No buds on 8 week old plants

ihave 6 plants 8 weeks old in my indoor grow tent. This is my 2nd crop. 4 of the plants are doing nicely, but 2 of them show no sign od budding at all. I think they are either super skunk or white widow. Is it possible some male seeds were mixed in with my order. Overall results are alitttle below average and I cant seem to raise the humidity in the tent above 22^%. I put a humidifier in with them and am misting 3-4 times a day, but it makes no difference. I would like some answers if there are any suggestions I appreciate it ! ( i have a photo on my desktop but it does not want to upload-is jpeg a problem?

Some pictures whit your problem, in natural light will help us to see how she’s doing.

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@livingpuppet what light schedule are you on?

When I try to post my picture in natural light from my desktop there JPEG
files the editor just print out a line of code and doesn’t make it into a
picture how do I post a picture

That is the picture… When you hit again the reply she get uploaded
So hit reply / upload(wait until she’s fully done / hit the reply button again… Done

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@livingpuppet

Sounds like you have 3 different strains there and this is most likely the problem. Different strains different genetics.
Be patient, they will flower.

Will


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Hi @livingpuppet…it will look like this when uploading a pic…you won’t see the actual image until the upload completes and u press reply :wink:

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That’s the pic I was uploading when I took the screen shot I posted :arrow_double_up::point_up::arrow_double_up::point_up:

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16 hours per day with auto fems, Last crop was 18 hours a day with good
results. This brings up a good point. What IS the light schedule supposed
to be for indoor autos -do you cut the light back in the last 4 weeks to
stimulate buds (like an outdoor crop to be havested in the fall would have
a short day? Or does it not matter? I have not been able to find any kind
of light schedule for auto fems-the implication being it does not
matter-but I am sure it does. I have some white widow mixed in with the
plants that are not budding, and they are doing well. Any help is
appreciated and thank you for responding.I attached a photp!

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The two front ones look undernourished to me.

First, you should always label your plants so that you know what you are growing. Different strains will be on slightly different schedules and might not be ready to flower as quickly as others. A sativa can take longer than an indica.

Second, your lighting schedule must be exact – 12 hours for flowering, period. If all the plants were started together, then they should all be ready to flower around the same time, give or take a few days. I think if you set your lighting to 12 hours you should get flowering. Hope that helps. :sunglasses:

@livingpuppet as far as auto go, light schedule doesnt matter. They will begin to flower when they want. Now i have read you can still kick start flowering by going to 12/12.

thanks Raustin. Are you growing auto fems? i am a little new to this . . .
I am growing auto fems on 16 hrs per day the white widow is flowering the
gold leaf is not =both are 8 weeks old. My last indoor crop flowered on the
same schedule,but will cut it all down to 12 hours as you suggest. The
label I had on the pot fell off, but i am pretty sure it is gold leaf -But
it may not be an auto and if that is the case, I will be patient. (i
attached a photo). I do have another question =humidity is very low=under
18% here in virginia. I put a humidifier in with plants and mist 3-4 times
a day but humidity syill in the 15-20% range. do you know how much low
humitity will alter plant growth? I relly appreciate your info and THANK
YOU-Jim

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Thanks-that is what i thought -but can more or less light enhance
yield-that is the big question!

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Personally, I never grow autos because you have little control over when they flower, but if you’re not sure what they are, then definitely start them on a 12/12 cycle, they will have no choice but to start flowering.

HUMIDITY! Ugh! I’m in NYC and the humidity is like zero right now! This is the one problem with a winter grow. My grow last year had a 22% humidity the entire time and it didn’t really seem to effect the plants. I sprayed them constantly and kept water in trays, but could never get the damn humidity up. I never used a humidifier because they can cause problems with mold and mildew if you’re not careful, but if you’re already doing that then there really isn’t much else you can do. Just keep spraying the plants and the walls of the tent as many times as you can during the day. That’s all you can really do.

Happy New Year! :grin:

@
livingpuppet,

Ok now I see you have auto’s and gold-leaf. Gold-Leaf is a Stalva

One of your concerns was " HUMIDITY "

Keeping your marijuana grow room at the proper humidity level is a balancing act all cannabis growers face.

