cannabin0id
420 Member
I started this grow having never had a plant to take care of in my entire life. For recreational and medical reasons I felt the need to learn more about cannabis and I knew that watching videos on YouTube and reading grow journals isn't the same as having my own plants to nurture through to smoke.
In early February 2018 I ordered seeds after looking through a few seed banks, and Crop King Seeds is the one I went with having read a few reviews from experienced growers. I bought 5 feminized White Widow seeds with an interac eTransfer (a payment option other seed banks didn't offer) and sorta followed the germination instructions that came with the package. I had a cup of tap water that I left out for 24 hours before putting the seeds in. The 5 seeds were left in the water for 15 hours, only I hadn't taken into account that the area I planned on using for my seedlings (my basement) was incredibly cold. The water got cold and spent another 12 hours in wet paper towel but nothing popped. Two days in and I'm already worrying that I've failed to get the right start. I put all 5 seeds into soil; 3 in peat pots and 2 in mini greenhouse pots. Then I read somewhere about flushing new soil (or something) so I soaked my newly potted seeds and immediately started to feel like I did something else wrong.
Why did I pop the seeds when I wasn't ready to go?!
And why the hell did I soak the shit out of my seeds?! Oh boy...
I figured it was time to get ready. I had to set up an environment that would support growth. I ordered a grow tent and a grow light, went to Home Depot and got a heating pad and a couple LED light bulbs for seedling growth. I tried to simulate early Spring and sure enough, 4 of the 5 seeds sprouted. Once the cold, wet soil in the peat pots warmed on the heating pad, 2 of the 3 seeds popped and I took them out of the peat pots and put them in mini greenhouse pots. So now all 4 seeds that have sprouted were in the mini greenhouse pots and I had them on the heating pad under 2 LED bulbs (8500 lumens per bulb).
With a 3x3x6 MarsHydro grow tent and a 600w Viparspectra LED grow light on the way, I was feeling better about the start I was giving my marijuana babies. So, here's a detailed journal of this rookie's grow. Roll yourself a joint, pack a bowl, whatever you do I hope you're ready for a read.
Here goes!
February 2018
4 of 5 seeds sprouted (I probably drowned the other one) and spent weeks in ProMix potting soil in small greenhouse pots I got from the Dollar Store, under regular LED bulbs in 2 desk lamps. The pots sat in saucers and I only watered by filling the saucers. The lights were on a timer for 18 hours on and 6 hours off.
March - April 2018
With the grow tent and light set up and ready to go, it was getting easier to recreate Spring-like warmth in my cold basement. My White Widow seedlings seemed to be happy, though I had no real point of reference. I checked online to see if there were things to watch for, but also just wanted to watch and learn. One of the things I was unsure about was feeding and what sort of schedule was required. Much of the advice given in videos and articles was about overfeeding, so I figured that was something I could avoid. Apart from a regular feeding schedule I wanted to know what indicators to check for. The weight of the pot when saturated and how long it takes to dry, drooping leaves, discoloured leaves, that sort of thing.
I picked up ProMix organic soil and ProMix all-purpose soluble feed (20-8-8) and transplanted my White Widow seedlings. 3 went into 1 gallon pots and 1 of them went in a bigger fabric/mesh shopping bag (that didn't last long). Well, my first feed burned one of the plants, after thinking I couldn't possibly overfeed having read so much about avoiding overfeeding... lesson learned. I made sure to more carefully dose the next feed and water it down further. I numbered each plant (#1, #2, #3, #4), and it was #4 that got burned. It had been growing at the same rate as the other three but it was only 3/4 the size. After the burn (which affected about 1/4 of the plant above the soil) the growth slowed further and I was advised to toss the plant. But, like I've said, this grow was meant to be a learning experience so I kept the burnt little runt and looked after it, probably even closer than the others.
One day, while misting the plants with water, the spray bottle slipped out of my hand and landed on its side, square on top of #3. I freaked out and thought I killed the poor thing. I tried to fix what I could, and while checking online I read about stress and stress training and how stress actually makes the plants stronger. I used garden twist ties to open up plants and topped (or FIM'd) each plant. The spray bottle trauma broke two pieces off, and I applied ProMix Stim-Root 0.1% IBA Rooting Powder and gave each new 'clone' a peat pod to root in. Early days for the new clones did not look promising, but after about a week they rooted and got their own small pots. This was my first go at cloning and I though that the slight discolouring, and the withering look of the leaves meant that they wouldn't take root. But watching them progress was pretty cool, because they took root and quickly got strong. I was starting to see that why it's called "weed".
In early April I picked up another grow tent and LED grow light, both half the size and power of the first. I also picked up a cheap greenhouse for my backyard and the plants would spend a few hours a day in there.
#4 (the runt that I burned) didn't seem to be bouncing back, but I wasn't giving up. I cut 4 limbs off and planted them in the small greenhouse pots.
So at the end of April, I had plants #1, #2, #3, and #4 from seed, two clones from #3 and 4 cuttings from #4. All four plants from seed were kept in the MarsHydro tent and the6 cuttings were rooted and potted in the smaller tent. Daily visits outside for some sunshine in the greenhouse and all the plants started to stretch. They seemed to be happy, so I felt pretty good about my green thumb!
May 2018
It was getting close to three months and I wanted to try a screen of green (scrog) in the MarsHydro tent, and I decided to try it with #2 because it had the longest limbs at the end of April. I transplanted into a 7 gallon fabric pot and picked up a roll of tomato netting to use as a trellis. I cut a square and used garden twist ties to tie the corners of the netting to the frame of the tent. In the smaller tent, the clones were growing quickly. Something I actually noted was how much quicker the clones were growing than the seedlings had grown. Was it because they were clones? was it because of the conditions they were growing in? Was it because I mixed some CIL tomato feed (6-12-12)? Some bone meal (4-10-0)? Blood meal (12-0-0)? Epsom salt? Probably. Maybe? I don't know...
While I had that going on inside, outside the daylight was getting longer and I felt more comfortable leaving plants outside all day (in the greenhouse overnight). The hours of greenhouse aided sunlight and humidity made for some serious stretching from the delighted White Widow ladies. They pretty quickly outgrew the greenhouse, which was good because the cheap material ripped and the wind bent the frame. I still used it as a shelter of sorts for plants (and eventual clones). But by mid to late May the growth outside meant that plants #1, #3 and (the one time runt of the litter) #4 had all grown bigger than #2, which was in a bigger pot, inside being trained for the scrog.
