Organic Soil - White Fire - CLW LED - Grow Journal - 2014

[drcannabi]

Hello,

This is a medicinal marijuana grow journal. This is my first grow journal and 4th grow so I have much to learn. I am following the moderator's template. If I can add anything helpful please let me know. My hope is that with your help I'll be able to become self sufficient and control the quality of my medicine. If you have any questions or comments I am grateful.

My current grow is Sensi Seeds Shiva Skunk. I germed all ten seeds and ended up with 4 females and 6 males. I culled all the males. I gave 2 of the females to my mentor and he says that they are AMAZING! He's been growing for 30 years so that's a good testament to the genetics of this strain. Once these are finished the White Fire fems will be going into the cabinet to begin flowering.

QUESTION: For anyone with 1st hand knowledge of the WiFi strain. Does she respond well to topping, training? Would a ScrOG improve yield? Should I leave them to grow natural (no training)?

Here are my Shiva Skunks at 4 weeks.

On to the current grow. Here are the details following the Grow Journal template here: How to Make a Grow Journal

Strain: White Fire aka WiFi

Type: Hybrid 50% Sativa 50% Indica

Stage: Veg — germinated on 12/18/2013

Environment: Indoor stealth closet grow

Medium: Organic Soil

Soil Mix: 2.5 cu ft Organic bag soil + 1 cu ft Worm Castings + ½ cu ft perlite + 1 cup per cu ft each of Dolomite Lime, Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal and Azomite + 2 cups per cu ft Kelp Meal. For germinating seeds I use an Organic bag seed and clone mix. (Not sure if naming brands is ok).

Pot size: 4" for seeds and clones. Transplant to 1 gal then to their resting place in 5 gallon smart pots (I think they're called). They are made of some type of material and seem to work well for me.

Lighting: 1x 200 watt LED (actual draw 150) + 1x 400 watt LED (actual draw 370 with UVB side lighting turned on) + 1x 42 watt CFL + 3x 22 watt T5s. The LEDs have cooling fans in them.

Cabinet Temp: Lights off 60 — 65 degrees. Lights on 73 — 80

Cabinet Size: 2' deep x 3' wide x 7' high

Humidity: 40 — 65

PH: Soil stays around 6.8. I adjust water to 6.2 — 6.5 after adding ferts

Pests: None so far

Watering: As needed. I use a soil moisture detector to judge when the plants should be watered

Ferts: Liquid bat guano, liquid kelp, Epsom salt, liquid fish, Humeric acid, Cal-Mag, Molasses

Germination method: Soaked in a glass of water overnight then planted thumbnail deep in soil. They sprouted in 2 and 5 days respectively. The big one was first the small one came up a few days later

I veg in a 18"x 33"x37" Grow box with a SunBlaze 2' 4 bulb light and a couple CFLs. I have a Small Can Lite charcoal filter and inline fan in the veg box. I also have a 9" fan to move the air. It stays between 70 and 80 year round. I can bump the temp by adjusting the inline fan speed. Pretty sweet actually and a definite bonus I wasn't expecting

I flower in a 2'x3'x7' converted storage cabinet. I bought it pre made. I have replaced the crappy 70 watt UFO LEDs with some newer 5 watt diode LEDs. I'm running 628 actual watts in the flower cab. That is 104 watts per square ft. I would be happy to harvest .5 Grams per watt, and with your help maybe more

OK, On to the pics!

Seeds:

2 Weeks after Germination:

3 Weeks after Germination:

4 Weeks after germination:

I'm looking forward to all your help and support.
JJ

 

[soo675]

Im in your plants are doing quite awesome sir

 

[drcannabi]

Thanks Soo,

I just checked out your stealth grow. the way you get those things to stay so low is pretty awesome. I'll be learning from that.

JJ

 

[drcannabi]

I just snapped some pics of the Sensi Shiva Skunk at 33 Days flower. They are very strong and healthy plants. They have been super easy to grow. The short (Indica leaning) pheno smells just like forest berries and grape Bubble Yum covered in frosting. The tall (Sativa leaning) pheno smells like sweet skunk. I don't smell the Northern lights in either of these phenos but that's ok. They both smell awesome. The weird thing is, unless I'm pruning, I haven't had to turn on my carbon filter at all this grow. That may change soon as they're picking up steam. The bud sites are still very small and I'm hoping they really start packing it on this last 4 - 5 weeks of flower.

