lower branches small buds??

my plants are in week 3 and about 4 days in flowering, the buds are looking amazing and all but i have noticed that the branches at the bottom of the plants are lots smaller, is this because the the leaves block some of the light getting to them? im using a 400w hps lamp in a 3x3x7 ft tall grow box. but the girls (2) are very bushy.... can i put 2 cfl bulbs with the hps lamp? and what is the best to use?

i meant the lower branches have smaller buds then the ones in middle and top, the branches are fine...

Of course the light isn't getting to the lower sites on the plant. Side light will help sure but how much??? I like to use those small "buds" for my cooking.

the plant will naturally focus a majority of its growth on the "top" of the plant. this is why people LST the top down so the plant thinks the side branches are the "top" and it creates multiple colas.

may want to research chopping the top when it is done and letting the plant focus on the rest of the sites after that big cola is gone.

you can also trim some (not alot) or just train some of the leaves out of the way of the bud sites to allow more light to penetrate.

baisicly tho this is normal in plant growth. the top main cola is always going to be the biggest and it will scale down the further down you get. the popcorn or smaller buds are deinatly good for cooking or hash or just smoking them.

I topped my plant at about 4 nodes and all including the bottom most nodes have turned into "main colas".

I would cut the smaller buds off. Smaller buds have a low THC content.

The process of cutting the small stuff off is called, "lollypopping" !

jpill said:

I would cut the smaller buds off. Smaller buds have a low THC content.

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I wouldn't be too sure. I clipped off a small bud of super lemon haze 6 weeks into flowering. Was dry today, had a smoke about 45mins ago and was blasted lol....

Yeah , its true. I Vend at harborside occasionally . Last time I was in there they were telling me they take full p's but no buds smaller than a dime because their THC content is low.
So with that being said, they also buy pounds of "budlets" small buds for like half the price of a good indoor Pound.. Sucks if you got small nugs !! There's still thc in the small buds for sure , but the content is around 8-9 % . Unless its like a fire OG strain or something super potent , then it would be around 10-11 % Where as the top nugs are going to be anywhere from 13-20's% thc.

socaliboy said:

I wouldn't be too sure. I clipped off a small bud of super lemon haze 6 weeks into flowering. Was dry today, had a smoke about 45mins ago and was blasted lol....

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you can either super crop and reduce the number of those small buds... or you can use those small buds for making some great butter or oil.