1st Ever Grow, LED, White Widow Auto

[LadyK3]

Sorry for a double post, I posted in FAQ then found this Forum and thought it was better fitting here.


Hey everyone,

I am working on my first grow. Here is what I am working with:

Germinated 2 WW auto's with the paper towel method and placed in 12oz dixie cups once the taproots emerged slightly.

I have a 48x36x70 mylar tent
a Viparspectra 600W LED with separate veg and bloom switches, adjustable ratchet hanging system
Using bottles distilled water
Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil with Worm Castings and Bat Guano
I have a small oscillating fan on the shelf and an intake/exhaust fan setup on the ground.
Figured I could run a 24 constant light since theyre autos. Also figured I would run the veg light only for the first part, maybe 2 weeks? Also, not too sure what distance from top of seedling to keep the light. Any advice?
My temps are staying around 80F with RH around 40 with just the veg light on. As soon as I flip to run both veg and bloom, the temps go up a tad and the RH drops almost 10 points. I heard that once they go into flower you want lower RH, is this true?

I planted my germinated seeds on Saturday 1/21/2017 and this morning they popped out above the surface.
I may have been reading too much and got overzealous but I saw one helmet was almost off completely so I helped it off with tweezers, as well as the membrane, I just went ahead and did it to the other. My reason for jumping to that was because with the veg light on, it made the sprouts look brown and I was worried they were dying because of the helmet. Turns out the light is VERY deceiving. I have been worrying all day that I burnt the seedling or it was struggling in the helmet. Or over/under water. I raised my light and put a few sprays of water on the top soil, pulled one out into the normal light only to see it WAS GREEN. LOL

My pH is reading at 7.2, not sure how to make any adjustments I may need.

Anyhow, here is a photo of my setup so far, and my itty bitty sprouts

Please, everyone any feedback, tips, tricks, critiques, etc would be greatly appreciated. (Will try to upload smaller photos next time)

 

[LadyK3]

Better photo

 

[Grebs]

You can buy ph up/down at your local grow supply or garden store or online. Someone else can chime in on where else may have the stuff.
You must have a ph meter since you know what yours is so that's cool. 6.5 is the sweet spot for me and my white widows but mines not autos if that matters.
I don't run led lights so someone else will be along to let you know a good height.
Pretty sure a lower humidity is a good thing in bloom. I'm currently fighting that with all this rain.
Your set up looks cool. Looking forward you drooling over your buds.

 

[Grebs]

Also running led lights youl need some Cal/mag or another alternative. I use Cal/mag. Plus your using distilled water so I cant imagine you not needing it pretty soon.

 

[LadyK3]

Also running led lights youl need some Cal/mag or another alternative. I use Cal/mag. Plus your using distilled water so I cant imagine you not needing it pretty soon.

Should I be adding cal/mag soon? figured it was too young to introduce anything yet. Since its an auto, I may be wrong.

 

[Grebs]

I'm not sure if you want to add that yet to a seedling. Someone with more knowledge on that will chime in soon. Your good without until you get answers tho. Also have you calibrated your ph meter? if its digital that is. Just thought distilled was a flat 7ph.

 

[Integrum Stultus]

For one you should have planted them into their final home rite from the git. Autos do not, I repeat DO NOT, like to be transplanted.

Its not completely necessary to use cal mag due to the LED in itself. Now in combination with RO water then yes, I would suggest it. But on the other hand if you are going to pH up and/or down then I would just use regular old tap water that has been bubbled or left out to sit for a couple days to allow the chlorine to evaporate.

PH wise I shoot for 6.4-6.6 but most of what I see for soil grows they suggest shooting for 6.0-6.8 in order to allow for maximum nutrient/mineral uptake.

Now as for LED height i keep mine from 18"-24" throughout the grow.

Increase that humidity to 60% give or take a few for seedlings. You should aim to drop your humidity 5%-10% per stage till reaching a final RH of 30%-40% for bloom/harvest.

