My First Grow (White Widow)

 
Hello to whoever is out there!
I normally blog about my first growing experience at the cannabis.forum place or whatever but for some reason they have been down for the past 3 days because of phishing or something I dunno all I know is google won't let me click on it anymore.
SSOOOO.....I am getting antsy and sorta want to have a place to put some stuff so here I am.
Basically, I'm a new grower, my fully supportive hubby bought me some gear, so now I am off to the races. I got some white widow seeds from the CSB, all 10 are up and running however I do not yet know how many females I have (I went with reg. seeds). I planted them all at the very end of july.  I also have one miracle plant, a silver haze. It was born with only one cotyledon and stayed that way for a good 2 weeks before it finally sprouted a set of itty bitty leaves and started doin' its thang. 
I'm currently battling a bit of a magnesium issue, treating with an epsom salt foliar spray w/ wet betty twice a day for the past two days now.
I also topped these bastards about 3 days ago, so far so good. I'm sort of in awe that I am keeping a plant alive, you should see my house plants.......
Heres a few shots of my current setup:
 
 

 

 
Thanks for the comment! 
I'm in Canada so it will probably be less expensive for you but it cost me about 550.00. I got the tent, Cool tube w/ 1000 watt HPS & 1000 watt MH bulb, MH/HPS Dual Ballast, 6" Can Fan, and various little misc items for about 1600 all in. 
I also ordered the seeds, they were not bag seeds. I got them from CSB (Canadian Seed Bank). The Silver Haze I actually got from a friend, they grew 5 and only wanted to keep 4 and they didn't want to keep the runty looking one so I took it.
Otherwise, no, I don't know anybody else that is growing or have any places to go to get clones from. This friend I could take a clone from, but I think I'd rather take some clones of my own and then maybe do a second strain at the same time, I was thinking maybe banana kush. But one step at a time.  ^_^

 

 
Not too much to report, I watered them yesterday and increased the amount of magnesium. I am currently giving them the "heavy feeding" dose of Organic iguana Juice, the heavy dose of Wet Betty (yes I know its for foliar sprays) and I throw some calmag and epsom salt in there as well. So far so good, all but 3 of the plants have no purple in them at all anymore. The other 3 are just being stubborn. The topping looks like its working, I don't see any damage done. Maybe I'll do it again sometime...   
I've read that if you just see one little ball-thing to not panic yet because it could just be a nodule that the hair pops out of, but I found one on Lois and I really hope she's not a dude. I'd hate for this to turn into one big sausage party, I've put way too much expense and emotional energy for it to go down like that. For now I am ignoring it. 
I need to stop spending so much time starring at them, I have schoolwork. Patrick Higgens, you have schoolwork to do. 
 

 

 
OOooooo flattery homer will get you anywhere lol 
Actually this is my first time growing, I tried back when I was in my teens but it didn't live very long before the cat ate it.
I have grown mushrooms before though, thats a different sort of beast all together. Interesting though....
 
So I buckled down and did some maintenance today, topped up the water and took some clippings to try my first attempt at clones. I also topped them, again. So we'll see in a few days if that was a mistake or not....

I am also pretty happy about the runt, she is doing pretty well for being a genetic reject:

Not too much else to report really, just trying to keep my PH in range and workin' on school, 2 big tests this week, gotta stay sharp. 
I suspect my teacher is aware that I am stoned in class. I feel like a kid again
 

 

 
Okay,
So I am using a 5X5X7 foot tent (gorilla) and I have a 1000 watt MH bulb in a cool tube currently being vented with a 6" can fan. I also have a 1000 watt HPS bulb for when I switch to flowering. I also have a dual ballast to run these guys.  I have a fan mounted on the bottom-side for intake, and I have a large fan mounted on the top corner for air flow. 
I was using soil-less hydro in the beginning, it was a perlite/cococoir mix about 40/60. I decided to switch them to bubble buckets, which I sort of jimmy rigged myself using a tutorial I found online. It's basically a solid-black 5 gal bucket with a 10" net cup and a straight perlite medium. I have a hose rigged in there with a large airstone, I went with a recommended sized pump for 4 buckets, so 2 pumps for the 5 buckets so far.  I check the PH on them 2-3 times a day and then manipulate accordingly, and usually every 4-5 days I do a complete water change. 
I am using Iguana organic nutrients at full strength and also supplementing with epsom salts, calmag, and organic wet betty.
As far as the clones go, I was sorta just dicking around lol I just clipped stuff off and put them into my extra gro-cubes I had lying around. It will be interesting to see if anything takes, I am actually mimicking a tutorial I found elsewhere I thought looked hokey, so we shall see what happens.  I did label them though, using colors. I have them in my spare closet for now with a T5 setup (5 bulbs) and I put them there in the evening and during the day they stay with the big girls in the big tent. I am only on day 3 so far, I am going to wait a full week before I report anything on those little dickens. 
I grew them from seed, and it was during a bad heatwave, so I think they are behind, but its been just over 2 months so far since the seed popped. I am planning on giving them another few weeks and then making a call from there, its mostly dependant on how many clones I can get going before I flip them. I'd like to have this particular wave said and done by christmas, hopefully, we'll see.
And the 4/5 in there are definitely female, the one I am waiting on still, and thats the wimpy haze. 

