Widow Bomb from seed

This is the story of the grow of a seedling that is my first seed that I cultivated at home. I had a male Hash Bomb regular plant and used that to fertilise three White Widow autoflowering female plants. The grow of these plants had problems with weak LED lights that were too far away from the plants, caterpillars, 3 rounds of fungus gnats, overwatering and soil that was too dense and retained too much moisture. All the plants were stunted in growth, so I decided to attempt fertilise the females to see if I could produce seeds at home. I also wanted to rectify my problems of the past with a new grow. New lights, new grow chamber, more ventilation from small fans in a stealth grow in a cupboard. I started with an 18/6 light cycle on a timer, with a 5m strip of cool white LED and a 5m strip of warm white LED. The vegetation chamber is much brighter than before and keeps the seedlings warm as we are heading into winter. The grow cupboard also has a flowering chamber at the bottom with a 5m red LED strip light, a 5m white LED strip, two white 13W LED spotlights and two computer fans of 140mm diameter. I used this flowering chamber to harvest two Hash Bomb female plants over 10 weeks in the flowering stage in a previous grow. Yield was low because of all the problems encountered along the way, but the quality was good. I had originally named it WWA2-1 referring to White Widow Auto, 2nd Generation, Plant 1. But on doing some research, I found out it wasn't guaranteed to be an auto flowering plant like its mother. It could be a regular genotype like the father. So, I renamed it "WBx-1" for Widow Bomb, unknown genotype, plant 1. WBx-1 only took 24 hours to sprout using the wet paper towel method. Day 2, I put it in a seedling pot of potting mix, perlite and propagation sand. Day 3, it was merging from the soil. By the end of week 1 it was 20mm tall and reaching for the light.

Week 2 and the Widow Bomb seedling is now 40mm tall. It has the round leaves, single point leaves, a set of 3 point leaves and a new tip growing. I have added a support to the stem to help it grow straight up. I've named it WBx1 for "Widow Bomb" in reference to its parents: a Hash Bomb male and a White Widow auto flowering female both grown from seed, "x" is for unknown genotype. I suppose by week 8 I'll know if it inherited its mothers' auto flowering genetics, or its fathers' regular genes.

Week 3 vegetation. This plant is a mix of a male Hash Bomb plant fertilised with an autoflowering White Widow female. This was the first seed produced and it sprouted within 24 hours of initiating the wet paper towel method. I planted it in a seedling cup pictured with a soil mix of potting mix, perlite, propagation sand. It is on an 18/6 lighting schedule.

Week 4 vegetation. I transplanted my “Widow Bomb” to a larger pot with a soil mix of coir, perlite, vermiculite, propagation sand and charcoal at the base of the pot to help with drainage. Tiny growth has appeared at the 3rd node. It has 4 sets of leaves and a new tip.

Week 5 vegetation. The Widow Bomb has grown well this week. Tiny growth has appeared at the 2nd & 3rd node now. 5 sets of leaves now: 3 sets of three point leaves now and a new tip, as well as the baby round leaves and one point leaves. The span of the biggest leaves is 13cm. The plant is 95mm tall. I’m happy with the growth so far. I've started it on a weak solution of organic seaweed solution Seasol and water. Still misting everyday. I removed the stem support when I transplanted it into the bigger pot.

Week 6 and the Widow Bomb is now 130 mm tall and the leaf span is 150 mm. The first 5 pointed leaves are growing. 6 sets of leaves now, and a new tip. Leaves are looking green and healthy. Leaves are pointing up towards the light so I elevated the plant a bit closer. A couple of roots have appeared out of the drain holes in the pot. They are white and look healthy and grew longer within a couple of hours. Overall plant growth is good but not great. Considering how healthy the plant looks, I’m not complaining. Also, with my first seed planted in a coir mix, there is no sign of fungus gnats that plagued my two previous grows, so I’m happy with the progress so far. The grow chamber is warm.

Week 7 and the plant has another set of 5 point leaves. The baby round leaves yellowed and fell off. It has grown 50mm and is now 180mm tall with a leaf span of 220mm. I transplanted it to a larger pot of about 5 litres, as some roots started to grow out of the base of the smaller pot. The medium mix of coir block, perlite, vermiculite, propagation sand with a base of charcoal in the pot is working well. The roots seem to be growing fast and responding well to being bottom fed out of the tray. I’m alternating Seasol organic mix and Seasol Power Feed, both are a seaweed and fish liquid concentrate that I add to water. I’m being careful not to over-water likeI have done in the past. The branch growth on the nodes is still slow, but I’m happy with the internode lengths and node spacing so far. I have plenty of room in the grow chamber so I’m letting it grow as tall as it can for the moment. It has 6 real internodes, 7 if you count the baby leaves that fell off. I have started some Low Stress Training by bending the tip over to allow more light on the branch growth, for a few hours at a time, then take it off. I’ve repeated that a few times. I plan to wait until it has two more sets of leaves then top it. I’m planning on topping it twice for 4 main colas to grow.

