10 White Widow Seeds - Beginner's Hand-Watered LED Grow 2016

[fyfeshake]

Greeting 420.

I'm a new grower, and after preparing for months I'm embarking on my first grow. It took a lot of research and reading before I felt like I could successfully nurture a plant from seed to harvest. I learned a lot from the internet, and from this forum, so I thought I would contribute by sharing by growing experience with you all. I'm looking forward to your comments and criticisms on any part of my grow, because I know I can learn a lot from your wealth of knowledge and experience. Lets get to it


# of seedlings: 8 (2 more may sprout shortly)
Strain: White Widow
Progress: Brand new, freshly sprouted seedlings in solo cups
Medium: Coco Coir / Perlite
Water % Nutes: GH Flora, Micro, Bloom. CalMag. I pH all my water and nutrient solution to between 5.5 - 6.5
Location: Basement 4'9" x 4'9" x 6'7" Mars Hydro grow tent
Lights: The MarsII 900 is a ~400W LED light with a 3'6" x 3'6" footprint, according to manufacturer webpage
Ventilation: Work in progress. As of yet there is no active exhaust. Although there is a small 4" desk fan that provides a gentle breeze.
Temperature: Seems to stay around 18 - 25 degrees under the light. I'm hoping not to have any really cold nights.
Humidity: Low, around 15-40 RH. Usually on the low end around 20.


Current Status:

End of day 3.
After germinating 10 white widow seeds, 8 have sprouted and are sitting in solo cups full of coco and perlite under low levels of CFL lighting. 4 are huddled under a 42w clamp light. Another 4 under 23w x2 in a splitter in a clamp light. The bulbs are around 4" - 6" from the seedlings. All seedlings are under clear plastic cups to act as humidity domes.

The remaining 2 sprouted seedlings, i put under the LED to see if they could hold up to the light. If they do, then I'll probably put the rest of the seedlings in there with them. The manufacturer recommends 30" from the light for seedlings, but I'm starting at 36".

The bigger plant in the middle of the picture below is Train Wreck from a seed I found in a bag. No idea if it's male, female, assuming herm, autoflower... Just the practice plant.

Here are a few things I'm concerned about with this grow:

Cold and dry basement: I tested the temperature and humidity inside the tent over the course of a few days, and I think I'm going to have to suffer the consequences of growing in a relatively cold and dry environment until I can perhaps invest in a humidifier and/or heater. If it turns out to be too unsuitable in the basement, my backup plan is to grow in a closet on the main floor, potentially my bedroom closet.

LED too intense for seedlings: While I'm happy with the LED light I chose for my first grow, I've seen it mentioned that intense LED lights can fry young seedlings. I'm skeptical because I feel like the manufacturer would have advised me against doing something that would harm my plants. Instead they suggested a certain distance to keep the lights from the seedlings, 30". To be safe, I'm starting at 36" with a 2 experimental seedlings to test the waters.


A few of the seedlings on day 3:

As much fun as it is doing this grow alone, I think the real joy will be from your comments, criticisms, tips, tricks, advice, friendship and support.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Good looking babies so far man... Lots of work left to do. Good luck.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Lights should be OK at 30", and my humidity is at 10-20% for a few months now since it's winter. A cheap humidifier is good to bring it up a good 10% in no time. I've got my bubbling bucket inside the tent as well. It's heated.. But if I run an extraction fan my RH drops quickly back down 20 or less. If you are really concerned of slower growth get a nice humidifier for your tent.. Cheers. Sorry I just looked at the pics earlier
I'll watch from afar

Ps. You can use a couple cfl or desk lamp for your wee seedlings.. A week or so under that and then transition them into LEDs

 

[fyfeshake]

Hey guys, here to update my first ever grow journal for my first ever grow! Woohoo!
Of the 10 seeds I germinated, 7 little plants are what I have left. One seed I planted didn't break the surface of the medium after 10+ days. 2 other seedlings could not seem to grow their first set of true leaves, so after a week or two I sacrificed them to give the others more space and attention.

