Ajagunle's NFT White Widow Auto X Sweet Afghani Delicious Under CFL - Closet Grow

[ajagunle]

Grow room is 42"H 32"W 22"D.
Lit with 300w blue cfl 64000k for veg, in a sunmate shade, and carbon filter take the top 10".
NFT reservoir and tray, 8" high.
About 28" in the middle for Mohan Ram.

What the Breeder says

This genetic variation is based on the selection of White Widow which we have crossed with our sweet selection of S.A.D S1. White Widow gives a fresh, floral, fruity touch to the sweet musk of our SAD. The result is an ideal plant, bursting with flavour of Indian predominance. It has spectacular production of resin crystals and a strong and lasting effect. It blooms quickly, easy to cultivate and it has an exquisite aroma.

Indica: 85% / Sativa: 15%
Production: Medium-High
Flowering Time Indoor: 8 weeks
Harvest Outdoor: End of September
THC: 18-21%; CBD: 1,4%; CBN: 0,6%;

5 Clones were taken on 23 April, from a mother 5 weeks into flower, I had just read the cloning advice and thought 'What the hell'

Clones were cut as low as possible off the mother, future Airbud, dunked in rooting gel put into peat plugs, well misted and sealed with plastic wrap in a bucket, placed under an 11w CFL.

3 weeks later there was evidence of white roots, even though the tops looked the worse for wear.

Put into 4" rockwool cubes and watered with harvested rain water. This was back on the 7th May, day 56 of flower for the mother.

Having now read some entries about the trychomes and clear/milky/amber it was obvious that the Breeders 56 days flowering was an 'Ideal World'scenario, so I orderered a magnifier and waited.

I never got to see amber, but 3 weeks later I had to crop anyway so the poorly looking clones went into the grow room and I've got 3 or 4 months to practice using the magnifier.

 

[ajagunle]

Re: Ajagunle's NFT White Widow Auto X Sweet Afghani Delicious under CFL, closet grow

So much can change in a week.

After just a couple of days under lights and in the tank and I had could not access the plants for 5 days. What would I find?
I started with 3 clones taken from a mother well into flower, all rooted, and all have some evidence of fresh green growth.

The rate of growth shifts up a gear when the roots get down to the nft tray, and all the damaged leaves removed; varying levels of spasticity, more often than not, restrict my safe and successful use of sharp implements!



Unsure about plans to top/fim, I always plan to, but….A big motivation for writing my journal, sharing a picture of a neglected child generally shames me into action.

Lowered the screen to 5” above the rockwool cubes giving about 16” for stretch during flowering.

Since starting to lurk and sit at the back of some fantastic lessons on growing your own meds I started to get tooled up for the job;

• I half-heartedly entered the world of ph testing. I am amazed at the determination of this Weed to complete its flowering cycle. Abandoned/left to their own devices for 5 days and what I had left at 5.6ph was now 4.4! Not sure why ph drops. Harvested rainwater at 7.4, veging nutes lowers this to 5.7, added to the res brings it to4.5 so 15ml of silicon+ to res of roughly 20l brings it 5.6. (becoming obsessed with the basic science known about growing Meds.)
• I discovered how uncool cool fluorescent lights really are. Cooltubes are 6” away and cooking at 95f, so raised light and directed two 3” clip-on fans to try and disperse heat, and removed crispy leaves,

• Measured tds for the first time, with manufacture’s recommended strength of Nutes for seedlings, res is 850ppm, I have written down 500-600ppm as ideal for seedlings, could it be too Hot? Could this result in distorted curled leaf? But pale green of plants suggests to me that they need more nutes.

Need to check out more frugal ph up method.

Could the few days in an acid bath have resulted in the distorted curled leaf?

 

[ajagunle]

Re: Ajagunle's NFT White Widow Auto X Sweet Afghani Delicious under CFL, closet grow

Keeping my first journal must be benefiting this generation of young ladies. Encouraging me to check the readings on my new toys at least twice a day.

Changes to the height of the light and adjusting the direction of the clip-on fans has lowered the max temp down to 82f, still a bit high. Might put the cf filter on rollers, thinking if it is the same height as the light it will draw off some of the heat.

