a large can that sits out more than 24 hours before being used. I reduce nutes 2 weeks before harvest and I flush one week before harvest, using plain tap water the last week only, no pH down.

I harvest my bud when the trichs are a mix of amber and cloudy. I wet trim, then hang to dry in a 30-40% humidity, dark area with good air flow. Once dried, final trim then into clean mason jars, with burping and checking for moisture the first few days, then sealing and putting in dark space for 2 months, with occasional burp and shake up.

I know I'm doing something to cause the same type of taste, look, and smell in numerous strains. Maybe overnuting? What about the purple stems? Isnt that lack of phosphorus? Metallic, not real good end taste?

I would LOVE to grow in a medium where I didn't have to add nutes or at least have something that was truly organic that would last from seed to harvest without needing a ton of nutrient attention.

Suggestions? Comments? Please help! Thank you.

Sounds like maybe there is a nutrition uptake problem. I had the same issue literally a few days before I was scheduled to flush.
I then made the decision to switch from bottled nutrients. To me it’s so easy to mess up a feeding. Do you reduce by half? When can I give full feedings? I’ve decided a switch to mega crop is in my best interest. Ordered my 20lb bag from Amazon and waiting. Should be able to start a new run by next week.
Good luck buddy. I recommend looking around the forum. You may come across a piece of advice that sticks with you.

 

[multiVortex]

MC is the deal. And soooo much easier than mixing a bunch of bottles.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Sounds like maybe there is a nutrition uptake problem. I had the same issue literally a few days before I was scheduled to flush.
I then made the decision to switch from bottled nutrients. To me it’s so easy to mess up a feeding. Do you reduce by half? When can I give full feedings? I’ve decided a switch to mega crop is in my best interest. Ordered my 20lb bag from Amazon and waiting. Should be able to start a new run by next week.
Good luck buddy. I recommend looking around the forum. You may come across a piece of advice that sticks with you.

They have it on Amazon now? I thought it was through manufacturer only. Maybe it will hit the hydro stores yet.

 

[multiVortex]

They have it on Amazon now? I thought it was through manufacturer only. Maybe it will hit the hydro stores yet.

It's been on the zon for quite a while.

From the main manufacturer website, you can also browse/buy from Canada, the UK, and the EU as well. So no customs issues.

I'm not sure it will hit hydro stores, TBH. It hits hydro stores and they won't be selling much of anything else for nutes. They all know about it, but it will cut their nute margins significantly.

I know my local store is $18.99 for just a quart bottle of the AN stuff, and it's 2 part. So that's $38 for the A&B grow, and it won't even last a full grow.

OTOH, $75 and there's 22lb of MC sitting at my door that will get me through 4 full runs in my hydro setup (although I use it across all my tents, and outdoor garden as well, but you get the idea. ) Can't beat it.

 

[Sugarleaf84]

I’m super excited to get it started! I just have to make sure to get the measurements

They have it on Amazon now? I thought it was through manufacturer only. Maybe it will hit the hydro stores yet.

Yes indeed. I got a 22lb bag of Version 2 I believe. The 9-6-17 ratio.

 

[multiVortex]

Does it have pellets in it? If so, probably v2.5; if not, v3 (started shipping around 8-May-2020.

 

[Sugarleaf84]

To be honest, I haven’t had the stones to open it yet. I haven’t had the opportunity to get to the store and get a container for it and I heard it has the aroma of fresh baby shit with undertones of vomit . I will keep an eye for pellets. I’m guessing that will be the tell tale sign.

 

[multiVortex]

When did you order it? If it was this month, it should be the new v3.

I use a rubbermaid container with a red lid. Works fine. If I were buying a container today, I’d get like 4 that add up to the big one I got. Like those ones that are like 6in square. (2qt?) Then I could divide the bag up between them, and only expose a smaller batch at one time.

Or only buy 1 of the smaller containers and vacuum seal the other parts (individually) instead.

 

[Sugarleaf84]

When did you order it? If it was this month, it should be the new v3.

I use a rubbermaid container with a red lid. Works fine. If I were buying a container today, I’d get like 4 that add up to the big one I got. Like those ones that are like 6in square. (2qt?) Then I could divide the bag up between them, and only expose a smaller batch at one time.

Or only buy 1 of the smaller containers and vacuum seal the other parts (individually) instead.

That’s not a bad idea. I have one of those in my cabinet. I was thinking of getting a black 5 gallon bucket with a screw top lid. Might pay an arm and leg for it but I will get plenty of mileage out of it.
I actually just ordered last week. I thought I heard V3 had a different NPK ratio but maybe I misunderstood. Either way, I am stoked for my next run for sure.

 

[SarahJane211]

I just use cheap chemical fertiliser ......... $5/kg or less, works fine.
All that seems to matter is the NPK values 20-10-30 for veg (same as MC), then add 0-52-34 as well for flower.

 

[multiVortex]

That’s not a bad idea. I have one of those in my cabinet. I was thinking of getting a black 5 gallon bucket with a screw top lid. Might pay an arm and leg for it but I will get plenty of mileage out of it.
I actually just ordered last week. I thought I heard V3 had a different NPK ratio but maybe I misunderstood. Either way, I am stoked for my next run for sure.

You’ll have the v3 then. No worries.

Unless you’re going through the whole 22kg bag in 6 months, skip the bucket and split it up between a few containers. In my single container I have it in, it’s starting to clump slightly. Not a big deal, I’m down to about 15% left +/- and I just shake the container every few days.

 

[Timhomegrow]

This is what you all are talking about? I just mix this with the water per manufacturers instructions and that's it? No other nutes needed? Will a 2500g bag last one grow with 4 plants?

 

[multiVortex]

Yes, that's what we're talking about.

Don't get it off the zon though. Get it straight from the manufacturers website. I can't post the link to the company in an open forum or the mods will chain and whip me, but I'll send you a PM in a few minutes with some more info.

 

[Sugarleaf84]

You’ll have the v3 then. No worries.

Unless you’re going through the whole 22kg bag in 6 months, skip the bucket and split it up between a few containers. In my single container I have it in, it’s starting to clump slightly. Not a big deal, I’m down to about 15% left +/- and I just shake the container every few days.

Yeah, I definitely won’t be going through it in six months. Something to consider for sure. I appreciate the advice. Good looking out!