Beginner - White Widow Auto, 1st grow journal

[kushpa]

I’m on a 3-day vacation! Visiting a friend and another friend is in town from out-of-state! Tomorrow is weed, beer, and swimming in the lake!!

I’m a little nervous about leaving my girls for 3 days. My main Widow has some slight curling on the leaf edges. I remember reading that on a post here, I had to search to find it, but it’s light burn, right? I had the LED (MarsHydro 140W) at 18", I raised it another couple inches before I left.

Also soaked up my new seed peat pellet and gave both other tent plants 1/2 dose of N-rich MiracleGro nutes. Made sure both in/bottom and out/top 4" duct fans were running and zipped the tent.

Finally, I went ahead and put a lid on my 3rd outdoor plant to protect her from any heavy rain.

[kushpa]

Back home after a couple days away, and my ladies are doing great! My main Widow got HUGE!!

2" of vertical growth means it’s time to do a little more training!

My new WW seed popped up too!

My Golden Leaf isn’t getting nearly as big, but she does keep growing more nodes, so I guess she’s doing alright.

And my outdoor Widows are adapting quite nicely to their new environment, and continue to grow, especially this first one.

This lady lost a main leaf, but there’s new growth to take its place.

Finally, my bucket-bound beach babe is really starting to take off in her new digs!

Picked up some more perlite and P-heavy bloom nutes as well, and a top duct piece for my ceiling fan in the tent. It was a nice vacation, but I’m happy to be back and see how much they’ve grown in such a short time. These plants are just as therapeutic during the grow as they’re bound to be when they’re finished!

[4play]

Have you ise the plastic domes before? What is the temp? I was gonna use one on my outside plant but i fear the trapped air will get so hot it will fry her not to mention the hot condensation dripping on her. Im more worried about bugs eatin her and i dont wanna use chemicals

[4play]

Your twistin that girl up with that LST.

[kushpa]

The two domes are 2-liter soda bottles with a lot of air vents in the sides. There are deer that feed and bed down just a few yards away in the field where I have these, so I’m going to try and keep them protected as long as I can.

I don’t have to worry about heat with these, because (a) the vents, but more importantly, (b) they’re planted directly in the ground. The roots in outdoor plants have more protection from the heat, because the Earth keeps the soil cool just a few inches down, unlike in a grow tent, where the soil is just as hot as the bucket, which is just as hot as the air in the room. I’m not sure what would happen in a bucket that’s outside, that’s why on the one I have outside in a bucket, I have a bigger top that’s not so enclosed.

You might try Diamataceous Earth, it’s completely safe for the plants and pets, and if you get “food grade” (which I recommend), humans can even eat it! But it kills most crawling insects like spider mites and caterpillars. Just sprinkle it all around the ground by your plant. I even saw where one guy got some kind of “duster” applicator that he used to dust it on the leaves to kill mites. Neem oil is supposed to be a safe and effective insecticide as well.

I’m starting my 5-day old seedling on some early LST too!

My first LST Widow has a really strong stalk where she was bent at the base, and has several new nodes popping up at the 1st bend back. I’m very excited about how this is starting to shape up, I’m hoping to circle it all the way around the bucket by the time it starts to bloom!

[4play]

Great info. Im goin to order the Diamataceous so i can pull the net off her so she gets more sunlight. I put her out there because she was so small and my lights were pretty weak at the time so I was hoping maybe the sun would help her take off but was worried with her being so small that if one grasshopper going on it and ate the leaves she would be dead quick so that’s why I was worried about protecting her I don’t have to worry about deers around here I’m right in the middle of the n suburb I doubt there’s any rabbits around here either. I need to read up on LST a little bit more I don’t fully get the benefits I knew it was good to use to keep the plant lower four stealth reasons and also 2 when the plant over so that more of it is exposed to the light but that’s about the end of my knowledge on the benefits of LST.Not sure what im doin but i can tell the stem is thicker at the base where i put the wire on it

[kushpa]

The main benefit of LST is that by bending the stem around to keep it low and horizontal-ish (obviously, you want it to grow UP as well, but slowly), you provide more light to the lower branches and stalk, and the places where you bend it, it builds up growth there, and increases the chance of buds forming there. So (a) increased number of budding spots on the plant, and (b) the lower budding spots will grow bigger because they have access to more light.

