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1st Grow .... building the lights was a piece of cake, now comes the tricky part ... actually growing the plants !!!
Preparation
Created a seedling / clone nursery with a 2 foot overhead light bar holding 4 100w (1600 lumen) 6500K cfls and a 60w 2700K LED.
Ran it for 24 hours to test heat in the 24x48x24 space. Temp at the level of the seedling pots was 79° but the humidity was low in the 20s. Added a tray with water and paper towel wicks and brought the humidity up to 38%.
When they're ready, I'll move the plants to a 2 x 4 x 5 Vivosun grow tent for veg with the DIY LEDs, but for now, they're in a temporary nursery.
Day 1 12-30-2017
Started 5 seeds in a glass of RO water with seaweed extract.
They sank after 6 hours and I transferred them to a paper towel well dampened with the RO water/seaweed mix, spinkled them with Mykos, and folded the paper towel. I place it in the germination tent in a light proof wrap at 79° and 35% humidity.
Day 2 21-31-2917
Checked the seeds 24 hours after starting and found visible roots on all of them.
Made a mix of 3 parts Fox Farm Happy Frog to 1 part Cost of Maine Stonington Blend for the seedling pots (RootMaker), filled them, moistened them with the RO water / seaweed extract, sprinkled Mykos into the shallow holes for the seeds, planted them root down and put them under the cloning dome to maintain humidity.
Day 3
The ambient humidity outside the germination area is very low so even with the paper towel reservoir the soil is drying out. I moistened all of the pots and I cut a 3 layer damp paper towel template with holes over the seeds to keep the top moist.
They all seem to be doing alright except for one with the seed casing stuck around the stem. I'll have to figure that out once it's a little stronger.
I'm anxious to see what next week will bring
Start of week 2
Performed minor surgery to remove the seed husk .. the patient will recover but has a bit of a kink in her stem where the seed casing was compressing it.
Replaced 4 of the CFLs with 1400 lumen 5000K led floodlights. Less overall rating but the LEDs are directional so all the light is directed at the plants,
This is supposed to be a slow starting strain ... and it seems to be living up to its rep.
Day 8
Looking at the leaves, there seems to be enough light but they're getting pretty leggy so I added more soil and gave them a gentle dose of the RO water/seaweed mix.
Not much change in their size or leaves, I'm hoping there's a lot of root development going on. Added a couple of PC fans I had lying around to help strengthen the stems and improve evaporation from the reservoir for the humidity.
Day 10
Finally, new leaves are starting to show and the plants have gained about 1/2 inch. Soil was dry so I watered again.
Day 12
Leaf development is improving and the stems seem to be getting stronger. Plants are now 2 1/2" tall above the new soil level which means they've grown at least an inch in the last 5 days. There's hope for me yet.
Day 14
Final set of photos for week 2. Next week they'll be moving to the new veg tent. I'm hoping with the vastly better lighting they'll start developing a bit faster
Day 15
Gave the girls a major watering and some additional top dressing yesterday. Looks like they were a little dry because there's been some nice leaf development overnight. Also happy that they don't need the toothpick supports any longer.
I started this project in soil, but I've been looking for a good beginner level nutes program to help maximize my results, and after considering Jack's 3-2-1 I decided on some Botanicare products. They're on order and I'll write it up as soon as they get here.
I'm not going to be able to keep the seedlings in the temporary germination area much longer, so I've set up a Vivosun 2 x 4 x 5 veg tent. It's no Gorilla, but for $85 it's going to be just fine. I was going to configure some of the cmx3590 COBs for veg but I decided to bite the bullet and ordered 2 5000K 304 Quantum boards from northerngrowlights.com. They should be here in a couple of days along with a Mean Well HLG-240H-C1050B from RapidLEd. Just guessing but these should be some happy sprouts.
Day 16
Soil was dry again this morning so they got another dose of water ... there are no roots poking through the aeration pruning holes but I'm wondering of it's time to move to the 1 gal air pots. Seems like they're drinking a lot for their size.
