CnstntGrdnr's Indica/Sativa White Widow Grow Journal - 2009 - First Grow

[CnstntGrdnr]

High!

I've been following everybody else's grow journals with great envy for the past few months and now I'm FINALLY getting a chance to start my own grow for the first time.

After seeing amazing yields and beautiful buds from the White Widow on many grow journals I couldn't pass up an opportunity to grow this beautiful strain myself. I believe the strain is 40% Sativa/60% Indica. Plus, I haven't smoked since July 4th, 2008 and I wanna get completely ripped and thought this strain was appropriate for such an occasion.

The seeds are currently germinating, I've got six of them lying in a warm bed of wet paper towels between two saucers. My goal is to get harvest four females, but six would be nice!

Shhhh...they're sleeping...

This is an indoor soil grow; I plan on vegging for four weeks and flowering for 8-10, or as long as it takes to get the highest quality bud.

I'll be using Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil (3/5), perlite (1/5), and castings (1/5). After the seeds germinate I'll put them in small rockwool cubes until they're ready to be planted into their one-gallon pots with soil, then four-gallon pots later.

I have a 24" long fluorescent light fixture with two 20W plant bulbs from Ott-Lite, it's supposed to be the best spectrum for plant growth. These will be used until my babies are able to handle the air-cooled 400W MH during the vegetative stage and the HPS during the flowering stage.

As far as nutrients go, I've purchased FF Grow Big and Tiger Bloom, I also have liquid seaweed to be used as a foliar feed during the vegetative and early flowering stages of growth.

I still need to buy a thermometer, PH meter, and I'll be purchasing an R/O filter and hooking it up to my washer connection as others have done. Payday is on Friday, so I'll be able to buy those things then!

I want to give a quick thanks to the founders of 420Magazine.com and to anybody that has posted any sort of useful information. This is probably THE best resource I've come across on the internet, period.

I look forward to receiving any suggestions or feedback from you guys!

Let's grow!

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Wooly Wooly

All six of the WWs have sprouted tap roots and have been sitting in rockwool for a couple of days now. Most of the seeds look like they're on their way, this is pretty effin' exciting! I've never grown cannabis, only vegetables in the outdoor garden. I'm eager to see my seeds grow into tall young ladies with huge buds.

I've also decided to germinate three more seeds from my "random seed" bag that came with my order. I figured I might as well grow some plants if I'm gonna GROW SOME PLANTS - no need in wasting 12 weeks on six seeds when I could easily do 9. So I'll have a total of 9 plants; 6 WWs and 3 unknown strains.

My 400W MH/HPS and ventilation system finally arrived today and are hooked up and ready to go.

My grow tent is in my room, right next to my bed, so I'm wearing earplugs as I sit here writing this. I think I need to buy some insulated ducting and a silencer for my fan...this noise is going to drive me insane...but it's totally f*ckin' worth it.

PH Meter, Thermometer, and RO filter are on my shopping list...oh, and a silencer for the fan.

Hopefully my next post will include photos of itty bitty WWs.

G'night!

 

[flyfishinrock]

I love watchin the white widow grows, big ol fuzzy colas, mmmm
Good luck with em

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

We have penetration...of rockwool!

Thanks FlyinFish! I'm lookin' forward to the last few weeks of the flowering stage as well - I'll be sure to keep everybody up to date with some good bud porn!

WOOHOO! It looks like most of the seedlings are doing good, this is a nerve-wracking stage as the seedlings look like they're in a very fragile state...but they are changing and growing pretty quickly each day. Every day is like Christmas, I look forward to unwrapping (unzipping my grow tent) my present and seeing what changes are taking place.

I finally bought a digital thermometer with a high/low reading and humidity indicator. The temperature in the room is at about 80 degrees with 40% humidity...I forgot what the optimum temperature/humidity should be in the room...I'll do a search in the forums to see what all the experts have been saying.

Here's a pic of the progress thus far:

They don't have names yet, but I'm numbering them WW1-WW6 in clockwise-order. WW4 is doing very well and seems to be the leader of the pack with WW3 close behind. I had to renovate WW6's rockwool because the seed was too deep in the wool and they cotyledons were expanding within the rockwool. WW1 and WW5 are slowgoing, but I think they'll be up and ready by tomorrow night. I plan on starting on foliar feeding after they get up and running a bit more.

Overhead shot:

ALL of the seedlings; the three on the right are the random seeds I just germinated a few days after the WWs:

A view of the current setup:

Oh, and I have my 400W MH angled towards the side of my tent; it mainly provides heat to the plants during the day with the added benefit of providing indirect light reflected off the side of the tent to them with the fluoros, which are only 40W.

https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/1302/IMG_2310.jpg

 

[flyfishinrock]

looking goood

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Day Two

It's day two on my grow calendar and the babies are lookin' good - I just hope most are female. All of them have sprouted and are reaching for the light. I had to perform some tweezer surgery on two of the seedlings as their cotyledon were being held together by a popcorn-kernel lookin' piece of matter from the seed shell...but it looks like they are doing alright.

I fed them a weak solution of of Maxicrop's Liquid Seaweed tonight.

In other news...have you guys seen "A/K/A Tommy Chong?" It's a documentary about the bust on Tommy Chong a few years back, what a fucked up situation. This country is fucked, hopefully our NEW president will make some changes.


Here are some delightful photos for your viewing enjoyment.
WW #1

WW #2

WW #3

WW #4

WW #5

WW #6 - This one's cotyledon is malformed, but I think it'll pull through, I already see some fan leaves comin' out the center.

