My 2nd LED Indoor Grow - White Widow x Big Bud & Assorted Supporting Cast

I was getting a bit concerned about the size of the auto so decided to transplant her into her final pot with clay pebbles. Rather than rinse the soil off the roots and potentially damage them when back filling with pebbles, I decided to pot it with the soil intact and then flush to wash the soil out through the drainage holes. This was probably not one of my better plans.

As this grow is being kept hidden from a couple of household members, I only have convenient access to cold water and the tap water is very cold, probably around 5 C (about 40 F), far too cold to inflict on her delicate roots. So, to ameliorate this, I heated a kettle to add to the cold water. Even after over 30 litres (6 1/2 gallons) of water and 6 kettles of hot water, there was still organic material draining from the pot. At this point, I gave up. I just hope this doesn't come back and bite me in the arse once she goes into top feed hydro and clogs the pump.

Anyway, she came through the trauma of transplantation in fine fettle and, once she's had a day or two to recover, I'll start feeding her a very weak nute solution a couple of times a day to keep her moist and fed. I should also mention that she too has started growing secondary shoots.
 
I'm not so sure that's going to be a problem after all, old man. Not only has internodal growth started, there are also preflowers forming. No wonder it's called Quick one!

Well, guess there's not going to be much training with this one and I now don't expect any more than just one cola!
 
The auto has come through the transplanting like a champion with no signs of stress, so I've given her a morning feed of weak nutes. As well as the auto-topped WWXBB, another of her sisters has started sprouting from the nodes; but even though it is not the largest, this is one I'll be keeping a very close eye!

The clones' mother has started showing amber triches and will be chopped early next week and I can finally put these into their new home.
 
So, the tent has now been vacated and the girls are moving in.

There have been a few teething problems with this, but it is all coming together.

Firstly, I discovered that the containers I had hoped to use as reservoirs were not up to the task as one disintegrated in my hand when it was fully laden. Not too much of a problem and better to discover that now rather than further down the track. I'm glad that I had a back up plan.

My backup plan consisted of more robust containers of a similar size, but with one drawback - holes had been, ironically drilled into the bottom to allow for drainage. No problem! I sealed all the holes with silicone yesterday and tested them this morning. One passed the test with flying colours, but the other had some leakage issues demanding immediate action. Not a problem as that has now been seen to and I now just have to wait 24 hours for the silicone to cure.

I decided to repot and use the WWXBB seedlings, as opposed to the clones, in the reservoir that passed the test, so I depotted them and washed the soil from the roots with warmed (but not too warm) water and repotted them in their baskets. Ironically, the one showing the least stress from this is the one that autotopped itself, but I'm very optimistic that they will all bounce back tout de suite.

The containers I used for reservoirs had plastic lids, but I was reluctant to use these for a number of reasons. What I have used is 2" thick polystyrene in which I've made cut-outs for the pots. This has the added benefit of acting as a reflector from below as well as a heat insulator for the reservoir.

I've filled the res with a very weak nute solution (even weaker than recommended for 2nd week seedlings) for their debut and left the level about 2 inches below the bottom of the pots. I will manually top feed them until their roots reach the solution - gotta encourage root growth!

I've left the clones in their original pots in the tent with them until the reservoir is ready (hopefully) tomorrow, when I will repot them and transfer them over.

The auto is doing splendidly in her new home and shows no sign of the recent stress she was put under.

I'll post pics tomorrow when all is ready.

One more thing. The air pump, although described as super silent design, seems not to have read that description. :)
 
I've read to hold back on the bloom nutes to encourage an auto to stay in veg for as long as possible, so I have not added any P and K to the nutes on the auto and will monitor that closely up until the start of flowering.

The scrog will come in soon at a much lower height than previously and will be used as the principal source for LST.
 
Why is it that a traditional scrog has about a foot of wasted stem and nodes?

It makes far more sense to me to eliminate this waste and maximise the returns from each and every branch.
 
No new pics yet. I was waiting upon my 2nd res which was a little stubborn about having its holes sealed up and going to test it later tonight. A couple of leaves look like they suffered during transplantation (have to get myself some rockwool cubes for next time), but nothing to worry about. The Auto seems to be booming and the climbing PH tells me she's working hard.