You can pH down with distilled white vinegar or (real) lemon juice. Personally i use ArmorSI (a silicon supplement) to pH up. Silicon is an essential mineral not included in most nutes. Typically its a stand alone. I use with regular feed and as a foliar.

I would water extremely sparingly in order for the roots to search for the moisture and increase the in mass/size. Overwatering is the noobs worst enemy and most common cause of issues. When watering use only pH'd water at this stage. More than enough nutes in FFOF soil for 2 weeks min 4 weeks max.


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[LadyK3]

For one you should have planted them into their final home rite from the git. Autos do not, I repeat DO NOT, like to be transplanted.

Its not completely necessary to use cal mag due to the LED in itself. Now in combination with RO water then yes, I would suggest it. But on the other hand if you are going to pH up and/or down then I would just use regular old tap water that has been bubbled or left out to sit for a couple days to allow the chlorine to evaporate.

PH wise I shoot for 6.4-6.6 but most of what I see for soil grows they suggest shooting for 6.0-6.8 in order to allow for maximum nutrient/mineral uptake.

Now as for LED height i keep mine from 18"-24" throughout the grow.

Increase that humidity to 60% give or take a few for seedlings. You should aim to drop your humidity 5%-10% per stage till reaching a final RH of 30%-40% for bloom/harvest.

You can pH down with distilled white vinegar or (real) lemon juice. Personally i use ArmorSI (a silicon supplement) to pH up. Silicon is an essential mineral not included in most nutes. Typically its a stand alone. I use with regular feed and as a foliar.

I would water extremely sparingly in order for the roots to search for the moisture and increase the in mass/size. Overwatering is the noobs worst enemy and most common cause of issues. When watering use only pH'd water at this stage. More than enough nutes in FFOF soil for 2 weeks min 4 weeks max.


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Thanks so much for the info! Since autos dont like to be transplanted, would it be best for me to put them in their final pots asap?

 

[LadyK3]

I'm not sure if you want to add that yet to a seedling. Someone with more knowledge on that will chime in soon. Your good without until you get answers tho. Also have you calibrated your ph meter? if its digital that is. Just thought distilled was a flat 7ph.

Its not digital, so I cant calibrate. I will buy one tomorrow and see what my levels actually are. Then will make gradual adjustments

 

[Integrum Stultus]

I would suggest putting them into the final home ASAP!! .. Welcome to the forums, I will pull up a seat and follow along. Check out my journal, Im no master but i will do my best to help. There are a shit ton of masters on here. You just hafta socialize and take part in the process on here. Happy Growing!


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[LadyK3]

I would suggest putting them into the final home ASAP!! .. Welcome to the forums, I will pull up a seat and follow along. Check out my journal, Im no master but i will do my best to help. There are a shit ton of masters on here. You just hafta socialize and take part in the process on here. Happy Growing!


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moved them both just now to their pots. just put in FFOF and distilled water, tossed the soil around so it all got a little moist. dropped the seedlings in, lowered the light and zipped the tent. Now I hope and pray I wake up to healthy sprouts. I hope I didn't mess this up. Now I know this about auto. keeping 24/7 blue lights on.

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[Integrum Stultus]

1st Ever Grow -LED- White Widow Auto

I run 18/6 light schedule. 24/7 to me seems like overkill. Every organism on our planet needs down time. Lights out is a plants down time. Just a thought. There are plenty growers who run 24/7 lights so it can and has been done. I dunno if there is any scientific data to support definitively that 24/7 really does anything good or bad. Other than costing more in electric and shortening the life of your LEDs. Results wont happen overnite. Give them at least a week to adjust from any shock they may endure and then u can expect to see how they take to the changes. They are so young that I don't think u will have any stunting or ill effects from the changes.


