Too many flower sites/Not enough light????

[Lightjelly]

ello everyone first time posting here, currently have a AK47 tree growing in a small 80x80cm tent, flowered for about a month now, however the growth seems to be kind of slow, don't see any deficiencies except a few pistil going brown on some sites.

The plant vegged for two months and was growing nicely, i also kept quite some side branches, after switching to 12/12 the plant showed pistil pretty fast. Now roughly 30 days into flower there doesn't seem to be a noticable size of budlet, could it because of leaving too many flower sites and not enough light intensity?

Problems：
1. My temps were kinda high during the initial flower stretch (30ish), however with airflow and frequent water i didnt get any bad burns. I've switched to a more "accurate" vpd chart (30C/50% -> 26/70%)
2. I had two defoliation sessions at around Week 1 and 3
3, I suppercropped 3 main tops, sites were pointing back up in a day, branch recovered in less than a week

Alot of things seemed to have gone wrong but i wonder what really is the main reason for this slow growth?

Coco mixed with perlite, vermiculite, using Jacks bloom + calmag @ around 1.5ec w/ 0.2ec tap, watered 4 times a day, standard 400w hps
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Thanks in advance.

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[Lightjelly]

Here's one with the brown hair

 

[Creeperpark]

Defoliation will limit water and nutrient transpiration between the roots and the leaves. In order for the plant to move water and nutrients through out the plant, it has to open the stomata and release moisture out of the stomata's through the leaves. When you remove leaves you remove the stomata's and you slow transpiration and slow the metabolism of the plant. It may be better to add more light and keep the leaves attached for super fast growth with bigger buds.

 

[Lightjelly]

Would it be a good idea to chop of some of the branches with small flower sites? Is it too late?

 

[Brother Nature]

I wouldn't defoliate this late in flower. In my experience it slows growth down and lessens yield. If you're at day 28, they don't look that bad, the few cuts of AK I've grown really bulk up in weeks 5-8. 1.5 seems a little high an EC for me, but some plants do like higher feed rates. Light intensity doesn't look to be a problem, if it's your first run with her, let it go then figure out what to improve on next, it's all a learning experience.

 

[Lightjelly]

Thank you all for the advice, I'll definitely stop cutting leaves off. I do notice there are quite some small side branches that never receives light, should i keep them?

I wouldn't defoliate this late in flower. In my experience it slows growth down and lessens yield. If you're at day 28, they don't look that bad, the few cuts of AK I've grown really bulk up in weeks 5-8. 1.5 seems a little high an EC for me, but some plants do like higher feed rates. Light intensity doesn't look to be a problem, if it's your first run with her, let it go then figure out what to improve on next, it's all a learning experience.

Thanks, I havent't done major deliotion for about 2 weeks now, should i lower the feed a bit? It is kind of a tree haha.

 

[Brother Nature]

If it's liking the level of feed, I wouldn't lower it. From what I remember the AK's were always pretty hungry. At the moment I'd leave everything on the plant, the little shoots will still produce, just not the same way as the tops. I always like the little straggler buds on the bottom of plants, I use them to make hash along with the trim.