Help! White Widow, Buddah, Afghan?

Vergere

New Member
Hi everyone! After looking at so many of your grows, I have finally decided to do a grow journal myself. I am also throwing in a bit of a twist in an attempt to satisfy my own curiosity as well as entertain everyone. I welcome and appreciate any and all feedback and advice. There are a lot of varying opinions out there as far as what is the best way to grow and I was torn in many directions. I settled on something that works for me specifically and that also fit my budget. I am a firm believer in K.I.S.S but I find that I often "Tim Allen" things when it comes right down to it so my biggest and toughest lesson to date has been that "less is sometimes more" lol. I will include all my blunders in a hope you do not make the same mistakes. Alright....so here goes and I will leave it to all of you to keep me in line.

My Hydro Setup- I am using the Eco Grower (IMHO- a very nice hydroponic setup that is extremely forgiving and easy to use) from General Hydroponics which supports six large plants and will be doing a side by side comparison with my DIY DWC. All factors will be identical aside from the systems so this should be an interesting show.

Nutrients- Ok let's talk nutrients. I have to say that there is a lot of hype out there and it is very hard to pierce through it all. I decided to go with the tried and true General Hydroponics line after months of research. I was very happy with my last grow using the three part Flora series and am not into the organics yet as I have tried both and could not tell a difference (I flushed well last go round). I will be adding to the regiment this time though so I decided to add all of the GH recommendations for flowering. I will be using Floralicious bloom, the liquid Koolbloom, and the dry Koolbloom following the Recirculating Expert Program listed on the General Hydroponics website. I decided not to use the Diamond Nectar or the Floralicious Grow as the plants were out of control last time and I cannot see how they could have possibly needed anything else. Roots were absolutely insane. Maybe next time :)

Grow Area- I am using The HomeBox which measures 3' 3 1/2" x 3' 3 1/2" x 6' 7". I have to say that I couldn't be more happy with the HomeBox for so many reasons. It was easy to put up, it has all of the input/output options I could need, and it is very sturdy.

Lighting- I am using a 400w HPS Bulb EYE Hortilux bulb and it is perfect for my grow area. I have the option of using a MH bulb with my ballast but after last time I figured why bother as my veg was unreal. I will add fluorescent supplements for the undergrowth during flowering so I can maximize flowering results. I am not sure this is necessary but I figure it can't hurt. I would love some input on this. I have also been tossing around the idea of running LED panels down the sides instead of flouros. Any thoughts?

Airflow- I have a clip on fan attached to the reflector that pulls the hot air away from the plants. I also have two small circular fans inside that create a tornado effect around the plants. I am using a Can Fan 4" Inline Fan HO - 178CFM that is attached to a Can Filter 2600 4" for odor control (I never smell a thing and neither does anyone else not to mention if I smoke in the same room, its filtered before anyone is the wiser). I have one other fan, an Active Air Blower - 180CFM that blows the fresh air in and adds momentum to the wind tunnel effect. Outside of the HomeBox I use two humidifiers to maintain proper humidity (40%-70%).

The Story- I got a 10 pack mix from Marijuana Seeds (cannabis Seeds) High Quality Low Prices and they also sent 5 free seeds which I used previously as well as two of the ten. I had 8 of the ten left to work with this grow and germinated by placing them directly into Rockwool cubes that were soaked in distilled water. The Rockwool cubes were placed in Ziploc bags. The Ziploc bags were then placed in a cabinet above my refrigerator. All 8 germinated successfully after a few tricks that some of you provided.

For the stubborn seedlings: (3 of the 8) I removed them from the Rockwool and submerged them in a shot glass filled with distilled water. After they soaked for a day I put them in new Rockwool cubes and then I used a hair dryer to periodically raise the temperature in the cabinet. The result was 100% germination! Unfortunately, this lead to a small problem - I now had two too many for my setup. One of the seedlings was somehow upside down in its cube. I went to fix it with a pair of tweezers but when trying to remove the seed casing for the little bugger, it simple disappeared into thin air (first lesson in "less is more"). I looked high and low for the little baby but after hunting everywhere I had to give up. I took a moment of silence and moved on.

So now, with only six slots I had to figure out something for the seventh baby. I did not have much left in the budget at this point and stumbled across quite a few threads on DIY (Do It Yourself) builds. I also read quite a few posts by people claiming that DWC (Deep Water Cultures) were the best way to grow. I was a little put off as I had already spent a good amount of money on my setup and was thinking "Well what a waste if I could have just built a hydroponic setup myself and for a fraction of the price". I studied the basic builds and went to the local home improvement store.

DIY DWC- I bought a five gallon paint bucket with lid (like $5). I got a dual air pump (about $12), two sandstones (about a $2 each), and a net pot (like a $1). I drilled two holes for the air tubing and cut the space for the net pot in the lid. Pretty simple and cheap.

