Red Hairs - fluffy airy bud

I have been growing on and off for about 10 years. The last few grows, I have upgraded my lighting to 4400 watts of a mixture of HPS & MH. 2x1000 MH 2x600MH 2x600HPS. I have also been trying to flower several different strains in the same room, with varying results. I feed the recommended amount of Cyco Bloom A & B with Cyco uptake & Cyco B1 uptake. I leave my lights at about 7 to 8 ft which leaves them between 4ft & 6ft above the plants during the initial stretch. Usually the lights end up between 36in & 10in above the plants during their final weeks of flowering. What’s happening is that during the flowering, my plants look amazing. But once cut and hung to dry, I am ending up with several plants that turn out very well, but many end up very airy and fluffy with lots of red hairs. I understand that genetics play a big role I the final product. But should I be trying to keep my lights 24in above the plants at all times? Also, my flowering room at times can be a little on the warm side. Between upper 70’s - lower 80’s. I do have air conditioning, but with all the heat these lights put out. The air conditioner can struggle to keep the room at a constant temperature. Also, I am unable to keep the humidity at optimal levels with the air conditioner running. I feel as thought I am fighting a losing battle at times, as many of my plants don’t turn out as well as they could. The airy fluffy end results is really what’s getting me. Can this be due solely to the distance of my lights to the plants? I am about to put another set of plants into flowering and would like to get this issue fixed before I ruin another set of plants. Also, I get my seeds through a reputable supplier and definitely should be growing some top notch bud. I am doing something wrong. Thanks for any advice anyone can give me.

You got a trimmed up shot? Hard to see your cured bud when it’s full of leaf.

Usually the only time I’ve ever seen “airy” buds is when I have larf low down.

From the info you’ve given only thing I can suggest is try to have the lights 24 inch away from the tops all the way through. Keep raising them as they stretch

I run my lights just high enough to clear my head approx 6 foot any higher and I don't get good penetration

"which leaves them between 4ft & 6ft above the plants during the initial stretch. "

You need to keep the lights closer. Raise the lights as the plants grow.

You're going 3:1 metal halide to high pressure sodium. Just from stories on the internet, hps makes denser buds and mh makes fluffier buds. Maybe you could adjust your ratio so it's like 2:1, more how and less mh to get more density.

If you're loosing weight to airy buds, and temperatures and humidity are too much for your equipment you may be better off using less lights and generating less heat during the summer.

I've heard of growers dimming the lights or using less watts at the end of flowering to prevent puffy, airy buds. Less heat and intensity for less fox tailing.

Sometimes too much P late in flower will cause buds to put out more pistols or fox tail or get fluffy. Maybe consider adjusting your feeding schedule.

I agree with the other guys about adjusting the throughout flowering. If you start with the lights closer maybe you can get less stretching and get tighter spacing between branches/nodes.

I’m not used to using feet just converted your numbers. Definitely you have your lights way to far away.

Maybe if you had a Gavita at those distances but not single ended hps

How bigs your grow space as you must be illuminating half a football pitch with them that far

Here is some trimmed bud. Thanks for the suggestion and support. Definitely going to to keep lights closer to the plants, 24 inches through the flowering cycle. Might also switch out to all HPS. I will update In a few weeks. I also attached some of my plants in full flower. Some half way through, some nearing the end.

Thanks again!

youraveragehorticulturist said:

You're going 3:1 metal halide to high pressure sodium. Just from stories on the internet, hps makes denser buds and mh makes fluffier buds. Maybe you could adjust your ratio so it's like 2:1, more how and less mh to get more density.

If you're loosing weight to airy buds, and temperatures and humidity are too much for your equipment you may be better off using less lights and generating less heat during the summer.

I've heard of growers dimming the lights or using less watts at the end of flowering to prevent puffy, airy buds. Less heat and intensity for less fox tailing.

Sometimes too much P late in flower will cause buds to put out more pistols or fox tail or get fluffy. Maybe consider adjusting your feeding schedule.

I agree with the other guys about adjusting the throughout flowering. If you start with the lights closer maybe you can get less stretching and get tighter spacing between branches/nodes.

Click to expand...

Winter months is where I am having heat issues, as I don’t bring I fresh air and The heat is heating the house. And there is a heat duct running right through my flowering room. I am also considering moving my room to another area of the basement where I won’t have this issue. Just quit a bit of work to do so. But will be worth it in the end. Summer months are better growing times for me because the whole house air conditioning is helping to keep my room cool, yet still too dry. Has anyone try to use a misting fans in their grow rooms instead of CNN humidifier

djmaloney said:

Winter months is where I am having heat issues, as I don’t bring I fresh air and The heat is heating the house. And there is a heat duct running right through my flowering room. I am also considering moving my room to another area of the basement where I won’t have this issue. Just quit a bit of work to do so. But will be worth it in the end. Summer months are better growing times for me because the whole house air conditioning is helping to keep my room cool, yet still too dry. Has anyone try to use a misting fans in their grow rooms instead of CNN humidifier

Click to expand...

Wait you don’t bring in fresh air?

Do you have an intake or an exhaust fan? They need co2

Too hot in the room, imbalanced feed/lockout, they’re not finished....there are a lot of reasons

SamWE19 said:

Wait you don’t bring in fresh air?

Do you have an intake or an exhaust fan? They need co2

Click to expand...

I have several exhaust fans and I exchange air from an inlet from an adjacent room.

kmog33 said:

Too hot in the room, imbalanced feed/lockout, they’re not finished....there are a lot of reasons

Click to expand...

Temps are kept between 77-82 degrees. I feed accordingly to the recommendations on bottle. Let them go the recommended times between 8-10 weeks flowering. Humidity is very low, and my lights I have been keeping them at a fixed height and not adjusting them during the growth cycle. Thanks everyone for your input. I will try several suggestions.

To me looks early on the “trimmed” stuff.

djmaloney said:

Winter months is where I am having heat issues, as I don’t bring I fresh air and The heat is heating the house. And there is a heat duct running right through my flowering room. I am also considering moving my room to another area of the basement where I won’t have this issue. Just quit a bit of work to do so. But will be worth it in the end. Summer months are better growing times for me because the whole house air conditioning is helping to keep my room cool, yet still too dry. Has anyone try to use a misting fans in their grow rooms instead of CNN humidifier

Click to expand...

perhaps if that "heat duct" is a return you could tap into it with the exhaust of your grow so the heat is distributed throughout your house.

or you could insulate the duct

Could easily be harvesting early. Breeder recommendations are often so off its not worth looking at them. Let a plant go 2 weeks when you think its 100% ready as a test. That or genetics. Are you using proven clones or new seed every grow?