Too much foliage with Flora series in top-feed system

[kest30]

Hi everyone, this is a shot in the dark...I am getting lots of unwanted foliage with the Flora series nutrients in my top-feed bucket system, following the GenHydro feeding schedule expert recirculating. Too much nitrogen, right? Problem is most of the N comes from the Micro base, which is used throughout the plant's life cycle. What can I do to stop the foliage ambush!???

[LOC NAR on probation]

Foliage are the engines of the plant world. What do you meen by too much ? Pic's would help show your point.
Used flora for years changed to technaflora BC recipe and saw no change in foliage but better bud, plus a few adds that helped I'm sure.

[kest30]

LOC, there are two types of growth in flowering phase: stretch and fill, right? When the plant should be filling in with buds, its producing more fan leaves. I'll post up some pics this evening, check back! I'm thinking of switching to Botanicare because it's N value is lower with respect to P and K.

[LOC NAR on probation]

If you want no stretch in the first of flower then you need bushmaster. The stretch was causing me to have more than two feet deep of a canopy and even a 1000 watts does not penetrate beyond that. I tried it and now I'm hooked. No stretch and starts to flower quicker and fill out. I don't think you can get that by changing the nutes very much. At least I could not and then advised not to screw with much because bigger brains than I had worked the nutes out. Sorry just medicated and rambling. Will check back for pic's

[kest30]

Ok, here are a few pics, sorry it took me so long. The pistils are starting to turn! Argh!
289569 289570

This is a saliva-heavy hybrid, called 'Carnival'. It's good quality, just not puffing up like it should. Whatcha think?
I'm okay with some stretch because I can screen out, but I'll check into the bushmaster. I got some Botanicare Pro Bloom, Liquid Karma, and Sweet Raw to run my next hydro grow and see if the lowered N makes a difference. Flora Micro is 5-0-1, and its used throughout the life of the plant. I have never ever had any yellowing or anything close to nitrogen deficiency.
Right now, I'm using Flora series with Floralicious Plus, Floranectar, Koolbloom, and small amounts of BudCandy, Superthrive and Silica Blast (new) in veg, always pH 5.8.

Saw a guy used Bushmaster with Bubblicious and the nodes were literally on top of each other.

[LOC NAR on probation]

That looks very good. To do what you want you need the bushmaster. It makes the flowers stack right on top of each other with no strech. I went through the same untill I used it and would hate it if I could not get it now.
I think it would make you happy with the out come . Remember more is not better with it used as the bottle says.

[kest30]

I appreciate the info LOC, but stretch isnt the problem, it's too much foliage, i.e. too leafy on top! Looked up the Bushmaster tho, looks helpful.

[bitemybud]

Hey LocNar...been a while

You should be happy that your plant has vigor! The plant adapts to environment and nutrition. If it is developing more fan leaves; Then the plant photosynthesis is protecting the plant by doing so.

Remember the fan leaves do a lot to protect the plant. A last line of defense; So to speak.

[kest30]

Okay, what do you think they may be protecting? Light too hot? Or too intense? (400W SuperHPS at 2 feet)
Actually, since i began this thread, the buds have fattened up quite a bit. I
289783

I guess this is a sativa thing. The pistils are about halfway there now and the trichs still look mostly clear. Weird. What do you think? To flush yet? This is week 8, and the seed co. said 8-9 week flowering period. I'm considering letting them go longer but don't want to ruin the crop. Help! :)

[bitemybud]

Okay, what do you think they may be protecting? Light too hot? Or too intense? (400W SuperHPS at 2 feet)
Actually, since i began this thread, the buds have fattened up quite a bit. I
289783

I guess this is a sativa thing. The pistils are about halfway there now and the trichs still look mostly clear. Weird. What do you think? To flush yet? This is week 8, and the seed co. said 8-9 week flowering period. I'm considering letting them go longer but don't want to ruin the crop. Help! :)Well; 1st of all; Fan leaves are the 1st and last line of defense. They do the transpiring, and help to moderate temps for the plant...basically.

Sativa can go as long as 12-14 weeks. If you have clear trichomes, then you are not ready to flush.

Clear trich's only show the capability of containing holding thc. They are a vessel. Until you see cloudy trichomes, you have not got much thc content.

So; Monitor trichomes and wait. Not to mention; Immature Sativa will give you an anxiety type high..(heebie, jeebies). Not good. Be patient and keep up the good work. It will be worth the wait in the end. Peace

[kest30]

BUMP!
Well, that was probably the most helpful reply I've ever seen! Thanks BmB. All that trash about fan leaves being the factories of the plant are true, but that didn't explain some things. When I think of them as water regulators, that shit makes all the sense in the world! I bet there are so many people out there with pH problems because they cut all their fan leaves off. Also, I guess the trichome thing never really clicked. I knew to wait for cloudiness (Cervantes book, that should say 'for beginners' on it), but never could find the botany of the situation. It's like the cloudiness is the thc building up, eh? And it (the the) turns amber as it degrades? Werd.
Also, I didn't realize the anxiety part. In that beginners book, says to harvest when half trichs are cloudy for a sativa. I guess I'm trying to figure out the timing of my flush. I'd like a week, but soo much can change in a week. Once, a plant died overnight. Literally. Tha results were excellent, but still. Aaaaanyways, I already have low-0level baseline anxiety, so you've helped a lot. BUMP!

[bitemybud]

Another interesting thing about fan leaves; They actually syphon up the nutrients. I..E. When you cut fan leaves off your plant, you are taking from the full potential of that stem. Without fan leaves to suck up nutrients the plant would lose a high % of nutrition.