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Hi all, first timer to DWC. Set this up after spending too much time on the internet during quarantine. I've grown in soil before but only plants that were given to me already healthy. I had a bad grow that I had to completely destroy. Decided to 'do it right' and that ended up with a lot of reading and video watching. So, here I am trying a DWC grow for the first time alongside some plants in soil (just in case lol).
2020-04-27 Received seeds and immediately put them into equilibriated rock wool to sprout as I did in my other 'test run' grow of my own homemade seeds (see my profile for that).
2020-04-28 Topped up rock wool cubes, but they were still very saturated so it didn't take much liquid.
2020-04-29 48 hours later and nothing.
2020-04-30 72 hours later and one seedling has popped!
2020-05-01 84 hours later and still just the one seedling.. last time I had to wait 5 days so.. fingers crossed. EDIT: I started 2 more seeds just in case, I really want to get the DWC started and I had 26 seeds on hand.
2020-05-03 The 2nd seed I started with never popped, I opened the rockwool up and there was no root at all. Seed was hard, not mushy, was able to crack it with my fingers. It was moist inside, might have just let it keep going but didn't want to wait an entire week for seedling.
2020-05-04 Seeds still hadn't popped in the morning (blurry photo) but after six hours of darkness (12pm-6pm) the seed has fully emerged! Looks healthy! Still waiting on the 2nd seed. SO far 50/50 germination rate on these Canuk Seeds which is the worst rate I've ever had.
2020-05-05 More growth for seedling 1/2. Opened up the rockwool cube to look at seed #2 and it's wet and bigger but it hasn't popped out of the shell yet. Repositioned seed into side of rockwool hole. Just gonna leave it.
2020-05-06 Morning = development for seedling #1 and still nothing for seedling #2.
2020-05-06 Evening = Seedling #2 is likely dead but I'm gonna leave it for a bit anyways! I reduced the humidity (100% seemed extreme). It sucks that these 2 will be a few days apart but at least I have some strong growers to start off this White Widow project. I have started soaking the Hydroton clay pellets in water that was given minimal Flora series of nutrients, some Miicrobial Mass, CaliMagic and pH = 5.5. After 24 hours and the darkness cycle of the plants, I will likely be starting up the DWC in my 5 gallon buckets!
Hi all, just wondering what everyone's personal preference is on this topic. I've tried directly into rockwool and went 6/8 and 2/4 with the duds never opening/showing tap root. Used minimal nutrient/pH'd water and treated rockwool properly.
Salut le jardinier ! Nous on laissais les graines s'ouvrir dans un verre d'eau et après on les mettais dans les cubes de laine de roche comme ça on avais pas ce problèmes . en fait si on avais se problèmes mais pas dans les cubes , on l'avais avant de passer en cube parce que cube terre ou eau si ça veut pas germer tu peut rien faire , on fessaient souvent du 7/10. Bella ciao
Hi all, I have 2 seedlings, started a couple days apart. Please comment your thoughts on whether they are ready to transition to clay pebbles. Hoping to do them both at the same time!
Day 8
2020-05-07 Well, the day is finally upon us. Received advice from grower questions that my seedlings were ready to transition. I had created a spreadsheet to setup my liquids and it worked perfectly! EC=0.8, pH=5.6. The pH did rise to 5.7 but I think that might be from touching the plastic. I am using 2 air stones per bucket. My big concern now is that the temperature inside the buckets is 75-77 but the "Miicrobial Mass" product contains a surfactant (responsible for the bubbles) and 5 beneficial Bacillus species which should cultivate the buckets and provide greater nutrition to the plant through root association. Feels crazy to finally put this all together! Hopefully the water temp won't become an issue but we'll deal with that!
2020-05-08 So far so good! The water level isn't really decreasing too much. I am pretty sure the roots have access to moisture but it will be many days before the roots start to show out of the big 5 gallon net pots that I have! I am very nervous that they won't get water. The overnight pH changed from 5.7 to 5.9 but I expect this to increase drastically once the plant starts really eating. 2 drops of pH down brought it back down to 5.7.