A Twist- Another interesting twist in this story: I attempted to contact Marijuana Seeds (cannabis Seeds) High Quality Low Prices so they could tell me what was in the mix but they couldn't. They did respond though and they said "There should be at least one White Widow, one Buddah, one Afghan but the rest could be anything. This presented me with a bit of a problem. Two of the ten were in the previous grow and I have little to go on as narrowing down the strains for the remaining eight. Hopefully you all can help me narrow down the possibilities as we see these babies develop.

Did I miss anything?

Vergere

P.S. A few pics of my setup.
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Re: White Widow, Buddah, Afghan? Name that strain!

Ok so here is a pic at the end of the first week. Enjoy :smokin:

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Re: White Widow, Buddah, Afghan? Name that strain!

A pick at the end of week 2. The suspense is killing me! :rollit:

You can see I had a few problems here. You see the coc caps? I removed them so much that I damaged the stems on almost all of my plants without even realizing it. I have since removed them completely but the plants are a bit scarred and needed extra support in order to heal. (Second lesson in "Less is MORE!") I kicked myself for this one for sure.

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So far I like the DIY DWC but it is nowhere near as fast in terms of growth as the Eco Grower :(
I also had a few temp problems. After adjusting things a bit I run a steady 80.8 while the lights are on and 76.8 when they are off. Do you see the leaves curling up at the edges. I am pretty sure this is from a lower than neccessary humidity level. I added another humidifier at this point and it has since gone away. One wierd thing though- Every end of every leaf hooks down on the plant in the DIY-DWC-I have since names it Captain Hook hehe. Any of you experts out there think you know the strain? I have an idea but could use some help.
 
Re: White Widow, Buddah, Afghan? Name that strain!

So I thought I would show you how my system works. I got a used pump from the fish store that had the right specs. I got tubing and connected it to the pump so that I can empty and refill my resovoir with ease. I also fill gallon containers and let them sit out a day before adding nutrients and using them to fill my resovoir (this is to let any chlorine in the tap water dissipate). I like to individually mix like this because it almost completely eliminates the possiblity of nutrient lockout. For the DIY DWC I have an extra bucket base so I just fill it with the new and move the plant to the new bucket. This allows me to clean the bucket and disinfect during each nutrient change (the cleaner the better). On the day that I change my Eco Grower nutrients I like to only fill it halfway so the roots strive a bit.

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Re: White Widow, Buddah, Afghan? Name that strain!

End of Week 3 and had some serious problems with the before mentioned stem issue. I put some serious support in for them and they seem to have really appreciated it. The growth wasn't effected but it still gave me a good scare. At one point I was wondering if they made viagra for plants!

I had fun with the camera this time though!

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Just looks cool!
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This one too!
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It looks like these six are 3 of one strain and 3 of another. I will get a better pic next time.
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I think I know what this one is...anyone else?
 
Re: Help! White Widow, Buddah, Afghan? Eco Grower VS Deep Water Culture?

I took a few more pictures and wanted to share a couple more things.

The DIY DWC is not maintaining PH nearly as well as the Eco Grower. I have had to change it two and sometimes three times in order to maintain the proper PH. Can anyone tell me why this is?

Also... In my pics you can see that three of my babies seem to be totally outgrowing the other three. There is a good bit of stretching on the larger three. Do you think it is just because of the difference in strains or could they be monsters?

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You can see the two monsters here.
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And a better pic of the stretching.
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See the difference in these three?
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A closer shot....looks like I have some pruning to do!
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A top shot.
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I just think this pic is hot.

Any thoughts?
 
Hi Vergere,
I have been looking at your grow. First of all those blue shots are way cool. I dont know about strains much, so I cannot id any of your babies.
I looked at a system like yours but I didnt think it would give the plants much room to grow when they get big and I chose a hydrofarm megagarden. But it seems as if that is not a problem for you, Your plants looks healthy and are developing nice and full.
You have a nice air filtration system. Rocks...
What do you guess the babies are?
I'll bet that those tall ones are of similar strain, I see that knowing what you have helps with the planning of your grow space.The shorter ones don not look deprived at all so they probably get equal light and nutes.
So are you trimming so the plants will be equal in height and get equal light? Maybe you can bend the tall ones a bit. I have used scrogg, or bending before with good results gets light down into the cracks so to speak and the plants adapt pretty well especially when you provide optimal growing environment.
I just love this time of the plants life, they are green and lovely and so full and actively growing just like springtime. They reach for the sky! I will follow your grow with you. I have one baby right now that is about the size and age of yours. I like the idea of using lighting around the sides, I am doing it right now in a flower room and will see how it results, and see if there is much difference.
I have had a canopy of green that light didnt permeate but dont know if using the lateral lighting is good or not, I guess I will see.
Every time I have a new grow something is different. It is hard for me to standardize anything, isnt that how we learn but trial and error? I am still working out what will be the best for what I do, and my needs. I only grow a few plants at a time tho so my trials are a tad slow.
What is the tank capacity of your garden?
I hope you will have good luck with your grow and will follow with you on this very interesting journal.
 
