It’s been extraordinarily hot in many parts of the world. Last week we talked about helping cannabis plants with heat, but today I wanted to talk about another challenge that often follows periods of high temperature.

So today, while it’s hot, I just wanted to share resources to help you quickly identify the most common pests that strike cannabis in the heat. Discover what to look out for, along with how to get rid of them quickly.

Are these symptoms caused by heat or bugs?

Keep reading to see if your “heat-stressed” plants are actually being attacked by a common cannabis pest.

Just look at the pictures below to determine whether your symptoms match, and then click on the picture of the bug to get more information on how to get rid of it.

1.) Flies buzzing around soil (Fungus Gnats)

Fungus Gnats: What to Look For

If you see tons of little bugs flying around your soil, it’s almost certainly fungus gnats.

A fungus gnat is tiny

A few fungus gnats won’t hurt your plants much, but if it gets out of control, it will start causing symptoms in your plants.

This cannabis plant was riddled with fungus gnats for weeks.

Fungus Gnats: How to Get Rid of Them 

Fungus gnats need constantly wet topsoil to survive. Therefore, if you see fungus gnats, it’s usually a sign that you’ve been overwatering your plant and haven’t allowed the topsoil to dry out between waterings.

• Stop over-watering and let topsoil dry out between waterings. Fungus gnats naturally disappear over time because they can’t reproduce.
• Get yellow sticky traps – Yellow sticky traps won’t get rid of fungus gnats alone, but can greatly bring down their numbers. They also help you know when you’ve actually got rid of them, because the sticky traps will stay clean.
• Use an Insecticide – Either a wide spectrum insect killer or something with BT like crushed-up mosquito bits mixed with water.
• Diatomaceous earth – Diatomaceous Earth is basically fossil dust. It’s an all-natural solution that’s safe for humans and animals but is sharp on a microscopic level to kill soft-bodied insects. Sprinkle the white powder lightly over your soil after the topsoil has dried. Once it gets wet, it’s not as effective.
• Mosquito Bits (“BT” Bacteria) – Another thing you can water your plants with is something that contains “BT” bacteria (specifically, Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis – there is another type of BT that’s meant for caterpillars), for example Mosquito Bits.
• Hydrogen Peroxide – If you don’t have access to any of the products, you can start getting creative at home. Usually, these types of remedies aren’t as effective as the “real” stuff, but they will definitely still kill a lot of bugs! Use 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 4 parts water (for 3% pure H2O2). This is another type of brute force attack to kill larvae directly.
• Add a fan – If the fungus gnats can’t easily lay their eggs in the soil, then it’s harder for them to go through their life cycle. That means adding a breeze with a cheap fan can help prevent them from being able to comfortably infest your soil.

Don’t remove yellow sticky traps until fungus gnats are totally gone.

Learn how to get rid of fungus gnats attacking your cannabis.

2.) White splotches on leaves (Thrips)

Often mistaken for a nutrient deficiency, thrips leave white splotches or speckles on your leaves. Growers almost never see the bugs themselves because they’re tiny, so it’s best to look for the symptoms and then you’ll know what to look for.

Thrips: What to Look For

Thrips leave white splotches on your leaves.

If you notice the thrip damage, you can confirm by looking for tiny little wormy things on your leaves. That’s a baby thrip.

Thrips: How to Get Rid of Them 

Thrips are found all over the world, so nearly any cannabis grower can run into them. Thrips are most likely to attack growers in soil, though coco-grown plants can get them too (especially if around soil-grown plants).

Thrips commonly attack both indoor and outdoor cannabis plants. The ones that come from outside are usually relatively straightforward to get rid of because these thrips don’t specialize in cannabis plants.

However, if thrips arrive on contaminated cannabis clones, they’re often adapted to cannabis plants and can be particularly hard to get rid of. Another reason to always start with seeds.

• • Insecticidal soap – Fatty acid salts or insecticidal soap can be a good choice against thrips. Soaps weaken their outer shell, yet are safe to use on your plants and won’t leave a long-lasting residue.
  • Neem oil – Neem Oil is a popular all-natural insect-killer. However, itl leaves an unpleasant taste/smell on buds when used to treat flowering plants, so don’t let this stuff get near your buds.
  • Spinosad – Spinosad is organic and safe for cannabis, but should be avoided by commercial growers.
  • Pyrethrins – Pyrethrin-based insecticides (need a mister) are effective, but can be stressful to plants so should be used when the lights are off, and never on buds.
  • Diatomaceous earth – Diatomaceous Earth helps fight thrips. Sprinkle this fossil dust over the soil and around the bottom of your grow tent. It’s an all-natural solution that’s safe for humans and animals but sharp on a microscopic level to kill soft-bodied insects.

Learn more about how to get rid of cannabis thrips.

3.) Dots on leaves, possibly webbing (Spider mites)

Spider mites are a common cannabis pest, especially when getting clones or plants from another grow room. Spider mites cause little yellow or white bite marks all over your leaves. Spider mites often thrive in the heat.

Spider Mites: What to Look For

Look for tiny bugs, especially under the leaves.

If the infestation gets out of control, you may see webbing as well.

Spider Mites: How to Get Rid of Them 

1. Kill Them with an Effective Insecticide
2. Follow Up Again in 2-3 Days
3. Repeat if Necessary (may need to rotate between different products)

Effective against Spider Mites

• Horticultural oils – Grower’s Ally Crop Defender Spray contains mainly rosemary oil, clove oil, and peppermint oil, killing spider mites and eggs on contact.
• Spinosad – Spinosad is organic and safe for cannabis, but should be avoided by commercial growers.
• Mite-B-Gone – Contains insecticidal soap, sulfate esters, citric acid, and sodium chloride. All are non-toxic to people and friendly to the environment. However, this will leave a smell on buds so only let it touch the leaves.
• Pyrethrins – Doktor Doom Spider Mite Knockout Spray is made particularly for spider mites and can be sprayed on plants. However, the knockout spray is only suitable for use before flowering, because it’s too easy to get on buds.
• Diatomaceous earth – Diatomaceous Earth helps fight spider mites. Sprinkle this fossil dust over the soil and around the bottom of your grow tent. Won’t get rid of an infestation alone, but can help.
• Alcohol and Water mixed together (9 parts water to 1 part alcohol) kills spider mites on contact. Can start to stress plants after one or two treatments You will want to use a spray bottle or mister. Best if combined with another treatment.

Learn how to get rid of spider mites on your cannabis plants.

4A.) Bites on leaves with little poops (Caterpillars & Inchworms)

If you’re seeing chunks missing out of your cannabis leaves, it’s often the results of caterpillars/loopers, especially if you also see little black spots on the leaves..

Caterpillars: What to Look For

Often accompanied by black specks (droppings).

Caterpillars: How to Get Rid of Them 

1. First, spray or pick off any caterpillars you see to reduce their numbers.
2. Then use a BT Caterpillar spray on tops and bottoms of leaves.

Bonus Tip: If you live somewhere with caterpillars, it’s always a good idea to spray plants with BT caterpillar spray right as they start making buds. Get some protection while it’s still easy to spray around the buds (BT also kills bud worms!).

BT bacteria is one of the most effective caterpillar killers for cannabis plants. Spray on top of and under the leaves as soon as you see leaf damage, caterpillars, or caterpillar poop.

Recommended: Bonide BT Caterpillar Spray
(though any caterpillar BT product will work!)

BT takes a few days to kill caterpillars but they immediately stop eating after being sprayed, saving your leaves.

BT sprays work best on small caterpillars that are actively eating your leaves. Repeat every week for as long as you’re still seeing caterpillars, though you can give BT more often if there’s a heavy infestation.

One alternative is Spinosad, but it is not as effective as BT for getting rid of caterpillars on your cannabis plants. Another thought is to physically put a barrier around your plants with something like row covers.

Floating row covers look like thin netting or mesh

Learn how to get rid of caterpillars on cannabis plants.

4B.) Bites on leaves with big poops (Grasshoppers)

If you’re seeing chunks missing out of your cannabis leaves but don’t see signs of caterpillars, grasshoppers are another common culprit.

Grasshoppers: What to Look For

Grasshoppers often leave bigger droppings than caterpillars.

Grasshoppers can be incredibly destructive so don’t ignore them.

Grasshoppers: How to Get Rid of Them 

• Check regularly for signs of grasshoppers, especially when it’s dry – The best way to prevent a grasshopper infestation (or any bug infestation really) is to catch them as soon as possible.
• Make sure to keep the lawn clean, and grass mowed short – Grasshoppers love grass. They don’t just eat it but also lay their eggs on it. If you reduce the amount of grass, it may help lower their numbers.
• Insecticidal soap – Fatty acid salts or insecticidal soap can help combat grasshoppers, especially young ones.
• Neem oil – Neem Oil is a popular all-natural insect-killer. However, it leaves an unpleasant taste/smell on buds when used to treat flowering plants, so don’t let this stuff get near your buds.
• Floating Row Covers – Floating row covers look like thin netting or mesh, and can be draped over plants to create a physical barrier.

Learn how to get rid of grasshoppers on cannabis.

5.) Fat round bugs under leaves (Aphids)

I live in San Diego, where aphids are a problem, attacking many outdoor plants, and occasionally even reaching indoor plants. Here’s what to look for and how to protect your cannabis plant from aphids.

Aphids: What to Look For

These little round bugs come in many colors, but they are always shaped the same. They especially love hanging out under the leaves of cannabis plants.

Aphids on cannabis from a grower in Germany. Green with black legs.

Aphids come in many colors, but are always shaped the same.

Aphids: How to Get Rid of Them 

• First, spray or pick off any aphids you see to reduce their numbers.
• Insecticidal soap – Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap and other plant soaps can help stop aphids.
• Neem oil – Neem Oil is a popular all-natural insect-killer. However, it leaves an unpleasant taste/smell on buds when used to treat flowering plants, so don’t let this stuff get near your buds.
• Spinosad – Spinosad is organic and safe for cannabis, but should be avoided by commercial growers.
• Ladybugs – Many growers purchase ladybugs because they love to eat aphids. An organic way to help fight an aphid population.

Learn how to get rid of aphids on cannabis.

You might also be interested in other common cannabis bugs like…

• Crickets (also munch holes in leaves like caterpillars or grasshoppers)
• Leaf Miners (these leave little trails in your leaves)
• Complete list of common cannabis pests. If you think you have bugs but didn’t see the right one on this page.
• Diagnose your sick cannabis plant with our free plant doctor tool.

The post 5 Cannabis Pests That Strike in the Heat appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Hey cannabis growers! We all know how annoying nutrient problems can be. And obviously, the best thing to do for your cannabis plant to prevent growing problems is give them the conditions they need to thrive. But did you know some strains are naturally more resilient than others? Certain genetics are less likely to experience problems. Yes, some special strains can experience sub-optimal conditions and still thrive.

Some cannabis strains make amazing buds even if you make some mistakes.

But which ones? These strains typically share some features…

• Fast-Flowering Strains – Perhaps it’s because they just don’t get enough time to get sick, but fast-flowering plants are often ready to harvest before you start running into significant problems even in sub-optimal conditions.
• Buds Grow as Nuggets, Not “Colas” – “Cola” is Spanish for tail, some growers use the word cola do describe a long fat bud. Sometimes these types of buds are called “baseball bats” (or in less polite company, “donkey d**ks”). These strains are high-yielding, but also prone to bud rot because they focus energy on producing long, fat colas. And for the purposes of today’s subject, tend to take out literally everything they can from the plant to their own detriment. These strains happily kill themselves to make buds. Which is kind of cool in its own way, but if you’re just looking to get a solid harvest with high bud quality, you’ll find the strains that tend to grow buds as small nuggets tend to thrive and stay healthy while their cola-wielding friends are sucking out every last nutrient as the plant slowly dies around the buds.
• Stable, Established Strains – Strains that are well-bred to be predictable tend to be more resistant to problems than raw crosses or experimental strains. That’s because breeders often refine their best strains for years to ensure that every batch of seeds grows exactly the same – fast and healthy!
• Legendary Strains – Some strains become legendary for a reason. Often, it’s because they just have something special to offer. Strains like Blue Dream, Girl Scout Cookies, Bruce Banner, and others were developed over years by home growers and commercial growers together. They’ve stuck around because they are all around great strains, and that’s also why you see they are some prominent in the history of so many new strains. Although not all versions of these legendary strains are great, I’ve found when you get them from a good breeder, they’re more likely to perform above-average than when you’re growing a strain you’ve never heard the name of. I love a strain name like “Candy Pegasus” as much as the next person, but you need to be more wary of brand new strains.
• Direct-to-Grower Breeders – Strains from breeders that sell directly to customers are often a great choice. I think it’s because they’re also the ones answering questions when growers run into plant problems. The further removed the breeder is from the grower, the less they may be thinking about how plants grow, since breeders are usually growing in ideal conditions. These growers breed only for what the buds are like, and may not “stress test” their plants, unlike breeders who also consider growth patterns. Direct-to-growers breeders pay extra attention to ensure their strains tends to germinate quickly, efficiently use nutrients, grow fast, and never herm. For example, I have found the homegrown strains from Seed Supreme, Seedsman, and MSNL tend to be easy to germinate, fast-growing, and overall resistant to problems.

Looking for some specific recommendations? Let’s explore some hardy cannabis strains that can handle a challenge!

