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This is my first grow. I needed something very stealthy so I'm growing in a 16" x 9" x 36" cabinet.
- Simple hydroponic system. Basin filled with about .75 gallon, small air pump and air stone.
- LED is 216watts (UFO full spectrum)
- Wifi outlets for control and timer on fans and LED. Also have camera so I can always have eyes inside.
- Crop King Seeds - Autoflowers - White Widow and Northern Lights. Read that these are good for beginners
and smell isn't as strong as others.
- Germinated using paper towel method. Soaked 18 hours, after 3 days put taproot down in soaked (spring water) jiffy pellet. Kept dark for 48 hours.
- After sprout, began 18/6 light schedule. No nutes for first week.
- Per instructions from the cabinet maker, I mixed 1 tsp of Maxigro in 1 gallon of water. After 1 week, I added 1/8 cup of this solution into the basin with .75 gallons of water. (Seems like a very small amount of nutes, but said go slow).
-PPMs are stable ~400 since feeding started.
-Added 1/2 cO2 pellet during week 3.
-pH was high during first week (as high as 8.3) but have been controlling with GH pH down since. Avg 6.1.
-Roots look healthy. Changing water in basin once a week. Using syphon to drain.
- Started LST. NL has been growing faster, was able to bend an expose to more light.
Sorry, no photos for first 2 weeks (just found this site!)
Week 4 of Veg, it's been 41 days since I soaked the seeds. Pistils showing on both plants. Not sure what I was expecting at this point, I thought the vertical growth would have been higher at this point, but I can't find examples of similar grows with such a small basin. Also not sure if I'm giving enough nutes.
Don't want to over feed. Other than a lower yellow leaf on the NL, seems like everything else looks healthy. Still hovering around 400 ppm after I add the nutes to the fresh spring water in the basin. The bottled spring water runs at about 7.4 pH and 125ppm, so .50 ml of GH pH down gets me to about 6.0 pH. I am wondering if I should run another week of the Maxigro or transition to Maxibloom?
The plants colors look healthy and about 8 flowering sites appearing on NL and 3 on WW. However, the leaves, particularly on the NL look to curl under. I've been having little trouble keeping the pH in the 5.5 - 6.5 range, seems to drop to the mid 4s daily, but fix quickly.
@bmvape In order to diagnose your plants you need the right information! Plants have 2 types of nutrients called mobile and immobile nutrients. Immobile nutrients CANT be moved around the plant and due to this the symptoms show directly on the newer growth where the deficiency is active. The other type of nutrient is Mobile. Mobile nutrients can be pulled from the lower leaves to be given to the newer growth up top as a survival method so they show symptoms on the bottom side of the plant first. Your plant is experiencing a SEVERE case of Chlorosis(Yellowing) and Necrosis(death) in the leaves. Its obvious that your plant is dying some Nutrient deficiencies, but what might not be so obvious is why. You mentioned replacing the water in your basin - doing this lowers the Nutrients in the water and replaces it with more water! This is not good! Never swap out water without replacing the nutrients! To better help your plants recover you will want to replace what the plant drinks then PH the Basin to 5.8 EVERY SINGLE DAY. Then Once a week swap out ALL the Basin with more water+nutrients. This is the ONLY way for your plant to recover and if you do this she will recover.
Thanks to everyone for their comments and advice. Today is day 45 since I soaked the seeds, and day two since switching to MaxiBloom nutes. The flowers are really starting to pop and the leaves are looking better than ever. The biggest struggle has been keeping the pH in the sweet spot, but that will always be a struggle with such a small basin. It's been a bit cooler so overall temps and humidity levels are down slightly, and water temp is about 60 degrees F. I counted about 10 flower sites on the NL, and 3 on the WW.
The cooling fan on the 150watt LED died yesterday so I've been nervous that the light will kick. I quickly went on amazon and bought a replacement that could be delivered today. It's a 300watt LED that is dominantly red. From what I've read, that may be beneficial during bloom. I'm being sent a replacement of the original LED. Any thoughts on arrangement when I have two working lights? Worth squeezing both 150watt and 300watt red at same time?