You can probably tell the 3 down the middle are looking way healthier than the rest, at least in my opinion. Being the proud but really creative father I am, I named them "1", "2", and "3" and I'll be paying more attention to them, taking less risks with them, etc. The rest, although not as tall or pretty, still look pretty viable to me. But if I want to experiment with any of my plants, I can do that with these ones.


And then there's this ugly duckling...

Looks like a mutant to me. When it sprouted, the cot leaves were balled up and very waxy.. I wish I had taken pictures of it then, it sure looked odd. I was sure it would die, but it's still with us. I can't cull it either, it's too fascinating.

What's been going on?
Lighting:
As planned, the seedlings started their lives under CFLs in an upstairs closet. I wasn't sure how soon to put them under my Mars II 900, so I put a single test seedling in the tent under the light as soon as it grew its first set of true leaves. At 36" from the light, after a few days it seemed to respond well. Seemed as healthy as the seedlings that were under the CFL. So, I gradually moved the rest of the seedlings into the tent, and started to gradually lower the distance from the light. They're now at 30", which is the manufacturer's recommended distance for seedlings. Happy with this light so far

Temperature:
The cold basement that houses my grow tent has been a concern from the start, and it still is. The temperature inside the tent while the light is on is about 25 Celsius. Lovely! But, when my timer shuts the light off, it will quickly drop to 15 Celsius and stay there for 6 hours while the plants sleep. I'll admit that I only realized that fact after I had moved 2-3 seedlings into the tent. They only spent half the night in that cold, about 3 hours, but they definitely did not look happy and I felt terrible

As a temporary solution, I take all the seedlings upstairs and put them in a closet for their 6 hours of lights-off. I also set my timer to turn the light on an hour early, to make sure the tent is warmed-up when I put them back in for their day.

Humidity:
Originally when I was testing the humidity in my basement, I'd get a range from 15%-60%. When I set up my grow tent, I tested again from inside the tent. It stabilized, but very low, between 10%-30%. Then, I started keeping a few basins of water inside the tent, and my readings are now usually between 30%-60%. Tricky to get this nailed down, and it always fluctuates for reasons I can't pinpoint, but my seedlings seem healthy to me, so I'm starting to stop worrying about it. I have no problem buying humidifiers and dehumidifiers and whatever in the future, but this is what I'm dealing with for the time being so I'm glad that my seedlings seem to be coping.

Nutrients & Water:
From day 1 I've been using soft tapwater pH'd to around 5.5 - 6.5. I used it to hydrate my coco coir, I used it to flush my coco coir before I planted my seeds, and I used it to water the seedlings until they all had their true leaves. Once they had 1 or 2 sets of true leaves, and the cot leaves started to yellow, I started them on a 1/4 strength solution of the General Hydroponics trio, plus a full dose of Cal-Mag. A couple of the smaller seedlings showed a little nutrient burn, but the healthier looking ones seemed fine. I figured the solution couldn't be TOO strong, at least not far off, so I kept giving them all the same 1/4 strength solution. The nutrient burn didn't seem to get any worse, and the upper, new leaves seem fine. So, I'm not too worried.


Well, I guess that wraps it up. Next up is transplanting them from their solo cups into 1-gallon smartpots, which i'm doing in the next day or two. I heard somewhere that seedlings are ready for transplant when the leaves span the width of the cup, so that's between now and the next week I figure.

Any questions or comments?
Do you just want more pictures?

 

[Stinky Snid]

Nice update. I've got a mutant of my own, i just topped her. have you poked holes in the bottom of your cups? the roots will poke through them fairly quickly two weeks max. i Also like to slice slits in the sides of the cup to allow air pruning to occur keeping the roots in the center of your cups soil mass. imo. All them girls including the freak seem very healthy and on their way to big buds.

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.