Ripped Van Winkles Bubbling White Widow / Ice Journal - 2010

[RippedVanWnkl]

Here's where I'm at:

Flower Room: 4 by 5 ft.
Lamp: 400 w HPS (Plus a Daylight CFL during stretch)
Currently occupied by this SS Haze in soiless media:

She's been in there for around 6 weeks and is beginning to leach her lower leaves now.

Air comes in from outside and the fan is controlled by a 120 volt Attic fan thermostat.

Temps at the top of the plant run from 95 to 55, I know it's a swing, but I think this plant handles the heat well, and the cold should make her extra potent.

She's on Technaflora Boost and Bloom with Big Bud, next week I'll add Overdrive. She gets FOOD, Water, Water as needed.

This girl is impressing me, and just now starting to put off the sweetest aroma!

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

The Veg Room

The Veg room is tiny. About 2.5 by 2.5 feet or so... Don't think I've actually measured it...

The room sports a 3-CFL/reflector setup from Stealth Hydro, rigged for Veg.
Ventilation comes from below, through a floor vent that I open/close depending on the outdoor temperature... there is a fan also, but I have not yet wired in the thermostat, the temps being quite well controlled passively. This will happen before summer, the thermostat is here... I'm just lazy... and things are working.

Temps are 56 to 85 at the top of the room, lower as you move down, the plants are getting a roughly 15-20 degree shift during their 4 hours of dark per day (20/4)

Nutrients vary, depending on the plant and what's going on with it.

I currently have GH Flora series which came in trial sizes... I burned my babies... more on that later.

I also have Technaflora BC Grow, Boost in use here, as well as an A/B formula called MotherPlant.

I've got pics coming here, with notes...

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

I started the tub here before my last soil plant went to the Bloom Room... along with a WW and Ice which both came up male...

At this point in time the GH nutes which were applied according to the label at "Vegetative Growth Stage" are beginning to burn the two front plants... you can see the leaves starting to curl under... but I did not know what this was and made no adjustments...

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

A week later they looked like this:

Now I recognize nute burn on my plants... I replaced the water mixing the nutes one half way towards what the label called General Growth - Mild.

But it wasn't quite enough and if I ever use those GH nutes again, they'll be mixed MILD for these plants.

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

It became clear these plants were still over fertilized and I thought they might be showing sex soon, which for this grow means cutting clones.

I decided to do the following:

1. I removed the burned leaves... they were blocking the newer growth from light quite effectively
2. I put them in MotherPlant nutrients mixed at the lightest (notice I'm bouncing here...?).

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

Things are looking better here...

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

The WW and Ice settled down into the MotherPlant nutrients and after this pic was taken I moved the plants around a bit... BUT I MISSED hooking up the air stone for the SSH and her roots started rotting... NO WORRIES... I got a pair of scissors and cut off MOST of her root mass, and I reduced the overhead as well... She's not only going to recover, but when she goes to the Bloom Room I expect to SCROG her to fill the room.

For those who are interested, the tops got moldy... but the bag seed is going strong.

I have purchased a Mistic Cloner from SH and will be taking clones from the ICE and WW this week... the donors will go straight to the Bloom Room which is now fixed up with two tubs, full of ferts, a pond pump, bubble stones and a 25 watt heater... took 24 hours to get the water up to 65, but it's holding fine.

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

Here's the Haze from above... This plant will have the entire Bloom Room to herself in about 8 weeks.
The Veg Room is typically pretty cool this time of year. She should grow slow enough, and if she doesn't, she could move and start her stretch in the Bloom Room once her big sister gets harvested, providing that the Ice and WW have not filled the room! (AND GOD how I hope they DO!)

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Things Happen Fast in Hydro

Well, I went home yesterday and found the Ice being choked by a +9.5 PH... <sigh>

Backing Up: I had just recently Replenished the water in these tubs. This is the First Time I have Replenished, vs. Replaced...

Won't do that again... without checking and adjusting my PH...!

They were back in Technaflora BC Boost and Grow all night and the PH damage seems to be over.

I Absolutely LOVE that if I've put something bad in my babies root Zone, I can change it in about 10 minutes or less, never could do that in SOIL!

Hydro is Awesome... but damn, you gotta look at those babies, AND THE SYSTEM every day!

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

Well, here's the deal: Everything I know about Hydro Growing, I've learned online... and this is my second attempt... but the first one was 5 years ago and a total mess... didn't know about AIR STONES... sheesh...