Blue Dream by DNA Genetics

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage.
• Stable, Established Strain – This version has been stabilized from the original clone-only strain over several years.
• Legendary Strain – Blue Dream is the gift that keeps on giving. Every year there’s a new, even better Blue Dream. It has that special something that can only be accomplished by growers all over the world working together to develop a strain for years.
• Direct-to-grower – Get is straight from DNA Genetics off their website.

Ideal For: Growers looking for a balanced high (strong yet extremely relaxing) with a forgiving growth cycle.

Get Blue Dream – Buds get tinges of purple with strong enough light

Growing Blue Dream Tips 

Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage, this version is exceedingly easy to grow. Plants are just not picky. Responds well to training and can handle relatively higher levels of nutrients. Does well outdoors but really thrives indoors.

Girl Scout Cookies (GSC) by Seed Supreme

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage. These buds won’t “go long” on you.
• Stable, Established Strain – This version has been stabilized from the original clone-only strain over several years.
• Legendary Strain – Anyone who’s been watching cannabis cups or visits dispensaries has probably seen this strain many times. There are sooooo many “Cookies” strains that have been developed from this strain as well. It’s legendary for a reason, and this refined version may have even better bud effects and sweet “cookies” smell than the original clone.

Ideal For: Those seeking a strong, euphoric effect, sweet-smelling buds, and a resilient growth profile.

Get Girl Scout Cookies – Famous for a reason!

Growing Girl Scout Cookies Tips

Easy to grow, easy to train. Can handle warmer temperatures than some other strains, which makes it a good choice if you’re struggling to control the heat in your grow room, or live in a very warm climate. Great yields even if you make some mistakes.

Honorable Mention: Platinum Cookies is a Cookies cross that has that special something. Check out my full Platinum Cookies strain review.

Purple Ghost Candy by Seedsman

Why It’s Resilient

• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Chunky, dense nugs galore. Often grows with purple tinges all over the buds as long as you provide high levels of light.
• Stable, Established Strain – This strain was a banger from the beginning, but has been refined over the last few years into a gold standard stabilized strain.
• Direct-to-grower – Seedsman runs a full seed bank full of strains from many different breeders, but I’ve consistently found their in-house strains are just all around easy to grow with great germination rates and lower chances of problems.

Ideal For: Growers looking for a potent high and a sturdy plant with big yields. Best for growers with a bigger grow space. This plant needs room to stretch (either tall or wide). Performs great as a single plant as it tends to completely fill up the grow space available.

Get Purple Ghost Candy – One of my favorite strains lately!

Growing Purple Ghost Candy Tips

I’ve found this strains tends to grow big plants with huge yields, yet grows buds as nuggets so you don’t run into the same problems as other high-yield strains. Grows lots of side branches and responds very well to pruning, bending branches, and defoliation.

One of the reasons I chose this strain over the others I’ve grown from Seedsman is the outstanding bud quality. Buds tend to grow dense, beautiful, and POTENT. Make sure to wait until buds are totally mature before harvesting for the best bud quality. Not for the faint of heart or casual smokers!

Dirty Unicorn by Dirty Bird Genetics

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Typically ready to harvest in about 9 weeks from 12/12.
• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Buds are dense and sparkly, and produce tight nugs.
• Stable, Established Strain – Dirty Bird Genetics took a famous Thug Pug strain (Unicorn Poop – a non-feminized strain that is always sold out) and worked with it for over two years to make an amazingly consistent strain that gives you the wonders of the original genetics but in feminized, stabilized form.
• Direct-to-grower – Get it straight from the breeders.

Ideal For: Those who want a clear-headed, energetic high with top-of-the-line bud appearance and smell.

Get Dirty Unicorn – Unusual name, memorable buds!

Growing Unicorn Poop Tips

Plants tend to grow on the taller side, with extra space between nodes, but that actually makes it really easy to train this plant to grow into whatever shape you want. Vigorous, fast growth. The seeds germinate fast and seedlings tend to start strong.

Bruce Banner by Seed Supreme

Why It’s Resilient

• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Dense, tight nugs galore!
• Stable, Established Strain – Developed over years
• Direct-to-grower – Get it straight from the source.

Ideal For: New growers, low-maintenance gardens, and those prone to minor nutrient mishaps. Offers a powerful, uplifting high.

Get Bruce Banner – Named after the Incredible Hulk for the sheet potency of buds

Growing Bruce Banner Tips

A robust strain that can take extra nutrients and warmer temperatures. Great yields, easy to grow, and overall just a pleasure of a plant.

Choosing the right cannabis strain can make a big difference. Hardy strains are known for their ability to thrive in less-than-perfect conditions, which makes them perfect if you’re looking for a consistent harvest with minimal issues. It can help when you opt for fast-flowering strains, those that grow buds as nuggets, stable and established genetics, legendary strains, and those from direct-to-grower breeders. Remember, the best cannabis strains are the ones that give you what you want, how you want it!

Happy growing!
Nebula Haze

The post Which Strains Get Fewer Nutrient Problems or Deficiencies? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

I recently received this email about a stunted, tiny autoflowering cannabis plant. Why does this happen? Stunted autos are a common problem, especially for auto-flowering strains with a very short vegetative stage. Keep reading to learn what causes autos to stay too small, and how to prevent it!

“This picture was taken last Fall. This my Purple Kush CBD Auto plant, quite pretty…

…until you see the actual size of it!

This came from an auto-flowering feminized cannabis seed that I dutifully planted outside in the Spring. Maturity was supposed to be 63 days but when I saw how little it had grown, I left it in as an experiment to see how tall it would end up. It didn’t grow even another cm taller. I ended up harvesting it at 113 days.

Any idea of what’s happened? Why did this autoflowering plant stay so small and stunted?

~Carmen

Why did this autoflowering plant stay so small and stunted?

Auto-flowering cannabis plants are on a tight schedule. Once they germinate, it’s essentially a “race” to the end of their life. That’s because their ancestors (“Ruderalis” wild cannabis  plants) originated in Siberia where summers are just 2-3 months long. As a result, most auto-flowering strains start making buds at around 1 month from germination, and are ready to harvest when they’re just 2-3 months old.

What does this have to do with an auto-flowering plant staying small?

An autoflowering plant stops getting taller when it’s about 6 weeks old for most strains, and even earlier for faster-flowering auto cannabis strains like Purple Kush CBD Auto (which can be ready just 9 weeks from germination). That means that if your auto-flowering plant has a slow start for whatever reason (overwatered, cold, not enough light, other stress, etc.), it might not get very big before it stops growing taller.

• Short vegetative stage – Most autoflowering strains automatically start making buds (they start “flowering”) around 4-5 weeks old.
• Plants stop growing in the flowering stage – Auto-flowering plants typically stop getting bigger not long after they start flowering.
• Small plants that start flowering stay small – If an auto-flowering plant is still small when it starts flowering, it won’t get any bigger.

This Purple Kush CBD Auto must have had a slow start, and started flowering before it had a chance to get very big. As a result, the final size was really small.

Here’s another example from our reader Hypermx, who experienced the same thing with his autoflowering plant.

I’ve had it happen as well. This auto-flowering plant went through stress at the beginning of its life (a person fell on it… okay it was me), and as a result never got big before it started flowering.

Just to give you an idea of how much an effect stunting can have, these are both the same autoflowering strain. You can see how much smaller the plant was that got stressed at a young age compared to the auto-flowering plant that was given good conditions from the beginning.

You want to avoid stunting to get the best yields from auto-flowering strains. Small plants can’t make big buds.

Unlike autoflowering strains, photoperiod plants have the luxury of being able to stay in the vegetative stage for as long as you want. That means you can recover from stress or problems and still get plants big enough to produce good yields. But with auto-flowering strains, you need to think about your grow as if you’re in a race to the finish line, and start strong.

I hope that helps reveal the mystery of why an auto-flowering plant can stay so small. Whenever growing autos (or any cannabis plants, really), I highly recommend germinated an extra seed or two, just in case something happens when they’re young or some plants grow better than others.

Bonus: Recommended Autos to Prevent Stunting

These auto-flowering cannabis strains were chosen because they are extra stress-resistant and easy to grow, yet produce good yields and outstanding bud quality.

• GG 4 Autoflower – This version of Gorilla Glue #4 is easy to grow and tends to grow fast. It is a forgiving strain that can handle a bit of stress and is ready to harvest at 70 days from germination.
• Cinderella Jack Auto – When I grew this strain, it produced the densest and most potent buds of that entire auto-flowering grow. It responded well to plant training, and produced good yields even though it was in a crowded tent with 7 other autoflowering plants. Harvest at 80 days from germination.
• Planet of the Grapes Auto – Delicious grapes smell, high potency, medium height, and super easy to grow. This strain is something special! Harvest at 80 days from germination.

The GG 4 Autoflower I grew in the very front (right behind the green bar) thrived in a tiny grow tent (copy this setup).

The Cinderella Jack Auto I grew produced ultra-dense buds.

Planet of the Grapes Auto produced outstanding bud quality.

About the Author: Nebula Haze

I started growing weed in 2008. To be honest, in the beginning, I struggled. There just wasn’t great information available for cannabis cultivation. I had to find my own way through trial and error. After I had figured out how easy it could be, I decided to create GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 with my partner Sirius to make cannabis-growing information easily available to everyone who wants to grow at home.

Weed companies charge way too much for subpar weed, and we want home growers to learn how easy it is to grow higher-quality buds than most weed you can buy. The secret doesn’t take a ton of money or require you to learn special tricks. You just need good genetics and the right information so you get the best results for the least amount of effort.

That’s why we’ve made all the tutorials on the website easy and straightforward to follow. If you follow our instructions like a recipe, your cupboards will soon be overflowing with weed. I hope you enjoyed this article about how to prevent stunted autoflowering plants. Don’t hesitate to contact us to share your experience or let us know your favorite auto-flowering strains. Also, we’d love to see your plant pictures so we can feature them in our weekly newsletter!

• Sign up for the weekly growing newsletter – delivered every Sunday at 4:20 am Eastern time
• 10-Minute Cannabis Grow Guide – 10 minutes from now you could be a weed-growing expert!
• Plant Doctor (to diagnose your sick plants) – Find the plant problem and get the solution

Nebula Haze says, “Thanks for reading, and happy growing!”

The post Why did my autoflowering plant stay so small? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

What Happens if You Grow “Hermie” Seeds?

Did you find seeds in your buds even though no male plants were around? “Hermie seeds” refer to seeds you find in your cannabis buds without the presence of male cannabis plants. Here are trustworthy feminized seeds that always grow buds but never grow seeds.

Can you grow seeds from a hermie cannabis plant? Yes, but there are pros and cons.

Home Grow Tip: Start with trustworthy feminized seeds (here’s a list of good ones) to ensure every plant makes seedless buds. Save yourself the headache!

Cannabis buds with no seeds = “sinsemilla”
(higher THC and better to smoke than seedy buds)

When you find your homegrown buds have seeds even though zero male plants were in the vicinity, it means a female plant “hermed” (showed hermaphrodite tendencies).

The herm plant released pollen onto surrounding buds, causing seeds to grow. Hermie seeds can appear even if you don’t see any visual signs of herming like pollen sacs or bananas.

Hermie seeds: No male plant was around, but you find seeds in the buds anyway.

But what happens if you grow the hermie seeds from a hermed plant? Will it cause problems? Keep reading to find out!

Here is what cannabis growers can expect when growing hermie cannabis seeds:

Pros 

• Free Seeds – These are seeds you find in your buds. Cannabis seeds cost money, and getting free seeds without any effort is appealing.
• All-Female Plants – If both parents were female (at least mostly female), as is the case with herm seeds, all resulting cannabis plants will be at least mostly female and grow buds. In a way, herm seeds are unplanned, naturally-formed “feminized” seeds.

Cons 

• More Likely to Herm – Unlike professionally feminized seeds (which are created with a special chemical process), hermie seeds come with more uncertainty. Although the resulting plants may or may not show any signs of herming, unfortunately the chances are higher. That’s because for each herm seed, herming is in its genetics.

With high-quality cannabis seeds, plants usually only herm under major stress like nutrient deficiencies, light stress, heat stress, unusual light cycles, etc. With really great genetics, plants won’t herm under any conditions. But a seed from a hermie parent is more likely to herm even in perfect conditions.

The plant went through extreme stress, so it was no surprise to find seeds.

Why growers don’t want cannabis seeds that are more likely to herm:

• Higher Chance of More Seedy Buds – Again, it is possible your buds won’t grow seeds, but seedy buds are more likely. This is because the genetics came from cannabis plants that produced seeds without the presence of a male plant. Even if you don’t see evidence of plants herming, like pollen sacs or yellow hermie bananas on the buds, the buds may have seeds in them after harvest.
• Possibly Worse Yields & Bud Quality – If buds get a few seeds, it won’t affect your yields or bud potency much. But seeds take energy to grow. If your plant grows tons of seeds because it herms, you’ll end up with smaller buds that may have lower potency or smell than expected. Sadly, when growing hermie seeds, it’s impossible to know ahead of time what you may end up with.
• Unknown Genetics – Just like starting with any other bag seeds (seeds you find), hermie or not, you don’t know how the plants will grow. Although it may seem like herm seeds would be an exact clone of the “mother” plant, that’s not how it works, due to the genetic reality of herming. Unlike starting with seeds from a trustworthy breeder, you can’t know what to expect as far as how the plant grows, how long until it’s ready to harvest, the bud structure, smell, potency, etc. It’s really the luck of the draw.

