1st Hydro - LED Grow With Crop King White Widow From Seed

[Bamalabrat]

Update time.
The ladies are looking nice. There are now 4 that have tops above the screen. I push them down and out but in a couple of hours they are always pointed back up. It is having an effect though. They are staying a bit more spread out. This is hopefully helping the lower leaves get light. I think it is as the lower growth on all of the plants are getting bigger leaves and longer stems.
I have to point out something here. A while back I did a defol. I took pretty much all of the large fan leaves as these all had some brown spots on them. I believe those spots were fungus/calmag deficiencies. I should not have done that. The plants really slowed down on their growth. If I had just added some cal/mag to the res, the plants would have corrected and gone on to grow. I also should not have taken the fan leaves until the new leaves had matured. Live and learn.
Now I have watched in the last 48 hours the plants have kicked it into overdrive. They are putting on the size and leaves are sprouting and spreading like crazy. Every plant but the Tut2 has 3 or more inches for the clones. Tut2 has 1 inch clone sites. So it needs about 7 or so days left. It is looking good for my 10 Oct date to flip. It basically is up to Tut2 now. I will flip on the 10th and just take clones from Tut2 afterwards if necessary. These plants, for having been in veg for so long, are still fairly small. That is my fault. There were so many things that I had to learn and did not really understand, it had a bad effect on the growth of the plants. That being said, I feel more confident in my set up than I have before. Experience matters!
Thanks to everyone who has been following and mentoring me. I would not be here if it were not for all of the great people and talented growers on this site.

 

[Bamalabrat]

And now for some pics. I took these this morning when I went to check them. Group shots and then individual. The individual to look at is the Tut2. I will do a comparison from yesterday to today. You can see just how much the tops have grown. There are also three tops! That is awesome. PPP3 has 4 tops but it is hard to get a good pic of it. Maybe in a couple of days it will be easier to get a shot of that. I do not think I could do that again at will. But I will take accidental good fortune any day!

and now the side by side of Tut2 starting from 3 days ago to today.

 

[Spitz]

They look like they are about to explode! Awesome job!!

 

[VladimirPutin]

This grow has potential. Preserve this balance.

Vlad

 

[Far East Buds]

This grow has potential. Preserve this balance.

Vlad

That's sorta exactly what I was thinking Bama. Vlad nailed it. Things have calmed down a lot. Keep up what ever it is you are doing and stay diligent. This is gonna be good great work.



FE

 

[Bamalabrat]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate you guys coming by and checking it out. I was happy with the girls but now am noticing that the leaves are starting to taco. I just gave them another shot of cal/mag this morning. So hopefully tomorrow the leaves will go back to looking normal. There is a dark green to every plant and to the leaves. The smell is pretty strong if you stick your head in the tent. I know that filter is working because there is no smell getting out of the tent. I am thinking of adding co2 to the tent this weekend. I have a gallon jug and am thinking that now might be a great time to add some co2. Really not sure what to expect. The girls are growing like crazy at the moment. I have one that is 8"tall and 10" wide (PPP1). Tut2 is taller than Tut1 by almost an 1.5". But Tut1 is very bushy. The tops on all the plants grew a decent amount. Tut2 is playing catch up very nicely with the rest of the plants.
I have not added any fresh nutes this week. Only added some Calmag on Tuesday and today. I have 1100 PPM at the moment. I also added a gallon of water. I will probably need to add another gallon tomorrow. Here is what I am thinking. I can do a res dump on Sunday. That will be my last res fill for veg. Let the girls play in that until next Sunday and do the flip with a change to the flower nutes and supplements. I will get the clones started probably next Saturday. That seems like a good idea to me.
I am really hoping that all the girls are about 12" tall with about the same in width. Taller is fine. I have lots of vertical space and lots of string to tie them down if they go ape shit. I am also thinking that I should raise the net about 6 or so inches. I was in there with a tape measure today and I should have made it taller. I will probably look at raising it and then maybe having a second trellis at about 3' higher than the bucket. It will depend on what they do during stretch. Just trying to think ahead.
And now for something completely off topic. Nobody knows of my grow except my missus. My parents are kinda yuppie/hippies. They love smoking MMJ and do it everyday for...well ever. lol Now I only bring them up because today they got some "new" meds from a friend of theirs. NL and some Blue Dream. I have never had Blue Dream but I very fondly remember NL. The only thing they were complaining about is that it was not couch locking. LOL I wanted to tell them about my grow. I really wanted to brag on my girls. But I did not. Dad asked if I wanted to partake but I declined as I had to drive back home. lol. Well tomorrow is a big day for my football team and we are having a football party so I will get to partake tomorrow. This was all so funny to me, and I felt like sharing. I am going to go for the Blue to see if it is something that I may want to grow. Their NL is going to have to be very good. In my memories, NL was the greatest MMJ I ever had while I was in college. And yes, I went to college in the South East so we did not have all those great smokes from Cali.