2020-05-09 Same issue with pH overnight, not a big deal. However, the EC/ppm of both tanks went up slightly overnight, I think it might be due to evaporation making the solution more concentrated? I will continue to monitor it. I wonder if nutrients are leeching out of the clay pellets because I have them in the water?
2020-05-10 I am monitoring the pH changes. I have to pH from 5.9 back down to 5.7 about once every 36 hours. The plant isn't truly 'eating yet' so is this just from the air flow? I lowered the water level right to the bottom of the net pot. I think this will be sufficient and produce root growth. You can see the development of new leaves on seedling 01 and the new leaves on seedling 02 are getting bigger!
2020-05-11 They look happy!
2020-05-12 Seedling 01 is working on its 3rd node and seedling 02 is just finishing up its second! Onward and upward, lil buddies.
2020-05-13 End of week 2! More growth, I think that's indicative of the roots getting stronger. It's liking the nutrient-soaked clay pellets. The weird thing is that the constant pH increase from 5.7 to 5.9 that would occur every 36 hours seemed to have just ... stopped and stabilized at 5.7 for 48 hours now... I didn't change anything but I did start opening an exhaust vent for passive air intake (18 hours a day when lights are on).... could that have affected the pH of the water in the buckets.......?? I struggle to see how that would happen!The root system still hasn't emerged from the bottom of the net pot yet but the liquid is currently touching the bottom 1/2". I will be slightly reducing the water as it grows. They are both strong and developing more greenery. My new Phlizon light arrives on TUESDAY and I am sooooooo stoked. Can't wait to put up pics.
My tent is 74-75 degrees but so is my water! I have a beneficial bacteria product with a surfactant that should inhibit algae/bad bacteria. I am running air from inside a small fridge but I think my tubes are too long. How do you cool your system? See my diary for pics.
Hi!
From what I understand that is quite optimal water temp when beneficial bacteria is present. My reservoir temps are maybe 21-23C and no problem at all!
Hi everyone. My net pots are in 5 gallon buckets, sitting so the bottom 2-3" of clay pellets are submerged. The seeds were sprouted in rockwool.
Is this the right water level? When do I start dropping it to promote root growth?
i can't see where the bottom of the netcup is in your pictures, however in my DWC setup, i keep the water at a point where they just do not touch the netcups (barely).. the airstone will create the bubbles that splash some water to the bottom of the netcup to ensure that the rockwool gets wetted, so the root will not dry out, but aren't overly wet (i.e by touching the water).. that's how i keep it from seed to finish (obviously after a short while the roots will dangle into the water, and will then start using up nutrient solution, but when i refill the reservoir, the maximum is just below the netcup)
2020-05-14 New week who dis? As you can see, a new light from Phlizon arrived today that completely destroys the blurple light I had been using. I realized my plants would never get to their full potential with that lower powered light. It is ok for veg but not big buds. This one is perfect for 2 plants as it is long enough to be directly over both buckets simultaneously. People say that it's best for 1.5' x 3' which is basically going to cover my plants fairly well.
So excited but I have been toying with the air flow because the light has added about 5 degrees F to the tent... gonna have to make sure I'm not drying the plants out but so far my numbers are ok but fluctuate too much. I used the dimmer available on the driver to reduce the light intensity to its lowest while it's still in early vegetative. Wish I had a PAR meter but I don't have that kind of money.
2020-05-15 I was trying to balance fan blowing/humidifier running by alternating cycles but it was too swingy, I decided to try to find a combo that I could run non-stop even if it was costly on distilled water for the vaporizer.
I bought my own distiller so water hasn't been too much of an issue but still a lot of energy usage. My tent was undergoing a LOT of negative pressure to the point where the walls were sucking inwards and knocking things over.. I realized I had to change this.. Pictured is the 'cross breeze' setup I designed. The humidifier blows vapor constantly over the 2 buckets. The fan is in the left corner blowing cold air into the top of the tent; the vent next to the fan is half open to allow more passive airflow. The carbon filter is in the top right, and the exhaust fan is 190 CFM sitting outside in a "soundproof" plastic tote. Seems to be working. I will edit when today's light cycle is done and see how it is!
