Light leak problem maybe? Small long buds?

My friend is 5 weeks into flowering. There seems to be a problem tho, the buds aren't really compact. They seem like those small long tootsie rolls, but with lots of hair around it. The thing is, some of the plants have nice compact ones. These ones are further away from the door he thinks.

The pH is around 5-6 in a waterfarm setup (+airstones & extra root holes), 400HPS, temps around 75-79 constant and the leaves look healthy, except they aren't all huge and stuff, kinda small 7-9 point leaves. The strain are Nirvana white widow and some unknown bag sativa. Reflective mylar all around, the plants seem like they slowed down the stretching at around 3 1/2 feet atm. The light is probably 6-18 inches away from them. Using big bud + 3AN kind at 1-1-1 ratio. He has the nutes low, but adds some if the plants look a bit yellow or anything. He adds a little more each time and before, he wasn't adding enough (leaves were yellow and stuff weeks ago), but now he knows to add more everytime changing the water because they need more/bigger and the plants love it. The root mass of each bucket is full and healthy white with zero root rot. The plants are nice and green healthy with minimal problems (bottom leaves seem to never die/fall). There is probably 1 red hair for every 10 white hairs.

I'm wondering, if there is a small light leak somewhere, this is most likely the problem of these small buds? The light interfers with the flowering process, throwing the affected plants into shock (between veg - flowering). So naturally, the plant would focus on growing more like veg and a little on flower?

The amount of light is probably equal to = barely able to see the outline of your hand 1FT facing away from the light, but only a door crack fraction of that. Kind of hard to grasp, but do you think this light leak could be the issue?

Sorry for writing so much, I hope someone reads :hippy:

Well, it sort of sounds like I'd expect it too.

I'd expect the WW to finish up up quicker and tighter than an "unknown bag sativa". If the plants are tagged, have a look and see if that's how it breaks down. If so, perfectly normal.

I'd also have a look and see if the stringier stuff is closer to the bulb and therefore growing at a higher temperature- high temps'll make a lot of things run.

If you're sure that it's the stuff closer to the door, then it'd be worth looking for light leaks.

Sounds like things are going well.

light-leaks don't cause long thin buds (but, not enough light, will do that, as well as just the genetics of that plant) ... in fact, I have never had a light-tight grow cabinet in my life ... half the time, I leave the door cracked for heat and humidity to escape ... that doesn't affect the plants in the slightest ... doesn't your world have a moon and stars ? ... I read a botanical article not long ago, that stated very clearly, a plant has to have sufficient light, many times brighter than a full moon, shining on a LARGE portion of the plant (I forget the % required) before it is enough light to influence the plant ... otherwise, in nature, everything would be screwed up, if it only took a small sliver of light, to affect growth, etc ... I just grew out some Dutch Passion White Widows, that were very fresh, germinated in 4 hours, and grew beautifully, great-looking plants ... but, the buds were light and fluffy, yield was disgraceful (less than 7 grams per plant BEFORE drying) pathetic, wasn't worth the electricity, never again ... my own seed-strains in the same cabinet, had the densest buds I've ever grown ... (same lights, etc) ... what ya gonna do ? :jointsmile:

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Originally Posted by rhizome

Well, it sort of sounds like I'd expect it too.
I'd also have a look and see if the stringier stuff is closer to the bulb and therefore growing at a higher temperature- high temps'll make a lot of things run.

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Yeah, there are two directly under it. They're "running", the bud and tops. My friend doesn't want to move them because it would take light away from the others...Is it causing too much damage/stress? What would happen if he chopped a few inches off the top? Hmm maybe he should bend it?

Just tie it down out of the hot zone.

Easy fix.

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Originally Posted by Abunai

What would happen if he chopped a few inches off the top?

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You'll lose yield. Never cut tops in flower.

Haha sorry for all the bs, if only I looked at these other White Widow pics. They look a lot more fine now. The other strain I'm used to had that big bud genetics, so that must be why my perspective was way off. Comparing my friends with the pics I found online proved great.

Awesome! Thank you for the fast responce, I apologize. I thought the pictures showed HUGE GIGANTIC buds haha.