White Widow Feminized

One week under the new lights and she is very happy! I’ve put her in a pot with some Fox Farm Happy Frog potting soil mixed with a bit of earth worm castings from my worm bin. I sprinkled mycorrhiza in to help her roots. I’ve left space at the top for a topdress of potting mix, just wanted to make sure the peat pellet doesn’t stay soaked. The temperature is good, but the humidity it still too low. No nutrients yet, just a bit of water. There’s a fan in the tent for extra air circulation. The light is at 75% for now.

Week 2 and she’s still doing well! The temps and humidity in the tent have been low, it’s been very cold outside. So far she’s dealing with it all, just growing a little slow. I also lowered the light to 24 inches above with the plan to lower it to 20 inches by the end of the week. It’s is still at 75%

She’s still growing fantastically! We had some better temps outside and therefore better temps in the tent. She was starting to look a little less happy, I think she’d used up all the nutrients, time for a potting on! Her roots looked nice when I took her out, probably could have let her go a bit longer, she definitely wasn’t root bound, but she would have been hungry. I doubled the pot size to a 2.5 quart nursery pot with my composted super soil mix. I thought I saw a single fungus gnat flying around, so I sprinkled crushed mosquito dunks on the top. After a day in her new pot, her leaves were showing me how happy she was, so I decided it was time for a topping. She had 5 nodes and I pinched off the 6th that had started. I was trying to avoid a split stem, so I didn’t want to remove too much. I may have left too much, we shall see as she grows. There’s already quite a lot of secondary growth, I’m really happy with this light!

She’s doing great, the topping went well and the secondary growth is kicking into high gear. White widow has always been an easy variety to grow and this one is no different. I’ve added a humidifier to the room, but still struggling to keep the humidity up. I think I’ve been overwatering slightly due to my concerns over the low humidity, I need to keep an eye on that, especially with the lower temps. The light is still at 75%. Since this is my first time growing with hid lights, I’m reluctant to increase yet, but I wonder if that would help my temperature issues.

She’s growing slower than I expected. I thought she was overwatered, but it could be the soil I potted her in was too rich. Normally this variety does ok with my composted super soil mix. I’ve increased the light to 100% and the increased light may be a factor. I’m still trying to get used to this hid light, it’s very different from the small leds I’ve been using for the last few years. The new growth tips had grown enough to be tied down, I am hoping to keep her nice and flat, I want sideways growth. I finally got more Sea90, I really like using these sea minerals.

She’s still growing slowly, but I’ve noticed lots of secondary growth, she’s getting bushy. I’m trying to keep the leaves tucked behind the growth tips so that they will keep getting taller. I’ll keep tying down as they get longer. I plan to pot her on next week, hopefully the better soil mix will help her. Newer leaves have a better green color. I’m happy with the temps and humidity. I’ve started adding silica along with Sea90

She definitely seems to be recovering, I’m quite relieved. Time for potting on, she went into a 6 gallon pot with 1 gallon super soil mixed with 2 cups worm castings on the bottom and lighter soil mix on the top. I also added mycorrhizae. Her bottom leaves were touching the soil, so I did some light defoliation. I plan to do more, but I don’t want to stress her out. I line a milk crate with landscaping fabric, this allows air pruning of the roots. The crate then sits in a tray of perlite. I will top water for the first week or 2 to ensure the soil is evenly moist, then I will water the perlite. The water will wick up into the soil and the plant will grow roots all the way down. Since most of the nutrients are already in the super soil, I will only top water once a week or as needed to add any extras. I wasn’t originally planning it, but I much prefer to grow under a screen. Since there are 3 different varieties in the tent, they will each get their own screens. I just need to figure out how to get the fan back in there.

