HeyWilbur's 1st - White Widow Fem - Soil - Aug 2016

HeyWilbur

HeyWilbur

Well-Known Member
Hi all! New member here and very excited to document and share my first ever Grow. I have a small closet approximately 29"x29" and realistically 4.5 - 5' tall - although I am yet to decide if I'll ever take advantage of the hight, it's nice to know it's there if I feel compelled later on - which is likely, knowing me. As of today I am 14 days from my beans popping through to say hello. 2 White Widow Feminized from CKS. I killed 4 other beans through two mistakes the last 60 days: 1) I used Fox Farms Happy Frog for the germ'd seeds - CKS told me they've had a lot of customers lose using this soil so early in the grow 2) I was spanking them out of the womb with my VipaSpectra V450. Lesson learned. I promptly purchased a 125W Agribrite @ 6500k and am using this with much better success on the new seedlings. My water from an RO system and consistently shows 6.15-6.37 and a ppm of under 30. The water is from a well on my property.

I have these two in Home Depot "Nature's Pride" soil or something like that - didn't notice until I got home that it was made by Miracle Grow and I've read quite a few cautions on MG soil on this site. That may be my issue as I am puzzled by the stunted growth of my children. I have a bag of FF Ocean that I was planning to use in the 3 gal canvass pot (Smart Pot I think) when I flip them up to full on Veg. My plan is to bloom them in the 3 gal as well.


As far as nutrients go, I have Grow Big, Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom at the ready. I supplemented General Hydro's Rapid Start only once and that was today and only because the hydro store gave me a free sample. I have no opinion of it at this time.

I have Very good ventilation with a carbon filter, inline Vortex w/variable controller and 4" duct, as well as a 6" clip on fan. My temp took a while to steady out as I changed lights and all but with the 125w Agribite about 3" above the plants I am 77-79F and 45-50% humidity. I will fill out the last two weeks of my journey in the next 48 hours, but in the meantime, I am about 14 days from seeds popping through the soil and I am barely into their second set of true leaves. Does any feel this is unexpected or two slow? Is it what you'd expect? They seem healthy as hell, but they just do not seem interested in getting bigger. Is it too early at two weeks to hit them with the LED?

Lot's more pictures and info coming. Thank you all for your thoughts, comments and attention. this seems like a really, really nice group of folks.

Many Thanks All,

HeyWilbur!

IMG_097442.JPG


Did I upload these pix correctly? I have to post it to see.
 
I will now fill in the notes from the last two weeks and from here on I will update daily or so.

8/5/16 - Seed germination begun using paper towel method per CKS' instructions.

8/7/16 - Seed taproots are through. Transferred to peat cups with store bought potting soil called Nature's Best (a Miracle Grow product from Home Depot)

8/8/16 - seeds popped through soil. Put them under a pair of 2' T12 Cool fluorescents.

8/16/16 - concerned about lack of growth. One week above the soil and they're just starting to show their second set of true leaves.

8/18/16 - Transplanted into larger and deeper plastic pots - read a number of negative comments about peat pots. Will keep in these plastic pots until I get them into full-on veg cycle and then will transfer into Ocean Forest in 3 gallon smart pots.

8/19/16 - Concern about growth led me to purchase and utilize a 125W Agribrite @ 6500k florescent bulb. T12's are out of the picture. started light at about 12" above plants and will ease them lower over the next few days so as not to shock these babies.

8/21/16 - Temp at soil level this morning at 8:15am was 85 degrees, Humidity at 35%. Raised light a bit, moved fan to blow air between light and plants (temp dropped two Degrees within minutes. Also put a moist shammy in to raise humidity – shooting at 45% humidity. Still can’t help but feel that growth is at a creep – they’re just not pushing out leaves like I expected. I’ll continue to work on lowering the light and maintaining adequate temperature (73-75F)and humidity (45-60%).
 
8/23/16
Plants are reaching for the light and look very healthy. 43% humidity, 79 F ambient temp. Leaf and soil temp is at 78 F. Really debating if I should switch to the ViparSpectra LED yet. Anxious for more growth. I would greatly value any thoughts regarding first two weeks of growth. Are they stunted? Would you view this as normal plant size 2 weeks in? Should I wait until week 3 to switch to the LED for full-ahead veg or do it now?
 
Hey Wilbur! White Widow is one of my favorite strains, really looking forward to see your grow progress. Two weeks does seem like a while for your seedlings to be in the same state. Things I would fiddle with to look for improvements are: Soil, water, and lights.