Day 49 since soaking the seeds. Not sure how to feel about things so far. The plants are alive, and I know I have at least a few more weeks to go, but seems like the rapid growth never really happened. Maybe I was too slow introducing nutrients, or maybe that's just the limitations of the basin size. Its been 6 days since first dose of Maxibloom and got the ppm up to 905. Also added a second LED ("300 watt" red UFO) to go with the "216 watt" UFO. Initially when I added the second light I used a hanger which dropped the distance to the plants to about 12 inches. I've had a nice 2 day stretch where the pH stayed in the sweet spot, but the last 2 days, the levels have fallen to the low 4s. My remedy has been to pull out about 2 cups of water and replace with fresh 7.4 water. The leaves continue to curl down so guessing there's a lockout of something, or shock of the light? I've decided to raise the light a couple inches and I haven't added any nutes to the fresh water, so current ppm is 417. Want to give them sometime before playing doctor. On the positive side, the roots look healthy and the flower spots look good (I guess?!)
Week two of flowering (56 days since soaking seeds) was uneventful. I noticed very little change. I was out of town for two days and unable to closely monitor the solution conditions. When I left, pH was 6.0 and 500ppm and when I got back, pH had dropped to 4.3 and 240ppm. The photos are from when I returned.
I assume I need to up the nutrients but wanted to do it slowly. When mixing the solution, the more nutrients that I added to the distilled water, the lower the pH fell. I thought that was odd, but the best balance I could get was 5.5 pH with 525ppm. I ordered a bottle of ph Up, waiting on that.
I replaced half of the water in my basin. When I checked today pH had risen to 6.1 with 388ppm. Leaves are looking a little better and perking up a bit, but hoping to get the plant.s looking a lot healthier
Day 65 since soaking the seeds, and just finished the third week of flowing. The plants look a lot better this week. Preparing the mixture outside the basin and getting the pH to 5.8 (had to add a small amount of pH Up) helped keep me in range all week. The pH seems to rise a bit for the first few days (high as 6.6), and then fall back down (4.7) by end of week. PPM at the beginning of the week was 725 and fell to 458 as i've been topping off with plain water. The basin gets a new batch tomorrow, was going to target 900 ppm.
A few pistols are amber and I am starting into the fourth week of flowering. The plants are finally looking about as healthy as the ever have, but should I start thinking about flushing? I assume I only have a couple weeks to go before my mini harvest with these autos.
Day 72 since soaking the seeds and through 5 full weeks of flowering. Buds are filling out and some pistils are starting to turn amber. It looks like the White Widow is a bit further along in her life cycle. Tomorrow is basin change day, so I am wondering, do I go another week of feeding, or do I begin the flush?
Regarding flushing, specifically in hydroponics - should you do 48 hours of darkness during last two days of flushing, and should you deprive plants of water before harvest? (if so, just drain basin?)
In principle, the 48 hours of darkness are meant to signal to the plant that it reaches the end of its cycle .............. Regarding the rinsing, I recommend that you Flush 4 days and then give 48 hours of darkness ........... ..)
Day 79 since soaking seeds, and in the 6th week of flowering. It looks like I was premature in thinking I was near flushing. Last week's feeding greened up the plants and fattened the buds a bit. I assumed since I was 72 days in last week that these girls were nearing their predetermined end. It looks like there is still some time for putting on more weight, as only the bottom fan leaves are truly starting to yellow. Tomorrow is another full solution change to the basin. I will go full feed since I'm not seeing a ton of amber pistils, or anything close to amber trichomes. Glad to see the lower buds on the Northern Light thicken up, and a back bud is starting to crop up on the White Widow. The scent is starting to increase as well. Someone not in the know said the basement smelled like pot. So much for stealth!
Will be interesting to see how this next week goes, but I am getting antsy.
It's Day 86 since soaking seeds and through 6 full weeks of flowering. We're 24 hours into the flush and 24 hours from now I will be cutting these ladies down. Once the lights go out tonight, they will remain off to give 18 hours of darkness before go time.
The last 3 months have flown by and taken forever! I am excited for tomorrow's harvest, and hope I don't butcher too badly. I didn't know what to expect as far as size and yield or timeframe, but I learned a lot from this first grow. I am certain I underfed for most of the veg and the first part of the flowering, and the White Widow struggled to get the roots to the basin. Her jiffy pellet dried out before they made it, as the airstone was mainly under the Northern Light. I have made a new basin with a bigger airstone for next grow.