Sometimes you don’t see pollen sacs or banana, but still get hermie seeds. Female plants that produce seeds without visible pollen sacs or bananas are “hidden herms”. These plants often went through some kind of stress, but not always. Regardless, if seeds are there and no male plants were around, the resulting seeds are herm seeds.

This plant suffered from severe light stress. There were no signs of herming, but buds still grew hermie seeds.

Often you can find symptoms of the herm.

Here, there is a male flower right next to the seed that formed. (click for closeup)

Growing Hermie Seeds: Summary (What cannabis growers need to know)

It’s clear to see why growers would want to grow herm seeds. They’re essentially free seeds that appear with no effort, and grow all-female plants. That’s appealing.

The main downside to growing herm seeds is that you’re more likely to end up with more hermie plants and seeds in your buds. If it’s just a few seeds in your buds, most home growers wouldn’t care. But seeds take away from the size and potency of buds. If your buds produce tons of seeds, you’ll end up with very little bud to smoke, and it will be less potent than it could be. On top of that, you won’t know what to expect as far as how the plant grows or bud quality until the grow is over.

Related Article: What causes cannabis plants to herm?

Hermie seeds look the same as regular cannabis seeds, but they’re more unpredictable.

What happens when cannabis growers use herm seeds anyway?

If you’re wondering what happens when growers try to grow hermie seeds, you’re not alone. Lots of growers have given it a shot.

Let’s explore what happens!

First off, there are plenty of fans. I’ve talked to growers who only use hermie seeds and never buy new ones. They aim to breed a line of plants that always herms just a bit. Enough to make a few seeds each generation. That way they get a steady supply of free seeds without having to deal with male plants. The downside is every generation always has at least some seeds in their buds. A few seeds is probably not a big deal for most home growers. But if things go wrong, you may end up with tons of seeds. Buds that are very seedy can be a pain because they drop seeds everywhere, and seedy buds tend to be smaller with lower bud potency.

Pollen, pictured here, is what causes seedy buds. Pollen can come from a male plant or a hermie plant.

So what can happen from growing herm seeds? The main risk is the offspring herming like its parent.

Notice how there are little yellow growths in between the white hairs in these buds? This is a common type of cannabis herm. Each of these yellow “bananas” releases pollen. If your buds grow tons of bananas while buds are early in the flowering stage like this, you could end up with hundreds or thousands of seeds in the surrounding buds.

Yellow “bananas” are a common form of herming.

This next bud is absolutely stuffed with seeds, due to a major herm in the grow room that went unnoticed. There’s little bud left after all the seeds are shaken out. No cannabis grower wants this to happen by accident!

However, if a herm plant only grows only a few bananas or pollen sacs that release only a little pollen, you may only get a few seeds or no seeds. If the herm happens late in the flowering stage, you may not get any seeds. That’s because seeds need several weeks to form. You typically only get fully formed seeds if a cannabis plant herms relatively early in the flowering stage.

A single lone banana won’t make many seeds, especially this late in the cannabis flowering stage.

If your hermie seeds grow buds like the first examples with tons of pollen sacs or bananas, you’ll likely end up with tons of seeds. If a hermie plant grows buds like the second example, you may end up with good buds that have very few seeds. Or the buds may not herm at all and you get perfectly seedless buds. It’s all a part of the genetic lottery you’re playing when growing the offspring of herm plants.

The main takeaway is this: good results are possible with hermie seeds, but you’re increasing your risk of running into problems.

If you want to read an example of a grower getting good results with hermie seeds, check this out.

Fascinating Experience from a GrowWeedEasy.com Reader

Greg, a grower from Australia, recently wrote about his experience growing hermie cannabis seeds.

He grew 8 feminized seeds indoors. In his words, “Unfortunately, the grow room underwent some heat stress early in the flowering stage, which resulted in one of the eight plants herming. Naturally, this seeded up most of the rest of them.”

He decided to try germinating 14 of the resulting hermie seeds. To his surprise, all 14 plants grew into healthy females without any signs of hermaphroditism or seedy buds. He stated, “They have all grown out quite nicely. I have not come across a single seed. The buds are dense, so dense you could hammer a nail into them. And trichome production has been excellent, they are sticky like nothing else.”

His hermie seeds grew these beautiful plants.

Greg said, “I had hypothesized that they would not be feminized and that they would all be hermaphrodites, I’m quite pleased to learn that I was wrong on both counts.”

He mentioned that in the past he had a different experience, “All my previous experience with hermies and the resulting seeds has only been more banana throwing hermies. Those genetics were all bagseed from the shallow gene pool here in Australia though. This last one was the first hermie I have seen since I started purchasing seeds from Seedsman.” He promises to let us know what happens if he tries stressing out a plant on purpose with heat to cause it to herm on purpose.

Here are the plants from Greg’s experiment at harvest.

Greg had different results with these hermie seeds compared to his past experiences, which ended in disaster. It seems he may have found a set of genetics that only herms in stressful conditions. Or perhaps the tendency to herm under stress was not passed down to these particular seeds at all.

These plants are an example of when growing hermie seeds goes “right”. The resulting plants grew dense and frosty buds without any seeds or other problems.

Greg’s experience shows that hermie seeds don’t always produce seedy or banana-filled buds. With the right genetics and stress-free conditions, it’s possible to get quality female plants from seeds made by a hermie mom plant. It just goes to show there can be a lot of variation when it comes to the hermie trait being passed down.

Related Article: Do Feminized Cannabis Seeds Make ‘Hermie’ Plants? [Sometimes]

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are they called “Hermie” cannabis plants?

“Herm” or “hermie” is a common nickname for “hemaphrodite”, and hermie seeds come from a plant that grew buds like a female plant, but also pollen like a male plant.

Whether it comes from a male or herm plant, pollen gets on nearby buds and causes seeds to grow. But herms are especially tricky because you may only see the buds and not notice any signs of herming until pollen has already been released.

Learn more about hermie plants.

Male flowers (“pollen sacs”) can look somewhat like traditional flowers when they open up.

Closeup of a herm “banana” among the buds. By the time you can see yellow, it has usually already released pollen.

What causes hermie plants?

Cannabis plants become hermies in 3 ways:

• Genetics – Some plants herm no matter what you do, due to their genetics. There’s nothing growers can do about this kind of herming.
• Stress – Some plants may only herm if they experience a lot of stress. That could include irregular light schedules, heat, high humidity, certain flowering supplements, and other stressful conditions. However, the best cannabis strains are ironclad and won’t herm no matter what.
• Chemicals – Spraying healthy young cannabis plants with certain chemicals like colloidal silver or gibberellic acid forces them to grow pollen sacs instead of buds. The resulting pollen is used to make commercial feminized seeds.

Stressed plants are more likely to herm.

How do I prevent hermie plants?

The best way to avoid growing hermie cannabis plants is to start with good genetics from a trustworthy breeder. Good feminized seeds don’t herm no matter way. On top of starting with good genetics, you should take care of your plants and try not to stress them. Lastly, take a second to look at your buds every day, and keep an eye out for signs of herming so you catch it early and quickly dispose of the offending plants.

Watch out for pollen sacs or yellow growths among your buds!

Why did I find seeds in my buds even though the plant didn’t herm?

Sometimes you don’t see pollen sacs or banana, but still get hermie seeds. Female plants that produce seeds without visible pollen sacs or bananas are “hidden herms”. These plants often went through some kind of stress, but not always. Regardless, if seeds are there and no male plants were around, the resulting seeds are herm seeds.

This “hidden herm” suffered from severe light stress. No visual signs of herming, but buds still had seeds.

How do breeders make feminized cannabis seeds?

The feminized seeds you buy from breeders are created when growers use chemical means to force a female plant to herm. They use that resulting pollen to make the seeds. Since each “parent” plant is a female, and without a male in the mix, all the resulting seeds are all female. As long as the breeders are careful to only choose plants that never herm in natural conditions, the resulting seeds are unlikely to herm.

This female plant was forced to make pollen sacs using colloidal silver. This “feminized” pollen is used to create all-female seeds.

Will herm seeds always grow like the parent?

No, expect variation from herm seeds! It’s intuitive to think that herm seeds are essentially a “clone” of the parent plant. But that’s not how it always works. Why? Pollen and buds each receive a random set of chromosomes from the parent plant.

That means herm seeds might turn out like the original plant, but they might not. The more genetic diversity in the recent history of the plant, the more diverse the resulting seeds might turn out. The genes passed down through pollen is not the same as the genes passed down in the buds, even when coming from the same plant.

This plant from a herm seed is growing like a male plant with some female flowers. (opposite of a typical herm)

What happens if I grow herm seeds for many generations?

Herm seeds tend to become more consistent with each subsequent generation. Eventually all plants tend to grow in a uniform way due to inbreeding, and become almost like clones of each other. Just remember, the one thing that often becomes most consistent is the tendency to herm each generation.

Conclusion

Should you grow hermie seeds? It depends on you and your situation.

I personally don’t, but I understand why a grower might do it, especially if money is tight. That being said, even expensive cannabis seeds don’t cost much in the grand scheme of a cannabis grow. If you’re going to spend 3-5 months growing a plant, the $100 it costs to buy a bunch of professionally feminized seeds will reward you with plants that grow as expected and produce good yields of beautiful seedless buds. You deserve the best!

Let me know what you think. Have you grown hermie seeds? What happened? Fill out our contact form and let us hear your experience!

~Nebula Haze, co-founder of GrowWeedEasy.com

P.S. Are you seeking in-depth expert guidance for the entire grow process? If so, check out our course below!

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The post What happens if I grow seeds from a hermie plant? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Brrrr it’s getting cold in the cannabis grow room. When temperatures drop, cannabis plants can start growing slowly and sometimes even stop growing altogether. You can heat the grow room (and here are some cold climate tips) but it can also help to make sure you choose the right genetics because some cannabis strains handle the cold much better than others. It’s always a smart choice to pick a cold-resistant marijuana strain if you know that your grow area will experience chilly temperatures on a regular basis. Learn where you can get seeds.

7 recommended cold-resistant photoperiod strains (6 auto strains below!)

• Amnesia Blue Head Band
• Frisian Dew
• Hindu Kush
• Matanuska Tundra
• Midnight Mass
• Orange Candy (aka Naranchup)
• Tangie x Chocolope

Frisian Dew is an excellent strain for outdoor growing

6 recommended auto-flowering strains for the cold

• Blueberry x Mazar Auto
• Blue Cheese Auto
• Dutch Blue Auto
• Lemon Haze Auto
• LSD-25 Auto
• White Widow x California Snow Auto

One advantage of cold temperatures is it tends to bring out colors like purple and pink

The post 13 Cold-Resistant Cannabis Strains appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Recently we’ve received a few emails about “bud washing” or essentially giving cannabis buds a “bath” to clean them after harvest.

Is bud washing necessary to grow the best cannabis?

Do marijuana buds need a bath after harvest?

Possible reasons to wash your buds

• Pesticides were used while buds were forming
• Plants had a bug infestation (bud washing can help remove bug poop and dead insect bodies)
• Remove large amounts of any other contaminants including hair, dust, fur, etc.
• Buds were grown outdoors and exposed to contaminants from nature

Essentially, bud washing is a last-resort option when buds need to be cleaned and you’re not willing to throw the weed away.

Bad reasons to wash your buds

• Most other reasons

➡ Jump Right to How to Wash Your Cannabis Buds

Some growers wash buds because it seems like a good idea. For example, you wash an apple from the store right? There’s a big difference. We wash produce from the store because we don’t know what it comes in contact with before it reaches our home. Most produce you buy was also grown outdoors without a personal touch. If you’ve grown your buds indoors in a clean environment, they shouldn’t be exposed to contaminants that need to be washed off.

Bud washing is a last-resort option when buds are dirty and you’re not willing to throw them away. In my opinion, the time to “wash” your buds is in the process of making bubble hash 😉

Not only is it unnecessary to wash clean buds, you run the risk of triggering mold. If you’re going to treat your buds with anything, stop to consider why. The best way to grow clean weed, in my opinion, is to grow weed in a clean environment.

How to grow clean weed indoors

• Grow tent – Growing plants in a tent typically produces cleaner weed than if the plants were grown in an open room.
• Air filters – There are air filters that proactively clean dust and pollen from the air. An intake filter is used to clean air that is coming into the grow space.
• Keep the grow room clean – It helps to be organized and put things away in their place. A cluttered grow room tends to get dirty over time.
• Vacuum – If you are seeing dust or pet hair on your buds, it makes a huge difference to vacuum the grow area on a regular basis.

You don’t need to wash buds that are already clean

What about outdoors?

Growing cannabis outdoors is one of the times where bud washing may be helpful. Unfortunately, nature is full of fun surprises including fur left by deer rubbing your plants, nettles or pollen, webbing from the occasional spider, and more. There are few outdoor environments that can produce weed as clean and pristine as what can be grown indoors.

For outdoor growers, bud washing can remove some natural contaminants from nature and give you cleaner buds. The jury is still out on how well bud-washing removes mold, fungus, or spores. Please contact us if you’ve ever done any lab tests that demonstrate the efficacy of this technique.

