White Widow - Crop King Seeds, FemAuto - 400W MH & HPS - RDWC (Top-fed)

14 Dec 2018 - Day 35
#1 is doing well. I pruned a few of the fan leaves so all of the buds can bathe in rich, healthy, life-giving sunshine. Nearly one week into flower and she's shooting up like crazy. I am not sure how much stretch to expect with White Widow, but I expected it would be about 100%. I think it may be more than that. No worries. I can manage a 4' tall plant.

I was going to go SCROG but since #2 lagged behind so far, it never happened. I think it is too late even for a little light training. What do you guys think?
Check out the birth of a plump, chubby little bud...

#2 also got a light pruning. She may not be tall, but she has the same number of branches as #1 and she is much bushier. She has grown a bit in the last week or so too and there are now some nice, healthy looking roots (6-7) dangling in the bucket.

 

17 Dec 2018 - Day 38:

Both plants are doing well. #1 is 25" tall now and one week into the stretch. #2 is filling out and growing now but it is still not flowering.

I did some reading and learned that autos can benefit from the extra light and also do not need to be kept on a 12/12 schedule to flower. So, I decided to go to 18/6 for the remainder of the grow.

Something strange happened last night. I noticed that the pH had climbed from 5.4 to 6.3 in no time at all...maybe 5 hours. I have a tube in each bucket that I use to add divided doses of nutrients. It's kinda like a feeding tube. Anyway, when I add nutes, pH Down or cal-mag, I add 1/3 to the reservoir and 1/3 to each of the buckets through the feeding tube. That way, I don't need to wait an hour for the water to mix in the buckets and rez. Anyway, I injected 2ml of pH Down into each bucket and the rez. A total of 6ml. It brought the pH down to 5.5 right away. About 2 hours later, #1 had drooped like it was seriously over watered. I checked the airstone - still bubblin' away. I wasn't sure what I could do about it so I decided to wait until the lights came on again a few hours later to reassess. When I looked again, the leaves were perky, and standing up nice and healthy.

Can a sudden drop in pH cause that reaction? I mean the pH was dropped to the low end of the spectrum, but it is still a healthy pH number to be at for a while.

I use Advanced Nutrients Sensi-Grow and Sensi-Bloom. They both have 'Perfect pH Technology'. They control pH quite well, I am told, as long as you use them full strength. I am using about 1/3 of the nutrient dosage and my PPM is about 1100. It seems to be the perfect strength for my plants. If I go to 1200, the plant uses more water than nutes and the PPM goes up quite quickly. At 1100, the strength stays about the same no matter how much the girls are drinking. So, Perfect pH Technology doesn't work at anything except full strength. Good thing I didn't get rid of my pH pen and TDS pen as Advanced Nutrients suggested I could do. They are good nutes, don't get me wrong. I think they are doing a great job. I just don't trust their ability to control pH at the nute strength I am using.

I managed to collect 4 x 5 gallon jugs of rainwater/snow melt water over the last few days. All I did was place a 5 gallon bucket under a drain spout and then pour the rainwater into 5 gallon jugs. TDS was about 10-16. Easiest RO water I have ever gotten. I shall have to set up a 55 gal drum to store rainwater this summer.

 

18 Dec 2018 - Day 39:

Does anyone know how many weeks the stretch can go on for with white widow autoflowers?

I just realized that #1 is growing at 1 1/2" per day. At this rate, in ten days it will be 1' away from the light (when raised to the max). It has been stretching for 10 days already.

#2 is growing really fast now. It is trying to catch up but still no flowers. In the last 24 hours it has sprouted about a dozen growing tips and it now has a mess o' roots in the bucket.

I noticed the same droopy leaf problem last night. After about 16 straight hours under the HPS, the leaves at the top started to droop like they were overwatered.

I've noticed that the humidity in the room/tent has climbed from about 30%, to over 50% in the last week. They are drinking about 1 gallon of water per day now so the humidity rise is to be expected. I'll put a dehumidifier in the room and run it after lights out.

