Beginner - White Widow Auto, 1st grow journal

Hi, I’m a very excited new grower from the US. Starting with 5 WW autos and 1 Gold Leaf. I have a 2’x4’x6’ tent (w/ a divider) with 250W CFL for the veg side and a true 130W LED for bloom. I plan on putting 3 of the autos and the GL out after 40 days of 24hr light to finish, and keep 2 autos in the tent.

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My germination tray. Got the seeds on Monday (exactly 12 days after order, right on time!), soaked for 24, and this is 72 hours later. Just have two 42W 2.7K CFLs to start with, another 150W mixed 2.7K, 5K, and 6.5K to add as they grow.

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Small correction, I plan to put 3 WWAs outdoors after 2-3 weeks. Not enough light to veg 6 plants! I’ll keep the GL in the tent for 40 days though, and set it out the first week in August to finish. I’ll then try to take a couple of cuttings off the GL to start some clones, and probably start another couple of WWAs.

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I’m lucky to live in the country, my tent faces a window that gets 4-5 hours of direct sunlight every day, so I’m hoping for some killer grows! I’ve got my training ties all ready, so Ima get all Mr. Miagi here with the bonsai stuff purty soon! :wink:

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All 5 Widows are up, and the Golden Leaf is starting to break through the soil!

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Hope I didn’t just screw up! I cut away the netting on the peat pellets and put the 5 Widows in 5" Jiffy pots. The big one in the middle had a root coming through almost an inch, so I left the netting so I didn’t tear it off. The little one front left came completely out of the soil, so roots were exposed to light. The other 3 went smoothly, roots weren’t exposed and all netting cut away. I went ahead and put the Golden Leaf in her final home. She looks so tiny, hope she takes hold!

The Jiffy pots have a 50/50 mix of store-bought topsoil and Miracle Grow. The big bucket has some Miracle Grow, but is mostly topsoil from my river bottom corn field. I know they say not to use outside soil, but this is the best dirt you can get, prime farming topsoil! It’s been covered and indoors for over a month, so hopefully any critters in the dirt are dead. I realize I’m still taking a chance, though.

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You should look into adding perlite to your soil. Because it’s from outside it could use some extra drainage so that your roots can grow quicker and easier through the soil. Compact soil causes slower growth. But looks good dude, keep it up!

Treez

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Thanks for the tip, I have a bag of perlite! I thought I’d scatter some diatomaceous earth on top as well, in case a critter or two is still hiding in there.

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Ah, that even looks better!


Okay, so I’ve decided to give my Golden Leaf the full 130W LED, since she’s going outdoors in 6 weeks, I want her big! That leaves the Widows all the CFLs. This is all pretty thrilling stuff for a beginner, I’ll be very happy if I can get just one of them to harvest!

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Well, damn, looks like my first casualty! This poor Widow fell out of the peat pellet when I moved it to the pot, and I tried to put her back in the ground, but looks like she’s not gonna make it. The other 3 are scheduled for outdoor planting as soon as they have 3 good, established, true nodes and some bushy leaves.


I went ahead and moved my other indoor Widow to her final home. 5 gallon bucket with store-bought topsoil and perlite in the bottom half and Miracle Gro for the top half with a topper of topsoil to keep the surface a little firmer. The shells are still dangling. I saw a journal where they just flicked those off at this point, but as a beginner, I’m afraid to do that, especially after just losing one Widow this morning! I also moved her over to join the Golden Leaf on the LED side of the tent.


The Golden Girl is doing fine! I gave them all a drink this morning, they were looking a little dry. I’ll probably start nutes next week when some leaves start to fill in. I’ve got a 4-1-2 NPK mix for veg. I’ll start with a 25% of recommended solution (which comes to like 1/8 teaspoon per gallon) a couple times a week, and see how they react.

Lots of ups and downs in these first 5 days, this grow journal is great for helping me document my journey!

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Thought some might find this interesting. I live in an area where a lot of farmers grew hemp for the WWII effort. It still grows wild all over the place. No good to smoke, but there’s a TON of it, and it grows to 10-12 feet tall or higher! The tall guy here is already 5’ tall in mid-June!



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Golden Leaf doesn’t seem to be getting big as quickly as the Widows, but the 2nd set of leaves are coming in nicely.


Indoor Widow almost free of her shell, and also working on that 2nd set, even while the first set continues to open up.


Had a scare this weekend, the AC went out, and the tent got up to 104F overnight! I can’t get it under 90F, even with a big box fan blowing directly at the air right above the plants. I just got the thermometer in there last night, so its probably been this hot for a few days, its 80+F just room temperature! Most things I read say this will kill or at least stunt growth, though I have seen one grower say they get thick, full buds with temps consistently above 104F (40C) indoors.

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Hi Victor, I’ve only been on here a few days, so I’ve still got a little healthy paranoia about providing personal info, but I will tell you I’m in the “Corn Belt.” :wink:

As far as survival, I don’t think you CAN eradicate hemp, its too hearty! Theoretically, it shouldn’t even survive from year to year on its own, since winter temps should kill all the seeds. But somehow, a few get worked deep enough into the ground to stay warm enough until spring to pop up again!

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Guess this is all part of the learning curve! I opened up both tent doors, added the big box fan (in addition to two 4-inch duct fans – the damned tent holes are only 3-1/2", WTF?! – and another small fan blowing up directly above the CFLs), and turned off 210W of the CFLs (overkill for seedlings anyway!), so the 3 surviving Widows on the CFL side now just have two 42W 2.7Ks. This just barely brought the temp down to 89F, which is the max it should be, I guess, based on my latest, fast & furious troubleshooting research! So glad to have this forum for feedback, thanks again, ktreez420, I saw your post on the other thread!

Room temp is still 88F, I sure hope the repair guy gets here today and fixes the AC. And I hope my babies come through unscathed!! I’m spraying them several times/day, hopefully the evaporation of the mist will help keep them cool.

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They’ll be alright @kushpa, 88 isn’t bad

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AC is still broken, so because of the heat wave, I have temporarily abandoned all the CFLs and put all 5 seedlings under the LED. Killing the CFLs cut the temperature by about 4 degrees F!

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