Which growing skills and techniques do you find most important when it comes to bud q

I enjoy cannabis since teenage (I'm 30), traveled to smoker's destinations across Europe, bought hash in Maroc, read tons of books about cannabis and cannabis cultivation, constantly looking for opportunities to improve knowledge about the plant. And I love to get stoned.

About half year ago I started indoor cultivation, now I'm during second harvest (DutchPassion Automazar and Think Different).

Potency is disappointing, but I found great joy in cultivation itself. I realized that THC content is not that important when you have own dope. While growing I train soft skills (patience , relax working in garden etc. Savings are also great.

I decided to stick with cultivation and looking for ways to improve gardening skills (and zen of growing.

My plants are mostly healthy, vigorous, yield a lot, but potency and smell is an issue. It's just not dank comparing to high quality street weed, and not even in pair with stuff I got in Amsterdam or Prague. They are a lot weaker than shit-quality buds bought here (they taste much better though).

Grow room: 60x100cm (2x3 feet)
Lights: 600W HPS (Lumatek digital dimmable) and 400W MH (GIB) in Sputnik air-cooled reflectors (separate from main vent). 4 additional UVB Repti lights (4 different brands)
Vent: Separate 800m3 vent with carbon filter. There are 3 additional ventilators and 4 repti-glo uvb lights. i
Medium: BioBizz/Canna soil, Canna COCO, Local mixes.
Fertilizers: Canna fertilizers, Rhizotonic, PK13/14, Booster
Additional: RO water, EC and PH-meter. advanced weather station

Grow temperatures are 23-26C (70-80F), humiditiy around 50-60% during veg, lower during flowering.

As you see - more-than-enough of light, great ventilation, good nutrients. No mold or pests problem.

Plants are 16 weeks old (dutch passion says they should be ready by 10-12 week).
I was running 24/0 18/6 and last mont 12/12. Trichomes are milky, 5% are amber since 4 weeks ant not changing colour anymore).

I got 8 plants, so I harvest them from 9th week periodically and partially checking potency (no quick-drying). Weed tastes nice, but not really skunky, and I have to smoke 3-5 joints by myself to get high. Friends with lower tolerance are stoned with 1 joint, but sharing a joint give a little effect. Effect (even water bag hash ) are rather subtle (no big "hit" and "stoned" feeling, more like mild disorientation).

Same with 1'st crop, seeds where from some femaleseeds.nl autos.

A friend of mine is growing other straing with a lot worse equipment, but similar results (not potent weed). I though that's beacuse of his lack of intense lighting are ventilation, but results are really similar.

I assume lack of potency is caused by them being autos, little hermie (like 30 seed total), earlier lack of potency i- not enough light (400W HPS for same area) so now I am going 12/12 with 3 moths old DP Blueberry photosensitiv in hope of getting something really strong.

What skills should I improve to get better results in term of potency and quality? Is it in proper-nutrients? Or should I take more care about pruning? Or I just need to grow many plants and take clones of best, as it's very rare to get killer weed from commercially available seeds? Or I am out of luck with genetics? OR should I try to understand the plant and the results will come (which I am doing)?

Dont get me wrong, I enjoy my crop, I just dont know how come even cheap street stuff is more potent than my well-cared and cured weed?

Hash shouldn't be subtle. Go get a bag of cheap street stuff and grow those seeds. You will probably get all hermies but the hash will be fantastic.

filut said:

I have to smoke 3-5 joints by myself to get high.

I assume lack of potency is caused by them being autos, little hermie (like 30 seed total), earlier lack of potency....

What skills should I improve to get better results in term of potency and quality? Is it in proper-nutrients? ... Or I am out of luck with genetics?

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3-5 joints?!? I like 3-5 hit weed !
Everything sounds OK, you say you have healthy plants, but no punch. I think you are right to think about your genetics. In general, autos do seem to have a lower potency. Try a #1 name brand breeder & strain, photoperiod, like NL/kush/cheese. I like feminized seeds. If you can get a recommended clone, all the better.

