Help! Loose, airy buds as the flowering stage comes closer and closer to the end

[jc999]

Hey, only on my second grow and kind of learning it on my own so any feedback would be helpful at this point. So this happened last grow too I need help with my plants growing airy and loose flowers/colas and not thickening out even though I believe they shouldnt have but a few weeks left before harvest. I'm growing them outdoors, started them indoors (started early April, not sure exact date)!until they were in veg state, been outside ever since. I do not know the genetics but as far as I can tell they are all autoflowers. I try not to let them get over/under watered and this grow (not the first grow though) I was using a homemade fertilizer which consisted of pig manure that has been composting for over a year. I was using it pretty moderately, and only using spring water or rain water to feed plants. They never burned or showed any sign of nute burn and the plants blew up nice but the way they haven't thickened out just kinda worries me. All I can think is my yield and THC% are going to end up like last timeAny helpful feedback would be appreciated. I'm going to upload some pictures but the quality isn't great so bare with me

 

[Eledin]

I think you need something better suited for flower rather than pig manure. Pig manure is okay for veg because is high in nitrogen but after 2-3 weeks of flower you wanna cut some nitrogen and put more phosphorus and potassium, which pig manure also has but again, the ratio of nitrogen is higher. Even a cheap brand bloom fertilizer + pk would do wonders there, also use carbohidrates, you can buy a brand with specifically selected carbs or otherwise molasses is good too. You need those suggars to create trichomes and fatten the buds. Are you using tap water or osmotized water? Besides the rain water. I ask because rainwater has little calcium and tap water has more but if youre using RO water you lose calcium and need to compliment them with calcium too, its one of the main building blocks for the plants to create new growth, veg and bud wise. You can do it with egg shells or buy a calmag. If you wanna do it yourself I have a post on how to here:

Fast absorption calcium from egg shells.

Like with the lentil fertilizer, I was doing a batch of calcium for foliar or soil feeding and I decided to post the process here because it might be helpful for some people, wether because they have a sudden calcium deficiency, they want to give only calcium without magnessium or its a big...

www.thcfarmer.com

Get some cheap pure epsom salts to combine the calcium with in the water and you have your own calmag (calcium-magnessium) which also has sulfur. (Eggs give calcium, epsom salts give magnessium and sulfur)

 

[Eledin]

List of cheap things that would improve your yield:
Carbs: molasses or a carb liquid for plants from any brand.
Cutting N and using more PK in flower: buy a low nitrogen bloom liquid and keep using the manure until the first 2-3 weeks of flower, then use only the bloom liquid plus a PK liquid or if you dont wanna buy a PK liquid you can use bat guano and palm tree ash, bat guano is high in phopshorus and palm tree ash has some phosphorus and plenty of potassium. If your bloom liquid doesnt have a lower ratio of nitrogen then use less liquid and more PK/bat guano and palm tree ash.
Others: you can buy worm castings to mix with the pig manure. You can buy volcanic ash, its known for centuries that volcanic ash makes the soil very fertile, it has a lot of goodies for your plants, mostly minerals. You can also buy dolomite lime, helps mantain the ph stable in the soil and also gives slow release calcium and magnessium. Otherwise a calmag or the one you can do yourself with egg shells and epsom salts is pretty nice too, specially if youre using RO water. If youre not using RO water make sure to let the chlorine evaporate, in 1 day most of it is gone but I always wait 2 days or more.
DISCLAIMER: Since you have only experimented with manure so far, I assume, keeps the dosage low and work your way up, specially when fertilizing the soil, if you go too far you cant undo it unless youre top dressing, in which case you just use less the next time (same with liquid ferts). I overfertilized my last grow with too many worm castings, exceeded the 20% of the total volume and some leaves showed a bit of nitrogen toxicity but nothing serious, luckily worm castings are very forgiving but still.

 

[jc999]

I think you need something better suited for flower rather than pig manure. Pig manure is okay for veg because is high in nitrogen but after 2-3 weeks of flower you wanna cut some nitrogen and put more phosphorus and potassium, which pig manure also has but again, the ratio of nitrogen is higher. Even a cheap brand bloom fertilizer + pk would do wonders there, also use carbohidrates, you can buy a brand with specifically selected carbs or otherwise molasses is good too. You need those suggars to create trichomes and fatten the buds. Are you using tap water or osmotized water? Besides the rain water. I ask because rainwater has little calcium and tap water has more but if youre using RO water you lose calcium and need to compliment them with calcium too, its one of the main building blocks for the plants to create new growth, veg and bud wise. You can do it with egg shells or buy a calmag. If you wanna do it yourself I have a post on how to here:

Fast absorption calcium from egg shells.