2020-05-16 Still trying to nail the humidity and air flow... I definitely need a fan speed controller. Plants are clearly happy thoug. I have lowered the water in the buckets to encourage the roots to grow towards it! Gonna make them chase it. They aren't drinking enough to change the pH or the nutrients yet.
Still gonna give them fresh nutes soon anyways!
2020-05-17 Roots are growing at an insane rate!! Plants looking super healthy but they aren't drinking enough to change the nutes in the bucket. Going to give fresh nutes tomorrow anyways so that Monday is always the nute change day.
2020-05-18 Took some nice pics! Seedling 02 hasn't shown any further damage to its leaves at all.. I really wonder what happened. It definitely slowed down a bit. It's still technically 2 days behind which really shows in the foliage but the root structure is already looking awesome, preparing for some explosive growth.
2020-05-19 Seedling 02 is recovering nicely, finally started working on another node. Seedling 01 is BOOMING, closing in on its 5th node, it's almost time to top it already!! The plant is now drinking but wasn't taking up nutrients. I had soaked the hydroton in the same amount of nutrients for 24 hours prior to transplanting the rock wool. That alone could have sustained the plants for a while. The EC/ppm started at around 450 but actually has gone up to 510.
I realized this meant that the plant was drinking but not taking up nutrients. I monitored it again 8 hours later and the ppm was back down. The TDS meter is perfectly calibrated so no issues there. I will carefully monitor and try to maintain ppm concentration as the plant drinks.
I also need to monitor the water level! I haven't added any because it didn't change at all because the plants roots just descended like 72 hours ago. I have only actually lowered the water level to just below the net pot. Will monitor all the things to keep this going strong. The roots are growing by the hour. It's hard not to keep looking at them all the time.
2020-05-20 Just topped the first seedling and the 2nd one is close behind! So far, the plant is drinking and the pH and ppm are very slowly creeping up. Gonna post a question. I think I might need to top it up with fresh water and pH it again.
Hello.. Hope you are well.. It mite in the first few wks as ur plants do not yet produce a canopy to shade ur resivour..pei always cover my tank with sumthin reflective like black out and also try to keep as much light off my res tank.. This will obviously help.. But by how much depends on ur individual rooms parameters.. Stay safe n gud luck.. 👍🍀
Hi all, my plant pictured here just went through its first root explosion and is now dipping into the water at multiple points. EC = 1.0 and ppm (0.5) = 490. Does this look like nutrient burn? Using Flora series with CaliMagic.
Hello.. Hope you are well.. I just had a quick look at ur dairy n noticed ur pretty much spot on with everythin.. I know ur room temp n water is a wee bit high but dont worry too much, she is growing and coping ok so she's half way their!.. The damage on leaves are most likely to be from transplant.. I can only see damage on those central tips and 1's below so wudnt worry .. New growth looks great.. Stay safe n gud luck.. 👍🍀
I've attached the first few days of measurements since the roots hit the water. I take measurements every 24 hours and the backslash separates bucket 1/2. Does it looks like I need to top up already or should I wait for a more dramatic change? Thanks everyone!
"Optimal nutrient absorption varies for each major nutrient that cannabis plants require. The optimal pH for absorption is much more variable in hydroponics than it is in soil. If you allow for a range between 5.5 to 6.5 instead of always adjusting to the exact same number, you will allow for greater absorption across the board."
"Make a mix in a separate container first then add that to your reservoir so that changes take place slowly. Remember that pH drift is not only normal, it’s desirable. Allow the pH in your reservoir to change gradually, but make sure you keep within the range of 5.5 to 6.5."
Don't target 5.8... You'll have much more success if you let the ph swing..
"I am of the studied opinion, full pH swing grown cannabis is vastly superior in quality to steady pH (buffered) grown cannabis. In my experience the last decade, high transpiration, a full and healthy pH swing in the root zone and a balanced nutrient profile are integrated keys to growing low nutrient strength, superior quality cannabis. My goal is to share the insights I've gained, so your hydro experience is both simplified and extraordinary. I urge anyone interested in growing a higher quality of cannabis to read it completely."