 

[Bamalabrat]

Well I am doing a quick update this morning before I get busy. I went into the tent this morning and saw nothing but goodness. The girls must be liking things pretty well, because they are getting tall and the leaves are really getting big. The tops are growing really well now. PPP3 and Tut2 were def FIM'ed. They both have four tops however they are growing differently on each plant. PPP3 has 2 long tops and 2 short tops coming out of that same spot from the cutting. Tut2 has four tops coming out of the same spot that are pretty much the same size. The inside leaves are smaller than the outside leaves. I will take pics tonight or tomorrow morning to show. Tut2 tops have also been growing tall.
Cloning sites are looking awesome. Even Tut2 has a two inch clone site now. So in another week that should be able to take those for clones. I am going to try to get a couple of odds and ends that I want for installing CO2 this week. I have read that co2 is very nice to have in flower, especially early mid flower but then it is not needed in late flower. I have also read that some people only use it for veg. I am interested in anyone's opinion on the matter.

 

[Spitz]

My entire hydro career is riding on your success! Great job and good luck!

 

[Spitz]

CO2 + H2O + Light = C6H12O6 + O2

Thats all we're really doing here. The NPK + micros, bacteria, etc... all feeds photosynthesis. Enhanced CO2 will only help. Honestly, I'll never bother with it. Haven't you heard, the earth is busting with CO2, the ice caps are melting, and we're all going to burn up! Surely there is enough left over to grow a plant.

All indications are that you are treating this as a hobby with a great reward at harvest time. I think you should try it. I also think you should try it later down the road. How will you know if it's helping if you don't have any quantitative or qualitative experience to compare to.

Either way, have fun with it! Enjoy!!

Edit.. Wow.. It's been 30 years since biology class. I sure hope I got that equation right or I'm going to get blasted. Lol

 

[glimmergrass]

Update time.
The ladies are looking nice. There are now 4 that have tops above the screen. I push them down and out but in a couple of hours they are always pointed back up. It is having an effect though. They are staying a bit more spread out. This is hopefully helping the lower leaves get light. I think it is as the lower growth on all of the plants are getting bigger leaves and longer stems.
I have to point out something here. A while back I did a defol. I took pretty much all of the large fan leaves as these all had some brown spots on them. I believe those spots were fungus/calmag deficiencies. I should not have done that. The plants really slowed down on their growth. If I had just added some cal/mag to the res, the plants would have corrected and gone on to grow. I also should not have taken the fan leaves until the new leaves had matured. Live and learn.

This is such great information -- thank you for sharing your triumphs and your lessons. It's what makes this place so powerful.

They are beautiful plants and well set up now to do their thing Congratulations!

 

[Bamalabrat]

LOL I have no idea if the equation is correct or not. Lets assume so. This is a hobby. I like gardening and thought this could be a lot of fun. I am very interested in Aquaponics as well. Maybe if I know I do not have to move overseas again I will start an aquaponics setup. Yeah there is plenty of CO2 in the atmosphere, but some people and there is research to suggest that these opinions are valid, that increasing the CO2 to about 1100 PPM's or so really drives photosynthesis. Those carbon molecules go into just about everything, so the more the plant "breathes" the faster and harder it can grow. Seems legit to me. I can say that I knew from researching that I would experience a Calmag def because LED's seem to have that more. What I did not know was just how bad that would get. Now with adding a splash of calmag every few days, the plants have responded very well. I am really starting to understand just how important supplements are.

I really want to see if driving them with extra CO2 will produce faster growth. It would be hard for me to over saturate the plants so I think there is really little to no risk. Also the cost is less than 10 dollars so the cost is almost nothing.

I really would be happy with a bountiful harvest, but really it is about quality for me at this point. I would love to make the strongest meds available in my area. Just a warm and fuzzy feeling for me, and also bragging rights to my friends. The next time we start talking about sticky buds, I want to win that lol. I would also like to have the smoothest smoke. That is why I will be flushing and doing a bud wash. I want to know how big a difference that makes. Almost all available meds around here are outdoor grows, so it will be interesting to see if my hydro attempt beats it. Hope so, but time will tell.

 

[OldMedUser]

Looking good now Bama!

Unless you are going full hog with a proper CO₂ setup it will be a waste of time putting a gallon jug in there. It will just get blown out your exhaust before the plants can even taste it. As long as you have lots of fresh air going through they will get all the CO₂ they need. CO₂ helps best with sealed or semi-sealed systems where proper monitoring injects it when the exhaust fan is off and the fan only comes back on when the CO₂ levels drop to a set point and the temp or RH have gone up enough that the exhaust needs to come on. Takes a couple thousand dollars worth of gear to do it right. Or start brewing beer and/or wine and feed all the CO₂ output into the grow tent. I have used a 6USG glass carboy to do a straight sugar/water/distiller yeast brew in my grow room and didn't notice any real difference in growth rates. Made over a gallon of EverClear with the finished product tho after running it through the still 3 times.