The roots haven't manifested from the bottom of the seedlings, but I expect they will in the next week. I am currently manually top feeding them a few times a day. The clones have been up potted into their baskets and are starting to take off, but are still awaiting their reservoir. I buried a good amount of stem with them and the roots were sitting on the bottom of the pot when I added the clay balls, so it shouldn't take long for their roots to start exploring.

The main reason for this journal entry, however, was because I found a pic from an abandoned WWXBB journal where the grow included a seedling that grew exactly the same as my auto-topped one. But that one went hermy!!

IMAG039615.jpg
 
Thought I'd finally upload some pics of the girls in their new home. I especially wanted to capture the clones with their single frond leaves at the start of revegging.

IMG_20170223_135939.jpg


Here is the auto (who suffered the least through transplantation) who is already undergoing LST.

IMG_20170223_132433.jpg


I decided to finally chop the unproductive top of the auto-topped WWXBB.

IMG_20170223_132515.jpg


This one appears to be the stockiest and bushiest of the seedlings to date.
IMG_20170223_140324.jpg


IMG_20170223_140328.jpg


IMG_20170223_140730.jpg


IMG_20170223_140721.jpg


And here are the three clones

IMG_20170223_140240.jpg


IMG_20170223_140245.jpg


IMG_20170223_140250.jpg


IMG_20170223_140337.jpg
 
Thanks old man. It's great to have you along for some immoral support.

I hafta admit that the transplantation has slowed them down (except for the clones) and am definitely going to use rock wool cubes next time I germinate seeds.

I shall probably put the scrog in place in about a week or so and use that for all the rest of the LST.
 
A little bit of technical info.

The reservoirs are currently filled with 30 litres - 8 US Gallons - of week nutrient solution of around 300 ppm at a ph of about 5.8 but the roots have yet to emerge from the bottoms of the pots. Once the roots hit the nutrients, I shall reduce the nutrient level by about 5 litres per fortnight all whilst increasing the ppm.

I got another pump and both operate at 4 litres per minute with dual lines and 2 golf ball air stones in each reservoir.

The p450 LED light panel is currently sitting at about 80 cms - 32 inches - above the canopy and I will gradually lower this as the girls grow, leaving it sitting around a little over 60 cms - 24 inches until flowering.
 
Fiddlin', fiddlin', always fiddlin'! I've just introduced the seedlings to some heavy LST, just to encourage breaking the apical dominance early, as I've already done on the auto.
 
Change of plan (as per usual). Rather than give a couple of top feeds daily, I think I'll cut back on this and try and encourage the roots to go in search of moisture from below.
 
Time for an update.

I didn't really have to worry too much about cutting back on top feeding as roots have all emerged and should be in the nutrient bath within the next day or so.

The WWXBB seedlings have not recovered very quickly from transplantation and have had their growth stunted for about a week, but they are now showing signs of life again. I don't know why I didn't think to get some rock wool cubes for the seeds. Duh!

The auto has just kept powering along with plenty of lateral and vertical growth and I've just upped her nutes, but still kept them on the low side and again no bloom nutes were added. I've left the PH at around 5 as it has been rising daily and I'm having to give a little ph down daily to keep it under control, so I fully expect it to rise throughout the zone.

Maybe it's just me, but she doesn't appear as beautiful as the other strains. Her jagged edges seem particular sharp and harsh and the leaves are an almost glossy very dark green and it looks much more like a weed, somewhat reminiscent of a thistle. The other strains, however, have a more gracile, gentler beauty.

The clones have really sprung to life and will probably be showing more typical growth during the next week insofar as the number of fronds and general leaf shape. The growing tips are also stretching and becoming individual stems and there will definitely be a lot of them. I must admit that I have been very tempted to remove one to allow the WWXBB to take its place, but I've resisted the urge so far.

I will definitely put the SCROG in during the next week, but this time I'm going to suspend it rather than mount it on the base. This is merely for convenience to save me from modifying the base to the height I want this time.

I think this time I will just upload photos on a weekly basis because ...
 

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