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How do you dry buds to lock up like nuggets?
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I
IE2KS_KUSH
Can you post up a pick of an example of a bud you are going to dry that you don't want to end up airy?
lol . If you don't want airy buds : Get more light on the plants in flower , Get more indica dominant variety's . Even some sativa dominant hybrids will give dense nugs if plants are trained well and under enough light. If you want to turn already airy buds into nuggets , then you have a problem. You would have to somehow compress them with your hands or something which i would never recommend anyone to do.. just cure and smoke them as they are. Will smoke way better than some nugget that's been squashed by some fool to make it 'look' better .
Captain Ginyu
Member
Yes, genetics and the amount of light play a major factor.
abellguy
Member
It will take a good year or more for your hair to start locking and probably a couple to lock up real good, oh wait were talking about locking nuggets not dreadies 
lol
To high of temps can cause what would otherwise be denser buds to be more airy. Once you have finished your hang dry for 3 or so days and move to paper bags this tends to make the buds close some and appear a little more dense but are still fluffy when squeezed. Genetics, temperature and growth time are all factors that determine bud denseness, in that order in my opinion
lolTo high of temps can cause what would otherwise be denser buds to be more airy. Once you have finished your hang dry for 3 or so days and move to paper bags this tends to make the buds close some and appear a little more dense but are still fluffy when squeezed. Genetics, temperature and growth time are all factors that determine bud denseness, in that order in my opinion
More light and temperature around 68f are the way to go for dense nugs. You could always try to vacuum seal your airy nugs in food saver bags. They'll compress without turning into brick weed.
G
Guest3498
Keep your environment in check
Flower under 600's or 1k's
Don't grow fluffy strains
Bigbud + overdrive doesn't hurt either...
Flower under 600's or 1k's
Don't grow fluffy strains
Bigbud + overdrive doesn't hurt either...
i've found the biggest factor is rockhard nugs vs loose airy buds is genetics really. plain and simple. indica leaning plants tend to grow tighter more compact flower clusters where sativa leaners grow more fluffy airy buds. its moister in tropical climates so there is more space between the leaves and buds to keep the airflow. in the colder climates the air tends to be drier so the buds can grow tighter.
the second most limiting factor seems to be light like was said. try and get the plants as close to the lights as you can with your specific type of lighting. but not too close as there is such a thing as too much light. not really about the wattage but the lumens and intensity. a weaker light covering more plant area does more than a brighter light that only hits the canopy. if that makes any sense. if you have a 400w light for instance you need to keep it like 1 foot away from the plants of it will do damage to the leaves it is very bright, but if you let the plants grow upwards freely the majority of the light will only his the top parts of the plant. if you trained the plant low and wide so that there was more surface area being lit then you will easily yield more than they did growing free, and if you only had 200w and you train that way you will achieve similar if not more yield than with the 400w.
thirdly is the nutrients. not really the brand, but how much you feed and when. if you feed more nitrogen past like week 6 of flower then you get plants that will start making leaves again halfway through flower then stop and resume flower. you see it all the time. someone will show a big bud full of foxtails. thats it. but that also makes rock hard nugs because the calyxes started to turn back to leaves and put on mass but then resumed flowering and frosted over with trichomes. but adding nitrogen late in flower also takes away from the high because while it should have been ripening and finishing it was busy growing more mass instead of converting compounds.
they naturally add mass during the last 2-4 weeks of flower also but a lot of people chop early and lose weight. near the end of flower the plants start drinking a lot, you might have to water more than once in a day. this is the time to make sure that they are getting as much water as you can supply without overwatering or anything negative also wanna have cut out all nutes at this point. after that point they stop drinking pretty much altogether. that lets you know they are done and you can harvest if you like.
anyway that was my 2-3 cents one or all of those should help you get denser buds. take it or leave it. good luck in your endeavors.
the second most limiting factor seems to be light like was said. try and get the plants as close to the lights as you can with your specific type of lighting. but not too close as there is such a thing as too much light. not really about the wattage but the lumens and intensity. a weaker light covering more plant area does more than a brighter light that only hits the canopy. if that makes any sense. if you have a 400w light for instance you need to keep it like 1 foot away from the plants of it will do damage to the leaves it is very bright, but if you let the plants grow upwards freely the majority of the light will only his the top parts of the plant. if you trained the plant low and wide so that there was more surface area being lit then you will easily yield more than they did growing free, and if you only had 200w and you train that way you will achieve similar if not more yield than with the 400w.