Around the 23rd of May, I switched to a 12/12 light cycle in the MarsHydro tent and decided to try the scrog with #1. About this same time I started pruning and cleaning up my plants because they had become quite bushy. I had inadvertently broken off a few small branches that then became clones. Not all of them took root, but this was when I was seeing how resilient this strain was. Remember those cuttings I took from #4? That was pretty well my last resort, well they had rooted and started stretching nicely. After a few days outside I started to get creative with what I was going to do with the different clones because I still didn't think I'd have the success I seemed to be having. I'm a rookie grower with zero experience, so this successs couldn't be down to my expertise. It had to be the strain, the genetics. I was just going to keep doing what I was doing and learn as I go.
June 2018
Here's a quick recap, or more of a stoner's outer monologue to keep track of what I'm working with.
- #1 in the MarsHydro tent, being trained under a make-shift trellis
- #2, #3, and #4 outside and getting massive under the sun, #2 in a 7 gallon fabric pot
- 2 clones from #3 after the spray bottle incident in the smaller tent
- 4 cuttings from #4 in the smaller tent
- While pruning I got 1 clone from #1, 2 more from #3 and a handful of others that never took root.
That's 13 rooted plants early in June. This is where I should clarify that the clones that took root were accidental, and I fully expected failures because I took cuttings and just popped them in Dixie cups with soil. No rooting hormone, I just wanted to see what took and what didn't.
Since the plants outside seemed to be thriving, I figured I'd switch the smaller tent to flower too. I left the first 2 clones that came from #3 in the tent and brought everything else outside. Now both tents inside were on a 12/12 light cycle. My next stage of learning was about to begin, and that was the difference between the two tents and the flowering process. #1 under the trellis wasn't exactly done well. I didn't remove the growth under the trellis and a few weeks in it was really starting to get thick with leaves. When I did prune it more properly, it turned out that many of the branches were twisted and intertwined with others. The tops were in bloom and getting thick and hairy so I figured I would do more damage if I started moving and rearranging, so I left it to grow as it was.
In hindsight I should have switched what I was feeding #1, but I kept feeding everything the ProMix soluble fertilizer (20-8-8). The plants outside were way bigger than I had anticipated. I had thought (for some reason) that plants will only grow as big as they're allowed to grow, which I thought translated to: the smaller the pot, the smaller the plant. Apparently not. Late into June and plants were falling over after sucking the soil dry in no time. So I transplanted #3 and #4 into 7 gallon fabric pots that I filled with ProMix Organic soil, ProMix Mycorrhizae, earth worm castings, blood meal, bone meal, and Epsom salts. The clones all went into the same soil mix and into a variety of different sized pots that I had around the house. Whether it was what I was mixing in and doing, or just Mother Nature working her own magic; the plants absolutely loved it under the sun. They stretched into their new pots and in no time it seemed like plants that already seemed big, got bigger and thicker. I'm currently wondering If I should transplant #2 again into a 30 gallon SmartPot, but I'll get to that later.
Back to the tents, where nearly a month after switching the MarsHydro tent to a flower cycle I was still seeing pretty leafy growth (which I now know was down to the all-purpose fertilizer which was far too high in nitrogen for proper flower production. The 30+ tops that I had through the trellis were getting thicker, there was bud production but everything was so leafy. This was about the time I started to wonder about sexing and if there's a difference between seed and clone and how they reach sexual maturity.
I read that there's a way to determine the sex without taking a clone and putting it into flower. Something about when the plant reaches maturity the sexes start to differentiate. Just like men get hairy and women get curvy, it's like plant puberty. Now, I know I started with feminized seeds, but I read that isn't a 100% guarantee that they'll be female. Something about the males growing taller faster, while females develop crossing hair-like pistils at each node. So I checked every plant for these indicators and found the crossing hairs. Since every plant had these, I still wasn't entirely sure that these crossing hair-like growths was the indicator I needed. I had the two tents in flower and the plants in them all showed this growth so they'd show first, since they were already on a 12/12 light cycle. I don't know if that's all accurate, but everything was female. I guess I got lucky, because I read a lot about people buying feminized and only getting males.
Anyway, June ended really hot and humid and the plants were healthy and still stretching. As they continued getting bigger, I thought I'd take some clones (on purpose this time) and see what happened. With the stress it had already endured, #3 was particularly bushy so I took more from #3. I took some from #4 and even a couple from the cuttings I took from #4 months back, to save it. A bunch of clones rooted, some didn't. I sold 5 baby cuttings and one of the early clones to a family friend.
Good start to the Summer!
July 2018
Two tents in flower and the smaller tent with the less powerful LED was the only one putting out some beautiful sweet smells. The MarsHydro with White Widow #1 under 600watts didn't put off a smell unless I rubbed it and smelled my fingers. I only had more questions that needed answering, so I came to the internet (my only point of reference, as you've probably gathered by now). I learned that I needed to change the nutrients that I was providing #1, which I was still feeding the same mixture as I was feeding the plants outside. I went on Amazon and ordered Grow (1-0-4), Micro (2-0-0) and Bloom (1-3-4) pH Perfect Technology by Advanced Nutrients and started feeding that to the plants in the tents. The two clones in the smaller tent were in 1 gallon pots with the soil mixture I had mentioned previously (ProMix, CIL tomato feed, earthworm castings, Epsom salts, blood meal and bone meal) and the pots stayed heavy much longer. I didn't water or feed very often because they stayed heavy, but the leaves were changing colours in spots and I wasn't sure which amount of which nutrient was causing this. The smell from the two clones was still strong, very sweet, citrusy; I could clearly see bud production from the two clones, while #1 was producing bud under more leafy growth.
I started feeding #1 the Grow, Micro and Bloom, with more of the Bloom. I read that I could use the Bloom with each watering, so I did. Something I should clarify at this point is that I was only feeding and watering #1 from the bottom because I felt the scrog made it difficult to maneuver with the twisted limbs and all. I think this could have also had an impact on the overall bud and trichome production. It was around this point in the grow that I thought less of the scrog method, and that should I try it again, I should train and prepare the plants better. The 2 clones in the smaller tent, while some browning on the tips of some leaves was clear, were doing much better in comparison to #1. Now I was wondering about a few things, because the two tents were housing two different environments. I didn't keep a thermometer or hygrometer, I just used my own senses, but the smaller tent was getting much more humid than the MarsHydro and the clones really seemed to love it. Apart from a minor feeding snafu (down to too much Bone or Blood Meal in the soil mixture, I think), the 2 clones seemed further along in the flowering process than #1. The aroma I was getting when I'd open the tent in the morning was better than I had anticipated when I started this grow. I've been around growing marijuana before and the smells were nowhere near as sweet as what I was getting from these White Widow clones. It was like fruit or candy was growing. It was delightful!
