14’ plants, but embarrassingly small buds?

GrandmaGanja · Sep 14, 2022

I think I’ma victim of my own hubris. Id brag about my huge plants. Five of them are near 14’, and their buds are so small and spindly. Even the top buds at this point don’t look like they’d rack up more than a handful of grams. I think I may have planted them to closer and they crowded each other for the light, and then spent most of their energy getting huge. I was going to harvest in a few weeks, but at this point I am going to let them grow as long as possible.

Any advice on getting the buds a smack in the bum and getting them to grow larger in the next few weeks? It’s the home stretch and frankly I’d rather rip them up at this point then see their disappointing yield.

JJS009 · Sep 14, 2022

Got any pics?

SweetLeafGrow · Sep 14, 2022

More information would be helpful to give you any advice, but with that said.

It's still early in the season for certain latitudes, assuming these are outdoors. Genetics also play a role. I have 4 plants in a greenhouse and they sound like what you have, I am at about the 49 degree latitude. I am prepared to go to halloween or later if needed to get them to ripen up. Generally 8+ weeks for flowering time depending on the genetics.

If you are in a northern latitude, you should try to prepare for cold and damp weather with some sort of greenhouse, good luck getting 14'ers in there!

Jimmie · Sep 14, 2022

Maybe watering with cold water, shrinkage?

GrandmaGanja · Sep 14, 2022

JJS009 said:
Got any pics?

But a lousy camera that you can’t really make out the buds on. They are super healthy otherwise, no dead leaves since birth, no bugs, just very healthy.

SweetLeafGrow said:
More information would be helpful to give you any advice, but with that said.

It's still early in the season for certain latitudes, assuming these are outdoors. Genetics also play a role. I have 4 plants in a greenhouse and they sound like what you have, I am at about the 49 degree latitude. I am prepared to go to halloween or later if needed to get them to ripen up. Generally 8+ weeks for flowering time depending on the genetics.

If you are in a northern latitude, you should try to prepare for cold and damp weather with some sort of greenhouse, good luck getting 14'ers in there!

Outdoors in the ground, so can’t get them into a greenhouse. Also northeastern, so October can get pretty cooler.

Putang
Chocolate diesel
New York Diesel
Black widow
La confidential
Purple rock berry (didn’t auto flower, grew normally)

I feed them regularly, lots of alfalfa and guano. They’ve been on general organic bloom every two weeks since flower. Watered often.

I have a gorilla glue planted away from them that went in late, didn’t get nearly as much food, isn’t as tall, but has crazy buds on it.

Is there a chance I overfed them? They never once got any sort of nute burn.

JJS009 · Sep 14, 2022

Without any pics and the additional info I would guess to much nitrogen during flower, alfalfa and guano are both slow releasing high nitrogen ingredients so they are probably still getting a healthy dose of nitrogen

PipeCarver · Sep 14, 2022

GrandmaGanja said:
But a lousy camera that you can’t really make out the buds on. They are super healthy otherwise, no dead leaves since birth, no bugs, just very healthy.

Outdoors in the ground, so can’t get them into a greenhouse. Also northeastern, so October can get pretty cooler.

Putang
Chocolate diesel
New York Diesel
Black widow
La confidential
Purple rock berry (didn’t auto flower, grew normally)

I feed them regularly, lots of alfalfa and guano. They’ve been on general organic bloom every two weeks since flower. Watered often.

I have a gorilla glue planted away from them that went in late, didn’t get nearly as much food, isn’t as tall, but has crazy buds on it.

Is there a chance I overfed them? They never once got any sort of nute burn.

Maybe bang them with some Booster juice....I use Kool Bloom or Monster Bloom starting right where you are with small buds forming week 2 -3. I use up to 5 ml per gallon or 1 tsp per gallon of the Monster Bloom....I think it helps swell the buds and harden them up. I'm indoor only so I have no idea how it'll work for you but I've seen your plants and it would be a shame to not see them perform as they potentially can....I gave up outside because I couldn't finish them off. Our weather here in Nova Scotia can suck in October for finishing buds off.

Moe.Red · Sep 14, 2022

High N in flower has been shown to increase plant mass but lower THC. I don't think that's it.

You got any seeds on them? Possible pollination?