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[Diggler420]

The first time I grew autos, I started in 4 inch pots and then transplanted into 3 gal. Most of the time, during a transplant, they are stressed and slow there veg. Autos do not spend much time in veg and this left me with smaller autos. Everything turned out fine, just smaller plants.
It was my first run with autos and I learned my lesson.
By the way, I love growing autos now and I highly recommend topping them too.
Good luck! I can't wait to see them grow.

 

[LadyK3]

Re: 1st Ever Grow -LED- White Widow Auto

I run 18/6 light schedule. 24/7 to me seems like overkill. Every organism on our planet needs down time. Lights out is a plants down time. Just a thought. There are plenty growers who run 24/7 lights so it can and has been done. I dunno if there is any scientific data to support definitively that 24/7 really does anything good or bad. Other than costing more in electric and shortening the life of your LEDs. Results wont happen overnite. Give them at least a week to adjust from any shock they may endure and then u can expect to see how they take to the changes. They are so young that I don't think u will have any stunting or ill effects from the changes.


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fair advice. I peeked at them this morning, they don't seem to be in any shock really, but I do worry they're moving along slow. perhaps I give them 4 hours to sleep and see if that speeds things up.

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[LadyK3]

The first time I grew autos, I started in 4 inch pots and then transplanted into 3 gal. Most of the time, during a transplant, they are stressed and slow there veg. Autos do not spend much time in veg and this left me with smaller autos. Everything turned out fine, just smaller plants.
It was my first run with autos and I learned my lesson.
By the way, I love growing autos now and I highly recommend topping them too.
Good luck! I can't wait to see them grow.

I have been considering topping one and letting one go natural just to see what the final yield is.

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[LadyK3]

Woke up this morning to seemingly unphased seedlings after my transplant last night.

So today I let them sleep for 6 hours while I went to some work meetings. I picked up a new ph tester and some ph down. Mixed with distilled water until it was a little more acidic than 6.7 because my soil was sitting at about 7.2, figured I'd water a bit as needed to slowly adjust the ph to 6.5-6.7
I also added a humidifier because my Lights dry the room out.

During their sleepy time they stretched a bit so I turned my light back on and lowered it a bit to try to keep them from trying to grow tall.

Im still a little worried I am underwatering, especially since putting them into their 3 gal pots.

Anyhow, thats my update. I will add some pics after I see a new set of leaves.

 

[Grebs]

Best advice I got when it comes to watering is
1. Get yourself the same pot you have your plants in and fill it up with soil. Feel how heavy it is. When your plants feel this light its time to water.
2. Thoroughly soak the soil when you do water. Feel how much heavier it is.

My clones can go about a week without water. At least five anyways and there in pots under 1 gallon atm. I'm 25 days into 12/12 on my others and feed them every 3 days could even go every 4. There only in 3 gallon pots too! But when I water them I soak them good and kinda slow. Takes me about an hour and a half to water the 4 flowering plants.

 

[LadyK3]

Best advice I got when it comes to watering is
1. Get yourself the same pot you have your plants in and fill it up with soil. Feel how heavy it is. When your plants feel this light its time to water.
2. Thoroughly soak the soil when you do water. Feel how much heavier it is.

My clones can go about a week without water. At least five anyways and there in pots under 1 gallon atm. I'm 25 days into 12/12 on my others and feed them every 3 days could even go every 4. There only in 3 gallon pots too! But when I water them I soak them good and kinda slow. Takes me about an hour and a half to water the 4 flowering plants.

GREAT advice. Thank you so much

 

[Fingolito]

Sorry for a double post, I posted in FAQ then found this Forum and thought it was better fitting here.


Hey everyone,

I am working on my first grow. Here is what I am working with:

Germinated 2 WW auto's with the paper towel method and placed in 12oz dixie cups once the taproots emerged slightly.