As July was coming to an end, a rather hot and humid end, my outdoor plants were all healthy. I had spent about 12 hours pruning (especially from #3) just to promote more airflow and whatnot. I got to check for bugs and diseases a farmer friend had mentioned and found nothing of note. A few munched leaves and some moths fluttering around at night, but no damage seemed to be done. I had also read that cannabis flowers producing trichomes was like the plant's self-defense mechanism to ward off predators, and as I figured flowering season was around the corner, I think I made it through the most dangerous part of the season for outdoor plants (in terms of getting diseased or eaten while still young). Now I was starting to consider what I was going to do about the feeding regimen, but looking online for bloom boosters my options seemed expensive, so I figured I'd wait and check out Home Depot or something.
Harvest time was around the corner for my two tents. I wasn't keeping a record of dates and times, but I remember switching the MarsHydro tent to a 12/12 cycle about two weeks before the smaller tent (late May for the MarsHydro and early June for the two clones). But it seemed like #1 took a few weeks to start blooming while the clones didn't seem to take long to catch up in terms of bud production. It's a tough comparison to make for a rookie, considering the two totally different setups I had in each tent, but I was loving what I was seeing and smelling from the two clones. The scrog looked good, but there wasn't a glistening coat of trichomes like on the two clones in the other tent. It was a cool sight, to know that I set up a single plant to have over 30 tops coming through the trellis, all getting big and bushy, but I wasn't thrilled about the bushy. I knew that it was because of what I was feeding and maybe even how I was feeding.
I was trying to get a read on when exactly to harvest by watching the plants to see how they change. To see the trichomes darken or go orange and to see when the change took place over most of the plant. I thought back to when the light cycle was switched and counted the weeks it had been, but thought that maybe #1 had taken longer to actually start flowering.
Time to start flushing.
August 2018
I decided to remove the trellis, I just slid the twist ties securing the trellis up the frame) so that I could properly flush #1 before I chopped her down. I still didn't flush properly though, I just took jugs of tap water and poured from the top for the first time in her life. I should have used cleaner water, and should have used more water more often to give more of a flush, but I wasn't sure if there was much I could do now to turn this disappointingly leafy bud into anything else.
The smaller tent was looking and smelling great. The famous white coat of trichomes that gave White Widow her name, was clearly on show. In complete contrast to #1, both clones from #3 were shining in the LED light and incredibly sticky to the touch. The smell on my fingers after touching buds was as if I had dipped my fingers into a cup of lemon juice with a lot of sugar and a little pepper (that was a tough description to come up with and I'm sure there's a more refined way to describe the smells of the different terpenes present in growing cannabis, but I'm still learning, I'll get there).
The difference in the two tents was pretty big. I was disappointed in the MarsHydro grow, with the plant I had topped and trained and tried to scrog under 600watts. But the two clones that I never trained, under 300watts were better than anything I had hoped for pre-grow. Days away from harvesting I was Just excited for that next learning curve.
Outside, big winds and heavy rains along with high heat and humidity really tested the plants that had grown to be fairly substantial. #2, #3, and #4 were all in 7 gallon fabric pots and the roots spread fast. Their stalks were all really thick, all the stems had stretched way bigger than I was anticipating (I've said that a lot throughout this journal, I know). Maybe it was the soil mix, maybe it was Mother Nature, but not long after transplanting #3 and #4 into the fabric pots we got some really heavy rain and the root tips were poking out all over the pots! 3 of the cuttings I took from #4 before moving plants outside were potted in an old winter tire that had been cleaned and spray painted, relatively close to the house's air conditioning unit. When they were transplanted into the wheel they stood maybe 1' from soil to top, but they are currently huge, standing about 2 feet over the air conditioner unit (nearly 6 feet from soil to tip). The single clone that I got from #1 in April is about 5 feet, the 4th cutting from #4 is at a fairly bushy 4 feet. Another clone from #3 is nearly 5 feet, and 4 little clones in 1 gallon pots are 18 inches and seem to be the furthest into flower. I'll be back later to update the rest of my outdoor grow, but things are looking great
Now, harvest time for 3 plants.
First, #1 under the trellis. Over 30 tops of leafy, soft buds. I know it was because of my feeding mistake, but I was still going to chop, trim and cure to get the best bud that I could get. I cut the stems about 4 inches from the buds and hung them with twist ties from the trellis that I slid up the tent frame (I thought this was genius). Half of what I chopped, I trimmed and half I left hanging with the leaves on because I had read something about the buds using the last bit of nutrients in the leaves while they dry. I really don't know if it made any difference, but it was kind of a pain in the ass to trim buds that had leaves that drooped as they dried. I learned to trim all the leaves before hang drying. I kept all the trim and stems and after drying, I had 100 grams of bud from my poorly executed scrog job.
While #1 got chopped and half trimmed before hanging to dry for a week in the MarsHydro, I started flushing the two clones in the smaller tent. While I still only used house water, I felt a lot better about the amount of water I used to flush this time. I had heard about people using brown sugar or molasses at the end to sweeten up the final product, but I was so happy with the fresh, sweet smell I was getting that I didn't want to add anything else. I may have even gone a little overboard on the flushing, because the last watering I pretty well just used the garden hose on a more powerful setting to blast away the top soil. I was gonna let it dry and get to clipping buds and curing #1.
I gave the buds a full 7 days to hang dry in the MarsHydro with a fan blowing at the wall on it's lowest setting. I checked to see how it progressed, and everyday the buds seemed a little smaller than when they were chopped. They were soft, and getting dryer, but they didn't smell like marijuana, certainly not like the clones in the other tent. I clipped the buds in 16oz mason jars and collected stems in one tray and trim in another. After they dried, they went into freezer bags for use later on. I got 3 mason jars loosely filled to the top and 100 grams in total. I left the mason jars in a cupboard I recently emptied out to store my pot. For the first week, I opened each jar for a couple minutes 3 times a day. In the second week I opened the jars once a day. After settling in the jars, each jar was about 4/3 full. Each day I took a little bit to bust up and smoke, to see and taste the progression for myself. I had read a lot about the importance of proper curing and since the buds were so airy and my basement was still so cold so there wasn't much worry of mold, but I wanted to taste the difference between no curing and long curing. I currently have half an ounce from each plant in a paper bag that I'm going to leave until Christmas. The joints started out harsh and lousy after hardly any curing, while the stuff I'm currently smoking is incredibly smooth. The smell I get from busting up the buds from #1 is like the fresh, sweet, citrusy smell I got from the smaller tent while the clones were in flower, just less intense. Considering the general disappointment I had in #1 during the flowering process, the smoke I was getting from my harvested White Widow was getting more flavourful, both in taste and in smell. The terpenes are really starting to come through. Now, it's time to harvest the two sweet and juicy clones!