Not enough humidity, and your cannabis plants won’t thrive. Too much humidity, and mold and mildew become a concern.

Humidity is water vapor held in the air, and it’s described using different measurements: absolute humidity, specific humidity and relative humidity.

Marijuana growers are concerned with relative humidity.

Relative humidity is expressed as a percentage of the water vapor in the air at a specific temperature compared to the maximum capacity of water vapor at that specific temperature.

For example, your marijuana grow room’s humidistat reads 60% humidity at 75° F. This means the water vapor level is at 60% of the maximum water vapor level possible at 75° F.

Depending on where you live, humidity problems are most likely seasonal.

But they’re also created when plants transpire moisture into your grow room atmosphere.

If you’ve got fast-growing plants in deep water culture, using C02, and running a hotter than average grow room, your plants could create humidity problems because they’re taking in and transpiring so much water.
CONTROLLING HUMIDITY

For many indoor marijuana grow environments, humidity runs too high. This is because of the mass amount of vegetation crammed into a relatively small area.

Marijuana plants transpire moisture at surprising rates.

One obviously good investment is a dehumidifier.

Make sure you get a dehumidifier capable of handling your room size. Generally speaking, bigger is better.

Buying a dehumidifier with a built-in humidistat saves you the extra cost of buying an atmospheric controller.

Many brands of dehumidifier suck, so be sure to read customer reviews and product evaluations before you spend your money.

A professional dehumidifier good enough for a normal-sized marijuana grow op will cost at least $250.

High-powered exhaust fans are also used as a defense against higher humidity in marijuana grow rooms.

An exhaust fan can double as temperature and humidity control. If you decide to use an exhaust fan for humidity control, invest in an atmospheric controller with a humidity setting.

Of course, another way to control humidity is to have dedicated air conditioning for your marijuana grow op. This has the added advantage of temperature control.

Note there are times when your marijuana plants transpire unexpectedly, during the dark cycle for example.

A humidity controller ensures operation of fans and/or dehumidifiers when the relative humidity gets out of the desired range regardless of the temperature.
OPTIMAL HUMIDITY

Most marijuana grow rooms are broken into different stages such as seedlings/cloning, veg phase and grow phase.

At these different stages, marijuana requires different photoperiods, food, and even humidity levels for optimal results.

In general, higher humidity levels may beneficial through most of grow phase but are detrimental in bloom phase.

Remember, each marijuana strain and even individual cannabis plants are different, so humidity requirements can vary. The following is a good generalization and should be used as a starting point in your experimentation.

Most marijuana strains like vegetative growth to be in the 55-65% relative humidity range. Because there are no flower sets established, the worry about mold is not as prevalent.

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@lIVINGPUPPET.

Your 2nd was on lighting

Here’s part one of 2

Types of Lights for Cannabis Growing - Different Marijuana Lighting Sources

Light for cannabis plants

Without light, cannabis plants cannot grow. In the countries in which marijuana grows best, the sun is the source of light. The amount of light and the length of the growing season in these countries results in huge tree-like cannabis plants. In most parts of North America, however, the sun is not generally intense enough for long enough periods of time to produce the same size and quality of cannabis plants that grow with ease in Latin America and other tropical countries.

Sunshine is most intense at the equator where it is closest to the earth. Some of the largest, resin-coated buds in the world grow beneath this blazing sun. So what’s this got to do with indoor growing? Plenty. Light is one of the most basic needs of all cannabis plants and the most often mismanaged.

Even the most experienced growers forget about the basic needs of a cannabis plant, especially light.

The answer to the problem of lack of sun, especially in the winter months, shortness of the growing season, and other problems is to grow indoor under simulated conditions. The rule of thumb seems to be the more light, the better.

The common incandescent light bulb emits some of the frequencies of light the cannabis plant can use, but it also emits a high percentage of far red and infra-red light which cause the cannabis plant to concentrate its growth on the stem. This results in the cannabis plant stretching toward the light bulb until it becomes so tall and spindly that it just weakly topples over.

There are several brands of bulb type. One is the incandescent cannabis plant spot light which emits higher amounts of red and blue light than the common light bulb. It is an improvement, but has it drawbacks. it is hot, for example, and cannot be placed close to the cannabis plants.