3-5 joints....Is your weed even finished when you chopped? Ive never seen a bag seed herme plant that would take more than 1 joint if it was picked at the right time. Get something to zoom in real close so you can see the trichomes clearly and dont harvest untill they are the proper color

Asside from the fact that you are growing autos, which are low in potency, I get the feeling you're harvesting too early, just because a breeder says ready in 10 to 12 weeks you should go by the trichs, your equipment is good, change your strains and get some other strain and see, it also depends on your drying and curring methods.

Stop smoking shitty autos

Try Chem Dog (dawg).. pics at harvest?

DeeTee said:

Asside from the fact that you are growing autos, which are low in potency, I get the feeling you're harvesting too early, just because a breeder says ready in 10 to 12 weeks you should go by the trichs, your equipment is good, change your strains and get some other strain and see.

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DeeTee brings up a good point. Take the estimated flower time with a grain of salt. There's a ton of money tied up in seed companies, if one can out market the other and say they provide a faster finishing variety, they will. Those estimations are also done with the absolute perfect setups in mind.

I know a guy who "has been growing for 30 years" but cuts his crop @ 7 weeks. I tell him he's missing out on the most important part, finishing!

50/50 Cloudy/Amber is what you want, no matter how many days it takes.

> 3-5 joints?!? I like 3-5 hit weed !

Same with me with high quality buds. With my crop no matter how much I smoke it's impossible to get more than 15 minutes "mild buzz". No point of using bong .

Moreoever i made some cookies and shared with friends. It was their first time cannabis ever and was described like "half hour of laughs" comaring to expected few hours stoned feeling but I know you cant judge by first time reaction.

> Get something to zoom in real close so you can see the trichomes clearly and dont harvest untill they are the proper color

I am using 100x-900x microscope to look at my trichomes, they are all milky, but nearly none of them amber. This has'nt changed in last 4 weeks (no nutes - plants lookgs great). I have read that it happens with some aufoflowering strains - some just do go amber.

Keep in mind they are 4-6 late than breeder's estimation AND i am constantly taking samples. Plants are definitely auto's, started to flower at 3 weeks uner 24. I read that 2-3 weeks late is common, so I keep half of my plants growing. In fact i am worring if they are not to late, as all bud - leafs turned yellow, 100% red pistils etc. Could they be THAT late? Should I excpeted that difference with regular seeds (eg, breeders say 9 weeks flowering so I have to be prepared to 15-17 weeks?) How long does is usually takes from all milky to half-amber?

And in general - what were the techniques you found most rewarding - like 'oh, yeah, changing my bulbs from 400W yo 600W gave enormous boost'? In my case it was using hooded reflectors to lower the temperature - buds become much more tight and high humidity during mid-veg.

buster8813 said:

Stop smoking shitty autos

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Auto's were ment just to get first crop fast, I am growing regulars along (DP BlueBerry, FemaleSeeds NL and some strain from cannabis seeds giveaway (we have that in our country).

Is a difference in potency that big? I expected them to be at most 2-3x weaker,

Ive never once had a plant where the trichomes didnt turn amber, you have to completely ignore the breeders time and lwt the plant tell you. Ive had a 9 week auto go 17 before it was finished and ended up being some very powerful smoke. Each plant will tell you when it is done. I don't recommend the stopping nutes until you start to see the first amber trichomes, you don't start losing until most have turned and some start to deform or whatever you want to call it. ... And to those saying autos aren't potent. .. Are you smoking crack among with your joints? Potency has absolutely nothing to do with photoperiod or autoflower and everything to do with how the plant is grown and when it is picked. Every commercial auto I've seen came from genetics more than good enough to get anyone stoned

> Ive had a 9 week auto go 17 before it was finished and ended up being some very powerful smoke.

I was looking for auto growlogs whitch takes that long with no luck, but hearing that I will wait and come back with smoke report. Im glad I didnt harvest all the plants. Thank you!

> I don't recommend the stopping nutes until you start to see the first amber trichomes, you don't start losing until most have turned and some start to deform or whatever you want to call it

There are some ambers trichomes , but the amount hasnt changed in 4 weeks.

>Are you smoking crack among with your joints?

