potency problems!!!!!

[JayRa]

I guess another thing that I forgot to mention was that the six plant configuration only lasted until preflowering...I removed all males and was left with 8 total plants......

 

[POTUS]

I believe my bulbs are rated to produce 53000 lumens per sq ft each and the added lumens from the fluros at 8000 would put me at about 69000 lumens per sq foot for each of the two 'clusters' , which by george servantes book is plenty of light to produce at least decent pot...I'm an engineer so I'm pretty sure when I designed the room I calculated this accurately...not trying to say that you dont know what you're talking about or anything, because obviously I'm the one with the problem......dimensions of the canopy are the same 2'x3' under each set of lights... and the light is located a foot above the canopy...

First, I'll give you my credentials. I've been growing pot for more than 40 years. This includes both outside and inside dirt grows and more than 25 years of growing world class weed indoors using Hydroponics.

There is no doubt about my knowing what I'm talking about. There are plenty of growers here that can vouch for my abilities.

The lumen rating of your bulbs isn't per/square foot. It's how many lumens are output in total. It seems that you have 69,000 lumens TOTAL, not per/square foot. If I follow you, you have 8,000 lumens of florescent light on each of the 2' x 3' areas as well.

You have two areas. Each area is 2' x 3' for a total of 6 square feet of area under each light set. 69,000 lumens divided by 6 is 11,500 plus 8,000 for a total of 19,500 lumens total per/square foot of plant canopy on each of your two areas. Are you sure of these numbers?

Let's outline what you've told us so far:

1. You use 19,500 lumens per/square foot of plant canopy.

2. You used Miracle Grow as your nutrient.

3. You used reputable seeds from a reputable breeder.

4. The plants were healthy and the flower buds were of decent size and shape.

5. The temperatures maintained in your grow areas were proper and well within limits

6. Trichome growth was normal with adequate resin production.

7. Humidity was within reasonable limits.

8. pH was slightly high but well within limits for good growth.

I believe I've reviewed all of the pertinent data needed for a grow that could have affected yours.

The Miracle Grow isn't a very good choice for a nutrient as it isn't the proper ratios of nutrients for pot. You used a flowering nutrient that probably adjusted the ratios to near what is needed, so your nutrient isn't the problem.

The plants were healthy, so sickly growth isn't your problem.

Your light seems to be proper.

Temps, humidity and pH were acceptable.

No pest problems or the plants wouldn't have been healthy.

The only factor not included in this is the actual timing of the harvest. You've not mentioned using anything to examine your trichomes near harvest time, but you do mention using trichome color to determine the readiness for harvest.

How exactly did you tell the color of your trichomes? Are you talking about trichomes or pistils? Pistils are the hairs, trichomes are the resin glands that can't be seen without magnification to 30X at least.

The only thing that can be the problem with your grow is that the plants were harvested too soon. Everything else is correct or within limits.

Drying should only take a week, and should be done in total darkness. Was it in total darkness?

At that point, the high should have been pretty good. Harsh, but fairly strong. After smoking an eighth of an ounce of that pot, it should have put you into a coma.

Growing pot isn't rocket science. You've followed all the basics close enough to have grown a perfectly acceptable crop.

All things considered, this is the advice I can give you:

1. Use 24/7 lighting during the vegetative cycle. 18/6 will produce about half the thc that 24/7 will.

2. Use a nutrient that is perfect for pot. I use General Hydroponics "Flora Series, three part formula and it works like crazy. Miracle Grow just isn't the best you can use. Most of the MG products really s u c k. One of the Mods here "The Brothers Grunt" use it exclusively as their primary nutrient, but it's a specific one. A review of their posts will tell you which one they used and how they used it.

3. Your plants all need 24/7 of the best light. You shouldn't have to move them into "the brightest light". I use two 400 watt HPS in a 3.5 x 5.5 foot area and never get the lights closer than 18 inches. Move your lights up to 15" at least and use more lights to cover your area if needed.

4. Paint the walls flat white with the highest reflective flat white you can buy. I use "Behr" Premium Plus Ultra Pure White # 1050. My plants actually grow better near the walls.

5. Keep your pH a tad lower. The pH is critical to thc production. Yours was close enough to not have been too much of a problem.

6. Buy a 100 power microscope from radio shack at $10. It's worth $1000 for what it does for you.

7. Take a small clipping from any leaf nearest a bud. Take one from top, middle and bottom of the plant. Put it under 100X and look carefully at the color of the trichomes. At harvest, the AVERAGE color of about half of the trichomes should be amber and the other half should be no longer clear, but cloudy.

