YourStonedBuddy's South African genetics

pretty much normal because the COB i'm guessing has a 90° reflector which focuses the light and therefore the heat. the light is good for the plant but the heat not so much, especially if it's actively cooled maybe double check everything is working correctly, if so then yes it is normal for the focused light to generate focused heat. hope this helps !

hey there stonedbuddy, basically "the pistil method" is not really a good indicator because after the chop anyway all the pistils turn brown. The only way to really tell is a 40x magnification minimum 60x is more comfortable, and look at the trichomes and base it off that. I had a really long gorilla glue, and at the chop it had mostly white pistils but fully cloudy trichomes and after over 3 months of flowering it was an "all up"weed... so check the trichomes, not the pistils.