Very Small Buds

This is my first-year growing cannabis. I have 40 years gardening experience, including starting plants and trees indoors for up to 9 months but this is a whole new ball game!

My question is “Why are my indoor buds so small?”. They are grown in the same living organic soil as my outdoor plants, yet the buds are only 1-2 inches, compared to the 8-10 in buds growing out-doors. I live in the California High Desert, so I have extreme challenges: high heat, low humidity, and WIND out-side so those buds, I understand why, will be dryer and lighter, but he indoor ones???

Here are the stats:

Strain; Cannatonic, Mountain Mist, and Black Domino

Soil: in pots, Living Organic soil

System type? N/A

PH of runoff or solution in reservoir? 6

What is strength of nutrient mix? 1 tbl. Spoon each of Epson salt and molasses, per plant, once a week. Same as out door plants (Easy Sativa and Arora Indica).

Indoor

Light system, size? King Plus 1000w LED Grow Light Double Chips Full Spectrum with UV&IR for Greenhouse Indoor Plant Veg and Flower, 4: LED Grow Light E27 Base 12W Desk Plant Grow Light with Flexible Gooseneck Arms and Spring Clamp for Hydroponic Indoor Planting Potted Plants and a 19W full-spectrum LED.

Temps; Day:78-83, Night: 65-80

Humidity; Day:41, Night: 38

Ventilation system; Yes, Day time Evaporative cooler going in at the base of plants, fan blowing out at ceiling level.

AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier: Humidifier if the humidity goes below 35

Co2; No

Growing for medicine. I make tinctures, topicals, and oils. The coconut oil I made from the trimmings only from the inside grow gave a great mellow happy high and cut the pain of nerve damage from my prosthetic leg 100% (under the tongue and rubbed on) so I know the cannabinoids are rich. But only 2 out of 10 of the Cannatonic seeds were viable and female, so that makes them $50.00 plants! Yaikes!!! It would be nice to get more than a quarter oz at that price! According to the literature that came with the seeds I still have 3 weeks until they are ready, but of course, I will be watching the trichomes carefully. All plants (inside and out) were vegged 4 months together in same grow room, then I moved the out-side ones out to the garden, and 2 weeks later changed the inside grow over to 12/12.





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Most likely the outdoor plants get sun. We can’t replicate that. Quality lights used properly will make a world of difference.

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Okay, that is what what I suspected. What do you suggest for a kiddy pool size grow?

There are many more qualified people to answer lighting questions but I really like my hlg 260 xl. It will do the job for less money and more quality.

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Dbrn32 is the lighting expert. That’s where I would start

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Look like a lot of foliage missing indoors too. All the light in the world won’t help if there are no leaves to soak it up but as mentioned above dbrn32 is the man.

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Yup. U defoliated quite heavily by the looks of things. Less leaves, less photosynthesis. Less yield. And light quality matters. That ‘1000w King LED’ is more then likely a 240 watt. How big is ur scrog? Normally u want 50w per square foot.

Also how far are u running ur lights from the top of buds?

And finally does it have the veg and bloom switch? If so id make sure u hit em both

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Honestly, even in living soil, you do need to keep the pH within a safe range. That run-off of 6.0 shows your soil is very acidic, which isn’t good for flowering.

For lights, check out Quantum Board LED technology.

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Hello my lovely Nemisie. How u diddly doing

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I’m diddly doing well. Up at work, thought I’d check in and see how you pothead weed growers are doing.

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Definitely need more light. Quantum boards will be a night and day improvement.

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I agree, not enough light for that big of canopy. You probably stripped quite a few more leaves than neccessary too.

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Thank you so much! I will def. check DBRN32 info out! My Not so swift, but much more stoned than I, Son-in-Law came over last week and insisted I remove all the water leaves, I almost cried! Haha-haha. Live and learn I guess.

I really appriciate all your input! Thank you so much!!

This is the info given on the big light I bought:
**ze: 1000W

***King and King Plus series products are exclusively selling by KingLED,others are knockoff ***
***Specifications : ***
***Dimension: 12.2x8.26x2.36inches ***
**Power:1000w(100pcs10w) ***
***LED Type: Epistar LEDs ***
***Full spectrum for vegetative and flowering stage: 410nm, 430~440nm, 450~475nm, 620~630nm, 650~670nm, White, IR(730nm) ***
***(It is hard to see clearly by eyes, very dim.Please don’t think they are not working. Instead, it plays an very important role in the flowering and fruiting stages of plants.) ***
***Coverage Area: about 3.4 x 3.8 ft(The lighting area and the height are changeable according to different plants and environments.) ***
***Lifespan:100,000hours ***
***Worldwide Voltage: 85v-265v ***
***Working Frequency: 50~60Hz ***

***Using tips ***
***-Lighting Time setup: Vegetative Stage: 12-14 hours on; Flowering Stage: 9-12 hours on. Fruiting Stage: 7- 8 hours on ***
-Suggest distance above plants: 2-3.5ft.

The canopy is about 3 foot by 3.5 foot and I have it about 22" above the wire - as low as I can go without burning the plants. Yes, I have both switches turned on.

I will start adding more organic cider vinegar to my water to try to lower the PH some and next grow add some dried pine needles to my soil and test the PH before planting. The problem at this point is that I will only get in another 5 waterings or so before harvest - if I am lucky.

Thank you all again for the help!
Happy Smoking :sunglasses:

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Everyone has said what needs to be done more light, closer light and you should see improvement

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Phosphoric acid does a better job at lowering PH. FYI

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@ Covertgrower, I just added some Phos. acid, praying it dose not mess up the taste :-):stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Phosphoric acid is a commonly used to adjust ph in commercial and home growers alike. It should not affect flavor. It’s used in hydroponics and soil alike.

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I just ordered a Quantum Board 3000k from ledgrowlightsdepote. I will try adding this with the KingLED and see how that goes. I can’t exactly put the water leaves back on :roll_eyes::cry: , but now I will know for futures.

Thank you all for your help! I have some hope now for at least some recovery and with future additions of more QB’s, better results in the future :blush:

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Great choice. Next up order a Apera 20 ph meter of something of the sort.

The main noob probs growing indoor weed (myself included)

Lights - (but ANY light grows weed, great light grows great weed n uve take the first step)
Overwatering - always water WHERE u want u roots to GO when u start. Stay away from the stem.
PH PH PH. PH!!! - get a SOLID pH meter. Itll save cash. Alera or bluelabs for the win.

:beers:

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Thank you PurpNGold74. I had no idea that there was a dif. in quality of PH testers. I just have a light, ph, moisture (a life saver!) combo that was cheap.