CaliXX White Widow Auto x 90's Widow BX3

CaliXX This grow is a seed grow, using what we perceive to be the hobbyist techniques in use now, to test and adapt cultivars and processes to hobbyist equipment. They're started in a 50% perlite 50% soil mix in 5" Peat Pots, which sit on a 1/2" layer of perlite in a tray, and the healthiest are transplanted directly to 5 gallon bags as soon as the first root pops through the bottom. The perlite layer in the tray helps balance moisture and provides a home for the taproot right before transplant. This is an original greenhouse white widow cut that dates back to the late 90's, crossed to Greenhouse White Widow auto from 2018 breeder pack 3 times to carry through the auto gene. Why? Fun and nostalgia and to bring the WW auto closer to the WW we loved decades ago. The mix is 2 parts EB Stone Recipe 420 soil: 1 part perlite. System is auto pot XL with fabric pots and air domes. This is an extremely vigorous auto, and at almost 3' tall with numerous branches, in these pics she is just now starting to lose her cotyledons. A lot of the vigor and health of this run has to be attributed to the environment, as numerous others have kept their cotyledons this far along as well. This will be reversed for fem pollen and used to pollenate a handful of other excellent auto's that have been standouts.

CaliXX So Holy shit. These autos that usually come in around 30" under HPS went absolutely berserk in the autopot system, first time with Cobs. Without some late training they'd be over 6', and this isn't a stretch issue. Even so, it's hard to keep them from the ceiling of the 80" tent. The gear available to hobbyists now is insane. Never in 25 years have had a calmag issue, and it came on hard with the cobs, to the point where the white cobs are off. Really was uncontrollable, even with Calmat supps almost throughout. Colas are size of 2 liter bottles, and will likely finish damn near milk jug size. Some major adjustments to the approach need to be made in the future with the insane vigor of this environment and strain.

CaliXX So this grow was a nightmare, simply because it was far too vigorous and the yield too high. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was just too much yield, trimming and product for a hobby. The white widow is a bit of a pain in that all of the popcorn down the entire stem dries to dense, glowing marbles, so you end up having to trim EVERYTHING. The whole plant provides usable finished product. Most would find this a bonus, but this grow just had too many, and it crossed the line from fun to work. Even with the copper bases, the roots grew through and clogged the autopots in the last couple weeks, which caused ongoing flooding issues. In the end, the latest version from Greenhouse beat out the back cross in pretty much all aspects, so they've clearly spent the last couple decades improving the strain. Yield came in around 17 oz per 9 square feet, and that is with the Cobs switched off for the last month or so due to the calmag issues.