 

19 Dec 2018 - Day 40 - Part 1

Things are just chuggin' along. pH has stayed at about 5.6 for nearly 16 hours now. Hopefully it climbs to 6.4 very slowly so they can absorb the full spectrum of nutes. Nutes are at 1150 and stable no matter how much they drink. It seems 1150 is the sweet spot. No deficiencies to note, so far.

#1 is about 26.5 inches tall today.

#2 has surprised me though. In the last two days, she has gained a lot of bulk. She is also about 2" taller. For the first few weeks, she hardly grew an inch. It seems that once the roots hit the bucket, she started to thrive. Lots of growing tips and pre-flowers but no buds yet.

Is anyone reading any of this?

 

19 Dec 2018 - Day 40 - Part 2

So, about 7 hours ago, my plants looked awesome. I even said, in my last post, "no deficiencies to note". About 2 hours ago I noticed some spotting on some leaves.

I made a post in "Sick plants and problems".

This is a cut & paste of that post.
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This looks a lot like a calcium deficiency, I think. It is affecting 6 of the large fan leaves on only one plant. I have two white widow autos growing right now (day 40). I use rainwater/RO water with CM Plus added at 0.5 ml/L (half strength). I also use Regen-A-Root. For nutes, I use Sensi-Grow (A+B). pH is currently at 5.7. I adjust it to 5.4 and then let it rise to 6.4 before adjusting it down to 5.4 again.

pH is not an issue here. I am very careful to keep it in the range as it swings. It's never gone below 5.4 and never above 6.4.

Temps in the tent are 74F-78F lights on, and 66F lights off. Reservoir temp is 67F and the roots are nice and healthy. Humidity is between 40% and 50%.

Plant #1 is 11 days into flowering under a 400W HPS at 16/8 lights.

Plant #2 is not yet flowering.

Only plant #1 is affected by this problem. Logically, since calcium is a heavily used element during flowering, it seems that calcium is the most likely culprit.

I have already added another 12ml of CM Plus to the reservoir. I might do a water/nute change tomorrow.

What do you lot think? Should I burn my crop or will it make it?

 

20 Dec 2018 - Day 41:

Two big things today - Did a nute change and then realized that I had been reading my TDS meter incorrectly.

I did a complete water change using rainwater I collected last weekend. Added cal-mag, root conditioner, pH down to get it to 5.7 and then added Sensi-Bloom nutes at half strength. pH went to 5.6 and PPM was 988. I will watch the water consumption and measure the TDS fairly often in the next few days. I want to find the nute strength sweet spot. 7 weeks of flowering left to go. Lots of time to get it in the zone.

The leaves at the top of plant #1 started to point upwards within an hour of the nute change. It was like they were trying to reach for the HPS.

Today, I noticed a tiny little symbol on the TDS meter display. it was "x10". It indicates that when that symbol is displayed, the number in the display must be multiplied by 10. Of course, you guys already know this. I should have known too. Instead, I always thought that symbol indicated that I should add 1000 to the number in the display. Don't ask me why I thought that...I smoke pot...these things happen occasionally. Anyway, I was always aiming for a TDS of 1150. When I saw 150 in the display, I added 1000 and got 1150. Of course, the ACTUAL TDS was 1500 (150 x 10). I saw no evidence of nute burn and I am currently experiencing a calcium deficiency. I have to conclude that PPM of 1500 is not too strong.

It looks like the calcium deficiency is under control. I did a foliar feed of cal-mag at a strength of 0.5ml/L. It hasn't gotten worse. I'll watch closely over the next few days.

 

22 Dec 2018 - Day 43:

#1 is looking pretty good. She is 28" tall, at day 16 of flowering and the stretch seems to have stopped. Mind you, it could be because of the recent calcium deficiency.