The dangling eggs on these cannabis buds are lacewing eggs. It’s good to see these eggs in the garden because lacewings are a natural predator of many cannabis pests. But you might want to wash them off after harvest.

What about pets?

It’s a good idea to keep any shedding animals away from your plants, but I love hanging out with my cat while working in the garden. However, I’ve noticed that as long as I vacuum and use a grow tent, buds come out clean. However, I’ve grown an autoflowering plant in a window before, and I noticed the buds had pet hair on them even though I vacuumed.

Use a grow tent in the flowering stage to keep pet hair off your buds

What about bugs?

Bugs are a fact of life. They love cannabis just like us and when they invade your grow room it feels violating. It’s relatively straightforward to get rid of bugs when plants are in the vegetative stage because you can use most pesticides and you don’t have to worry about anything getting on buds.

Learn about common cannabis pests

Can you save plants after an infestation? (these are aphids)

But if plants have already started making buds when pests move in, you have some hard choices to make. Do you throw away the plants? Do you treat them? Will buds be safe to smoke?

• Bad infestation – If the infestation is particularly bad, you might consider throwing the infested plants away. A really bad infestation is often hard to treat. Once bugs have taken over your plants, they seem impossibly good at surviving. This is especially true for spider mites (aka “The Borg”), broad mites, and hemp russet mites. Most other pests are survivable.
• Small to medium infestation – Look at the safe insecticide list and see if there are safe options for the type of bug you have. Some bugs are easier to get rid of than others. Additionally, bugs that come from other species of plants are typically much easier to get rid of than if your bugs came from another cannabis grow room. If you get thrips on clones you bought from the dispensary, they’re probably going to be much tougher to get rid of than some random thrips that wander onto your cannabis from outside.
• Flowering stage – The more buds have developed, the more it’s recommended you either toss plants or harvest them early and cut your losses. Even if you successfully treat an infestation without getting pesticides on the buds, the buds may still be covered in bug poop, eggs, webbing, dead insects, etc. Some growers choose to wash their buds at this point, but I personally recommend tossing plants just to be safe.

These buds are covered with mealybug bodies and the white fluff produced by their babies. Not good to smoke.

How to prevent bugs

1. Start with seeds – The most common reason growers get a bad infestation is because they brought an infected plant into the grow room from someone else’s garden. For example, a clone or plant from a dispensary or other grower. The best way to ensure you are not importing bugs with your plants is to grow cannabis with seeds. If you have no other choice, consider spraying or dipping new plants with a safe insecticide like a horticultural oil. After treatment, quarantine plants for 14 days to ensure they’re bug-free before bringing them into your grow space
2. Avoid using soil – You are much less likely to get bugs when growing in an inert medium like coco or hydroponics because many bugs need soil for their life cycle. The few times I’ve gotten bugs in my growing career were always when I was using soil (I’m pretty sure they were coming from my neighbor’s roses through a bad window screen…). It’s possible to get bugs in coco or hydro, but it’s much more rare. However, if you follow all the other tips on this page you can easily grow plants in soil without bugs.
3. Grow indoors – It’s much easier to protect plants from bugs when you’re growing indoors because you have much more control over the environment.

How to identify and get rid of cannabis pests

It’s easy to avoid bugs when you start with seeds, avoid soil, and grow indoors (especially in a grow tent)

Other tips

• Grow tent – Even indoors, a grow tent can help prevent outside bugs (for example your neighbor’s rose bush) from getting to your plants. However, this is only marginally effective because you’re still going to be opening the tent to check on plants. Plus some bugs are small enough to crawl through the mesh air holes.
• Keep grow room windows closed – If you have a lot of plants around your home, it can help to make sure the windows are closed in the grow room.
• Don’t walk into the grow room from outside – Along the same lines, don’t check on plants as soon as you get home. Avoid going from outside directly into the grow room.
• Inspect new plants or flowers – If someone gets a bouquet of roses or a new houseplant, take a minute to make sure they don’t have bugs before you let them in the house.

A grow tent offers some protection from bugs and greatly reduces dust/hair getting on buds

Now you know how to grow beautiful, sparkling buds without a hint of contamination. No bud baths are required.

But if you have read through this tutorial and bud washing your cannabis seems like the right choice for you…

How to Wash Your Buds (tutorial by Doc Bud)

This forum thread goes into some of the specifics of bud washing (which I haven’t personally tried myself), including commentary from Doc Bud, the self-described creator of the technique.

Directions from Doc Bud from this thread (posted October 5, 2013) – The following text is the property of Doc Bud and is published here for reference purposes. 

I’m glad to see people are adopting my bud washing technique!

Yes, I “invented” it. I shared it with you folks here on 420….and nowhere else. I’ve never met, spoken to, or heard about anyone else doing it before I tried it…..and I enjoy freaking people out by putting fresh buds in a bucket of water….

But as many have said here, the results speak for themselves!

Let me put it to you like this:

Let’s say I grew lettuce, cucumbers, tomatos and carrots in my basement. It’s dusty down there, I’ve got fans flowing all around….battled with some PM, had some mites…..every now and then I get some rot or other disease on my plants….bugs flying around, dead skin cells, hair…..and I spray the plants with compost tea, fish fertilizer, kelp meal, etc.

So, you wanna come over for a salad? We’ll just pull the veggies out of the ground, plop ’em in a bowl and start eating! No need to wash…..right?

The first time you wash your harvest and see all that brown crap left behind you’ll begin to see the light! Then, when you smoke your first washed harvest, you’ll understand.

For those who are new to this, here’s my method:

4 buckets total. (5 gallon buckets are perfect)

Bucket 1: 3 parts RO water to 1 part 3% H202.
Bucket 2: 5 gallons of RO with 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup Lemon Juice
Buckets 3 and 4: RO only.

Cut down plants, pull off fan leaves by hand, remove any necrotic leaves. Leave sugar leaves and anything with frosting on the plant.

Fully submerge in bucket 1 (H2O2) for 30 seconds. Submerge for a full minute if you had ANY sign of PM or bud rot. Let water drip from buds and then…..

Fully submerge in buckets 2 through 4 for 30 seconds each…lightly agitating the whole time.

Allow produce to drip dry. You can blow a fan on it if you like, just make sure it’s blowing clean air.

Hang and dry per usual.

Final manicure of buds is best done after they dry. It goes very fast and you’re left with washed, highly resinous trim….makes superb joints. I’m also educating my customers to select untrimmed buds, which are actually better than the manicured ones because they still have sugar leaves attached. The trichomes in the leaves have more THC than those in the buds…..so it’s good to get the whole spectrum in there.

I give instructions for this in my journals, as I do it every single week, on every single harvest. Once you try it, you’ll never go back.

This works so well for a couple reasons:

1. takes off dirt, foliar sprays, bugs, fiberglass dust, etc.
2. fully hydrates the leaves, allowing photosynthesis to occur for a day or two on cut and trimmed buds. I recommend leaving a light on the buds for the first day or two after washing.

This results in very, dense, clean burning, smooth tasting produce! That’s the basic recipe….and I’m tweaking and changing it all the time.

Warning: Do NOT use an “organic produce wash” that is based on oils! They sell these in grocery stores and health food stores, and while they might be good for lettuce and cukes….the oil removes resin from the plants…..don’t use it!

Water will not harm resin….oil can and does.

Anyone who wants to know more about my methods is welcome to ask me about them anytime!

Doc Bud

Ben’s Experience with Bud Washing

I recently received this email from a reader sharing their experiences and processes for washing cannabis buds. I thought it was helpful so I’ll share it here.

Hi, I liked the article on bud washing and thought I could add my experience.

When I Wash Buds: I wash all plants grown outdoors and all indoor plants that were sprayed for any reason or if there was mould any where in the grow.

Water Source: If the plants have not been sprayed and don’t have bugs on them I just use rain water to wash.

Mould: I have often washed buds over the years and have not had a mould problem and the end result does not seem degraded. I have regularly had bud in storage for over two years that does not get mould. ( I don’t recommend keeping bud that long. No matter how well cured or stored, it seems to start degrading after a year.)

Process: In my washing process I have a step where I soak buds in a 3:1 mix of rain water and white vinegar for 20 to 30 minuter then do a rain water rinse.

Drying Buds After Bud Washing: When I have finished the wash I put the buds in a salad spinner to remove the water. From the spinner the buds go on racks in an air conditioned room where I run the air conditioner on the dehumidifier mode. If there had been any indication of mould I also run an air purifier that has an ultra violet function in the room during the drying stage.

Making Extracts: An air conditioner on dehumidifier mode also works well for drying keif if you are making bubble hash or rosin.

Thank you for all the great articles.

Regards,
Ben

There you have it, straight from cannabis growers with bud washing experience.

What do you want to learn more about next?

• Bigger yields
• Better bud quality
• Higher THC
• Higher CBD
• More trichomes (sparkle)
• Bud density

The post Bud Washing: Should Cannabis Growers Wash Their Buds? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Cannabis nutrient deficiencies are the worst. Well, maybe not the worst, but I feel a twinge of pain when I check on my plants (all hopeful and excited) only to see yellowing, brown spots, unhealthy leaves, or other plant problems. Talk about a bummer way to start a day.

Certain strains are resistant to deficiencies, like Blue Dream, Wedding Cake, and Wedding Cheesecake Autoflower, but this tutorial teaches you how to keep any cannabis plant happy and green.

This cannabis plant was pristine just a few days before this picture. What caused the nutrient deficiency?

Discolored cannabis leaves can be the results of watering problems, environmental problems, bugs, and more, but today’s article is going to address the most common and the most misunderstood cannabis problem: the nutrient deficiency caused by pH.

There are many reasons cannabis leaves get what appear to be nutrient deficiencies:

1. Not enough nutrients – The plant used up all the nutrients in the soil or just isn’t getting enough. This is a nutrient deficiency in the purest sense.
2. Too many nutrients or supplements – It may seem counterintuitive but nutrient overload causes burnt tips and dark green leaves that are sometimes mistaken for a deficiency.
3. Mixing non-compatible nutrients or supplements – Always try to get all nutrients and supplements from the same company to reduce the chance of interactions
4. Watering problems – Most commonly overwatering but sometimes underwatering. Seedlings are especially prone.
5. Heat or cold – Extreme heat or cold can cause symptoms that look just like nutrient deficiencies (learn more about temperature and cannabis)
6. Too much light – When a grow light is too close, it causes light stress, which is often mistaken for a nutrient deficiency.
7. High or low pH (acidity) at the roots <– Today’s article! 

High or Low PH is the Cause of Most Nutrient Deficiencies

Cannabis plants need a slightly acidic root environment in order to absorb nutrients properly. PH measures acidity, and pH being too high or low is the most common cause of mystery cannabis nutrient deficiencies.

What is root acidity and how does it affect nutrient deficiencies? The “acidity” of your soil is determined by the “pH”, which measures the concentration of hydrogen ions. You measure pH by testing the water with pH drops from a kit or using a digital pH pen. The pH (level of hydrogen ions) physically changes the chemical structure of your nutrients, and some forms are more available to plant roots than others.

Growers have learned through experimentation that cannabis plants grow green and healthy when the roots get a slightly acidic pH that’s a bit under 7 pH. Pure water has a pH of about 7 and is considered neutral.

When giving nutrients to your cannabis plants, measuring and adjusting the pH prevents nutrient deficiencies (full instructions below).

Incorrect pH is the #1 cause of cannabis nutrient deficiencies. These symptoms were the result of too-low pH at the roots.

If you see a nutrient deficiency, the first thing to check is pH.

What pH do cannabis roots like? Cannabis plant roots in soil absorb nutrients best within the 6-7 pH range while plants grown in soilless setups like hydroponics or in coco coir prefer it a bit lower to between 5.5-6.5 pH. In soil, I’ve found 6.3-6.8 pH seems to work best to prevent nutrient deficiencies. In coco/hydro I tend to see the fewest deficiencies when I aim keep the pH between 6.0-6.3. In general, aim for the middle of the range for the best results.

• Soil: 6-7 pH (aim for the middle)
• Coco or Hydro: 5.5-6.5 pH (aim for the middle)

I’m going to give you some examples of plants that are known to have suffered from either high or low pH. Note that the designation of “high” or “low” pH is just a general rule of thumb. Any of these symptoms can also be caused by other issues such as watering or drainage problems.

Also, deficiencies can affect each other in weird ways within the plant. A high pH root environment that causes a phosphorus deficiency can cascade into other deficiencies including a calcium deficiency, even though that is typically the result of low pH.

If you ignore pH issues for too long, multiple nutrient deficiencies can join forces and cause a wild variety of leaf symptoms, including curling, full leaves dying, various spots or burnt patches, and more.

PH deficiencies often start causing strange symptoms if you ignore them too long.

In general, if you see any of these issues, you should check the pH before making any adjustments. You don’t want to adjust the pH if you don’t know what you’re starting with! These are just general guidelines.

Low pH Examples

Most Common Symptoms

• Brown splotches on leaves, especially leaves in direct light (Calcium deficiency)
• Red, purple, or pink coloring on leaves and stems (especially if you also see spots or yellowing)
• Random leaves that become brownish-yellow (sometimes with a red-brown tint). These leaves won’t fall off on their own and feel “stuck” if you try to pull them off.

