How to grow dense buds?

[bonghitter99]

I was just wondering how to go about growing some dense buds. Ive grown mj for awhile now and have always ended up with airy buds as the finished product. Good potent stuff but always kind of airy, this is regardless of what strain ive grown. I bought some mj a couple of weeks ago cause I ran out of homegrown stuff and this stuff is hard as a rock! Creates great bag appeal imo. You could cut glass with this stuff, lol.

Is this just part of the curing process? I must admit I don't do a proper cure (jars etc) i just hang dry for 1-2 weeks in a cool dark area and plastic bag it, opening the bags on occasion. ANy thoughts?

 

[PetFlora]

It could be anything from bad bloom nute formula (see Advanced Nutrents videos), pH, lighting, grow medium, grow system and/or a combination of any/all of these.

See my journal for ideas.

 

[Mt Toaker]

Those buds are probably packed together for shipping, try cramming more into a jar or a bag that will squish the buds like most stuff on the street is. . . In my opinion the buds aren't' dense they are crushed together most of the time. Other than that PetFlora has it, could be any number of stress being applied to the plant. What is your grow medium? What kind of lights and how many? How is your environment(temp, humidity, air movement, air exchange, co2 ect) Its very difficult to give you input with no information about your grow. It could be as simple as you harvesting too early too, but growing for a while I hope thats not the problem.

 

[s13sr20det]

how many watts do you grow under?

well my guess is add more lights and co2

 

[~pHaNtOm~]

huge rock solid nugs that i see are mostly hydro grown.
dial a good strain in and you will get huge rock hard nugs..dial in ph,ppm,light,air,vents,fans,water,nutes,RH etc and you should get what your looking for.

how many watts per sq/ft are you running?

 

[big ballin 88]

how many watts do you grow under?

well my guess is add more lights and co2

I agree with this one the most. If you grow good bud already the thing that will get you the denseist nugs would be nice cool tempatures and and intense light. 600w and 1000w are pretty much the best for density, is all about high irradiance and deep penetration into the flowers/canopy.

 

[TripleAOnly]

also restrict space a bit so everything about the plant is forced to form closer together... old trick especially helpful doin indoor sativas

 

[xmobotx]

i've always been under the impression that (all thing's being equal) light is the biggest contributor to dense budz

the synergy of nutes temps co2 media and care has to be there

but it takes good strong light to pack on the mass

 

[GET MO]

yep, more light and cooler temps... or u can cheat like me and use bushmasters and gravity, all my nugs turn to rocks!

 

[CaptainTrips]

Most likely, you need "better" , or rather perhaps different genetics, since "rock hard" bud, is not really neccesarily the best.... and probably more light.

 

[darksith]

wow, there are quite a difference of opinions on this 1. First Im gonna guess you are growing with a 400w or less lamp.

Light intensity is the most important thing to have nice dense buds. Proper pH is a 2nd, and the nutes are 3rd. Get all those ducks in a row and you will be super happy. CO2 is the least important but it will help, but it is definately not a must. Strain might have something to do with it, but I don't think so. Don't just cram them in a jar to pack them, that is pointless.

Edit, you could also be growing your plants too big for your light source, but even doing that your still gonna get a couple really nice buds if you are using 600w or more.

 

[CaptainTrips]

Strain has nothing to do with it? Huh? Some strains will produce nothing but airy bud, no matter how much power or sun you throw at it... Poster needs to produce some specs, his genes, and some pics...

 

[cork144]

keep temps in controll, dont use too intence light too close, dont feed too much nitrogen but make sure theres lots of P and K

also ofcourse no sativa strains if you want dence nugs

 

[kathleen]

yep, more light and cooler temps... or u can cheat like me and use bushmasters and gravity, all my nugs turn to rocks!

Hi Get Mo,
I'm about to start my first grow...2 plants, bubba kush clones, in a 28x36x84" closet and trying to learn as much as I can up front. I'm curious about how you cheat..what is a bush master and how do you use gravity? (I'm a mmj patient on a fixed income working on curing skin cancer among other problems)
Thanks,
Kathleen

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Most of the wispy buds I have seen have just been taken too early. If you set your crop back by letting one of the environmental factors get out of range, growth slows and the real harvest date will also probably go back. Even without any obvious problems, almost all the weed I see is taken too young, even if you like the high clear buzz, you loose a lot of weight and flavour.

Take a few average buds 10, then 5 days early, taking photos of each and what it looks like, then.... some at normal harvest date, then leave some 5 and 10 days over, take photos, label, harvest. Smoke them, look back at the pictures, I bet that most prefer the vintage versions, far less wispy fluffing... and few come back and moan that their time was wasted.

 

[kathleen]

yep, more light and cooler temps... or u can cheat like me and use bushmasters and gravity, all my nugs turn to rocks!

PS I'm new with navigating/using sites like this. I'm not sure how to find your answer, assuming you reply to me...
I also just wrote to Gray Wolf.
I guess I'll find out!
Thanks again,
Kathleen

 

[xmobotx]

Strain has nothing to do with it? Huh? Some strains will produce nothing but airy bud, no matter how much power or sun you throw at it... Poster needs to produce some specs, his genes, and some pics...

strain is definitely an issue - some strains are simply a low yield strain (hopefully they compensate in quality?) w/ many strains esp sativa this can manifest as wispy flowers (as opposed to fewer) of course many (even sativa) strains yield low because they produce a few roundish dense nugs.

i assumed that since he has flowered several strains he wasn't talking about strain specific reasons why the buds are not dense

this is regardless of what strain ive grown

 

[Lazyman]

Bushmaster is used to stop the stretching period when plants are changed from 18 hours of light (6 dark) to 12 hours of light (12 dark.) Plants will typically double in height over the first 2-4 weeks of flower. Most growers don't mind, but using Bushmaster stops the stretch immediately. If you run lots of small plants its a good thing, but smaller plants yield less.

Gravity is a pretty good product, I use it as a foliar spray in mid-late flower and it does seem to add more frost.

I agree with SR20 that light is the biggest culprit, push your lighting up to around 60 watts per square foot of plant canopy and grow more indica-dominant strains and this will no longer be a problem.

 

[Cannaseur Kid]

Get all of your elements in line and the rock hard nugs will follow soon after. Too many people don't know how to grow weed out to its optimal state. It takes alot more than some bullshit you add to your nutes... it is the nutes, air, co2, temps, humidity, light cycles, and every other controllable grow room aspect combined that provide the atmosphere that ganja plants so desire. Work on keeping all this in order. Work with different (proven) strains. And work on getting one strain down perfect then adjust your growing patterns to other strains as needed.

 

[GET MO]

gravity adds weight and density to buds, snow storm and purple max are the ones that make plants push out more frost. Ive never used as a foliar spray tho so I dont know about that method but from my experience in a hydro system gravity just densens the buds. Also although bushmasters does make plants shorter most the time the buds are the same size or ever bigger, its just they are not stretched out between them... too much of this stuff too early and youll have one big ass dense cola with no branches, not a good idea if your worried about mold.