But my goal was to produce enough to get me by until the next harvest, which I am certain I have accomplished. The total hight was a bit less than my posted height. I accounted for the LST bowing, but totals are NL 9" and WW 6.5". I will have the scales ready for the wet weigh in tomorrow. Hopefully will get a taste of these in couple weeks!
Being my first grow, it's hard to know what challenges were caused by the strain as opposed to my inexperience. Between the two plants, I hit my yield expectation, but certain I could have done a lot better if I had know a few more things prior to the grow. I am attempting a second identical grow and will have a more confident rating in a few months!
This grow had ups and downs and I really learned a lot, thanks to everyone who shared their wisdom! Considering how very little I fed the plant, I'm surprised she even made it to harvest. The majority of her bud was mainly in the one man cola that made up 95% of plant. I didn't have much trimming to do at all. The buds are more airy than I would like, but probably my fault. She dried in 4 days and have been curing for 9 days.
I took a small sample off of the main bud to get an early taste so I could complete the diary. The smell has a spicy, berry, and pine aroma. There is an earthy smell to it that is fading during the cure. I think they dried a little fast as the humidity has been very low.
The first hit (vaporizer) had a piney taste and was a little heavy. I think it's just still to moist on the inside and hope it thins out over time. The flavor turned to the burnt popcorn taste rather quickly, but there was still some green in the chamber, so assume more curing will help.
Overall, I am happy with my first grow. I was able to yield enough to last me to next harvest!
This plant had a final look that I imagined it would, only a bit small and airy (due to my under feeding). This plant had a slower start but ended up with a good performance. She responded well to my LST so was able to have about a dozen flower sites. Not bad for such a small space.
This strain has a very citrusy smell and traditional taste that I am used to. This would be good day or night as the effects are not overpowering but very noticeable.
The Northern Light produced almost twice as much as White Widow. As they were in the same basin, I attribute the better performance to three factors. 1. Roots made it to basin faster. The WW's pellet dried out before her roots were in the water as the airstone shifted right under the NL.
2. The second and more powerful light was placed directly over the NL, however, the space is so small that they both should have benfited.
3. I did a better LST job on the NL.
Overall, happy with the harvest. The buds are airy, my fault. The smell is very lemony with a bit of an earthy smell during the cure. Currently, the taste is minty and refreshing, but still a bit heavy. Effects are nice. Noticeable but not overwhelming or tiring. I think potency will come with age,
But both plants tolerated my inexperience and have produced enough fruit to get me by. What else could you ask for out of a first grow?!
Thanks to everyone that helped! Wish I found this community from the start.
@CRiSPrGrow, Sorry lost track of this one. No you are right - IF you remove all traces of the Activated Charcoal you will be fine.
" add two table spoons of active carbon and let it sit, should take care of all the rest of the yuckies..."
I read this message as 'just add 2 table spoons and don't take it out'. However if you are saying to filter the Charcoal out before using in the reservoir then yes you are correct it will soften the water. 😎
@bmvape,"I've read some growers having success only using maxibloom from start to finish with success." 👉 You are right and it is well known from the GHE growers that you can use Maxibloom Only if you use the Lucas formula feeding chart ( google it )🙌 You can also take a look at growers profils to see who already did an Hydro grow before and who did not (never). I assume that @HighTV know what he's talking about because I can see an Hydro diary on his profile. My last hydro was in a GHE rainforest using the Lucas formula ( years ago ) and the only negative thing that happens was a slight over feeding in the early flowering and nothing else.