 

 
Thank you
This is my first shot at hydro as well, I considered the idea of going with a bigger setup like a table, but I want to leave some of my options open for this next wave I might do half SOG and half bubble bucket. If I blow my entire wad on a big hydro setup and then I don't really like it long term, well then shit.  I figure with this bubble bucket thing, I can get a taste of it without spending too much. 
I'd like to stay as organic as I can, I got the organic nutes, the organic wet betty, organic calmag, organic nitrogen, I use RO water, I guess the only thing that really isn't organic is the epsom salts. I had a bit of a mag problem I was treating with that, but otherwise its not too bad. My aim is for a really clean smoke.....
I didn't mind at all, you helped me out after all  I'm an adult so I don't really get flustered by idiots posting things on message boards. The beauty of the internet is unlike life, you can very simply ignore the people that are trying to irritate you the most. 

 

 
I cleaned out the buckets, removed the last male from the room, and decided to do another week of full solution. I may be switching them to flower in a week or two, so if it looks like thats whats going to happen I'd like to have their last week of vegging done in just water. Out of all those clones I took before, only 3 of them produced roots. So I would say that tutorial was a fail, and I won't be trying that again. This time I took proper sized clippings, and I put some superthrive into the solution I soaked the cubes in. I am going to give them 24/7 for this week under the T5's exclusively until I see whats what.  I also labeled every single clone so I know who is who later on down the line. 

I ended up naming and strapping down the ladies, I was going to originally do a Scrog but I realized its going to be quite impossible to change the water in the buckets if they are all tangled up in a net. So I decided to go with LST and made these pegs on the side of the lid that I can tie to, it will make changing the water possible. 
 
I headed down to the store today and purchased a Can-Fan lite filter, I plan on setting it up tomorrow morning. The way I have my set up right now is not going to work, I have the cool tube sort of just free and open on one end, and then it connects to the canfan that is blowing out the tent. Works great for heating issues, however now the plants are getting stinky and it's no longer ideal. I have decided to try hooking the canfan up to the filter directly so its sucking the air from it, and then blowing it through the cooltube and out the tent. Hopefully there will be enough power to keep the temps in check......Only one way to find out!

 
 
 

 

 
So I set up the tent the way I want it, I'm so happy this tent opens up all the way around I can see that being VERY useful in the future. I took the fan down off the mounting at the top of the tent and attached it to my filter, then to my cooltube, and its been pumping out warm, odourless air for a few hours now and its awesome. No more smell!! And, my temps are good, so I am happy.
 
The ladies look like they have recovered from the strap-down torture session last night, so thats good. Maybe I can switch in a week? Only time shall tell
 
 
 
 

 

 
I have a minute here before I have to go back to studying, so I thought I'd do a quick update.
Plants are doing good, I am going to start putting them on 12/12 with the HPS bulb this weekend. I think they have gotten big enough.....

I was wondering why those fungus gnats were suddenly not around anymore and just assumed it was because of the sticky tape, it turns out I had a little help. Wee teeny tiny little help. Predatory Mites, I have no idea where or how they got there, but they are apparently thriving in the environment of my bubble bucket, and seem to be taking care of business. I was freaked out at first, but after careful observation they don't seem to be harming the plant at all in any way, or appear to be eating the roots. They look totally cool under the microscope, like some sort of weird blob creature. Outstanding!

