Bloomin's Indoor Pro-Soil White Widow Grow Journal 2017

[BloominBuds]

Hello all! This is my first grow journal. I have decided after 22 days of growth that I really need to utilize the expertise and help of other growers to reach the level of education I really want to have.

I have never even had a plant of any sort, nor planted anything.

I am a researcher and I spent an unbelievable amount of time researching and reading forums, grow journals, etc in order to get as much knowledge as I can before I "jump." However with the vast amount of information, techniques, training methods, etc etc I decided after 4 months of research and considering it to just do it.

Let me preface this whole journal by stating I have decided to follow as precisely as I can an educational "How to Grow" series by NVclosetmedgrower. It is a starting point for me that I felt would be practical, should yield something in the end, and give me at least a foundational understanding of growing. I have watched the videos a number of times and still learn something new each time. I am starting to convert this series into actual written docs that can be referenced in the future and act as a SOP of sorts.

Today is day 18 of Veg for me. I will attempt to go back and fill in the journal with the information that I have so far and upload photos.

Let me answer as much as I can about this grow before I get started:

Strain: White Widow Seeds with unknown genetics from a fairly reliable source
Grow Type: Indoor 4x4x6 Tent
Medium: Soil - Pro-Mix with Mycorrhizae
Pot: Started in Solo Cups and moved to a cheap unknown size pot will research and update
Lights: For early veg I am using CFL's - 6500 K, 1600 lumens -- I have not chosen a lighting solution for later veg and flower.
Nutrients: General Hydroponics Series, CalMag, and other nutes recommended in videos.
Tent Temp: Staying around 74-79
Tent RH: This is a tricky one... If tent is open it drops to 48-50% but when I close it for a few hours it will spike up to as much as 75%. I have been opening the tent door every few hours to balance the humidity but at night it really spikes up. I have plans to combat this.
Tent Fans: I have a few oscillation fans at this time but really need to get a probably 6'' fan to draw air in through the screened ground openings and pull out top.

Reason I Want to Grow: Curiosity started me... I started a seed some months back and got it to about a foot. I didn't really have the nutes or lighting the plant needed but I just felt a connection to the plant and it drove me to learn more and really push to start growing some new "girls." I am a light smoker. If this grow goes well and it is satisfying to me I would probably look to grow more.

 

[BloominBuds]

Throughout the course of the journal I will refer to the plants as A B or C. Typically these will be lined up in this order from left to right in photos.

6/1
Seeds were germinated in cup with tap water and splash of Hydrogen Peroxide. Poked a few times and set cup in closet for 24 hours.

6/2
2 seeds cracked 1 I am unsure. Use paper towel, pour water from cup on it, place seeds on paper towel, fold paper towel over and place in a open ziploc bag. Place bag in dresser drawer for 24 hours.

6/3
Checked seeds and all 3 have tap roots. I prepare the medium for seedling stage.
I am using Jiffy Organic Seed Starting Mix with 20% Perlite mixed in. I add some holes to the bottom of a few solo cups. Fill the cups with the mix and then flush it with a few cups each of 5.8PH Distilled Water. It was stated this helps reduce some of the lyme in the mix. I dig about 3/4 '' hole and apply some rooting powder. Then I place tap root down in about 1/4 down. I lightly cover seedling, spray some 5.8 PH on top of soil, and spray some in a small baggie and cover the seedlings. I place them under a single CFL just to have the light there when they do come through.

6/4
A and B have slightly sprouted. C is still no where in site. Nervousness sets in. Respray the baggies and lightly spray top of soil. Cover plants. Wait another 24 hours.

6/5

All 3 have sprouted. B shows good growth having stretched a bit. I set up 2x CFL's in the tent that cover all 3 nicely. I decide to leave on plastic bags 1 more day.

6/6 - Veg Day 1

The plants have opened up some. C is still the "runt" of the litter so to speak. I remove the plastic baggies. Spray some water. I guess we will start this as Day 1 of Veg.

6/7 - Veg Day 2
Each AM I will check the stats in the tent.
AM - 77 Degrees - 51% RH
-There are still no nodes but slight growth to all 3. I used a dropped and lightly watered all 3 plants 5.8 PH water. I noted that there is a growth difference:
A - middle in growth, looks good.
B - largest stretch, makes me think its time to get lights closer, larger leaves
C - lowest growth, shorter and smallest overall

6/8 - Veg Day 3
AM - 77 Degress - 49% RH
-Nothing to note

6/9 - Veg Day 4

AM 79 Degrees, 50% RH
- I lightly watered each plant with just PH5.8 water. Cups were getting light. I was careful to not wash topsoil and only give enough to get a runoff.

6/12 - Veg Day 7

6/13 - Veg Day 8

AM - 79 Degrees - 49% RH
-Cups were getting light again. Consistent growth patterns of all 3. I am doing the first feeding which consisted of:
Gro - 1ml
Micro - 1ml
Bloom - 1ml
CalMag - 1ml
PH 5.7
PPM - 250

Each plant took about 2/3 cup before started to drain out bottom.

6/17 - Veg Day 12

-The plant growth is looking good here. C is still shorter and looking "bushier" however I decided it was time to top the plants. This was just a personal decision and went against what was taught in the video series. I should have likely waited until after the transplant and a few days for the roots to set in. I feel like this decision stunted the growth of those stalks however they have rebounded nicely after the roots had time to set in. I only topped A and B. C is just too bushy and the nodes are all so close even with the light being pulled away from it some more.


6/18 - Veg Day 13
I was lazy with the journal and not recording each day. Things were very similar with some more growth. A seemed to pick it up some almost matching B. C is still shorter and seems to be bushier than A and B. I am starting to wonder if this is the same strain.