2020-05-21 Hey everyone, thanks for following along. I have topped and tied Seedling 01! I think I did an ok job. The have changed to a pH of 6.0 and I am going to try to let it drift around while I monitor EC, pH, ppm and water level. The roots are all mingling together in the buckets. I am going to change the nutrients on Saturday for the first time!
2020-05-22 The change to pH of 6.0 rather than 5.5-5.7 seems to have encouraged my plants to drink. pH actually dropped to 5.9 in one bucket, and both plants consumed H2O and the ppm has finally started to drop. Gonna continue to monitor but so far so good. Seedling 02 has recovered from topping and the growth tips are already going! Nice.
2020-05-23 Early morning: Woke up and tried to adjust plant 01 and managed to rip off a growth tip with the very, final tiny little tightening of the wire... UGH I screamed! I was told that this is only a minor setback though. I immediatey reduced tension on the other side and topped it so that I would have 2 new growth tips. Clearly pictured.
2020-05-23 After darkness cycle: Changed the nutrient solution for the first time. The first bucket I left longer than 10 days because the roots weren't even touching the water for most of that time. I plan on regular changes now and daily monitoring will continue. I increased the solution to EC = 1.2 and ppm(0.5) = 570. See if I murder them or not.
2020-05-24 Nutrient solution stayed pretty much the same and lots 1 cm in depth so it appears to be drinking. They certainly look happy with growth raise and 'praying' at the light behaviour. Started some new seedlings for fun.
2020-05-25 Nutrient solution dropped in pH, ppm and water level. Seems that my gals are drinking! Getting a bit of leaf curling at the edges on plant 01. Gonna look into that.
2020-05-26/27 Can't commit to too many notes. I installed a new Mars Hydro 48x24x70 tent that fits my space perfectly to the inch! I had to rearrange a bunch of stuff. I put a picture up. I have been experimenting with frozen water bottles filled with sodium polyacrylate (same stuff in ice packs) and it seems to be working. I have managed to keep temps down in the buckets for 2 days using this method. I am experiencing leaf curl on one plant and it looks like a deficiency on the other. This is very strange given that the bucket is only a few days old. I did use less Cal/Mag than recommended... gonna ask a question.
Hi all, I adjusted LST tension this morning and the entire growth tip snapped off.
It was too small/fragile to tape so I put in rooting hormone solution and tried making a clone. What should I do with this plant now? Feeling discouraged.
Hi all. Just migrated plants to new tent/fan. I have much better environmental conditions. Now I have these leaf spots. I've included recent measurements. I was going light on the CaliMagic using 1/2 tsp per gallon. Is that my issue? Roots look good. Thanks everyone!
2020-05-28 Day 29 The plants are showing some nutrient or root related issues. The roots look great to me so I don't think that's it. I was giving the reduced CaliMagic amount as per most DWC instructions (I used about 60% strength) but I saw some issues. I topped up both buckets with a tiny amount of CaliMagic and brought the PPM to 590 from 574. The numbers have looked good so it's puzzling that they both have different issues. I am going to be mixing their nutrients together better this time and making sure that they have identical nutrients.
2020-05-29 The brown spots are increasing on the lowest leaves and creeping upwards. Otherwise new growth looks great on both plants. I have increased the tension and did a bit of stem crushing on the plants to tie them down more. Their growth tips are both nearly ready for the final topping! Saw a tip that GH flora triple series will stain your roots brown and it's nothing to worry about. Good to know, the roots have always looked and smelly healthy to me so far!
2020-05-30 Did a lot of reading and with my symptoms I am pretty convinced it was cal/mag deficiency. I went to 100% of the recommended dosage and the plants AND roots are already looking better within 24 hours. I use distilled water so full strength cal mag only gives about 225-250 ppm. With the 1/4 nutrients during early growth im only up to about 600 pm which is well within range.
