Indica/sativa grow preferences?

[Whipit]

I have had very good success with several sativas, over the past couple of years - thanks to everyone here! I have not had success with several indica attempts. The product was always low in yield and quality.

I have just germinated six Anesthesia F1 seeds and the plants are very healthy. If I need to do something different, I need to know while the small plants are still in some rock wool cubes. I have always grown in DWC. Do indica dominant plants do better in dirt, or have I just run into a few bad runs in my previous indica attempts? I have had some sativas that did not do well, so I am hoping that I can stay with the method that I am comfortable with and don't have to switch up for good indica results.

I usually veg for a couple of months and get nice, compact bushes under an 8 tube fluorescent fixture and then under a 1K HPS 12/12 until very sticky. I've had good luck with the Ionic products, so I have never changed my nutrient mixtures. Should my lighting schedule be different? I've always given all of my plants about 18 hours of light per day during veg.

I have seemed to run into a lot of strange problems during this learning curve, so I'm hoping that this will be the year that I find a nice indica. I decided to take the shotgun approach. Not all indica, but dominant, so maybe. KO Kush is getting cracked in a couple of weeks, Jackberry X KO Kush four weeks later and Herijuana a month after that. I'm determined. One should work! Just funny that I found several great sativas right off the bat and struggle with the indicas. Maybe I missed something and the folks here can save me again. I'd rather be called a knucklehead than do all of the coming work for nothing! All I know is hydro. I'd have to start from scratch if I need to change up, but I have a quest. Thanks!

 

[grow_right]

i am a total indica freak!! all i will grow. what were the issues with the indica's you grew?

 

[supermanlives]

i grow both . never had any issues . sativas are prob harder to grow as they flower alot longer.

 

[DevilWeedSeeds]

Always have to keep an eye on height with sativas, you can run out of room fast during flowering stretch.

 

[Whipit]

OK, I'm going to chalk it up to bad luck.

I can grow sativas. If I can grow these Indicas in DWC and get good quality and yield by doing the same thing that I have always done, I must have just had bad runs.

I'm really happy to hear that I don't need to change anything. Thanks again.

 

[Incognegro]

LMFAO!

If you can grow sats and not have an issue but can't grow indy's you've got some bad mojo or something going on lol

Each growing style has it's perks/pros/cons...as do Indy's / Sats.
DWC is by far IMHO the easiest hydro method and should fare well for indys...indys' esp over sats due the growth...

Maybe you just had a bad batch of beans?

To ME, and maybe only to me, but sats tend to grow on there own... some require very little to get effective results, and some even prefer that. Whereas with indys you're not gonna get away with neglecting them, and not babying them lol. I've grown sats that only needed to be fed 4times in it's entire life, try that shit with indys... you'll be starting new seeds real quick.

Re-evaluate your grow...maybe you changed something and didn't catch it? Bad batch of nutes? Ph screwy? Virus? lol..just tossing out ideas...

 

[s00thsayer]

What indica strains did you have trouble with? I've found that indica strains like northern lights, maple leaf indica, hash plant, ortega, chronic, big bang, like fertilizers with twice the amount of nitrogen to phosphorus and will run into nurient lockout if given too much phosphorus in veg while most other indicas I've grown like kushes prefer higher amounts of phosphorus but will do ok on a high N formula too.

 

[Whipit]

Whereas with indys you're not gonna get away with neglecting them, and not babying them lol.

Re-evaluate your grow...maybe you changed something and didn't catch it? Bad batch of nutes? Ph screwy? Virus? lol..just tossing out ideas...

Good advice. I guess if I had easy growing sativas and treated the indica the same way, they would have problems, then. I will watch these closely. It never hurts to try to improve, anyway.

I have tried Northern Lights and several others. Aurora produced big buds, but they were airy and not potent. Maybe I do have to look at my nutrients, too.

So far, these look healthy. I planted them 19 days ago and had to put them in buckets, yesterday. I'm just going to concentrate on these strains and see what happens. I have enough sativa cured to keep me from using time and space on anything but a couple of sativa mothers.

Thanks to all.

 

[SouthernSativa]

I believe my name says it all.

 

[Iraklis]

For me is sativa time

 

[Whipit]

But, I've been there. I need to learn more. I've probably made a quarter pound of bubble hash from my sativa trimmings and immature buds. My sativa colas make beer cans look small and I can't grow an indica.

 

[Whipit]

Maybe Anesthesia will be my lucky indica. This is the best out of six. Germinated 3 weeks tomorrow. About 3.5 inches and healthy.

 

[Whipit]

OK - it's a month since my last post on this.

I moved the plants into my flowering room, along with two of my sativas for my "control group". The sativas started to flower just after two of my six indica plants showed that they were males. The female indicas started flower a few days later. Everything looked good, with the exception that the indicas got some nute burn, while the sativa controls did not.

My system is simple bubble buckets on a slab tile floor in a cold climate. Res temps run in the mid - 60s 24/7. The sativas are doing great. I've changed nutes every 7 - 10 days on all 6 plants. About two weeks ago I noticed that the roots on the indica just didn't look healthy and the solution had a lot of particles and was cloudy. Three of my four indica still look healthy, but one is wilting. The solution is clear in the control group. I used FloraKleen between nute changes because of the cloudy solution and roots just not looking great. The new nute solution gets cloudy, with some fairly large particles, within 24 hours. I reduced the nutes by half for the indicas because of the burn and the EC is running around 1600 now. I use Hard Water Ionic products and have to use pH down frequently. My well water comes out at 7.0 - 7.2, so I start with lowering the pH.

I am starting to think that I need beneficial bacteria. I use bleach and rinse everything between uses. I wonder if this is "slime" or cyanobacteria. Has anyone seen this with bubble buckets and indicas, or do I possibly have some strong/resistant sativas that battle this with their mighty roots???? If so, how do the sativas keep the solution clear?

From what I read, if this is what I think it is, the crap is in my well water. I'd sure rather go with good bacteria if I can, rather than boiling my damn water. Does this look like what I think it is and what should I do about it?

The plant in trouble is front left. One shot of good sativa roots and one with bad indica roots. If this should go into a sick plant thread, sorry for posting here. I still don't think I'll get indica buds, but the sativas are just fine. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!