The Secret to Big Buds?

"Monster" buds are more susceptible to bud rot. That monster bud is just a bunch buds growing together due to close internodal spacing. I prefer to have some space between buds as they dry more consistently. I grow in pro mix HP using only maxi bloom (homemade cal-mag once in a while if they need). This is what I typically end up with.
Blueberry Cheese from seed | Grasscity Forums - The #1 Marijuana Community Online

 

I water until around 10% runoff, then let them dry back until they are pretty light (at the beginning of the grow). Once into flower, they get fed every day as they are big enough by then to sufficiently dry back within 24 hours.

 

Bigger does not always mean better. Bud structure has as much to do with strain genetics as grower skill. Look at these 2 pics, one is a sativa dom, the other is indica dom.

BBK by sweedright posted Jun 12, 2022 at 7:51 AM

 

Yes, everything I post is my work. The first pic was Gelato cream pie.....supposed to be slightly indica dominant but ended up full on sativa dominant. It looks impressive, but was not my favorite. The lesson to take away from that, is don't buy questionable seeds from vendors who don't give a shit.

 

Maxi bloom is a powder that gets mixed with water then fed to the plants. In flower they will drink 3/4 of a gallon per day.

 

Good bud formation can be helped along by making sure light can reach all the bud sites and by keeping the canopy as level as possible.

 

big buds are all well and good but if they dont get harvested at the correct time or dried right you will just have more crap for edibles i just harvested some super critical with huge colas and white widow with golfball size and not only did the widow buds weigh more they cured way better too so bigger is not always better here are some old pics all grown in soil

 

I grow outside and big tight buds are the ones that take the worst caterpillar damage. A more open bud lets the BT Thuricide penetrate deep enough the little shitter eats some treated leaf and fucking DIES!.

 

Everybody makes some nice points in this thread. It's good topic to be on. Growers all have different styles to grow.

Genetics play the biggest role in all of this.

I'm a 100% organic grower. I don't use any chemicals.
( IF ) I use any pesticides so to speak I use Lost Coast plant therapy. I can use this right up to the day of harvest.

I enhance my soil with, Worm castings, biochar, insect frass, compost, all kinds of composted manure from all kinds of animals, pea Stone lava rock expanded clay and perlite and vermiculite are some of the additives that I may use for drainage purposes and retaining water. Also vermiculite has a large amount of silica.
If I use any bagged amendments it's organic and it usually consists of bone meal, blood meal, humic acid, urea, potash, gypsum, dolomite lime, garden line, Epsom salts. I could go on there's a few more. I just use them less in quantity.

I grow in native soil, and use aerated rainwater.

I've been growing for a long time. Professionally for about 4 years. And as a gorilla grower for I don't know A long time 10 or 15 years plus anyways for sure.

But when They gave me a license in 2013 here in Michigan that made 100% difference in how I could grow.
Inside or out.

I'm a master manipulator.

I believe in crop manipulation pruning, trimming topping, super cropping, LST, EST, manifolding there's so many ways to manipulate your plant. Scrog net sea of green I could go on.

Plant training is very important.

The cannabis plants is now domesticated and should be treated as such.

Us humans have been domesticating plants for millenniums.
Corn, apple trees, grapes, beets, onions, you name it we've manipulated it to fit our needs and use, we eat them we crush them up to make flower, we press them to make oils. We do a lot of things to plants. Correct? Domestication of plants is what we do.

Here is some of my work over the last 9 years.

If this site will let me load up some of the pictures that I have.
The site seems to have a big problem with allowing you to load up pictures these days without doing a bunch of jumping through hoops and changing s***.

It's become a real pain in the ass recently...



There was a few more pics but they wouldn't let me load up and I didn't feel like messing with them to make them go in.

Happy growing to all you.

 

experience is the main factor, but in truth once you have busted every thing to get that yard long sativa cola,
show it off to your buddies and 7 days later it flips to a moldy mess.....you learn very fast
I've always said 'we' learn at a thousand of an inch at a time, like using your HPS for the total grow to add a little stretch to the plants hoping that the stretch will also make the cola/bud stretch to allow air flow is one 'trick' I've used for years, unfortunately its also a sign of ID'ing my weed as I learnt recently.
I'm organic in soils, some indoor some out, I'm mean with water only as its very humid where I'm at.
checking GC daily is a place we all learn from ...lol


good luck

 

Also an organic grower here. It all starts with genetic. Sativas and sativa hybrid have more potential to give you harm size long colas.
Your ability to provide the best environment to keep your plant happy are the next key factor; strong and well diffused light, temperature, a gentle breeze and lots of fresh air, humidity, and optimal watering schedule should all be on point.
Training aka LST, topping and pruning should be done carefully according to your setup and goals. If you want harm size long colas, don't try to fill a 4x4 scrog with one plant! One topping to produce 4 mains will give better results.
Worm castings is the best «nutrient» you can give to your plants, as it's loaded with natural PGR (plant growth regulator), growth hormones, microbes, bacteria and fungus. The bigger the roots are, the stronger your growth will be. Also, choose a large size container, like 15 gals.

A strain that gives you rewarding colas, Congo from ACE seeds.
This vid is a must to watch, but skip the supercroping part for colas

 

No way could I do this inside and still remain married. I only lost my first big modern era outside grow to caterpillars some 10 years ago.

Once you've been burned by them you learn all you can and fight and whip the little shitters. I only take a tiny bit of damage now if I've been lax and have only myself to blame as I know good and well the little fucks have invaded and I have to keep on my BT Thuricide religiously and can't miss a single week.

The bug zapper gets swept clean every morning and the number of dead moths tells me how bad the infestation likely is and if I need to step up my spraying to twice a week. BT Thuricide is destroyed by sunlight in a few hours, so it needs frequent application to stay effective. The caterpillar has to eat some treated material then they die of terminal indigestion.

It is only the summer set of plants I have to stay on top of. The 3 off season sets outside I do virtually nothing to except a bit of high PH water to prevent any possible powdery mildew. With no chance of a freeze, I get 4 harvests a year from that same patch of garden.

BNW

 

This is a great training video...

 

Thanks! I must have watched it a dozen time and it is still a joy to see it every time. If Op takes the time to watch it and follow advises, it is a path for juicy colas! Of course it all comes down to genetics. Strains like Bubba Kush will grow golf ball size flower almost no matter what.

 

Thanks for sharing this information video...

I use all the techniques he explains plus some more.

I did have a take away.

I really don't use the Kush chiropractic. That's funny.

But I don't really use that one cuz I just snap them you know multiple times along the veg period so I can keep my plants low underneath my privacy fence. But he explained it pretty well how that all of those cracked stocks will create more flow in the capillaries of the plant or cells. That's a really good one to know. It's logical.
It's good to see people who are not afraid to work with this plant. Like he said it's a weed and it'll recover fast as hell.
I've been beating these plants up for years now plus some.

I went out last night and did a chiropractic adjustment on the Runtz muffins in my garden. I just did it to a couple of stocks on this one to see how it worked. It's pretty cool. I mean as far as the sound it makes and everything I was pretty happy with that.