Second Grow: White Widow & Northern Lights, Auto, Cfl

[Pumu]

Hello everyone,

I started my new grow and 3 days a go my girls popped out from soil

I hope that you guys follow my journal. I would be glad with your comments

Box: 40x50x98cm

Seeds: 1 x White Widow (Royal Queen Seeds), 1 x Northern Lights (Unknown Seedbank)

Lights: 2 x 35w 6400K cfl + 2 x 18w T8 + 1 23w 6400K cfl

Lightcycle: 24/7 atm

Soil: Royal mix Universal local soil with coco fibers, micronutrients, fertilizers and river sand + %30 perlite

Pots: Air Pot 8L


DAY 1:
WW


NL


DAY 3:
WW


NL

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Hey there Pumu,

Thank you for the nice PM. I'm glad to hear I've brought a little extra knowledge to the auto scene here and yes of course, I'd be more than happy to follow this along with you and help where I can.

Firstly, your set up sounds great, they should really thrive in there. One suggestion I have while you're plants are starting out is to get those CFL's as close as you possibly dare. If you hold the back of your hand at the same level as the seedlings and it's too hot to keep your hand there, then you're too close, but really, with CFL's you can get within a couple of inches if you really want to without burning the plants.
With CFL's you will be constantly adjusting the height of the lamps as you raise them up with the plants as you'll want to keep them as close as possible for as long as you can pre-flower, so get them down low now and just expect to raise them up fairly regularly. I highly suggest you look at investing in a nice LED unit. You'll find a nice 90W-125W UFO LED on Ebay for about £50 and this will perform better than the set up you have now. Not that yours will perform badly but LED's are definitely the way forward and Cannabis loves them so do check them out some time, you won't regret it :)
Bringing the lights right down low to the plants isn't totally necessary but you may find you're babies will stretch slightly in the first few weeks and if you can avoid this then it's best to do so to prevent your plants from becoming too top heavy and collapsing .
In your smallish tent it will be a wise idea to invest some time in researching LST (Low Stress Training). This is basically bending down branches in certain places to create more flowering tops without stressing out your plants by topping them (cutting off the tips of the branches with scissors to promote a bushier growth).
Stressing Autoflowers pre-flower can really hinder your final yield so again, if you can avoid it, then avoid it. That's not to say you can't top auto's, because you can, it's just not recommended while you're still learning the ropes with growing autoflowers.

Now, on to the plants.
The White Widow looks great and right on track. That should be a great plant if it carries on like that.
The Northern Lights however looks to me like a mutation. This is fairly common with some plants, you will come across many in your journey growing Cannabis. You will just have to make to decision whether to keep going with it and either hope it reverts back to normal growth or at least finishes with a nice amount of bud.
Mutants do tend to grow some really potent and uniquely tasting weed but it's not very often worth keeping them around if you have limited space as the yield will be tiny so in my opinion Pumu, I would rip that out and either concentrate on growing a very large White Widow as the one plant can now take up the whole tent and all of the lumens, or, another option is to quickly germinate another seed to take its place and just make sure to train (LST) the WW to keep both plants growing at the same height.

I think that's about it for now but keep me posted friend and I will help as much as I can throughout your grow :)

It's a pleasure to meet you btw :)

Peace

 

[3N1GM4]

Monacle cat is interested...

 

[THCdurk]

Nice grow so far man and nice set up @Pumu

 

[3N1GM4]

Just for future reference, it is easier to start beans in smaller pots and transplant them, breaking a few roots(not the main root) during transplant by crumbling the dirt actually stimulates the root growth. They are easier to water and move also. Looking good so far, good luck!

 

[THCdurk]

I like those pots they look fresh af.

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Just for future reference, it is easier to start beans in smaller pots and transplant them, breaking a few roots(not the main root) during transplant by crumbling the dirt actually stimulates the root growth. They are easier to water and move also. Looking good so far, good luck!