Hi. lets talk about Ph in hydro. Its like you said in a Range between 5.5-6.5 and important word is Range.....let the ph flow from 5.5-to 6.5. he dont have to be on one point. the opposite is the solution, to get the whole nutes he got to flow in that range.LOok forward the roots get no light... and go on like that
https://www.growweedeasy.com/ph
@Mrs_Larimar, I definitely wouldn't recommend trying to keep your PH in that range. With hydroponics you want to be in between 5.5-5.7 NO HIGHER NO LOWER as this will effect the uptake of the nutrients and slow the growth of your babies. Also @Stick is dead on, you need to raise the temp of your nutrient/water by 3-4 as 20°C is perfect for hydro media. Good luck with finishing the job :)
I would try to get both lights in there if you can, more light = more growth. If you have a fan, aim it on the vents of the light just to keep it going for now. Nice looking roots btw. On my hydro grows I use hydroguard, which helps fight pythium, however you have good basin temps so you might not need it. Just keep it in mind if your roots start yellowing.
yeah agree to @BeefWellingtons. Buuut that lil ufo that hangs on your pictures is not 150 watt its around 25 watt not more( Lightcompanies lie most time about the real wattage) i bought the same one and its great for seedlings up to week 4. So its good you added another Light
Thanks for the new comments and suggestions. It really has been a chore keeping this pH in line. Originally I had trouble keeping the pH low enough. Then I discovered the pH down, that helped. I bought several gallons on spring water to use for the grow. In retrospect, i should have bought distilled. The pH of the spring water was about 7.4, so I used pH down to get it to 6.5 before using in my reservoir solution. After that, the pH would fall way down after a day or two, sometimes as low as 3.9. I would have to pump out about a third of the water and pour in non-treated water to get the pH back up.
I changed the whole basin with fresh water once a week, and give fresh nutrients. But I stopped pretreating the bottled water. It is easier to add a couple drops of pH down then to have to replace water in the basin.
The addition of the second light has increased the temperature of the cabinet and the solution a couple degrees (at least during the 18 hours).
@bmvape, "In retrospect, i should have bought distilled. The pH of the spring water was about 7.4, so I used pH down to get it to 6.5 before using in my reservoir solution."
Does this mean you are adding the nutrient After PHing the water? You want to Ph the water as the LAST thing you do before touching it to the plants! Spring water at 7.4 + nutrients THEN Ph the water 5.8
You did an awesome job with the strain I have grown it about four or five times and I've never got a pheno that was that compact with that much bud Mass oh, I have yielded almost 1/2 pound from one but it was a three and a half foot plant check out my grow of the wwaf on my last Diary awesome job tho man nice to see somebody else found this plant Awesome Genetics
@rypat1992, thanks for the kind words, and stay tuned if you want to see the harvest update. I’m about a week into the cure and want to try it out before my final update. The buds seem a bit more airy than I would like, but I did under feed them for most of their lives.
I am doing the same grow, but with all of the knowledge that I obtained from this one. The girls just sprouted last night! I will be starting the new diary this weekend. Hope to get yields more like yours!
@CRiSPrGrow, thanks for joining me and the help along the way! Had some ups and downs, but this has been a great experience. Just hope I don’t screw up the harvest!
While your roots look really healthy, your plant is in severe distress. It looks like you have some good nutrients there. I'm guessing that the reason you have issues is due to lockout caused by incorrect ph levels. Your ph seems to be all over the place. Typically in my hydro grows I only had to use ph down. I would order a new ph pen, use the solution to calibrate and do it to both pens. I'm betting your ph pen is off, mine did the same thing. So either recalibrate your ph pen, or get the drops to test ph out. Test once a day and even out ph to a happy 5.8. That gives it a little wiggle room for 5.5-6.0. In all my research,
Anything lower than ph 5.5 is too low, anything higher than ph 6.0 is too high, that's why we shoot for a happy 5.8. Good luck!
@Bmvape This isn't looking so hot. Check out my response above to solve the PH / nutrient issue in your DWC reservoir. I highly advise against taking replacing half the water in your basin unless you replace the nutrients. You have a sever deficiency and taking nutrient water from the basin only hurts you unless you replace the nutrients!
@HighTV, thanks for the help! Looks like we're getting the ship righted. After a few days of stable pH and increased nutes, leaves looking better and flowers continuing to grow. No more half changes with the basin for me. if things go bad I will get a full new batch made and pH'd before touching the plants. Living and learning!
For an Auto, your pot size is too small. Those roots won't get strong enough o absorb much. Ive seen this mistake firsthand with my small grow in a cup. The watering schedule and temps are too much stress for the plant on top of a bunch of deficiency issues is see. Your leaves should be green. Your fan stems are purple, definitely show Ca Ma deficiency. Run atleast 300w veg.
Cheers!!!!!
bmvape
