Canobud's First Grow - The Widow

[Canobud]

Hello all,

Welcome to my first-ever attempt to grow marijuana. I chose the widow (fem) from Gorilla Seed Bank for this special occasion. My seeds arrived Monday 3/14/16 and two of them quickly went into a glass of spring water. This morning 3/16/16 I noticed both seed shells cracked open and the root was just starting to become visible. I gently placed both tip-down in Fox Farms Ocean Forest with additional Perlite mixed in. (After reading several cautionary posts about the fragility of the root during germination I decided to plant them just before I could injure them.) I also added a tiny pinch of Mykos in the seed hole. Each is in a 4" jiffy pot covered with plastic wrap with a book sitting on top for darkness.

Hopefully some luck will shine down on me and I'll be able to move them to my spiffy new tent setup by this weekend. I have little space to work with, so I chose a Gorilla 2x2.5 with a 300W LED and all the trimmings. I've been reading voraciously here for weeks trying to map out what I intend to do and take bits of knowledge here and there. I hope to provide a sound write-up of my experience and will gladly accept critiques and advice. Very excited!

-Canobud

 

[Canobud]

An early question for the veterans with LED experience...I have an unused clamp-style work light housing in my garage; is there any supplemental light I should consider adding to my 300W LED that has a standard A19 bulb base? I haven't really given much thought to possibly using a CFL bulb but thought I'd ask the pros.

 

[Canobud]

Day 3

I had a third seed in water as backup in case one of the first two didn't germinate, but all three broke their seed casings so I went ahead and planted the third one as insurance. Not sure if I'll have room to keep all three going in such a small space.

 

[TanR]

Hi Canobud! Just catching up to your journal. Thanks for the link in your introduction.

Sorry I can't offer LED grower specific recommendation on the addtional lighting, but I will say that I do sometimes add a 300 watt equivalent CFL (85 watt draw) bulb in a clamp on work like fixture (painted flat white inside) to my grow area. I use a 600 watt HID light but have been guilty of letting the plants get bigger than my light can penatrate and use the CFL as supplemental light to lower bud sites. I think most of us are not in danger of having too much light, so I can't imagine it doing anything but help once yours get up and going.

Great looking setup and excited that your 3 seeds are on underway. Let the excitement begin!

Be well and happy growing.

 

[Canobud]

Thank you TanR. Unfortunately I lost one seedling, still trying to understand what went wrong. Not sure yet about the other two. One is still peeking out of the soil and the third hasn't broken the surface just yet.

I came home from work yesterday to humidity below 30% and the soil was very dry. One was wilted over. I think my extraction fan is literally sucking every bit of moisture from the tent and they may have paid the price. Jiffy pots may have not been the best choice here either since the fan can just suck moisture straight out from the sides of the pots. The fan is rated 165 CFM and the tent is only 35 CF. I ordered a rheostat to try and slow it down some. I've also turned the fan off for now to try and salvage the other two seeds. Perhaps no extraction fan until they're less fragile?

Never thought I'd have problems growing a weed.

 

[Stinky Snid]

An early question for the veterans with LED experience...I have an unused clamp-style work light housing in my garage; is there any supplemental light I should consider adding to my 300W LED that has a standard A19 bulb base? I haven't really given much thought to possibly using a CFL bulb but thought I'd ask the pros.

Cfl supplementation is never a bad idea. It needs to be targeted to shine on specific slow and low growth. It's best for side lights to help with getting full penetration the canopy. Or if your lights footprint is smaller than the tent then you can use cfls to get full coverage. Using simple movable sockets is a great way to be able to adjust your cfls daily in order to keep them within a few inches of target growth sites. Hope that helps a little...

KiG cheers

 

[Canobud]

As mentioned in a separate thread I lost (at least) one seed, possibly the other two as well. I'm soaking two more seeds and will be putting them in Solo cups this time with a few small holes in them for drainage. I think the fan sucked all the moisture out of the tent, so it's off at least until I get some seedlings to take off and my rheostat arrives to reduce fan speed.

I've seen contradicting suggestions here about using/not using plastic wrap or inverted clear cups/shot glasses over seedlings just breaking the soil surface. If I'm struggling so much with low RH, is it a good idea to cover them or not?

Thanks

 

[Canobud]

I'm hoping this one will make it.

 

[Canobud]

Hi Canobud! Just catching up to your journal. Thanks for the link in your introduction.

Sorry I can't offer LED grower specific recommendation on the addtional lighting, but I will say that I do sometimes add a 300 watt equivalent CFL (85 watt draw) bulb in a clamp on work like fixture (painted flat white inside) to my grow area. I use a 600 watt HID light but have been guilty of letting the plants get bigger than my light can penatrate and use the CFL as supplemental light to lower bud sites. I think most of us are not in danger of having too much light, so I can't imagine it doing anything but help once yours get up and going.

