RQS Royal Dwarf and White Widow Auto

In my first few grows, I was hitting around 30 grams of dry weight, my buds weren't "fattening up", and I was underwhelmed by my results. So, I started again, and I've completely rebuilt my grow area. Lessons learnt: 1. Light REALLY REALLY REALLY matters! I started out by using a 35w led panel. I then "upgraded" to a cheap 100w grow light. I thought these would be good enough, and to some extent they were. However, since the rebuild, I invested in a Mars Hydro TS1000, which was significantly more expensive than the other two. I'm absolutely astounded by the results. If you're starting your grow journey, buy the best you can afford. The light is the most important part of the build, and if you get that right, the rest is a doddle. 2. Tents are worth the money. I originally had my stealth grow up in the loft, but have instead bought a small budbox tent, and that, combined with the light, has made a huge difference to the maintenance of a stable growing environment. For the first time, I am seeing fat buds, and it's a thrill. I at last know what people mean now when they say their buds are fattening up, because mine are visibly 2 or 3 times bulkier than those of my first 4 or 5 grows. And there's a lot of them. Previously I'd get the main bud on the main stem, and some smaller buds around that. My smaller buds are now almost equal in size to my main before, and my main makes me drool. I cannot wait to harvest. 3. Control pH. Stay on top of this, and keep it in the optimal range to the best of your ability. Buy a chap pH meter, and do your measures regularly. Make adjustments to the best of your ability. This means doing maths, and I've yet to get a formula that works well enough to be precise in terms of weights and measures of up/down agents, but small changes rather than wild swings are the way forward. 4. Try not to stress your girls out. I've had two grows go hermie on me. Too much LST, too much chopping and too much variation in conditions - water, nutrients and environment. 5. Don't give up. I'm not much of a smoker, but I so very much enjoy being a gardener. There's something deeply satisfying in knowing that you are getting it right. Sort of plays to my competitive nature. I'll take some pictures later, and show you what I mean.

Blown away with the success of this grow, and attributing it all to light. Not quite harvestable yet, but getting pretty close. For scale, that's a 1 litre bottle of nutrients taken a couple of days ago. The buds were fat then, but they're even better now. This is going to be a personal best.

I have decided to crop a few Dwarf buds and free up some canopy space for the others. They're fat and sticky. At last. Grow 5 and things are starting to come together, No matter how much I'd like to, there's just not enough space for 2 girls at a time in the tent. It's too small and there just isn't enough headroom. They get too tall and have to be trained horizontally and thus take up more lateral room, which doesn't leave enough space for the growing partner. i'v hit my limit for space though, so this is as good as it's going to get. That, or I've got to figure out how to keep the plants tight and compact some oter way.

Way better than all previous grows with a total wet weight of almost all previous grows combined, so very happy with my setup. REally very happy with my home-made drying "cabinet" or two cardboard boxes stacked on top of one anoter and gaffer taped together with an old lava lamp for a heat source. Update on the drying process - worked ok, but need to dial it back a bit, some of the lower hanging buds were too dry. Mostly happy, and had a quick test - best buds I've grown so far, so very happy with results.

She's there or thereabouts nearly ready for harvest. I think this may be the best I can do with the environment I have, and am pretty pleased with the outcomes of this grow. I may give her a week or two more, as I suspect there's still some potential in fattening her up - still seeing fresh filaments so guessing that's a good thing, and no rush. Green Gelato is next - I think I'm ready. Also, coming to the end of nutrients supply, so might experiment with other formulations. On the other hand, why mess with it if it's working?

I can't tell if she is ready or not for harvest. It looks lie more filaments are still being produced, but I just can't be sure. Any ideas?

I enjoyed this grow. My abilities have improved, I've got a setup that works for me, and I'm starting to get a bit better at the whole process. I'll update again once there is a dry weight, but going to guess at around a fifth to a quarter more than her growing buddy simply because I had to build another drying box to fit it all in. Probably around the 200g dry weight mark. Will update photos also once I the dry is complete. Update - 178g. Dry boxes worked pretty well, but not sure they quite dry enough though, so this might be reading a little high. Have jarred it all up and am letting the sun do it's job.