Note: This is different from a nitrogen deficiency which means your plant needs higher levels of nutrients overall and is almost never caused by pH. A nitrogen deficiency causes lower leaves to turn yellow and fall off on their own (if you pull yellow nitrogen-deficient leaves they fall right off). More info on that with pictures in the next section.

These upper yellow leaves with brown spots were caused by too-low pH. When leaves are this yellow but still “stuck on”, the cause is likely incorrect pH.

Another picture from the same plant. Luckily, as long as nutrient deficiencies don’t get too bad, your plant will still make excellent buds (though the yields, bud appearance, and bud density may be affected). Notice the bright red coloring of the leaf stems on the right. Red, pink, and purple coloring are often associated with low pH.

Leaves may get brown splotches and start drying up.

Brown markings are a common symptom of low pH, often appearing on the leaves in direct light.

Another example of brown splotches on upper leaves due to low pH.

These plants in super soil started showing these symptoms when the pH at the roots got too low. The grower went overboard with natural PH Down (citric crystals), which can build up in the soil over time.

Here is another leaf in that same tent on a different plant. Low pH can cause a variety of similar symptoms, but not every plant reacts the same even in identical conditions. Notice the bright red-purple coloring on the leaf stem.

The symptoms progressed quickly and the low pH caused widespread yellowing, red stems, and brown spots. Once the grower started giving these plants properly pH’ed water, the symptoms stopped spreading (though very deficient leaves never turn green again).

Notice how most of the yellowing is at the top where the leaves are getting direct light. If you try to pull off the leaves, they don’t come off easily. The location of the yellowing and them being “stuck on” are major clues that the cause is a pH problem as opposed to something else.

Occasionally you may get similar symptoms from light burn from a too-close grow light, but if the grow light is the recommended distance away, you are most likely looking at a nutrient deficiency caused by pH. It just shows under the lights because those are the hardest-working leaves.

This grower had cannabis plants that looked like this. He also went through the common experience where plants looks great in the vegetative stage, but deficiencies appear after buds start forming.

When nutrient deficiencies appear partway through the flowering stage, often the root cause is pH. For most other causes, you would have seen symptoms earlier.

The grower thought these top yellow leaves came from light stress. The real cause was low pH.

Just remember not to be too hard on yourself if you see symptoms like this. Cannabis plants are more sensitive in the flowering stage. And the fact that you’re on GrowWeedEasy.com reading this means you care about your plants. That’s the sign of a great grower.

Now onto the other side of the nutrient deficiency coin.

Too high pH

Most Common Symptoms

• Yellow spots or stripes in the margins
• Brown spots (especially on lower leaves)
• Yellow edges of leaves
• Yellow or brown tips (leaf tips may wilt)
• Bluish coloring on leaves
• Purple stems (sometimes reddish)

These symptoms were caused by high pH at the plant roots. Brown splotches that look like a phosphorus deficiency are common when the pH is too high.

The brown spots from high pH most commonly appear on the lower leaves of the plant.

If allowed to progress, the splotches will take over the whole leaf and cause it to die

Although red stems are often associated with low pH, it can occasionally be a symptom of high pH, especially if it has more of a purple tone

High pH can cause plants to take on a dark coloring that has a blue tint. This is typically accompanied by yellow leaf edges.

Sometimes the yellowing between the margins looks like spots at first

These spots can develop into yellow stripes that look like a magnesium deficiency

Or sometimes the spots turn brown

When you see brown leaf tips, it’s common to assume you’re definitely looking at nutrient burn (too many nutrients at once can cause burnt brown tips). However, some nutrient deficiencies look a bit like nutrient burn. It’s important to know the difference because if it’s nutrient burn you need to reduce nutrients, but if it’s a nutrient deficiency you likely need to adjust the pH.

This is a nutrient deficiency caused by too-high pH. This is not nutrient burn. A key difference is the yellowing in the margins indicates this is likely a deficiency.

Here another picture of the same plant to help you get an idea of how this deficiency looks on different leaves.

These brown tips are also the result of a nutrient deficiency. Not only is the pH too high, but the thick soil also made it harder for plant roots to get access to nutrients.

This looks like a potassium deficiency, which is often caused by too-high pH.

This cannabis plant is hydroponics suffered from too-high pH.

One last high-pH example.

You have now seen a wide array of different nutrient deficiencies that are almost always caused by the pH at the roots being too high or too low.

But what do you do if you believe pH is causing problems in your garden? Luckily, testing and adjusting the pH is easy once you get the tools.

Solution: How to Correct the PH

Tools needed

• Nutrients & Supplements (if any) – learn about cannabis nutrients as well as how to grow without nutrients
• Measuring spoons (most people have these at home already)
• PH Test kit (includes pH test drops plus liquids that can adjust the pH)
  • A pH test kit helps you find the pH of your water, using special drops and color matching. I recommend every grower get a pH test kit, as it comes with small bottles of pH adjustment fluid (PH Up and PH Down) for cheap.
  • [Optional] A digital pH pen. It’s much more convenient to see the pH number on a screen. Note: Don’t accidentally get a “TDS meter”. It may look the same but doesn’t measure pH.

This video shows the whole process of adding nutrients and adjusting pH to help you make perfect nutrient water every time.

Think of pH Testing as the ultimate plant supplement. Sometimes just a few drops of PH Up or PH Down in your water makes the difference between a bad grow and a legendary harvest.

Epic cannabis plants need full access to all nutrients!

Your next harvest will thank you.

Test if PH is Causing Your Cannabis Nutrient Deficiency

Next time you water your plants, follow these instructions to test whether pH is causing your marijuana nutrient deficiency. There are two types of water you need to test: the water going in, and the water coming out. When the root pH is off, it’s either that the water going is has the incorrect pH, or there is a buildup in the grow medium that is affecting the root pH and needs to be flushed out with good water over time.

1. Fill a container with water
2. Add all nutrients and supplements (if you’re using any)
3. Test the pH of the water using a PH Pen or the liquid drops that came with your PH Test kit
4. Compare to see if the pH is in the ideal range
   1. Soil: 6-7 pH (I aim for 6.3-6.8 pH)
   2. Coco or Hydro: 5.5-6.5 pH (I aim for 6.0-6.3 pH)
5. Adjust the pH if necessary to the proper range.
   1. Use the PH Up or PH Down liquid that came with your kit (PH Up makes the pH higher and PH Down makes it lower)
   2. Add a little at a time and re-test the pH. Note: The PH Down is especially powerful. A few drops go a long way.
6. Water the plants with your newly adjusted water
7. Collect some of the runoff water and test the pH. Ideally, it should come out at about the same pH as the water going in.
   1. If so, you’re good to go!
   2. If the runoff pH is much higher or lower, there is an issue with pH at the roots. Take a note of the pH and learn what to do below.

What to do if the runoff pH is too high or low:

1. Wait until the next time you make water for your plants.
2. Look at your note of the runoff pH from last time.
3. Adjust the pH to the opposite side of the ideal range to correct the issue.
   1. If the pH was low, give water at the upper range of pH for your grow medium
   2. If the pH was high, give water at the lower range of pH for your grow medium
4. Continue doing this every time you give water until the runoff water is about the same pH as the starting water
5. You have achieved pH Nirvana. You’re good to go!

The post Which Nutrient Deficiencies are Caused by pH? (picture guide) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

If you’re just getting started on your weed-growing journey, it can feel totally overwhelming. Where do you start? There’s so much to know, so what should you focus on first? Get the answers to all your questions in this straightforward tutorial. I’ll show you exactly what needs your attention, so you consistently get the harvest results you seek.

What should a beginner focus on to achieve great results on their first grow? Find out today!

If you read this article and follow the three steps, you’ll produce exceptional weed (and tons of it) even if you make a bunch of mistakes.

These techniques also increase overall marijuana bud quality, looks, and potency, so your homegrown buds look like this!

Today I’ll break down the 3 things you need to get right to become a legendary grower. If you understand these three aspects of growing, you will get good results. Yes, even if you mess up quite a bit!

Growing cannabis doesn’t have to be as complicated as a lot of people make it out to be. Typically, when growing weed feels difficult or frustrating, it’s because you lack the information on what to direct your efforts toward. You just need to know the following three things, and you’ll be able to grow exceptional weed and get the yields you want.

1. Understand the cannabis life cycle
2. Use the right equipment
3. Start with quality genetics

Get ready to transform into a legendary indoor cannabis grower!

1.) Understand the basics of a cannabis plant’s life cycle

A solid understanding of a cannabis plant’s life cycle will make everything a million times easier for you! This cannabis life timeline is a quick overview of the main aspects you should know as a cannabis grower.

Seed Germination – Seeds germinate into seedlings.

Tips:

• use a proven germination method
• keep seeds warm and moist but not soaking

I love modern versions of the classic OG Kush strain. Easy to grow, lovely unique “kush” smell, with excellent bud effects.

Vegetative Stage

Plants grow only leaves and stems at first. Since all growth is vegetative, this is known as the vegetative stage. On average, plants gain half their final size in this stage.

Tips:

• Pay attention to the environment – If it’s comfortable for you, it’s comfortable for your plants. Learn about the optimal cannabis environment. Getting your environment right now makes things easier when buds start forming.
• Watering habits – Learn how to water your plants perfectly, and pay attention if you notice drooping or signs of overwatering.
• Vegetative nutrients – Give all-purpose or “grow” nutrients in the vegetative stage. In soil, wait four weeks before giving nutrients. However, in coco or hydro, give nutrients from the beginning. An example of a extremely simple vegetative nutrient that works great for cannabis plants in any grow medium is Dyna-Gro Grow (give at 1 tsp/gallon). For more advanced growers, Fox Farm nutrient trio (for soil) or General Hydroponics Flora trio (for coco or hydro) offer professional results. Learn about cannabis nutrients.
• Plant training (optional) – Helps increase yields and maximizes the size and density of buds, but plant training is not necessary for success. Skip this if you feel overwhelmed! Learn about plant training.
• Start flowering/budding at the right time – Move on to the next stage when you cannabis plants reach about half the final desired size. They will about double in size after they start budding in the flowering stage, which is their next stage of life. Initiating flowering at this point sets you up so your plants are the perfect size (not too big, not too little) at harvest, so you get max yields but not overgrown plants.

Flowering Stage

Initiate the flowering stage by giving plants a 12/12 light schedule (except auto-flowering strains, which start flowering on their own after 3-4 weeks). Once plants get a 12/12 light schedule, they start growing flowers/buds within 1-3 weeks. Plants can double in size after getting 12/12 on average, though the amount of “stretch” depends greatly on the strain. Once buds form, the time until harvest is determined by the strain.

Tips:

• Initiate a 12/12 light schedule when plants are about half the final desired size. Learn about “12/12” and cannabis light schedules.
• Pay attention to the environment (especially make sure it’s not hot or humid) – Learn about environment effects on bud quality.
• Watering – Watering techniques should be about the same as before, though plants will be drinking more overall. The main thing that changes is the amount of nutrients you provide.
• Nutrients– Switch to flowering or “Bloom” nutrients. Dyna-Gro Bloom (at 1 tsp/gallon) is super simple and effective. If you’ve been using professional nutrients like Fox Farm nutrient trio (for soil) or General Hydroponics Flora trio (for coco or hydro), switch to their included “flowering schedule” which will change up the ratios to give plants what they need while buds form.
• Plant pruning (optional) – These two main techniques increase yields by ensuring all buds get tons of direct light. As a bonus, the top buds on the plants get the biggest, densest, and most potent, so these types of training maximizes bud quality, too, since all your buds will be top buds.
  • The first technique is to keep flowering plants flat like a table as opposed to a Christmas tree shape, which is done by bending tall branches over and tying them down.
  • The second technique is to remove excessive leaves to make sure all buds are exposed to direct light.  Learn about how to prune flowering cannabis plants.
• Problem resolution – Many growers notice leaf symptoms in the second half of the flowering stage because plants are much pickier than in the vegetative stage. This is normal and a common issue for beginner growers. Don’t panic, but don’t ignore problems either. Check the plant doctor for help diagnosing the cause, and then fix the issue before it affects your harvest. Also, here’s some help on controlling height.

Plants are a bit more picky about the environment and nutrients in the late flowering stage, but they’ll reward you if you follow the above tips!

Harvest

Harvest cannabis buds when they’re mature, dry them, then jar them for storage and curing.

Tips:

• Pick the right time to harvest. Here’s what to look for.
• Proper drying is crucial – Drying buds makes a huge difference to final bud quality.
• “Cure” the buds! Store dried buds in jars and burp occasionally. Bud quality improves for weeks.

Harvest cannabis buds when they’re ready!

Time for a quick review!

This infographic shows the whole life cycle with a timeline of what to expect

2.) Get good equipment

Now that you understand the most important aspects of what it takes to grow cannabis, let’s talk about setting up so that nature does most of the work for you. That way you get to focus on enjoying the process and looking at your beautiful, healthy buds forming.

