White Widow CFL Grow (no photos)

[Thepizzaguy]

Sorry for the lack of pictures. My cell provider would allow my pictures to be sent to my email and my Camera's software is not functioning. With that in mind please continue if you don't mind having a visual reference. I was originally going to keep a log at home and post it after harvesting, but the grow switched from a single grow to a perpetual grow. It's more of an attempt at keeping the bud coming in. It's my first time and so far everything is going on track.

The Set Ups:

1. The Main Box;

My box was made from some old 2x2's and recycled drywall. The measurements are 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide by 3 feet long. I have 12 square feet of floor space to work with. This is also the flowering box that can hold 8-10 plants, a 5in fan, and as many lights as I can stuff in there. I could fit more plants if I used smaller containers, but I prefer 2 liter bottles for the uniform size.

2. The Original Box;

My original box was made out of and adjustable book case. It also uses recycled drywall. It measures 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide by 18 inches deep. There's about feet square feet of floor space. This is the nursery space and can hold 6-8 plants. No fan, and as many lights as I can stuff in there. Once again, I could fit more plants if I started them in smaller containers.

The Strains:

I am currently growing NRS White Widow and ICE. Both of these are white strains with 15-20% THC and both have a similar flowering time of 60 days.

Lighting:

Both the flowering space and nursery have 23 watt CFL's at 100 watts of light equivalent. There are a total of 10 in the flowering space and 6 in the nursery. The total lumen for the flowering area is 16,000. The lumen in the nursery is 9,600. The fixtures are recycled light sockets from lamps that had broken or were thrown out. This leaves a mess of wires hanging down, but since 2 bulb for every socket, I have the flexibility to raise and lower each set of lights.

Soil:

I am using Miracle Grow Potting Mix and Garden Soil. I have also added a 3 inch layer of water polymers at the bottom of each 2 liter bottle. I have had great results with MG products and few issues. The soil and mix has a 3 month supply of nutrients and says that plants grow stronger and taller than in regular soil. This will be the 2nd use of this soil mix. The water polymers were added along with a supply of water. I have used them before, and guess that they do have a supply of water for the plants.

[Thepizzaguy]

The Grow Log:

11-12-08

I started 10 WW seeds from my own stash on 11-3-08 and by 11-8-08 8 of them popped. On 11-12-08 the 8 seedlings were working on their 3rd set of leaves. One seedling is stunted, but the remaining 7 are fairly uniform, look healthy. The plants have been watered straight everyday from the time the seeds. No fertilizers or nutrients other than water has been used. My estimated date to start flowerting is 12-01-08 with the harvest date set close to the second week of February.

11-14-08

Lost a plant under a CFL which had slipped and severely burned 2 plants. One plant was burned directly, the other plant had it's leaves burned on the sides. The expected outcome is the lost of two plants. They are both still in the box at this time. Did not water yesterday. Root formation has reached the water polymers. All plants, with
noted exceptions have fantastic growth and appear to be healthy and vibrant with little stretch.

11-16-08

When I checked on my plants, I noticed that a few had dew on them which means the temps in the box matched the RH (relative humidity), or the plants were transpiring. This is common on outdoor plants and happens nightly. I have never seen my indoor plants sweat before. Adjusted and secured lights to match the growing plants. Stretching is at a minimum. 4th set of leaves already forming. Badly damaged plant has new growth. A tiny set of leaves growing out from one of the nodes. The plant has already been written off but remains in the box.

11-20-08

Plants are consuming a lot of water now, and it feels as if missing a day would cause the plants to dry out too much. This has already happened once but the plant was no worse for wear. I haven't measured the plants yet, and estimate them to be 6 inches. Set fan on low, raised lights and watered plants today. It's still early 6am, so the day isn't done.

11-22-08

I'm starting to check my plants twice a day. Early in the morning and again late at night. I had another light slip damaging two more
plants. They will survive. The plants are also using a lot of water. Since I added the fan, water use and evaporation has increased to the point where I have to check the plants more often. Yesterday I ordered a 4 pack from seedbay, and after reading grow reports, I am thinking I should have chosen different strains. The one's I've chosen are Top 44, Aurora Indica, Chrystal and Papaya. They should be here within a week barring any search and seizure.

[Thepizzaguy]

11-25-08

Rearranged my lights in prep for the flowering process. Rearranging the plants opened up the canopy by adding space between the rows, and each plant is getting more light. I will need 2 more lights to hang between the 7 plants leaving me with 8 lights to use in 2nd cabinet to start a perpetual grow. Watered plants, and made sure my lights were secure. The damaged plants have recovered from the light slip/fall. Two of them now have multiple branches above the main body of plant. The accident was like a topping of the plant. Day 3 of 12/12. At the moment, the plants are a bit shorter than the plants I normally produce. These were only vegged for 3 weeks, while my usual veg time is 4 weeks.