thirdly is the nutrients. not really the brand, but how much you feed and when. if you feed more nitrogen past like week 6 of flower then you get plants that will start making leaves again halfway through flower then stop and resume flower. you see it all the time. someone will show a big bud full of foxtails. thats it. but that also makes rock hard nugs because the calyxes started to turn back to leaves and put on mass but then resumed flowering and frosted over with trichomes. but adding nitrogen late in flower also takes away from the high because while it should have been ripening and finishing it was busy growing more mass instead of converting compounds.
they naturally add mass during the last 2-4 weeks of flower also but a lot of people chop early and lose weight. near the end of flower the plants start drinking a lot, you might have to water more than once in a day. this is the time to make sure that they are getting as much water as you can supply without overwatering or anything negative also wanna have cut out all nutes at this point. after that point they stop drinking pretty much altogether. that lets you know they are done and you can harvest if you like.
anyway that was my 2-3 cents one or all of those should help you get denser buds. take it or leave it. good luck in your endeavors.
whatsupdoc
Member
I'll echo what others have said about temperature. Excessive heat hurts nuggy-ness.
DeoXy
Active member
paper bags for a few days in between hang dry and jarring works well.. but strain dependent.. some just stay airy no matter what.. can always try something like humboldt gravity, works well also cuts down stretch.. shit makes them as hard as rocks if your not careful and use too much lol
strong light makes dense nugs (if the plant has the genetic capacity to make them) BUT high heat will encourage loose airy nugs so trying to get your light really close to the canopy is often counter productive for HID lighting as the radiant heat will get your plants too hot. look up what the experts say is the prescribed distance for your light wattage and then keep them that far away. its very easy to let them keep getting a bit closer and a bit closer throughout flower whearas you really want to back them off a little towards the end so all the terpenes dont get cooked.
VG
VG
"Oh... that's the way that strain grows!"
Quote from the local dispensary when asked why a particular bud looked 'airy and fluffy'. Hell, ALL their stuff looked like it needed more light. Not that they were receptive to the reality of their situation.
Youv'e gotten great advice in this thread.... lower temps, lower nitrogen, more indica leaning strains, more light etc...
Stay Safe!
Quote from the local dispensary when asked why a particular bud looked 'airy and fluffy'. Hell, ALL their stuff looked like it needed more light. Not that they were receptive to the reality of their situation.
Youv'e gotten great advice in this thread.... lower temps, lower nitrogen, more indica leaning strains, more light etc...
Stay Safe!
How do u dry buds to lock up like nuggets?
Dont want airy buds!!!!!!
Please enlighten me or point me in the right direction.
Good thing ur mom didn't want to squash you to make you look better..
mgk
well, a dehumidifier will help with not getting mold, and mildew. Not sure how that would help with nug density. Choose a nice solid indica, make sure your room is in check, and k.i.s.s. I've had great success using the lucas formula. Also, remember that lots of meds being sold, have been vacuum sealed, and packaged. Good luck
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=220312
check this thread for some good pictures of buds that haven't been vacuum pressed into denser nuggets. eventually through your growing you will learn the best you can get out of weed plants in general vs when someone has enhanced their images or dressed their buds up for bag appeal. you will never make your weed grow like a well manipulated image looks. most weed just grows how it grows, look at that ultimate sativa thread. some of that shit looks like one solid chunk and others looks like someone glued rice krispies to a stick. not really any magic formula for high times pictures.
check this thread for some good pictures of buds that haven't been vacuum pressed into denser nuggets. eventually through your growing you will learn the best you can get out of weed plants in general vs when someone has enhanced their images or dressed their buds up for bag appeal. you will never make your weed grow like a well manipulated image looks. most weed just grows how it grows, look at that ultimate sativa thread. some of that shit looks like one solid chunk and others looks like someone glued rice krispies to a stick. not really any magic formula for high times pictures.
grow a dense strain. otherwise all ya can do is compress it slightly. nothing wrong with airy buds.
Here's a shot of some Vanilla Kush that I scored a while back. I remember it being some of the most dense pot I've seen, you could easily fit 3 oz's into a quart mason jar, with some room to spare. This nug was 6 grams.
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