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First time growing. Germinated 2 white widow auto & 2 critical purple auto and planted in Fox Farms Ocean forest. Didn't think all 4 seeds would germinate but they did and now have a tight space inside small grow tent. Used a 2 gallon plastic pot and a 3 gallon cloth pot for each of the strains. No nutrient yet since they should already be in the Open forest.
Still no nutrients added. Did start to light bend main stem to the side of the pots using pipe cleaners and garden wire. The plants seem to started out extremely bushy!
Started to introduce nutrients at half the recommended dose. The plants are extremely bushy and I am using LST and leaf tucking to open inside bud sites to good light. The plants are so thick it is hard to find main shoot for the fan leaves to tuck. I will continue with small amounts of LST for the next week or two. The plants look healthy to me and I would like to take some of the larger fan leaves ( almost 5 inches long) off the bottom to allow air to get to the base of the plant and make it easier to water / feed. I gave each plastic pot 48 oz of feed every three days and each bag pot gets 64 oz every three days.
The pre-flowering stage started and the plants look healthy overall but there is some brown and twisting at the end of some of the leaves , especially at the tops of a couple of the plants. Not sure if it is nutrient burn or from being too close to the lights. I will be giving PH adjusted water (6.25 ph) today and check the PPM run-off. The white widows seem to be growing a little taller that the critical purple but the critical purple is more bushy. I have been doing some light defoliation trying to open up some if the dense parts of the plants and giving more light to bud sites. I was hoping both strains grow another 5 to 10 inches vertical but that may not be in the cards, your thoughts? Maybe the defoliation stressed the plants and limited growth, but I have seen many grow diaries nd videos of successful defoliation on autos.
The plants continue to grow and flower but the growing height seems to be slowing down. The White widow in the fabric pot is 23 inches and the WW in the plastic is 20 inches tail. The Critical purple in the fabric bag is 15 inches tall while the CP in the plastic is 18 inches tall. I continue to trim leaves to allow bud sites better access to the light. I guess I am approx 50% through my first grow. I hope to see the flowering increase in size during the next several weeks. The run-off PPM continues higher than the feeds. Last check should a run off ppm between 1700 and 2800 depending on which plant. Is this an issue? any feed back would be appreciated. BTW my little 2ft by 2ft grow tent is stuff to capacity.
Plants stopped growing taller with the White widows being 24 inch and 21 inch and the critical purple being 19 inch and 16 inches. Plants are extremley bushy and it is hard to defoliate in the middle. From the picture above one of the white widow seems to be getting a very light green with some yellow shading. All feeds and watering have been with PH vales of 6.3 to 6.5. Not sure what the issue might be, any help?
Today is day 56. the plants seem to be doing great except the brown rusty marks on one of the critical purple plants . Started to give cal-mag in case of deficiencies. The run-off PPM was extremely high (3500 PPM) on this plant so I check all plants and the rest were high as well but in the 1400
to 2000 range. The PH in run off was 5.5 to 5.7. I flushed the plants and now the run off PPM is 800 to 1000 and the run off PH is 5.9. Any suggestions on what else I should look at doing? hopefully the ladies can make at least another 4 weeks and fatten up. I did try some addition defoliation to open the middle of the plants and get more light down to the lower budding sites.
1 of the Critical purple plants started to get brown rusty spots on some of the higher leaves (picture above in week 8). I though it might be a calcium of magnesium deficiency so started to add cal-mag early this week. PPM on run offs was extremely high 3500 PPM so flushed them
I think the TDS Pen is accurate since It says bottled water less than 50 PPM and my tap water at 190 PPM. I also check the PPM of the feed after each addition of the nutrients and watch the increases. I believe the last PPM of the feed was 1900. PH of feeds 6.25 to 6.4
Only several leaves had brown spots. Hopefully the flushes that lower the PPM to less than 1000 on all plants allows for normal / reduced feeding while insuring my cal & mag are being taken care of. The overall health of the plants looks good and they are ripening, can't wait to see the buds continue to grow in diameter and length . This is my first grow inside a small 4ft by 4ft tent. Not sure what the harvest will be like but I am hoping to get at least 2oz total from all 4 plants, do you think this is probable based on how they look at 8 weeks?