11-29-08

No signs of plants sexes today. I gave them some food rated 5n 15p 5k yesterday. Would like the plants to show soon so I can free up more space by ripping the males, and in turn add more light per plant. Started the perpetual grow with six Bubblicious Seeds today. The Bubblicious will be a seed harvest, so all I need is one male and one female. Any addition females will be put into the big box for continued flowering. Since I am thinking about it, at some point the pollinated plants will need to be moved if this is going to be a never ending grow. Will work on the plan.

12-01-08

Looks like the plants are starting to show. Not certain yet, but it looks like 1 female and two males with 4 plants to go. Hoping for a few more fems, but that's not under my control, yet. I went shopping for some rooting gels, powders and hormones, but the two home stores I looked at didn't have any. There's a garden store around, but it's just a strange request for me. I also took a look at some lighting. I saw a 6 light light rack that I liked for 30 bucks, but I think I'm going to go DYI. My seed order was shipped today. Will see how long it takes for an order to arrive from the UK. Measured plants today. They are are currently at 20 inches.

12-04-08

Weeded out another male leaving two definite females and 2 yet to show sex. Not able to provide good light to all plants from conopy to container. Gave up on the Bubblicious. After 6 days from experience, if the seed hasn't produced a tap root, the seeds are no good. Did notice that one of the seeds was cracked without a tap root. I think it was cracked prior to being put into the soil. The other seeds looked shriveled and poocked. Switched over to ICE. 7 seeds started. After thought is telling that I should have
gone straight with the White Widow seeds I have. They are fresh and I have had 80 percent germ rate within 5 days. While I don't blame the breeder or distributor, it would have been nice to get some seeds from the pack I bought. With luck, the ICE will come through and I can run a batch of seeds.

[Thepizzaguy]

12-06-08

The ICE seeds in box #2, now named the nursery, have sprouted already leading me to believe I was right, the Bubblicious seeds were duds. It took 2 days compared to the 6 I waited. Now I get to hope for at least one female so I can make a seed run. These seeds were direct from the breeder/seller, and once they are gone, they're gone. Box #2 is only 3 feet tall so I'll have to consider flowering at 2 weeks instead of 3 or 4. I guess it wouldn't be too hard to build a bigger cabinet. I'll think about this one. I could
go big here.

Flowering box is coming along. Still only 2 females, one plant thinking about showing as I can't tell if what I see is a fine pistol, or one of those spikes that grow from stem near the nodes of the plant. The hair is in the same area. I'm just not ready to call it yet.
The 4th plant was the one remaining plant that suffered a light burn on the main stem top. I like my odds on this one. The leaf groupings look very similar to the other two females. Gave them a light dose of 10-50-10 nutes at 1/4 strength last two days.

12-08-08

All plants in flower are female giving me 4 total. 5 of 7 ICE seeds germinated. Took picture of White Widow plant today. Watered with 1/16 strength fertilizer. Basically just added water to the leftovers from yesterday. Got my free seeds tomorrow, but thought I would include this information here as this is where I left off on logging information at home. Gave up on the 2 remaining ICE seeds and planted 2 Mazar I Sharif seeds that were freebees. I still haven't checked the condition of the 4 strains I purchased, but the freebees were in sad shape. One seed was cream colored and shriveled. 2 seeds were greenish, possibly young, immature seed. The other two seeds were darker green and those were the ones I planted. If they don't sprout. I'll settle for 5 ICE. It may be for the best since I am planning to run seeds.

12-10-08

More light maintenance. They still seem to slip. Maybe the plants are growing more that I think. I need to get on the horse and purchase the goods to make some light racks this box is beggining to require a lot of work. I like the flexibility, but the slipping is annoying. I guess I can move the plants so that the main stem and cola is off the the side. Losing a fan leaf is better than burning up a bud site. Watered plants to give them a break from constant fertilizer over the past several day. Measured plants 3 plants at 30 inches. One plant, the plant which was damaged early in life is at 18 inches but has two main branches. Temperature in box is 70-75 degrees. Nursery babies looking good. No light issues yet. Waiting to see if the Mazar seeds take root.

[Pharm Girl]

Bubblicious seeds were duds

Mine were too!

Nice log.....very nice.

[Dandaweedman]

Sounds pretty good, cept for the lacl of germ. Good luck with the ice.

[Thepizzaguy]

Thanks it's early yet. The lights haven't had enough time to slip. At least it's an easy read...

[Thepizzaguy]

12-12-08

Damaged a branch on a WW while working on the box. Plants taller than the max height of the lights. ICE seedlings looking healthy. One Mazar seed has sprouted. Going to go look at home store to see if the scraps they sell meet min requirements. I need four 3 foot by 1 foot strips of drywall or paneling for the for the sidewall. The flower box needs to be replaced.

[Peace seeker]

any chance of takin some pics?

i d love to your grow box

nice log btw

[Gimly]

Nice thread!