I started reporting that my top leaves were wilting a few days before the calcium deficiency became apparent. I'll remember that for next time. I did mention it here but nobody replied. I am more or less just keeping this log for myself. If I have a question, nobody answers.

#2 has grown a full six inches in the last week. She is now about 18-19" tall. She is still not flowering despite having plenty of growing tips. So these are autoflower plants. When #1 went into flower, I switched the nutes to the 'bloom' variety. I wonder if it is inhibiting the plant from switching to flower.

Lights are on 16/8 - going back to 18/6 tonight.

Nute strength is 1280 and the pH is swinging from 5.4 - 6.4.

We are in the middle of a huge rainstorm and temps of 12 degrees Celcius here in Nova Scotia. All the snow has melted away. I took the opportunity to harvest some nice fresh rainwater. I got 4 x 5gal water jugs full.

 

25 Dec 2018 - Day 46

#2 has grown like a 'weed'. She has nearly caught up to #1.

This was #2 just 6 days before (19 Dec).

Still no flowers though. Just growing tips and pre-flowers.

#1 has lots of flowers...she's looking very yummy already. 5 weeks to go.

I am switching to 12/12 lighting to see if I can trigger flowering in #2. I know, autoflowers don't work that way...I know. I am desperate though. I switched to bloom nutes 3 weeks ago. With #2 still in veg mode, I am concerned about a nitrogen deficiency. I have added some veg nutes to #2 bucket and I have changed the top-feed schedule to 2 mins on - 45 mins off. That will slow the mixing of the veg nutes and bloom nutes. I have also started to foliar feed with veg nutes at 1/4 strength. #2 is looking very healthy now. I just want to keep her that way. When she does start to flower...holy crap! She is now the same height as #1 and I have counted about 50 growing tips. I can only hope that this sudden burst of growth is the stretch. If not, and the stretch is yet to come, it will become a massive plant for such a small grow tent.

 

26 Dec 2018 - Day 47:

Still no flowers on #2.

Switched to 12/12 yesterday and put a heater in the room to keep it warm when the lights are out for so long. Humidity has dropped to about 30% due to the cold weather (23F, -5C). As long as I can keep the temps above 74F or 23C, mold shouldn't be an issue. The humidity in the tent is about 42%. I'm pretty happy with that.

I can't wait to see what happens with #2 when she starts to flower.

I am questioning my choice of tent. The tent I have now would be fine for vegging. At 20" x 36", It would have plenty of room. For flowering, I am not so sure. My plants are a bit crowded with only 20" x 18" each. It would be far better to have a 2' x 2' space for each plant. The plants and netpots could be moved very easily from a vegging tent to a bloom tent. I think a 2' x 4' tent would be big enough. The cost to build/buy a bloom tent would be about $600, but I could increase production by about 50%. Worth it!

 

I wondered if 20" x 36" would be good for a single plant scrog. If it was topped as soon as possible and trained well, I could see it filling a 20" x 36" space very nicely. That might be the way to grow my Super Silver Haze.

 

27 Dec 2018 - Day 48:

I am blown away by the growth on #2. She is now taller than #1 by about 1 inch. She has shown increased activity at the pre-flower sites. It might be into full on flowering in a day or two. Fingers crossed. I am switching to bloom nutes (plus a little extra cal-mag) as soon as #2 flowers.

Check out the size of this cola. It has only been 21 days since she started flowering. I'm pretty impressed with her growth.

PPM - 1340
pH - swinging from 5.4 to 6.4
Root temp - 66F - 68F
Tent temp - 72F - 74F

I removed about 20 large fan leaves from #2 today. I want to open it up a bit more so the light can penetrate the canopy better. Also, I want to concentrate the plant's energy on buds, not leaves.

By the way, I threw the fan leaves into my woodstove to get rid of them. I immediately went outside to get some more wood and the air outside smelled awesome. It smelled like a concert or the inside of an Amsterdam coffee shop.

