Do all my plants foxtail because..?

[sourpickle]

After a year and a half of searching, this thread is what I needed. Things are going to improve from here on out. I have a Malawi gold that looks just like the first of the five pics. Long fox tails and curled under dark green leaves. Now I understand.

Thank you icmag friends.

Also, the talk about high N and high humidity making foxtails makes since in nature. Too much rain makes more N and high humidity so greater chance of mold. So foxtailing could be a high humidity defense.

 

[VerdantGreen]

lots of good info here, all i would say is that sometimes foxtails are actually the proper expression of a plant.

VG

 

[Tela]

Sour is notorious for foxtailing. It's so sensitive the last 3 weeks.

 

[ThaiBliss]

Sour is notorious for foxtailing. It's so sensitive the last 3 weeks.

Greetings,

There have been some really good posts here by some talented growers, and most of the reasons for foxtailing have been covered. I did skim through it all quickly, but I think one important reason may have been missed, so I'll include it in my list of reasons for foxtailing. I prefer sativa leaning strains, and I try to grow for highest potency. I don't care about volume or bag appeal, but I have noticed that my grows with less foxtailing are also more potent.

1.) Nutrients are too high, especially nitrogen. I believe you get better potency and less foxtailing with low nutrients. I see lots of talented growers in these forums, but IMHO, almost all use too much fertilizer.

2.) Temperatures are too high. I have found that my best grows, potency wise, are in the winter, when I can control temperature more easily. I also get less foxtailing then. If I could control temps perfectly, I'd shoot for a range of 40 degrees during dark cycle, and 70 degrees during light cycle. Let me reiterate, I am not growing for high production, but for high potency.

3.) Humidity is too high. Actually, I'm not too sure about this one. I like to run at about 60%, but that is mainly for pest control. I guess I'm only mentioning it because I thought I read that someone had their room completely sealed up, without intake or exhaust. Must be using CO2 injection. This may have an effect, but I have very little experience with it. I would say that I have never heard of no air exchange, even with an injector. If my understanding is correct about the setup, then I think this is flawed, but at a minimum, a monster sized de-humidifier would be essential. Plants transpire a lot of water. I would also let your plants get dry between watering cycles. Roots need a lot of air to be healthy, and healthy roots make healthy potent plants.

4.) Incorrect light cycle for the strain that you are growing. I believe this may not have been mentioned previously. If the strains that you are growing have sativa in the genetics, and almost all of us grow strains that do, then it may help to progressively reduce light hours and increase dark hours. Most strains can tolerate a basic 12 hours light and 12 hours dark cycle throughout the flowering phase. However, I have found that the more sativa in the genetics, the more it is beneficial to gradually reduce the light cycle. This will definitely decrease foxtailing, and also reduce overall ripening time. I would stress that you should not take this too far, because I believe that potency and quality of the high can be negatively affected if the strain is not given an appropriately long flowering and ripening time. For my more sativa leaning grows, I start out at 11 hours 45 minutes of light, and 12 hours and 15 minutes of dark. After about a month or two, I reduce down to 11:30/12:30 for 2 or 3 weeks. Then finish off at 11/13 for 2 or three weeks, depending on the strains overall ripening time requirements.

Happy Growing,

ThaiBliss

 

[shaggyballs]

This may not be the case but i over used triacontanol and had madd foxtails......but some strains are more susceptible to it than others!!

Even safe doses of triacontanol can foxtail in some strains!!!

 

[ozza]

never dried between waterings...here's her exclusive tails homie!
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]View Image[/FONT]

that looks sick, cool.

 

[Silent Echo]

Major Foxtailing

Major Foxtailing

Growing Aurora (Northern Lights x Afghani) and ALL the new buds were foxtails. Average humidity 36%, average temp 75%, diluting Foxfarm nutes by 50% of recommended, plain Ph adjusted purified H2o every other watering. Can someone tell me if foxtailing is indicative to this strain? And, if the plant matures this way until harvest, what's the down side? Will it be less potent? MANY thanks!