Excess.. It's not from too little of anything.. 3500 is obviously too high.. You've added too many salts and your plant can't possible use all that level of salts/nutrients whatever. Or your soil is very hot to begin with... Osmosis is how our plants absorb nutrients.. Not by direct eating.. Osmosis is very PH and salt sensitive. Why are auto pot feeding systems catching on with a lot of folks? Because plants absorb nutrients from the bottom up. Use less nutrients..
if ppm was 3500, more likely lockout.
check labels. Calculate how much ppm of ca and mg do you provide? this will allow you to eliminate 1 of the 2 possibilities. If you provide plenty of Ca and Mg it is lockout. 3500 is crazy high... unless the accuracy of pen is off.
Today is day 63 of the grow. Seems like the 2 Critical purple are a week or two ahead of the White widow. Should I try to further defoliate in the middle and lower parts of the plants to let more light to all budding sites? The plants are extremely bushy and it is difficult to reach into the middle to remove leaves. The plants are starting too smell more each day and my scissors come away sticky and gooey from any leave trimming. I think the critical purple needs another 2 weeks and the White widows need 3 or more weeks.
Should I try to further defoliate in the middle and lower parts of the plants to let more light to all budding sites? The plants are extremely bushy and it is difficult to reach into the middle to remove leaves.
It’s really something I’d like to give you an answer to but it’s all a guess based on assumptions without knowing enough about your skill, background, etc. So many variables can affect your final dry harvest weight. I generally look at total footprint of grow and how full that canopy is, light input, environmental, etc .
For you, I would safely say 1.25-2oz per plant, dried, based on one photo I see of two plants on your kitchen counter (nice kitchen btw)
Things like letting your bud get rock hard/dense and fatten up will have huge impacts on final weight. Resist the urge to harvest early. Remember that dried flower can “shrink” to less than half the size of live colas. It sucks when you chop early and end up with airy colas. If your breeder says 8 weeks go with 9. Watch The trichomes of course.
Tendency is for people to harvest early when the buds are not dense, and by the time it’s dried you have an underwhelming final weight.
I hope you hit a higher number than what I’m projecting, as it’s better to set a low expectation and exceed it. Remember once you chop you are only beginning the next stage of drying and curing. Low and slow. Colder temps and longer dry times are your friend for a higher quality finished product. Have a plan and system in place prior to chop so you;re not spinning wheels T that critical time figuring out your drying process.
Cheers
It is now Day 70. The Critical Purple seems to be a week or more ahead of the White Widow in regards to harvesting. I bought a Carson MicroBrite plus hand held scope to look at the trichomes but it was too hard to hold steady, keep the right distance from the bud and to focus. Instead of the scope I bought a 30X & 60X jewelers loud with LED and what a big difference! It is much easier to use and you can clearly see the trichomes with either the 30 or 60 power magnification. Based on the trichomes on the Critical purple already being cloudy and only a handful being amber I will wait another week to harvest. The white widow will most likely need two weeks. All four plants have been flushed, the CP several days ago and the WW today. The run-off PPM is between 210 and 230 PPM. My PH'd tap water runs approx 160PPM so it looks like little nut's are left. The flush for the CP will probably only be 8 days in duration, hope this is good enough considering I do not want too great a number of amber trichomes and couch lock. Used two bricks and a sink dish stand to help with the flushes right in the kitchen sink since it was too cold to do outside. Looking forward to the harvest and curing process. Looks like I will be giving some of my neighbors nice christmas gifts
The white widow is finished as of today. After hanging and drying I have over 3 ounces of weed. The buds where not as dense as the critical purple and th smell was much less the the critical purple. I have not tries the WW yet since it is still curing. I have tried the CP and it is very potent. The wife does not like the house smelling like weed and I will need to stop for a while or until the weather outside lets me try and out door grow. I will update how the WW tastes and its strength after it cures.
Chips512