I can't say I'm an experienced chopper, but I've got my first chop under my belt at this point so I'm feeling more confident about harvesting these two clones after an amateur go at #1. The clones both had thicker, denser buds, their leaves had mostly yellowed (something that never really happened with #1) and the trichomes were a mix of brown/orange and opaque rather than translucent as they were while they were still developing. All the signs that I had read to look for at optimal harvest time were showing and I was pretty excited to start chopping. Before I get to describing that, another comparison I made between the 2 tents and the quality of the marijuana grown, was the amount of trim I had. #1 gave me more trim than bud with less crystal than either clone. The clones I had defoliated a few times throughout its life, so come flower time it mainly had the necessary fan leaves and less down low. The bud production was clear; day after day the plants seemed to get fatter. As I said earlier, the rate at which these clones progressed was much faster than #1. They were ready and so was I. The clones weren't topped or trained at all, they were just left to grow and grew. The stalks and stems weren't very big at all but I clipped 20 branches from each clone to trim before hanging in the MarsHydro tent (from the trellis, the same as #1). There wasn't a whole lot of trim, but the trim I got was caked in trichomes. The whole chop and trim went way better than with #1. The buds were easy to trim around because they had grown so obviously, while #1 had grown under a layer of leaves. Again, they got a full week to hang dry before being clipped into mason jars. I checked on them every day while they were drying and they stayed sticky and sweetly stinky. I had a feeling this might mean they were too moist to be left in their jars without regular burps. I opened the jars 3 or 4 times daily for the first week and gave the jars a shake 7 to 10 times a day because they were so sticky. I tried a joint daily from dry to cure, again to see the difference as it progressed from living plant to perfect smokable bud.
September 2018
Now let me tell you, ladies and gentleman, novice and experienced alike; having smoked some great pot in my 15 years, this White Widow was the single most delicious herb I have EVER smoked. I know it's very easy to assume bias here because this is my own grow, and everyone's taste is different, so allow me to try describing from the time I pop the jar open to the time the joint is smoked. I'm going to give a play by play.
-- I take a big whiff as the top pops off the mason jar, the smell is as if there's a slice of lemon inside giving a lovely burst of sweet and citrus. Taking the light fluffy nugs out of the jar to bust up, they're sticky to the touch. They bust easily into the hand-held grinder (that came with my Volcano vaporizer) and after busted they fall to a fluffy light green pile. I take a little brush to get what bits stuck to the grinder and pack it into a nicely rolled 1 1/4" doob. It rolls nicely and holds it's shape.
This is my dream weed, folks, it's like no marijuana I have ever encountered. It may very well be the first sinsimillia cannabis I've ever smoked (since I get the feeling black market bud is mostly auto flowering strains), but this is like candy! And the taste actually lasts for about 4/5 of the joint. I've raved about strains before, thinking they were God's gift to marijuana. Like trying Northern Lights for the first time, or only smoking DJ Short's Blueberry for nearly 2 years because I thought all other pot must be inferior. The first time I bought a half ounce of discreetly shipped "BC bud" and have never been more high in my entire life... I was a weed elitist, I'm guilty. And now that I've tasted this deliciousness it will be hard to not think less of other pot, so I guess I'm a marijuana elitist and I think I earned it!
I wish I could pass this to you. --
To anyone that has made it this far in this essay of a journal, thank you for still reading this; I sincerely wish I could pass this doobie so that you can see for yourself and that I'm not just bragging because It's easy to do while sitting here.
I started this grow because I was getting tired of going out to dispensaries and paying stupid prices per gram of pot. Upwards of $16/gram for the good stuff at most dispensaries I'd visit, was ridiculous. Having a regular source to pick up from usually turned out to be a crap shoot. When I once had access to some awesome stuff, for one reason or another, that was no longer the case. Every time I'd pick up it was something different, I wanted to know more about what I was about to smoke, but could barely even get a name. "Uhh, I think it's a kush something... I dunno, I'll text you". I'd never get a text. Sometimes the high was great, the odd time it was ideal. But more often than not, I'd get some serious anxiety or a wicked headache and I'm smoking to cope with anxieties and aches in the first place.
After getting my medical cannabis prescribed, I found that prices were still crazy but the product from Whistler was spectacular. I got White Widow, BC Rockstar, Tangerine Dream, God's Green Crack, Devil's Fruit, and Bubba Kush and every joint I smoked ranked up there with the best I had ever smoked. Exactly what I was hoping for when getting medically licensed. I then had to get my license to grow and all that paperwork, but totally worth it considering the current state of Canada's imminent marijuana legalization. But still, this grow was started so that I could have control over everything. I didn't have to ask questions to get answers secondhand, I was the grower, the cultivator, the source; I'm the master grower of my own marijuana garden. If the plants died or lived a miserable life but produced lousy yet useable bud then I'd have myself to look to in order to fix what needs to be fixed, whereas if I paid for that same shitty bud, I'd rarely get an answer and I definitely wouldn't get money back. Like #1, my first attempt ever, I know that I got the feeding wrong. It wasn't terrible, and the smoke is still quite nice, but I have a different grow to compare it to; same strain, much nicer quality grow and final product. The lessons are there for me to learn, both from successes and failures and I have every intention to keep growing with what I'm growing.
I had no idea that what I ended up with is what I'd have when I started. I've smoked White Widow before, I think I've even had White Widow hash, but it wasn't anywhere near as tasty or aromatic. Not even the hash was as flavourful as this delightful bud I got from both clones. I've never tasted anything like this. But, that's enough about how tasty this candy weed is, the high is wonderful. It's pretty intense, but not overwhelming. It's relaxing, but not couch-lock heavy. I feel calm, life feels enjoyable; happiness is real. Picking up the guitar or the pencil with some White Widow and I don't want to put them down. I smoked a bunch while writing this, which is why this is so long and also why it took 5 sittings to complete... Great stuff!
I did some research before deciding on White Widow, but this has surpassed all of my wildest expectations. All the video journals where the final product seems like the greatest thing ever, I had to start my own. And now I can confirm everything I've ever felt after watching videos on YouTube; it really is the greatest thing ever!