Ph has dropped from 5.6 to 4.4 in 48hrs. Got some ph up and diluted .5ml in 500ml neutral tap water. Adding all of it, first in 5ml syringes and then 10ml syringes, and 200ml in a jar, only raised to 5.4, so 3l of rainwater brought it up to 5.6. Will dilute 5ml in 500ml water tomorrow.

Unless any readers advise me any differently I am assuming the leaf distortion on new growth on plant2 is due to the low ph, now at least 5.6 twice a day so hoping new growth will be normal. Roots are now growing out the bottom of the cube.

Plant1, the first to get going, has a leading grow tip that I will attempt to fim.

Plant3 developed a new fresh leaf low down the stem, not from a node but like a green alien slowly squeezing out of the stem, so I cut all the green tinged with brown from the top, hope it can concentrate on growth rather than pointless repair.

TDS is now 730ppm, diluted res with 3l water with no nutes.
Lighting is GLR
Res is 66f and with bubbler.

 

[ajagunle]

Re: Ajagunle's NFT White Widow Auto X Sweet Afghani Delicious under CFL, closet grow

What a disaster!

Absolutely determined to ‘get it right’ and have my first ‘straight forward’ grow!!
I hadn’t taken human error into account.
Two weeks into the veg glr schedule and trying to get some decent photos and thought I could detect the start of pistils! I had set the Timer to have the anti-siesta for Mondays only! It took me two weeks to realise.

Kinda knocked the motivation for keeping the journal up to date, and the journal is there to keep me on the one true path, or guide me back to it.

I thought procrastination had taken my opportunity to Top/fim, or, I have a new opportunity to top plant1, the biggest, whilst 2 & 3 catch-up. Attempted to fim all the growing tips a week ago, and cut out all the evidence of flowering, gave up on removing all the ‘pistilly’ bits, and photographic evidence exists that suggests nothing as refined or as intimate as fimming took place. The next practice opportunity is only a few months away.
On a positive note I have re-learnt that inanimate objects only do as they’re told! Even a paperclip needs to be set up properly. Maybe I’m over medicating, or losing cognitive thought, lol.

Now I’ve got all the measuring devices, amazed at how much ph up I am having to add most days, their predecessors must have been growing in acid before each res change, and to be honest, they weren’t very frequent, can’t get my slow mind round what is turning the res acid, and why it isn’t consistent. Any thoughts?

 

[ajagunle]

Re: Ajagunle's NFT White Widow Auto X Sweet Afghani Delicious under CFL, closet grow

Plants numbered from the left, plant1 has reached the screen and I have started to spread branches out. Bent the main stem to keep it low, nice thick knuckle has developed.

I have a double shade with two 300w cfl bulbs, red on the left, switched off, and blue on the right, a 15w clip on bulb as supplementary light on the left.

Centre is plant2, although roots spreading out of the cube base, growth has been very slow, some distorted leaves, possibly from allowing ph to creep up to 4.4

On the right is plant3, I didn’t have to wait a couple of months for my next practice at fim, time will tell.

Changed the reservoir today, 12l of harvested rainwater, 7.4ph, with 40ml0f VitaLink easy.

"VitaLink easy gives you simple growing, with great plant results. Ideal whether you are a new or experienced grower looking for low-maintenance growing.

Unique binding compound enables everything your plants need to be supplied in one bottle.
Unique binding compound reduces pH fluctuations in your tank/reservoir.
Phosphite for faster growth and maximum yield.
Phosphite is proven to reduce the risk of plant disease.
Cobalt and nickel for better overall plant health and development.
The importance of cobalt and nickel are often not understood and/or overlooked by a lot of growers. However, university studies have shown that both of these microelements have an extremely beneficial effect on your plant's health and development, which is why they are both in VitaLink easy!

VitaLink easy is superior to other one-part nutrients because it is based on a unique phosphite/phosphate formula, which is proven to boost growth and yield and was developed with a leading university"

Also added 1ml of VitaLink BioPlus "An effective root booster and stress reliever. Proven to encourage fast rooting and reduce transplant shock."

2ml of VitaLink BioPac "A powerful bio-stimulant which boosts nutrient uptake and prevents root disease."