• Environment – Your setup should make it easy to maintain comfortable temperature and humidity for your growing plants (a grow tent with fan pointing out works really well!). You can hang a grow light from inside a closet and use a fan to help blow air around. Just know that you may have more trouble controlling the environment than if you get proper equipment.
• Grow light – For beginners, I recommend a 200-300W LED grow light like the Spider Farmer SF2000 (200W) or Mars Hydro TSL2000 (300W). These LEDs get excellent cannabis growth, yields, and bud quality. If it tends to get cool in the grow room (for example you’re growing in a basement, or during the winter), then a 400W MH/HPS may be a better choice because it’ll help heat up the grow space.
• Grow medium – Examples are rich fluffy potting soils (Coco Loco, Ocean Forest, Roots Organics, etc.), coco/perlite potting mix (Mother Earth Coco plus Perlite mix is what I use, and it’s fantastic), and lastly, water for hydroponic setups. If you’re not sure, you can’t go wrong with simple old soil! Learn more about grow mediums.
• Nutrients – Nutrients are necessary for the best yields unless you’re growing in a super soil setup (which slowly releases organic nutrients over time throughout the plant’s life). Use an all-purpose/grow nutrient formula for the vegetative stage, and flowering/bloom nutrients for the flowering stage. With soil, you should start giving nutrients about 4 weeks after plants have been in the same pot. With coco or hydro, give nutrients from germination or the plants won’t grow (coco and hydro don’t naturally contain nutrients, so the plant only gets what you give in the water).

See examples setups that work well for growing cannabis.

Get a setup that fits your yield goals, space limits, and budget.

3.) Start with good genetics

I highly recommend beginners starting with feminized seeds from a trustworthy breeder. Feminized seeds means 99.9% of seeds will produce female plants, unlike regular seeds, which produce male plants roughly half the time. Since male plants don’t produce buds, starting with feminized seeds means you can feel confident that every seed you germinate will produce buds.

Ideas for genetics:

• Highest THC –  Check the list of American strains and seed banks. I’ve found that American strains tend to have the highest THC levels, though not always.
• Therapeutic use – High CBD, low THC, symptom-specific strains. Use the filters on this feminized seed selector tool to help find what you’re looking for.
• Biggest yields – Choose a high-yielding strain. Here’s a list of high-yielding, feminized strains on Seedsupreme.com. I set the filter on that link so the highest-rated strains appear at the top.
• Easiest to Grow – Stick to established strains that have been stabilized to produce consistent results. Avoid “crosses” (usually with a name like STRAIN x STRAIN). Crosses result in a variety of different types of plants. Crosses are great for breeders looking for the next big strain, but not necessarily the best choice for someone who just wants to grow weed and know what to expect.
• Low time commitment – Autoflowering strains mean fewer steps to get plants to make buds, plus you’ll get to harvest quicker than with other strains.
• Bag seed? I’ve seen growers get good results with bag seed (seeds they find). If that’s all you have, that’s what you have to use. Just know that the results can turn out extremely different from the weed it came from, and you’ll have no idea what to expect as far as growth patterns or how long it will take before it’s ready to harvest. Bag-seed really makes you appreciate breeders. If you can afford even a few cheap seeds, you’ll be a lot more prepared! I highly recommend Seedsupreme strains if you’re looking for something inexpensive but generally dependable.

Learn how to find the right strain.

I recently grew these two Critical Kush plants and was beyond pleased by the yields, ease of growth, and potency! I highly recommend the strain if you’re not sure what to get.

Closeup of a Critical Kush bud (click picture for full-size version). Although the buds look pretty typical, don’t let that fool you. The yields, smoothness, smell, and effects are outstanding.

For auto-flowering strains, Dinafem genetics have never done me wrong!

About the Author Nebula Haze

I’ve grown a lot of excellent weed since I started in 2008! After struggling to get started growing, my goal in life became to help other people grow as much weed as they want, and grow better weed than they can buy. That’s why I co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 and have been teaching growers ever since.

If you liked today’s article, sign up for our weekly newsletter and get a new growing article delivered to you every Sunday.

Happy growing!

The post 3 Steps from Beginner to Legendary Grower appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

It was October of 2008. Somewhere in San Diego, a wannabe cannabis grower named Nebula embarked on a new adventure… growing weed! Nebula carefully planted her first cannabis seed in a cup full of good soil. Two days later, a fragile seedling emerged, looking happy and healthy. She grinned every time she looked at it.

At first, the cannabis seedling looked picture-perfect.

A few weeks passed. Besides a little leaf curling, the cannabis seedling seemed fine and got bigger every day. 

Then a surprise event prompted a sudden trip to Los Angeles for a week. Her beloved cannabis seedling had to be left behind. She gave it a week’s worth of water and set the grow light on a timer. Fingers crossed, she hoped for the best. 

For the week-long trip, our grower blocked the drainage holes and gave a week’s worth of water at once.

While she was gone, an unexpected heat wave struck San Diego. The temperature soared close to 100°F (38°F). Away from home, she had no idea her seedling was sweltering in a burning hot room with no AC.

When our grower returns home, she is greeted by this heartbreaking scene. A very sad plant indeed.

That grower was me, and this poor seedling on the verge of death was my first cannabis plant.

What happened? Heat plus overwatering (I’ve since learned to never leave a cannabis plant sitting in water). This two-punch combo almost killed my poor seedling. I felt like a failure.

Yet little did I know at the time, these moments happen to every grower. If you run into setbacks during your personal cannabis grow journey, you’re not alone. Mistakes are a part of learning. And sometimes, things are plain out of your control.

Luckily, there is a silver lining. Every grow challenge brings you a step closer to your ultimate goal: becoming an experienced grower who always knows what to do.

Yet why not skip the heartbreak if possible? The good news is most common problems are easy to prevent with the right knowledge. That’s why I decided to put a list together of 10 common heartbreaking growing events when it comes to growing cannabis. After you read this article, you’ll be both mentally prepared when things go wrong, and also know exactly what to do next.

Most importantly, don’t be too hard on yourself.

Cannabis growers, make sure to give yourself some love!

1.) Sudden plant death

Your cannabis plant is fine one day, and the next day it’s dead. When that happens, it hurts.

Damping Off (Sudden Seedling Death)

The term “damping off” is a lot less common than it used to be, but growers struggle with it to this day. Damping off is the result of a seedling that is watered too much for too long, and it just kind of gives up.

Terrible soil (plus giving too much water) to cannabis seedlings can kill them.

Stem rot

Stem rot is caused when the base of the plant stays too wet for too long. The bottom of the main stem turns mushy and plants fall over like they were cut down with a miniature ax. It’s strange how the plants seem healthy until the day they drop.

This solo cup plant was doing well until it started being watered from the bottom instead of the top (the solo cup was put in a tray of water every few days). Look how wet the soil is. One day the seedling was on its side. Upon closer inspection, the base was mushy and barely holding together…

Propping the seedling up with crazy straws was too little too late. The damage had been done and the seedling never recovered.

The water level in this hydroponic reservoir was so high the base of the plant stayed constantly wet (notice the dark wet Rapid Rooter). The stem rotted until the plant completely fell over.

Root Rot

Root rot is easily the most common cause of cannabis death in a hydroponic setup.

You go to sleep with a fast-growing perky plant.

The next morning your plant is drooping. Hmmm, that’s weird.

What’s going on? To your horror, you see the plant’s beautiful white roots have turned brown, mushy, and smelly… By that night, the plant was dead. A victim of root rot.

Note: Prevent root rot by controlling heat, giving lots of bubbles, and using a root supplement like Hydroguard. Read the full cannabis root rot tutorial.

2.) Technical failure

Bad Pump

In hydroponic growing, your cannabis plant roots need oxygenated water to survive. If a pump goes out or a tube gets disconnected, the roots become starved for oxygen, and plants simply wilt and die.

Plant roots can die from a lack of oxygen if an air pump stops working or gets disconnected.

Broken Exhaust Fan

If your exhaust fan stops working or accidentally gets unplugged, the temperature can skyrocket. Big grow lights put off a lot of heat. Without the hot air constantly being vented out, your plants can experience a torturous heatwave.

Grow Lights Don’t Turn On

Maybe you forgot to plug your grow light back in after checking on your plants (I’ve done that) or your electrical timer stops working. There’s always the possibility that a bulb burns out or an LED panel stops turning on. Plants don’t like being in the dark for long and start turning yellow after a day or two of darkness. Uneven light schedules can also cause plants to grow 3-point leaves, re-veg, or herm.

Plants may herm in response to abnormally long dark periods and uneven light schedules. This can result in seedy buds at harvest.

Lose Electricity

Weather can be crazy and unexpected. Sometimes you’ll experience an electrical outage, which means all your equipment stays turned off. We made a page with some ideas on what to do during a power outage in different situations, but sometimes there’s nothing you can do.

This picture shows just how much cannabis plants hate the cold. If your electricity goes out and plants experience freezing temperatures, they can respond with all kinds of odd symptoms. The top leaves of this plant turned white after the temperature dropped below 20°F (-7°C) overnight.

3.) Plant gets killed or damaged

Light (or Human) Falls on Plant

Grow lights are heavy and awkward, plus we move them up and down all the time. The perfect recipe for a squished plant. I know I’ve dropped a light before. In that case, both me and the light landed on the plant >.< Pro Tip: use rope ratchets to hang lights and carbon filters so you can easily raise and lower them without having to hold them.

Supercropping accident

Supercropping is a technique to bend stiff stems that otherwise would break if you tried to bend them. Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong and a stem gets unintentionally split. Usually, you can tape the wounded ends together like a “cast” and the plant will recover, but a severe split can leave a plant hanging on strings with nothing to do but amputate the whole branch.

Oops… Luckily I was able to put the wounded parts back together and tape the stem in place so the plant could heal.

Other training accident

When it comes to plant training, there’s a lot of bending and manipulation. Sometimes you’ll accidentally split a stem or break off a branch even though you were trying to be gentle.

Oh no, that wasn’t supposed to happen!

Quick tip: Here’s a tip on how to help prevent the dreaded split.

Cat or Dog Ate Your Plants

Some cats and dogs love to eat cannabis leaves. They find the leaves irresistible and will break into your grow room to sneak a bite. I’ve also seen pictures of deer and bunnies munching on leaves. It often seems cute until a plant gets hurt. But please don’t be too harsh on pets. I get where they’re coming from. They just love weed, too 🙂

A new puppy got into this grower’s tent and left a devastating mess.

4.) Buds Come Out Wrong

No Smell or Bad Smell

This may be one of the most common issues growers have with buds after harvest. No smell or bad smell is usually caused by genetics/strain (smell is heavily dependent on strain) or problems with drying and curing. Often the smell strengthens and improves from curing buds in jars for a few weeks.

When buds lose their smell after harvest, it’s often the result of drying in poor conditions (hot, dry, humid, or poor air circulation). Trimming buds before drying in low humidity can also reduce the overall smell.

Curing buds in jars (or any airtight container) usually boosts smells over time.

Harsh to Smoke

When buds are harsh to smoke, it can be so frustrating. Luckily you can still turn buds into hash, edibles, oils, or tinctures. Sometimes using a vaporizer as opposed to smoking can help reduce harshness.

But what causes harshness while smoking?

• buds formed in a hot environment during the late flowering stage
• buds got damaged from the lights being too close (light burn)
• nutrients deficiencies that discolored buds or made them brown
• drying problems – air-drying in heat, high/low humidity, poor air circulation
• bud rot, mold, or mildew
• bacteria growth – for example, if buds are cured in jars while wet; buds may smell musty or like ammonia
• poor storage conditions – for example, baggies of buds stuffed in the glove box of your car don’t fare well
• smoking leaves or not trimming buds before smoking (leaves are harsh to smoke)
• sometimes harshness is associated with the strain/genetics – for example, “Strawberry Cough” was named for its lung-expanding effects
• plants were sprayed with something after buds started forming – such as insecticides or foliar sprays
• bug infestation – bug poop and dead bugs can make buds harsh to smoke
• synthetic PGRs (Plant Growth Regulators) – these are sometimes used while growing to improve plant growth or yields; luckily many PGR-based supplements have been discontinued so this issue is much less common than it used to be
• buds are not fully dry – can cause sparks and harshness
• the smoking method has an effect – joints, spliffs, and pipes without a water chamber are more likely to cause coughing; other causes include taking big hits (smoking too much bud at once) and letting smoke sit in a bong for too long before smoking

Heat or light damage during the flowering stage can make cannabis buds harsher to smoke.

Cannabis buds grown with synthetic PGRs can cause coughing (hint: PGR-grown buds are often hairy and dense with a yucky orange color).

Not Potent

After months of growing, you’re so excited to try your home-grown buds. But they aren’t potent. What happened? Usually, this is the result of harvesting too early or starting with poor genetics. Where to get good cannabis genetics.

Why aren’t my buds potent?

If started with good genetics, the next most common reason for low potency is harvesting buds too early (before white hairs darken and curl in).

5.) Buds Don’t Form

Male plant

Cannabis plants can be male or female, but only female plants make buds. Unless starting with feminized seeds, there’s a 50% chance the plant will be male and grow non-potent pollen sacs. Unfortunately, you can’t easily tell whether a plant is male until it starts flowering.

If your plant is male, it will grow pollen sacs instead of buds.

Re-Vegging

Re-vegging or “re-vegetating” is when a flowering cannabis plant reverts back to the vegetative stage. This is almost always caused by the plant getting light during its 12-hour daily dark period. It can also happen if the plant is getting unusual light cycles, for example if a timer is broken and going off at random times.

All the buds on this cannabis plant died after it re-vegged.