Originally Posted by Thepizzaguy

Lighting:

Both the flowering space and nursery have 23 watt CFL's at 100 watts of light equivalent. There are a total of 10 in the flowering space and 6 in the nursery. The total lumen for the flowering area is 16,000. The lumen in the nursery is 9,600. The fixtures are recycled light sockets from lamps that had broken or were thrown out. This leaves a mess of wires hanging down, but since 2 bulb for every socket, I have the flexibility to raise and lower each set of lights.

Soil:

I am using Miracle Grow Potting Mix and Garden Soil. I have also added a 3 inch layer of water polymers at the bottom of each 2 liter bottle. I have had great results with MG products and few issues. The soil and mix has a 3 month supply of nutrients and says that plants grow stronger and taller than in regular soil. This will be the 2nd use of this soil mix. The water polymers were added along with a supply of water. I have used them before, and guess that they do have a supply of water for the plants.

Question - What "spectrum" are the lights you are using? At my local store, you can pick from soft white, bright white, and daylight.

I think the daylight would be the best...

Also you want to be careful using the miracle grow potting mix! It works ok for the veging, but it will slow the flowering cycle down if you don't flush the soil. If you take the plants to the bathtub when you are ready to flower, you can flush the soil by pouring water through until it starts streaming out of the holes in the container. Do this a couple of times for the first week of flowering should do the trick.

[Thepizzaguy]

They are daylight bulbs. I've been using them ever since I started growing pot. I don't know the K value. I've also been using MG products since I started growing back in 2003 and I don't seem to have any issues. I'm not heavy into fertilizers and chemical nutrient additives. The plant get some from me, but not very much. My containers do not have holes in the bottom. I used some water crystals and left a reservior of water which was used up within the 1st two week. I would like to refill it.

After lights on, I checked the plants. Everything fine except the plants have grown taller than the lights. I need some vertical space, so I'll have to pass on "The Day The Earth Stood Still", and go find some scrap Drywall. The seedling look great with exceptions. The exceptions being the Mazar. Both seeds popped, but both plants still encased in the seed shell. Don't know how to remove them, I will see later on if the leafs are strong enough to break the casing. Kind of funny looking to see the stem of the plant with a round "head". Reminds me of the Little Shop of Horrors. The one with Rick Morantis.

[Gimly]

So your not using the potting mix anymore? I'm not sure what you mean by water crystals. Did you use a "wick" system?

[Thepizzaguy]

No. I still use MG soil. Water crystal and water polymers are tiny little crystals that soak up water. When used in gardening, if you have a substraight of these polymers and they are hydrated, the plants roots will use the water within these crystals. They can also be used in water gardens. You can search ebay. I am sure you know what they are.

I added a foot of vertical space to my box using some old 2x4 ceiling tiles. Watered plants with some fertilizer. Added another 200 watts of lights to flower box. Buds are now beggining to form. Most likely will remove Mazar from box if the plant can't break out of it's shell.

[farmergiles]

IMO fuck that Miracle Grow shit get some decent soil, the results will be obvious.

[Dandaweedman]

I've removed the shells on a few, if you have fingernails and small fingers it works better.
drip a few drops of water on it, wait a bit and gently pry a bit. Don't try to do it all in one sitting though, the leaves may tear.

[Thepizzaguy]

I was thinking about tweezers, I bite my nails.

Got my video cam and software working. Going to add some pictures soon. The online support for the camera was very helpful, and the camera itself is fairly decent. Can take videos, and has many features.

[Thepizzaguy]

NRS ICE at 1 week old



White Widow 3rd week flower


The ICE are directly from a breeder pack of seeds and the White Widow are from seeds I made from a breeder pack. The Mazar grew a bit overnight. One was able to break out of it's shell, the other needed some assistant. No pictures. The are only 2 days old.

If someone can tell me how to have pictures show in the post instead of links. I'll add pictures to the diary.

[Gimly]

I strongly suggest leaching some of that miracle grow out of the soil. The mg is high potency nitrate, that is what is burning the leaves and giving them a very dark color.

[Thepizzaguy]

Thanks for the advise. The soil is in it's 2nd use and not fresh from a new bag, meaning it may be weaker in fertilizers. I have a new bag of soil, but it's unopened. The containers don't have drainage holes because I used water crystals and 3 inches of water as a base. Some of the burn may be from chemicals, but I know that everyday I have to raise the lights because either the plant has grown into the light, that the lights had slipped a little not touching the plants, or a combination of elements.

[farmergiles]

Hurray pics!

To upload your pics rather than using links use the manage attachments thingy (additional options when you`re replying).

Yeah like Gimly I`m a bit wary of miracle grow, the ferts in it are too harsh and soil with better drainage properties allows more air to get at the roots.

Next time you repot I`d recommend some regular potting soil maybe with some perlite or vermiculite to aid drainage.