Your plants are just starting to hit their stride and to flip them by the 10th is way too soon in my opinion. Double your yield if you give them until the end of the month at least. I assume you are only using the screen for future cola support and not planning to tie the grow tips down as they grow as you would to do for a full-fledged ScroG? I would be tying down tips until the middle of November myself but I know you're probably eager to get a crop in the jars by Xmas so your 2nd run could go for a longer veg and larger yield. I should have done my cloning by the middle of Sept to get my DWC SoG done by Xmas but I've got lots of smoke at hand and more to be cropped soon so no pressure.

I got almost 2oz of bud and 18g of sugar/popcorn off that crappy plant. All sitting in a big tobacco can curing now. Odd tasting but a nice buzz from the little bud I just blasted in my pipe. Should taste better after a month more curing.

L8r

 

[VladimirPutin]

Uh oh, more veg time being suggested to you Bama! Well if you're not in a hurry, and you want your 5 star grow to live up to the elite expectations that come with that title, it's not a bad idea...

With CO2, you need an air tight grow cabinet. You will need air conditioning unit to cool the recirculated air.

Man if you do all of this, I would be thrilled to see the bud bonanza that this would yield.

Vlad

 

[Bamalabrat]

Well thank you guys for chiming in. I really wanted some input and I got it. So no co2. Won't bother with it.

As for going until the end of Oct. I am not going to do that. The girls are growing well. They are getting big and bushy. So I will be flipping them next Sunday. I have big expectations for them, but will just be happy to actually be able to harvest something really special. I really have no idea what to expect in flower as far as growth and what not. I will be using the screen to spread the tops a little and then I am ready to put a second screen up later to support the buds.

For the next grow, I am taking clones of this grow on next Saturday. I will veg them in tubs in a separate tent. My T5 just arrived today. Also most of my nutes for flower. Just waiting on a couple of other odds and ends to build the cloner. I will set up the veg tent on Monday or Tuesday. Of course I will take pics. The tent is pretty small. I may have to get a little bigger tent. It was originally just going to be the bud drying/curing tent. So it will probably not stay the veg tent for long.

If I veg the clones for 2 months while flowering this grow, and assuming I do not have all of the same issues, they should be bigger than the plants in this grow. I also plan on training them more intensively than this grow. I would like to try LA's flux training. I believe it is the same as mainling or very similar. If I average 2 Oz per plant on this grow, that is still a pound of smoke. I promise that is way more than I need. Of course I will want to exceed whatever results I get on this grow with the second. These are just my thoughts. Every 2 months getting a pound or more of smoke will make me very happy and very popular with my buddies. Might even be able to get them to chip in for some new grow toys.

 

[Far East Buds]

Well thank you guys for chiming in. I really wanted some input and I got it. So no co2. Won't bother with it.

As for going until the end of Oct. I am not going to do that. The girls are growing well. They are getting big and bushy. So I will be flipping them next Sunday. I have big expectations for them, but will just be happy to actually be able to harvest something really special. I really have no idea what to expect in flower as far as growth and what not. I will be using the screen to spread the tops a little and then I am ready to put a second screen up later to support the buds.

For the next grow, I am taking clones of this grow on next Saturday. I will veg them in tubs in a separate tent. My T5 just arrived today. Also most of my nutes for flower. Just waiting on a couple of other odds and ends to build the cloner. I will set up the veg tent on Monday or Tuesday. Of course I will take pics. The tent is pretty small. I may have to get a little bigger tent. It was originally just going to be the bud drying/curing tent. So it will probably not stay the veg tent for long.

If I veg the clones for 2 months while flowering this grow, and assuming I do not have all of the same issues, they should be bigger than the plants in this grow. I also plan on training them more intensively than this grow. I would like to try LA's flux training. I believe it is the same as mainling or very similar. If I average 2 Oz per plant on this grow, that is still a pound of smoke. I promise that is way more than I need. Of course I will want to exceed whatever results I get on this grow with the second. These are just my thoughts. Every 2 months getting a pound or more of smoke will make me very happy and very popular with my buddies. Might even be able to get them to chip in for some new grow toys.

Yah I would have to agree after reading OMU about CO2, No way .. But I know everyone says to wait in veg.. it is really true you can see when you flip what you will get ahead of time. Waiting til mid Nov this would be epic. But I know you do have a deadline. And I agree quality is key number one. Yield second. I as well wanted that first grow done and succeeded. barely .. poor girl.But I know this next one .. better,,... one after that of course better. And I as well do not need 5 and a half OZ harvests as my last one(one plant). But If i do it right that should happen every time

Almost hijacked....