2020-05-31 Broke one of the stems of plant 01 and had to tape it. Defoliated plant 01. Plant 02 is still looking strange. I am giving 650 ppm and I think I am under-feeding. Now that I am using manufacturer's recommendation for CaliMagic, the roots are starting to grow again. I am still using about 70% of manufacturer's recommendation for the Flora Series. I think I have been starving them the entire time. Not sure why one is having so many leaf issues and the other is not... They treat the nutrients and the pH exactly the same... I am confused.
2020-06-03 Put up some pics for the end of the week.
2020-06-04 I am posting an image of a mistake that I made, changing a well-vetted DWC feeding schedule specifically designed for RO or distilled water. My plants are now recovering with adequate CaliMagic being added but I am still slowly bringing up the major nutrients while I reduce the CaliMagic so I ensure that I don't shock them. Plant 02 went from calcium shock to calcium deficiency back to calcium shock from the messed up feeding schedule I was using. Plant 01 reacted better because it was older and able to buffer more nutrients.
2020-06-05 Photo dump. Plant 01 has really recovered nicely, the roots are finally growing into a ball shape and the growth tips have been booming all over the plant with high # leaf tip leaves. Looking much better and it's drinking SO MUCH!! I have had to reduce nutrients slightly for plant 02 but it's finally drinking and pH has stabilized. New roots there too. I keep forgetting that plant 02 is 5 days behind plant 01 so I am adjusting for that accordingly by always giving slightly less nutrients going forward til bloom when I will start to level them out. I modified plant 01 bucket, including adding screws for tying LST wires and a hook to hang the ice pack! The 2nd bucket isn't ready for that yet. Because I had to top plant 01 in early life due to ripping off 1/2 the growth tips, so it's got like an extra knuckle. Both plants are basically in lock step now and they both produced their 5th nodes and were starting their sixth so i topped to the 4th node on both main growth tips. Not sure how much more I want to cut off but I think I'll just leave it and see what happens.. I was following the Nebula guide but I might try some of my own stuff :)
2020-06-07 Plant 01 is BOOMING. Not pictured but the roots are going crazy. Plant 02 is still recovering but new roots are growing long and weaving themselves through the older roots. Got some GREAT WHITE root stuff, added it at the recommended dosage. MIght explain the crazy new roots. The plants are also dropping EC/ppm/pH every day but they seem to be doing good so I am just going to keep increasing the nutrients. Wondering if I should stick with 1:1:1 ratio or follow the GH guide? There are other independent 3:2:1 flower and 1:2:3 bloom feeding schedules. Pretty confusing.
I think she's on her way.
2020-06-12 Now that I've corrected the NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY that I forced upon the plants early due to some terrible advice, they are now incredibly thirsty girls and I have been bumping up the PPM mid-week. The pictured plant is drinking so much already and dropped its EC down from 1500 to 1000 over the week so I am going to go hard with nutrients and crank the lights up a little bit. Fortunately this Phlizon has a very accessible dimmer hole (screwdriver req'd but you don't have to dismantle to do it!!) I actually started re-feeding mid week because they were drinking so much. I kept bumping up all the food but they kept mowing down. Going to be going with an 'aggressive' nutrient schedule, jumping them up to EC=1800/1650.
I am giving them a 'transition' type feed this week. Balanced seems to be the way to go for transitioning so that's the approach for now.
2020-06-13 Going heavier on nutrients now, I went too high with my initial amount. After pH, it was a whopping EC=2200!! Too much for these ones. I had to dilute this weeks nutrition down, so I have to estimate the nutrition levels as I had to add water and pH it. I started with a whopping 7.6 mL/Liter but probably ended up with about 6.5 mL/gallonI EC=1800/ now keep calimagic constant at 3.79 mL/gallon to help buffer the solution and keep the solution stable. The additional calimagic has stopped the spread of the rust spots and new leaves are a lighter green and have stopped turning dark! Success.
2020-06-14 Thinking about doing the last topping and LST session this week and then transitioning to bloom. Thoughts on that? I have them on a 'transition feed' right now that is very nutrient dense! Started about 950 ppm for the healthier looking plant. The 2nd plant is still getting slightly less nutrients but the magnesium deficiency hasn't appeared in the newest growth.