[kushpa]

Thought I’d post a shot from the field. This is about 20 yards from my girls! I’m in a nice, secluded, open field in the middle of the woods. This is where the deer have been bedding down. But other than that, you can see how great the cover is, especially for a couple of short autos!

[ktreez420]

I would piss right in their bedding area, and walk all through it trying to spread your scent as much as possible. They’ll find a new area to bed.

[ktreez420]

But also, now you have a perfectly legitimate reason as to why you could place a trail camera out there. It would take pics of the deer, or other intruders coming through! I always said if I grew outside I would put a couple of my trail cameras all around the area to catch any animals or people! You just have to place them in hidden areas, or cover them once they’re up.

[kushpa]

Decided to build some respectable cages for my outdoor ladies today, so I grabbed some chicken wire and posts out of the shed and WAH-LAH!

Babs:

Betsy:

Belinda:

[4play]

@kushpa @ktreez420 Belonda lol you want her to be a fat gerl huh lol good inspirational name for her. I like the cages. Hey check this out these are my 2 autos that I started training remember a little while back I think you told me to try it .said what could it hurt to go ahead and give it a shot while they’re young so I trained one and the other I did not and you can definitely tell the difference both of these were grown at the same time started all the same although one is outside and has been for the past 3 or 4 days

[4play]

Idont have the lst technique down yet but still getting good results

[kushpa]

Very nice! Yeah, it’s amazing how just a little LST can have such great results! I’m pretty psyched about trying my first FIM soon too, on my Golden Leaf, but she’s probably at least another week away from being ready for that yet.

I’d LOVE to have a trail cam for my location! I’ve got all my money wrapped up in my plants and gear though! I saw a deer running away when I approached today. I peed all around one plant, I’m going to make that a daily thing from now on.

[kushpa]

I picked these up the other day, they were only like $7-8. My RH is a pretty constant 50%, I thought I’d hang these in the air around the plants during flower, see if it knocks it down any.

[ktreez420]

Those look interesting!

[kushpa]

I think I have spider mites on one of my outdoor plants. The ground is covered with diamataceous earth, but that obviously didn’t stop them, so I doused it with insecticide.

It’s “gamma-cyhalothrin,” it’s an organic compound that mimics the insect killing chemical chrysanthemums produce. If this doesn’t do it, I guess I’ll try some neem oil.

[Jheezy]

Jiffy pots do ok for you? I never have any luck with them. I always see on those urban farming magazines covers them starting seeds in an egg shell then I imagine you just gotta crush bottom a bit and it grows through. Think I’ll try that on next grow

[kushpa]

The one Widow I transplanted right away to a 5-gallon bucket is THRIVING, the 3 I had in Jiffy pots were small and slow growing. So I transplanted those 3 all outside and they’re still recovering.

From now on, I’ll start seeds in peat pellets with the netting removed, which I stick right in the 5-gallon bucket. I’ll only use Jiffy pots for clones from now on. The plan is to grow my Golden Leaf for about 6-8 weeks, and then get all the cuttings I can over a couple week period. I’ve got a dozen 2-gallon pots, and as soon as I can fill them up with clones, I’m going to flower them all (along with the mother) in a Sea of Green! Well, first, I’m putting the cuttings in 3" Jiffy pots filled with perlite and peat moss. Then when roots grow, I’ll transplant into the 2-gallon buckets.

[TacoMac]

The netting on the peat pots is only there to keep it from falling apart when watered. Once you go to transplant them you cut the netting off. The only reason the netting is there is so that you don’t have to buy a pot to put them in to begin with. It’s just cheaper that way.