Help With Identifying Possible Early PM Issue...and its fallout

[TokM0n]

Currently 19 days into my first grow from seed. I decided to wager/hope I wouldn't run into any issues before I was completely setup, but such is life right? At the moment I have 6 plants going. Three are 19 days old and the other three are 10 days old. They're in a 4x4 tent under a 400w MH with two oscillating fans (one for the hood and one for moving air). My setup is definitely not ideal or complete right now but I cant be the only one trying to ball on a budget right and you gotta make the best with what you got.

So I just got back from the hydroponics store and received a reality check of sorts but am not sure if it should be taken with a grain of salt or not. I explained my issue which is that I have been noticing intermittent white specks on the top of my leaves which I am able to brush off by hand. After eyeballing the plants last night with a jewelers loop for over and hour, I have a hard time speculating that its some sort of pest or mite. The hydro store said its most likely powdery mildew and because its a systemic issue that it wont go away and I may as well toss the plants and start over. I have no problem doing that, but he also didn't get eyes on the plants and I had no pictures. So before dropping the guillotine on them I'd like to get a second opinion.

Lastly, I went into the hydro store to get more supplies but ended up leaving empty handed. My goal is to be able to
yield between a half pound to pound (some day) and I don't expect to hit those number by any means on my first grow. If this is PM or something just as bad I realize repeating the process with the same inputs is futile. But the reality is I don't have the means to spend $600-$800 on a tent kit that could help me get there like the guy at the hydro store recommended. Was I naive in trying to pick things up piecemeal? Do I table this dream for another time when I am able to have everything? Does my plant even have PM? Do I just trash the plants and carry on picking stuff up? I don't really know at the moment, but I have a light and a tent. Was planning on picking up the exhaust fan, booster fan, ducting, and speed controller Monday.

As you can tell I'm somewhat directionless right now so any comments or input would be much obliged. Ive lurked around this forum for quite sometime and tried my best to approach asking for support correctly. Hope I did, but if not let me know. Again, thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Tokem0n

Strain - White Widow
# of Plants - 6 total (only three with issues currently)
Grow Type - Soil
Grow Stage - Late Seedling/Early Vegetative
Bucket Size - 2 Gallon
Lights - (1) 400w MH
Nutrients - None so far
Medium - Fox Farm Ocean Forest
PPM - Unkown
PH - 6.5
RH - 80%
Room Temperature - 68-75
Solution Temperature - Unknown
Room Square Footage - 16 square-foot (4x4 tent)
Pests - None Known

 

[The Germinator]

I think you're being paranoid. Your plants look healthy. I don't believe those are pests. Good luck.

 

[TokM0n]

As these ladies are for my anxiety I am for sure prone to paranoia haha. Thanks for the response! I will keep em going and see how they progress. Just making sure I am not missing something blatant or irreversible.

 

[vespertine]

Hi T~ welcome! Don't panic!

You're starting with more than I have now, so your hydro store was just trying to pick your pocket. I have a 400w mh and one fan~ I just painted the inside of my basement closet white & started from there 2 months ago~ I agree with the germinator~ they look fine~ I also thought I had a bout of wpm (which turned out to be drywall dust) but made my own foliar spray with milk, baking soda & water. But I don't think that's what you have~ even if you did then there are things you can do before you kill a perfectly salvageable plant. I think the lesson here is to not listen to your hydro store guy! If you'd like to see a similar budget set up can do, check out my journal~ I just started flowering a few days ago on my very first grow~ my biggest from seed is 24" tall & 29" in diameter, so you don't need all the fancy things~ good luck & happy growing!

 

[Ogwillis]

I'm wondering if maybe it's just dust from your soil? I know mine gets specs on it every so often from that

 

[Furcifer]

They look fine. Monitor proper pH runoff and intake. You should be fine.
A couple pics of pH fluctuations issues. Early stage.

 

[TokM0n]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! They seemed to healthy to let go!

Vespertine - Man oh man. Went in for 2 gallon smart pots and the next thing I know its defcon 1 and ive most likely got PM. Which unless I spend the money to "do it right" ill keep running into the same "issues."

Ogwillis - Im going to go ahead and assume that its from the perlite in the soil.

Tricam - Thanks for the pics. Much obliged! Its been a few days since I checked my soil PH but it was 6.5 when I did.

 

[vespertine]

Yeah, she looks beautiful and happy!~ looks like you're doing it right to me I've learned to always take a breath & research before panicking (i also have anxiety issues)~ people here are the best and will help you to a successful harvest! I don't know how big you really want to go but I up potted from a 1 gallon to a 5 gallon bucket with no problems~ that I know of! But they are happy plants & I'm the happiest girl!