Problem … I've been noticing the leaves curling down … and it's getting more pronounced. I checked the temp at the top of the plants and it was close to 80°. Retested the water ph and it was way too low … 4.8. I moved them to a larger temporary area 14” under 4 cxb3590 4000K COBs @1400ma with a dimmer and flushed them with ph 7 RO water to bring things back into equilibrium. I guess I'll have to test the water each time I use it. I took the reflectors off the COBs to get a better spread until the seedlings adjust.
Looking at the seedlings, I think I may have 3 phenos here. Time will tell
Day 19
Components for the veg light arrived so I've started configuring the 2x4x5 grow tent.
Plants were getting a bit too much light so I dimmed 20% and I'll wait to see how they respond. With the power reduced the temps will stay in the upper 60s until I get the new tent ready but it shouldn't be a problem.
Transplanted into the 1 gal air pots using a 50/50 mixture of Happy Frog and Stonington Blend. Dusted the root ball with Mykos and buried them a little deeper for better stem support and hopefully some additional root mass. Gave them a little water near the center of each pot … have to be careful not to over water until they develop some size and more root mass.
The Rootmaker seedling pots did their job … a nice clump of fine root strands developed on all plants but getting them out of the pots was a bit nerve wracking with all the internal pot structure. There was no visible root damage so hopefully they all will survive.
It's been 48 hours since the transplant and they've transitioned well. I've dialed back the dimmer a bit ... they were looking too compact for plants at this stage and they're starting to open up a bit.
Day 21
Started misting the plants daily to keep the surface of the soil moist.
Light intensity has been increased about 10% and has been adjusted to 18/6.
Day 22
Started a lite Botanicare regimen
¼ tsp/gal Rhizo Blast and ½ tsp / gal Liquid Karma. It's less than 1/2 strength but the soil is quite nutrient rich and I just hope to promote vigorous root development. Drizzled 1/4 cup of the mixture onto each plant. I'll check tomorrow to see how they react.
Day 23
Can't tell if it's the low humidity in the ambient air or the plants were just thirsty but the soil is dry again. I gave them another 1/2 cup each of the new mixture. Just to be safe, I'll use plain ph'd RO water for misting and alternate waterings until they're more developed and mistake tolerant
Day 24
3/4 cup plain RO water each. Have to watch them carefully for signs of overwatering. So far, no problems.
It looks like 2, maybe 3 phenos ... 1 & 2 are taller and a lighter shade of green, 3 & 4 are shorter and darker green, 5 is somewhere in between.
The plants are starting to show noticeable signs of growth.
Day 25
¾ cup ½ strength Botanicare mixture. COBs are now at full power at 30”. Temps are holding in the low 70s as the lights are putting out a bit more heat.
Day 26
Just misted today. I want to make sure the roots aren't staying wet.
Day 27
Plants have gained over an inch this week and the nodes are quite distinct. Plants 1,2,and 5 all have a 3 leaflet pair and a 5 leaflet pair with a well defined top (soon to be removed) while 3 and 4 have the same 2 pair of leaflets but the top is just starting to form. I expect that I'll top all 5 by the end of week five. Gave them all 1 cup of the Botanicare mixture.
Day 28
Last week saw the plants really start to grow. I was able to increase the 4 4000K 3590s to max output (1400ma) at 30" no reflectors with no ill effect. They're also starting to get thirstier.
As of today, all 5 have been topped above the 2nd node and I've started a very lite feeding with Botanicare Pure Blend Pro and Tea. Trying to keep the N under control while adding a bit of the other necessities. They all got 1 cup of the new mixture today and I'll keep an eye on things to see how they respond. I may alternate with the original mixture to reduce stress. Liquid Karma seems well thought of for stress.
24 hrs after topping, all of the leaves were stretching upward, so I decreased the distance to the lights from 30" to 24". I'll be curious to see what tomorrow brings.