Consequently, the cannabis plant has to stretch upwards again and is in danger of becoming elongated and falling over. The red bands of light seem to encourage stem growth which is not desirable in growing marijuana. The idea is to encourage foliage growth for obvious reasons.

Flourescent light tubes range in size from one to eight feet in length so you can set up a growing area almost anywhere. There are two types of flourescent lights; standard and the wide spectrum. They can be used in conjunction with one another, but the wide spectrum lights are not sufficient on their own. The wide spectrum lights were designed as a supplementary light source and are cheaper than the standard lights.

Wide spectrum lights emit the same bands of light as the standard but the standard emit higher concentrations of red and blue bands that the cannabis plants need to grow.

The wide spectrum lights also emit infra-red, the effect of which on stem growth we have already discussed. If you are planning to grow on a large scale, you might be interested to know that the regular fluorescent lamps and fixtures, the type that are used in commercial lighting, work well when used along with the grow lights.

These commercial lights are called cool whites, and are the cheapest of the fluorescent lights we have mentioned. They emit as much blue light as the standard grow lights and the blue light is what the cannabis plants use in foliage growth.

Intensity

Now we come to the question of intensity. Both the standard and wide spectrum lamps come in three intensities: regular output, high output, and very high output. You can grow a crop of cannabis plants under the regular output lamps. The difference in using the HO or VHO lamps is the time it takes to grow a crop.

Under a VHO lamp, the cannabis plants grow at a rate that is about three times the rate at which they grow under the standard lamps. People have been known to get a cannabis plant that is four feet tall in two months under one of these lights.

Under the VHO lights, one may have to raise the lights every day which means a growth rate of ate least two inches a day. The only drawback is the expense of the VHO lamps and fixtures. The VHO lamps and fixtures are almost twice the price of the standard.

Now that you have your lights up, you might be curious about the amount of light to give you cannabis plants per day. The maturation date of your cannabis plants is dependent on how much light they receive per day. The longer the dark period per day, the sooner the cannabis plant will bloom. Generally speaking, the less dark per day the better during the first six months of the cannabis plant’s life.

If your cannabis plants receive 12 hours of light per day they will probably mature in 2 to 2.5 months. If they get 16 hours of light per day they will probably be blooming in 3.5 to 4 months. With 18 hours of light per day, they will flower in 4.5 to 5 months. Its a good idea to put your lights on a timer to ensure that the amount of light received each day remains constant.
Energy Emissions In Arbitrary Color Bands
40 Watt Flourescent Lamps

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@Livingpuppet,

Part 2 of 2 lighting

Daylight Cool White Gro-Lux GroLux WS
Light Type Band Watts % Watts % Watts % Watts %
Ultra-Violet -380 0.186 2.15 0.16 1.68 0.10 1.42 0.27 3.16
Violet 380-430 0.832 9.60 0.72 7.57 0.70 9.67 1.07 12.48
Blue 430-490 2.418 27.91 1.98 20.78 1.96 27.07 1.22 14.29
Green 490-560 2.372 27.38 2.35 24.67 1.02 14.02 1.24 14.49
Yellow 560-590 1.259 14.53 1.74 18.27 0.10 1.42 0.83 9.77
Orange 590-630 1.144 13.21 1.69 17.75 0.44 6.05 1.36 15.93
Red 630-700 0.452 6.22 0.81 8.47 2.86 39.55 1.86 21.78
Far Red 700-780 0.130 1.53 0.07 0.81 0.06 0.80 0.69 8.10
Total 8.890 100.0 9.52 100.0 7.24 100.0 8.54 100.0

Grow Light Guide

Horticultural lighting systems allow you to extend the growing season by providing your cannabis plants with an indoor equivalent to sunlight. This is a great advantage for those of you who appreciate having a year-round supply of fresh flowers, veggies and herbs. Artificial lighting is also a great way to jump-start spring by starting your seedlings months ahead of the last frost. There are three main types of horticultural lighting systems.

