Hey fellow grower, you have come a long way, and getting emaciated, hairy buds doesn’t reward your dedication and commitment. You need to get huge buds— isn’t that what every grower breaks a sweat for? In this article, we look at the few things you can do to fatten your buds before harvesting. Read on.
Increase Grow Light Intensity
Light is an essential resource for marijuana plant if it is to produce fat buds. Just like you need food to grow and have the energy to perform daily duties, your plants require a lot of light to encourage photosynthesis and peak metabolism. During the vegetative stage, it is crucial to have a high-powered HID light of around 400W since it is ideal for this stage of growth.
However, once your cannabis reaches the flowering stage, you should change the HID light to the 1000W to spur bud development. There’s no two ways about it— higher light intensity improves the rate of photosynthesis and production.
If you’re trying to save on the power bills, you can go for LED grow lights, higher watts still, but doesn’t cost you as much as HID lights. While at it, don’t settle for cheap. The goal is to get greater yield— not buying the lowest-priced grow lights.
While outdoor growers can bank on the all-powerful sun, indoor growers must pay attention to the choice of light and how it’s set up in the grow tent. Inadequate light slows down production and the photosynthetic processes. Interestingly, even powerful lights can fail your plants if they’re placed too far from the plants.
How Far Should The Light Be From The Plant?
For a 1000W HPS, place the light at least 40cms above the canopy. If you position it any closer, your plants will be stressed and might suffer light burn. If you use fluorescents, place the light 30cms above the plant— anything above that, and the light will be inadequate for a good yield. Of course, avoid fluorescents when you can.
Ensure the plants don’t stretch out in search of light. You don’t want them straining and bending as that reduces the rate of photosynthesis and gives popcorn buds.
While indoors you have full control of the lights, outdoors leave you little control of the light. Cut the vegetation that towers your cannabis plants to remove the shades that reduce exposure to sunlight.
Though not recommended during flowering, you can do low-stress training to increase your plant’s exposure to light. Be careful because when done haphazardly, training your plants at flowering might stress them, leading to small, emaciated buds.
Increase CO2
Carbon dioxide is another meal that your plants will thank you for. CO2 combines with light energy to make the sugars needed for production and bud fattening. The two go hand in hand— more light + more CO2= adequate sugars for big buds production.
Outdoors CO2 is abundant; your plants can produce considerably big buds with the 400 ppm. But inside, even with ventilation, adding CO2 is always a high-yielding approach. You can increase the amount of CO2 by using carbon generators. The best thing is that, with CO2 enrichment, your plants can use between 1500-2000 ppm— that’s a recipe for juicy buds!
Ensure you seal off the grow area leaving high-intensity lights on inside. Then pump the CO2 in the grow room to the maximum and wait for the results. You will be utterly shocked at how fat the buds will become. Remember, high CO2 calls for high-intensity grow lights. Adjust accordingly.
When adding CO2, remember to drop them from the air above the plants. That way, they hit the leaves and are utilized before most of it is lost. CO2 is denser than air and can get lost quickly in the grow area, starving your plants.
Get the Right Marijuana Nutrients
At flowering, your plant needs more phosphorus and potassium. Phosphorous fosters the development of buds to their full sizes. Potassium, on the other hand, makes your plants more resistant to environmental conditions. At the beginning of the flowering stage, go for a 10:30:10 NPK ratio, then later boost potassium to make the buds denser and healthier.
You can also add a little bit of molasses to the water each time you water the plant. Molasses is rich in minerals that spur growth and bud development, fattening the buds.
Remember to feed your plants plain water to wash off undissolved nutrients and allow the plant to deplete its reserves. This makes your bud smooth when you smoke it. It also avoids nutrient burn.
Watch Humidity and Temperature
Humidity and Temperature are key climatic factors that you must keep in check. Your plants are more susceptible to pests and botrytis at flowering, and high humidity further aggravates the infestation when it occurs. Keep humidity at 30% with temperatures at 24° Celsius. At this stage, the drier the grow room, the denser the buds.
In Conclusion
The flowering stage means a lot to your yield. You can break or make your buds here—right before harvest. Feed your plants, protect them from extreme humid conditions, and time the harvest. Your buds will be dense and rich in all the good stuff. Roll another!