Stay tuned for the rest of my White Widow outdoor grow, and I've currently got 1 20 day old Bubba Kush and 1 20 day old Green Crack from Crop King Seeds vegging along with a White Widow clone my smaller tent.
-- C
In early February 2018 I ordered seeds after looking through a few seed banks, and Crop King Seeds is the one I went with having read a few reviews from experienced growers. I bought 5 feminized White Widow seeds with an interac eTransfer (a payment option other seed banks didn't offer) and sorta followed the germination instructions that came with the package. I had a cup of tap water that I left out for 24 hours before putting the seeds in. The 5 seeds were left in the water for 15 hours, only I hadn't taken into account that the area I planned on using for my seedlings (my basement) was incredibly cold. The water got cold and spent another 12 hours in wet paper towel but nothing popped. Two days in and I'm already worrying that I've failed to get the right start. I put all 5 seeds into soil; 3 in peat pots and 2 in mini greenhouse pots. Then I read somewhere about flushing new soil (or something) so I soaked my newly potted seeds and immediately started to feel like I did something else wrong.
Why did I pop the seeds when I wasn't ready to go?!
And why the hell did I soak the shit out of my seeds?! Oh boy...
I figured it was time to get ready. I had to set up an environment that would support growth. I ordered a grow tent and a grow light, went to Home Depot and got a heating pad and a couple LED light bulbs for seedling growth. I tried to simulate early Spring and sure enough, 4 of the 5 seeds sprouted. Once the cold, wet soil in the peat pots warmed on the heating pad, 2 of the 3 seeds popped and I took them out of the peat pots and put them in mini greenhouse pots. So now all 4 seeds that have sprouted were in the mini greenhouse pots and I had them on the heating pad under 2 LED bulbs (8500 lumens per bulb).
With a 3x3x6 MarsHydro grow tent and a 600w Viparspectra LED grow light on the way, I was feeling better about the start I was giving my marijuana babies. So, here's a detailed journal of this rookie's grow. Roll yourself a joint, pack a bowl, whatever you do I hope you're ready for a read.
Here goes!
February 2018
4 of 5 seeds sprouted (I probably drowned the other one) and spent weeks in ProMix potting soil in small greenhouse pots I got from the Dollar Store, under regular LED bulbs in 2 desk lamps. The pots sat in saucers and I only watered by filling the saucers. The lights were on a timer for 18 hours on and 6 hours off.
March - April 2018
With the grow tent and light set up and ready to go, it was getting easier to recreate Spring-like warmth in my cold basement. My White Widow seedlings seemed to be happy, though I had no real point of reference. I checked online to see if there were things to watch for, but also just wanted to watch and learn. One of the things I was unsure about was feeding and what sort of schedule was required. Much of the advice given in videos and articles was about overfeeding, so I figured that was something I could avoid. Apart from a regular feeding schedule I wanted to know what indicators to check for. The weight of the pot when saturated and how long it takes to dry, drooping leaves, discoloured leaves, that sort of thing.
I picked up ProMix organic soil and ProMix all-purpose soluble feed (20-8-8) and transplanted my White Widow seedlings. 3 went into 1 gallon pots and 1 of them went in a bigger fabric/mesh shopping bag (that didn't last long). Well, my first feed burned one of the plants, after thinking I couldn't possibly overfeed having read so much about avoiding overfeeding... lesson learned. I made sure to more carefully dose the next feed and water it down further. I numbered each plant (#1, #2, #3, #4), and it was #4 that got burned. It had been growing at the same rate as the other three but it was only 3/4 the size. After the burn (which affected about 1/4 of the plant above the soil) the growth slowed further and I was advised to toss the plant. But, like I've said, this grow was meant to be a learning experience so I kept the burnt little runt and looked after it, probably even closer than the others.
One day, while misting the plants with water, the spray bottle slipped out of my hand and landed on its side, square on top of #3. I freaked out and thought I killed the poor thing. I tried to fix what I could, and while checking online I read about stress and stress training and how stress actually makes the plants stronger. I used garden twist ties to open up plants and topped (or FIM'd) each plant. The spray bottle trauma broke two pieces off, and I applied ProMix Stim-Root 0.1% IBA Rooting Powder and gave each new 'clone' a peat pod to root in. Early days for the new clones did not look promising, but after about a week they rooted and got their own small pots. This was my first go at cloning and I though that the slight discolouring, and the withering look of the leaves meant that they wouldn't take root. But watching them progress was pretty cool, because they took root and quickly got strong. I was starting to see that why it's called "weed".
In early April I picked up another grow tent and LED grow light, both half the size and power of the first. I also picked up a cheap greenhouse for my backyard and the plants would spend a few hours a day in there.
#4 (the runt that I burned) didn't seem to be bouncing back, but I wasn't giving up. I cut 4 limbs off and planted them in the small greenhouse pots.
So at the end of April, I had plants #1, #2, #3, and #4 from seed, two clones from #3 and 4 cuttings from #4. All four plants from seed were kept in the MarsHydro tent and the6 cuttings were rooted and potted in the smaller tent. Daily visits outside for some sunshine in the greenhouse and all the plants started to stretch. They seemed to be happy, so I felt pretty good about my green thumb!
May 2018
It was getting close to three months and I wanted to try a screen of green (scrog) in the MarsHydro tent, and I decided to try it with #2 because it had the longest limbs at the end of April. I transplanted into a 7 gallon fabric pot and picked up a roll of tomato netting to use as a trellis. I cut a square and used garden twist ties to tie the corners of the netting to the frame of the tent. In the smaller tent, the clones were growing quickly. Something I actually noted was how much quicker the clones were growing than the seedlings had grown. Was it because they were clones? was it because of the conditions they were growing in? Was it because I mixed some CIL tomato feed (6-12-12)? Some bone meal (4-10-0)? Blood meal (12-0-0)? Epsom salt? Probably. Maybe? I don't know...
While I had that going on inside, outside the daylight was getting longer and I felt more comfortable leaving plants outside all day (in the greenhouse overnight). The hours of greenhouse aided sunlight and humidity made for some serious stretching from the delighted White Widow ladies. They pretty quickly outgrew the greenhouse, which was good because the cheap material ripped and the wind bent the frame. I still used it as a shelter of sorts for plants (and eventual clones). But by mid to late May the growth outside meant that plants #1, #3 and (the one time runt of the litter) #4 had all grown bigger than #2, which was in a bigger pot, inside being trained for the scrog.