Roots are growing crazy amounts every day! You can see that the 2nd bucket plant started making tons of roots out of the side of the bucket again. Nice to see the bounce back once given adequate nutrition. I have reduced expectations for that plant but it was definitely a lesson in how to prepare and interpret feeding schedules AND how your plant is reacting to them.
2020-06-15 Did some light defoliating today, removing a lot of the lower fan leaves and sucker branches/growth tips... Going to veg for the rest of the week and then change both over to flower.
2020-06 19 Day before nutrient change, they are growing too fast now!! ahhhh!!
2020-06-20 Day of nutrient change! Took them out of the grow tent while I swapped out the buckets.
2020-06-21 DAY 1 of flower! New week, new nutrient schedule, I kept the PPMs high and changed the ratio. I've tried to keep the 2nd plant on the same nutrient schedule but I had to dilute it within 24 hours because PPM was rising. It seems to have stabilized now. Starting EC = 2.0/1.8 and ppm= 930/880 and pH = 6.0. Added a new dehumidifier but it's totally raising the tent temperature almost 4 degrees F!!! I am in the process of setting up my recirculating system so I can take soon put the reservoir/dehumidifer outside in the same closet, just gotta take out the mini fridge.
2020-06-23 The girls are drinking like crazy! They are drinking much faster than normal so I am topping up with 1.1 mL/L calimagic instead as they still have a ton of food! pH still sinks from 6.0 to 5.5 over the course of 4 days or so but that seems normal for my setup. Threw up a video so you can get more perspective! I now have 3 different dehumidifiers running. There's a small 500 mL one inside the tent which raises temp about 2 degrees F at all times. I have a compressor dehumidifier outside the closet pulling in litres of water a day. I also have a big AC unit with a dehumidifier function that is draining into a 5 gallon pail. I am pulling GALLONS of water out of the air in this room and i've had to close the door to maintain it. Sorry, roommate! No AC unit for you.
I had to do some SUPER CROPPING and bend some of the main stems down on plant 01. It was growing way too quickly in the last 2 weeks. I'm hoping the change in nutrients will promote flowering instead of such rapid height!!
2020-06-27 I keep having to super crop, the plant is so damn resilient, it fixes itself in 1-2 days!! What the hell!! I have reduced the feed going forward for next week. 1000 ppm was too high, I ended up having to top up with fresh water + calimagic almost every single day because it was drinking far too quickly.
I will lower to 800 ppm for next week but maintain the same ratio. Root system is looking ROBUST on both plants!
Day 57 total (for plant 1)
Day 8 of flower (for both)
2020-06-28 New week, changed the nutrients from 1000 to 800 ppm because I kept having to dilute with CaliMagic water last week. I tried jumping up the nutrients too quickly. No burn but the nutrient intake wasn't nearly as fast as the water intake. Pre-flowers are coming out all over :)
2020-06-28 Plant is still drinking far more than its taking in with nutrients. You really have to drop them a bit when you go into flowering because they start guzzling... Trying to keep them around EC=1.6 but I might have to go down to 1.4.
Regardless, they are clearly happy and growing like crazy. Flowers are starting to emerge at the beginning of week 2 of flowering. I think that's a good sign. I continue to have to defoliate, especially plant 2! It's making these huge fan leaves every day.
2020-07-01 I typically have to top up Plant 01 every other day with water, so thirsty and growing so quickly, I wish it would stop.... I am posting an image of what I think is springtails. Gonna ask a grower question about it.
2020-07-04 Springtails don't seem to be hurting much. Tested and they seem to be fairly resistant to bleach AND hydrogen peroxide... They also seem to eat their dead very quickly and they congregate in clumps. They are bizarre to watch. Seem to have gotten a bit of nutrient burn on plant 2. I've kept the nutrients about 1650 but the ppm in the water keep going up because of the water usage.
I keep diluting it down over the course of the week and it seems to be working.