Great looking setup and excited that your 3 seeds are on underway. Let the excitement begin!

Be well and happy growing.

TanR, what's the thinking behind painting the inside of the lamp housing white? I'd think the reflectiveness of the bare aluminum would be ideal, no? Are the ones labeled as 'daylight' the right color temp for growing?

Thanks again,

 

[Canobud]

It's been 5 days since my first seeds were planted in soil. I lost one, was worried about the other two, and decided to plant an additional two yesterday as potential backups. I've moved a humidifier into the tent, turned off the extraction fan until my rheostat arrives tomorrow, and have been leaving the tent partially unzipped to hopefully stabilize RH%s and temperatures. Without the fan, I've discovered the LED fixture will still kick off more heat than desired with no fan running. I thought I'd be better off putting the LEDs much closer to the plants than they are currently but I'm not certain how temps will be at soil level if I lower it further. Maybe once the fan is back up and running I'll experiment a bit.

My last two seeds from the first planting seem to be doing good. Very happy about that. If yesterday's plantings take off too though, I'll have to sadly cull two as there's no way to grow four in such a small footprint. What a shame.

I've been sprinkling a very small amount of spring water PH'd down to 6.1 around the very outer perimeter of the jiffy pots using a meat marinade injector syringe, which has turned out to be more valuable than I would've previously thought. The two new seeds planted in the Solo cups probably won't need anything like that...they obviously hold much more water content than the jiffy pots.

I also added two 100W (equiv.) daylight temp CFLs today to complement the LEDs. I'm toying with the idea of LED light strips affixed to some thin polypropylene sheets situated on the back wall and sides of the tent once the plants start growing in order to maximize light coverage down low. Perhaps 2-3'-tall strips, and 2-3 strips per side arranged vertically. Baby steps though, I want to get these plants into the veg stage before doing anything like that.

Anyhow, on to the pics, everyone loves pics!

 

[Canobud]

Finally, some progress to report! The other sprout is still hanging onto its seed casing, but I'm guessing it will fall off in the next 24 hours or so. My fan speed controller arrived today as well, so I'm able to turn the thing down a good bit to stop it from sucking all the moisture from my tent and the jiffy pots as well. Those things may work for some but holy hell they're nearly as dry as uncooked ramen in no time flat.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Glad you got your speed controller for the fan. It will be good to keep airflow going while not being too much that the air is as the outer ambient air,dry winter air... Humidity domes help seedlings once they break ground for sure!
You're looking good from here man, keep up the good work and...

KiG cheers

 

[Canobud]

OK someone talk to me about light height and temperatures. With my lights at the heights shown below, with only the two 100W-equivalent CFLs on the sides running with the LEDs, I came home to temperatures on the leaf of 100F using my infrared temperature gun and really dry jiffy pots. My extraction fan was on low and my humidifier was also running in the tent. Still had sub-30% RH today. How do you guys keep lights even closer to your plants and not burn them up? I immediately turned off the side CFLs and raised the LEDs another ~6" and turned the fan up for a bit. I'd love to drop the LEDs to right above the plants but it sounds lethal. Any thoughts here? Is the 2nd plant's leaf showing signs of burn?

This one seems to be my healthiest, so far:

This one held on to its seed casing for nearly four days before I decided to gently peel it off earlier this morning. I wonder if that hurt the leaf a bit. It's hard to tell from this poor angle but the top leaf is gently curved upward rather than downward. Is that light/heat damage?

With my humidity issues I'm having to water the jiffy pots pretty much daily. Maybe every other day just dribble some around the perimeter of the cup, in about 1/2"-3/4" from the edge. Today the bottom felt really dry through the drain hole so I slowly added more with the syringe until the bottom was damp. I really expected to go a few days at least between waterings based on so much I've read here. Anything I should be concerned about? Are my lights too high for this stage of growth? These seeds were planted on 3/15 and broke the soil surface on 3/18, so they're ~6 days old now. Look like normal growth rate?

 

[Stinky Snid]

OK someone talk to me about light height and temperatures. With my lights at the heights shown below, with only the two 100W-equivalent CFLs on the sides running with the LEDs, I came home to temperatures on the leaf of 100F using my infrared temperature gun and really dry jiffy pots. My extraction fan was on low and my humidifier was also running in the tent. Still had sub-30% RH today. How do you guys keep lights even closer to your plants and not burn them up? I immediately turned off the side CFLs and raised the LEDs another ~6" and turned the fan up for a bit. I'd love to drop the LEDs to right above the plants but it sounds lethal. Any thoughts here? Is the 2nd plant's leaf showing signs of burn?

