First Hydro Grow - White Widow Feminized Seeds

whitelady · 08-02-2009, 08:22 PM

Let me start by saying I am a complete newbie. New to growing, new to hydro, and I don't smoke, so I'm pretty new to marijuana. I think this site is awesome!
I made the investment into a nice General Hydroponics 8 pack water farm system, and am a little disappointed that I think I could have created one cheaper, but I'm already into this set, so it is what it is.
Officially, this is our second grow. Our first one is about 5 days into is flowering stage and is a complete trial. We used bag seeds, and have NO idea what we are going to get. I just didn't want to waste our good seeds on cluelessness. We have 4 plants, 3 of them are around 20 inches, one is thin and small, so we'll see what happens.
I am planting the white widow seeds this week and will be posting the grow. i look forward to all the feedback! I have learned so much from the grow journals. I hope I don't sound like a complete idiot with my questions, so here goes the first... Can I make can-butter from the leaves I'm pruning?
Pictures will be coming soon!

SouthernWeed · 08-02-2009, 08:34 PM

Welcome to 420, Whitelady. To answer your question about butter, the answer is yes. Trichome laden trim will make excellent butter, you just need a bit more of it than if you used well developed, mature bud. I personally use all my trim and any underdeveloped buds for butter...unless I've got a jones for some hash.

whitelady · 08-06-2009, 10:49 PM

We just purchased the necessaties to plant our seeds. they are the feminized white widow. Our test grow has completed their first week of flowering. They SMELL!! We need to figure out a filter, and I hope the weed is somewhat decent. No idea what we are groing on the bagseed test round!

CharlieMopps · 08-06-2009, 11:31 PM

Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You are guaranteed to get the correct answer. Oh and read up on the picture posting rules, alot of members on here like to see pictures.

whitelady · 08-07-2009, 09:25 AM

Finally took the photo upload tutorial!
Here are the bagseed plants at 13 weeks. I'm trying to get a cycle going where I will always have something in the flowering stage.

SouthernWeed · 08-07-2009, 09:48 AM

Hard to say for sure, the pics are small, but it looks like you have a runaway algea problem. It appears that your hydroton is almost completely covered with it. If I'm mistaken, ignore this...if not, you need to get some algeacide in that res fast to get it under control, and then get some covers for the waterfarms.

whitelady · 08-07-2009, 10:09 AM

Thank you! I was just reading your posts from the first hydro grow and was going to ask about the algae.
I had asked at the hydro store, and he told me i didn't need to worry about, and that putting a fan in there would help. So far it hasn't, and I was afraid of moving too much air and getting burn spots, because I read that somewhere.
Do you have any recommendations on what to use on the algae?? Do I add it to the res, or right on top of the rocks?
So glad I posted those pics!!

CharlieMopps · 08-07-2009, 10:18 AM

I'd introduce the algecide into the res. You may want to take the top inch of hydroton and take it outside for a good scrub with dish soap and water. Oh and oscilating fans do not cause burn spots on plants, they just make for stronger stems.

SouthernWeed · 08-07-2009, 10:21 AM

Go to a pet shop, or wal mart for that matter, and buy algeacide. You add it to the res. The problem here is the outbreak is severe, so I suggest you empty your res...it'll be full of algea as well, clean it with a weak bleach solution and allow it to dry for several hours before rinsing and refilling it with pure water and algeacide...no nute for this go round...and let it run for 3-4 days. you need to follow the same procedure with all the tubing and fittings as well. Here's a little info to help you avoid this in the future...light causes algea, any light is bad. The way waterfarms are set up, with the drip system, means that they are breeding grounds for algea...nutrient rich solution on the hydroton exposed to light=algea...that's where the covers come into play. I am suprised at the advice you recieved from the shop you frequent, and suggest that if there is another store in your area that you give them a try.
You may be in the same boat as me on my last hydro grow and be in a position that it may be better to start over, but trying to bring them back will be a good education for you for future problems.

whitelady · 08-08-2009, 06:02 PM

Thanks for the algae input!! I never would have thought it was a problem, until too late. Now, i realize it's probably been stealing a lot of nutrients from my plants the past couple weeks, because we haven't seen a lot of growth.
Yesterday, we cleaned out the res, removed the top layers of hydroton & added some of the Tetra algae killer. One plant jumped 3 inches in a day!! We have 2 large ones. One confirmed female, and the jury is still out on the rest. My runt may not make it, but we'll see. We FIM'd the 2 large plants. The 1st one we did has buds all over, the 2nd one was done yesterday.

We also started processing our White Widow seeds, which was the original intention for this thread. I look forward to documenting the process. We are soaking the rockwool in a solution of water & floragro, with the seeds sitting in a damp paper towel. I have 10 seeds. I also just found a grower who will sell clones, and we may purchase some of those on the next round.