Those Rock Hard Buds ?

[Closet Grower]

How do you get them ? I just grow in perlite and never get get those really hard buds that you get when you buy . Does that PK 13/14 stuff do it ? Or is is just the variety ?

Dont get me wrong ,, my buds get you real stoned etc ,, but they lack weight and the solid appearance of the commercially grown stuff .

[torana2000]

How do you get them ? I just grow in perlite and never get get those really hard buds that you get when you buy . Does that PK 13/14 stuff do it ? Or is is just the variety ?

Dont get me wrong ,, my buds get you real stoned etc ,, but they lack weight and the solid appearance of the commercially grown stuff .

 

You havta use stuff called superbud or rockjuice. both these products will give ya rockhard buds, go ask at ya friendly hydro store or online at ebay.

[Closet Grower]

So it is the additives mm,, I just use Dutchfest and nothing else .

[Frazz]

yea CG i beleive the foundation for tight hard buds is genetics ... eg. AK 47 grown under 50 or more watts per sq ft of hid lighting and you will have really tight hard buds and feed it with rockjuice as torana says or even PK13-14 that would make them even harder and tighter ... but if your plant had some throwback to sativa genes where the buds are naturally airy for example, then even all the additives will not make the buds hard ... imo

 

[Al B. Fuct]

How do you get them ? I just grow in perlite and never get get those really hard buds that you get when you buy . Does that PK 13/14 stuff do it ? Or is is just the variety ?

Dont get me wrong ,, my buds get you real stoned etc ,, but they lack weight and the solid appearance of the commercially grown stuff .

 

 

What lights are you using? HPS is the go at 50W/sq ft or close to it. I run about 61W/sf.

 

Keeping temps and humidity in range (24-26C max @30-50% max) are also necessary for dense, solid buds. High temps and humidity will induce 'runny' or stretchy buds.

 

PK helps add weight, but you should still get fairly solid buds if you have sufficient lighting and temp/RH conditions are right. PK can cause probs, too. Canna's recommendation is 1-2ml per litre of tank volume for 1 week only in wk 3. I am getting badly cooked fan leaves by wk 6-7 at 2ml/L. I've cut it back to 0.5ml/L recently.

 

Fraz is too right, though- ditchweed is ditchweed, no matter if you're growing them under gold-plated lights and with all perfect conds or not.

[WantDaChronic]

rockjuice sells for around $180 for 1L sure it gets you those tight buds that are as solid as rocks, but it also reduces the taste and resin content + on every plant i have used it on they put out the odd male flower or two

 

imo if you want those rock hard buds you need to aim for indica dominate genetics and have high levels of lighting, 50w per square foot would be a minimum. something like skunk#1, afghani, kush, etc. would be what you are after

[Al B. Fuct]

WDC, too right about indica dom strains. I have been growing Spice of Life Seeds' Sweet Tooth #4 for quite a few years now. ST4 is definitely an indica dom hybrid. Works well in a Sea of Green op with zero veg time after cuttings have set root.

 

I've also used LUI and Skunk #1 with fairly good results in the past, but ST4 is more mould resistant than anything I've seen, nice for a strain that makes really big colas.

[yota]

i thought the trick to dense buds you see commercially really is in the High wattage (the more the merrier) as well as CO2. Commercial grow rooms all add CO2 gas. Amirightamiright? Edited September 26, 2007 by yota

[loylty gets u nothing]

i like 600w per 1m area

makes for utilizing the solid genetics

there is always pgrs but thats shit is not really appropriate

for smoking dope,perso i rely on some good lighht genes and quality food

all the best

bil

[Al B. Fuct]

i thought the trick to dense buds you see commercially really is in the High wattage (the more the merrier) as well as CO2.

 

Much beyond 50W of HPS sq ft has diminishing returns. It's more efficient to grow the plants to a shape which suits the coverage pattern of HPS lighting. SoG does this by growing shorter plants and pruning off low productivity foliage. ScrOG organises plants into a flat plane to better spread light over the entire plant.

 

Commercial grow rooms all add CO2 gas. Amirightamiright?

 

CO2 can help productivity a lot (adds about 20% to yield), but it must be done right- and it's both fiddly and expensive to do it right. The room must be relatively well sealed and ventilation has to be suited to CO2; air con is usually needed instead of massive exhaust blowers. This keeps the exxy CO2 in the room air instead of blowing it out when the temps come up. Aircon will also remove the water transpired into the air from the plants etc. An aircon unit will cost about as much to run as a 1000W HPS, which is not insignificant.

 

BIG grows, i.e. warehouse/glasshouse sized, can use combustion type CO2 gens, powered with propane or natural gas. Large spaces are more tolerant of the heat produced by combustion generators. Hydroponic tomato and lettuce farmers commonly use these sorts of CO2 gen.

 

Smaller grows are better suited to CO2 from a cylinder. A CO2 controller which monitors the ppm concentration and meters out the gas as needed, as well as has a means to control exhaust fans and/or aircon units, makes the best use of bottled CO2. Controllers as such are generally a very expensive bit of kit.

 

'Commercial' ops tend to minimise cost and complexity where possible. If by 'commercial' you mean gang or group operated grows, you'll probably find cheap & dirty ghetto setups instead of high-spec, Rolls-Royce grows. It's hobbyist growers who tend to go in for lots of complicated or expensive techniques and kit.

 

One thing for sure- you don't really need CO2 to get good density. Like several folks have said, good DNA, sufficient light, correct RH & temp range, adequate ventilation and avoidance of disease, overfeeding/overwatering etc. will give you nice hard nugs.