How can I yield dense fat nugs?

Set up:
Water farm by GH
Lights:http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Horticulture-GLK400GW19-Digital-Dimmable/dp/B004YXDHX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388017818&sr=8-1&keywords=apollo+horticulture+400w

I've harvested about 5 or 6 times now. The first time was with a 250 hps bulb and the 2nd through the most recent time i've been using a 400 watt hps. I've grown both with a vegetative state and 12/12 from seed and I've found that either way I still get small buds. I keep the light a foot away from the canopy, cut off all of bottom branches and budding sites that won't be getting that much light, keep the P.H at 5.8-6.0 throughout the whole grow and switch it to a high phosphorous nutrient solution. I harvest when all of the trichomes are cloudy and a good amount of hairs turn orange. I have a fan running throughout the whole time the lights are on and the window to the room fully open to let air in from the outside.

Right before I harvest and even before I trim they seem as if they'll turn out to be big buds like the ones I buy at the dispensary. After trimming they're still somewhat impressive, but after a couple of days I notice they shrivel up and I end up only harvesting 22-26 grams on average. Whatever bud I do harvest I find to be comparable to what the California dispensaries charge $45/eighth for. It's just that I can't get a good harvest weight! Until now these trial runs haven't been saving me money when I factor in what I spend on water, electricity and other miscellaneous charges compared to how much I would spend if I've been buying from the dispensaries. I know that outdoor plants get the really huge colas but I noticed my dried harvest looks nothing like what others that use 400 watt hps lights do.

I've experienced this with seeds that come in grams I buy from the club and seeds from Mr.Nice.

it doesn't look like you have a nutrient issue, OR a root issue (both would look the same). either your bulb is a joke, or they are getting very heat stressed, especially during stretch. what is your flowing feed ratio? first guess would be bad genetics but if you say you've tried a few different, it's gotta be your environment.

This is the nutrient schedule I follow:
http://generalhydroponics.com/site/gh/docs/feeding_sched/GH-FloraSeries-REC-Charts.pdf

I only use floramicro, floragrow, and florabloom. I don't have any of the extra stuff but would the kool bloom help?
and i'm pretty sure my 400 watt hps is actually emitting the amount of light it's supposed to... it looks like there's a sun in my closet hahaha. I run it on 100% and all of the customer reviews seem to agree it's a good light.

I keep it around 80-84 Fahrenheit but sometimes at night it gets as low at 55... My thermometer most of the time reads something along the lines of "Low 64 - High 84". Is this range too wide?

How long you flower? Harvest too soon and all the real weight and potency is missing.

My issues when I couldn't get the density I wanted was heat and humidity. When I got those 2 things under control I started pulling off weight.

Sent From My Note 8.0

I flower until all of the trichomes are clear, I always grow 12/12 from seed so it's hard to tell when I should say it's "day 1 of flowering". This most recent harvest I planted the seedling in the water farm oct 15th, harvested on the 24th of dec so that should tell you a pretty good estimate.

12/12 from seed, well there is one possible cause of low yield.

i'm not expecting it to harvest anywhere near as much as a full grow i'm just talking about the size and density of nugs. I've seen other 12/12 grows where the total weight was obviously less than a grow with vegetative state but the nugs were actually full and not flimsy/skimpy.

Like this guy's harvest: https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/574013-12-12-seed-harvest-30.html

Could be genetic. Note how airy that one bud is?
Try some known good genetics and see if you do better.

I personally don't think the link you gave is legit. Have never seen a 100 watt cfl grow do that well. Take that example with a grain of salt.

I Agee. Try some proven genetics. Maybe some clones from a good grow.

Yeahhhhh, I was gonna say lighting. Bad genetics is bad genetics, but there's no way what you've got comes anywhere close to the sun. Half literally.

wazooboo said:

This is the nutrient schedule I follow:
http://generalhydroponics.com/site/gh/docs/feeding_sched/GH-FloraSeries-REC-Charts.pdf

I only use floramicro, floragrow, and florabloom. I don't have any of the extra stuff but would the kool bloom help?
and i'm pretty sure my 400 watt hps is actually emitting the amount of light it's supposed to... it looks like there's a sun in my closet hahaha. I run it on 100% and all of the customer reviews seem to agree it's a good light.

I keep it around 80-84 Fahrenheit but sometimes at night it gets as low at 55... My thermometer most of the time reads something along the lines of "Low 64 - High 84". Is this range too wide?

Click to expand...

too hot (and probably too dry) on that high temp by about 8 degrees. doesn't sound like a lot but absolutely keep the next plant between 60-74 the entire grow. environment is everything.

the flora series is fine, and you definitely do not need the koolbloom in pure hydro with your base nutes (either form of it). but your temp is a big issue, and it's most likely also causing a lot of humidity swing, both of which will stress a plant heavily at that range. moreover, if you are allowing your root zone to swing up into the 80's regularly, it's probably stunting root growth during stretch even if you are lucky enough to not be getting some form of root rot. i've seen the same from stressed plants in pure coco, but a hydro root zone should not generally every be above 74 or so, and roots should also be kept above about 60 at the least. if the roots zone is healthy and huge, the vegetation can be about 80 with relative swing, but it doesn't need it and you obviously are not benefiting from it.

Hey wazoo, I didn't see you using CO2 ?? Big hard nugs need that along with everything else like, low humidity ie 45-55% for the first 6 weeks of flower and then 35% for the last two weeks. Also, I keep my temps around 85 until the last two weeks and then turn it down to 80.
The last thing I changed was going from GH to AN. Nose and size changed instantly. I'll try and include a picture from a recent harvest. See if you can identify the real "Bird of Paradize" flower in my center piece in the kitchen, lol.

Also, I would try vegging for at least a week so the plants can start growing after the move. Once in the flower area, don't move them.
Are you saying you get 26 grams wet from a plant or from a bud .....after they are dried?

Whats the temp of your water? Also some strains do better at 12/12, but not many. Really imo even a 15 day veg is better than starting at 12/12. I have done 12/12 and quickly went back to my short 20 day veg run. If your res temps are high they may not get required oxygen as well.

i concur with adding some veg time if you are going 12/12 from seed without much experience, the plant might not have time to really get it's roots under it before the first 40% of flowering is already done in your environment.