Is it the strain...or is it me?

For some time now I have grown some very decent plants, but for the life of me, now matter what strains I've started...about 5 or 6...and no matter where I got the seeds...Europe, Canada, locally...I never seem to get that "picture perfect killer-effect bud" like you see in the mags.

I've had Northern Lights, Chronic (and subsets), Amsterdam BGum, and a host of others...but never that, "OMG" looking bud.
The plants put on great leaves, good color, growth/height, buds of all shapes and sizes (little colas, big colas).

They grow indoors, CO2 enhanced, big lights, great soils & nutes...just about anything that you could ask for...but never that "glistening, colorized, cola from heaven" looking bud.

Is this more an issue of strains...or do I need to look at something in my growing plans?

TKS

 

Details and pics would help us help you!

There must be some difference between then and now!

Temps? PH? nutes? soil? New lights? etc.?>)

 

theyre airbrushed, just like the women in magazines mate.

 

Ha...airbrushed???.... I love it. Capitalism comes in all forms.

I'm not sure pics would help...but tomorrow I might try to take a few. Right now they're not ready anyway...but I just don't seem to get to that, 'multi-colored, glistening, trichomes-all-over look like the mags. And when I've waited a bit longer...thinking something would happen, I just get yellow/darker pistils and the leaves crackle.

We'll see....

 

Well in my own experience in the grow room, the first pistils do turn and the older sun leaves dryout ( at which point I trim the leaf) and then a couple days later new pistils appear from under the old, and the bud starts putting on bulk, this goes on for about another week or so, until something like this happens.......This one got so big, I had to tye it up to keep it in the light=>D

 

Okay, here's some pics if I can figure out the upload. It's hard to get good close-ups since the HPS lights confuse the camera. None of these would I say are ready. There's some chronic & menage a 'trois (something as a bonus to an order), and a clone from earlier efforts.
Note that even though the pistils are mostly white, the leaves are yellowing and cracking. I'm trying to figure out if I might be harvesting early based on what the leaves are doing...vs...the pistils getting mostly yellow.

I never seem to get that "humongus amount of trichomes" making the leaves look like glistening crystal...although I note that if you take the plant out from under the HPS you can see the trichomes better.

Let me know...all opinions welcome.

Peace & TKS...

 

I'm posting some more pics as soon as I figure out how to reduce the file size.

 

More pics....someday I'll figure out how others post pics this way...and they're FULL sized...but when I do it...they're thumbnails. Hmmmm??

 

Okay...all done for now. You can see a variety of leaf characteristics. The room has plenty of space, dual 1000 HPS on light-movers with inline fans, humidity roughly 45 to 65%, propane CO2 injection, fresh air injection. Nite temps (lights off) in mid/low 60s, running temps in high 70s/low 80s.
Soil is top-notch planting soil: Light & airy in approx. 3gal buckets. Nutes are Foxfarm & Liquid Karma.

Let me know what you think...

 

Can't say as I can put a handle on your leaves browning and cracking like they are; it's a problem I haven't seen. Possibly something simple like the top of your plant being too close to the light and burning a bit? But the buds don't show any problems, so that most likely ain't it. Maybe water a little bit more frequently, but just a little?
If I were you I'd leave things alone, those buds are primo.

 

Ok! This is N deficient;



P or K deficency;



MO def;



Or over watering;













Could be any or all of the above

 

I would say that they look as if you are over feeding them because the tips of the leaves are curling up thats usally a shure sign but thats not to say there isnt a nute lock up due to ph or the need to flush them. Make sure your ph is 5.5 to 5.8 for hydro and Im not sure for soil. First flush them with plain water then adjust the ph in the nutrient solution and check the ppm 1200 is usally safe and then adjust higher or lower from there and make sure the plants are at least a foot away from hid lights. That should help because they look stressed and keep in mind the leaves will start to yellow late in the flowering stage.

 

How's your ph?

 

Well, the lights aren't too close...and they move, and the watering is pretty consistent: I wait till the pot is fairly light but the plant is never drooping, etc., so hopefully someone has seen something along these lines.

Where are the med. mj growers when I need them? Ha.

 

Forgot to answer the PH question...and didn't realize there were other posts till I tried to post...so pardon the answer above if it looks like I missed something.

Anyway...

I have one of those little soil meters so I'll do that tomorrow. I'm thinking, in consideration of what's been discussed, that I bet it might be too much nutes. On that note, some literature shows one thing...re: Foxfarm...and other lit. shows another.
I think next watering I'll go to the lighter feeding schedule.

Thanks to all...always appreciate the help.

 

They do look like they have nute burn. Overfertilization usually shows in the leaf tips and works its way backwards. A 900 ppm TDS reading is good to start with for flowering but in soil you do not need to fertilize them every watering. If you are going to measure pH, measure the pH of the water. In soil anything in the 6 - 6.5 range is fine.

Even with light movers those 1k watters throw alot of heat so keep those fans cranked.

They still look well developed so cheers!

-B

 

Thanks gang...

Hopefully this will have an effect on the buds, too. I'm trying to find a very, very heavy resin...cerebral, mind-numbing, crystal-laden bud...just like in the magazines!~

~T

 

Trader, I agree with BB they look good so far, and remember about 2 weeks before ya think they need harvesting most folks like to stop feeding all together, I've done that way myself and ended up not feeding them for 3-4 weeks 'cause I guessed wrong about when they should have been harvested with no ill effects.

At present I'm running perpetual grow so there's 1-3 plants harvested every couple weeks, so I never stop feeding them, the thing I don't use now is FF Open Sesame because it says it "sets the flower" and when I first started this perpetual grow I used it and the younger plants never got much bigger flowers after the 2 weeks feeding. but I still use Beasty buds and Cha Ching occasionally:>)

 

Naturalhi...

I'm using just Big Bloom & Tiger Bloom...with Liquid Karma used in the clone/veg stage. My local (40 miles away) nute supplier closed, so now I have to rely on the web. And with fluids...shipping is a pain.

I guess what I'm "stuck on" is that I don't seem to get that "monsterous, glistening, resin soaked bud" that I'm looking for. And when I do get a great looking bud, the strength is not necessarily there.

I'm shopping for some seeds now...although the breeders have cross-bred so many darn plants you never know what's going on...but the time between seed to fruition is quite a stretch. Any strains and suppliers you'd like to recommend?

Who knew growing could be so frustrating?? Ha...

TKS

 

Now, don't get frustrated on my watch!

We'll get ya through this one way or another!>)

"They grow indoors, CO2 enhanced, big lights, great soils & nutes...just about anything that you could ask for...but never that "glistening, colorized, cola from heaven" looking bud."

Could you be a little more specific. In my experience K.I.S.S. is the key that I have to remind myself of constantly.

Example: My first grow was, FF Ocean forest soil, FF grow big, FF Big Bloom; then switch to Tiger Bloom when flowering. no extras in soil, no experimenting.
1KW HPS from start to finish, exhaust fan, and curculation fan. No muss No fuss!