Day 29
No apparent ill effects from the topping or the nute change. Soil was dry so they each got 1 1/4 cups of the mix.
Day 30
1 1/4 cups seems like the magic number ... 1st time they didn't need more water the next day. Lower nodes and new tops are starting to grow out.
Day 31
Tried 1 1/2 cups today and there was some runoff so 1 1/4 is it for the moment, Nodes development is progressing (new photos)
Day 32 .... MOVING DAY !!!!
Thought I saw some minute flying critters ... could have been the 70 degree temps outside in Feb in New England ... but just to be safe I added some pest strips.
All 5 plants appear to be doing well. New growth is coming in and the stems are thickening noticeably.
Finally finished building the new Quantum board light fixture and temp testing the veg tent so after another 1 1/4 cups of the nute mixture, all 5 are in their new home.
Day 34
Added a hanging towel with a water container yesterday to boost humidity. Holding steady around 40% now ... up from 15% after the first day in the new tent. Temps are still on the low side ... 65F+/- during dark periods and 71F+/- when the lights are on. The volume of a 2x4x5 tent is so small, I can't really use a space heater without cooking the plants.
All the plants look healthy and node growth is increasing after the first topping, but there's not much vertical development. There are lots of pictures of buds on this strain, but I haven't found anything showing early development so I can't tell if this is normal or due to a deficiency.
Day 35
Mixed up a stronger nutes mixture for this week. Still not full strength but an increase over last week. Soil is not quite dry enough yet to water … maybe by this evening. The towel “humidifier” seems to be working … humidity is holding +/- 38%. I restricted air input a bit and temps are now up around 72°.
Day 37
Reduced the lighting levels by 25% to see I can get some stretch. the plants are healthy but very compact and unless I can more vertical development I don't see how to do LST so technique may have to be more topping and mainlining.
Day 37 update
Decided to check what was going on in the 1 gal pots. It's only bee 17 days since they were put in the 1 gal pots and they already need to be repotted.
Soil was bone dry and there was a huge mass of fine feeder roots. Transplanted them to 3 gal pots with a 2:1 mix of Stonington Blend to Happy Frog. Back to ph'd RO water with perhaps a bit of Liquid Karma for stress after a day or 2.
Day 39
Temps are too low – never getting out of the mid 60s. Put a ceramic heater outside the tent to warm the area. Now temps are holding in the mid 70s. Plants are still looking a bit droopy after the up potting so I'm going to risk over watering and really saturate them this time with a lite cal-mag and liquid karma solution.
Day 41
Heavy drink seems to have done the trick. They all perked up and look much fuller. Added a couple of PC fans in the bottom of the tent for increased air movement. There's visible growth but they're still very compact and there isn't enough spacing to start LST.
Day 42
The plants seem like they're starting to grow a bit faster ... they're finally up to 6” and the topped nodes are elongating enough that I think by the end of this week I should be able to start LST. They're still perky from the saturation I gave them day 39 but they'll get another through watering at the first sign of droop now that I know what's causing it.
Day 43
Soil was dry so even though the plants showed no ill effect I used a gallon of the light nutrient mix on the 5 of them. Lowered the light fixture to 24".
Day 44
This is exciting. For the first time there was measurable growth overnight ... about 1/2" vertically. The plants are finally starting to stretch out a bit.
Started LST … pipe cleaners and weight (17gms) to start. Gave light nutrient mix
Day 46
Lowered the lights to 18”. Upped the nutes to 2tsp PB Pro, 1 tsp Liquid Karma, ½ tsp PB Tea, ¼ tsp Rhizo Blast. 5 plants drank 1 ½ gal with virtually no run off. They're growing fuller but not really tall at this point. There are definitely 2 distinct phenos ( 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5?? ) here and possibly a 3rd.
Evening update: Had to add more weight to keep the plant tops spread. 3 & 4 now have 30 gms on the main tops and 10 gms on the sides. 1, 2, & 5 are all at 25 gms on the main tops.