My friend, I've grown so much pot, (tons not pounds), that there is no doubt that if you follow these instructions to the letter, I can guarantee you that you'll have serious, one toke pot.

My only estimate of your reasons for not producing this type of pot is that you harvested too early. If pot is harvested early after using an 18/6 lighting for growing, you can have some really weak pot.

If you change your nutrients to a much better one and up your lights to 24/7, move your lights up to 15 inches and have enough to cover the room without moving your plants, paint your walls with a flat white paint and use the same seeds you have already, your pot will be world class.

If you're looking for a knock down high, Sativa isn't what you want. Try a good Indica with a cloudy/amber trichome harvest and it should lay you out.

On your next grow, take pictures from the start, place them into a Journal here and let us all watch your grow from start to finish.

If you do that, you'll have what you're looking for.

Good luck man!!!!

 

[JayRa]

Hey by the way I didn't intend to test you by my comment, I just have grown even a single plant to see if that was the problem and by the growth determined that it wasn't. I actually have the microscope from radioshack and did use it....I want to thank you for this info and want to inform all of you that I have started over with all big bang femenized seeds from green house seeds a week ago and just don't want to make this costly mistake again.

 

[JayRa]

also to correct myself about the lights I ment that the rating is always evaluated at a foot of distance from the source...

 

[POTUS]

Hey by the way I didn't intend to test you by my comment, I just have grown even a single plant to see if that was the problem and by the growth determined that it wasn't. I actually have the microscope from radioshack and did use it....I want to thank you for this info and want to inform all of you that I have started over with all big bang femenized seeds from green house seeds a week ago and just don't want to make this costly mistake again.

I understand completely.

There are a LOT of bovine excrement experts that think they know about growing pot. Sadly, we have a few here. I wanted you to know exactly what my credentials were so that you would take my advice seriously.

I had to edit my lighting calculations for what you said, so you may want to review them for accuracy.

I'm not sure that you and I are on the same page with the lighting stats. 2' x 3' doesn't seem a large enough area for all the plants you had. That sounds like the bucket area.

At the maximum size, when "looking down" on your plants, what area would your canopy actually cover if it was all together in one area?

After your removing the males, and not counting the buckets, you had eight plants that were about 4 feet tall?

We have to get the area total accurate before we can proceed.

It's hard to advise when not looking at either a photo or a plant, but it can be done. We just have to make sure we're on the same page.

 

[JayRa]

the reason why I'm using the pot size for the dimensions is that the plants themselves were about the roundness of the pot....on another topic, are there any nutes that you would recomend for growing in soil that can be purchased at a nusery store??? I rather not order them....thanks again

 

[JayRa]

sorry about the lack of photos its just that I destroyed them shortly after I moved from the state where I had done this project...I'm actually starting from scratch again.

 

[POTUS]

the reason why I'm using the pot size for the dimensions is that the plants themselves were about the roundness of the pot....on another topic, are there any nutes that you would recomend for growing in soil that can be purchased at a nusery store??? I rather not order them....thanks again

Unless you have a Hydro store near you, you'll not find the nutrients you need except online. I use a P.O. box outside of the postal system for my deliveries. Mailboxes etc, UPS store, there are a bunch of them. The nutrient I mentioned is great for soil grows as well. A gallon of each of the three parts will cost you $100 total, and last for several grows.

After 4-5 months of growth under 18/6 lighting, your plants should have been HUGE. Each plant should have been about 3-4 feet in diameter.

The size of your grow is confusing to me. If the plants were indeed small enough after 4-5 months of growing to still be the size of your one foot diameter buckets, that in itself shows a problem.

Are you sure about those sizes? This is very important to your grow.

 

[JayRa]

let me dig and see if I can find some pics....

 

[POTUS]

let me dig and see if I can find some pics....

Cool. I have to make a run downtown, but I'll check this thread before bed tonight.

 

[JayRa]

while I look...In what period of time do you switch between light cycles? It seems like I'm letting them grow for too long...

 

[Puffin Afatty]

I have grown the same WW under a 400 w light, it has a coverage radius of 20 to 22 inches. anything outside of 22 inches will not produce, no mater what kind of reflective material you use. I keep my light within 22 inches of the bottom of my grow. closer than 6-8 inches results in toasting of the tops.

I have gotten great yields and the smoke was very much worth smoking. there is more to this mystery than the light.

