What Nutrient Mistake can cause a Big Plant to Have All Small Buds ?

[St. Phatty]

I was getting a tour of a neighbor's Grow-Show, and really have to admire his work.

He's about 5 years younger than me, but he has the energy of someone 10 years younger !

However there is a problem that I don't know the source of.

He had about 20 plants, clones and seedlings. (After killing the Hermies that came from a particular seed batch.)

They were 6-7-8 feet tall, generally healthy looking, no significant spider mite infestation or anything like that. All outdoors under full sun.

He watered them with a compost tea from pig manure and chicken manure. And also threw in some Miracle Grow.

I thought maybe he might have over-nuted them with the Miracle Grow. I've done the same with Liquinox 0-10-10 and had indoor plants get sick.


Anyway, there is nothing wrong with the guy's genetics. I grew with the same genetics and got big buds on small plants in pots, including the ones I fed to the chickens. They were Sativa's that weren't resinous enough to be interesting, but they had decent size buds.

Also I've never heard of genetics with a total tendency for popcorn buds.

Does anybody know, is it possible via a mistake with nutes to force plants into a grow phase where they don't make any big buds ?

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Overfed on nitrogen most likely, and I'm guessing they're pretty dark green and leafy?

Chicken manure is high in nitrogen, MG is lousy for cannabis and high in nitrogen. Not sure what's in pig manure, but it's most likely too much with everything else involved.

 

[St. Phatty]

Overfed on nitrogen most likely, and I'm guessing they're pretty dark green and leafy?

Chicken manure is high in nitrogen, MG is lousy for cannabis and high in nitrogen. Not sure what's in pig manure, but it's most likely too much with everything else involved.

I talked to a local soil tester.

He said that new pig manure could be really hot.

The neighbor stored the pig manure in a barrel of water.

The live plants looked healthy, with mostly green leaves.

Although mixes like General Hydroponics reduce nitrogen in flowering, some growers like BOG use a fair amount of nitrogen in flowering (blood meal).

I've been giving my plants additional nitrogen in flowering, and getting big chunky buds.


I have a feeling the plants are getting too much of something.

The other thing I would tell the neighbor is, put the same soil mix in a big pot, water it the same way, and capture the run-off, and measure the pH. Just to see how that is going.

 

[mean mr.mustard]

A lot of boys in Kentucky swear by pig shit.

Probably composted, but I saw some very happy plants down amongst them there hollers.

As for nutrition causing low yield I have personally experienced greasy cheeseburgers slowing down my watering frequency which led to reduced return.

A Thai I kept for a few cycles had a lot of sparse loose clusters and had very small tops.

 

[Lrus007]

are the plants in full sun ?
if shaded a lot would make smaller buds.

for fresh shit pig chicken ect. fill a trash can
1/2 full of shit. then add water to 3/4 full.
let this cook off. you will see it bubble and heat up.
give it a stir every few days. lol shit on a stick.
after it quits cooking in 2-3 weeks add 2 cups of lime.
then let sit another week or so. then use sparingly.
hope this helps. cheers

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Although mixes like General Hydroponics reduce nitrogen in flowering, some growers like BOG use a fair amount of nitrogen in flowering (blood meal).

I've been giving my plants additional nitrogen in flowering, and getting big chunky buds.

My focus was on excess nitrogen. Main indicators are longer stems, smaller leaves, less frosty, 'stretched' looking flowers with low resin/terpene production.

Simply feeding too much of a balanced mix will reduce flower size, but they'll be more proportionately formed flowers, and less stretched looking.

 

[St. Phatty]

are the plants in full sun ?
if shaded a lot would make smaller buds.

for fresh shit pig chicken ect. fill a trash can
1/2 full of shit. then add water to 3/4 full.
let this cook off. you will see it bubble and heat up.
give it a stir every few days. lol shit on a stick.
after it quits cooking in 2-3 weeks add 2 cups of lime.
then let sit another week or so. then use sparingly.
hope this helps. cheers

Yes, full sun, better than I get.

Also the manure barrels are well aged. One year old or more.

It's just so fvcking WIERD.

I feel sorry for anybody who has to manicure X pounds of small buds.

He's not under-feeding them. The only thing I can think of is, a possible pH situation with the nutes.

I will ask him about the Lime.

I'm not tempted to pay the $35 for the soil & nutrient test unless I have access to more than 2 gallons of the Poop Juice.

 

[palmeezy]

how's the smell and taste? did they support themselves?