Daily misting with plain water continues
Day 48
Dinafem lists Blue Widow as a light feeder, so I've been adding nutes very gradually ... and it turns out that's a good thing since I see the beginnings of tip burn on 2 of the plants. Flushed all plants with 1/2 gal of ph'd plain water.
Day 49
Only a few tips showed barn after the flush and the plants are looking strong and full. LST is bringing out a lot of growth ... the plants are very full but very short.
It will be another couple of days before they'll need more water and I'm going back to the light formula from week 6.
Day 52
LST is bringing out lots of new tops ... and there are indications of some vertical devlopment. Gave the plants another thorough soaking with ph'd RO water and there are no signs of more tip burn. Still have the lights dimmed by about 10% to be sure that wasn't part of the problem. Switched from hanging weights to safety pins for the LST and it's proving to be much more effective.
Day 57
Plants are finally starting to really fill out and add some vertical height. LST is producing excellent top growth and it looks like I'll be able to take clones and flip to flower by the end of next week. I've started a pre-flower nutrient regimen substituting Pure Blend Pro Bloom Soil for the veg version and adding molasses to the mix. The plants are now up to 2 gal of water/nutes before saturation, although it does take a day for the leaves to uncurl after watering. They need 2-3 days to fully dry before the next watering. I may have to do the last week of veg in the flower tent if I have to transplant to the 7 gal pots before the end of next week ... there's no room the the veg tent for them.
Day 60
All is not well in the garden. Leaf curling is getting worse and the lower leaves are yellowing. I up potted into the 7 gal pots and found the source of the problem. The 3 gal pots were a solid mass of fine roots ... so dense the neither water nor nutrients were able to penetrate very much. I aerated the roots with a thin, long neck screwdriver and was able to get great absorption around the stems for an enhanced nutrient mixture while watering the perimeter with plain ph'd water.
Day 62
Triage seems to be effective. All the plants are showing new signs of vigor and the curling has stooped and the yellowing seems to have stopped as well. Aerated the roots again and center fed them with another dose of the enhanced nutrients.
Day 63
Plants are definitely recovering and grew about an inch overnight. That's a first. The new flower tent will be ready by the end of the day so they'll spend their last week in veg on the new tent before I flip them.
Final week of veg .... at last
The plants are still showing the effects of the extended starvation/drought problem but they're coming around and showing new vigor and growth.
The nutes I've listed aren't quite accurate because I'm still compensating for for all the deficiencies the plants are suffering from ... including an Mg issue. Hopefully I won't end up with herms from the stress. I'm reasonably sure I'll hit the 12" mark by next Tuesday when I plan to flip
Put them back into LST after a couple of days of recovery and they're showing an impressive number of potential tops and some pre-flower activity. I'll be taking clones over the next few days so I can preserve the best of the phenos. Other than that, I'll just try not to kill them with kindness before the 12/12 switch.
Seems they're still making for lost time ... 75oz (each) of nutes with no runoff this morning
A couple of technical notes,
I'm glad I decided to mount the LED drivers outside the tent ... they put out a fair amount of heat.
The Storm controller from Rapidled/Coralux does an impressive sunrise/sunset.
04/08
Took 4 clones from each plant today. The plants are still so compact that the clones are smaller than I would have liked but I wasn't going to take the major tops. Hopefully at least 1 from each plant will survive.
Day 71 / Day 1 Flower
The 5 plants shared 4 gallons of the new mix before getting lights out early to start their new light regimen. They've gained at least 2 inches in height since the up potting and root aeration. The scrog screen is almost ready for them and should be on within a day or 2.
Day 73/ 3
Photos from day 2 of flower
Day 75 / 5
Used almost 5 gallons this time. A couple of the plants show root penetration on the bottom of the 7 gallon pots. I'm not going larger so I'm going to pick up some 17" plant saucers and fill them with perlite so I can bottom feed as well. Hopefully, that will be sufficient to keep them happy and healthy for the next couple of months.