What the power on your LEDs 300 watts? , they should be at least 24" away from seedlings. Matter of fact you could use only a couple Cfls for them. Both is kinda overkill, imo.

I'd raise the led for use in a week or two. For now I would just use a couple cfls nice and close to the leafs. (2-3 inches) then in a while introduce the LEDs at a fair height and bring them closer if your plants show no signs of heat stress or light burn.

KiG cheers

Ps. They definitely showing signs of heat stress. Very ridgey leafs. And tacoing.

 

[Canobud]

What the power on your LEDs 300 watts? , they should be at least 24" away from seedlings. Matter of fact you could use only a couple Cfls for them. Both is kinda overkill, imo.

I'd raise the led for use in a week or two. For now I would just use a couple cfls nice and close to the leafs. (2-3 inches) then in a while introduce the LEDs at a fair height and bring them closer if your plants show no signs of heat stress or light burn.

KiG cheers

Ps. They definitely showing signs of heat stress. Very ridgey leafs. And tacoing.

Well crap. Yes, the LED rig is 300W equivalent. Have I done any critical damage to these or can they bounce back with lower temps?

Thanks a ton-

 

[Stinky Snid]

They'll rebound within a couple nodes, no biggie. If they got burnt/stressed more the it may be detrimental, but they will be fine. Make sure the soil is moist if it's dry out. And if it's already wet then just give them a few ml's around the circumference of the plant. But don't over water because they are thirsty now and will go into shock. (imo) just let them settle into their new climate and keep an eye out for drying out leaves or rips in the leaves from light burn. I kinda started rambling there sorry...

KiG cheers

 

[Lazarus13]

Wanted to give you an idea what to expect. These are "The Widow" from gorilla seeds at the first week after 12/12 flip. They have been very forgiving and grow very bushy and low with a little bit of training. I used clear cups for the first week or 2 when they broke ground. They grew well in lower humidities until i got a small humidifier. They took very well to topping and supercropping and random defoliations throughout veg. They are calmag hogs tho and i had to give them almost 30mls/4 gal rez in heavy veg under leds. I have two 300watt marshydros and they worked great. If you have any questions about this strain i will do what i can to help out man.
P.S. sorry the photo is sideways. This android phone/ pic upload thing evades me. lol there are more pics in my gallery

 

[Canobud]

They'll rebound within a couple nodes, no biggie. If they got burnt/stressed more the it may be detrimental, but they will be fine. Make sure the soil is moist if it's dry out. And if it's already wet then just give them a few ml's around the circumference of the plant. But don't over water because they are thirsty now and will go into shock. (imo) just let them settle into their new climate and keep an eye out for drying out leaves or rips in the leaves from light burn. I kinda started rambling there sorry...

KiG cheers

Thanks for checking in...no such thing as rambling here to me, I need as much advice as I can get! I think I've got the temps and humidity stabilized with the fan speed dialed in. Appreciate the help!

 

[Canobud]

Wanted to give you an idea what to expect. These are "The Widow" from gorilla seeds at the first week after 12/12 flip. They have been very forgiving and grow very bushy and low with a little bit of training. I used clear cups for the first week or 2 when they broke ground. They grew well in lower humidities until i got a small humidifier. They took very well to topping and supercropping and random defoliations throughout veg. They are calmag hogs tho and i had to give them almost 30mls/4 gal rez in heavy veg under leds. I have two 300watt marshydros and they worked great. If you have any questions about this strain i will do what i can to help out man.
P.S. sorry the photo is sideways. This android phone/ pic upload thing evades me. lol there are more pics in my gallery

Alright, awesome! How long did you veg that one before dropping to 12/12? I was thinking about trying to FIM two of these since I have such a small tent footprint. Would like to maximize what I can get out of these. Do you have a current grow journal I can follow? I'd appreciate your input through this grow as well with your experience with this strain.

 

[Lazarus13]

I vegged for 4 weeks. I wouldve loved to go a bit longer but i have size constraints too. My area is 3x2x6 and the plant is rectanglar as it has grown tight to all 4 sides. It about doubled its height during the stretch. You can see the tent post connector button above my therm/hygrometer in the pic and it stretched to just above that in about a week after the pic was taken. Im in the beginning of the 3rd week of flower now and have just a ton of tops. I do not have a journal but i have kept copious notes so if you have questions along the way id be more than happy to try to answer what i can. It truly is a very forgiving strain. It smells so damn good too and from fairly early in veg. So if odor is an issue you will need something for it. FIM, top, supercrop, defol... You can do it all to maximize growth area and it will take it with a smile.