7 1/2 weeks into flowering WHY are my buds not growing?

Ph = 6.4
Daytime Temp = 76, Nighttime Temp = 65
9 CFLs total:
6 - 2700k, 2 - 3500k, 1 - 6500k total of 288watts
NO LIGHT LEAKS it gets 12 hours pitch black every night.

Plant is 3ft, 4 inches tall, has 2 small colas and 2 larger ones.
Its in an organic potting soil mix with about 30% vermaculite by volume (roughly)

It gets watered every 2-3 days, and I give nutes (low dose miracle grow) every 2 weeks. Started giving blackstrap molasses (unsulfured) 1 week ago.

This plant grew fast and strong its whole life, never gave me any reason to consider it inferior in anyway. That is untill I started flowering, and noticed that within the last month, the buds haven't actually gotten bigger at all. They HAVE spread a lot, but the buds themself simply will not get big.

Now some things I've considered. Maybe I don't have enough light. But, if that was the problem, the buds that have been 2 inches right by the light the whole time ALSO have not grown at all. And I'm noticing buds closer to the bottom where theres nearly no light at all, and they are basically the same size. The ones on the very top aren't "big", they might have more flowers in general up there, but all the flowers are tiny.
It has 3 gallons of dirt, so I simply can't figure out whats going on here.

The buds started at week 2 of flowering, by week 3 they were literally like 75% the size they are now (when I compared older pics). So in 4 1/2 weeks, the buds have barely grown at all. NOT EVEN CLOSE to how plants on here are growing, and it makes no sense.

The last thing I was thinking was maybe this particular strain does best outside, and needs a ton of light, but still, shouldn't the buds at least be moderately sized by now? They are as small as I could have possibly imagined them being.

Here as some pics, any ideas on what I should do? Should I just go crazy and throw like 3 - 68 watters in there? I'll do w/e I need but because the buds by the light are so small, I wasn't thinking it was really a light issue to beging. Its my first grow, 13 1/2 weeks total now, and I really need some expert advice here. I'll do w/e I need to jump my yield up cause this is really just becoming a waste of time at this point. I also notice crystals on a lot of plants here and theres not a single one on the entire plant so idk.

Thanks!

light leaks during the night?

Reread your post. Are you sure there are no light leaks? 100% sure?

Ive seen people flowering with a single bulb and getting better growth. It looks like it never fully entered the flowering stage and that its 'stuck' in a vegetative pre-flowering state because theres no buds forming.

Bad strain, maybe...Looks pretty healthy though

poor lighting OR bad strain. You never mention source of plants. Is it schwag seed?

Its bag seed but I considered it mid grade. It was much better smoke than dirt, but about half as good as dro or some higrade buds.

Seeing how puzzled you people are I'm really thinking I have to doublecheck for light leaks. The door never shut all the way closed, so I put rubber bands on it to "pressure fit" it together. And although there was still a small slit, I just assumed light couldn't possibly get in. But it seems more counterintuitive than impossible at this point.

The thing is it DOES in a way seem like it never fully entered flowering. The actual pistils will NOT get any longer at all, the volume of hairs isn't increasing, and I just can't assume its a bad strain at this point. I mean the plant grew wikid fast during veg, and compared to the other 2 plants I trashed it was noticeably much healther throughout its entire growth (healthier as in better defined and stronger features, thicker stem, sharper leaves, etc). If it is a light leak I will kick myself in the head for this. I know the grow house has a crack on top (that I put clothes over but who knows if lights is getting through them?), and the door problem, but I was 100% sure at the time that I rectified it. I'm gonna go back to the drawing boards tommorow because I'm also seeing other people using less light, with buds that are like double the size in only 4 weeks of flowering.

Light leaks will be the first thing I try to fix, and if nothing changes then I'm sure I'll come back complaining soon.

Well, the plants look healthy. real healthy. But you are right, 7.5 weeks in, they are small. verify your timer and cycle. Also consider changing up light exposure to just 10 hours a day.

Ok so I had to actually crawl inside the closet and on top of the grow house cause I couldn't see good enough standing on a chair.
When I got up there I peaked through and saw that a little bit of light IS getting into the box.

But when I asked myself "is this enough light to screw up flowering?" my own newbie answer was "no".
And I think I need to debate my logic why.

You can see that light is getting in by looking at the foil inside, but it almost looks identical to the amount of light you would get from the moon at night. Like if you took some foil outside at night and pointed it towards the moon its just the slightest tiniest little bit of dim light getting in.

I would actually imagine that it would get more light outside from the moon itself (well the sun behind the moon lol). So it doesn't make sense that it could mess up flowering, but I simply don't know enough to be sure. So I'll take care of the leak 100% tommorow, but for some reason I'm not really expecting it to change anything.

If it DOES, than I can say I will be one very surprised person. And if not, then I will try reverting to 10 hours during the day.