 

[Triggga92]

Deffanitly possible my first grow I started with a 1000 wt mh then switched to a 1000wt hps for veg to get the ambience needed don't want white light in flowering but your goal for 1 pound can Easley be reached by tameing the plants I did 4 plants in a room in my basement and ended up with 5 pounds dry I built it out of 2x3 boards and reflecting insulation sheets in my opinion your going to need to up you space during flowering to reach your goals and for a root system to support such a plant 5 gallon buckets at least to support the plants weight your at a good point now to add small amounts of root growth Chemicals just stay under what your brand requires at first couple of weeks to avoid shock hydro stores are gold mines for people interested in learning from trials

 

[Triggga92]

What percent sativa are you widow seeds because from experience with white widow the more indica the geno the better. white widow is a tempered plant and must be kept in almost perfect conditions great dence buds the more sativa it is the higher your yeald for a baller on a budget like me and you lol but depending on the geno more airie

 

[TokM0n]

Thanks Trigga & Vespertine

My plan was to go solo -> 2 gallon smart pot -> 7 gallon smart pot. As far as the tent is concerned, I was hoping to flower in the 4x4, buy a 600w HPS, and then pickup a smaller veg tent for the 400w. Hindsight 20/20 I'm glad I'm not flush with cash seeing as I would've overspent for my needs quite a bit. Thanks for pointing out being able to start low dose nutes. Not really sure if they're in the ending part of seedling or in early veg.

 

[TokM0n]

What percent sativa are you widow seeds because from experience with white widow the more indica the geno the better. white widow is a tempered plant and must be kept in almost perfect conditions great dence buds the more sativa it is the higher your yeald for a baller on a budget like me and you lol but depending on the geno more airie

To be honest I am not 100% certain on the genetics beyond strain name. They came from a buddy who's family member grows. He said that they were from good seeds but you know how that goes. For all I know its not even White Widow. I planted those three first and they're 10 days or so ahead of the seedlings that i am more eager about which are Maui Wawi (Nirvana), Critical + (Dinafem), and Red Leicester Tease (Dr. Krippling). The latter two were freebies but nonetheless hoping for danks

 

[vespertine]

Your fox farm soil should have plenty of nutes in it for another week or two, at least~ I didn't need to feed for well over a month & only started nutes last week. If you're gung ho on feeding then start at a quarter dose of product recommendations~ you also want to alternate plain watering with feeding so as not to burn your girls. Remember I am also a newbie & this info is advice given to me from very successful experienced growers and research~ so your own research will serve you well. I have also read* that it is not the nutrients that make your plants grow big, but the lights. We have the same light so you should do just wonderfully!

 

[vespertine]

Oh... and a 4x4 tent won't be enough room for 6 plants in 7 gallon pots~ I have 3) 5 gallon pots, a 3 gallon & a one gallon in a 5x8 closet & it's tight in there. Just food for thought

 

[TokM0n]

No no, best manage my expectations now before they manage me...literally haha. Would they be premature if do a shorter veg to compensate the plant count? Also three of seeds I used were regular and three were feminized. Ill have to reassess once they show their sex. I just figured out of three of the seeds I popped one was hopefully going to be female so at the very least id have 4.

 

[Furcifer]

The pics sent are from WW.
They are lite eaters of base nutrients, love boosters tho.
Yours look indica heavy with the darker broad leaves. But, it's a little early to tell.
Try to get your runoff pH as close to 7 ish as you can.
Good luck with your grow.

 

[vespertine]

Indeed a shorter veg will help with space... should probably keep them in smaller than 7 gallon pots... I vegged for 9 weeks. I left the 7 week seedlings in smaller pots when I realized I was going to run into light footprint issues. Lol~ there are people who veg for as little as a month before flipping. But of course that comes with a smaller yield~
I don't know if it's normal for mh, but I'm still staring at my plants from seed to determine sex. I envy those who know before they switch to flower! Thankfully I have a clone so at least one female, which I think could take up the whole footprint... lol

 

[Triggga92]

 

[Triggga92]

One quick way to find out the sex of your plant and I'm not sure if people will agree with me is to sacrifice one branch have way through veg better one branch then all that time Take a brown paper bag and cover one branch at a 12 and 12 hr light schedule you can switch one branch rather then cuttin your veg time down and sacrificeing you whole yeald

 

[Triggga92]

What I did and it's not a reconsideration is dropped about 800 dollar on my room started the plants essential able to complete the room until after first harvests I sold each pound for 2000 because prices in my area are around 2600 sold quick and reinvested about 40% of profits into finishing room and building new room for flowering at 5'x12' I keep about 10 in veg about 4to 7 in flowering and for quick cash every time I pinch a pistol of my veg plants I dip them in clonex reroot every cut off and sell clones for 20bucks a peace a lot more people interested in it then you would think