Like with the lentil fertilizer, I was doing a batch of calcium for foliar or soil feeding and I decided to post the process here because it might be helpful for some people, wether because they have a sudden calcium deficiency, they want to give only calcium without magnessium or its a big...

www.thcfarmer.com

Get some cheap pure epsom salts to comine the calcium with and you have your own calmag (calcium-magnessium) which also has sulfur.

Spring water from a local spring, rain water and lake water. My tap water gets used every once in a while but I try not to because of where I'm located we are on a well and it brings up iron, calcium and sulfur, etc but I'm worried using it too often may cause a nutrient burn.. And yes I was hoping to try and cut as many costs as possible especially with the fertilizer but I may have to look into that for the flowering stage to get those fat buds. I was making my own compost with coffee grounds, egg shells and old fruits and vegetables mostly. Also, do you know if it ok to transition from outside to indoors for the end of the flowering stage? The weather where I'm at has been inconsistent and it's sunny one day, pouring rain the next 3 and then has a humidity level of 90%+ for several days after. Worried the buds aren't getting enough light and air/getting over watered/to humid.

 

[Eledin]

Spring water from a local spring, rain water and lake water. My tap water gets used every once in a while but I try not to because of where I'm located we are on a well and it brings up iron, calcium and sulfur, etc but I'm worried using it too often may cause a nutrient burn.. And yes I was hoping to try and cut as many costs as possible especially with the fertilizer but I may have to look into that for the flowering stage to get those fat buds. I was making my own compost with coffee grounds, egg shells and old fruits and vegetables mostly. Also, do you know if it ok to transition from outside to indoors for the end of the flowering stage? The weather where I'm at has been inconsistent and it's sunny one day, pouring rain the next 3 and then has a humidity level of 90%+ for several days after. Worried the buds aren't getting enough light and air/getting over watered/to humid.

Sadly I cant help you much with the light thing. I have never done it, I read that people that does it gets them used to it since veg, a sudden light change can stress them enough to herm or get stunted. When I started I tried to make it all myself but then I realized how hard it was to get things right. My plants were not starving, they were green, but they were still... meh in flower. About compost I dont know much either, coffee grounds are high in nitrogen same as pig manure, egg shells bring calcium but old fruits I have no idea what they mostly give. I would assume potassium and nitrogen. You can get it right but youre gonna have to test the limits more than once to know how far you can go, and if you have to guess for every ammount in every stage is gonna be a hard task, there's plenty of cheap products that can save you the headache and you dont need to stop using what youre using, I think your compost is good for veg stage, plenty of nitrogen but as for the coffee grounds Ive read about residual caffeine being a problem. I do use coffee grounds but very little, a few grams per 19 liter pot, and I drink decaff so if there is any caffeine its very little but if its not decaff I wouldnt use them, but again Im no expert I just saw an article saying it wasnt ideal because of the caffeine, or to use very little, and thats whats stuck with me.

 

[Eledin]

That well water sounds dope, you might wanna use it more often :P as I said you need to test the limits before you know them, sometimes you might get a few burned tips then you go back to the previous dose. Calcium, sulfur and iron are very good for the plants, I dont think it has enough to overfertilize your crop tho but there's only one way to know for sure...

 

[cannafarmer420]

Hey, only on my second grow and kind of learning it on my own so any feedback would be helpful at this point. So this happened last grow too I need help with my plants growing airy and loose flowers/colas and not thickening out even though I believe they shouldnt have but a few weeks left before harvest. I'm growing them outdoors, started them indoors (started early April, not sure exact date)!until they were in veg state, been outside ever since. I do not know the genetics but as far as I can tell they are all autoflowers. I try not to let them get over/under watered and this grow (not the first grow though) I was using a homemade fertilizer which consisted of pig manure that has been composting for over a year. I was using it pretty moderately, and only using spring water or rain water to feed plants. They never burned or showed any sign of nute burn and the plants blew up nice but the way they haven't thickened out just kinda worries me. All I can think is my yield and THC% are going to end up like last timeAny helpful feedback would be appreciated. I'm going to upload some pictures but the quality isn't great so bare with me View attachment 2004874View attachment 2004875View attachment 2004876View attachment 2004877

Sounds slike rainy and lack of sunlight doesn't help. Outdoor is what it is in my area nothing like the indoor. Exactly due to rainy gloomy days. I would go gaia green and not make my own stuff unless you want meh results. Unless you are super experienced it's probably a net negative to make your own. Good luck

 

[Harpua88]

You got a whole bunch of excellent advice from Eledin. I wouldn't bring outdoor plants indoors, I don't know where you live but weather is obviously something we can't control. However, you might get better ultimate results with all of these adjustments by growing photoperiods instead of autos and giving yourself a real summer and fall, where things usually dry out, instead of 90% wet spring to early summer. Especially if you're going to make all of these adjustments......you'll be rewarded by giving them the time to apply it all.

