Bud density

What are the top factors when it comes to dense buds? Also do some of the licensed producers vacuum pack to create that density effect?

I remember a product a PGR that claimed to make rock hard buds…

This is something that bothers me, I’m quite OCD about it.

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My first thought would be your lighting and to have your environment and nutrients dialed in. But I’m curious what others thoughts are also. Good subject :wink:

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Light , A/C , Proper nutrition

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:dna: what about genetics?

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Most definitely that would play a major role too. But even with the best genetics if everything else isn’t dialed in you wouldn’t achieve ultimate results.

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Genetics will always have a role in the final texture of the product

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Good environmental conditions and good feeding schedule shall get you to heavy buds

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What about PAR or uMols/PPFD

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I find genetics is the strongest factor as that is the way the bud will grow. Then you environment will with complements that or you are off and you get Less desired result lol

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If youre a licensed grower and you test positive for PGRs then that will be BAD.
Bud density is mainly dependent on genetics.
Good air movement, not under or overfeeding, extreme temps, etc (good grow room environment) will produce good buds. Sativas are more airy by nature.

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@dbrn32 speaks this language fluently…lol…

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Right on I’ll keep that in mind

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Reduce your night time temp swing

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What too? What is optimal and what does higher temperatures do to the flowers?

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These are almost the same thing.

Basically PAR and micromoles are the quality and intensity of the light. If you don’t have intense enough light, that at least contains a good balanced amount of all the Photosynthetically Active Radiation segments for photosynthesis of the electromagnetic spectrum, no matter how good the genetics – you will get a sub-par product.

~MacG

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Lighting over 2.0 umol/j , also placing lights where plants get the most photons. HPS produces that but LED is far advanced now in the umol/j dept.

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For my personal experience I would agree with @zparkie2 post

Once I went over 2 umol/j bud density really increased dramatically.

@hashone has a good point about genetics too. I’ve grown chronic widows from ILGM multiple times at about 1.4 umol/j and it was always dense but that was the only strain that I’ve managed to get quality density under 2.0

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How do I work this out? 2.0umols/j

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Just gotta know where to look :wink:

https://growershouse.com/horticulture-lighting-group-hlg-260w-xl-qb-v2-led-kit-3k-rspec

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In the context of what @tdubwilly and @zparkie2 have said, this is about how efficient the light is, 2 micromoles per joule.

Until recently HPS and CMH had about the best micromoles per joule.

It is kind of like miles per gallon, how much light can you get per the amount of power/electricity you are using.

You can get enough intensity with less efficient lights, you just will need to add more of those lights than you would of the more efficient lights, well kind of…

Or, you might need to buy a light that uses more watts to get the same results as the more efficient light.

It used to be, with HPS, CMH, or regular metal halide lights, you could do a rough calculation of how much light you’d need by using a formula like “50 watts per square foot”.

More micromoles per joule would mean you’d need less watts per square foot.

But that isn’t the entire story. LEDs and Florescent lights like the T5s a lot of people use, don’t create as much heat at the bulb as the High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights like HPS/MH/CMH.

The closer the light gets to the plant, the more micromoles of light energy or intensity the plant receives.

And so again, you can get away with less watts per square foot if you can get your light closer to the plant without hurting it with too much heat.

So a another rough formula would work out kind of like about 40-50 watts per square foot for T5s, and depending on the LED tech as low as maybe 20-25 watts per square foot or maybe as high as 35-45 watts per square foot for older tech LEDs.

~MacG

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