Autoflowering plant doesn’t flower

Auto-flowering strains are normally ready to harvest quickly. Plant the seed, and 3-4 weeks later it automatically starts budding. In just 2-3 months from germination, most autoflowering strains are ready to harvest. However, occasionally a plant doesn’t start flowering automatically, either from a breeding error or a mutation. When that happens you have to treat the plant like a photoperiod strain and give it 12-hour dark periods daily to get buds to form. If only one plant of many doesn’t flower, this can be a huge annoyance!

This picture shows how occasionally you’ll have an auto-flowering plant that doesn’t automatically make buds. The front-middle-left plant hadn’t even started growing white hairs yet while the others were only a few weeks from harvest. I ended up tossing it so I could focus on the 7 other autoflowering cannabis plants.

Luckily, as long as you order seeds from a trustworthy autoflowering breeder, this is rare.

6.) Can’t control heat

Heat Wave

If only you could control the weather outside. However you do have some options.

Learn how to deal with heat when growing cannabis indoors.

Here are tips for outdoor growers dealing with heat.

Lastly, here are some heat-fighting cannabis supplements.

These cannabis buds were damaged after a week-long heatwave.

Air Conditioning Goes Out

Causes the same problem as a heat wave.

Heat damage can cause cannabis buds to grow strange growths known as foxtails.

7.) Underwatered plants

Underwatering happens. Life can take you away from your plants.

Forget to water

Sometimes you get busy and plain forget to water your cannabis plants. It happens.

Emergency takes you away from home

Sometimes an unexpected event separates you from your plants. If you have time to prepare, a Blumat watering system can be used to automatically water plants while you’re gone.

Learn how to water your plants away from home (don’t be like me at the beginning of this article).

These cannabis plants are severely underwatered.

Guest arrives unexpectedly

If a family member or other guest appears and expects to spend the night, you may not be able to water your plants without them wondering what you’re up to.

8.) Bugs

Here are some of the most common cannabis bugs.

Fungus gnats (no biggie)

Thrips (medium difficulty)

Spider mites (hard)

Broad mites (advanced problem)

Hemp russet mites (torture level)

Outdoors – caterpillars, grasshoppers (pictured below), and many types of bugs that nibble on cannabis leaves.

9.) Mold

White powdery mildew

White powdery mold forms in heat, humidity, and areas of low air circulation, like most other types of mold.

White patches of powder on cannabis leaves are the result of white powdery mildew.

Bud rot

Bud rot is the result of thick cannabis buds combined with high humidity and poor air circulation.

The bud rot is usually located at the base of the discolored leaves.

Cannabis leaves fall out wherever the bud rot forms, and up close the buds look brown, gray, or moldy.

Another example of cannabis bud rot. Buds with rot or mold are not safe to smoke!

Mold during drying or curing

If it’s hot, humid, or stagnant air, mold can form during the drying process. Most common when buds are touching each other (for example hanging a whole plant, or drying many buds close together).

This picture shows how these cannabis buds were too fat and close to each other during drying. The right plant grew mold on some buds that were touching each other. With buds this big, it’s a good idea to cut off the branches and hang them separately with at least a few inches of air space between them to prevent wet spots.

Gray mold was discovered on some buds after they were taken down to be jarred. Toss buds that look gray or fuzzy!

Mold during curing

Wet cannabis buds in jars can also mold. The outsides of buds shouldn’t ever feel wet if they’re in jars as that greatly increases the chance of mold.

Mold during curing can be upsetting. You were sooooo close.

10.) Other frustrating cannabis grow problems

Plants turn brown, yellow, or look burnt

A common issue is plants burning or turning brown/yellow. This can be extra frustrating when you don’t know what’s causing it. Diagnose your sick plant.

For example, when I first started growing I didn’t know about light stress. I thought these cannabis plants had a nutrient deficiency but eventually realized the cause was the LED grow light being kept too close.

Hermie or seeds 

Cannabis hermies are plants that grow both male and female flowers, potentially causing seedy buds. Often herms are caused by stress, but occasionally it happens under ideal conditions due to the genetics of the plant. This is most common when growing feminized seeds from an untrustworthy breeder, or when growing with seeds you find in your bud (which are often the result of a parent that hermed).

Herming is often the result of light stress, heat stress, uneven light schedules, or light leaks during the dark period.

Occasionally a cannabis plant herms due to bad genetics (even if you provide ideal conditions).

Herms release pollen and cause seedy buds. Seeds are popping out of this cannabis bud.

Plant Gets Too Tall

Sometimes cannabis plants grow too big or get out of control and grow right into your grow light.

The most common cause of overgrown cannabis plants is switching to the flowering stage too late.

These cannabis plants grew way too close to the grow light and there wasn’t room to raise the grow light. Even though the temperature was okay, the buds and leaves were burned from light stress.

Now that you have seen some of the most common cannabis grow problems and acquired the solutions, you should be able to prevent these problems from happening in your grow room.

But if something happens to your plants or buds, don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re not alone. We all make mistakes and ultimately life is a giant learning experience.

“Failure is merely a chance to start over, but with more wisdom.” ~Nebula Haze

About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze is a passionate cannabis grower and writer who co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 along with Sirius Fourside. She has over a decade of experience growing cannabis at home and has written hundreds of articles and tutorials that cover the entire home growing process from setting up to harvesting and beyond.

Nebula’s mission is to share her knowledge and help aspiring cannabis growers learn how to easily grow high-quality weed at home. Her articles, interviews, and growing experiments have been featured in various print and online publications, including Skunk Magazine and Cannabis Business Times.

Nebula is based in San Diego, California. She has dedicated her life to providing information on every aspect of home cannabis cultivation through GrowWeedEasy.com.

The post 10 Heartbreaking Moments in Growing Weed appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Bud density isn’t everything… but it sure is nice! If your cannabis buds keep coming out light and fluffy and you’re not sure why, this tutorial will break it down for you. Learn exactly how to grow dense, rock-hard cannabis buds at home.

Example of dense marijuana buds. Looks and feels solid.

This cannabis density grow tutorial shows you how to prevent airy “popcorn” buds!

Why do cannabis growers want dense buds?

Growing dense buds has some key advantages:

• Potency – Dense buds tend to have higher levels of THC than looser buds from the same plant. This isn’t always the case, but the same principles that make buds dense (being located at the top of the plant, bright light, good growing environment, vigorous plants, etc.) also tend to raise THC levels. As a result, on average, the densest buds on a particular plant tend to be some of the most potent buds on that plant.
• Weight – If all your buds are dense, that will greatly increase the overall yield weights at harvest. This means each harvest gives you more weed, so it either lasts longer or leads to higher profits/savings. As another advantage, you can fit much more weed in less space when the buds are dense.
• Looks great – Beautiful aesthetics aren’t necessary, but it does put a smile on your face to see your homegrown weed looks amazing. In general, dense buds are seen as more visually appealing than looser buds. That may be because dense buds are often some of the best ones to smoke.
• Smoking experience – Dense buds tend to make a smoother and more longer-lasting smoke compared to loose or airy buds. Note: If cannabis buds get too dense they can be difficult to work with or grind up. It’s not the case that more density is always better.

Would you like to start growing denser cannabis buds? If so, you’ve come to the right tutorial. There are some extremely common reasons your cannabis buds aren’t growing as compact or dense as they could be, and I’m going to reveal exactly how to fix that today!

1. ) Genetics – The Foundation of Bud Density

You can’t overcome a cannabis plant’s genetics. Some strains only grow loose or airy buds, even in perfect growing conditions. If the genetics simply don’t make high bud density, it’s not your fault if buds come out fluffy. When genetics tend to grow loose buds, there’s not much you can do to change that. That being said, some of my absolute favorite strains have buds that tend to come out with a lower density. Low density doesn’t necessarily mean buds are bad. It’s common with sativa and haze-leaning strains, as well as certain hybrids.

Once you’re smoking the buds, you don’t notice the difference!

Not all good cannabis strains are dense. I personally love Liberty Haze for the captivating bud effects and excellent yields, yet the buds aren’t necessarily the most dense.

Choosing a strain that’s known to grow dense buds greatly increases the chance of producing dense buds. Indica-leaning strains tend to develop the densest buds, though these days, just about every strain is a hybrid that includes a mix of Indica and other genetics.

Grape Ape is a hardy strain that stays short and tends to grow solid buds even in poor conditions (plus the yields and effects are fantastic)

Grape Ape cannabis plants consistently produces rock-hard buds!

Moby Dick is another popular cannabis strain that produces dense buds with splendid effects.

If you’re looking for the highest THC possible, then check out Kushberry Moonrocks, which produces very dense, very potent buds.

Here are more dense strain recommendations:

Photoperiod strains

• Bananacane (Limited Edition) – Tight buds that grow in dark purple, giving a spectacular visual result. Limited edition, so get seeds before they’re gone!
• Bubba Kush – This may be the densest version of the classic strain, with outstanding effects.
• Grape Ape – A fruity “Purps” strain with a dense bud structure and up to 24% THC.
• Jelly Breath S1 – Easy to grow strain with great effects and tight, frosty buds.
• Purple Ghost Candy – An easy-to-grow strain with enormous yields, rock-hard buds, and insane potency. (Check out our full Purple Ghost Candy review)
• Somango – Although the buds have strong, psychoactive Sativa-like effects, the plant grows dense buds and has a relatively short flowering period just like an Indica-leaning strain.

Auto-flowering strains

• Cinderella Jack Autoflower – Most dense autoflowering strain I’ve grown so far!

What’s your favorite dense cannabis strain? Let us know and we may feature it in this list!

The Purple Ghost Candy we grew produced ultra-dense buds.

2.) Feed Me! (Proper Nutrition for Rock Hard Buds)

Cannabis plants tend to be relatively forgiving in the vegetative stage, and the exact nutrients provided don’t matter much as long as plants are growing green and healthy. Yet once you’re in the flowering stage and buds are forming, nutrients begin to have a direct effect on your bud quality, density, and yields.

Don’t Let Cannabis Plants Run Out of Nutrients While Buds Form

Don’t rely on regular potting soil for nutrients in the flowering stage. Plants that are grown in the same soil from seed to harvest often use up a lot of the nutrients by the time buds start forming. Proper nutrition is crucial for a plant to produce the biggest, densest buds.

Don’t rely on regular potting soil to provide nutrients while buds are forming. Plants need a boost of extra in the flowering stage to grow dense buds.

If you’re already adding cannabis-friendly nutrients in the water, this likely doesn’t apply to you.

However, if you’re not using nutrients, It’s a good idea to supplement your plant with flowering stage nutrients (high in P and K). The exception is when you’re either regularly transplanting into fresh soil, or using a composted, amended soil (which slowly releases organic nutrients throughout the plant’s life). The specific brand of nutrients isn’t nearly as critical as making sure you’re giving the plant what it needs. Learn more about the best cannabis nutrients.

Get quality nutrients to make sure your plants get enough nutrients in the flowering stage

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is a cheap nutrient option that works great for cannabis plants. Just give at 1 tsp/gallon of Grow in the Vegetative Stage, and 1 tsp/gallon of Bloom in the flowering stage.

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrients

The General Hydroponics Flora trio gives professional results in the flowering stage, whether growing in soil, coco, or hydro. This is what I personally use. Just follow the nutrient recommendation on the side of the bottle at 1/2 strength and you’re good to go.

General Hydroponics Flora trio nutrients (what I use)

Fox Farm Trio is an excellent cannabis nutrient that is formulated especially for growing in soil. It contains mostly organic sources of nutrients, and buds come out dense and frosty. I’ve had good results following their nutrient schedule at 1/2 or strength with “hot” soil (contains lots of nutrients), or 3/4 strength with regular potting soil.

Fox Farm Trio nutrients for soil

Avoid Too Much Nitrogen in the Flowering Stage

On the flip side, you can give plants too high levels of nutrients, especially certain nutrients. Providing high levels of nutrients overall causes nutrient burn, which is cosmetic and doesn’t have a massive effect on cannabis bud density. However, if you’re giving plants too high levels of nitrogen (N) in the flowering stage, it can reduce proper bud development.

Too much nitrogen in the flowering stage can suppress bud development

Luckily it’s effortless to tell if your plant has too much nitrogen. The main symptom of a nitrogen toxicity is dark green leaves, and possibly also clawed tips.

Are you giving too much nitrogen? Too much nitrogen (N) causes dark green leaves. Sometimes they appear almost shiny.

A nitrogen toxicity sometimes causes the tips of leaves to claw down

A nitrogen toxicity is super easy to fix. Just reduce the amount of nitrogen your plants are getting. Don’t stop giving nitrogen altogether though, pull it back.

If you’re using all-purpose or vegetative nutrients (which are high in nitrogen), you need to find different nutrients for once buds start forming. Suitable nutrients for the flowering stage are typically labeled as “Bloom” nutrients and contain low levels of Nitrogen. You don’t need to worry if you’re using nutrients made for flowering (like the Bloom bottle from Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom), or when using nutrients with multiple bottles that you combine according to a nutrient schedule (like the General Hydroponics Flora trio or the Fox Farm trio). Follow the instruction to automatically decrease the amount of Nitrogen during the flowering stage to the proper levels.

Buds don’t develop as well as they could when a plant is getting too much nitrogen

What if you’re using Bloom nutrients with low nitrogen, but plants still look dark?

In this case, reduce the nutrient levels overall. Don’t change the ratio. You can use fractions to figure out how much nutrients to add (for example trying to cut the nutrients by a 1/3), but I don’t like doing fractions. It’s too easy for me to mess up! Instead, I add extra water after mixing nutrients to dilute the overall levels without messing with the proportions.

