First harvest: Airy buds

[Maer]

I wonder what it was... In the beginning of flower I had T5 side lights that stressed out the plants. I guess I overnuted a bit also, and my genetics were shitty also, I don't know if I;m allowed to say the seed company but I found them on google before I knew much about growing. My temps got up to 85 some days but mostly had that under control.

I just wondering what the biggest factor was... Maybe it's not possible to figure that out for sure.

 

[Captain Kronic]

Re: First harvest: Airy buds

I feel your pain brue... believe me I do!
It sounds like you have most of the answer but, maybe also you had a light leak, or I understand that high dark time temps can do that too.

Look at it this way, you have something to smoke to hold you over till your nest harvest and best of all... you know a hell of a lot more than you did the first time... am I right or what.

 

[Crookedfinger]

Hell ya! Captain. Some is better than none.

 

[chronicBJJ]

I think the biggest issue with Airy buds is heat. It would be best to cool the room down as much as you can, if you're already exhausting as much as you can, I found a quick tip that I used to do during hot summer times.

I would freeze a 2 gallon jug of water and keep them in the grow room, it would last for about 2 days and I would have it on a rotation with another jug in the fridge while one is in the grow room. Gently have a small fan blowing on it to cool the area.

Also, you can move the lights further away and try something like a flower hardener such as Humboldt's Own Gravity.

 

[Thew1sest]

Proximity of the lights, the light color spectrum, and strain genetics play a part in "fluffy buds". You have to narrow it down though. First read up on proper lighting, or find out how you could/can improve your current setup. Adding CFL's with the T5 could help. After your lights are in swing, make sure your air flow in your growing space is adequate enough to provide ample circulation.

After lights and ventilation is done. Look at some of the seedbanks who are sponsors here, there's more than enough members who have (and swear by) certain seedbanks. They're great to ask how certain strains grow etc. Good genetics is something that will only boost your growing yield potential. So lighting ventilation and proper genetics.

Can you post other specs so we can get a better understanding of what you're working with and trouble shoot your dilemma? Such as medium used, nutrients used, and dosage for that matter, temps, humidity, and all around basic info.

 

[G-Dog]

85 degrees is not That hot. Outside they would see that temperature regularly in most places that produce supreme outdoor bud.

Poor genetics are bad, and getting the right one is Job One if you ask me. Get seeds or clones from a reliable source so that you know what you are getting. I know you can grow great weed from bag seed, but if you buy well worked genetics you can at least rule that out as the main culprit. Typically if you buy a ten pack of seeds you will have one female in the batch that will be all that and you will want to make her a mother for future use.

I do not know how your side lighting stressed your plants from your description.

The biggest reasons that I know of for airy buds are 1. genetics or 2. lighting intensity. If you get good genes you can rule that out. Many folks say you can't use fluorescent lights in the flower cycle because they are not intense enough to make compact buds. If you have intense lighting (HID) you could lack intensity from the lights being too far away.

Growing plants and becoming good at it is a journey. Minimize risk and soon you can make some bud that will be the envy of all your friends. The best bud is home grown for so many reasons, but to me the best reason is so you know what you are ingesting.

 

[The303Stoner]

maybe you picked your buds early. buds beef up when the plant getting ready to die your plants branches should be hanging with big buds covered with sticky resin. Most of your leaves should have changed color on their own depending on the stain. Your tricombs should be solid white with some amber tops, under a microscope.

 

[Maer]

Yea I did wait for cloudy tricombs. This is the way I see it, my temps were about 85 deg lights on day, i know I over nuted them (full strength nutes), I stressed them with side lights that burnt the leaves in the beginning of flower, had shit genetics, let the soil dry out too much, and those are just the things I can think of now that I did wrong. The humidity was too low in veg and too high in flower 60-70 in flower (springtime) and 30 in veg. So any or all of that is what did it. Oh, and they got pollinated, light dose but still.

 

[The303Stoner]

my nyc diesel has had white tricombs for a month they are just turning amber and my buds are still crowning its most likely the strain. If you gave them too much nutes early in in flower it should have gave you a boost after the toxic levels go down the pant could uptake the nutes unless you flushed it all out. Too dry can be an issue but if your flushing good your soil would be wet at the end of harvest. if you hit 8wks. of flowering and flush the net time you go in the grow room and the buds are popping white pistols every where the next watering is a feeding big time. Just keep growing I grew Nyc Diesel two times Before I got them to get me arm sized kolas. Feed your plants grow base and a bloomer in flower and what ever else you can hit them with. Most of the seed company strains can eat like pigs and grow like weeds Its not worth time and effort to grow swag always start with good genetics.

 

[datrippp]

Well, dont worry to much, Its probably a mix of all the things mentioned,add to thatin experience, and learning curves and airy buds aint to bad.lol It took me a couple grows of fluffy airy buds to, Now my buds are super dense, and super sticky and they average about twice the size as they used to. But its all a learning curve. I was just happy to have actually grown my own and not have to pay for it. lol.. Keep going, youll get it down to the brass tax before u know it..

 

[Hogdady]

imho...9 times outta 10 airy buds are insufficient light...more light during flower and molasses equals dense buds!

 

[Maer]

Well I used 2x 180W Advanced LED and 14 2ft T5HO I hope that would be enough light for 2'X6', but this time I did add a 3rd 180W LED. We also left all the lower branches on, so that stole energy from all the buds.

Is it possible to have too much air circulation? We run our 185CFM fan at full because it is quieter, but is it too much airflow for 2x6x6?

 

[G-Dog]

With Fluorescent and LED lighting you have to have your lights very close to the buds. I use CFLs and I can dangle my lights right into the plant, between the buds and still they are not as compact as when you use a HID (MH or HPS).

 

[Maer]

When my t5HO were touching the plant the plants burnt, the LED also burns plants.

 

[G-Dog]

You don't want them touching, of course, but as close as possible. With my method of using CFLs I can dangle them into the plant to get all through and side coverage on the buds. With a fixed LED or Fluorescent fixture you don't have that option. You can only get close to the top of the canopy, and that means you don't get to put side coverage on even the top buds.

In my personal opinion LEDs and Fixed Fluorescent Fixtures are not for flowering. I have seen side by side studies and always wondered if they were legit. Light intensity has a by product, which is heat. Heat takes power. In an electrical circuit heat is represented as wasted power.

 

[Maer]

Stevehuman did a all led grow got great returns, there are LED comparison grows on this site which is what led me to buy them, we will see this time around when I have a lot of other things under control.

Stevehman's 780W LED - DIY 4 in PVC Recirc - Caramlicious Grow