Flytier's White Widow Novice Grow

[flytier]

Ok, so this is my first grow journal, and very close to my first grow. I've had a couple failed attempts the predecessors to this batch of four is going somewhat smoothly. I have two WWs that I switched over to 12/12 just over a week ago, but that's another story... I'm kind of hoping that in putting this down I may enlighten myself or others as to what I'm doing wrong and where.

Like I said, it's a crop of WW which I started from seed which I obtained from CKS. I've had very bad luck getting them past germination stage (I don't know if it's the seeds or what; most likely my inexperience with them). I've been putting them down using the paper towel method, but the next seeds I get are going right to the soil. I've started a bunch of bean and tomato plants in soil without much of a hitch, so that's what I'll try.

Anyway, the grow space is an alcove in the kitchen where the fridge used to be. It's lined with dollar store emergency blankets and sealed off with a sliding door/dummy wall, call it what you will. It has two levels, the top one for seedlings/veg stage, which is not very high. My plan is to use this space for training the plants to stay low anyway, and use the higher bottom layer for the flowering growth stretch. So far, so good.

Lighting is accomplished with a combination of (mostly for now) CFLs and some screw-in LED floodlights, 5700K daylights in the top section and 2700K soft whites in the bottom, although there is some minor overlap there. Every now and then I'll pick up another bulb or five and add to it, but I hit the limit with sockets (for now).

Air movement is done by a small 6-inch desk fan in the bottom level, I don't have anything like that in the top yet, but the plants seem to be doing good just the same. There is no venting either in or out, but it seems not to be an issue. I keep the door open while I'm home, except when it's the dark period for the bottom. Heat is supplied by a small space heater placed just outside the setup, pointing in at it, although it's now almost June so It's not being used much right now. The heat thrown off by the lights is enough to keep things comfortable for what's inside.

Humidity seems ok, at least the plants aren't complaining to me. Water/soil pH, well, beats me... I don't have anything to test it with.

The soil for the seedlings was a combination of enriched potting soil (that I wasn't aware there was an issue with at first) and regular soil. That has since been corrected.

 

[flytier]

Like I said, I used the paper towel method to germinate the seeds, and I got 80% success with this lot, compared to the 0-40% in other batches. They were placed in water on April 27, 2017 and put into the paper towels the day after. Within 2-3 days later they were in 5" starter pots for the seedling stage. The soil at this point was still the mixture of enriched and plain, and soon thereafter a bit of nutrient burn was noticed on the leaves. Not a big problem, I guess. I used 100% enriched on a previous batch which ended in the plants' demise.

 

[hydro jay]

Nice looking setup - good luck with the grow! I'm on my first grow too and am 41 days in and this board has been an invaluable resource. So much knowledge here and so many people willing to share their experiences.

Have fun!

 

[flytier]

When later leaves began to come out the nutrient burn ceased to be an issue. I'm not sure what kind of growth most people get with WWs, but I honestly expected them to grow faster. Here is one of the plants at almost three weeks after seed. Oh, yeah, I also added perlite to the soil mix; I forgot to mention that earlier.

 

[flytier]

Right on Jay. I'm having lots of fun at it. I just have to start keeping more up-to-date records.

 

[flytier]

So almost a week ago I decided it was time to rey a FIM for the first time. The growth was speeding up and the health was superb, and I wanted to try some training that would leave the plants in better shape than the previous attempt. The previous isn't damaged (too badly), it was just done in a sloppy manner.

With a FIM I expect the growth to be radially symmetrical, rather than all lopsided, as are the earlier ones, because I just bent it over for LST and let it grow toward the edge of the pot. This is the plant almost a month from seed. Just this morning, actually.

 

[flytier]

Which brings me up to the present. This afternoon, 29 days from seed, the diameter of the plant was the same as the starter pot, so it was time to transplant. The branches are growing at a good pace, so all systems go... They went into what I think are somewhere around 2-gallon buckets.

Up until this point I was using Miracle Gro tomato fertilizer alternating with molasses, but now the two out of four plants that were transplanted went into an organic mix. As I work in the aquaculture industry at a hatchery, I have an unlimited supply of salmon compost. I'm using last year's batch as the base for what I hope is going to be some nice living soil. Also included in the recipe is cow and sheep manure compost, black soil, perlite, vermiculite and a dash of bone meal. With my waterings now still use a spoonful or so of molasses in a 2L Pepsi bottle, as well as a pinch or two of Epsom salt and a few mL of coconut water, all in rotation. I'm not sure if I should give an unenhanced watering as part of the cycle; maybe someone could enlighten me on that part. I haven't gone through a full rotation yet anyway.