Anyway:
1. This is a WEED and wants to GROW with every cell in it's being
2. I'm of the opinion that Everything I need to know is here already
3. I'm going to do the best I can to refrain from asking for help... instead, I shall Read the Posts and Search the Forums for my answers.

So what will this Journal look like? Well, it's always going to be a week or so behind what's going on in the real world, and you'll be seeing my issues, adventures and problems after I've attempted the cures...!

I've already sent my plants to near death experiences, and they've almost recovered. New Pics next week.

Today's Update: Last night I cut clones from the White Widow and Ice. Both have been moved to join the SS Haze in the grow room. The cutting, moving and cleaning took me 2 hours!

This weekend, I'll be binding both girls. Paper clips and string. Saw it here, I think. The Water Farms have a nice lip around the top so I think this will be an ideal method.

The clones are in an SH Mistic Cloner. Yes, I could have built one cheaper. But I didn't want to and it's just money... LOL

I am a TRULY CURSED CLONER. Never have I been successful at rooting clones of this plant. My hope is that FOG will get better results... and what I've read here has sent me this direction... we'll see:

Roots = Success.
Rot = Failure.

I like things that are well defined.

Peace from the Swamp

 

[diesel farmer]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

looks good bro, I just started my first bubble grow on Sunday afternoon and I`m hopin for the best, I still grow in soil also : ) but if this goes good maybe not...

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

I really have grown tired of the delays involved when something goes wrong in soil. Spend weeks raising babies from seed, if I can get decent seed... only to find Males, or Hermaphrodites, or scrawny Sativa buds that never fill out.

My big goal here is to end up with Mother plants in soil, Bonsai if I can, and then when I need to reload the stash, to grow up a clone of known Potency and effect and plunk it in a tub... harvest in 8 weeks.

The folks on this forum have made me believe it's doable, even in the space I have available. My needs are relatively low... a quarter of decent quality will usually last me a couple weeks.

I should be able to keep from running out (maybe even a continual harvest?) and the fact that I can quickly change whats going on in the root zone so far has been very beneficial.

Peace from the Swamp...

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Cut Clones, Vegging Bubba Kush and SS Haze

Well, I've cut my clones... and discovered that I topped the White Widow and Ice too early... next time I'll let them grow out longer because it looks like the larger cutting will be the only one to survive...

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Ice and White Widow in Bloom Room

The Ice and White Widow are in the Bloom Room.

They're looking a bit pale, but have recovered from my high PH (9.5) error and will get fed stronger tomorrow.

They are sharing space with my Super Silver Haze...

She's been on Big Bud for 2 weeks now and the tops are all splitting into multiples...

I'll be adding Overdrive this week, supposed to make those fill out... time will tell.

Peace from the Swamp

 

[Ontario]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

that looks awesome, I want you to go over to my journal...ontario med grow and check it out now...I'm hard on them, I tried LSTing and ended up HSTing, lol hard breaks blew the stem right open...ouch, they didn't skip a beat, they got piercings well two of them do, theres a hole clean through the stem and they just grew around it, Im amazed, but I just added some of the new pics, and sent all of them into flower 2 days ago...

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Update

First off... camera needs batteries... maybe I'll grab some this weekend. (LOL)

The Super Silver Haze has been harvested. I'll post a pic of the Bananas she started putting out... I don't think any split, but I pulled the plant as I didn't want to risk the WW/Ice loosing their virginity to her...!

Smoke Report:
Wow. Light airy buds, use scissors to clip off a piece roughly the size of a small pea. Wonderful flavor, slow build up. 3-4 tokes and it's consumed... but 3-4 hours later I still feel nicely affected. Clean, Clear, Get up and Go to Work weed.

WW and Ice have been on 12/12 for 3 weeks, bushy and although the immature plants were nearly indistinguishable from each other, that is not the case now. The Ice clearly has some Sativa influences.

Pics to come, probably next week.

Peace from the Swamp Folks!

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

SS Haze Hermi Pic

This plant started putting these out late in life. I was snipping off 3-4 groups a day but decided to harvest because I was afraid of pollinating the WW and Ice in the room.

 

[RippedVanWnkl]

Week 3 on 12/12

Just catching up now that batteries are charging again.

 

[Ontario]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

eh Rip, have you ever used a camcorder to look at the trichomes? I was just wondering if a good sony camcorder would be capable of magnifying the trichs to determing harvest time?

 

[Ontario]

Re: Ripped van Winkles Bubbling White Widow/Ice Journal - 2010

it can take pictures as well, I just can't send them to the computer, I need the docking station in order to communicate with puter...