Hey there, so once again another person with their first grow. Need a little feedback and constructive criticism. The setup is one DWC bucket, first part of my grow was Advanced nutrients pH perfect trio. Used Big Bud and now overdrive. Now in 5th week of flower using maxi bloom. Lights are one 150w only bloom switch and another 250w LED full spectrum. Temps are high 79 and low 63 with 55 humidity. What if any deficiencies do you see? Also are my buds tiny cuz of the stretch, the light or is it strain dependent (Blue Cookies 90% indica 10% sativa)
So, I’m going to go on a whim and tell you what most people aren’t, or maybe they aren’t aware of.
And it’s about the buds... nutes and strain aside, they are particulary small and it is probably due to your lights (remember I said probably) since I am not there to check the other factors physically.
But I am going to say your lights are the problem which is probably kind of hard to hear, I know because I myself had to find out through trial and error. But not all hope is lost, on the bright side you have 1 part of the puzzle.
You see, regarding your question as to why the buds are so small, it’s due to the penetrative capabilities of the UV & IV spectrums, since the technology is only recently catching up, most pink leds aren’t capable of producing the much needed weight that new growers seek. This is why for decades HPS has been the golden standard regarding grow lights, aside from wasting 40% of the electricity they consume in heat, no pink led can compare to their penetrative capabilities. Most pink LED sellers don’t offer a PPFD chart regarding their product and even if they do, people take little to no time into consideration as to what the PPFD chart is saying, as it is the most important factor in grow lights. Even when they provide a chart, if you take notice, the higher the lights are and the further light photons have to travel sideways drastically decreases their efficiency. And with pink LEDS Height and side way length really matters... when I say drastically I mean moving your light maybe 5-10 inches higher than its supposed to be offer little to no effect at all… as the UV and IV light photons have long decayed before hitting the surface of the plant, let alone penetrating into it.
Now today there are QB’s and new COB LED’s which all seek to better this deficiency in penetrative light capabilities (QB’s aren’t pink, some cobs are). You can look into these, I myself have a QB as they are currently the most efficient, and they sell out fast and are pricier than a comparable HPS system.
Does this mean you wasted our money?
NO! Absolutely not! You see the best thing you can do is use a combination of QB/HPS+pinks LEDs... why? QB/HPS will offer the penetrative capabilities to produce the weight you need
pink LEDs UV and IV rays will hurt the plant into creating more trichrome. This way you will end up with heavy weighing crystalized colas.
What can you do right now?
Of course it might be a bit discouraging what I’ve said but please don’t take it to heart.
Of course you can’t possibly get a HPS or QB right now, at this instant.
So what you can do is; try to get your lights as low as possible (every inch counts with pink LEDs) without hurting the plants. If you have a PPFD chart of your light, try to put it at a height which offers at least 600+PPFD, ideally 1000 PPFD.
Good luck friend, hope I helped
Hey there, so once again another person with their first grow. Need a little feedback and constructive criticism. The setup is one DWC bucket, first part of my grow was Advanced nutrients pH perfect trio. Used Big Bud and now overdrive. Now in 5th week of flower using maxi bloom. Lights are one 150w only bloom switch and another 250w LED full spectrum. Temps are high 79 and low 63 with 55 humidity. What if any deficiencies do you see? Also are my buds tiny cuz of the stretch, the light or is it strain dependent (Blue Cookies 90% indica 10% sativa)