On a side note, two people have already dropped out of my class, and 4 more are making the moves to. It's starting to get tough. Deep inside, I feel like that scene from Old School where Will Ferrel is screaming at everybody to not panic and keep their composure lol aahhhh   
 
 

 

 
Hi Homer 
The clones are doing pretty well, I was actually up until about 2 am this morning dealing with that scenario. There was 23 total and I ended up keeping 15 of them, I threw away 5, so 3 were a bust. Not too bad for my first "serious" attempt at clones, I would say. I also sort of made my own "Clone-dome" out of an extra few bubble buckets I had laying around and I hope to grow them for a month or two in there before I put them into their own individual homes. I segregated them in the clone dome so when the time comes and they need to be moved, they won't be all tangled up at the roots.
 
I've decided to switch the cycle for the big girls so I was busy cleaning out their buckets (while preserving those mites) and putting the new solution in. I'm unsure if they are going to like it, I'll have to give it a few days and see how they are looking, but I think it should be okay I spent like $120 on their concoction so you'd think it would be OKAY at the very least! The next grow I am definitely getting one of those PPM/PH pens I can see why people like using them. 
 
I asked the woman at the store where those mites could of come from, she said its really common this time of year for bugs of all kinds to start scurrying inside for the winter, they probably hitched a ride on my clothes at the park one day. So yeah, lucky me, I have bugs on me when I am unaware of it. That doesn't freak me out at all! 
 
Well I am very pleased you think my setup is good, I worked pretty hard on it! When I first decided I was going to start growing, I started trolling various cannabis websites for growing information, and tried to read as much as I could. I focused mostly on the basic process, how it gets from the seed to the final finished product, what each grow stage requires, what the readings on different nutrients mean, what the most common problems are, etc.  I joined a board (cannabis forum) and I had some really awesome mentors there, once I ordered the seeds I just started posting what I was doing and if something looked kinda suspect someone would pipe up and help me out. I went with soilless hydro because it seemed like a nice mix of the two worlds and I could get a feel of which way I want to sway later on.
 
At the grow store, they have their own set-up display with the way they would hook their tent up. It looked pretty good, but there was a lot of stuff in it, I just sorta took mental note in my mind of what looked important and then bought that stuff.  
Basically, the search button on the forums, google, and a few helpful souls is all one really needs to get things going
As far as the actual setup, I've been 100% solo that friggen tent took me nearly 2 hours to set up it was heavy as hell! It was worth it though, very nice buy it's a good solid tent. 
Infact, hubby has been mentioning he is going to be getting me a second one in the new year.... :wub:
I am going to post pictures later, after my final tinkering, I'm all baked and tired and I need a few more hours of sleep I feel like I'm rambling lol

 

 
Nah man your not rude, they are short for their age. I had a big problem in the beginning of their life cycle, when I hatched them it was the middle of summer and I had mad heating problems. They were consistently in 98 heat for nearly.....3 1/2 weeks? A few days I came home and they were at 102. I was teetering on just getting rid of them and starting over when the heat broke, but I figured I'd put so much mental energy into them at that point I might as well just let them continue on. Plus for the first month and a half of their lives I had them under some pretty weak light, because of the heating issue. A 500 watt CFL bulb just doesn't quite grow 'em like a 1000 watt MH would. 
Not gonna beat myself up too badly about it though, live and learn, next time I will time the light cycle so that they are off during the day during the summer. Newbie mistakes
I would like to say that I am improvising about 98% of this, my original plan was to do a stealth grow in my closet with maybe one or two plants. Very cheap, very easy. However my husband found out what I was planning and instead of freaking out like I assumed he would, he did the complete opposite thing and told me I'd have to grow bigger if I was going to grow.  So while I am trying my best to create a somewhat "medium" operation I really am totally new and just going by what I read and what I hear and what makes sense to me. I still look at them every day absolutely tickled because I managed to not only keep a plant alive, but make it bigger. 
But I have these clones now so second time around I will hopefully grow them bigger, and after christmas he said I could get some more seeds. So I have a few strains bookmarked that I look at every now and then to see if maybe one stands out, but I am hoping by that time I will be much more confident of a grower 
As far as a second tent goes, we will have to see what ends up happening. I would like to try and get another tent the same size as the one I have now, however space is an issue. I am thinking I might just get one of the smaller 3X7 ones and then just lay it down and do a long veg tent...That should theoretically work right?? Hmmm.