Today I decided to transplant the plants as well. There are about 4/5 node sites and about 5 - 6'' of vertical growth except for C. I didn't have a larger pot and was just going to get a 1 gallon pot to transplant into until I could tell what sex the plants were.

I may have made a beginner mistake at this stage. First I got a pot that I have no idea what size it actually is. I will look at the pots later and see if I can find that out. It is clearly more than a gallon size but likely not a 3 gallon. I got it at Walmart. I didn't cover the soil to the top of the pot because I thought the width was more than enough to cover the needed growth to go above the pot. So far (6/23) this was a false assumption. I am not sure if I should cut the put to make it fit.... or the other option would be to transplant again.

I used the Pro-Mix Soil with Mycorrhiza. I used the following nutes ratio per gallon:
Gro - 1/2 ml
Micro 1/2 ml
Bloom 1/2 ml
CalMag 1.5 ml
Molasses 1/2 tsp
PH - 5.7, 190 PPM

I ran about 3/4 Gallon through the soil of each of the new pots and let them sit for a few. I made an indention of the cups in the soil. I watered each of the plants as well to assist with getting the plants out. A and B gave me no issues. I didn't use the actual cup that C was in I used an empty one so I didn't get to eyeball how the plant would sit. When I dropped the plant in, it was way too low. Instead of pulling it out and potentially messing up the roots, I just dug the soil out from around it and tried to level it off as best I could. This plant was just so short. It could have went another day or 2 before transplanting. The roots of A and B were just starting to swirl at the bottom and seemed like perfect timing. I used the remaining 1/4 gallon on each plant to get the air out of the soil. I sprayed the plants with some PH5.8 water and tried to clean the nutes that got on the leaves off and the soil I had gotten on the leaves.

It was day 13 of Veg that I started to have the RH problems. Leaving the tent closed spiked the RH up to 75% at times. I would open the tent regularly and let the RH drop back down to 50%. I know that I need to get a fan in there.

 

[BloominBuds]

6-23 - Veg Day 18
AM 79 Degrees - 75% RH - This problem is still consistent. I have no issue with opening the tent through the day to manage it but at night it spikes. I try to open it shortly before lights out (11pm) and get it down to 48% ish. I make sure it is closed before lights out (missed this once by a few minutes).

I guess this is where my first question to the community would come into play. I have been considering using a 6 inch Active Air In Line Fan rated at 400 CFM. I am considering mounting this to the outside of the tent and having it "suck" the air out of the tent. There are some of the screened holes at the bottom of the tent that I would open. I would get the Speed adjuster as well. I feel this is big enough to handle whatever I wanted to do with this 4x4, and handle 3 plants just fine. If I added a filter on the inside (I will in the future) it would still be rated more than enough to handle other items (lighting, potential angles in ducting, and potential intake scrubber). To alleviate the problem NOW does the community feel this is adequate?

I notice some strange spots on the leaves.... it almost looks like something is "eating the leaves" but I have searched thoroughly and am not seeing anything. Strange thing is that this is only the A and B plant. C doesn't seem to have any of this issue. I read that it might be that the lights are too close... I checked the heat and the CFL's give off so little. I did pull them back some though just in case. I wonder if this could have to do with the humidity. I have been a stickler on the PH of the water I am using.

Feeding - I had wanted to feed the plants yesterday but the topsoil was still moist. I assumed that since the roots were still growing maybe they didn't drink as quick. Today there were patches of really dry soil and patches closer to the stem were still damp. I wasn't sure if this was due to the high RH overnight or what but at 5 days since last feeding I decided to feed. I followed the instructions per the mentioned video series in Post 1. Per Gallon:

CalMag - 2mL
Bloom - .5mL
Grow - 1.5 mL
Micro - 1 mL
Molasses - 1/2 tsp
PH - 5.7
PPM - 254

I also measured the last part of the drainage of the drainage from each plant. Once the majority of the drainage went through I added some more feed and placed each on top of its own bucket. I then measured each as follow:
A: 6.1 PH, 903 PPM
B: 6.1 PH, 882 PPM
C: 6/1 PH, 945 PPM

While watering the plants one thing that stood out to me was that C had a much stronger smell. I might have to start considering a filter quicker than I thought I would.

 

[BloominBuds]

So after about an hour after closing the tent up I started to think about the RH. It is humid outside but inside the house is about 45%. I opened the tent it read 78% RH. Gosh.... So I went ahead and ordered the Active Air 6inch and the Speed Adjuster. I should have it Sunday or Monday. I think I am going to open the smaller panels on the bottom and have 1 smaller fan blowing OUT of the tent and another bigger oscillating the air inside. I know that the humidity mostly rises but I want to see if this will at least help manage the issue until the inline comes so that I don't have to keep the tent open 24/7.

 

[BloominBuds]

6/28 Day 23 of Veg
AM: 73 Degrees - 46% RH

It is feeding day again. The top soil still feels slightly moist but it has been 5 days since last feeding.

I installed the Inline 6'' and haven't had any issues with RH since. It is sitting at 43% to 48% now. I was concerned that it might be getting too low. I need to read a few other journals and see what RH produced good results.

The plants are still growing well.

Plant A:

Plant B:

Plant C:

I am happy with the results so far. I need to start looking at training the plants for better yields. The toppings worked great on all 3 plants. Plant A actually had 3 stem off the node where I topped it. I will review LST and some other components of the grow guide I am following and start to implement some training.

I also have some money coming in and I am considering going with LED. I will review more of the other Grows and see which LED's seem to work best in a 4x4. Any recommendations are welcome.

 

[improvise]

Welcome and enjoy the journey. I notice a lot of growers using the Mars 300 led. regards

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

Hope all is well in your world.

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.