Not by purpose, but I started to think that some JWH ("synthethic THC" found in Spice etc "herbal highs") are added to weed on local black market so I got used to them without knowing it. There are many repports on JWH and THC cross-tollerance (smoking JWH makes you much more weed-tolerant)

Autos evolved to survive the most harsh climates. These are landrace strains. If you cross pollinate to a sativa you might find it still takes 3 months to flower but it can do it on 24 hours a day. I wouldn't consider any auto that takes longer than 8 weeks because there are too many elite indicas that finish in 7 weeks.

Find a strain that works better for you. I've done a couple auto-flowers. They were junk.
with plant age comes potency. It's why autos are not that potent. They never get the time to be potent.
My friend had a mother plant it was around 2 years old, and I shit you not, the leaf on that plant would trip you out because of the high CBD content. I'm not saying you need to grow 16 week plants. If your weed is crap and your friends is the same what does that tell you? (You might be harvesting to soon)

topfuel29 said:

with plant age comes potency. [...] They never get the time to be potent.[...] around 2 years old, and I shit you not, the leaf on that plant would trip you out because of the high CBD content

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That makes sense, but on the other hand would't it make "sea of green" method useless? After all you harvest from (what I read) 8-10 weeks clones.

What's the common differience between breeder's hints and reality? I have read that's like 1-2 week max difference (so, say, 8-week finished in 10-week MAX). What are your experiences on that?

Wwhat factors did you find most influential? Any form of stress and llight defficience comes to my mind, but that's theory. It's known that plants under LED's finish later, so maybe it's about light spectrum?

Anyway I will give the plants few weeks, see the results and report.

filut said:

That makes sense, but on the other hand would't it make "sea of green" method useless? After all you harvest from (what I read) 8-10 weeks clones.

What's the common differience between breeder's hints and reality? I have read that's like 1-2 week max difference (so, say, 8-week finished in 10-week MAX). What are your experiences on that?

Wwhat factors did you find most influential? Any form of stress and llight defficience comes to my mind, but that's theory. It's known that plants under LED's finish later, so maybe it's about light spectrum?

Anyway I will give the plants few weeks, see the results and report.

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Dont forget auto flowers are long day plants they start to flower from seed. They don't have a veg time.
clones on the other hand keep the maturity of the mother. You can flower a clone as soon as it has roots because of it maturity.

topfuel29 said:

You can flower a clone as soon as it has roots because of it maturity.

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What would be optimal veg time regarding potency only? Is there a point after which diffrence is neliglibe? I was thinking about perpetual harvest with changing strains, so mother-plants get flowered after 1 or 2 cuttings, and then replaced by new strain. Will I get more potent weed from older mother-plant?

filut said:

What would be optimal veg time regarding potency only? Is there a point after which diffrence is neliglibe? I was thinking about perpetual harvest with changing strains, so mother-plants get flowered after 1 or 2 cuttings, and then replaced by new strain. Will I get more potent weed from older mother-plant?

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I'm sure there's a point where the plant peaks out in its veg. As to when that is I have no idea. When you really think about it, potency should come from the trichromes. Cannabinoids get synthesized up the line, your visual clues are the trichromes turning amber. It would make sense that if the plant has a high concentration of cannabinoids because its old, the potency should increase.
look at Hash, good screened and pressed hash. It's allmost 100% trichromes. You get stoned as all hell off just a couple hits. You would think that increased trichrome production would lead to increased potency.

You will be very surprised with the difference between regular photoperiod plants and auto flower. As long as you give your girls the proper amount of time to finish, they will be far superior to any auto.
As for the "proper" veg time, your plants will tell you. At some point your girls will start having nodes that are not exactly side by side, one will be slightly higher than the other. At this point your plants have reached sexual maturity and will not take a very long time to show sex when flipped to 12/12.
My strawberry cough from DP showed sex the first night of 12/12 because she was at sexual maturity.
Potency will not be affected by this though, only by improper harvest or lots of mistakes

quit the autos and drop dutch passion...try Positronics

https://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/positronics-seeds/cat_73.html

you will be glad and very high