Light intensity
To some degree, more light translates to fatter buds and higher yields (you'll need to pay attention to the distance between your grow light and plants or your plant may suffer from light burn). Increasing light intensity is the most effective way to fatten up buds.
Increasing the amount of CO₂ in your grow room can help you grow bigger, denser buds. By doing so, you'll help plants photosynthesise faster and encourage them to take up more nutrients and water.
The last three weeks is when your buds can actually gain the most weight – that is if you feed them Overdrive®. After your peak bloom phase, your plants enter their late bloom phase (the precise timing and length of which depends on the strain of cannabis you're growing).
When plants are so leafy that air and light can't get through the plant, 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.
Weeks 4-6: Buds Fatten Up
At this stage of cannabis flowering, your buds are getting bigger. They'll still have all the white pistils sticking out, but you'll be able to see the buds getting bigger every day.
Flowering – 5-20-5 or 5-25-10 – During flowering, you want to prioritize phosphorous to promote bud growth and make sure to limit nitrogen so your plant doesn't get too tall or “leggy.” You want it to concentrate on developing huge buds, not lots of stems or leaves, and phosphorus will make your buds grow.
General Hydroponic KoolBloom
Available as Liquid KoolBloom or Dry KoolBloom, this additive is widely regarded as the best bud hardener out there.
Lack of light is perhaps the most common reason that cannabis produces fluffy, light buds. You may have noticed the lower, puny 'popcorn' bud sites that form below the main canopy. Often these buds are discarded by growers allowing the plant to focus biochemical energy on the main blooms.
When the flushing process has reached the fan leaves, they will begin to yellow and turn lighter as they send the stored nutrients to the flowers. The flowers will fatten up during these last few weeks while flushing; this can be up to 25 percent of the final weight.
After a sugar application, the resulting sugar-like crystals are the flower's trichomes, which are believed to double in production after the plant is treated with sugar.
Yes pot size will affect cannabis yield. A bigger pot will result in bigger yields. Cannabis grows long roots that need ample room to reach their ideal outcome. Growing cannabis in a container that is too small will lead to root bound and stunt the plants growth.
Are Small Buds more Potent? Small buds are generally the same potency as large nugs of the same strain. Small nugs come from the same plants as large nugs, they're simply pieces of flower that tended to get less light and thus didn't grow as large.
In the last two weeks, the buds will mostly be ripening and not really growing much more in size. At this point, the previously white pistils on the buds will now slowly turn amber-brown.
Molasses adds sugars to the plant and will help it to bud. Like us, plants need salts, nutrients, and sugars daily. Feeding your plants molasses, what could be considered the equivalent to our eating junk food sugars, will pack on the weight to your marijuana buds.
Weak Light Source: On a similar note to distant lights, a weak light source can cause unnecessary stretching and growth in your plants. A light bulb that does not emit the necessary watts and lumens for your specific growth stage can force plants to grow tall and skinny in order to absorb the weak light.
Bud structure
High quality, developed flower from a healthy plant has a sturdy, fully three-dimensional structure. The buds should be solid, with no gaps that you can look through. It's properly cured: not too soft, but not so dry that it grinds down to dust. Flower with poor structure will appear flimsy and flat.
Overwatering can also cause buds to become loose and fluffy. When the soil or grow medium has too much water, oxygen cannot reach the roots. This will be detrimental to the entire plant overall. This can also often wash out key nutrients the buds need to grow big and dense.
Usually, growers trim the fan leaves weeks before harvest, which is a period that leads to senescence, a phase in the plant cycle when the larger leaves start fading away. It is safe to start removing these dying leaves and continue until harvest.
In weeks 6-8, the buds of your plants will begin to harden; the delicate trichome heads of your flowers will cloud and turn amber, and the once milky pistils of your buds will shrink, turn brown and become fragile. Also, as your plants continue to ripen, new aromas, flavors, and pigmentation will develop.
Late flowering / Ripening stage – week 6 to harvest
They are sticky to the touch and can be very smelly. You are very close to reaching your goal = harvesting! Most importantly, buds are now covered in trichomes, which are rich glandules for secreting THC and other cannabinoids.
Godfather OG is quite possibly the highest THC strain. Labs put the strain's THC levels at a tremendous 30-35%. In fact, Godfather OG is touted as the world's strongest marijuana strain. This potent strain is an Indica-dominant hybrid and hits within minutes of taking the first smoke.
Their findings confirm what many cannabis connoisseurs have long suspected: that the largest, mushroom-shaped stalked glandular trichomes are the richest source of THC- and CBD-forming metabolites and fragrance-giving terpenes.
Light burn may also cause loose and airy buds. That's because the excess light causes nutrient deficiencies as plants struggle to overcome their heat and thirst. Fortunately, you don't have to wait for these symptoms to emerge to know whether greenhouse lighting is too strong.
Photoperiod cannabis is sensitive to changes in the hours of daylight it receives. In fact, photoperiod cannabis strains cannot transition from vegetative growth to flowering without long nights. 12 or more hours of darkness is the biological trigger for photoperiod cannabis to bloom.