Hey Fineas! Than you so much for the feedback. I really really appreciate it. :thanks:

I was planning on using string from the top and corners to pull flowering side branches to the corners or sides as needed. It will really depend on how many of these ladies really are ladies though.

As for my strain guesses, I believe the one in the DWC is White Widow after looking at every other grow I possible could. I think I may have Big Bud as well but there is no telling yet. I have no idea on the smaller three. I am really hoping to get some accurate guesses lol. The Eco Garden has a reservoir of 13 gallons or 50 liters and I change it weekly. The DWC is a 5 gallon bucket that I fill with 4 gallons. I top both off daily with water that I have let sit out for at least a day.

What kind of lighting are you using for your sides Fineas? Also, what strain are you currently working with? How do you like your megagarden?
 
Thanks hehe. I followed the 420 recommendations and I guess I got a bit carried away. I would really like to know what the thoughts on my nutrient lineup are. I plan to begin flowering at the end of this week depending on where they are by then so now is the time to stop me if I need stoppin :thanks: You think it might have been too thorough flyfishinrock?
 
I believe your PH issue is in the 5 gallon is simple, the larger unit will maintain a more stabil PH. Changing the nutes every week is the safest way. I went with 7 days on my 1st grow and it was fine, theres no way I could go 2 weeks w/o issues. I have 2 megagardens that I use for other things. Love your grow and keep the great work

Right on! Thanks for the input pitviper. That makes total sense. I was was looking at it in terms of ratio so maybe thats where I got off kilter. I figured that one plant with 4 gallons all to itself versus 6 plants that shared 13 gallons (which comes to about 2.167 gallons per plant) would do much better. I thought for sure that the single plant would maintain PH much longer than the other. So the larger the overall reservoir is, the more able to maintain PH for longer periods of time. Nice and thanks for setting me straight.
 
Here are some pics of my insane roots on the two monsters. I say insane because this is pretty much the end of week 3.

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I forgot to use the coco liners this grow so my reservoir has clay shards in the bottom-lesson learned though so I will be using them on every future grow. Fortunately, it does not seem to be causing any problem so far.

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Same pic as above but just looks wicked :cheer:

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A good example of a "best practice". Kinda funny hehe. :smokin:
 
I decided to take clones so here is my DIY bubble cloner. Please point out any problems or concerns as I would really like to catch them before I begin cloning. I am gonna clone all my plants even the males so I can begin breeding at some point in the future. What do you think?

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The bulbs are 27 Watt Daylight Compact Fluorescent Light from n:vision @ 5500k Are these good bulbs for cloning? I will be using 4 to cover 14 sites.
 
Thanks hehe. I followed the 420 recommendations and I guess I got a bit carried away. I would really like to know what the thoughts on my nutrient lineup are. I plan to begin flowering at the end of this week depending on where they are by then so now is the time to stop me if I need stoppin :thanks: You think it might have been too thorough flyfishinrock?

Never too thorough, lol. They look great, I think I would flower them realatively soon as its gonna get crowded in there.
I have always liked the flora series, in fact i prefer it. I only used the vegan blend tea and liquid kool bloom as well as cal-mag for additives. My only complaint about GH is the high salt build up that occurs. Other than that they are 30+ years in the business, that says alot right there for their performance.
 
Never too thorough, lol. They look great, I think I would flower them realatively soon as its gonna get crowded in there.
I have always liked the flora series, in fact i prefer it. I only used the vegan blend tea and liquid kool bloom as well as cal-mag for additives. My only complaint about GH is the high salt build up that occurs. Other than that they are 30+ years in the business, that says alot right there for their performance.

Sweet! You think if I flower them this comming weekend it would be a good time? I would have flowered them already if not for the stem damage but I wanted them to heal a bit.
 
It looks like I have a few boys :yikes:. Last grow I had to wait for like two weeks for the sex to show. This is mid way through week 4 in veg and my plan was to move to flowering maybe Friday.

Is this normal? I followed my feeding schedule to the tee.

When I go into Flowering is it best to put them into 24 hours of darkness the first day before going to 12/12?
 
It looks like I have a few boys :yikes:. Last grow I had to wait for like two weeks for the sex to show. This is mid way through week 4 in veg and my plan was to move to flowering maybe Friday.

Is this normal? I followed my feeding schedule to the tee.

When I go into Flowering is it best to put them into 24 hours of darkness the first day before going to 12/12?

bump^ i would also like to know this BTW looking good bro
 
It looks like I have a few boys :yikes:. Last grow I had to wait for like two weeks for the sex to show. This is mid way through week 4 in veg and my plan was to move to flowering maybe Friday.

Is this normal? I followed my feeding schedule to the tee.

When I go into Flowering is it best to put them into 24 hours of darkness the first day before going to 12/12?

Here are a few pics. I think these are the boys. What do they look like to you?

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