Holy shit!! FUCK FUCK FUCK

Can smoking indoors have caused this? I'm a tobacco smoker lol. Do you think that would be more likely to cause this than a extremely tiny amount of light getting in at night?

Ah man its prob both I'm such a fucking idiot. More than 3 months of my time now looks completely wasted. FUCK!!!

I would fix the light leak and go from there.. I have a very similar setup and havent had any problems budding, it sounds more like the strain to me though..

Why not think about it in terms of stress? If that light leak has been there this whole time, then you are fine because the plants are used to it. It is a random light leak that may stress your plants out and cause them to act awry. Think about it. If 100% darkness at all times during 12 hours of the day was required for a plant to grow bud out in the wilderness, they'd never grow bud. But that's their environment and they are used to it. Just like if you have a 100% lightproof environment, it needs to stay lightproof. It's all about the stress from my understanding.

Bojangles69 said:

Holy shit!! FUCK FUCK FUCK

Can smoking indoors have caused this? I'm a tobacco smoker lol. Do you think that would be more likely to cause this than a extremely tiny amount of light getting in at night?

Ah man its prob both I'm such a fucking idiot. More than 3 months of my time now looks completely wasted. FUCK!!!

Click to expand...

Nicotine is poisonous to marijuana plants. While tobacco will not kill the plant, residues from cigarette smoke will. Never smoke cigarettes around your plants and ALWAYS make sure to thoroughly wash your hands before handling your girls. If you are smoking cigarettes in the same room as your grow box, I recommend that you stop.

Serapis said:

Nicotine is poisonous to marijuana plants. While tobacco will not kill the plant, residues from cigarette smoke will. Never smoke cigarettes around your plants and ALWAYS make sure to thoroughly wash your hands before handling your girls. If you are smoking cigarettes in the same room as your grow box, I recommend that you stop.

Click to expand...

Agreed, a high standard of growroom cleanliness is essential for healthy plants. I treat all of mine like people, I don't want them living in dirty conditions or near elements that are potentialy dangerous.
Washing hands before and after being near or touching the plants or anything around them should be done.
The residue from cigarette smoke is a definite no no to have near plants. A funny story, I used to have a tarantula as a pet a few years back, long story short; I would often clean its cage without washing my hands after smoking, and of course not think anything of it at the time. However, In the end the residue left from my hands was absorbed by my pet spidey and ultimatley caused it to die.

Definitley fix that light leak, just because its been there the whole time doesnt mean it won't be affecting it.
Also you're plant looks like a sativa, I hear they have long flowering times, and some have super long flowering times. You could also try sticking some cfl's in between the lower branches and see if she responds.
Other than that I'd say you're looking at bad strain genetics.
I still wouldn't say I'm right with any of my opinions but thats what I would try myself so yeah. Good luck and keep us updated on what happens.

Did they start budding?

I'm not a pro, but I have been growing bonsai for 15 years... So I know a little about tree growth in neutral light... Plants want to flower for many reasons.. Case in point....I think your using to much light.. Days are short and light isn't as strong... Try lowering your nitrogen and taking out a light or too.. Don't be scared to stress your plant a little... The stress will make all your nutrients rush to the tops of your plants... Plants are smart... They'll do annoying to survive... Happy hunting

genetics mate, i had a bagseed that was left flowering for 10 weeks after showing sex and thats all it did!!! i killed it as it was a waste of time, it was growing in the same cab as some other plants that finished fine.

Its not the smoke thats doing it even though its not good for them and it wouldnt be too much light so i would consider starting up some desent seeds.

Captain Cave Man said:

genetics mate, i had a bagseed that was left flowering for 10 weeks after showing sex and thats all it did!!! i killed it as it was a waste of time, it was growing in the same cab as some other plants that finished fine.

Its not the smoke thats doing it even though its not good for them and it wouldnt be too much light so i would consider starting up some desent seeds.

Click to expand...

I agree--they look like sativa--but 7 1/2 weeks chit---something is wrong--can't be soil--can't be lights---I don't think it is stress--therefore genetics-sorry bro---you realy have to screw something up at this point to have this happen--nutes?---I think just a bad seed--looks healthy--but just not getting the job done-coal

Genetics is the reason,and as for the lights? I dont think that they are to blame, but you really should get some hps for flowering. Next time get some good seeds, just buy them, from a GOOD seeds bank. (i do not recommend GreenHouseSeeds ).

I didnt know that, bt im glad i dnt smoke round my girls i use herbies headshop never let me down

I am new hear but i would say the reason is in pic number 2. Look up by the light on the leaf! Hes a big one!!

Get rid of your cfls and get an LED light or a hps or mh light .. CFL is junky itll work but dude if you want budsss invest 200$

Just so you guys know this thread is over 2 years old. No sense in trying to help, those plants have been compost for months.