 

[Silent Echo]

Awesome! Thank you!

 

[FlowerFarmer]

EDIT - just realized this is a really old thread, but here is my experience none the less. Anyone else having intensity issues with adjust a wings I'd like if you've managed to resolve it playing with the socket height adjustment and wing spread.


Avalon,

Are you experiencing this under all types of reflectors? I've recently started playing with some large Adjust-A-Wings and getting a lot of fox-tailing around the perimeter of my footprints.

Temps are kept in check, but the large A-wings give me really intense zones off from the center of footprint. I've been running in the wide position with the socket dropped all the way down. Going to play around with adjusting the socket upwards to see if I can eliminate the issue.

This was with a strain notorious for being a little foxtaily if things run a little warm, but I've discussed with another poster running multiple reflectors and was not pleased with the results from his adjust a wing section. I fail to believe that the reflector is junk as it's one of the only units sold internationally so hopefully tweaking the bulb height and spread shows improvement.

 

[vostok]

Hey there folks. I have a hypothesis .. Are the flowers elongating in order to protect themselves from mold?
Thanks for checking out the thread and have a nice day, would ya.

Sorry dude ...not a chance, first please define your idea of fox tailing..? second make your grow space bigger, or install an efficient extract system

 

[FlowerFarmer]

old thread, but OP is running a sealed environment w/ co2 supplementation and is no stranger to proper room builds.

I believe that some cultivars just don't like the 80-85F temps despite the co2 supplementation. I'd maintain a day temp of 76-77F or so and see if that improves anything.

My mentor so to speak has also warned against too low of temps during the night cycle. A lot of people accept the mid 60s as being ideal, but with certain varieties (more sativa dominant phenotypes) I've been told to maintain warmer night temps and keep the differential as tight as possible. Say 70-72F night temps with 76-78F day temps.


Vostok, OPs pics of his foxtailing are in post #23.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5646364&postcount=23


I also agree with VG that sometimes foxtails are perfectly normal and a natural expression of that cultivar.

 

[genedigger]

ive seen outdoor plants foxtail,it seems to be a genetic thing as well as enviroment.

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

never dried between waterings...here's her exclusive tails homie!
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]View Image[/FONT]

Ty for posting this you just answered a question of mine, and prevented me from making a little mistake.

 

[ChasingGreen]

Can someone explain with images what exactly foxtailing is?

 

[genedigger]

look at a pic of dr grinspoon

 

[inreplyavalon]

Can someone explain with images what exactly foxtailing is?

this thread is filled with pics of foxtailing.

 

[stihgnobevoli]

only time i see foxtails are.

a.)too much nitrogen too long
b.)too hot
c.)genetics

it's usually some combination of a or b.

 

[Bongstar420]

Hey there folks. I have a hypothesis and hope you more knowledgeable IC members can give me some free schooling

All strains i grow end up foxtailing to some degree. Even ones that would not for most growers. Is this because of the ever present 65%+ Relative Humidity in my room? Are the flowers elongating in order to protect themselves from mold?

The only part of my room that is not dialed is the humidity level. I can't get the humidity below 60% ever during lights out in flower. The expensive santa fe dehumidifier i bought a few years back could never do the job, just have too much plant matter in too small an area. I installed a 10 inch max fan to exhaust during lights out, but the condensation was causing issues and i had to ditch it. If i thought a better dehumidifier could solve the issue, i would consider purchasing one. When i grow sours and such they become a major pain in the ass to trim, and their appearance is altered due to all the foxtailing. By the way, whats the proper scientific name for said foxtailing? I'll read up on google once i know that!

Thanks for checking out the thread and have a nice day, would ya.

Lots of sativa genes in a high IR environment.

I don't see foxtails on cuts that don't foxtail even under really high IR.

The only thing you can do if you want to keep your cuts is use lots of blue light and take the hit on yield...there are growth hormones, but thats not for our business since we are legitimate people not looking for easy wins