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?

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