HELP! Plants made great buds but SUPER SMALL. What happened?

[LesThannewbie]

Hi, this is my first post. Here's the deal:

I live in a pretty humid and hot place. I bought some very expensive herb and it had 7-8 seeds in it. I figured What the heck? and decided to plant them and see what happens.

I did no research, I just grabbed some pots (3) threw in some rich black dirt, added some generic vitamin/mineral fertilizer a couple times and said "Let me see what happens!" Grew them all outside. We have long days, averaging about 12 hours a day. They got lots of sun, and I watered them a little twice a day most days. Pretty good drainage in the pots.

What happened was the plants grew pretty fast but all 3 stopped growing at around 6" or so tall! I'm not kidding. As I said, I'm no expert but I thought most pot plants grew to at least a couple feet tall!

So this is a picture of the youngest one. The other 2 I harvested. Based on taste and effects, I would guess they are an indica, and high cbd/cbn. I harvested the other 2 because after reading about how the trichromes would turn amber if they had more cbd, I was waiting for like a week or two and I didn't see ANY change so I figured it was time. Also the leaves were beginning to wilt. So I harvested them. Each plant had a small but nice bud as you can see in the photos of this one, and I'm happy with the results except for the ridiculously small size!

So....
I have some more seeds now but want to see if I can improve the results.
My questions:

• WHY did these plants grow so tiny and begin budding so small? ... Were they maybe hybridized to do this? Or what would cause it?
• Did I harvest the other 2 at the right time? This one is about the same age now as the other 2 were a couple weeks ago when we harvested them. So I'm wondering if I should harvest this one or wait? And how long if wait?

NOW:
Drying:
My friend dried his 1 in a net. He wrapped a fine cloth net around it and hung it up in the wind outside away from sun. Dried in a few days. I hung mine up on a screen in the bathroom where we get a lot of air flow, including a fan I ran on it about 10 hours a day, then when I showered I took them out and left them in the living room overnight (on the screen, hanging up). My friend said his was fine and mine seemed fine as well. Does it seem like a small bud like this would indeed dry correctly that way in 3-4 days? (it was a dry wind although it's generally humid here)


LAST questions:
Knowing that I'm not into spending much money on this project and even if I was, can't get supplies here where I live,

• What simple things do you think I can do to improve the next plants?
• Any particular "common" fertilizer like 10-15-25 or whatever it is...? that type of forumula?
• Do you think it was just the conditions that caused these to grow so small or was it the type/seeds/hybridization?

Thanks much for any help you can give in making my next plants bigger! I'm very happy with the quality - it helps with my anxiety because it's very "hypnotic" and relaxing. Also helps me sleep. I like relatively low THC and high CBD.

[Mr.furley]

Your plants flowered. Cannabis will grow until late they get a decrease in light hours, did you start the plants in later summer/early fall where you live?
sounds like your dry correctly, small buds should dry fast.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/7-cannabis-plant-training-mistakes#mistakenly-keeping-plants-too-small

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-flowering-stage#cannabis-flowering-week-1-3

https://www.growweedeasy.com/outdoor-growing-basics

[Graff420]

Yea Mr furley is right there is no vegetative period for that plant looks like it sprouted and went directly into flowering that's what I call a lollipop plant iv done a few of those in my past before I understood marijuana needs a certain schedule for the lights not just 12/12

[9fingerleafs]

right on the money... i live in similar conditions and what i do is for the first 4 weeks you take the plants inside under a few lightbulbs during the night to prevent them from flowering, once they are 15 inch healthy plants with several branches then you leave them outside to flower for a couple of months

[9fingerleafs]

also your plant seeded itself from the stress, you can take those seeds and grow healthy big plants. you gonna need bigger pots and check the main site article on nutrients to learn what you need and research what its avilable on your country and within your budget best of lucks

[Canuck147]

Could be - ruderalis - goggle that.