With regular varieties of Cannabis I would agree, however with Autoflowers, the absolute best thing you can do for them is to start them off in the pot you intend to grow them in.
As Autoflowers have a predetermined grow time the last thing one should do is restrict growth or cause shock by any means as they simply do not have the time to recover quick enough to veg well before flowering.
Putting the autoflowering seed into its one and only home gives the root system the time to completely fill the container.
From experience I can tell you that when autos are grown in a small pot and the tap root is allowed to reach the bottom or sides of the pot, the plants very often immediately switch over to flower ruining said grow causing you to rip everything out and start again as there's no way to revert back to veg with autos once they've started flowering.
Start and finish in a single large container and your autos will have the best chance of performing as well as possible :)

 

[Pumu]

@CaptainHowdy, I'll try to make lights closer but my only concern is, there is a heat sensor between pots, at the same lvl with plants and it shows 28-29 C.
Here outside temp. is still around 29 C but soon it will decrease to be honest I scared a little bit.

Regarding UFO Led panel, i found a panel, you can check the link below,
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pcs...-Chip-Plant-Growing-Lamp-for/32384780881.html

I would be glad if you share your opinion about this led panel.

Thanks a lot and thanks to everyone who follows and supports

 

[CaptainHowdy]

@CaptainHowdy, I'll try to make lights closer but my only concern is, there is a heat sensor between pots, at the same lvl with plants and it shows 28-29 C.
Here outside temp. is still around 29 C but soon it will decrease to be honest I scared a little bit.

Howdy dude :)

If you're worried about temps with your lights that close then aim the fan at the bulb, this will keep it slightly cooler while the plants are so close.
As I said though, it's not totally necessary so if you feel comfortable where you are then leave it and carry on :)

Regarding UFO Led panel, i found a panel, you can check the link below,
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pcs...-Chip-Plant-Growing-Lamp-for/32384780881.html

I would be glad if you share your opinion about this led panel.

Yup, that's the one. It looks like they've upgraded the housing and made some improvements since I bought mine but that's the one dude. Well worth the investment when you have the cash. The LED will use less electricity, create less heat, penetrate further into the plants, promote more growth and a higher yield as well as producing a higher resin content. They really do improve everything about the grow imo.
You can fully customise these if you want but the default specs they have listed halfway down the page are pretty spot on so I would just go with that for now.

Thanks a lot and thanks to everyone who follows and supports

Very happy to help. I hope everything grows well for you and you have a nice productive harvest :)

Have fun dude :)

 

[Pumu]

DAY 4:
WW


NL : she seems strange

 

[Pumu]

@CaptainHowdy, I was thinking that because of I built my grow box on my own with a small budget actually I can increase my LED budget

Seeing that you're doing a great job with autos there and because of I love doing experiments and observations in anyway soon or later I will buy a good tent.

So why not buying a more powerful LED
You inspired me man.

What do you think about these 2 Led panels :





Are they OK and enough to go all the way with or do they need customization etc.?

Thanks for your kind approach

 

[CaptainHowdy]

The Northern Lights however looks to me like a mutation. This is fairly common with some plants, you will come across many in your journey growing Cannabis. You will just have to make to decision whether to keep going with it and either hope it reverts back to normal growth or at least finishes with a nice amount of bud.

Yeah, as I mentioned above dude, you may want to consider ripping that particular plant out and starting again with something else.
That's definitely either struggling to form a healthy root system or is just a straight up mutant.
If you really want to finish with two nice plants, then I would rip that out and throw in something else.
I personally would just grow the single WW to allow for maximum production but it's not my grow. Do what feels right for you :)

 

[Pumu]

Yeah, as I mentioned above dude, you may want to consider ripping that particular plant out and starting again with something else.
That's definitely either struggling to form a healthy root system or is just a straight up mutant.
If you really want to finish with two nice plants, then I would rip that out and throw in something else.
I personally would just grow the single WW to allow for maximum production but it's not my grow. Do what feels right for you :)

Yeah I will do the same and continue only with WW

 

[gardnguyahoy]

From experience I can tell you that when autos are grown in a small pot and the tap root is allowed to reach the bottom or sides of the pot, the plants very often immediately switch over to flower ruining said grow causing you to rip everything out and start again as there's no way to revert back to veg with autos once they've started flowering.
:)

Very informative, thank you for sharing that information. I often see farmers just starting out having this problem. "My autoflower started flowering early" ill be sure to share

DAY 4:
WW
View attachment 538025

NL : she seems strange View attachment 538031

The seedlings looks good my dude. Remember when theyre in those huuge pots you wont need much water each time until they get bigger. Soak the area around your roots lightly and make sure not to overwater, no need to fill the entire pot with water or nutrients. Roots need air as well as water.

