Quest for denser buds

I am getting ready to start my 3rd autoflower run and looking for suggestions on improving my bud density.

The first run I made plenty of mistakes and ended up having a hermi in the mix. those came down early and full of seeds but had airy buds as well

For my second run things went better and we made it to harvest but not with out a few issues.

The buds from the second run have decent tricombes and Terps but the density is non existent.

I tried to use a k.i.s.s. method through both grows
4x2 tent
1000w philzon

  • ffof with ffhf in the center
    Water ph to 6.2- 6.8

I’d like to stick with a amended soil as some days I struggle to find the time to water /ph but am open to all suggestions




1 Like

Not enough light. That light you have is for 1 plant maybe 2 smaller ones. That tent is under lit.

8 Likes

You need at least another one of those lights

2 Likes

Yep more light will get you denser buds and more yield, adding 2 more of those lights (or replace with a HLG 350R) will help immensely.

14 Likes

That was at the top of my list - not sure if a different light setup altogether would be more beneficial then a second under powered unit

2 Likes

@Hellraiser has the best idea…there is no substitute for quality lighting when growing cannabis.

8 Likes

Yup: there’s your problem. Some autos will produce less dense flower as well so doing a changeup to photos and a decent HLG light would set you up well.

I despise every light company that lies about their performance. This light might have Samsung diodes but if so they are inferior to the ones HLG uses.

Keep the light as a starter light for young plants and seedlings.

9 Likes

I agree, light is going to help you the most. You could also try to run more colas that aren’t quite as tall.

5 Likes

I appreciate everyone’s advice !

  • could I get some light suggestions for a 4x2 for sub $300

As well as medium suggestions - I know some of you are big coco supporters from lurking

1 Like

@Wades-concrete Bought my wife an HLG 350 for her 2x4… Works great!

I looked up the light on Amazon. I just love that the photo of their testing center in the “About us” section is titled “Quanlity Control” (sic). I wouldn’t put another of these in, even if it would solve your problem. Man’s got to have standards, and dealing with crooks just doesn’t fit into that paradigm.

Great light for that budget would be the HLG 260W XL Rspec, if you can work a screwdriver and wire strippers, comes as a kit and needs some easy assembly. Using the discount code of “dude” it’s just under $300 at horticulturelightinggroup dot com.

2 Likes

Have to agree with everyone else you need better lighting. If cash is an issue and I think we all can understand that, get another less efficient light if you can’t afford a HLG, I had good results using the new viparspec xs-1500, but that’s was 1 plant in a 2x2, your in a 4x2 I don’t know the specs of the light u have, I would guess it can cover a 2x2 footprint. If you don’t have enough to get 1 light to cover that area, get 2, you may not get the results you are looking for but it would help. Also you said you don’t have time to ph, or feed properly, so if you do get a better light but you don’t feed or ph correctly you are just wasting you money. How do you expect to get good results if you can’t ph your water of feed your plant what it needs? Not to mean but that to means seems like common sense, I would hate for you to spend money on a better light, because a better light means your plants will need more Nutes because it will have better photosynthesis which means it will be needing more. You said KISS method which is great, but ph watering and feeding correctly are what i think are pretty basic principles, best of luck

I appreciate the advice - I should have been more clear.
I do ph the water consistently.
some days /weeks are so rushed it feels like I struggle to make time for the tent, I would hate to start a more involved feeding schedule just to not be able to keep up time wise.

Investing a bit more into the hobby to make it not seem like a waste of time and money is the reason for this post so I am all ears

I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, then yeah probably upgrading your lighting. Like said above I had used others lights. None as efficient as my HLG but they did do there job. You could run this with the light u have now and not to $

I had the smaller xs1500 the boards aren’t as good, mine ran on the off side, but it’s has the Samsung 301 diodes, good color spectrum, and meanwell driver. So name brand parts, there other options

I agree with the other members more light ,and cooler temps towards the end of flower

1 Like