[Rwise]

I'll second the bigger pots and add make em cloth! (smart pots) These girls need more soil to produce,, more soil = more roots, more roots = more bud! (ok not that simple) The cloth pots keep them from becoming root bound (mine may be overkill at 20 gallons), many use 5-7 gallon pots for autos,,, larger for photos,,,

[LesThannewbie]

Hey, thanks to all very much! That's the info I need before I start my next seeds.
Yes, I live in a place where the days are getting shorter instead of longer and so that's probably what happened.
Thanks for the tip about taking them inside for a couple hours before dark. I'll have to read up on that - thanks for the links!
And also I figured a bigger pot next time. Though to be honest these had hardly any roots anyway, because they just flowered so quick.
Glad to know others have had this experience of a quick flowering.
AND I strongly suspect ruderalis as well; in fact this may be the main issue.
I suspected these were hybridized, and this knowledge of ruderalis reinforces that suspicion. The person who gave me the seeds said "These are specially created", not being familiar herself with mj nor gardening, but I took that to mean they were hybridized for this region.

Anyway, LOTS Of good info here and I hope my next batch will be bigger. As to quality it is great - very mild smoke, and fairly strong high but not too strong. I suspect it's crossed with an indica based on the high. (I'm pretty familar with strains, just not how to grow them!) I think I said in my orig. post, it seems like a high cbd low thc high, which is what I like. It gives me a "hypnotic" feel, calms me and doesn't make me nervous or anxious like some high thc / sativas do.

I read this: "Usually, indica strains are cross-bred with Ruderalis to produce marijuana which has the THC content of indica and the toughness and the discreet height of Ruderalis. These high-breeds have auto-flowering capabilities which they got from their Ruderalis genes. These high-breed marijuana plants are considered to be one of the best strains."

I will read all the links you all gave me! Am excited to do a little better the next time! I guess that means I should wait to plant next year though as I really don't have room to bring them in the house...

Thanks again!
p.s. Does one tell if it's an indica/ruderalis mostly by how it looks, or ? (I can do some research on this, but if someone has a quick answer, that's great.) Doesn't really matter as I like the high! But am curious.

[LesThannewbie]

Okay so here are a couple more photos and I think this supports the idea that it is a ruderalis type plant because it was not root bound at all, had hardly any roots (see photo), it just flowered quickly as a very small plant.
From what I read even the ruderalis plants are usually bigger but I think it was smaller because the hours of sun were lessening all the while it was growing. Certainly I didn't do everything I might have to make sure it grew well. It was just a spur of the moment thing: "I'll plant these seeds and see what happens".
Next time I'm going to do more. I will try a couple seeds in a larger pot but I don't think it's going to matter based on how this one didn't seem to need more root space, right?

[Mr.furley]

If you could start new seeds and keep it under 24hr of light, after a couple months you would know if it's a ruderalis.

[LesThannewbie]

Mr.furley, thanks for the idea, unfortunately I don't have a grow room or any place to do that, so I may never know! I'm just hoping I can continue to grow these, because even though they were super small and only had one little bud on each, the quality is excellent for my purposes!

[alltatup]

Hi Les, you'd save yourself a bunch of $$ if you learn how to do it right... Why get one gram off a plant when you could get a couple of ounces? :-}

[LesThannewbie]

alltatup, it's not that I don't want to learn to do it right, it's that I have limited resources and so am limited in what I can do:

*cannot order special seeds from the US or elsewhere
*do not have room in my home for a grow room
*cannot order special growing accessories from here

So the climate outside is the climate I have to work with.

Another thing is that I really smoke very little and that if these are ruderalis plants they suit me fine. If I can grow a couple plants - even this small! - every 2 months, it will give me all I need. I smoke like 2-3 hits a day, that's all.

Now, I am going to try to increase the size of the new plants I grow from these seeds and try to add the right fertilizer etc. But the environment I live in is not ideal for growing and I believe that's why these are hybridized seeds, made to grow small and quick for this environment. I could be wrong but that's my working theory.of these

I'll know more after I grow these next 4-5 plants and see if I can improve their size and bud output. But if I get a few good buds out of them like I did this time, I'll be happy. It's quality not quantity I'm after and the quality of these small plants suit my needs perfectly. Like I said, more of that quality would be better so that's my goal given what I have to work with.

[alltatup]

Les, I totally understand your limitations. What I meant is that if you do some reading, there are mistakes you can avoid and things that you will know to do to assist your buds to get bigger.