Soil mix looks good, mind if i ask what it is?

I think howdy was simply suggesting l.e.d. because its hard too flower under such small amounts of lumens, the plants simply require more light during flower then they do during vegatative growth.

Correct me if im wrong, im not familiar with autoflower as much, just gardening. : )

Heres a link
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community...g-maybe-perpetual.75004/page-3#post-1525951to a fellow farmer here that grows a small hidden box exclusively under cfl.

@tobh
His grow can probably help you plan on finishing under those cfls...although i highly suggest l.e.d., high intensity discharge, or self ballasted compact flourescents. (sb-cfl has a lot higher heat output so maybe that isnt a good option) if heat is an issue the l.e.d. option is a good one imo.

I mention tobh's grow whenever someone has a cfl / light distribution issue. Generally the problem is the nodes need a huge amount of light to produce and if theres not cfl all over every node the buds will come out airy and not to their full potential.

Cfls will work for now. Check that link, read as much as you can about cfl grows and read up on your l.e.d. choice ten times over. Ask on the forums here about them. Do your homework.

Groq looks good, keep up the good work. Hope to see some nuggage soon bro.
Positivity to your grow my man!

Gguy

 

[CaptainHowdy]

So why not buying a more powerful LED
You inspired me man.

What do you think about these 2 Led panels :





Are they OK and enough to go all the way with or do they need customization etc.?

Thanks for your kind approach

The only reason I mentioned the lower wattage LED quite simply was price. If you can afford a nice 300W then go for it dude. You won't regret it. I just threw the UFO out there as it's a nice cheap model to get you started to see how you feel about LED's. No point in wasting hundreds to find out you prefer to grow using a different type of lighting.

Unfortunately, due to LED units being so hit and miss, without having actually used those models before, I'd be reluctant to recommend those that you've linked.
The only two models I can guarantee perfection would be with the UFO I showed you previously or a model from GrowNorthern, but these sell like hot cakes and are so hard to find.

Your best bet would be to type those units into Google and see if any other folks have used them to grow and to see how successful they were.

Btw, although the UFO I showed you was just 150w, in comparison to many other types of bulb of the same power, LED's are far more powerful and produce and much richer, denser light so you would need to build a tent containing 300-400W of CFL's to compare with the 150W of LED. You get a lot more bang for your buck with LED :)

 

[gardnguyahoy]

Those seedlings look fine imo. If you only have a couple growing just grow it out. Why not?

 

[Pumu]

Hello @gardnguyahoy,

I found the soil in a local gardening shop, I live in Ukraine btw, where is rich by soil.
Anyway here is the content of the soil:

 

[Pumu]

Those seedlings look fine imo. If you only have a couple growing just grow it out. Why not?

After I saw @CaptainHowdy's WW I am scared a little bit, I don't expect that much of course but my DIY box is not that big tho.
But in anyway I ll give her more chance to see how things are going to turn out.

Btw here is my box : now there is a DIY carbon filter adjustment different from pic.

 

[gardnguyahoy]

Looks good. Check that link i posted, i think itll help. Its in an even smaller space

The only reason i think you should grow it out is cause you only got two seedlings yeah? Unless its diseased why not give it a shot?

 

[3N1GM4]

COB(circuit on board) grow lights are the best and brightest, unfortunately they are also the hottest and most expensive. I have a 1200 watt cob grow light by hydrogalaxy and it is awesome, I have a hard time controlling the temp in my tent that is too small for the light.