Welcome to week 2 of flower.
Day 78
The plants are getting thirstier and stretching nicely. I'm up to 5 gallons each feeding now with very little run off.
Noticed some root penetration through the bottom of one of the 7 gal fabric pots last week so I put all the plants in 17" plant saucers filled with perlite. I'll just over water them a bit and let them suck up the excess as needed from the perlite. Need to get some H2O2 in case I get algae growth on the perlite.
The plants remain "vertically challenged", but they are getting incredibly full. I put them back into LST 2 days ago and they are spreading and putting up new tops like crazy. It looks like the 5 of them will completely fill the 5x5 space if I keep forcing them to spread. I'm still up in the air about using a scrog as originally planned ... the LST is working extremely well, but it's a pain redoing it every morning.
I also lowered the lights a bit to compensate for the greater distance due to the LST.
Plant #5 still has me puzzled. It was the most obvious odd man out as a pheno, and while the 4 other plants have maintained good health, #5, with the same nutrient schedule and environment has continued to show what looks like a significant nitrogen deficiency. It's still growing well and putting up new growth as it stretched, but its color a off and there are dead leaves at the base. I've tried a number of things to try to improve it's appearance, but so far nothing has really worked. I suppose as long as it continues to put out reasonably healthy new growth I'll just take what I get.
Pre-flower development has started accelerating with flower sites starting to show all over the place. Very exciting.
Week 3 of Flower
Sorry this is a couple of days late
First true flowers have appeared ... and the stretch has started in earnest.
I needed more floor space so I removed the 5 gal buckets I was using as a stand for the PC fans at the back of the tent and hung them from the back ceiling support bar.
This is a better arrangement since I can raise them as the canopy gets taller.
I put in a scrog toward the end of last week and I'm rearranging the bus sites daily ... good growth overnight. Trimmed some of the lower leaves and shoots that would never make it to the canopy and made a batch of canna butter.
After tucking everything under the net I set the lights 12" above the canopy.
I thought there were a lot of tops from LST, but since putting on the net and manually exposing lower nodes to light, the visible buds have increased incrementally.
Dinafem says these are relatively light feeders, but they're soaking up full strength Botanicare nutes and seem to be thriving ... they took 8 gallons last night.
Humidity has been rising in the tent but it still seems manageable. I'm hoping I won't need to put in a dehumidifier but I have one if it's needed.
I'm still a long way from the finish line but recent developments are very encouraging.
4/29
The plants are loaded with buds and the trellis net is now more of a danger than a help. I found that the net is locking into nodes in a way that will damage the buds rather that continue training. Rotated the plants in the tent, pruned some of the lower growth that will never make into direct light, put the LST back in place which gave me a really even canopy, and put the net across the top for support, not as a scrog
Week 4 of Flower
5/2
Flower development is progressing well (I think). Gave the plants a major trimming today clearing out lower growth and buds that will never make it into the canopy. At this point I'm letting the developing flowers go vertical ... I fear if I generate any more horizontal growth I'll end up with a lot of airy popcorn instead of real colas. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!
Raised the PC fans for better cross ventilation and rotated the plants in the tent after I trimmed them. They had 5 gallons 2 days ago and got another 5 today after trimming with no visible runoff into the perlite filled trays.
Humidity was creeping up in the tent so I brought over the basement dehumidifier and have been conditioning the ambient air since there's no room in the tent. Seemed to do the trick ...humidity has been holding in the upper 50s.
Disregard the color differences in the photos ... took some with the lights dimmed.
5/3
Pulled the LST so the buds can go vertical and raised the lights a bit to keep an even intensity on the canopy.
5/6
Another 7 gallons today. Omitted the molasses for this feeding. Since none of the colas need support yet I raised the trellis above the canopy until it's needed.
