End of week 6 flowering..

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hi guys and girls. Last day of week 6 since turning the lights to 12/12. Have had some issues with nutrient burn, temperature and humidity the last 2 to 3 weeks. Had to start supporting some buds today with bamboo stakes, they are starting to fill out nicely. I apologise for some of the pic's, the flash seems to be reflecting a bit more at the moment.
Just wondering if anyone can give me some ideas on keeping the humidity down after lights out. The humidity was at 60% at lights on this morning. I usually keep the exhaust fan on low, it's a 3 speed controller on a ISO-Max 200. Would upping it to medium speed help?

[F10werChyld]

Try upping the fan speed, but you may need to invest in a small dehumidifier. You'll get mold/bud rot problems if the humidity stays high throughout flowering.
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[Tersky]

I agree, upping fan speed will lower humidity a bit. Also adding clip on fans for air circulation and defoliating for airflow will help keep bud rot at bay. I disagree that a small dehumidifier will help tho as my experience has taught me that they dont lower RH but a few points at most. In order to control humidity with a dehumidifier you need a dehumidifier to handle the entire room the grow is located or the air exchange will just feed humid air back into the tent.

[newbutoldgrower75]

I tried upping the exhaust fan speed to medium at lights out last night, didnt seem to work at all. So thinking of leaving it on high for the night to see if that makes any difference, would that cause any problems with the temperature? I have two fans going at the moment, one for between the light and plant, one blowing towards the top of the pot. Would adding more fans make a difference?
Now with the defoliating Tersky haha. A few people know the trouble I had even thinking of touching a leaf at the 3 week mark of 12/12, the thought of doing it at this stage sends my anxiety straight through the roof lol. If I just stick to the ones not getting light towards the middle under the canopy, would that be a safe start?
I apologise for all the questions, but I would really appreciate your advice. Thank you.

[Tersky]

The more fan leaves you have the more humidity you will have which and the more fan leaves the less airflow there will be which is why i suggested defoliation. I have usually around 50-60% RH and as long as i have a fan and good airflow between colas i dont have any problems. As long as temps dont get below 60 F or 16C then it should be ok.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks Tersky I appreciate it. I gave two of them a bit of a defoliation yesterday and tried to seperate the branches the best I could like SoOrbudgal advised, the humidity was at 52% this morning which is nearly 10% less than what it has been sitting at for the past week or so. Will tackle the third one tomorrow. So thanks to the both of you, my anxiety levels are getting lower.

[SoOrbudgal]

Oh my how beautiful almost to nice. Yes lower humidity it's so hard to make changes with the plant once they get to this stage a radical spreading of branches is almost needed. Some how spacers are needed in between those colas.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thank you for the compliment SoOrbudgal, I am trying my best with the girls. Its just this high humidity has got me at the moment. I am quite worried about bud rot more than anything. I havent grown indoors for 15 years, and when growing outside I was just a plant them in the ground at let them grow grower pretty much for nearly 30 years. Even though I am really enjoying learning so much more about MJ, it can be quite daunting at times when its all new to you haha.
I started seperating branches with straws and garden string, thanks to MeEasy for the idea, but unfortunately there are so many branches/buds that when I worked my way from the centre of the plant, by the time I got to the outer branches there was too much pressure on them. Snapped one branch unfortunately. Do you have any techniques/ideas that might work for me? Thank you

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks for the replies girls and guys. It is becoming a bit of a struggle to keep the humidity down at night, temperature is sitting between 17C(62.6) and18C((64.4F) at night inside the tent. My anxiety levels have risen a fair bit in the last week. I have one oscilating blowing between the lights and plants that is positioned between the passive air intake holes( 4 x 200mm ). I also have another one at the other end under the exhaust fan blowing between the top of the pot and the bottom of the branches. I usually have the ducting heating set at 19C(66.2F), but kept that off with no difference in humidity. And turned the fan to medium instead of low at lights out, didnt change a thing. Have even tried keeping the window shut instead of open a bit in the room the tent is. During the day the humidity sits between 45-50%, occasionally down to 40%.

F10werChyld I left the fan on Medium last night and didnt seem to make a difference unfortunately, so going to try leaving it on high tonight to see if that makes any difference. As for a dehumidifier, I was thinking about it even though I cant really afford it for two weeks due to just finishing setting up a cloning/propagation tent. But after reading Tersky comment about just exchanging humid air for more humid air, which makes sense to me, I think I will just have to keep trying other options as I cant afford one to do both areas at the moment.

[ChadWestport]

Lovely looking ladies, those things are really putting it on. The main problem I see is such a dense plant, that will always keep a higher humidity and even moreso within the plant. The buds being in such close contact will also generate a bit of heat around them and that too causes extra humidity along with all of the foliage transpiring. I've used dehumidifiers in the past to correct this issue. There are small tricks like the Damp-rid product for RVs and boats, but they are really only effective in smaller 2x2 tents. Larger size areas need the dehumidifier or if drawing air from a lung room, that room needs to have the humidity controlled and then the air intaking to your vent will also be at a good humidity.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks for the advise and compliment ChadWestport. Have done a bit of defoliation and seperation of the buds the best I can. RH was down 10% this morning. Going to look at some dehumidifiers tomorrow, something that is big enough to bring down the humidity in the room the tent is in, I am using passive intake for this grow. Cant really afford it this week, but think its going to be a good investment.