And 10ml of Hygrozyme
"Hygrozyme is a genuine innovation in enzyme based products which breaks down old root mass to allow for and stimulate new growth. Manufactured in an entirely unique way, Hygrozyme offers growers a number of advantages over competing products. Completely free of bacteria, it has a virtually unlimited shelf life and carries no risk of introducing living bacteria into your system. "

Once all the additives are added the ph is 6.4, I lowered to 5.6 with 1.5ml of ph down. Reservoir temp of 69f and tds of 970ppm, wondering if the pale green new growth is suggesting upping the tds?
Also started spraying the leaves with VitaLink Foliar, which is a "unique calcium foliar feed which increases the strength of your plants’ cell walls, leading to overall stronger and healthier plants". Maybe the cause of the light spots on the leaves?

I have copied and pasted all the sales info on the additives, and have used reasonably successfully before, not sure what I could improve nutrient-wise as nft appears to be a niche area, maybe I have started the hobby with ‘Betamax’ equipment.

 

[exile19]

read Cannabis Nutrient And Deficiency Table - Great!

 

[ajagunle]

Thank you Exile. Another page for the manual.

All plants are now up to the screen, plant1 has 7 growing tips at screen height, so able to start spreading, which is a very satisfying milestone

Plant2 is the smallest, and only just beginning to show undistorted leaves.

Plant3 was topped several days ago, not sure if I'll get more than 2 tips, and due to severe lack of space it is difficult to get a decent photo.

Topped up the reservoir with 6l rainwater with 40ml Vitalink Easy growth, 8ml Hygrozyme, 2ml BioPac, this gave ph of 6.8, but the reservoir had gone down from 5.8 yesterday to 4.7. Added the 6l and this gave a ph of 5.2. As the ph goes down about 1.3 almost every day, I added 3ml of 10:1 diluted ph up, resulting in 5.9.

I am checking the grow room twice a day and am beginning to notice a pattern in the ph changes. During the 1hour of glr light I am having to adjust ph with between 3 & 11ml ph up, and at the beginning of the 12 hour day, ph hasn't changed. I might change the clock so I can re-balance ph at the end of their day, and spray foliar and manganese as the lights go out.

 

[ajagunle]

All 3 plants are now up to the screen, but only plant1 needs spreading. The stems are definitely stiffening since the foliar spray, having to slightly crush the stem to bend it under the screen, probably a good thing!

One of the tips of plant3 looks like my cut a couple of days ago might result in more than 2 new shoots.

Just before lights-out ph 5.4, 2.5ml ph up set it to 5.8. Beginning of hour of sun in the middle of the night, ph down to 4.6, 6ml ph up and back to 5.8.

Switched on the left hand 300w red cfl today and removed the clip on. Not really to be trusted with delicate breakables like large light bulbs anymore and I figured having a blue and a red was a suitable compromise.

Planning to add 3 low down lights when I start raising the main lights. Thinking of blue supplements under the red bulb and red under the blue, with red in the middle.

 

[exile19]

looks good

 

[ajagunle]

looks good

Thankyou! They're getting there.

 

[ajagunle]

Plant3 is now up to screen toot toot! Plant1 has 5 growing tips that I am able to spread under the screen, plant3 has one and I have just gently bent the ‘crown’ apart on plant2, no new distorted leaves.

Temperature has peaked at 95f so I’ve raised the light an Inch and introduced co2 production (which may also act as a heat sink),

intending to imagineer how to put the extract fan and CF on eezee tollers so it draws directly at the level of the light, or find room for another fan.

Plant2 is the only one with roots I can see, nice and white and almost at the edge of the NFT tray, as plant2 is the least developed I’m comfortable to assume the others are doing the same, or better.

Ph dropped to 4.4 in 24hrs, 8ml of up to raise to 6.2, hopefully stay in the sweet zone for a bit longer. Humidity is ranging between 30% & 55%, reservoir temp of 68f.
.
Help yourself to Stem Ginger and Almond shortbread!

 

[ajagunle]

Ph dropped to 4.4 by ‘dawn’ this morning! Re-set to 6.2 and I started on Google!