Here's some picks:

Has anyone else grown this strain? The Indica pheno is actually starting to turn purple. I wasn't expecting that, but I'm not complaining.

JJ

 

[MurrJake420]

I just snapped some pics of the Sensi Shiva Skunk at 33 Days flower. They are very strong and healthy plants. They have been super easy to grow. The short (Indica leaning) pheno smells just like forest berries and grape Bubble Yum covered in frosting. The tall (Sativa leaning) pheno smells like sweet skunk. I don't smell the Northern lights in either of these phenos but that's ok. They both smell awesome. The weird thing is, unless I'm pruning, I haven't had to turn on my carbon filter at all this grow. That may change soon as they're picking up steam. The bud sites are still very small and I'm hoping they really start packing it on

JJ

I noticed your new to growing as well, but one major difference you already know a lot. I know pretty much everything you can research, but now I just have questions that a computer cannot solve. So I was hoping you could help me out, I want to start a small grow tent 3x3 or 4x4. I was planning on Metal Halide for veg and High Pressure Sodium for flowering. And I know that a 600 watt would be adequate for both 3x3 and 4x4, but I was wondering if getting a 1000 would prove drastically more beneficial. I am probably going to change my grow medium to what you have, I saw those nutrients all through my research. But now I am toying with the idea of led lights for my grow. Just because they would probably save me on my electricity bill, and I just thought since they don't heat too much they could be closer to the buds maybe 8-10. I was wondering how led lights have worked for you, and if you have any light you could shed for me. I just want to start small to master the basics and then invest in a larger scale grow.

Thank You So Much ! Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

[drcannabi]

Hi MurrJake,

I am going to attempt to be helpful by sharing my experience. Unfortunately that experience is very limited. My hope is that someone with more experience will chime in and offer their opinion and/or correct me if I'm wrong. I'm no expert. Here we go!

My Mentor uses 1000 watt HPS lights for flowering. However, almost all of the research I've done points to 600 watt HPS as being the optimum light for flowering marijuana (cost vs yield). If I had a 4x4 tent I would put a 600 watt HPS in it. If I could regulate the temperature and keep it under 80 degrees, I would put a 1000 watt HPS in it.

Here's some things I've found out about LED lights. The company I bought the cabinet and UFOs from advertised the LEDs as 135 watts each. When I plugged them in and tested them I found the "Real" wattage to be 70 and 72 watts respectively. After doing more research I learned that almost all LED manufacturers list the LED watt equivalent and not the real watts. My understanding is that 600 watts is 600 watts (more or less). To replace a 600 watt HPS you'd need to buy 600 real watts of LED light and that is very expensive. I grow in a stealth 2x3x7 closet so heat is my number 1 concern. With 520 true LED watts and another 100 watts of CFL/T5 lighting, my cabinet stays between 10 and 13 degrees above the ambient room temperature. The main 2 reasons I went with LED were because the cabinet I bought came with two UFO LED lights and Heat was a major concern for my small cabinet.

Needless to say the results of my first grow were pretty bad yield wise. I got just under 2 OZ. of dried bud. My mentor gifted me a CLW SolarFlare 200. The real draw on the SF was 155 watts (more than the two UFOs combined). My next (2nd) grow I placed the SolarFlare right in the middle of the 2 UFOs and netted just over 4 Oz. I added the CLW SolarStorm 400 and yanked the two UFOs this last grow to bump my wattage up to over 100 watts per sq ft. I will be surprised if I yield double what I did last time (8 ounces) but that is my goal.

Most of the growers I've met in the past year use HPS for their main lights and then subsidize the grow with LED side lighting specifically made for flowering plants. With the newer switchable ballasts you can change bulbs without having to change setups. You could buy a switchable ballast and 1 each of MH and HPS lights. This would get you from seed to harvest for a lot less cash than buying the watt equivalent in LED. 600 true watts of LED is very expensive.

Wish I was convinced that LEDs are just as good as HPS, but in my "experience" I find they are inferior to HPS lights.

Good luck in your search!

 

[drcannabi]

Here's a quick update. This is the White Fire seedling at exactly 5 weeks after germination.

