Do the flowers need light too?

[fosomker]

I have two plants going that were in a cabinet and now I have taken them out and put them in the closet. One of the plants I have (unknown strain) has always been vertically challenged but has grown like a bush and is very wide and full. The problem is its so full that not all the flowers get good light, and I know I have asked this before but should I prune any for the the flowers to get more light? It just seems that I have so many leaves and flowers, but when is enough leaves enough and the flowers need more light? One plant is fine, leaves are under control, flower size is good, no complants for being one I was gonna write off.

Here are a couple pics, the bushy one is the one in quesiton. The tall one touching the light is about 10" from the bulb and it seems happy so I have not moved the light yet because of the vertically challenged. We are on day 43 of flowering, triches are really starting to show, nice flowering and a lot of it for two small plants.

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[Opie Yutts]

You're going to end up with a bunch of small buds (popcorn buds). You need to decide which bud sites to keep and which to get rid of. The lower ones that don't get any light are usually removed so that energy can go to making real buds. Fan leaves are important, so you want to leave them intact as much as possible. However, if they are covering an important bud, that needs to be remedied. In descending order of preference, move it, bend it, break it but leave it, or remove it.

A small bushy plant is probably an indica variety, and a tall skinny one is probably a sativa variety. In general people say that indicas are more potent. Both can be trained to do what you want. It is basically a bad idea to just let a plant go wild and do whatever it wants, just for the reason that we don't want it ending up like yours.

I highly recommend the use of a screen, and for your light you ought to go one step farther and make a stadium screen. Here's one of my old stadium grows: http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-growing/63247-your-ak47-your-ak47-stadium-scrog-any-questions.html

Search these to find out more ways to control your weed plant:

- LST (low stress training)
- FIM (fuck I missed)
- topping
- scrog

Done properly, these methods could add another 25-50% to your yield as opposed to what you are doing now.

I would watch that one carefully that's getting close to the light. It looks like the first thing to go would be that nice big cola.

The good news is: Those plants look nice and healthy, and soon you're going to be able to smoke them. Nice work.

[fosomker]

Thanks for the info Opie. I will work on cleaning it up tonight and moving the light. This is the first Hydro grow and I plan to make some changes after this flowers. I am getting a bigger light and will probalby run a 600 or 1000 along with the 400 I have now, space is only 5x5. I had a screen on this when it was in the cabinet but when I took it out I took the screen off.

[Opie Yutts]

1000 in a space that size is doable, but don't forget the cool tube and a truckload of ventilation. I would like to see it, so I can know how to pull it off. I'm running a 600 in a 3'x3'x8'. So I guess that's not much different, but I've got 4 inlines and 1 oscillating fan in that area. If I can leave the doors open I don't need the third fan. I am remodeling and growing at the same time, but when I get done it will be more efficient and need only 3 fans. (We're just talking bud chamber.) It's so many because using co2 and carbon scrubbers makes it a different ball game.

[fosomker]

I have a speical spot that keeps the temps cool. I am running a cool tube now and plan on a tube again with a Vortec fan that vents out side and I have one of those tall fans that are really slim and it has a filter and oscillates, plus the dehumidfier (I only flower here, veg elsewhere). Also temps stay in 70-87 range with a crappy vent fan now even in the hot times of the year. I might switch the 400 HPS for a 400w T5 to spread the light better for side light. Which would you run? I do run CO2 as well.

[Opie Yutts]

I would leave the HPS and make a stadium screen as described in my link above. You could have fluoros in the veg section, or supplement the bud section with them, but flowering is very important to me and I want my flowers to get truckloads of light. I'm pretty sure that T5 lights have a lower radiant flux than HPS for the same wattage.

If you get fluoros for the flower section, be sure to get 2200 or 2700K color (not between), preferably 2200 but good luck finding it. If you do could you please post a link?

I'm not sure what you mean by your special spot. That's not the G spot is it?

[Opie Yutts]

By the way, here's a little tidbit that may or may not help with some background on that tallest plant:

I have a "Chemo" mother that looks almost exactly like that. She grows taller and skinnier than my others. It is a little darker green than my other plants, and the leaf curl is very similar to yours, unlike my other mothers (no matter what remedy I try). Then again, I suppose it's possible your leaves are experiencing a small amount of heat stress, being so close to the light. I also can't see any differences between the way your flowers look compared to mine. I am in no way trying to suggest that your plant is the Chemo variety. I am trying to say that it may share much, or at least some of the genes of Chemo.