Around the 23rd of May, I switched to a 12/12 light cycle in the MarsHydro tent and decided to try the scrog with #1. About this same time I started pruning and cleaning up my plants because they had become quite bushy. I had inadvertently broken off a few small branches that then became clones. Not all of them took root, but this was when I was seeing how resilient this strain was. Remember those cuttings I took from #4? That was pretty well my last resort, well they had rooted and started stretching nicely. After a few days outside I started to get creative with what I was going to do with the different clones because I still didn't think I'd have the success I seemed to be having. I'm a rookie grower with zero experience, so this successs couldn't be down to my expertise. It had to be the strain, the genetics. I was just going to keep doing what I was doing and learn as I go.
June 2018
Here's a quick recap, or more of a stoner's outer monologue to keep track of what I'm working with.
- #1 in the MarsHydro tent, being trained under a make-shift trellis
- #2, #3, and #4 outside and getting massive under the sun, #2 in a 7 gallon fabric pot
- 2 clones from #3 after the spray bottle incident in the smaller tent
- 4 cuttings from #4 in the smaller tent
- While pruning I got 1 clone from #1, 2 more from #3 and a handful of others that never took root.
That's 13 rooted plants early in June. This is where I should clarify that the clones that took root were accidental, and I fully expected failures because I took cuttings and just popped them in Dixie cups with soil. No rooting hormone, I just wanted to see what took and what didn't.
Since the plants outside seemed to be thriving, I figured I'd switch the smaller tent to flower too. I left the first 2 clones that came from #3 in the tent and brought everything else outside. Now both tents inside were on a 12/12 light cycle. My next stage of learning was about to begin, and that was the difference between the two tents and the flowering process. #1 under the trellis wasn't exactly done well. I didn't remove the growth under the trellis and a few weeks in it was really starting to get thick with leaves. When I did prune it more properly, it turned out that many of the branches were twisted and intertwined with others. The tops were in bloom and getting thick and hairy so I figured I would do more damage if I started moving and rearranging, so I left it to grow as it was.
In hindsight I should have switched what I was feeding #1, but I kept feeding everything the ProMix soluble fertilizer (20-8-8). The plants outside were way bigger than I had anticipated. I had thought (for some reason) that plants will only grow as big as they're allowed to grow, which I thought translated to: the smaller the pot, the smaller the plant. Apparently not. Late into June and plants were falling over after sucking the soil dry in no time. So I transplanted #3 and #4 into 7 gallon fabric pots that I filled with ProMix Organic soil, ProMix Mycorrhizae, earth worm castings, blood meal, bone meal, and Epsom salts. The clones all went into the same soil mix and into a variety of different sized pots that I had around the house. Whether it was what I was mixing in and doing, or just Mother Nature working her own magic; the plants absolutely loved it under the sun. They stretched into their new pots and in no time it seemed like plants that already seemed big, got bigger and thicker. I'm currently wondering If I should transplant #2 again into a 30 gallon SmartPot, but I'll get to that later.
Back to the tents, where nearly a month after switching the MarsHydro tent to a flower cycle I was still seeing pretty leafy growth (which I now know was down to the all-purpose fertilizer which was far too high in nitrogen for proper flower production. The 30+ tops that I had through the trellis were getting thicker, there was bud production but everything was so leafy. This was about the time I started to wonder about sexing and if there's a difference between seed and clone and how they reach sexual maturity.
I read that there's a way to determine the sex without taking a clone and putting it into flower. Something about when the plant reaches maturity the sexes start to differentiate. Just like men get hairy and women get curvy, it's like plant puberty. Now, I know I started with feminized seeds, but I read that isn't a 100% guarantee that they'll be female. Something about the males growing taller faster, while females develop crossing hair-like pistils at each node. So I checked every plant for these indicators and found the crossing hairs. Since every plant had these, I still wasn't entirely sure that these crossing hair-like growths was the indicator I needed. I had the two tents in flower and the plants in them all showed this growth so they'd show first, since they were already on a 12/12 light cycle. I don't know if that's all accurate, but everything was female. I guess I got lucky, because I read a lot about people buying feminized and only getting males.
Anyway, June ended really hot and humid and the plants were healthy and still stretching. As they continued getting bigger, I thought I'd take some clones (on purpose this time) and see what happened. With the stress it had already endured, #3 was particularly bushy so I took more from #3. I took some from #4 and even a couple from the cuttings I took from #4 months back, to save it. A bunch of clones rooted, some didn't. I sold 5 baby cuttings and one of the early clones to a family friend.
Good start to the Summer!
July 2018
Two tents in flower and the smaller tent with the less powerful LED was the only one putting out some beautiful sweet smells. The MarsHydro with White Widow #1 under 600watts didn't put off a smell unless I rubbed it and smelled my fingers. I only had more questions that needed answering, so I came to the internet (my only point of reference, as you've probably gathered by now). I learned that I needed to change the nutrients that I was providing #1, which I was still feeding the same mixture as I was feeding the plants outside. I went on Amazon and ordered Grow (1-0-4), Micro (2-0-0) and Bloom (1-3-4) pH Perfect Technology by Advanced Nutrients and started feeding that to the plants in the tents. The two clones in the smaller tent were in 1 gallon pots with the soil mixture I had mentioned previously (ProMix, CIL tomato feed, earthworm castings, Epsom salts, blood meal and bone meal) and the pots stayed heavy much longer. I didn't water or feed very often because they stayed heavy, but the leaves were changing colours in spots and I wasn't sure which amount of which nutrient was causing this. The smell from the two clones was still strong, very sweet, citrusy; I could clearly see bud production from the two clones, while #1 was producing bud under more leafy growth.
I started feeding #1 the Grow, Micro and Bloom, with more of the Bloom. I read that I could use the Bloom with each watering, so I did. Something I should clarify at this point is that I was only feeding and watering #1 from the bottom because I felt the scrog made it difficult to maneuver with the twisted limbs and all. I think this could have also had an impact on the overall bud and trichome production. It was around this point in the grow that I thought less of the scrog method, and that should I try it again, I should train and prepare the plants better. The 2 clones in the smaller tent, while some browning on the tips of some leaves was clear, were doing much better in comparison to #1. Now I was wondering about a few things, because the two tents were housing two different environments. I didn't keep a thermometer or hygrometer, I just used my own senses, but the smaller tent was getting much more humid than the MarsHydro and the clones really seemed to love it. Apart from a minor feeding snafu (down to too much Bone or Blood Meal in the soil mixture, I think), the 2 clones seemed further along in the flowering process than #1. The aroma I was getting when I'd open the tent in the morning was better than I had anticipated when I started this grow. I've been around growing marijuana before and the smells were nowhere near as sweet as what I was getting from these White Widow clones. It was like fruit or candy was growing. It was delightful!