 

30 Dec 2018 - Day 51:

#2 has started flowering finally. She vegetated for so long, she got huge. I had to tie her back because she was throwing a shadow over #1. I had to move the light too. She is 33" tall and #1 has stopped growing at 29".

 

1 Jan 2019 - Day 53:

#2 is stretching. She's 37" today. It looked like a bit of a cal-mag deficiency was starting two days ago when the leaves started to droop (Just like #1 did). I added an extra 10ml of cal-mag to #2's bucket and switched the irrigation pump to 30 secs on - 60 mins off. At that rate it takes about 48 hours to completely mix and dilute the extra cal-mag with the common reservoir. I also foliar-fed some cal-mag. Today she looks a bit more perky. There is still some chlorosis on the upper leaves. I'll keep a close watch over the next few days and again in about two weeks when the calcium needs go up.

Look at those tasty buds! She is sticky with resin now. She is starting to look like she has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Yee haw! I'm just a few weeks from harvesting #1. Tomorrow will be four weeks of flowering for #1. 3-4 more to go. So, I'll go back to 18/6 lighting today. I want to get every bit of bud development I can.

 

2 Jan 2019 - Day 54:

Yesterday #2 was 37" tall. Take a look at the mark on the bar in picture #1. It shows the plant at 42" and I am looking down at the top of the plant. She grew 5" in one day. I know it is stretching, but 5" in one day? Lots of flower sites on #2 now.

#1 is just getting fatter and bigger by the day.

What kind of yield does that look like to you guys?

 

9 Jan 2019 - Day 61:

#1 is coming along nicely. She is 29" tall and full of dense, juicy nugs. Some of the pistils are starting to turn brown. Trichomes are still clear. She is on day 34 of flowering. I won't be flushing at the end. First of all, I don't believe in flushing. Secondly, I can't really separate the two plants with my current hydro setup. Feeding two 'diets' would be impossible.

So, for those of you that have been following this journal, you will remember that #2 always lagged #1 in everything - size, vigor, flowering - everything. Well, now she is 46" tall. She has grown up into the light. I have tied her back so that she doesn't crowd #1 out of the light. When I harvest #1 in 2-3 weeks, #2 will flourish.

 

9 Jan 2019 - Day 61:

My tent is definitely too small. I will get a 2' x 4' tent for my next grow. I'll keep this setup (after making a few improvements) to be used for vegging. That way I can get a new harvest every 8-12 weeks, depending upon strain.

I think my next grow will be 2 more white widows, but this time they are not going to be autoflowers. I want to veg them for 5-6 weeks and crop them once to ensure a good sized yield. I want lots of bud to keep me tuned-up during my third grow - a single Super Silver Haze in a 2' x 4' scrog. I want to see if I can get one pound from one 400W MH and HPS light. If I could do that, I wouldn't need to grow for another two years. I would, of course...I just wouldn't need to.

Do any of you guys know of a 5 gallon bucket made of stainless steel? I am hoping that a stainless bucket exists with the same top dimensions so a netpot lid will fit it. If you know of such a thing, let me know, please.

 

13 Jan 2019 - Day 65

#1 - Flowering Day 38

I noticed that a lot of the pistils on #1 are turning brown and 'dry'. Many are still white and 'wet'. Some of the trichomes are brown/amber and some are milky. Most are clear. What is she trying to tell me?

It is on day 38 of flowering - at least 16 more to go and considering their slow start, I would be perfectly fine with it going another 30 days. If I get more, better pot, the wait is worth it.

#2 - Flowering Day 14
She is huge. She has stopped stretching and stands at 48". I wonder if it is even a White Widow plant. It looks so much different to the other plant. Taller, lighter green and less dense foliage. At least she has stopped growing. I am out of room with my light.

I have #2 tied up and pulled back to prevent it from shadowing #1. When I harvest #1, #2 will have a chance to spread out and get way more light.