Chemo was developed at the university of Toronto in Canada, I think. It was some college in Canada. It was genetically engineered to specifically ease the symptoms of chemotherapy. If you care to learn more about chemo, just incase yours is Chemo in whole or part, you can search for info about it here, Marijuana Seeds (cannabis, pot) shipped worldwide (http://www.kindseed.com). This is where I bought the seeds. Also enter it into the search function of other seed sellers, or try "chemo marijuana characteristics", or something, in some search engines.

I kinda hate to mention it, but on the downside I didn't find it to be all that potent compared to my others. In fact I found it really kinda weak. On the upside, if I remember correctly I harvested a week or two earlier than optimal for my preference. I wanted to harvest the whole shah-bang at once. It was the time for the others to come down, so of course they rocked my world and I built up a huge tolerance within a couple days (smokaholic here), so relatively, the Chemo was kind of a letdown. I'm saying that perhaps because of irregular circumstances, it didn't do much for me, but you experience different circumstances and Chemo may blow you away.

I still have the mother going and getting ready for an all Chemo grow. I want to see what it's really capable of when taken seriously. It'll be a little while, cause I damn sure ain't starting unless I have an advance supply of the good stuff (and then some) before beginning what I, from this point forward deem to be...

- PROJECT CHEMO -
CLASSIFIED!
Eyes only - cannabis.com


... and anyone else who wants to read it. But again, you're going to have to wait a bit.

[dejayou30]

I have been bending the fan leaves down and putting the bud between a couple of the fingers of the leaves to hold it down and keep the bud above the leaf. Works pretty well to let those beauties bask in the light. :thumbsup:

[fosomker]

The special spot is one that has really killer temp control and ballast and light heat have not been an issue. I will probably leave the HPS ligh then. Thanks for the info that stadium looks cool but I have an odd shape. After this run is over I have to reconfigure my closet but it looks like I will have to have an L shape layout. I have thought about running side light the 400 adn 1K over head, over head with 1k and the 400 I have now, a 600 just because of efficency with the 400 in an L shape. I guess I have to get this run done and re-layout my setup, found a few things I would like to change.

Thanks for the info on the strain, it very well could be the same, lets see what potency is later. I am picking up some bubba kush clones to start veg'ing my other closet until the run is done I re-layout.

For the pruning, I had to cut a few leaves off, but now I have several nice colas, but smaller than the skinny guy.

[Opie Yutts]

Sounds like a good idea, as long as your leaves are nice and strong. Mine end up drooping pretty good toward the end of the day. I think they push themselves too hard.

Another thing, I found a pretty good sized roll of twisty-tie material in a bargain bin at Ace hardware (I think). I don't know how long it was to begin with, but I have used a lot of it, and the end is nowhere in site. A never-ending supply of custom-length twisty-ties suits me just fine. It has a kind of knife on the roll so you can cut it if you lost your wire cutter. I think this was the most well spent $1.99 I have ever spent in my life, and I can't imagine that I will find a better value in the future. I have used it so many times you can't imagine. As baked as I am, I can't even remember the stuff I used it for, but let's say it was a plethora of stuff. As we speak (or at least as I do) some of it is holding my bumper on my pick-up. And of course it comes in real handy when tying weed to screens, or anything else for that matter; edges of reservoirs or pots for example. It's the perfect, uh.. thing.

Now I can't find a roll of that stuff anywhere. If anyone sees some for sale, be sure to snatch a couple up, regardless of the price (within reason). You'll thank yourself later. And if anyone knows of any links to buy it online, please share.

[dejayou30]

Another thing, I found a pretty good sized roll of twisty-tie material in a bargain bin at Ace hardware (I think).

I use hemp (like the kind you use to make bracelets) to tie some of my lower branches up so they don't get buried under the low foliage of the other plants and so they can get up and bask in the light. :thumbsup:

[Opie Yutts]

Way to be kind to mother earth. Using weed to help farm weed.

I find it pretty hard to tie with one hand and position the branch with the other hand. I guess I'll stick with twisty ties.