In summary, marijuana has a lust for light. HP sodium lamps produce 20% more light than super metal halides. Horizontal reflectors yield up to 40% more light than vertical reflectors. Hammer or pebble specular, anodized aluminum or white are the most reflective surfaces for hoods. Mirror finish is the absolute worst reflective surface for a hood. Hang 400 watt lamps at 18-24” above garden, 600 and 1000 watt lamps, 24-30” above garden. Use a light meter. Grow the strongest, healthiest cannabis plants that reach their maximum potential for resin production. Bright light brings big buds.

HID (High Intensity Discharge) Lighting

HID lighting is the most efficient way to convert electricity into light that is available to the consumer. There are two types of HID grow lights used for horticultural lighting:

HID Light Efficiency

Metal Halide - MH

Metal halide bulbs produce an abundance of light in the blue spectrum. This color of light promotes cannabis plant growth and is excellent for green leafy growth and keeping cannabis plants compact. It is the best type of light to be used as a primary light source (if no or little natural sunlight is available). The average lifespan is about 10,000 cumulative hours. The bulb will light up beyond this time but due to the gradual decline of light, it is not worth your while to wait for the bulb to finally burn out. If you compare their lumen (brightness) per unit of energy consumed, metal halides produce up to 125 lumens per watt compared to 39 lumens per watt with fluorescent lights and 18 lumens per watt for standard incandescent bulbs.

High Pressure Sodium - HPS

High pressure sodium bulbs emit an orange-red glow. This band of light triggers hormones in cannabis plants to increase flowering/budding in cannabis plants. They are the best lights available for secondary or supplemental lighting (used in conjunction with natural sunlight). This is ideal for greenhouse growing applications.

Not only is this a great flowering light, it has two features that make it a more economical choice. Their average lifespan is twice that of metal halides, but after 18,000 hours of use, they will start to draw more electricity than their rated watts while gradually producing less light. HPS bulbs are very efficient. They produce up to 140 lumens per watt. Their disadvantage is they are deficient in the blue spectrum.

If a gardener were to start a young cannabis plant under a HPS bulb, she/he would see impressive vertical growth. In fact, probably too impressive. Most cannabis plants would grow up thin and lanky and in no time you will have to prune your cannabis plant back before it grows into the light fixture. The exception to this is using a HPS light in a greenhouse. Sunlight is high in the blue spectrum which would offset any stretching caused by HPS bulbs.

Common manufacturers of metal halide and high pressure (HP) sodium lights include Philips, General Electric, Iwasaki, Venture, and Osram/Sylvania. Many of the manufacturers buy and use the same components, often manufactured by competitors. Most often the bulbs have the exact same technical statistics.

Lighting Chart - A guide for wattage per square foot.
HID Light Output Primary Growing Area Supplemental Area
100 watts 2’ x 2’ 3’ x 3’
250 watts 3’ x 3’ 4’ x 4’
400 watts 4’ x 4’ 6’ x 6’
600 watts 6’ x 6’ 8’ x 8’
1000 watts 8’ x 8’ 12’ x 12’

HID Lighting Helpful Tips

Hanging height: Due to the heat that is emitted from these types of fixtures, you should hang them according to size. Smaller wattage systems (100 and 250) should be hung about 2 feet from the tops of the cannabis plants. Medium wattage systems (400 and 600) should be hung around 3 feet from the top of the cannabis plants. High wattage systems (1000 and up) should be placed at least 4 to 5 feet from the cannabis plant tops.

How long should lights run?

This depends on the type of cannabis plant. Most cannabis plants and vegetables need about 10 to 12 hours of light to promote growth. cannabis plants that produce fruits or flowers will show improvement with up to 16 hours a day of supplemental light.

Fluorescent Lighting

This type of light is perfect for starts and seedlings. They are also popular for growing low-light cannabis plants like herbs and African violets. Fluorescent lights are low intensity and need to be placed within 8" (up to 15" for shade loving cannabis plants) of the cannabis plants to be effective. They are a poor light source for flowering and budding primarily because of their low lumen output.

Incandescent Lighting

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Excellent info! Thanks for sharing :wink:

If you can hang them, damp (not dripping) towels will make a good difference.
soak them in cold water, ring out the excess and hang them so they won’t fall down.
Gives me a good humidity boost.

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