As soon as I read "composted pig manure" I thought "Plenty of N, but where's the flowering nutrients?". I don't know how knowledgeable you are around making your own compost, which is part of making your own soil........later on I read about other ingredients......I'm not an expert on composting, it's an area I'm going to study more, but I do know that a lot of people mistakenly think composting is letting a pile of stuff break down, when it's really a specific balance of various ingredients, and a specific process, that includes bacteria, enzymes.......I think a certain % needs to be grass clippings or something similar, and of course, aeration, heat, turning.......

If you can dial in the whole composting thing, do all of the things Eledin advised, compliment a productive veg cycle with a more enriched flower cycle........and apply it to photoperiods, I think you're gonna do some great things out there.

 

[jc999]

I'm in Florida so the weather is all over the place not to mention the humidity. And yes I agree I should find a more consistent and measured fertilizer and make sure I change up as it goes through it's stages. I appreciate the insight you guys, it's a trial and error process for me right now and it's easy to learn from your mistakes, I'll get it perfect before long.

 

[Harpua88]

I'm in Florida so the weather is all over the place not to mention the humidity. And yes I agree I should find a more consistent and measured fertilizer and make sure I change up as it goes through it's stages. I appreciate the insight you guys, it's a trial and error process for me right now and it's easy to learn from your mistakes, I'll get it perfect before long.

I am so.....so sorry......

About the weather, yes, the weather. ;)

Hey, we know heat and humidity in New York City. And no ocean really to sweep away the baked brick and concrete and asphalt.....from May throught October (it used to be June through September) any rain just adds humidity, not relief. There are many nights it doesn't even dip below 80, the heat radiating back out, then the next day it starts all over again.

Given where you live, I would grow varieties that are more suitable.......that basically means equatorial sativas, especially ones that can handle humidity. You have the season length.....

Yes, once you get it perfect, you won't have to worry........that's funny. You'll get better and better, but there will never be perfect. The moment you think you've hit perfect, Murphy's law will be there to check that...... ;)

 

[Poekie]

Hey, only on my second grow and kind of learning it on my own so any feedback would be helpful at this point. So this happened last grow too I need help with my plants growing airy and loose flowers/colas and not thickening out even though I believe they shouldnt have but a few weeks left before harvest. I'm growing them outdoors, started them indoors (started early April, not sure exact date)!until they were in veg state, been outside ever since. I do not know the genetics but as far as I can tell they are all autoflowers. I try not to let them get over/under watered and this grow (not the first grow though) I was using a homemade fertilizer which consisted of pig manure that has been composting for over a year. I was using it pretty moderately, and only using spring water or rain water to feed plants. They never burned or showed any sign of nute burn and the plants blew up nice but the way they haven't thickened out just kinda worries me. All I can think is my yield and THC% are going to end up like last timeAny helpful feedback would be appreciated. I'm going to upload some pictures but the quality isn't great so bare with me View attachment 2004874View attachment 2004875View attachment 2004876View attachment 2004877

Some pics look like reveg, especially first and last pic.
Lots of single bladed leaves.

 

[jc999]

Some pics look like reveg, especially first and last pic.
Lots of single bladed leaves.

Ok. I was wondering if they went back to veg because judging from when they sprouted, they should have been done by a week or more ago. And the first and last pic are actually of the same exact cola on one of the the plants. Why would they reveg you think? Poor genetics, stress from heat and humidity possibly?

 

[Oldchucky]

Maybe they were not autos. so you put them outside too early without adequate hours of daylight, so they prematurely flowered. So now with the longer days, they are trying to go back into veg. Not much you can do other than grow them out, let them do their thing, and see what you end up with. They may not finish for a couple of months. Just another possibility.

 

[jc999]

Maybe they were not autos. so you put them outside too early without adequate hours of daylight, so they prematurely flowered. So now with the longer days, they are trying to go back into veg. Not much you can do other than grow them out, let them do their thing, and see what you end up with. They may not finish for a couple of months. Just another possibility.

I never thought of that. Thank you for the insight.

 

[Oldchucky]

If you are growing outdoors, it’s one of the most important factors to be taken into account. I have seen many plants screwed up by putting them out too early. Can be a costly mistake. And the closer you get to the equator, the harder it is to deal with it. Good luck.

 

[Poekie]

Maybe they were not autos. so you put them outside too early without adequate hours of daylight, so they prematurely flowered. So now with the longer days, they are trying to go back into veg. Not much you can do other than grow them out, let them do their thing, and see what you end up with. They may not finish for a couple of months. Just another possibility.

Yep exactly that !