‘A drastic pH drop like this can only be bacterial.’
‘can you get any crushed sea shells or coral sand from an aquatic shop, or otherwise some agricultural lime? Get about a pound and hang it in a sock in the main tank.’
Not to worry if you can't get coral sand, etc. You could even use some plain wood ash!’
‘I'm gonna get some H2O2 today - this site says that normal use is 30-50 ppm, and more for 'cleanup' (0.5ml/litre or 5ml/litre)’
‘I suggest you look for dead roots, rubbish, etc.’

I cleaned the pump filter and yes, there was green stringy threads building up in the filter, have ordered Oxyplus, which I have read will stabilise ph for up to a week . I added 1ml extra of BioPac and BioPlus to the res to try & keep the roots clean, also added 10ml extra Hygrozyme for the same reason. At least I have a reason for raising ph.


Temps are creeping up to 91f so I have introduced a third fan, running out of space.

 

[ajagunle]

A clip on fan and the planned introduction of 3 more CFLs will reduce the space available for plants, let's hope this is a case of less is more, less bud but higher quality. The low-wattage clip-on spotlight I used for cloning is certainly benefiting the lower branches.

Removed as much green 'algae' from around the Grodan cube as possible, and in a Eureka moment it became obvious what the problem was; light falling on the tray, RTFM!!!

More modesty required, put a veil over it.

According to calculations on a Homebrew forum, 1kg of sugar, when fermented will produce 113.8l of CO2 at room temperature, 1kg of sugar fermented in 1 gallon of fruit juice will also produce 6 bottles at 14% ABV or 28% proof Wine, of questionable quality, some of it rather good.

 

[ajagunle]

Oxyplus delivered and 6ml added to res (which was roughly 6l) and as much greening spreader mat removed as possible. Ph set 6.1. 12 hours later ph was still at 6.1, cool.

Recharged res with
BioPac 2ml
BioPlus 1m
VL Grow easy 48ml
Hygrozyme 12ml
Silicon+ 6ml
Oxyplus 3ml
Rain water at 7.2ph 6l
BioPac and BioPlus are the healthy root elixirs and the stress relievers , given at full strength. I have increased the main grow nutes (grow easy)up to full strength. I read loads of info on a whole variety of websites regarding the rapid ph dropping and on a Tomato & Chilli hobby blog found a whole forum dedicated to this exact problem, and came across a thread recommending an initial application of double strength Hygrozyme. On the same thread was also the advice to include Silicon at every res top-up and the same for Oxyplus.
Having read about the importance of ph, I was aiming for 5.8 rather than 6.1 in the knowledge it would drop to 4.4 12 hrs later.Useful chart

Ph set to 5.8. and I will check in 5.5hrs if algae problem dealt with.

Temperatures have been 91f max under the red bulb (left hand side) and 89f under the blue blue bulb (rhs). I have 4 clip on fans blowing across the bulbs and would struggle to get temps any lower. Found a good explanation of temps;

“Night temperatures should be kept above 60 degrees to prevent stress. It is preferable during flowering to have a night temperature drop of 10-20 degrees to stimulate flowering hormones and reduce stem elongation.

If you are supplementing your grow space with additional carbon dioxide (CO2), your target daytime temperature should be between 80 - 90 degrees (F), until the last two weeks of flowering when daytime temps should be kept about 10 degrees lower and CO2 can be reduced to adjust for the lower metabolic rate of the mature plant.

While one should always make an effort to maintain temperatures below 85 degrees (F), cannabis can handle higher temperatures and you're probably not going to ruin your crop if your grow room circulation to prevent the heat from building up in hot spots and burning your plant more than necessary. Placing a fan in line with the top of your canopy and blowing toward your light can help prevent excess burning during peak temperatures. If you do notice serious burn occurring on the tops of your plant, you're going to have to either add more ventilation to your grow room, an air conditioner,or just move your plants farther away from the light.”

This makes me feel quite comfortable as long as I can keep producing CO2. Plants look fairly happy.

Whilst I am still able to get my arms to all corners of the grow area I bent as many growing tips as possible to start filling the screen and removed any shading leaves. Quite a jungle now.