Week 8 and the plant is 220mm tall and about 250mm in leaf span. The 8th set of leaves are the first 7 point leaves on the plant after 2 sets of 5 point leaves, 3 sets of 3 point leaves, single point leaves and baby leaves (now fallen off). I’m LSTing the main stem one way for about 6 hours until the tip reaches for the light, then I LST it the other way to straighten up again. The result is a boom in branch growth and the stem is thicker where it has been bent over. The new tips and leaves on the branch nodes are reaching out now. A thick root has appeared out of the bottom of the pot which is a good sign of root growth development. One more set of leaves and I’ll “top” it and use the top as a clone.

The growth has been amazing since I added more light to the vegetation chamber. I topped the two top internodes and planted it as a clone. The branch growth is noticeable every few hours now. The two new tips have 2 internodes now. The next couple of branch nodes have two sets of leaves, with new tips growing from the base of these leaves, and a new tip each. The stem is thick and strong.

The Low Stress Training is really working. After topping the plant a few weeks ago, I pulled the two top sets of branches down horizontally. The LST has strengthened the next two sets of branches. Also allowing more light into the middle of the plant. I have 4 tips growing out of the internodes near the stem where it was topped. These tips grew quickly once they were exposed to more light. 2 tips on the main colas and another 2 tips on the next branch set. 8 tips that will hopefully grow into bud sites. There are also new tips growing along the top 2 sets of branches which are growing skyward and reaching for the light. 8 of these tips are on the top set of branches.

I’m reintroducing LST to enable the tips of the secondary branches in the middle of the plant to develop. I’ve also pulled down some fast growing tips so all the new tips are nearly at the same level. By doing this I have increased the diameter of leaf spread by about 50mm around the entire plant! More room for tips to develop! I pruned some leaves under the canopy and from the main branches, now the secondary branches have developed. I topped about half of the new tips to grow more new tips. The odour of the plant is getting stronger with a very citrus aroma. I’m undecided whether to keep this plant as a mother and a source of clones, because it is developing really thick strong branches from the LST, and many secondary branches (clone candidates) or to flower it after all my efforts.???.

Week 1 of flowering. I have continued LST to mould the plant into a shape that I wanted: to maximise potential bud sites. It is a flat structure and I pull tips down to be level with the new tips on the secondary branching. I have removed a few big leaves so that light could reach new tips. I have over 20 potential bud sites. A few white pistil hairs have grown already on the larger tips. I have taken 2 clones and they are in the rooting stage. I’ll take 2 more soon.

The plant is starting to stretch in the early flowering phase. More white hairy pistils are appearing each day. Bud sites are developing and I may have quite a few due to the LST techniques in the vegetation stage.

Flowering is going well. I might have over 20 bud sites! More leaves are growing too and the plant is stretching up to the light.

The plant is growing much better than in the veg stage, mainly due to the new light I installed. I discovered the sweet spot for the distance of the light from the buds and I'm trying to maintain that as the plant stretches. 24 bud sites and they are growing bigger each day. Still quite small compared to other growers but I'm happy with it.

I was away on holiday for two weeks and came back to bigger buds. 24 bud sites going well.

I defoliated during the week to let more light into the lower buds. It hasn't really made much difference. I might leave the leaves on next time as I'm not convinced it did anything. I'm happy with the buds, as they are the biggest buds I've ever produced from an indoor grow. I've been growing for about a year now.

This one seed was produced when I fertilised a Seedsman White Widow auto female with a Bomb Seeds Hash Bomb regular photoperiod male. Two seeds were produced but only one plant survived. I called it the Widow Bomb. The buds were small but there were 24 of them! The high was immediate and creative and uplifting / energetic. After about 2 hours it had a sleepy effect and I had no problems falling asleep after about 4 hours. The plant ended up "herme-ing", fertilising itself and I've harvested 5 seeds from it. I'm now re-vegging as an experiment as I have never done this before. I'm not too worried about how this will turn out, I'm just doing it for experience. I have added more light to my grow room, now 400w, I know how to deal with fungus gnats, and the coir/vermiculite/propagation sand/charcoal/perlite mix is great balance for retaining moisture, allowing excess to drain out, and allowing roots some room to move, grow and develop. I'm putting these learnings to the test now as I have Ceres Skunk, Royal Queen Diamond, Royal Thai and Spliff Afghan seeds sprouting now. :)