Things look good. Make sure to pop the clones and then give it a few days in veg to recover before the flip.

Take a look at my pc on my thread and compare it's size at start of flip to now (2 weeks 5 days?) It has already doubled in size. it will still keep popping like that til probably week 5 flower or so. If things are dialed in you will see the same 2-3 times the size in flower as veg. That means a big harvest coming for you soon. Even if you flowered today. just keep things going right and clone em before flower or even within a week of flower. But I do think veg is better as stunting in flower is silly. It's timed. Veg can be as long as you need.


Anyway as I said keep it up things are really hitting the good time. A lot of fun cause now you see daily growth and stuff and it's fulfilling
now.

Very happy for you bro



FE

 

[VladimirPutin]

Great decision Bam! 12/12 a´hoy!

Of course growing a hulking mass of a cannabis tree is always a fun endeavor but, if it's the medicine you want fast, no time to dilly dally with veg!

Didn't mean to scare you about CO2,
A friend is running a freaky 2000 ppm DWC with the addition of CO2 and his journal is live right now. Look up SCIGUY
So yea, I would love to do CO2 but it's something that should be planned from the start of the grow, not haphazardly slapped on. It's expensive and annoying to refill the canisters, that is just one of the beneficial reasons to build an air tight grow closet.
The closet would be allow to breath outside air during the night cycle, for example, but during the day while CO2 and lights are running it would be best to have a closed loop so those plants suck up the precious gas.
Waiting for your update pics!
Vlad

 

[Bamalabrat]

Almost hijacked....
Take a look at my pc on my thread and compare it's size at start of flip to now (2 weeks 5 days?) It has already doubled in size. it will still keep popping like that til probably week 5 flower or so. If things are dialed in you will see the same 2-3 times the size in flower as veg. That means a big harvest coming for you soon. Even if you flowered today.
Anyway as I said keep it up things are really hitting the good time. A lot of fun cause now you see daily growth and stuff and it's fulfilling
now.
FE

LOL it is all good. You know I love your journal and follow very closely.
I agree. I think it is not unreasonable to expect a couple of oz per plant at this point. Mostly I want to get the experience and learn what these strains are going to do and stuff like that. It will make it easier plan the next grow.
It is more fun now. Not dialed in enough for cruise control but at least out of "OMFG they're all gonna die!" mode.

 

[Bamalabrat]

Didn't mean to scare you about CO2,
A friend is running a freaky 2000 ppm DWC with the addition of CO2 and his journal is live right now. Look up SCIGUY
So yea, I would love to do CO2 but it's something that should be planned from the start of the grow, not haphazardly slapped on. It's expensive and annoying to refill the canisters, that is just one of the beneficial reasons to build an air tight grow closet.
The closet would be allow to breath outside air during the night cycle, for example, but during the day while CO2 and lights are running it would be best to have a closed loop so those plants suck up the precious gas.
Waiting for your update pics!
Vlad

LOL. Not scared just did not know if what I was planning on doing would make a difference at all. Was glad that you and OMU piped up and set me straight.
I am following Sciguy's journal like a hawk. LOL
The new pics are following in the next post! Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Bamalabrat]

Update (with pics) time.
Yesterday was a very good day for football! And with all of the positive energy rolling off of me the girls did a bunch of growing. Tops are doing a very very good job of growing. Tut2 has 4 acceptable clone sites now. Just need a couple of more days for the leaves to fully develop. But seriously she grew those side branches 4 inches in 72 hours. The other plants are just fat and happy. I did see the beginning of nute burn in the WW's. This was very interesting as they are the oldest plants in the tent. Would have thought they would be the last to show burn.
I was able to get a pic of roots on the PPP2. I checked the other plants roots but it was a pain trying to get enough lift of the lid and enough light to take a pic. So I am afraid this is probably the last time I take root porn until chop time. It is important to note that PPP2 had the worst looking roots for quite some time now. They were always the brownest. They are now very white and starting to really bulk up. In the future it will probably become an issue with the roots blocking the return water line. I will be keeping an eye on that.
The PPM and the pH was 1100 and about ~5.5 before the res change. I have yet to take a reading because I am letting it run for another hour before I take the reading. It generally takes about 2 hours for everything to even out after a res change.
I took a couple of pics yesterday as well as today after the res change. I tried to get a good pic of Tut2's four tops but I suck at pics. Take my word there are 4 tops and 1" long at that. They are on the second set of leaves on those tops.

 

[VladimirPutin]

Great color and turgidity!
Go hydro! Go Bama

V