Bloom lasting far too long

Auto508

New Member
How's it going everyone? So I was hoping that you guys could help me troubleshoot some issues with my indoor soil grows. I'm currently on my 3rd indoor grow. This is my set up:

Veg Tent-
-4'x2' tent
-carbon filter
-multiple small fans
-600w full spectrum LED
-bag of exhale 365 co2
-9 plants in 1.5gal air pots
-large inline fan on roof
-use Pro Mix BX soil

Bloom Tent-
-4'x4' Tent
-carbon filter
-multiple small fans
-1x 1000w led & 2x 150w UFO leds
-bag of exhale 365 co2
-9 plants transplanted into 5gal air pots
-large inline fan on roof
-Pro Mix BX soil

Nutrients / Feeding Schedule-
-All water is tap water filtered thru a small boy with kdf upgrade, then ph'd
-Advanced Nutrients every third feeding
-plain ph'd water every third feeding
-Either cal/mag, molasses, great white or compost tea every third feeding
-vegging plants are foliar fed with photosynthesis plus once a week
-I only feed when the top soil is dry (normally every other day)

So here's my issue. I have been pretty happy with my vegging plants. They grow well and I normally leave them in veg for 6-8 weeks. I also normally top the plants twice. Then I switch them into 5 gal air pots and put them into bloom when they are roughly 2-3ft. Even at the start of my bloom cycle everything goes great. My problem is that both of my previous bloom cycles have lasted around 13-15 weeks. The first grow I didn't know what strains I had, but knew they were all different as I got the seeds from a few different people. The second grow was 2 super mazar's, 3 blueberries, 1 special queen #1 & 3 chronic monster xxl's (all seeds were feminized on the second grow). I, like I'm sure many newby growers do, purchased generic led grow lights from amazon/eBay.

I'm currently on week 3 of bloom of my 3rd grow, and things are about where they normally are at week 3. Tons of bud sites and plants look happy and healthy. I know one of my issues is most likely the generic led's that I'm using. So I just purchased 2x Mars Hydro Reflector 96's today to replace the generic led's that I have now. Those two lights will be going into my 4x4 tent. I also didn't start another round yet, so I'm also using my 2x4 veg tent for bloom. So this time I transplanted 2 of my plants into 12.5gal air pots and put those two in my 2x4 tent and I put the other 7 into 5gal air pots in my 4x4 tent. So I'm hoping that between giving the plants a little more space and upgrading my lights will help with my long bloom cycles. I understand that some strains just take longer than others, but including this grow that I'm currently on, I have gone thru 12 different strains. I don't normally even get cloudy trichomes until week 9-11, and when I do harvest around weeks 13-15 I cut when I'm at 10% amber if I'm lucky.

If anyone actually took the time to read this long winded post, and has any ideas or have experienced this same situation I would really appreciate some feedback or ideas of why my plants are taking so long to finish. Thank you for your time!
 

meetjoeblow

Well-Known Member
The easiest fix would be to change to indica dominant strains. Cutting your veg time a little can help (bigger plants can sometimes take a little more time to finish).
 

Keith Stoner

Well-Known Member
The easiest fix would be to change to indica dominant strains. Cutting your veg time a little can help (bigger plants can sometimes take a little more time to finish).
I agree in picking your strains carefully, also what lighting schedule are you using, plants do most of their bloom growth in the dark from my experience, also what is the humidity staying around in your grow area, high humidity can cause longer blooming cycles
 

meetjoeblow

Well-Known Member
I agree in picking your strains carefully, also what lighting schedule are you using, plants do most of their bloom growth in the dark from my experience, also what is the humidity staying around in your grow area, high humidity can cause longer blooming cycles
And lets not forget stressing the plants slows down growth as well
 

Ghost of Davy Jones

Well-Known Member
The easiest fix would be to change to indica dominant strains. Cutting your veg time a little can help (bigger plants can sometimes take a little more time to finish).
I agree. Some Indicas finish as early as 7 weeks, but most take 8. Good luck on finding a solution bud.
 

Auto508

New Member
I agree in picking your strains carefully, also what lighting schedule are you using, plants do most of their bloom growth in the dark from my experience, also what is the humidity staying around in your grow area, high humidity can cause longer blooming cycles
Normally my tent is somewhere in the 50-60% range. I'm on a 12/12 light schedule.
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
all of my strains show amber eventually unless abuse, maybe I didnt grow some of those newer strains yet?

led lights do not penetrate or photosynthesize as efficiently as hid lights ime, taking longer to finish .
if op is watering while the bottom of the pots are still damp=over watering, this lessens root zone 02, slows maturation.
adding calmag when its not needed will do the same=stalls from over feeding
molasses changes root zone efficiency, it belongs in the compost not in the potted plant, and is not consumed by the plant.
if you want to change it up a bit, then change it up a bit. I suggest following the AN directions and skipping any extra feelings/feedings
 

growin-Jables

Well-Known Member
20170903_201213.jpg 20170903_201129.jpg 20170903_201110.jpg I mean if your plants seem healthy all the way through bloom and its literally just the fact your having to wait 12-14 weeks to harvest, its probably becauae your choosing sativa dom strains. Try purchasing some good quality indicia strains. I'm currently growing a quicksand kush thats indica dom. Only on day 35 ( end of 5th week ) and am looking like im just a couple weeks away from harvesting
 
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