One works with what one has, but a little knowledge about the finer points of growing cannabis can always help. I'm not trying to talk down at all. You wrote above that you did no research; all I'm saying, no matter whether you smoke any of it or just give it all away, is that knowing what to avoid and knowing what to do in your environment will make things easier on you. With all due respect, brother!

[SoOrbudgal]

Hi Les perhaps on your next grow you will have gathered more cannabis knowledge from this site. I have learned everything about in door growing here. I am an outdoor summer grower so indoor was new to me it's taken me 2+ yrs but I've learned about fabric pots, soil mixes cause that's what i'm use to. Maybe you can start collecting items for starting your next years grow now and be ready. Making your own soil and nutrients doesn't need to cost a bunch of money it's just gotta be good for cannabis that's the key to half the success. Goodluck on your next grow. Everyone here has given you good advice the rest is up to you. Educate

[LesThannewbie]

Alltatup and SoOrbudgal, thanks for the encouragement, and yes I intend to learn more about growing in my spare time. In fact right now I'm waiting to learn about what nutrients I might need before planting the next seeds. WI e get almost 12 hours a day of sun here pretty much all year - with some variance but not a lot - so I may start some more seeds soon. Luckily I smoke very little so a little goes a long way, so I can take my time learning what I need to know, and whatever I grow that is good enough to smoke, is a plus.

[Mr.furley]

Here is a good article about soil.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/what-soil-is-good-for-growing-cannabis

[alltatup]

LesThannewbie It just occurred to me: you get 12 hours of light and 12 dark, that may have triggered your little plant to go straight into flower, which is one reason why it was so small (and it probably was very hungry for nutes). Given your environment, maybe this article will help on growing from seed with 12/12: https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/blog...-lighting-n330

I can't wait to see your next grow, rooting for you, so to speak!! ;-}

[SoOrbudgal]

You are welcome Les and I think that alltatup makes a very good point about your 12-12 triggering flower. Good catch alltaup!!

[SoOrbudgal]

Scarletwhitewidow there are many many folks on this site who even like myself have much knowledge about growing plants,flowers,veggies but little experience with indoor or outdoor MARIJUANA. I have used and learned from this site for a few years now I just recently joined in on the conversations. Let us all try and be different from the negative weed forums and encourage those who ask questions. I have grown outdoors in ground and in containers for over 35yrs and even today I still feel like a newbie but I've gained confidence. Peace

[Scarletwhitewidow]

It isn't a negative remark at him. Only say the intelligence of his post he far from stupid or incomprehensive to grow a midget plant and not know why and able to fix the problem or deficiency . He being abit fake and grew it that way and posted acting.. 🙂

[alltatup]

Scarletwhitewidow Now that is an interesting perspective, because I have seen some posts that made me feel the same way, like the post was totally fake. But even if someone is playing a game, it does not hurt for me to post some advice or information about how to grow better. If someone is playing games like that, it doesn't hurt me. ;-}

[SoOrbudgal]

Ohhh I get what your saying. Very intuitive Scarletwhitewidow

[Rwise]

I myself think the answer is in the first post
heres the problem

I live in a pretty humid and hot place. I bought some very expensive herb and it had 7-8 seeds in it. I figured What the heck? and decided to plant them and see what happens.

I did no research, I just grabbed some pots (3) threw in some rich black dirt, added some generic vitamin/mineral fertilizer a couple times and said "Let me see what happens!" Grew them all outside. We have long days, averaging about 12 hours a day. They got lots of sun, and I watered them a little twice a day most days. Pretty good drainage in the pots.

With short 12 hour days like that they will go straight into flower and make squat plants.
With no testing on unknown soil, you get such results.
And "You have seen what happens"!
Good luck and do your research!

[LesThannewbie]

Sorry I did not get the notifications that more people had posted. I gotta check my notifications settings!
So I see now that next time I grow I need to consider the 12 hours of light/dark each day and maybe I can do better.
Thanks go all.
By the way I did not understand why ScareletWhiteWidow thinks I am a troll or whatever, but I assure you I am not. I hate that kinda b.s.! Just trying to learn what I need to grow some weed!