JJ

 

[G-daddy]

High ya Dr.
Your buds looks Great, and so do the new girls . Sticking around for this one, looks very awesome my friend

 

[drcannabi]

Thanks G-Daddy,

Been super busy and my Shiva skunk has really started putting on the weight. Unfortunately I overfed them and they won't do as well as they could have. I'm still a little too anxious and feel the need to push the ferts a little too hard. This grow (white fire) I'm trying hard to just lay back and wait. So far so good.

I added a CO2 tank and regulator to the flower cabinet. The regulator and controller are made by Titan. The controller is called an Atlas 2. It has a photocell and only comes on in when the lights are on (I put it on my light timer anyways). It keeps the CO2 at 1500 PPM with a 100 PPM drift (I think don't quote me). It literally took me 5 minutes to set it up. Cool stuff and I hope it works out.

Pics shortly...

JJ

 

[drcannabi]

Thanks G-Daddy!

I've been super busy lately. I tried to reply but I don't think it worked. I'm still trying to figure out all the nuances of the forum world. I'll stop by your grow and check your progress here shortly. In the meantime....

Update - White Fire Day 43 (since germination)

Here is the shorty:

Here is a group shot:

Here is the Taller one:

Here is the short Shiva Skunk:

Here is the tall Shiva Skunk:

Here is the new Titan CO2 controller:

I overfed the Shiva Skunks so they won't do as well as they could have. Lesson learned. But so far they are looking really frosty. Connoisseur top shelf quality for sure. These are the first plants I've grown from seed so I'm pretty excited about the next few weeks.

 

[drcannabi]

This is a test to see if my signature is working

JJ

 

[drcannabi]

Quick Update:

The White Fire's are doing really well. They both have HUGE shade leaves and are really starting to grow. I used the FIM technique on them both a week or two ago. One I got right and have 4 tops coming out. The other one I shaved a little too close. The FIM area is trying to grow but I'm not sure if the two top shoots will make it. I may just top it and see the difference between the two. There's not too much to report right now except they're beautiful healthy seedlings.

I'm trying an experiment. I took a clone off each of the 2 Shiva Skunk mothers. Dipped it in rooting gel and stuck them in some Light Warrior. I watered them in (PH 6.4) and changed my veg cab to 80 degrees. They haven't died yet (It's been 2 weeks). But they haven't shown any new growth yet either. It's super hard not to pull them out and look for roots but I'm managing. My hope is they root soon so I can kill the current mothers and make room for the White Fire seedlings.

Has anyone tried white distilled vinegar for PH down? I read about it in Mandala's grow guides. I've been using it this entire grow and also on my mothers, seedlings and clones. I haven't seen a single down side. The upside is that it costs a fraction of the price of Hydro store stuff. If my plants begin to show stress I'll switch back. But until then, I'm happy using distilled white vinegar.

The Shiva Skunks are just amazing! If it has 1/2 the medicinal properties it looks like it will have, I will be very happy. The berry smelling one is just unbelievable. I mean seriously makes me want to just dip the raw bud in peanut butter and start gnawing on it. Smells just like forest berries covered in yogurt. The other one is loosing it's sweet smell and starting to smell like old school Colombian from the 80s. Not brick weed, the good stuff ;^) I love that smell too.

I'll take some pics a little later and post them.

JJ

 

[drcannabi]

Shiva Skunk Seedlings 45 days from 12/12

Just got back from the Flower Cabinet (Lights On) and I can't believe how many dead crispy brown leaves there are. I really messed up. Well I sure hope I've learned my lesson about overfeeding. I think from here it will be just water for these two. If anyone has any advise on how to bring them back to health please let know

The buds are still swelling. Right now they're not very dense. They are magnificently crystallized. Most of the trichomes are still clear. There are a few patches of cloudy. Not an amber in site. I'll wait another couple days to post pics of the White Fire seedlings. Here are some pics of the Shiva Skunks.

 

[drcannabi]

Update 02-05-14 - Shiva Skuks are Purple WHOA!

Update End of Week 7 - Shiva Skunk, White Fire, Obsession, and Clones in Soil.