Started trimming out a few underdeveloped buds that are struggling to get to the light so all the energy will go to the main flowers.
Week 5 Flower
5/9
I have to raise the lights and trellis a few inches every couple of days to keep even light on the canopy. So far the trellis hasn't been needed. The plants are stretching and flowering at different rates despite having have identical nutes and environment. I've been rotating them around in the tent to make it more uniform but there are still significant differences.
As far as I can tell, they're healthy and doing well. Leaf color and texture are excellent and the colas are developing well. I need to figure out if it makes sense to trim out more of the light deprived buds to send more energy to the better developed flowers. The canopy for each plant is so dense that it's hard to tell what if anything to trim.
They're still drinking 7-8 gallons every 2-3 days and the fragrance in the tent is really nice. Kudos to the Phresh 6 x 24 filter ... nothing gets out of the tent.
5/10
Reorganized things again today. I need space to flower a couple of Black D.O.G,s that have been vegging so I replaced the 17" perlite trays with 14" trays and freed up some space. Rotated the plants again, raised the lights a bit more and gave them all a gallon of the nutrient mix without the molasses. I'll give them just water and molasses tomorrow. Also trimmed a few more dead end buds on the lower branches. Smells like a pine forest in there
5/12
Looks like I'm about 1/2 way there for flowering. Buds are starting to get frosty.
5/14
Starting to see evidence of nute burn on several plants. Very reduced nutes with molasses on the menu for the next feeding.
Flower Week 6
5/16
For the first time I'm seeing some significant leaf issues. The enthusiastic feedings over the last few weeks have caught up to some of the plants and I'm seeing Ca/Mg deficiency and P and K excesses. I've set up a 20 gal reservoir with a variable speed pump to feed these beasties so I'll be cutting back on the bloom nutes and adding the max recommended Ca/Mg. The plants are still robust and putting on flower weight, but the leaves are telling the story.
Plant 1 is well ahead of the other 4 in terms of stretch and bud development. Plants 2,4, and 5 are all at about the same stage of development and plant 4 is the furthest behind, I've got the lights at 16 - 18" above the canopy but there's still not a major daily stretch. These Blue Widows are leisurely to say the least. The 2 Black D.O.G that just went into the tent are showing 1-2" a day of stretch ... not the Widows.
I've sampled some of the trim from these and it's a fantastic uplifting high. Can't wait for the harvest.
At this point it seems like it's just a matter of patience and keeping an eye on the trichomes. It looks like #1 will be the first to mature with 2,4,and 5 about a week behind and 3 a week behind them.
Week 6 of flower
5/23
Big changes this week, 2 of the plants are now showing "blue" on the main colas and the trichs are getting cloudy. Because the plants are so dense, I had to re-apply LST in order to open the canopies so light could penetrate to the lower portions of the main colas and the central colas that are still developing. Did some additional cleanup of lower foliage.
If I grow these indoors in the future, I may limit myself to only 4 or 5 plants int the flower tent. Since I added the 2 Black D.DO.G.s things have gotten too crowded for me to adequately spread the canopies on the Widows.
Did a cal-mag and water ph'd flush on all the plants this week to offset what looked like an ongoing excess of P and K, The plants are otherwise strong and healthy.
Week 8 of Flower
5/30
All 5 plants are continuing to ripen nicely. I adjusted the LST to allow more light into the central growth of all the plants.
What's becoming clear is that there are 3 distinct phenos here.
Plant #1 has ripened first and is very blue at this point. The trichs are mostly milky but no amber is showing yet. #4 looks like it's the same pheno but a little behind on development.
Plant #5 looks like it's going to be more White Widow dominant along with #2. #5 is a bit ahead of #2 but not amber yet.
Plant #3 is yet another pheno but it's a bit slower to ripen and is showing a different and distinct shade of green.
I'm glad I decided to stay in veg long enough to clone all of them. I'm going to keep mothers for 1, 3, and 5 as representative until I know if any of them are worth growing again. Early trim from #1 certainly indicates a really nice harvest.