Family Photo

 

[four20friend]

"air-cooled 400W MH during the vegetative stage and the HPS during the flowering stage. " sounds like you have the right plan. what size is your hps?

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Well, this is my first grow, so I wanted to do it as "right" as possible if I was going to do it at all. This is solely for personal use, so I hope I can grow at least a three month supply.

The HPS is also 400W; I wanted to keep the temps down and have the ability to keep the light closer to the plants. I was debating between the 400W and the 600W systems.

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Day 11

I've given up on the three other sides I was trying to germinate. I should've started all of them at the same time as the WW seeds...anyway, I now have six healthy WWs on their 11th day of vegging.

I've burned one slightly with a very weak (1/4 dose) solution of FF Big Bloom. It's doing well, but it bears the scars of "the incident"...I try not to talk about it within leaf-shot of her.

Here are some pics:

Family Shot

The burn victim...

This one suffered some sort of leaf deformality; I'm hoping it catches up soon!

The leaves on this one are deformed as well, I'm not sure if that's genetics or my fault.

 

[McBudz]

Looks great. + reps for good luck

 

[four20friend]

just day 11 "she" could fill out give it some time.

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Thanks McBudz!

You're right 420Friend, I'm just impatient as hell - I want them to be bushy now so I can start flowering. Thanks!

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Day 16

I've transplanted my babies to their final growing pot and added screws around the edges of the pots to assist in LSTing the plants. I've started LSTing three of them thus far, I may have started too early...but they're looking good.

Please feel free to submit suggestions and constructive criticism if you see something that needs improvement or might be a better way to do things!

Family Photo

WW #1

WW #2

WW #3

WW #4

WW #5

WW #5 (Second view)

WW #6

Setup Photos

 

[McBudz]

Loving the setup! Be careful using thin string like that you may cut into the stem. Try using thicker yarn or twine. And make lose knots or loops or it may cut into the stem as it grows.


Plants look very nice and uniform. Is that a fan muffler? How does it work for you? Worth the money? Which DR model is your tent? the 4x4 one?

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Thanks McBudz, I'll buy some twine tomorrow at work, thanks for the heads up!

Yeah, I have the DR120 4x4 model - it works pretty well, but I think I should've gone with the wide version as well. I like your two light setup and that's more feasible in the wider version.

The muffler does make a difference, but not a huge difference as the turns in the ducting causes a lot of the noise. I only paid about $59 for it at my local grow shop. I couldn't find a huge selection online and that price was pretty good when compared to the stuff I found online. I should've bought a fan with a bigger blade diameter and slower rotation; that 4" in-line sucks the air like no other but it spins too fast and is loud. I'm thinking about buying a speed controller to slow it down a bit...we'll see. Insulated ducting is also on my shopping list, that should really help with the noise. This thing is literally right next to my bed.

 

[McBudz]

Thanks McBudz, I'll buy some twine tomorrow at work, thanks for the heads up!

Yeah, I have the DR120 4x4 model - it works pretty well, but I think I should've gone with the wide version as well. I like your two light setup and that's more feasible in the wider version.

The muffler does make a difference, but not a huge difference as the turns in the ducting causes a lot of the noise. I only paid about $59 for it at my local grow shop. I couldn't find a huge selection online and that price was pretty good when compared to the stuff I found online. I should've bought a fan with a bigger blade diameter and slower rotation; that 4" in-line sucks the air like no other but it spins too fast and is loud. I'm thinking about buying a speed controller to slow it down a bit...we'll see. Insulated ducting is also on my shopping list, that should really help with the noise. This thing is literally right next to my bed.

Def let me know how the sound proofing goes as you progress.

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Day 22

I burned a couple of them slightly after a full strength nute feeding with FF Grow Big and Big Bloom. They held up alright and have perked right back up after yesterday's non-nute watering. I foliar fed them some liquid seaweed today.

The LST is kicking in nicely as they are getting tons of new growth and becoming bushier by the day. I think I may actually veg them for 5 weeks instead of 4 so they're nice and sturdy for the flowering stage. These first three weeks have flown by so I don't think two more will kill me. They are also starting to reek more and more and I can smell it in my room, even with my charcoal filter, I think I may have to make some more modifications to the ventilation system.

Oh, and I changed my ducting from 4" non-insulated ducting to 6" insulated ducting which has made quite a difference in the noise output from the ventilation system. I would definitely recommend insulated ducting to anybody that is thinking about running ducting in their grow room, it makes a big difference, but it's much bulkier.

Here are some pho-tos:

Family Photo

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5 - This one was the most effected by the nutes, but I think she's recovering nicely.

#6

New ventilation setup with insulated ducting, muffler, and charcoal filter - the light is raised so I can work on the garden.

 

[Aberration]

Looks great. Nice and tight setup. I'll be watching.

 

[McBudz]

Nice. Glad to hear your bedroom is a little quieter now FYI.. not sure of you are going by FF "full strength" but I consider full strength to be 10ml per gal. I never really dialed in the Grow Big but I run TB at 10ml per gallon every watering by itself or 9ml per with cal-mag+ at 5ml per gal. My WW's seem to be digging it. Good growing.

 

[four20friend]

We have the same tent and I can not tell from your pictures, how are you venting? pushing/pulling where in the line is your filter? have you tried using a fan speed controller? it made a huge impact for me.