What exactly makes nugs dense or fluffy/airy?

the general answer to this seems to be the amount of light, but im starting to think thats not always true, maybe more determined by temperature/airflow.

ive grown hydro with a 250hps (northern lights, crystal, bubblegum), and kinda warm temps, not to great airflow= all fluffy nugs

ive grown soil/hydro under 1000w HPS (NL, crystal, BG) with moderate/warm summer temps = all fluffy nugs except one bubblegum plant in the back corner.

then I got some ice all soil under 1000w with more consistent cooler temps (not summer anymore) and more airflow = all dense nugs so far


I had to start thinking about this because I gave a friend of mine a northern lights clone, and he grew it hydro under my old 250w HPS and a few CFLs, it was in a basement so the temps were good and he had moderate airflow, and wow do his nugs look WAY better then mine did, super dense with nice color and covered in trichs and got a lot of weight off his one plant. im happy for him but its kind of disappointing since I was running 1KW and generally kept temps under 75F.

what do you all think?

I believe that temperature is the biggest factor in the difference between airy buds and dense buds. My grow rooms produce much better and bigger denser buds when summer temperatures give way to autumn.

I think genetics, temperature, night and day temp difference, wind, light intensity, plant health all play important factors. Sure you could grow in a 65 degree room, but if those genetics dont allow, those buds wont be dense.

I agree, as I cant see my crystal plants ever producing nice nugs like that, but it is more sativa dominant.


it just bugged me though because my friend used my clone, used the same methods/nutrients, but with less light and got better looking nugs, and the only difference I could tell to his benefit was temperature.

Ya know, this definitely is a good thread, last time i grew, my temps stayed pretty low because I made sure my fan got all the hot air sucked out (top exhaust). This ended in fluffy buds, but then again that could be because i didn't let it flower long enough (8 weeks) or lack of proper nutrients (quite possible).

I've noticed that lights only make a difference on quantity rather than quality. Quality must be all the other factors... nutes, temps, humidity, and overall plant health.

My plants are turning out very nice under only two CFL's not much stretch or any other problems. Secondary growth is kind of slow though because of the less - light - penetration. But hey, thats what moving leaves is for.

For me, I had better lights on my second grow and produced denser nugs but heat definitely plays an important role. My second grow was in the winter so temps were of course cooler.

From what I've learned, the closer you can get to the following conditions the more potent and better yielding your plants will be with tighter nugs:

• Day temp - 78
• Night temp - no more than 10 degrees lower
• Flowering humidity - 40%
• Lumens - minimum of 7000 per sq. ft.
• Flowering PH- 5.8-6

Low humidity promotes resin production as the plant tries to reduce moisture loss.
Temps of not more than 78 allow the plant to focus on bud production instead of keeping cool.

Thanks

some good leads. best wishes nigel

cool thread

Simply put I would guess...

EVERYTHING

As Buzz and Stoney said....also too much N in flowering will result in fluffy buds and more leaf than calayx production.

I found the best environment for me is

temp 72

RH in flower 30-35%

Water temp 68

CO2 1500ppm

If those things are in place I get rock solid nuggets o love