Week 9 of Flower
5/30
I've reduced the nutes since I'm reasonably sure I'm within a week to 10 days of harvest on most if not all of them. Not quite ready for plain water but close. All of the plants are showing signs of scavenging their lower leaves.
Trichs are milky but still no amber.
Color differentiation between the phenos is very obvious at this point. Perimeter colas on all plants are large and strong and the central buds are good sizer as well. There'll be some popcorn but mostly from the lower central parts of the plants.
Other than restraining myself from a premature harvest, not much to report this week.
Start of Harvest ... FINALLY
I'm still listing this as a flower week since the Harvest Week seems to be only for final dry weigh and post mortem
6/6
Plants are ready for harvest. The process will last a week to 10 days as they are at different stages of ripeness.
Plain water today and as needed.
6/9
Plant #1 is the first to go. The visible layers of the plant are all milky with solid "blue" on the leaves. What I'm discovering is that when plants are this dense, the lower layers don't have the same level of maturity as the visible areas of the colas.
6/10
Inspected the trichomes on the remaining plants and #4 will be the next to go. I think I heard it humming Sunday Sunday, don't trust that day
6/11
Plant #4 chopped and hung to dry. So now the 2 strongest blueberry leaning phenos are done.
6/12
#3 will be the next to go today. This one's the mystery pheno. 1 and 4 were noticeably blueberry leaning, 2 and 5 noticeably favor white widow. This one seems like a perfect balance between the 2. It will be interesting to compare the effects of the different phenos here. Glad I decided to keep clones of all of them until the harvest is done and the verdict is in.
6/13
Still working on #3. The bud structure on this one is completely different from 1 and 4. Denser,bigger, more complex structure. Can't wait to,see what else I'd different once it dries.
More to come......
Since I have no basis for comparison, I'll simply say the Dinafem Blue Widow is an easy strain to grow if you do a little homework ahead of time and give it a good environment. It tells you when it needs more or less of something and responds well to corrective measures.
As title says, this was a first grow and there was a steep learning curve since everything was new to me. The pre-grow research paid off nicely, and once i got over the "helicopter parenting" things ran pretty smoothly.
The decision to use the Cost of Maine Stonington Blend and 7 gal root pouches was validated by the results.
The Dinafem Blue Widows were very easy to grow ... the biggest surprise was how compact they were. As the diary documents, I had to keep them in veg for an extended period of time to keep long enough shoots to clone with. In retrospect, I think that I gave them too much light in veg and that set them up for their eventual growing traits.
The fact that I ended up with 3 distinct phenos out of 5 seeds made the experience more interesting.
Since I had 2 other plants in the tent, I used 5/7 of the light wattage to do the calcuations, not the full 800 watts,
I have clones from all 3 types and I'm in the process of deciding which of them are better examples of the strain.
The effects from the ones I've tried extremely relaxing and cerebral. I'm vaping but people that smoke have declared the dry but uncured smoke incredibly mild and smooth.
As for my thoughts on this site, I think it's a great resource and extremely helpful both as a tool for me to document what I've done and as a reference to see what others are doing.
My only disappointment was the lack of communication and responsiveness from Dinafem. Their seeds were outstanding but they never replied to my questions either here or by direct email.
@bosgrower, I think this yield is achievable mate. I run 600w per m2 and get 15-24 oz. So with your extra lumens I think you will do better than estimated
@BigDaddyK, Like everything about this project, it's uncharted territory. Dinafem claims 525g/sq meter indoors so trying to extrapolate what these 5 will produce is tricky until I see what the stretch is but I'd be thrilled with that result. They're going into a 5x5 with a 16 COB DIY fixture pulling 800w at the wall so who knows 😎
@Reaper, I think people are misled by the THC % .. the real power of this strain is the terpene profile. It's a very pleasant smoke for fun but if you have muscle spasms it's a blessing in a pipe.