I might have a springtail "infection". Can I get some additional eyes on these? Sorry, I don't have a microscope. Tiny, white jumping specks. My googling tells me that they are "springtails" and supposedly harmless or even beneficial. Thoughts?
they look like springtails, they are harmless, but id be changing it out anyway.
They will possibly also be in amongst the roots so don't be too surprised if more appear.
2020-07-05 New week. Reduced nutrients because of the slight burn on plant 2... and plant 1 drinks so quickly that it rapidly raises PPM so I have to actually find the right sweet spot. It's drinking about a gallon a day?
Plant 2 is still a week behind and slightly stunted but the flowers are coming out. They are more compact than Plant 01. This is supposed to be the same species but I'm getting 2 very different phenotypes on the exact same nutrients.. not very strong genetics? Not sure.
2020-07-05
2020-07-05
2020-07-08 Forgot to take pics this week! Here you go! Plant 01 has grown so insanely strongly and is producing so many nice looking bud sites, i am blown away!! I have had to 'supercrop' the top by bending the stem very carefully and adding a wire knuckle so that it wouldn't immediately just stand back up overnight. I tried this with 2 experimental colas and they perked back up and stayed laying down. They will slightly obstruct the lower flowers but the tops all looked so promising, I couldn't bring myself to cut them. I will seriously have to cut down on veg time next grow! I can easily stop at week 5 in the future with these seeds and grow up nice buds.
2020-07-11 Updated with yesterday's photos. Changed nutrients today, stuck with 1600 EC for plant 01 and went back down to 1400 for plant 02.
2020-07-12 New week, same nutrients. I've been carefully monitoring nutrient intake and topping up plant 1 quite often, almost a gallon a day now. The 2nd plant is growing slower and eating a bit less but it's also a week behind developmentally. Plant 1 is happy with EC=1600 and I dilute that down to EC=1400 for plant 02. Plants are looking good!
2020-07-18 Last day of the week. Plant 01 is completely insane. It is so tall that I keep having to supercrop the top as more colas try to hit the light. I obviously let it veg for way too long but I struggled early on with nutrition so I didn't know what would happen when I finally dialed everything in!!! I am gonna take them to the end, I just hope I don't have to cut any colas off that become unmanageable. I have to be way more aggressive with my LST next time. Very very light nutrient burn on plant 2. Still running EC=1600 and EC=1400 for plant 1/2.
2020-07-27 Waited all week to post. Haven't changed nutrient levels at all. The plants are drinking at a normal rate and sit around 700 ppm and 6.0 pH on the regular. They've actually become more much stable, they are starting to get so sticky and smelly already. I can't remove them from the tent anymore to change water so I just put a water pump in there, drain it as much as I can, then flush with tap water, drain that, refill. I think the UC Roots and Great White will keep it healthy. The roots did not get out of hand at all on this grow but the upper plant absolutely did. It's right up to the top of the tent, I keep having to smack it down and bend it down...
I have noticed there are pure white tipped buds forming on plant 1. Supposedly this is a good sign: https://www.leafly.com/news/growing/white-tips-on-cannabis-buds
I feel like the buds aren't as fat as other people by week 5 of flower but I accidentally have so many growth tips, I think some of the growth is misguided right now. They are thickening up but not as fast as I expected. Looking forward to harvesting in 4-6 weeks!
2020-08-03 Had to add some yo-yos as the main colas are getting ripped now.
I have had to mash the plant into the tent, it's hogging all the light from plant 2 but oh well, not much I can do now and the yield from Plant 1 will be nice. Running same nutrient ratios still. Plant 02 has never matured into a full drinker, plant 01 is up to a gallon of water a day and is doing great on 800 ppm. 2-3 weeks til harvest!!
2020-08-11 Another week gone by... Plant 01 is still fattening up, drinking normally. Plant 02 has been completely choked out of the lights so it's not doing very well. Keeping the nutrients the same as they are both pretty steadily drinking. Some death amongst the lower leaves on plant 02 and the buds are getting trichomes but not getting very fat. Plant 01 is very dense and sticky af. Excited to harvest in a couple weeks!