Re-checked ph and batteries on my probe are dead. There is an old fashioned hardware shop in town, only a mile or so, there and back in an hour, set off and the heavens open! Sitting in the pouring rain for an hour is no fun but alternative is delivered in 3 days! So, an hour or so later ph is still at 5.8, fingers crossed!

 

[ajagunle]

After 5.5 hours of darkness and 2 hours after sunrise I checked ph, OxyPlus appears to have worked its little magic, ph stable at 5.8!!

Under the screen the branches are growing parallel to each other, if the main stem is the centre of the clock, I have 2 branches at 3 o'clock, 2 at 7 o'clock etc. so I have manually, or to be more modern, digitally, 'splayed' the shoots, so none are parallel. Surprising how rigid they are already. At this stage the plants almost react positively to a bit of 'roughing up'! Plant1 has a knuckle where I vigorously bent it that is almost twice the thickness of the original stalk.

Got properly medicated for what turned out to be rather an enjoyable task, and 'worried' and bent all the lower growing tips not receiving direct 'sun ' light up to the surface of the canopy, it took a lot longer than I thought, perfect tedious task for major cerebral medication.


My last run was with one plant and no measuring equipment, very surprised at the amount of effort to get ph right, previous plants must have got to the finishing line through pure determination, and would have crossed the finishing line exhausted and near to death, getting some proper TLC this time. Let's hope their cremation will be followed with a very enjoyable wake.

Wondering if there is 'grow room etiquette'? Very tempted to have a contemplative doobie whilst grooming, am I allowed to use that word anymore in polite company?

 

[ajagunle]

The screen is about 50% full. Max. temp has risen to 97f for maybe 12 hours when a fan stopped. Replaced and notice CO2 production is down to 2 bubbles every 3 seconds, not sure when I will put replacements in but I have 2 ready to go.

Still separating growing shoots and removing shading leaves, but most I am able to tuck out the way, I have tried using paper clips to hold them out of the way but decided that it is definitely a job for 2 working hands. It is quite a therapeutic activity, especially when I remind myself why, exposing as many tips to the light, removing only the most troublesome leaves.

Ph is now going up slightly every 24hrs, up to 6.2 today & 2.5ml of ph down sets it back to 5.8. I got a small bottle of ph down free with the NFT tray so I assume it is normally required. As opposed to ph up I mean.

 

[ajagunle]

Day 48 under glr growing light schedule, screen is now about 70% full and the reservoir needs a refill, so convenient time to switch to 12/12.

The plan is to take 5 clone cuttings 7 days after switch and to keep all stretch under the screen for 14 days and then allow to fill the available space.

Overhead cfl lights are red on the left and blue on the right. There is just enough space to include 2 supplementary 45w red lights and a 30w blue light at screen level. Red under blue, blue under red and red in the middle, clear?

This is my second flowering of Mohan Ran in such a confined space and the big learning point from last time is the return on my investment of grooming time during first 2 weeks of flower, so need to be mentally ready for grooming every day, properly!

Putting switch date into my feeding schedule tells me that 12 weeks of flowering will end on 11th of October, first cure to celebrate All Hallows Eve!

May not be obvious in the photos but the fan leaves only have one finger, occasionally 3, I wonder if they are adapting to their cramped space,

 

[ajagunle]

Morning of Day 2 of flowering. I did not drain the res so the girls will still have access to veg nutes, I am sure I have heard or read that for the first week of flowering it is a good idea to have ¼ veg nutes & ¾ bloom nutes, any suggestions/advice would be appreciated.

Ph had dropped to 4.4 by dawn, and without the anti -siesta I can only check once a day, at the moment. Tucked all growth that I could under the screen and then it was time for the daily ‘reveal’. Carefully tucking fan leaves under the branches and allowing as much light in as possible to the side stems will help develop them past the air-bud stage. I Removed 6 or 7 single-fingered leaves that I could not tuck out the way.

To make sure all the grow tips are exposed to the sun I am considering removing the screen and then manicuring the canopy.
Still no 5 fingered leaves.

 

[GigaGrew]

subbed..watching you from the shadows

 

[ajagunle]

Cheers GiGaBaNe, feel free with constructive criticism!