Not much changed this week. I attempted to top for a second time and she didn’t seem happy with it, just stalled out. I’m hoping I haven’t stressed her out too much with everything that’s happened. Fingers crossed that next week is better. Still top watering every 2 days, the soil is drying out quickly. I’m thinking I’m not giving enough water each time and the soil isn’t quite wetted through. Pistils have started popping out, nice to confirm she’s a girl 👧

This week has been very up and down as far as temps are concerned. We had several overnights in the negative numbers which made for 58 F in the tent. Didn’t seem to stop this girl from chugging along! She’s getting quite leafy and bushy, so another small defoliation. I removed the bottom 2 branches and will try to root them in my aero garden. I’m concerned about possible magnesium deficiency related to the earlier fertilization issues, so I’ve added some Langbeinite. This will also address the potassium needs as I plan to flip to flower in the next week or so. I will also topdress with some super soil to help her get through the pre flower stretch.

This has been a great week. She is past the nutrient issues and has decided to grow, so I started 12/12 in hopes of not running out of space! I’m happy to say it appears as though the soil is fully moistened and she’s drinking from the bottom. I will continue to top water once a week with the added nutrients, but only water in the bottom tray. I did a minor defoliation just before the switch and topdressed with some worm castings and more super soil. I sprinkled crushed mosquito dunks in hopes of avoiding an issue with fungus gnats. Her growth is definitely more than I’ve experienced with the smaller leds. I plan on doing another defoliation around day 18-21 and will swap out the metal halide bulb for the Hps at that point.

After a week and a half of 12/12 lighting, she is definitely starting to flower. I love seeing the start of little buds 😁 She has stretched 5 inches this week and filled the screen quickly. Now I’m hoping she doesn’t stretch too much more. I’ve cleaned up some under the screen to improve airflow, I will pull a few more leaves in a couple of days. I don’t want to stress her by taking too much at once. Did the once weekly top watering, bottom watering otherwise. She’s drinking good amounts of water, no surprise with that much growth! I’ll change the metal halide bulb out for the Hps in the next day or 2, that should keep things trucking along! I just wanted to be past the bulk of the stretch.

There was lots of growth this week, 6 inches in fact! It seems as though she’s slowing down, I had to move the light daily at the beginning of last week, but haven’t moved it for 4 days. I did a minor defoliation, under the screen mostly, but some of the large fan leaves as well. My main goal is to increase light to the buds, some leaves I was able to just tuck. She’s drinking a decent amount, around a gallon in just over 2 days. Before I was letting her dry out more, but from here on out I don’t want her to dry out too much. I’ve turned off the humidifier and would like to keep the humidity around 40. Lights on it is good, but lights off it jumps into the mid 50s. I have started running a heater during lights off, but I may need the dehumidifier. I’ve swapped bulbs now and they seem to be very happy. I’m struggling to get good pictures though, I’ll work on that. I plan on one more topdress next week. Historically I struggle with yellowing leaves after week 5, I’d like to avoid that. The tent is beginning to smell quite lovely now, nothing loud yet, just the subtle beginnings of the wonders to come, I can’t wait! I installed the carbon filter at the same time as I swapped the bulbs. Thanks for following along 😘

It’s been a good week! The buds are starting to look really nice, covered in some nice sparkle. The smell is growing and I’m quite glad about that! She’s started drinking more, a full gallon in the bottom tub has been absorbed after 24 hours. The humidity has been stable in the low 40s during lights on and I’m sure that helps. Lights off is still in the low 50s with the heater on and I think it’ll work for now. I’m not finding any more wet leaves and that’s the important part. I was waiting for a delivery, so I have not done the top-dress, I will do it next time I water. I got a Method Seven filter for my camera that seems to get better pictures, but I’m going to try to get more natural light pictures. I love what this light is doing for the plants, just not happy about not being able to see the true leaf colors.

It’s been a good week 👍 I got my delivery and was able to do the needed top-dress. I mixed the nutrients with some plain peat and perlite and covered the top of the soil, then top watered. This method has worked well in the past🤞 Water consumption is about the same. The buds are definitely getting bigger and smellier with loads of sparkle! We had a power outage last night, it was out for 4 hours during lights on. Thankfully we heat with a woodstove so the house temperature didn’t drop too much. I am optimistic that there will be no ill effects. Now we just wait to see if the top-dress is enough to keep her going for the next month.