The tent is definitely ugly as hell and the vegetative state clearly went on for about 2 weeks too long (first time grower) while I messed up the nutrients and other things that caused them to grow slowly. The 2nd plant never really recovered. I have continued defoliating and super-cropping plant 01 away from the light and keeping the distances even... It's an ugly canopy, can't wait for the next one so I can get it right!!
I'm in week 7. Should I start flushing now? The mature/fattest buds seem to be at about 50% converted to orange hairs which are just starting to curl in. Trichomes are milky but not turning brown/amber yet. Please take a look at the most recent pics to form an opinion!
Hey Pal,
a good Bloom Stage has minimum 8 weeks. So if you are not in a hurry, give her this 8 weeks,or until 20% of your Trichs turn amber.
To me, it's the best smoke...
You want more sedative? Then go for 50-60% amber Trichomes. For a day smoke and more of a head high than a stoned, then start to flush and harvest next week.
Hope this helps a bit, good luck and happy trails for the rest of the way.!
👍🤘
OimRausch
2020-08-16 End of week 8 of flowering! Nutrients are still stable with the same amounts (EC=1600/1200). Gonna ride them out until the end of the growth. Gonna start monitoring the trichomes daily so I can figure out when to flush. They look about 100% milky!
2020-08-17 Beginning of Week 9 of flowering! Wow! The buds in the middle are getting super frosty now and I noticed that I had some colas that had dipped below the light canopy. They're now back up on top! I am still giving nutrients as I don't see many amber trichomes yet but I am going into the tent without the LEDs on to take some more updated pics. Don't wanna miss my window as I prefer to be stimulated instead of sedated by cannabis. Hoping this strain delivers.
IF anyone wants to comment on the 'readiness' of my buds for flushing (or not flushing) please leave a comment or message me!
2020-08-23 Updated with this week's entire set of pics! Trying to take more with the lights off and just the flash to capture the trichomes. Looks like the sugar leaves have more amber trichomes. I've been advised by at least one person that it's time to harvest.
Still looking for more opinions! Cheers.
2020-08-24 Chop chop chop. I DID NOT FLUSH! I read a lot of guides and some scientific data and I wanted to see if I could detect an issue with non-flushed cannabis. We'll find out!
After seeing that the trichomes were not going to turn amber (all milky for many days) I did a bit of research and found that some people say WW doesn't produce amber trichomes until week 13-14. I have been monitoring to decide when to cut the plant. I noticed that there was some foxtails developing. The grow was messed up because the plant stretched so much. This created different lighting strength areas so some parts developed faster than others. Everything right under the light was definitely ready for harvest.
I have done a bit of a wet trim and hung everything up at 74F and 55% relative humidity.
Took a pic of the 8 main colas that I setup from the beginning with my mainlining technique from Nebula.
Definitely way messier than I intended (need to lollipop way higher in the future) but those buds are pretty giganticccccccccccccccc
2020-08-26 It is now smelling fairly grassy as the chlorophyll breaks down. Everything going as expected. I was kind of worried by the smell because it was very earthy, now very grassy. The air coming out of the tent smells like fresh cut grass but if you actually touch/squeeze the buds with your hands, it EXPLODES with citrus smells, far more so than when it was still alive. No signs of mould or mildew. I bleached the tent right before hanging so hopefully no infections. I will post the harvest report later on!
The grow was far from optimal. I don't want to write a massive speech about it here. I had a rocky start but once I learned how to use my nutrients and read the plants outputs properly, I became successful. The plants grew too close to the light because they spent too long in veg and I wasn't aggressive enough with LST. The supercropping saved this grow for sure. White Widow is a hungry plant and probably well suited to beginners who tend to over-feed. Going to grow again and cut veg to 5 weeks! See what we get when I can keep the buds under the lights properly. For this grow, I got about 122 grams of high quality buds that I would be happy to smoke. I also got about 84 grams of popcorn that might go into edibles or kept for a rainy day! Not as much as I was expecting but not bad for first time!
Hoodoo
