Bud Density..is it manageable or static to the strain?

I am a noob. Have done 4 harvests and have learned an immense amount on this site. My question is "Can I do anything to improve the denseness of my buds?"

My last grow was a Heath Robinson style spiral vertical grow, 1000 watts in a cool tube. I was able to maintain my room at 75, my resovoir at 62. My PH remained fairly constant at 5.6 to 5.8. I use Canna nutes. This was a first run trial for the new set up and I didn't load the whole system. I had 2 strains, a Jock Horror and Ice, both from Nirvana seeds.

My last grow was the Jock and I grew some of the most beautiful buds ever, but they were a bit airy, and there was absolutely NO high from them. I am a very occasional smoker, so it isn't due to resistance. This grow I did the Jock again and added an Ice to see if I could get better results. The Ice came out dusted all over, like powdered sugar. I can't take more than 2 or 3 hits and I go fetal. The Jock once again was a loser, but once again beautiful buds.

I am going straight Ice from now on, but I would like to find a way to increase bud density. Help? Anyone?

Super crop during initial stretch will keep nodes tight together = denser bud.

vacuum seal when weed is damp then set out to dry

i was told (or maybe it even said it on the package) that the indonesian bat guano can help that. im not saying it does at all. just what i heard/read. gonna have to look into that...

Aside from genetics, the amount of light matters a great deal..not just wattage,but how clustered the tops are. When you have a lot of overlapping fan leaves and shaded buds, the buds dont usually get the hard density. The way I get super dense buds,is I only do 4 large plants per 1000..and I stake the branches apart so all of them are getting direct light. I probably get a little less yield that way,but I love the monster rock hard buds

im tellin people Defoliating.. after the stretch.. then again 3 weeks later... and then again 2 days before harvest.. and watch ur stuff .. i bet u get better buds.. i have been doing this for like 5 years.. and let me tell u . i am lucky to have some sick friends. kuz i lost about 3000 seeds yesterday. and just got about 100 seeds of amazing genetics.

bigmanc said:

vacuum seal when weed is damp then set out to dry

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Huh ? Never heard of packaging wet bud.

regards,

dense bud? strain specific for the most part, but direct light to the bud helps the most.

high temps at the bud makes buds airy
high humidity make buds airy
low air circulation makes buds airy
powdery mildew will have your plants starved for light and airy

ru4r34l said:

Huh ? Never heard of packaging wet bud.

regards,

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He's saying that the vacuum seal will pack your buds tighter and there fore they will become more dense

PGRs really work if you are into that sort of thing. They also probably give you liver damage, cancer, huge balls and leaking anus...
go to the hydro store. there are 100 products that "Reduce inter-nodal spacing" using never before seen additives that took years of research by our special scientists to find.

Running MH instead of HPS the first 2 weeks of 12/12 should help a bit too.

the c02 factor ..or like previously stated ..temp and air circulartion

BustinScales510 said:

Aside from genetics, the amount of light matters a great deal..not just wattage,but how clustered the tops are. When you have a lot of overlapping fan leaves and shaded buds, the buds dont usually get the hard density. The way I get super dense buds,is I only do 4 large plants per 1000..and I stake the branches apart so all of them are getting direct light. I probably get a little less yield that way,but I love the monster rock hard buds

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This is good advice right here, but I would also add temp to the mix. In my experience keeping my temps between say 67-72 degrees with the light on has given me denser nugs.

Light is a big factor
in 2011 we seemed to have a lot of cloudy days in Oakland were i was growing. 2012 was good 2010 was good
Anyways the buds were airy Lost about 1/2lb pr plant Blue Dream, GDP,Purple Candy man were we bummed.

We also will make strips of plastic and cut a V in the end of each one. This way we can put it between branches and buds to open them up a little for light.

Bottom line as everyone else said it is a strain directed. The breed and strains pretty much have the road somewhat paved.
We can change these to our likings with grafting,cross breeding and so.

peachcowboy said:

I am going straight Ice from now on, but I would like to find a way to increase bud density. Help? Anyone?

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Everything being equal, the main factors are light and genetics. If you're growing FMS' or Nirvana's Ice, the genetics are capable of producing such a thing, FMS moreso. Assuming you can concentrate an appropriate degree of light intensity on the plants, the next most dominant factor is pruning, ie. the way the plants are presented to the light. Look through the Free Seeds thread in my sig for pruning pics/pointers. Good luck.

Simon

bigmanc said:

vacuum seal when weed is damp then set out to dry

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i would never recommend doing this.

aside from that, you can add c02 for more density. You can apply pruning techniques and you can upgrade your lighting if possible. Air flow is important aspect. There are so many variables !

Finally genetics, there is a lot of garbage genetics out there. A lot of them come from seed banks which are mostly just greedy companies just trying to get rich selling seeds, not caring about the quality of the genetic itself.

Use house and garden shooting powder it will make your buds huge and dens

basementgrower420 said:

im tellin people Defoliating.. after the stretch.. then again 3 weeks later... and then again 2 days before harvest.. and watch ur stuff .. i bet u get better buds.. i have been doing this for like 5 years.. and let me tell u . i am lucky to have some sick friends. kuz i lost about 3000 seeds yesterday. and just got about 100 seeds of amazing genetics.

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I wondered about this... I have wanted to pull some huge fan leaves off but never did in concern of hurting the lady. Please elaborate on how you Defoliate

slim83 said:

Use house and garden shooting powder it will make your buds huge and dens

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I just bought this and everyone has a different theory about how to use the shooting powder... it is way way to expensive to run for full flower or even half.