Effectiveness of nutes?

So I'm growing under a 150w sunsystem hps. im like 4 weeks in an the best plant has a main cola about 8-9 inches long. I've just been using general MG nutes in facet water, not even ph'd. The plants look perfectly healthy, theyre a deep green with no discolorations. I see these crazy pics in the 150club of colas as big around as beer cans. Mine are the same length, but much thinner.

Do flower nutes really make a huge difference? Or does much of the width come after 4 weeks.

Basically I've heard alot about MG soil being outclassed by say Foxfarms, but ive seen several side by sides where there was no difference, does a high P nute really make the difference or am I just getting ahead of myself?

buds fatten up near the end of flowering but nutes can add that extra little bit

So they mostly fill in along the stem for the first 1/2 ro 2/3, and then they grow outward from there?

Can anyone link to a good journal that shows the development of the main cola in detail?

well ya at 4 weeks your maybe half way to the end so you will see more growth it might double still

MG is still nutrients, may not be organic or "high grade"(like FF, techna, bontai, etc), but these so called high grade companies will rip you off with many varieties of nutes making feedings feels like a goddamn chemistry class, keep it simple, have 1 bottle of nutes for veg(a good NPK would be something like 10-3-5) and a 2 part for flower(one in the first 2-3 weeks with a little more N but bumping up P and K to let her know its time to flower, and the second part is for the 4 week all the way to harvest, something like 1-6-8 or possibly even no N since your soil has enough in it already). starting some compost would be smart, maybe try out some organic nutes like bat guano, bone/blood meals, those are good for flower and itll grow some better bud. just about every chemical nutrient will leave you with a possibly bitter or harsh product and funky smell, some claim it can be fixed with a flush but you have to remember the plant produced those buds with synthetic salt based nutrients, so the products isnt going to be as good as the real elements that these salts synthesize. some people on here use organic choice from MG, though not completely organic since it still has the slow release balls but many claim if you just mix it with 25-35% perlite itll cool down the nutes so you dont get any tip burn from overfeeding. i did experience magnesium and calcium deficiencies with MG so keep an eye out. real swelling happens around the 5th week but this is just a generalization, many strains can flower for 12+ weeks and continue to swell.

Yeah im a bit puzzled on the flowering times honestly. I'm only now seeing the first pistols turn red/brownish. All trichs are clear. I thought the flower time was shorter. I was estimating harvesting at the end of this month, from what you say it sounds like it'll be longer

i know when its time to harvest with three methods, the yellowing leafs are a signal that the plant is using its leaves as energy(so dont pick em off, it doesnt matter if they dont look nice lol) so swelling is still occurring and its going into overdrive to produce before a long winter(thats what she thinks at least), after i start to see a significant amount of em its a good week or two from harvest. if you have too much N in your feedings, these leaves may not show up though and MG does contain lots of N usually. the next is hairs, when theres about 60% amber/brown hairs to 40% milky its usually time to cut, and finally you could always just whip out the trich microscope and check if you see lots of amber trich heads, the more amber trichs usually gives you more couchlock like effect, more milky is gonna give you the "uppity" high.

8 weeks is a average flowering time just a guess

id say 9 is average, some really fast indicas and hybrids can take 8 but i dont believe they'll mature to full potential by then and with a few more days you can really get much more resin and trich output, with an extra week many strains can swell up to their full potential and mature. depends how you like your bud. keep in mind some sativas can flower for up to 12-16 weeks, maybe even longer but i havent seen that strain yet.

well i def underestimated then. lets see, I just saw the first non presex pistil on october 9, so...december 9 or so?

probably a little after december 9th, just watch how she develops, if you got any background on the stains flowering time itd help, if you could identify the phenotype(if the breeders nice enough to list em) you could get a better idea of when its ready too. post some pics on here and im sure people will help you out, possibly even point out some things you didnt notice.