[MagicMike66]

Lovely looking plants. I’ve had similar issues in the past. I’d recommend upping the fan to max speed. A good dehumidifier will help lower rh too. I’ve just added mine and it’s reduced night time rh from high 80’s down to 40

[newbutoldgrower75]

MagicMike66 .. thank you for the compliment. I tried upping the fan speed to Max and it didnt really do much unfortunately. But after a bit of pruning and bud seperation, was able to get the humidity down a bit. Going to have a look at dehumidifiers tomorrow.

[Gluteous]

They look great. A small dehumidifier is a must. You're going to need it for drying, big time.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thank you Gluteous for the compliment and advice. Great idea using the dehunidifier to use while drying, thanks.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thank you everyone for your help and advise, I think I am getting ontop of the humidity problem in the grow room. Once I get the dehumidifier for the room I have the tent in tomorrow, I think I will be stressing a little less haha.
Noticed these popping up yesterday while doing some defoliation and seoerating the branches. My anxiety went through the roof when I first found them, the humidity was bad enough. Had my friend, who I got the clones from, drive nearly 2 hours to check my plants out for me. He said that he has been growing the same clones from a mother plant for two years and has always gotten foxtails. So after chatting to him, MeEasy over messages and doing a bit of research, my anxiety is back to only 50% haha. So Im now looking at getting a trimming machine to knock those foxtails off when I harvest, any advice/suggestions on these machines anyone?

[ChadWestport]

I'm not a fan of trimming machines. They are very rough on the flower and knock a lot of the precious trichomes off. Foxtails happen, sometimes genetics, sometimes too much nitrogen in flower and sometimes its just the room is too hot. But not to worry, they smoke too

[newbutoldgrower75]

ChadWestport feeling a bit better about the humidity and temperatures now, thanks. A lot of the leaves and bits that I have trimmed off since the 3rd week have had a lot of Trichomes on them and I have been putting them in the freezer until I harvested the girls. Should I have dried and cured them before freezing it? Just been saving it all up to give making oil a go.

[ChadWestport]

I've never actually froze any of it before. I know there is the "fresh frozen" extracts that cut the plant and bring it straight to a freezer to later make "live" extracts - https://wheresweed.com/blog/growing/...ozen-marijuana
But I imagine as long as the plant material isn't moosh you should be good. The trichome heads become very brittle when frozen and fall off easily, so take it out of the bag over whatever you are doing with it, whether that be edibles, dry sift or bubble hash.

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks for the advice and the link ChadWestport. I have only been freezing the what I have trimmed off so I could save it until I harvested the girls so I can use all the trim together to have a go at making oil. Thanks for your help buddy.

[SoOrbudgal]

You could use that trim newbutoldgrower75 why not ! Those temps are fine now also, we get the humidity now indoors bad where i'm at. That's my worry outdoors and in now. Immature seedy weed if that's what your thinking you may get with the foxtails or high heat times smoke is good. I've had many a long drawn out grow that foxtailed on top and lower half still shooting white hairs. You can do a " sequetial harvest" in sections take branches that are ripe leave rest to ripen. Will also ease the trapped air flow in the tent. Wet trim is how i do all my plants cause of fall harvest humidity. Best of luck, you can do this

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thanks SoOrbudgal thank you for your help, advice and encouragement, very much appreciated. Im looking forward to trying to make some oil out of the trim and smaller buds for the first time. The more I learn the more I might be able to help someone else on here down the track. The foxtails did stress me out a bit, and was actually going to start harvesting the girls because of some information that I had been reading on other sites awhile ago. Also the person who I got the clones off said to start harvesting as well. But someone on here who I have been messaging told me straight out not to, and Im glad they did. The girls have been filling out even more the laast couple of days after I gave them a bit of a defoliation and started spacing the buds out. I thank you Tersky MeEasy and a couple of others for giving me the push I needed to start defoliating during flowering, completely new thing to me. I have been thinking about doing a sequetial harvest as I can see some will be ready before others. I actually didnt think about it helping the air flow. I have a few smaller buds around 3 to 5 inches below the rest in the middle of the canopy that arent doing much but making the canopy more dense. The buds would be lucky to dry up to a half gram to a gram. Would it affect the girls at all if I harvested some of these now? It would help with air flow and help to prevent mold/bud rot Im guessing, what are your thoughts on that. Sorry for the long comment, Im just trying to think of ways to break up how dense the canopy is a bit more. Cheers.

[SoOrbudgal]

Go ahead and do that harvest won't hurt and use it for decarb and baking or whatever? You can comment long as you want, a extra space between paragraphs help me and others focus ( well it's me my overdone eyes ) but i can read whatever you write LOL

[newbutoldgrower75]

Thank you SoOrbudgal the girls are looking better now the canopies arent so dense and the air flow is much better. I will make sure I break up the 'paragraphs' I am writing in the future lol, sorry about that. Cheers.