As July was coming to an end, a rather hot and humid end, my outdoor plants were all healthy. I had spent about 12 hours pruning (especially from #3) just to promote more airflow and whatnot. I got to check for bugs and diseases a farmer friend had mentioned and found nothing of note. A few munched leaves and some moths fluttering around at night, but no damage seemed to be done. I had also read that cannabis flowers producing trichomes was like the plant's self-defense mechanism to ward off predators, and as I figured flowering season was around the corner, I think I made it through the most dangerous part of the season for outdoor plants (in terms of getting diseased or eaten while still young). Now I was starting to consider what I was going to do about the feeding regimen, but looking online for bloom boosters my options seemed expensive, so I figured I'd wait and check out Home Depot or something.
Harvest time was around the corner for my two tents. I wasn't keeping a record of dates and times, but I remember switching the MarsHydro tent to a 12/12 cycle about two weeks before the smaller tent (late May for the MarsHydro and early June for the two clones). But it seemed like #1 took a few weeks to start blooming while the clones didn't seem to take long to catch up in terms of bud production. It's a tough comparison to make for a rookie, considering the two totally different setups I had in each tent, but I was loving what I was seeing and smelling from the two clones. The scrog looked good, but there wasn't a glistening coat of trichomes like on the two clones in the other tent. It was a cool sight, to know that I set up a single plant to have over 30 tops coming through the trellis, all getting big and bushy, but I wasn't thrilled about the bushy. I knew that it was because of what I was feeding and maybe even how I was feeding.
I was trying to get a read on when exactly to harvest by watching the plants to see how they change. To see the trichomes darken or go orange and to see when the change took place over most of the plant. I thought back to when the light cycle was switched and counted the weeks it had been, but thought that maybe #1 had taken longer to actually start flowering.
Time to start flushing.
August 2018
I decided to remove the trellis, I just slid the twist ties securing the trellis up the frame) so that I could properly flush #1 before I chopped her down. I still didn't flush properly though, I just took jugs of tap water and poured from the top for the first time in her life. I should have used cleaner water, and should have used more water more often to give more of a flush, but I wasn't sure if there was much I could do now to turn this disappointingly leafy bud into anything else.
The smaller tent was looking and smelling great. The famous white coat of trichomes that gave White Widow her name, was clearly on show. In complete contrast to #1, both clones from #3 were shining in the LED light and incredibly sticky to the touch. The smell on my fingers after touching buds was as if I had dipped my fingers into a cup of lemon juice with a lot of sugar and a little pepper (that was a tough description to come up with and I'm sure there's a more refined way to describe the smells of the different terpenes present in growing cannabis, but I'm still learning, I'll get there).
The difference in the two tents was pretty big. I was disappointed in the MarsHydro grow, with the plant I had topped and trained and tried to scrog under 600watts. But the two clones that I never trained, under 300watts were better than anything I had hoped for pre-grow. Days away from harvesting I was Just excited for that next learning curve.
Outside, big winds and heavy rains along with high heat and humidity really tested the plants that had grown to be fairly substantial. #2, #3, and #4 were all in 7 gallon fabric pots and the roots spread fast. Their stalks were all really thick, all the stems had stretched way bigger than I was anticipating (I've said that a lot throughout this journal, I know). Maybe it was the soil mix, maybe it was Mother Nature, but not long after transplanting #3 and #4 into the fabric pots we got some really heavy rain and the root tips were poking out all over the pots! 3 of the cuttings I took from #4 before moving plants outside were potted in an old winter tire that had been cleaned and spray painted, relatively close to the house's air conditioning unit. When they were transplanted into the wheel they stood maybe 1' from soil to top, but they are currently huge, standing about 2 feet over the air conditioner unit (nearly 6 feet from soil to tip). The single clone that I got from #1 in April is about 5 feet, the 4th cutting from #4 is at a fairly bushy 4 feet. Another clone from #3 is nearly 5 feet, and 4 little clones in 1 gallon pots are 18 inches and seem to be the furthest into flower. I'll be back later to update the rest of my outdoor grow, but things are looking great
Now, harvest time for 3 plants.
First, #1 under the trellis. Over 30 tops of leafy, soft buds. I know it was because of my feeding mistake, but I was still going to chop, trim and cure to get the best bud that I could get. I cut the stems about 4 inches from the buds and hung them with twist ties from the trellis that I slid up the tent frame (I thought this was genius). Half of what I chopped, I trimmed and half I left hanging with the leaves on because I had read something about the buds using the last bit of nutrients in the leaves while they dry. I really don't know if it made any difference, but it was kind of a pain in the ass to trim buds that had leaves that drooped as they dried. I learned to trim all the leaves before hang drying. I kept all the trim and stems and after drying, I had 100 grams of bud from my poorly executed scrog job.
While #1 got chopped and half trimmed before hanging to dry for a week in the MarsHydro, I started flushing the two clones in the smaller tent. While I still only used house water, I felt a lot better about the amount of water I used to flush this time. I had heard about people using brown sugar or molasses at the end to sweeten up the final product, but I was so happy with the fresh, sweet smell I was getting that I didn't want to add anything else. I may have even gone a little overboard on the flushing, because the last watering I pretty well just used the garden hose on a more powerful setting to blast away the top soil. I was gonna let it dry and get to clipping buds and curing #1.
I gave the buds a full 7 days to hang dry in the MarsHydro with a fan blowing at the wall on it's lowest setting. I checked to see how it progressed, and everyday the buds seemed a little smaller than when they were chopped. They were soft, and getting dryer, but they didn't smell like marijuana, certainly not like the clones in the other tent. I clipped the buds in 16oz mason jars and collected stems in one tray and trim in another. After they dried, they went into freezer bags for use later on. I got 3 mason jars loosely filled to the top and 100 grams in total. I left the mason jars in a cupboard I recently emptied out to store my pot. For the first week, I opened each jar for a couple minutes 3 times a day. In the second week I opened the jars once a day. After settling in the jars, each jar was about 4/3 full. Each day I took a little bit to bust up and smoke, to see and taste the progression for myself. I had read a lot about the importance of proper curing and since the buds were so airy and my basement was still so cold so there wasn't much worry of mold, but I wanted to taste the difference between no curing and long curing. I currently have half an ounce from each plant in a paper bag that I'm going to leave until Christmas. The joints started out harsh and lousy after hardly any curing, while the stuff I'm currently smoking is incredibly smooth. The smell I get from busting up the buds from #1 is like the fresh, sweet, citrusy smell I got from the smaller tent while the clones were in flower, just less intense. Considering the general disappointment I had in #1 during the flowering process, the smoke I was getting from my harvested White Widow was getting more flavourful, both in taste and in smell. The terpenes are really starting to come through. Now, it's time to harvest the two sweet and juicy clones!