The remaining two plants are still smaller, as they are out by the door, and here in Atlantic Canada May is still a cool month. I have a
2-gallon and a 5-gallon set aside for them, the reason being that the one in the 5-gallon will stay out till fall and the 2-gallon one will come inside when I'm ready for it, whenever that may be (probably when I'm tired of waiting - that sounds like my modus operandi​).

 

[flytier]

While I'm at it I might as well tune in to my outdoor grow as well. It's from the same batch as the others that I'm following. This is from the other morning after a frost hit overnight. I thought the plant would be gone, being a subtropical to tropical species and all. It turns out to be pretty hardy, even more so than the black-eyed Susan that's its next-door neighbor on the deck. The WW is still going strong, while the Susan is kind of struggling, and more so every day now.

 

[flytier]

Yeah, well yesterday I transplanted my indoor WWs into the organic mix that I rigged up, and after work today when I checked in on it I found there was no slowing down of the growth, which is kind of what one would expect with a transplant. Quite the contrary; the growth actually sped up! The branches have quite filled out the plant considerably. So no more plain potting soil for my babies, that's for sure.

 

[flytier]

Things are going at a good pace, now that the WW is in decent soil. The difference from day to day is very noticeable, compared to the previous plants which were in plain old potting soil. Two days ago when I transplanted it, it wasn't much more than a single stem with a few budding branches, and today I was able to start doing LST on it.

I put the outdoor plants into their final pots/buckets, whatever, yesterday after the last journal entry. The growth spurt didn't start like that of the indoors', but they aren't on 24/0 in a heated grow room either.

 

[flytier]

Now it's been four days since I started LST on this baby and she's bushing out like there's no tomorrow. Although they can't be seen in these pictures, even the branches are getting branches on them, and the plant is maybe 10cm tall. I'm not sure if I'll be doing LST on those or using them for clones or what. I have six from my older plants and I'm not sure what I want to do with all of them yet.

During watering I'm cycling through coconut water (I tasted it the other day and I may start getting some for myself too), Epsom salt and molasses. Obviously in the veg stage it doesn't need anything more than that. I considered putting in the Miracle-Gro that I bought as sort of a supplement but it seems kind of unnecessary. Don't mess with a good thing. Although I did manage to procure some 35% hydrogen peroxide which I'll use to add oxygen to the soil. It only takes a couple drops of that stuff in a 2L bottle of water; I'll have to find the instructions for that again before I use it. I still have a few days anyway.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Plant looks Wicked my friend, excellent job on the LST by the way.

 

[flytier]

Plant looks Wicked my friend, excellent job on the LST by the way.

Thanks Guy. This time things are going pretty good. If it keeps up at this rate they will be down below with the two plants I have on 12/12 in no time. Good thing I have some clones to follow them with.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

That's my issue. 6, all the same age. Occupying my veg (autos)space and my flower tent.....oh what to do, lol.

 

[flytier]

That's my issue. 6, all the same age. Occupying my veg (autos)space and my flower tent.....oh what to do, lol.

What to do indeed. I have mine put by the window for now to get on the go. I may put a couple more in pots out be the door. They're at the mercy of the seasons, but better that than getting rid of them or overcrowding my grow space.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

I've muddled this question around in my head for weeks LOL. I've got a buddy about to drop off three clones for me...... I've had worse problems lol.

 

[flytier]

Well, we're getting some nice filling in now. I think I have the main branches pretty much evenly spread out and some of the branches are getting sub-branches. I accidentally topped a couple of them doing LST, but I'm really not worried. It'll give me more branches to choose from between growing into colas and taking off for clones.

A few of the fan leaves have been picked off to give the branches underneath some exposure to the light. This hardly slowed down the growth, if at all. There's lots more foliage left to take over the job of photosynthesis. Soon enough more will be coming off, but I'm in no rush to do it.

 

[flytier]

This morning I did a little trimming on it. There were a few leaves that were laying in the soil and a few that were getting very little light underneath the umbrella so I took them off. I guess a half dozen or so. When it gets a little bigger I'll probably go up above and get rid of a few that are doing the shading, but for now I'll leave them there to do some photosynthesizing. If it works, don't fix it.

 

[Canada Guy]

Subbed up. Your plants are looking very nice.

 

[flytier]

Subbed up. Your plants are looking very nice.

Thanks. They're growing real well this time around. I'll be getting clones off them in no time at all. I'm going to take the smaller branches as I go rather than waste space that I don't have on a mother plant.