I have a 48x36x70 mylar tent
a Viparspectra 600W LED with separate veg and bloom switches, adjustable ratchet hanging system
Using bottles distilled water
Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil with Worm Castings and Bat Guano
I have a small oscillating fan on the shelf and an intake/exhaust fan setup on the ground.
Figured I could run a 24 constant light since theyre autos. Also figured I would run the veg light only for the first part, maybe 2 weeks? Also, not too sure what distance from top of seedling to keep the light. Any advice?
My temps are staying around 80F with RH around 40 with just the veg light on. As soon as I flip to run both veg and bloom, the temps go up a tad and the RH drops almost 10 points. I heard that once they go into flower you want lower RH, is this true?

I planted my germinated seeds on Saturday 1/21/2017 and this morning they popped out above the surface.
I may have been reading too much and got overzealous but I saw one helmet was almost off completely so I helped it off with tweezers, as well as the membrane, I just went ahead and did it to the other. My reason for jumping to that was because with the veg light on, it made the sprouts look brown and I was worried they were dying because of the helmet. Turns out the light is VERY deceiving. I have been worrying all day that I burnt the seedling or it was struggling in the helmet. Or over/under water. I raised my light and put a few sprays of water on the top soil, pulled one out into the normal light only to see it WAS GREEN. LOL

My pH is reading at 7.2, not sure how to make any adjustments I may need.

Anyhow, here is a photo of my setup so far, and my itty bitty sprouts

Please, everyone any feedback, tips, tricks, critiques, etc would be greatly appreciated. (Will try to upload smaller photos next time)

Hey man! Started out just like you with a similar setup. Happy to share my experience so far!

Do you know the actual wattage of the LED because it is not always what is being stated on the model. I would suggest that you start off at 1 meter height to begin and as you see the plants kinda stretcging for the light you will know it is time to move it closer. I would do the switch from veg to flower mode around 4th week when flower has begun. Before that they dont need much and since the veg mode got more blue light than red they will grow more width than height which is what you want when you use LED since they don't have as good light penetration as for instance HPS lights. If possible I would add some 55w fluorescent sidelights for that under canope. You wanna go for at least 5000k lights. Remember: blue light, they grow width but also promotes trichomes in flower stage. Red light trigger height growth and is the most important during flowering.

Regarding nutes I woule just say; dont get freaked out about the ph. Try your best to understand the effect it has got at what stage. I failed alot on on the ph first time and the weed turned out great anyway.

I would suggest Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow and Bloom base to start of with as it sets the ph automatically depending on what combo you use so you won't have to worry about it much as a new grower.

Any other questions I am happy yo assist man!

Namaste!

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[LadyK3]

Hey man! Started out just like you with a similar setup. Happy to share my experience so far!

Do you know the actual wattage of the LED because it is not always what is being stated on the model. I would suggest that you start off at 1 meter height to begin and as you see the plants kinda stretcging for the light you will know it is time to move it closer. I would do the switch from veg to flower mode around 4th week when flower has begun. Before that they dont need much and since the veg mode got more blue light than red they will grow more width than height which is what you want when you use LED since they don't have as good light penetration as for instance HPS lights. If possible I would add some 55w fluorescent sidelights for that under canope. You wanna go for at least 5000k lights. Remember: blue light, they grow width but also promotes trichomes in flower stage. Red light trigger height growth and is the most important during flowering.

Regarding nutes I woule just say; dont get freaked out about the ph. Try your best to understand the effect it has got at what stage. I failed alot on on the ph first time and the weed turned out great anyway.

I would suggest Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow and Bloom base to start of with as it sets the ph automatically depending on what combo you use so you won't have to worry about it much as a new grower.

Any other questions I am happy yo assist man!

Namaste!

Sent from my SM-G935F using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Sexy pictures! Also, for future ref, I'm of the female persuasion
Funny you mention adding more light. I was just cruising the web for another LED from same manufacturer. It has a daisy chain plug on the top so I can link another to it.
I will def. love any feedback and advise you can share during my 1st grow.
I'm already thinking about what to grow next. These two gals are Autos. Maybe go old skool next grow