When treating a Nitrogen Toxicity, make sure that you give enough water to get some runoff. Runoff water helps flush out any nutrient buildup in the grow medium.

Learn more about nitrogen toxicity.

Don’t Ignore Nutrient Deficiencies

Now you know that flowering cannabis plants need plenty of Phosphorus and Potassium (P&K), but not much Nitrogen (N). The next most common nutrient challenge in the flowering stage is the appearance of nutrient deficiencies. If you’re not adding nutrients in the water, there’s a chance that the plant needs higher levels of nutrients overall, and supplementing with a suitable Bloom nutrient will solve the problem.

Not sure which bloom nutrient to get? Dyna-Gro Bloom is an affordable and effective bloom nutrient for cannabis in any grow medium that will provide your plant with complete flowering stage nutrition in any grow medium. An easy way to prevent flowering stage deficiencies!

However, if you’re already using nutrients and still see a nutrient deficiency, it’s likely caused by incorrect pH at the roots.

Don’t ignore nutrient problems like this potassium deficiency! Keep plant leaves as healthy as possible in the flowering stage for the best bud development.

Why should you care about nutrient deficiencies?

Although P&K are most important to bud development, your plants need a variety of nutrients to complete normal plant processes. Any time you ignore a plant that’s getting sick, you’re lowering the overall growth rates and potentially reducing bud size and density.

Diagnose my nutrient deficiency! (Free Plant Doctor)

Is my cannabis nutrient deficiency caused by pH problems? (Picture Guide)

What About Supplements?

What about cannabis supplements? How important are they to bud density?

The truth is, you can achieve incredible bud quality and density using just base nutrients. They contain everything your plant needs for healthy growth, and so you don’t need any supplements to grow great buds. When I first started growing, I felt confused because it seemed like you need supplements to produce brag-worthy buds and yields. I’ve learned over the years that nutrient companies want you to believe that because that helps them sell more bottles of supplements.

I’m not saying that supplements don’t provide benefits, I just want to assure you that they’re not necessary. They can sometimes make things more complicated by interacting with your nutrients or each other. Many supplements can be useful in small doses but may harm your plants at higher doses, so give sparingly at first to see what effect they have.

Some supplements claim to increase the density of buds, but it’s hard to pin down exactly which ones work. Unfortunately, there are not many side-by-side experiments showing the difference that each supplement makes. Here are some popular choices.

These supplements claim to increase yields and density with extra Phosphorus (P) & Potassium (K)

• Liquid Koolbloom (by General Hydroponics)
• Hydroplex (by Botanicare)
• Beastie Bloomz (by Fox Farms)

Tips for using supplements in the flowering stage

• Only add one new supplement at a time. You’re most likely to have unexpected results if you add several new things at once.
• Adding just one supplement at a time also helps you pinpoint which supplement is causing the effects you see.
• Always use supplements made by the same company as your base nutrients. Sticking with one company reduces the chance of unwanted interactions. Each company designs its nutrients and supplements to be used together.
• Use any supplement sparingly. A little usually goes a long way! Too much of certain supplements can harm plants, burn the leaves, or stunt bud growth. Always start at the lowest recommended dose (or less) and only increase if plants seem to be responding well.

We all want magic in a bottle, but it’s important to remember that the environment and overall plant care are much more critical to achieving excellent bud quality and yields than any particular supplement. You can’t overcome a bad growing environment no matter what you give your plants (more on that next).

Learn more about cannabis plant supplements.

3.) Intense Light Makes Dense Buds

Since intense light is key to growing dense buds, the grow light you choose is key to improving density.

Unfortunately, some cannabis grow lights struggle to grow dense buds no matter what you do as a grower.

Grow lights that are excellent at producing high bud density:

• My list of the current best LED grow lights for growing cannabis – Most cannabis growers would be happiest with an LED grow light.
• HPS grow lights – These are good lights but they get extremely hot, so they’re best suited for growers with a cold grow room.
• LEC/CMH grow lights – Overall similar to HPS.

Fluorescent lights like T5s can produce dense buds when you keep the lights close. However, the lower buds on plants grown under fluorescents are typically on the fluffier side because the light doesn’t penetrate far into the plant. If density is most important to you, fluorescent lights are not be the best choice.

Fluorescent lights like T5s tend to make fluffy buds. Not the best choice for the best cannabis bud density.

If density is the most crucial factor for you, generally, you’ll get the best results in the flowering stage with powerful modern LEDs or HID (“big bulb”) lights like HPS. However, the technology for LEDs has improved dramatically in the last few years, and there are many modern models of LEDs that consistently produce long, dense buds.

However, some LEDs (especially the no-name ones) have low penetration down into the plant and buds simply don’t harden up. These low-quality LEDs often produce airy buds. For example, the following buds were grown under cheap LEDs. Buds stayed small and larfy even though plants looked happy and healthy. If the LED light looks “blurple” colored, it is typically not well suited to growing cannabis plants.

Avoid “blurple” colored LEDs for growing cannabis.

Good LEDs for growing cannabis in the flowering stage typically produce white light with a pink or yellow tinge.

Good flowering LEDs make light that looks mostly white, often with a pink or yellow tinge.

High-quality LEDs tend to cost a bit more, but the results can be worth it. For example, you can achieve impressive density and yields from LED models like the HLG Quantum Boards (HLG 100 3000k version, HLG Blackbird, etc.) as well as Spider Farmer and Mars Hydro LED grow lights. Learn more about the best LED grow lights for cannabis.

Certain LEDs produce high density. The HLG 100 (3000k version) uses only 100W and made these extremely dense buds for me.

I’m currently flowering several plants under the HLG 350R, and so far, I’m even more impressed.

If you’re not sure which LED to get, you can’t go wrong with a Spider Farmer LED.

Spider Farmer LEDs like the G4500 model produce super tight, potent buds at a much cheaper cost than most other LEDs of similar size and quality.

HPS grow lights consistently produce dense buds as long as plants are healthy and kept from being hot. However, HPS grow lights produce a lot of heat, and hot air makes fluffy buds. That means HPS grow lights are best suited for a cold grow room. If you’re battling heat, HPS don’t perform nearly as well as LEDs.

This bud was grown under HPS. As long as the temperature doesn’t go much over 80°F/27°C, HPS usually produces very dense buds.

LEC/CMH grow lights also tend to produce dense buds. One of my favorite aspects of growing with an LEC is buds come out extremely sparkly and stinky compared to other grow lights.

These sticky, dense buds were grown under a 315 Ceramic Metal Halide.

4.) Vegetative Stage – Prepare Plants to Make Dense Buds

During the vegetative stage, you have total control over a cannabis plant’s final shape and size. As a grower, you can use this to your advantage. Set your plants up correctly now so they naturally tend to grow dense buds once they enter the flowering stage.

Grow More Than Just One Main Bud

You can increase your overall yields by training your plant in the vegetative stage (with techniques like LST or manifolding), so it grows multiple primary buds instead of one.

Cannabis plants naturally tend to grow one main bud.

However, growers can use simple techniques in the vegetative stage. often called “plant training” or “plant pruning” that will force the plant to grow many buds in the flowering stage.

Plant training increases yields by forcing plants to grow multiple main buds instead of just one.

Avoid Too Many Bud Sites

However, if you grow a plant with tons and tons of buds sites, it may not be able to fatten them all up before harvest. This is most likely to happen on smaller plants, younger plants, and when using smaller grow lights. If you’ve got a relatively small plant, try to force the plant to focus on just a few main buds instead of dozens. A general rule of thumb is that plants under 2 feet tall should have 4-10 primary buds. Big or wide plants can support more.

Don’t spread the plant’s energy too thin or you may end up with tons of baby “popcorn” buds.

This plant has too many bud sites for its size. Although it may get good yields, none of the buds will grow particularly big or dense.

Bigger plants, older plants, and manifolded plants can support more big, dense buds. Especially when combined with a powerful cannabis grow light.

Don’t Switch to Flowering Stage Too Early

This is sort of related to the last point. Bigger plants can support bigger buds, and switching to 12/12 early means that your plant might not get big enough to make dense, thick colas/buds.

Try to switch to the flowering stage when your plant has reached about half the final desired size. Since plants about double in size after they start getting 12/12, this should give you the biggest plants possible for your grow space.

Switch to 12/12 when plants are half the final desired height. This helps ensure they’re big enough to support dense buds

5.) Flower Power – Create the Perfect Bud-Building Environment

The flowering stage is the most essential part of your plant’s life when it comes to bud quality, density, and yields. The way buds form is a direct reflection of their growing conditions. A common cause of airy buds is poor care or environment while the buds are forming. Here are several factors that can affect whether you get the best bud density in the flowering stage.

Avoid Ultra-leafy Plants While Buds are Forming

Problem: Plants are so leafy that air and light can’t get through the plant. Buds are covered by leaves so they aren’t getting direct light.

Result of Too Many Leaves: The buds don’t get as dense as they could.

These plants are too leafy for the flowering stage. Buds won’t fatten far into the plant, and won’t be as dense as they could be.

Air and light should be able to travel through the plant in the flowering stage. Every bud should get strong direct light. For some plants, you won’t have to do anything to achieve this. But with some plants, you may need to remove leaves to achieve the optimal amount of leafiness.

You may need to remove leaves if cannabis plants get too leafy in the flowering stage.

Not sure if your plants are too leafy?

This 3-step defoliation tutorial ensures your plants have the perfect amount of leaves.

Don’t ignore pests or disease

I mentioned nutrient deficiencies already, but it’s also vital that you react immediately to any other issues that may come up. Don’t ignore a problem until it gets out of control.

Typically a sick cannabis plant is simple to treat when it’s just starting to experience problems, but the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. An unhealthy plant won’t grow buds as well as a healthy one, so stay on top of your plant’s health.

Don’t ignore problems like pests or disease.

Avoid extreme temperatures (especially heat)

A lot of growers ignore issues with the plant’s flowering stage environment. Growers often don’t realize how much this can hurt their bud density, potency, and yields. It’s easy to ignore environmental problems like heat because typically, your plants and buds will still be growing.

If plants look okay, the heat should be fine, right? Unfortunately, no.

When the air is too warm (above 80°F/26°C) in the flowering stage, buds tend to grow more light and airy. Sometimes buds even grow unsightly foxtails as a result of heat.

Buds get less dense when it’s too hot. Look at the loose structure of this bud grown in extreme heat.

Too-cold air can also cause buds to grow small, airy, and loose.

Another thing about temperature: cannabis plants in the flowering stage like it to be a little warm in the day, but cool at night. Warm nights are also associated with airy buds. Try to keep the temperature consistently between 65-80°F (18-27°C) for the best bud development in the flowering stage.

Check out our complete cannabis temperature tutorial.

High humidity makes buds grow loose

Humidity in the flowering stage is another factor that’s often ignored. Each plant leaf is constantly adding moisture in the air, which means that the humidity tends to rise in the grow space as plants get bigger. What’s ironic is that cannabis plants like high humidity when they’re young/small, but it causes problems in the flowering stage after buds start forming.

High humidity can trigger bud rot and powdery white mildew, which is plenty enough reason to control humidity. But there’s more. Buds don’t get as sparkly as they could in high humidity, and buds overall tend to grow more loose and airy when the air is humid.

Keep humidity under 50% RH while buds are forming for the best results.

Check out our full cannabis humidity tutorial.

Keep humidity under 50% RH while buds are forming, or they may not get as dense as they could

Give lots of fresh, moving air

Buds seem to fatten the best when they get plenty of light and fresh air. You’ve already taken care of light, but you should also ensure your plants get excellent airflow. Air circulation helps control humidity, prevent wet spots, and moves air through the plant and around the buds.

Check out the full Air-Circulation and Exhaust Tutorial.

Make sure cannabis plants get fresh air and good airflow.

Avoid major stress or deficiencies

If your cannabis plant doesn’t “look good” or seems sickly in the flowering stage, that’s the first thing you should focus on to improve the bud density at harvest.

If plants look generally unhealthy, you should focus on fixing that before trying anything else. These plants are suffering from heat stress. Look how loose the buds are.

Buds tend to stay small and fluffy on an unhealthy plant.

Diagnose your sick cannabis plant here!

6.) Don’t Rush the Finish – Proper Harvesting and Curing

Don’t harvest too early

Buds gain a lot of size, weight, and density during the last few weeks before harvest time. That means if you harvest your cannabis plants a few weeks early, the buds will be significantly smaller and less dense than they could be. Early-harvested buds also aren’t as potent and may give some people a headache. There are lots of great reasons to harvest your plants at the right time.

Learn the exact right time to harvest your cannabis plants.

Don’t harvest until cannabis plants are ready. These buds are dense and ready to harvest!

Always dry and “cure” your cannabis buds

Drying and curing buds makes them smoke better, smell better, feel more potent. Don’t skip this step!

As a bonus, drying and curing can help tighten buds up for that “California dispensary” look.

How to dry and cure your cannabis buds.

Buds tend to look more “tight” and feel denser after being dried and cured.

I’ve found that waiting to trim buds until after drying can also help them feel and appear more dense (compared to trimming before drying)

If you avoid these mistakes, you will produce cannabis buds as dense as you’ve always dreamed!

The post Why can’t I grow dense buds? [Bud Density Tutorial] appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.