Too many bud sites = airy buds?

[olekingkole]

I use Roots potting soil and like most commercial potting soils it contains perlite to lighten it and increase aeration. If you are concerned about a lack of aeration, you can add more perlite. However, that isn't really necessary. Just let the soil dry out sufficiently between watering so that air replaces the departing moisture. I accomplish this by watering every other day. Its not necessary to fertilize every watering, because nutrients bond to the ingredients in the potting soil and release gradually. If you feel the plants need more nutrient you can always top dress once or twice. If are watering every four days, your plants are probably getting about the right amount of fertilizer. However, you may not be getting as much oxygen to the roots as you would if your pots were drying out faster so that you could water every 2 or 3 days. For that you need lots of healthy roots. Root development slows down when stretch ends, so you are pretty much stuck with the roots you have now. Your plants look good, so just keep watering every 4 days this time. I don't see any sign of nutrient burn on your leaves that would indicate excess fertilizer build-up and a need to flush, but you could flush one or two and see if it makes a difference.

 

[Zarezhu]

Hey brotha,you're looking real good. And your wpsf is excellent as long as your canopy doesn't get very warm. Indicas tend to only need 50, so with 85, your (it appears) indica heavy hybrids will get FAT and DENSE. And with the 1000w, you'll have great canopy penetration, so you won't need to prune much. I would, however, prune what is necessary off the bottoms (10-50%). Just so you get more flow under the screen, and keep those dense dense buds from molding. With a thick dense indica canopy, you need FANS FANS FANS.

Another thing, in a case like this, it's better to have your light a good distance from the canopy. At minimum, 24 inches. You'll get better penetration through those thick colas, lower canopy temperatures, and bud quality will IMPROVE.

I'm in a similar situation, only with coco. I have 6 3g pots of coco per 1000w. I overvegged, prune the bottom vigorously, stuck the light as high as it will go, and I STILL need to run my lights at 75% power every few days to keep the canopy from getting too much light. As soon as I dim to 75%, they gain a much deeper color.

Also, IMO, In a crowded canopy, It's better to have a higher amount of FAT STEM colas, and to prune away the skinny's. . That's what great about a slight overveg. You can prune the bottom waste away, and your fat colas will love it.

ALL of this is assuming you have a 1000w and a dehumidifier/many fans!

 

[Zarezhu]

And you'll never know for sure if it's better for you to have bloomed them 2 weeks earlier, until you try it another time. Each strain takes dailing, in regards to pot size, nutrient demands, canopy density, temps/rh. Once you run the same strain 3-5x in a perfect environment, you should have all of those key factors dialed, and only then you will know. You will not only know, you wlll know exactly WHY as well. It's why it's important to stick to a strain or two for a while if you want 100% perfection, harvest after harvest, year after year.

 

[Zarezhu]

And, being in soil is another good reason to be able to crowd your canopy slightly more than usual. It's just slightly slower in general, so you won't get as much post-flip stretch/growth as in other similar sized plants in hydroponic media..

 

[ChenBenTz]

Hey brotha,you're looking real good. And your wpsf is excellent as long as your canopy doesn't get very warm. Indicas tend to only need 50, so with 85, your (it appears) indica heavy hybrids will get FAT and DENSE. And with the 1000w, you'll have great canopy penetration, so you won't need to prune much. I would, however, prune what is necessary off the bottoms (10-50%). Just so you get more flow under the screen, and keep those dense dense buds from molding. With a thick dense indica canopy, you need FANS FANS FANS.

Another thing, in a case like this, it's better to have your light a good distance from the canopy. At minimum, 24 inches. You'll get better penetration through those thick colas, lower canopy temperatures, and bud quality will IMPROVE.

I'm in a similar situation, only with coco. I have 6 3g pots of coco per 1000w. I overvegged, prune the bottom vigorously, stuck the light as high as it will go, and I STILL need to run my lights at 75% power every few days to keep the canopy from getting too much light. As soon as I dim to 75%, they gain a much deeper color.

Also, IMO, In a crowded canopy, It's better to have a higher amount of FAT STEM colas, and to prune away the skinny's. . That's what great about a slight overveg. You can prune the bottom waste away, and your fat colas will love it.

ALL of this is assuming you have a 1000w and a dehumidifier/many fans!

Thanks for the input!

I figured out that running a fan under the light cools it down significantly. That way, at 12" away the temps are only 22C, which is quite astounding.

I'm not sure if I should pull the lights up higher.. I guess I'll tell come harvest as the buds further away from the light will be bigger.

I did trim everything below the screen, which is why it's odd that there is so much growth on top of it. Maybe it's because I trimmed it so early that the plant used all its energy at the top.

 

[Space Toker]

OH forgive me as yet again if it has already been conclusively answered, I am responding to a title and not reading into it as in no shape to do so ATM, but I have had plants that were bushy as fuck but just produced a whole lot of popcorn and crap yields. Granted I live/exist in a kind of ultimate twilight zone... where shop lights, miracle gro soil and generic chem ferts had better results for me than HID's the best soils and great care. I would have been better off watering them with poison would prob have turned out better. Still don't know what is wrong, it seems I or my home or both is cursed to growing big yields. So to try to be helpful, yeah more bud sites I hear make for better yields to some extent if you don't leave a lot of lower buds that will never get enough light and all that, but like anything I suggest moderation and a happy medium. good luck!

 

[stoned-trout]

more smaller buds.. I always found harder to trim..density remains the same...yeehaw

 

[Zarezhu]

12" is incredibly close, and even with cool temps, they're getting too much light. It may not show in the form of bleaching, but it will definitely stunt your middle colas, and end up shading many of the bottoms that you wouldnt be shading if it were 12" higher. You may see symptoms of over feeding, twisting leaves, your leaves will feel papery opposed to nice and lush. It will be hard to tell for a while, but you'll eventually notice it.

At least raise them another 12" for 3 days, and see if you can see positive results? If not, by all means, keep em 12". I'm just trying to help, and almost everybody grows a few cycles with hoods far too close to the canopy (especially 1kws)

edit: and its a good thing to trim the bottoms at flip, and then again 2-3 weeks into bloom