It’s been another great week! Buds are getting more and more sparkly and starting to fatten up a bit. A few pistils have turned orange, I think I let her dry out a bit too much. I’m worried there might be a bit of a magnesium deficiency starting, I’ll keep an eye on it. I’m going to add more Langbeinite next time I water, hopefully that will be enough. One of my fans broke, so the circulation isn’t as much as I want, I should have a new one soon. Today is day 42 of 12/12 lighting. My past experience with White Widow has been that she’s ready around day 63 to 67. So only a few more weeks 🤩🤩🤩

Today is day 49 of 12/12 lighting. Not much changed this week, just a little more fattening of the buds. The smell is getting quite strong! Very earthy, kinda spicy with a hint of fuel 🤩 I watered in the Langbeinite midweek. I think my last top-dress has finally activated, the leaves haven’t gotten any worse. I would like this to be the last time I add anything, but we shall see. My oscillating fan arrived and I feel much better about the circulation in the tent. I also had to replace my dehumidifier, it was heating the room but not drying things out. Just in a holding pattern now, waiting for the buds to finish maturing 👍👍👍

Not much changed this week. I’ve decided that she needed one more dose of Langbeinite since the leaves are still more yellow than I would like, watered in mid week. I’m not really happy about the picture quality, it makes them look much more yellow than they are. I think that’s my only complaint about this light. The buds are plumping up nicely and the plants seem pretty happy. I did move the light up a bit, the buds in the center are seeming a bit stressed, but overall ok. The temperatures have been higher than I want this week. I’ve redone the exhaust and it’s now venting outside again. This should allow for much better temps and humidity. The smell is definitely ramping up, I’m worried about my carbon filter being enough! There’s still too many white pistils to worry about checking trichomes. We’re at 56 days of 12/12 and probably have 10 more days, I’ll clip a small bud off next week to check. Hopefully by then the pistils will be more matured. See you next week 👍👍👍

Another week and still going strong! The buds are getting fatter and more sparkly while the leaves are yellowing quickly. I’m rethinking my base mix, I don’t know that there’s enough nutrients to last, time to rework the basic recipe. Temps and humidity have been a little easier to control this week, I was worried about the heat last week. The pistils are definitely browning, all the way down thru the plant, but there’s still a fair amount of white pistils. Looking at the trichomes and there’s some going milky, but still too many clear. We are at day 63 of 12/12, so I’m hoping she’ll finish up soon 🤞🤞🤞 The smell from the tent is unbelievable! See you next week 🤩

This week has been quite nerve-wracking with a mini heat wave and high humidity from thunderstorms. Had both the dehumidifier and air conditioning going, but still struggling to keep environmental conditions in check. Thankfully all 3 plants in the tent are maturing quickly. Most of the pistils have darkened and the trichomes are mostly milky with only a few clear and a few ambers. The smell from the tent is super strong as well. Today is day 70 of 12/12, day 65 of actual flower, so I think it's time! I'll chop them down in the next 48 hours. I watered them for the last time last night, I'm just waiting for the pots to dry out a bit. Next update will be a harvest report. See you then!

I took her down on day 70. She may have bulked up more if I’d left her another week, but she was yellowing quickly and trichomes were mostly milky so I decided it was time. I cut the plant at the base and hung her up whole, removing only the largest fan leaves. Then it was 4 days hanging in the tent at 65 degrees and 60% humidity. Then into a cardboard box with brown paper for 3 days, then into a plastic tote with brown paper for another 2 days. At that point, I separated the branches and did a more thorough trim and jarred her up. Within 24 hours she’d stabilized at 64% in the jars. I’ll be monitoring for the next few weeks, White Widow seems to do better with an extended cure. I’ve sampled a bit and she smokes just like I remember, just a bit rough yet. I’ll be back with a proper smoke report after some more curing time. Thanks for following along 😘