Was the WW bud covered in trichs?? and I hate to suggest this for fear of sounding insulting, but you do know trichs are not the white hairs that turn red?? trichs, are the little tiny wax tubes that contain the resin. :doh:

 

[JayRa]

Was the WW bud covered in trichs?? and I hate to suggest this for fear of sounding insulting, but you do know trichs are not the white hairs that turn red?? trichs, are the little tiny wax tubes that contain the resin. :doh:

No worries...Yes they were very covered with trichomes, the fan leaves and water leaves were even covered!

 

[JayRa]

I am posting the only pics that survived when I wiped the HD...

 

[smokybear]

The plants look great. The only thing I can figure out is that the harvest time is incorrect. Can you estimate how old the plants were in those pictures? If I were to guess, they are bout 4-5 weeks old. They look very lush and healthy. POTUS definately sounds like he knows what he's doing so any advice he gives you, I would take and run with that. Like I said before, it sounds like your harvesting them at the wrong time. I would definately start a grow journal and let us follow your progress. If you do that, you will end up with world class, one toke, make you choke bud. I wish you the best of luck and I hope you figure out whats wrong and are able to correct it. Grow it big my friend.

 

[POTUS]

while I look...In what period of time do you switch between light cycles? It seems like I'm letting them grow for too long...

I grow only my Host plants in dirt. My crops are in hydro. Ebb and Flow.

I have an 8 foot ceiling in my grow areas and switch to flowering after growing my clones to 15-18 inches tall. They start as rooted clones at 6 inches tall.

When I'm done flowering, the plants are always 5 feet tall at harvest.

I always harvest slightly over a pound in the 3.5 x 5.5 area using 4 hydro tubs with 4 plants per/tub.

I see a nitrogen deficiency in your leaves. That's the miracle grow nutrient working on you. When you switch to a good MJ nutrient, that will go away.

They're also way too small for 4-5 month old plants. That again is your nutrient more than likely.

 

[parkingjoe]

I believe my bulbs are rated to produce 53000 lumens per sq ft each and the added lumens from the fluros at 8000 would put me at about 69000 lumens per sq foot for each of the two 'clusters'

Hiya JayRa . 1st your lights pump out those lumens totally and not per sq ft.

i agree and im an engineer too that you have enough coverage lightwise for area used.

400w hps will optimumly light 1sq metre

a 600w hps does 1.5sq metre.

anyway miracle grow is crap man you need to use proper nutes dsigned for weed not garden plants etc.

maybe your major pothead and need mega strong stuff but you seem to have it all covered maybe light leaks which was meant as any light leaking into flower room when lights are off for the 12 hours of darness if so this may be problem with potency.

anyway spliff waiting have to trot any probs feel free to ask/pm dude

pkj

 

[parkingjoe]

i use a commercial powder feed made in u.k. so may be out of luck on this score jayra but its what commercial garden centres use in u.k. called chempak cheap as chips and does the job very well thats obvoiusly why garden centres use it to feed their plants .

pkj

 

[Thorn]

thanks for the pics man. It is very strange that your not producing decent pot with all this. I know most people tend not to veg for very long. if you have lots og plants only vegged for about a month and then put into flower your can get a lower canopy and faster produced resin. i.e. you dont have to wait around for 4-5 months of veg.

Green produced under very poor conditions is still usually worth smoking, especially for beginners. I'm no expert, only on my second grow... my first one i was learning as i went along but got some GREAT weed out of it, and that was with fungus gnats through the whole thing, overwatering, underwatering from when i went on holiday for a week, starting off with only 1200 lumens for about 2 sq. foot of space! and then only a 150W hps for the last 5 weeks or so. And yea that was killer weed.

Potus defo knows his stuff man, but MJ is a weed and can be grow very successfully under not very ideal conditions. Oh and I also had to harvest that grow early...the plants were one Afghan and one Easy Sativa and both plants trichs were clear/cloudy when they got the chop and it was all still good.

Sorry I can't help you out more. All I can suggest is trying out different methods like sea of green, hydro, supercropping and all that. But not sure.

 

[Dreadscale]

Hi All :ignore:

I'm new here but ZOOMED right in on this post.

I am definitely no expert on growing. I do know you will get higher content in the buds, from cloned plants VS seed plants.

I'm not saying seed plants aren't potent but if you clone one, the next generation will be of higher content.

Seedlings have to mature for an excessive amount of time, IMO. to produce anything near the quality of cloned buds.

That's just my 2cents.

GOOD LUCK