-The type of soil you use will effect your plant's overall growth. Not sure how well miracle grow products work with cannabis.
-Do you check runoff PH after watering? When I water my plants with ph 6.4 tap water, the soil tends to drift to ph 5 or so. Not a huge issue for me, as long as for the next watering I give a higher ph (like 7.5-8) to bring the soil ph back up to like 6.5. Maybe your soil ph has drifted? Also, how frequently do you water? I know too much water will slow their growth but your soil looks good.
-My only other thought is how close/strong your light is. I usually do the hand test to see if my lights are at a good height. I put my hand right above canopy level and around my plants. If I can comfortably keep my hand there for more than 10 seconds, we're good to go. Remember: The more light the better (to a degree). Before you mentioned your lights were 12" away. That sounds a little far but you also have different lights than me. Your cfl set up looks savvy though. Got the light nice and close.
-How much are you hoping to harvest?

All in all, your plants are off to a great start. Keep it up man.
 
Thank you for your thoughts DankestBuds. I've heard some disparaging comments on Miracle Grow soil and I didn't realize it was a MG product until I got it home. I have a bag of Ocean Forest for moving them into my 3 gallon Smart Pots. I had killed 4 seeds with FF's seedling soil mixture - KCS told me it's too strong for seedlings - so I went with a generic potting soil. This could be the issue I suppose. I've not checked the runoff for PH, but I'll try to do this on my next watering. I've been watering about every 3 days and I pour water into the pots until the standing water fills the space between the soil line and the top of the pot. Within a 20 seconds or so I get a trickle of runoff. Pretty sure it's not overwatering. The temp from the light is tolerable to the hand when held at the canopy - I moved it in tight thinking the plants were not getting enough light and that was stunting them. Now I'm thinking maybe I should move to the ViparSpectra LED for lighting, but I don't want to do this prematurely and damage the seedlings. I was initially planning on turning on the LED when I had 3-4 sets of true leaves for veg. I think with the LED I could probably lower the temp, as right not the plants are sitting in about 79-80F. the LED would probably start about 18-24 inched high and would give them more breathing room on the temp side I think. Do you think it's too premature to break them into the LED? I have know idea what I'm shooting for in the harvest. I'd be thrilled to pull out an oz or two.

Thanks so much for your input Dankest!

Wilbur
 
Dankest - I have a question about PH. I assume that to measure the runoff you simply collect the runoff in a container of some kind and then use your meter on it. If the water is fine going into the soil (6.2 is typical for me) and the PH moves in the runout, then do I mix the PH UP/DOWN in the next watering to try to hit the appropriate pH in the runoff?

Example: Water source PH is 6.2. Runoff is 5.2. Is the response then to treat your next water cycle to 7.2 so the runoff would land closer to the 6.2? No one has explained this to me yet.

Best,

Wilbur
 
When you plant up to the next larger size add about 25% perlite to your soil, by volume, .... Or better still, switch to coco/perlite.....
The way you describe watering, dry soil could give the same runoff results.. Put a saucer under each seedling, use a measured amount of water and see how fast and how much runs through into the saucer.. A 10% runoff in the saucer should be pulled back up into the container overnight.....
I probably shouldn't give advice on soil, the closest i get to soil is coco/perlite, and that's in the summer when it's to hot for rdwc..
 
Thank you Dr. I am thinking of moving their home into 3 gal Smart Pots with maybe a third perlite and 2/3's FF Ocean Forest. Do you think I need to pot up to a smaller container than 3 gallons first before I eventually move them to the 3 gal Smart Pots? I took them off of the CFL this morning and put them at 24" from my Viparspectra V450 in the Veg setting to see if this will help - I'll move it down 3-4 inches a day until I get some clear hints as to how they are responding to the new light. I also ordered some Cal-Mag and will start to supplement with that tomorrow. Hopefully I'll see them perk up over the next few days.

Wilbur
 
Latest photos of my White Widow girls after removing the 125w CFL and putting my ViparSpectra V450 in charge of the photons in the room. Still concerned with the rate of growth. I'll have some CalMag later today and will supplement a watering with it and then start nutes to see if I can get these girls growing. Too small for 3 weeks old and I'm at a loss as to why. LED light is about 15 inches from the leaves. Temp is 77/78F and humidity is 45%. I have a shammy soaked in water laying in front of my air intake to add to the humidity.
 
I just gave them a drink of CalMag and Big Bloom. Cut the CalMag dose in half and the Big Bloom was 1/3 dose just to be safe. Each plant got about 2/3's of a cup of the nutes. Run-off water landed a PH reading of 6.4. Let's see if this has an impact on the growth of these gals - stay tuned.
 
Hi Wilbur! Looking at your two girls, I'd say that they are just a little slow, but that's OK! They are probably working on their roots now. I did like the suggestion that you add perlite to your soil the next time you plant anything. I gives the roots a playground! I'm a newbie as well, but I think it's a bit early to give them some bloom food. Hold off until they grow into their pot before you feed them, or repot them. Just a suggestion! :goodjob:
 

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