Hi everyone. I'm exhausted but I really wanted to update this journal today which is the end of Week 7 since germ for the white fires but I'm super excited for the Shiva Skunks. The look great

First though I'm turning the white fire grow into a 3 plant grow (2 fem OGR - White Fire and 1 fem WOS Obsession). I sprouted a Free seed from the Attitude a couple weeks before the white fires and kind of just ignored it since. it finally caught my eye so I super-cropped her and I think she'll be a great litter mate for the WiFi. They are tall and grow straight up and she's a real bush. I'll hang the 200 watt SolarFlare over stumpy. The strain is "Obsession" from World of Seeds. Here is the description from attitude, "World of Seeds Diamond Line Obsession is a Gilgit Valley (Pakistan) and a stabilized male hybrid of White Rhino, Black Domina and well known marijuana strain Jack Herer.". Here's a couple pics right after I super-cropped her. Check out my work

The Shiva Skunk clones I took and stuck in some soil both rooted. I never even thought to try it. All I did was stick it in some rooting gel and then into the soil. I Watered daily with a spoon and turned up the temp to 80. The light green growth is all new in the last few days.

White Fire Seedlings at the end of 7 weeks from germination. I broke 1 branch on the smaller one. I Taped it with some duct tape so we'll see. It looks like it's dying so if anyone has any advise please shoot it out there.

Shiva Skunks at the end of 7 weeks since flipping the lights. The cold temperatures have been in the low - mid 50's at night and they are turning purple. So beautiful. Amazing really. The California Light Works SolarStorm 400 with the UVB lights (I think that's what they're called) is really frosting up the taller pheno. It is truly amazing! The short one aint far behind either.

Have a great night!

JJ

 

[drcannabi]

Week 8

Quick update; Day 56 from germination (White Fire) and 12x12 (Shiva Skunk).

The white fire's look really good. My PH meter was off for by .5 points. I was setting my PH to 6.2-6.5 according to my PH meter. The actual the PH was 5.7-6.0. That is a HUGE mistake! Who knows how long it's been that way and one of the white fires showed some immediate stress. The other showed no sign of stress (Putting that in the memory bank for mother selection). Note to other Newbies, be sure to calibrate your PH meter regularly.

Unfortunately even my really good soil mix couldn't buffer the Shiva Skunks. They are both hugely stressed but creeping to the finish line. I actually think the stress has caused the tall one to produce an unnatural amount of trichomes. It really looks like it's covered in crystals.

Neither has turned completely cloudy yet and there isn't an amber in site. But they are so stressed I'm really thinking about chopping them this weekend. I'll post pics a little later.

JJ

 

[drcannabi]

Here are the photo updates. This is White Fire-1 (WiFi-1) . It used to be taller than WiFi-2 but since the PH screw-up she began to show some stress. The same thing happened my first grow so I knew right away it was the. PH 1 day after fixing the PH, she is already looking much better.

When this happened before all my research pointed to a nitrogen deficiency. Thus I upped the nutrients. This started a cycle of me basically troubleshooting everything except the real issue until I almost lost 1 of my plants. Here are the pics.


WiFi-1

Stress caused by low PH

WiFi-2

Remembewr this is now a 3 plant 2 strain grow. I've never done 3 plants before so here's to hoping it works out. This is the WOS Obsession Plant

I'll be chopping the Shiva Skunk this weekend

JJ

 

[drcannabi]

Re: Week 8

Here is the Tall Shiva Skunk

Here is the Short Shiva Skunk


Have a great night!
JJ

Here is a group shot

 

[G-daddy]

Looks like you have things rolling Dr.

 

[drcannabi]

Well, by the time I realized I had a PH issue it was too late. I had to chop the Shiva Skunks. Hopefully the buds will end up smoking well as many of the leaves were dead inside the buds. I did my best to remove the whole leaves by have but I definitely missed some. It's unfortunate because I would have eclipsed my goal of 8 OZ if I could have left them to fully mature (another week or two). I should still be close to 6 OZ just eyeballing the wet buds.

Here are the White Fire's (Middle and Right) and the Obsession (Left) in their new home. I super-cropped the WiFi's yesterday and they already bounced back and show new growth. Threw in a pic of the hanging Shiva Skunk too. Very Crystallized!

Have a great weekend!

JJ

 

[Teldren]

Looks good dude. I use lime juice for PH down. Cheaper and natural. I wanna grow some white fire.