I can't say I'm an experienced chopper, but I've got my first chop under my belt at this point so I'm feeling more confident about harvesting these two clones after an amateur go at #1. The clones both had thicker, denser buds, their leaves had mostly yellowed (something that never really happened with #1) and the trichomes were a mix of brown/orange and opaque rather than translucent as they were while they were still developing. All the signs that I had read to look for at optimal harvest time were showing and I was pretty excited to start chopping. Before I get to describing that, another comparison I made between the 2 tents and the quality of the marijuana grown, was the amount of trim I had. #1 gave me more trim than bud with less crystal than either clone. The clones I had defoliated a few times throughout its life, so come flower time it mainly had the necessary fan leaves and less down low. The bud production was clear; day after day the plants seemed to get fatter. As I said earlier, the rate at which these clones progressed was much faster than #1. They were ready and so was I. The clones weren't topped or trained at all, they were just left to grow and grew. The stalks and stems weren't very big at all but I clipped 20 branches from each clone to trim before hanging in the MarsHydro tent (from the trellis, the same as #1). There wasn't a whole lot of trim, but the trim I got was caked in trichomes. The whole chop and trim went way better than with #1. The buds were easy to trim around because they had grown so obviously, while #1 had grown under a layer of leaves. Again, they got a full week to hang dry before being clipped into mason jars. I checked on them every day while they were drying and they stayed sticky and sweetly stinky. I had a feeling this might mean they were too moist to be left in their jars without regular burps. I opened the jars 3 or 4 times daily for the first week and gave the jars a shake 7 to 10 times a day because they were so sticky. I tried a joint daily from dry to cure, again to see the difference as it progressed from living plant to perfect smokable bud.
September 2018
Now let me tell you, ladies and gentleman, novice and experienced alike; having smoked some great pot in my 15 years, this White Widow was the single most delicious herb I have EVER smoked. I know it's very easy to assume bias here because this is my own grow, and everyone's taste is different, so allow me to try describing from the time I pop the jar open to the time the joint is smoked. I'm going to give a play by play.
-- I take a big whiff as the top pops off the mason jar, the smell is as if there's a slice of lemon inside giving a lovely burst of sweet and citrus. Taking the light fluffy nugs out of the jar to bust up, they're sticky to the touch. They bust easily into the hand-held grinder (that came with my Volcano vaporizer) and after busted they fall to a fluffy light green pile. I take a little brush to get what bits stuck to the grinder and pack it into a nicely rolled 1 1/4" doob. It rolls nicely and holds it's shape.
This is my dream weed, folks, it's like no marijuana I have ever encountered. It may very well be the first sinsimillia cannabis I've ever smoked (since I get the feeling black market bud is mostly auto flowering strains), but this is like candy! And the taste actually lasts for about 4/5 of the joint. I've raved about strains before, thinking they were God's gift to marijuana. Like trying Northern Lights for the first time, or only smoking DJ Short's Blueberry for nearly 2 years because I thought all other pot must be inferior. The first time I bought a half ounce of discreetly shipped "BC bud" and have never been more high in my entire life... I was a weed elitist, I'm guilty. And now that I've tasted this deliciousness it will be hard to not think less of other pot, so I guess I'm a marijuana elitist and I think I earned it!
I wish I could pass this to you. --
To anyone that has made it this far in this essay of a journal, thank you for still reading this; I sincerely wish I could pass this doobie so that you can see for yourself and that I'm not just bragging because It's easy to do while sitting here.
I started this grow because I was getting tired of going out to dispensaries and paying stupid prices per gram of pot. Upwards of $16/gram for the good stuff at most dispensaries I'd visit, was ridiculous. Having a regular source to pick up from usually turned out to be a crap shoot. When I once had access to some awesome stuff, for one reason or another, that was no longer the case. Every time I'd pick up it was something different, I wanted to know more about what I was about to smoke, but could barely even get a name. "Uhh, I think it's a kush something... I dunno, I'll text you". I'd never get a text. Sometimes the high was great, the odd time it was ideal. But more often than not, I'd get some serious anxiety or a wicked headache and I'm smoking to cope with anxieties and aches in the first place.
After getting my medical cannabis prescribed, I found that prices were still crazy but the product from Whistler was spectacular. I got White Widow, BC Rockstar, Tangerine Dream, God's Green Crack, Devil's Fruit, and Bubba Kush and every joint I smoked ranked up there with the best I had ever smoked. Exactly what I was hoping for when getting medically licensed. I then had to get my license to grow and all that paperwork, but totally worth it considering the current state of Canada's imminent marijuana legalization. But still, this grow was started so that I could have control over everything. I didn't have to ask questions to get answers secondhand, I was the grower, the cultivator, the source; I'm the master grower of my own marijuana garden. If the plants died or lived a miserable life but produced lousy yet useable bud then I'd have myself to look to in order to fix what needs to be fixed, whereas if I paid for that same shitty bud, I'd rarely get an answer and I definitely wouldn't get money back. Like #1, my first attempt ever, I know that I got the feeding wrong. It wasn't terrible, and the smoke is still quite nice, but I have a different grow to compare it to; same strain, much nicer quality grow and final product. The lessons are there for me to learn, both from successes and failures and I have every intention to keep growing with what I'm growing.
I had no idea that what I ended up with is what I'd have when I started. I've smoked White Widow before, I think I've even had White Widow hash, but it wasn't anywhere near as tasty or aromatic. Not even the hash was as flavourful as this delightful bud I got from both clones. I've never tasted anything like this. But, that's enough about how tasty this candy weed is, the high is wonderful. It's pretty intense, but not overwhelming. It's relaxing, but not couch-lock heavy. I feel calm, life feels enjoyable; happiness is real. Picking up the guitar or the pencil with some White Widow and I don't want to put them down. I smoked a bunch while writing this, which is why this is so long and also why it took 5 sittings to complete... Great stuff!
I did some research before deciding on White Widow, but this has surpassed all of my wildest expectations. All the video journals where the final product seems like the greatest thing ever, I had to start my own. And now I can confirm everything I've ever felt after watching videos on YouTube; it really is the greatest thing ever!
Stay tuned for the rest of my White Widow outdoor grow, and I've currently got 1 20 day old Bubba Kush and 1 20 day old Green Crack from Crop King Seeds vegging along with a White Widow clone my smaller tent.
-- C