@Grimbol, Thanks ... It's taking longer than I hoped to finish harvesting and trimming all five but I'm hoping to trim out the last plant today and update the journal.
Beautiful setup, great diary and details, loved the pictures!
You got my vote for diary of the month, and I can't wait to read your future diaries!
Keep it up!
T.
I'm so sorry for the lack of reply mate. This was not intentional but with grow diaries being new it has taken me a bit of time to give up to the site sguch I now have.
You did a great job with the diary I'm just sad I missed the flower show which will not happen again. Really nice end results and what looks like some tasty end product. Not a bad yield either 500g from the 5 plants which is over 3oz per plant and closer to 4oz/plant. Great work and a brilliantly written/documented diary, fine work with a nice outcome
Hey, Bos, we are in a race here LOL. My Pineapple Kush are at 24 days and going CRAZY!!- Running Hydro @ avg. 700 PPM and 6.0 . Meet ya at the end- MA. Rules!!
growdiaries.com/diaries/1002-pineapple-kush/week/4391
Thank you for documenting your grow on GD mate. You look to have had great germination results and so far for week 4 all plants look great. They will definitely appreciated the potting up this will give the roots room to put down a better structure to hold the buds that will be produced.
I will get watching with interest.
@DinafemSeeds, I would have loved to take clones and go into flower weeks ago but it simply wasn't possible. Learned a lot though and future grows should be much easier
@bosgrower, 9-10 weeks is a very long veg period mate and typically clones can be taken anywhere from week 4 onwards. I tend to take ours at week 6-7 just before I go into the flower phase
@DinafemSeeds, I'd really appreciate some input on the compact nature of these plants and whether that's their normal growth process or if I should adjust something in the environment. At this rate it looks like it may take 9 or 10 weeks in veg from seed to get enough vertical growth to be able to take some clones before flipping to flower. That seems like an unusually long veg period.
it's just a simple small pot experiment, but I'll probably see how far I can stretch the genetics, I've already done a mold test on one of my diaries with peyote cookies from barneys farm, fair to say it didn't yield to much but I'm not a yield type of guy I'm more of taste, cannabinoid profile. the main reason I asked this is because every new breeder I try out I always like to see how far I can push the plants in non ideal conditions, as it gives me more experience and if it goes well I normally stick with those breeders(and of course others) it's omly because I've had genetics from brands that when ive done this type of stress testing they've failed altogether and it let me show my followers on instagram what not to do when starting to grow cannabis as I get asked a lot if questions when really I'm a newbie myself also I've only been growing for 5 years come January lol :). but thank you very much for taking your time to comment its greatly appreciated and I hope you have a good rest of your wonderful day :)
@TheHonestGrower, The buds are quite dense and if you have PM or botrytis cinerea (bud rot) spores floating about and you let the humidity spike you'll have problems. I would suggest using copper soap in late veg / early pre-flower as a preventive and keep some 3% hydrogen peroxide handy to spray thoroughly at the first signs of problems.
This was my first grow, so the tent environment was pristine. I've grown BW again both indoors and out and if you expose it to high humidity you'll have issues. Defoliation and good air flow are important for this strain..
That said, it's a really nice medicinal strain for a number of ailments including muscle spasms.
Hope this helps.
What sort of experiment are you planning?
@Micha122, The lights are DIY using CREE 3590 COBs with 140mm passive pin heat sinks. The fixture has 16 COBs using 3 Meanwell drivers. Pulls 800w at the wall and gives me 850-900 µmols across the 5x5 canopy
Nice canopy and good and healthy looking buds. I am on my first grow as well. White widows. They looking very similar to your blue widows. Too bad prohibition is still in full effect on federal level. If not, then we can actually trade final products and see what the differences are. Anyway have fun growing. Will def follow this till the end.
Cheers...
BM
4tweentee....
Stop prohibition now. It does more harm then good...