GrandmaGanja · Sep 14, 2022

Moe.Red said:
High N in flower has been shown to increase plant mass but lower THC. I don't think that's it.

You got any seeds on them? Possible pollination?

No seeds, they’re all female. Don’t get me wrong, the buds are pretty and will taste nice, they are just spindly.

GrandmaGanja · Sep 14, 2022

JJS009 said:
Without any pics and the additional info I would guess to much nitrogen during flower, alfalfa and guano are both slow releasing high nitrogen ingredients so they are probably still getting a healthy dose of nitrogen

I did give them heavy alfalfa all along, maybe that’s it. The plants are huge.

Moe.Red · Sep 14, 2022

GrandmaGanja said:
No seeds, they’re all female. Don’t get me wrong, the buds are pretty and will taste nice, they are just spindly.

My first thought was genetics, but you have 6 stains doing this? Must be something else.

TSD · Sep 14, 2022

Pics? Are they strains that take a long time to flower? Hard to finish anything that likes a long flower here in the Northeast... have one or two that I don't think will finish.

PipeCarver · Sep 15, 2022

TSD said:
Pics? Are they strains that take a long time to flower? Hard to finish anything that likes a long flower here in the Northeast... have one or two that I don't think will finish.

From what I see they are around 3 weeks into flower, 6 more to go and its going to be iffy in late October to finish them off. I suggested a PK booster to pump them up but It seems ignored...

GrandmaGanja · Sep 15, 2022

PipeCarver said:
From what I see they are around 3 weeks into flower, 6 more to go and its going to be iffy in late October to finish them off. I suggested a PK booster to pump them up but It seems ignored...

Sorry didn’t mention it, I bought the Kool Bloom last night, should arrive in a few days and I’m going to hit them hard with that.

PipeCarver · Sep 15, 2022

GrandmaGanja said:
Sorry didn’t mention it, I bought the Kool Bloom last night, should arrive in a few days and I’m going to hit them hard with that.

oh no not hard...lightly first then just as directed on the product...I/2 first dose .........maybe full next time.... watch how they respond...too much of a good thing could lock them up and fk it all up.

You have it all looking great its still early and some buds just don't pop out like others do, it could mean they'll be harder as well. Those that grow out giant looking buds often end up fluffy larf when dried. I like the thick stocky pine cone buds that grow throughout the plant. The big ones on top are just for show...At 14 feet high how in the heck can you see their size anyways? binoculars?

GrandmaGanja · Sep 15, 2022

PipeCarver said:
oh no not hard...lightly first then just as directed on the product...I/2 first dose .........maybe full next time.... watch how they respond...too much of a good thing could lock them up and fk it all up.

You have it all looking great its still early and some buds just don't pop out like others do, it could mean they'll be harder as well. Those that grow out giant looking buds often end up fluffy larf when dried. I like the thick stocky pine cone buds that grow throughout the plant. The big ones on top are just for show...At 14 feet high how in the heck can you see their size anyways? binoculars?

So if you're looking at the pictures of this crop in my other posts, the most recent is almost a month old. I won't hit them so hard with the Kool Bloom, but these girls are resilient. I feed them pretty heavy.

You want to know how I could tell that even the top buds on my highest plant are weak? It's a sad story. We had a bit of a rain storm and my NYC Diesel wasn't staked as well as I'd hoped. Half of it (this half containing the highest cola) ripped almost completely off and was lying flat on the ground by morning. We did lots of bandaging and saturated the break area with some homegrown honey (from my aunts beehive) and tied it tightly together. It was at the very bottom of the plant, so we then buried that whole bit in alfalfa. It was a serious break and I'm not terribly optimistic, but the leaves are already looking better on the break than they looked when it was lying on the ground. We've had great luck in the past fixing break using honey, but this was a really bad one and the plant was so big and unweidly it was hard to get it to fit back together right. So here's to hoping.

14’ plants, but embarrassingly small buds?

14’ plants, but embarrassingly small buds?

GrandmaGanja

JJS009

SweetLeafGrow

Jimmie

GrandmaGanja

JJS009

PipeCarver

Moe.Red

GrandmaGanja

GrandmaGanja

Moe.Red

TSD

PipeCarver

GrandmaGanja

PipeCarver

GrandmaGanja

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