Why are My Weed Plants Not Budding (What Can You Do)?
This is indeed a problem, if your marijuana plants are not budding. Let’s face it, it’s all about growing big full buds that make growing your own pot worthwhile. That’s where most of the THC in your plants is found, so that should be what you want growing. Sometimes though, things just don’t work out and buds don’t appear when they should. It doesn’t mean that’s okay or acceptable.
So, why are my weed plants not budding? The main reasons buds won’t grow on a marijuana plant are because you have a male plant, the timing of your lighting is not conducive to buds growing, the lights are not the correct spectrum, it’s not time for buds to grow yet, it’s too warm and your pot plants are staying in the vegetative state.
Now you know some of the most common reasons buds sometimes do not start to grow. Luckily though, these are all easy to correct. Below we will go into further detail on the reasons your pot plant isn’t budding and what you can do to fix it. Let’s get started.
Your Weed Plant is a Male
Congrats, it is a male plant! Just kidding, if you have a male weed plant, get rid of it. Unless you are looking for seeds there is no good reason to keep the plant. When a male weed plant presents itself, sometimes it’s hard to determine until you can easily identify the seed sacs. Most newbies to the hobby will think it is the beginning of buds growing. But it’s not. If it’s a male, discard it and start over.
The Timing and the Spectrum of the Lighting isn’t Right for Budding
Regarding timing, when talking about marijuana, there are two stages of growth and lighting requirements for those stages. First, there is the vegetative stage when you will have the lights on for typically 18 hours a day. You might adjust this time when you become more experienced however, using 18 hours a day at the start of your plant’s life will be perfect.
Then, once you feel the plant is ready to be flipped over to the flowering stage (which is when the buds grow), you can set your lights to be on for only 12 hours a day. This length of time mimics the fall season and when the plants will naturally start to produce buds.
I usually switch to the 12/12 timing after there are at least 3 nodes of leaves on my plant. Nodes are the locations where the leaves/branches grow out from the stalk of the plant. Depending on what variety of weed you are growing, you might be able to find recommendations online as to when is best to switch from veg to flower stage.
I haven’t done this myself yet. However, I have heard that some growers will reduce the amount of lighting to 10 hours of lights on and 14 hours off to really force the flowering to begin.
Regarding how to use the correct light spectrum on your plants, it is important to know that:
- Blue light is better for the vegetative stage.
- Red light is bet for the flowering stage.
With that said, it is good to have full spectrum lights, if possible. Then, you are completely covered. I have even used compact fluorescent bulbs to grow big buds without even considering what light spectrum with great success. So, as important as it is to know about the blues and reds, you can still grow nice plants without worrying to much about it.
How long after changing lighting schedule should there be signs of flowering?
It’s Just Not Time for Buds to Start Growing Yet
I know how exciting it can be to flip your lights from 18 hours a day to 12 in anticipation of seeing some flowers, then buds start to grow. If it doesn’t happen fast enough, you get concerned there is a problem. There might not be a problem, though.
There could be a few different reasons the plant hasn’t started to flower yet:
- Have you given enough time for the weed plant to go from vegetative stage to flowering stage and then start actually growing? Depending on the variety, it can take up to 2 to 3 weeks before there is any visible sign of change. If after 4 weeks you haven’t noticed anything, I would then be concerned and would consider one of the following options.
- Depending on the strain, it just might be too soon for flowering. Indica can flower fairly quickly. On average, you can have Indica producing flowers between 45 and 65 days after growth begins. Sativa, on the other hand, take a bit longer maybe due to how much larger these plants typically are than Indica. A Sativa will typically take anywhere from 60 to 90 days before flowering.
- Lastly, maybe the plants think it is still summer even though there is less light. Try mimicking the fall weather by reducing the grow tent/room’s temperature. Also, check the humidity of the room and reduce it, if possible. Use an inline ventilation system to get the moist air out. Another trick is to turn the lights off anywhere from 24 hours to 48 hours. This will ‘shock’ the plants and should most definitely start the flowering stage.
Another tip for you is, if you haven’t had luck with manipulating your plants into growing buds, then why not try purchasing auto-flower seeds? You should still follow the same lighting directions as laid out here, but you won’t have any issues for buds growing, as these plants do it automatically for you. Well, most of the time, anyway!
There is Light in the Grow Room When There Should be Complete Darkness
I know when my plants are in the dark, I really want to have a peak at them to see how they are doing. I used to take a flashlight and figured that would be okay to have a look that way. Well, I was wrong, light is obviously light and marijuana plants do much better when they have pitch black darkness.
You can run into a couple of issues doing this:
- If the plants get any sort of light exposure during the darkness periods, they could just revert back to the vegetative stage. This has and does happen. I have seen pictures from other growers asking why new leaves are growing above where flowers seemed to be starting.
- Do what you can to give your plants complete darkness and they should be happy and produces some buds for you. Make sure the lights on is at a time when you would be most likely wanting to watch the plants. Believe me, you will want to do this.
- I haven’t had this happen to me and fingers crossed it never does. The plant could hermaphrodite. This means a female plant could grow seeds and affecting the final product. Nobody wants that.
Fertilizing Can Encourage Flowers/Buds to Start on Marijuana
Fertilizing your weed plants is a good idea. If you are not aware, you can purchase fertilizer for the vegetative growth phase as well as the blooming or flowering growth phase. I recommend you fertilize even if your grow is doing well. This will produce better results for you.
I can recommend this BIG BUD FERTILIZER on Amazon, if you want to try something that will maximize the size of your buds.
Some growers wonder if using Miracle-Gro fertilizer is okay for marijuana plants. I happen to have an article on the subject. Please check it out over HERE when you are done reading this article.
Conclusion
There really isn’t much left to say other than to recap a bit. Make sure you know what you are growing and how things like lighting, room temperature can affect what happens with your plants. It’s usually something very simple that can make a huge difference in the outcome of what kind of crop you get to harvest.
Good luck with your grow!
Related Growing Marijuana World Articles
Growing Marijuana Indoors for Beginners
Can You Get High off Pot Leaves?