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

[Pumu]

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?

Reading the thread now, thanks for support man

 

[3N1GM4]

Those fluorescent lights on the side will be too close to your plants when they fill the box. It will light bleach or burn your plants if they touch them. People say get the cfls as close as you can but you can find all kinds of posts about fluorescent light burning plants.

 

[Pumu]

Those fluorescent lights on the side will be too close to your plants when they fill the box. It will light bleach or burn your plants if they touch them. People say get the cfls as close as you can but you can find all kinds of posts about fluorescent light burning plants.

Thankfully they are easy to remove

 

[Pumu]

Hello everyone, here is day 5 update ☺

DAY 5:
WW


NL

 

[CaptainHowdy]

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

Very happy to help dude :)
Yeah, that's probably one of the most common problems people run into when they first try growing autoflowers and for obvious reason's, this then puts them off growing them again in the future. One thing to realise is autoflowers and regular cannabis are two completely different plants to grow, although they are technically the same species, they have to be treated completely differently from one another to achieve the same results. Any type of stress be that from transplanting, to over feeding, etc, can and most likely will cause you're auto's to either go into shock too long to recover from or they will quite simply begin flowering straight away regardless of age or size.

Now this is not to say you absolutely cannot transplant auto's. You can, I transplant mine all the time but this is really not recommended while you're learning the ropes with autos. Once you're able to read them better you will find there is a very short window where you can successfully transplant your girls but that window is very, very short. Get it wrong and you'll mess up your whole grow and you'll have to start again. Easiest way to avoid this is to just not do it in the first place :)

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. : )

Actually no, LED's are far more powerful than CFL's and will be much more productive than CFL's can be too. Autoflowers will flower at a certain age (roughly anywhere between the 2nd-5th weeks) regardless of the lighting they're under. I have some growing outdoors atm which are getting zero direct lighting and they're flowering perfectly well. I don't know the exact numbers but LED's put out a huge amount of lumens, certainly not less than CFL's or any other type of lighting.
I use my one single 125W (90W actual) LED to both veg and flower the plants in the tent. In fact, here's one of my Girl Scout Cookies which is beginning to flower under said LED, this isn't an auto but you can see what LED's can do for a plant. This btw has been fed purely on plain water, no nutrients at all apart from what's in the soil.



And as you can see, the LED does a pretty damn good job lol.
I can understand why people would think that about LED's but when set up correctly, the gentle balance of red, blue, white and UV bulbs will out perform almost any other type of lighting you could use, certainly any that I've tried so far. They're a lot more well suited to growing plants than many people give them credit for. I mean there's a reason NASA uses LED's to grow plants on the space station lol.

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.

Keeping the small CFL's in the tent sat with the lower level branches and installing an LED as the main light will sort that problem out. Another great thing about LED's is they have huge range and will penetrate through the canopy even when sat at what seems like a far distance away from the plants.
The Girl Scout Cookie you can see above has had the LED sat around half a metre away from the top of the canopy and you can see there has been very little stretching so buying an LED will remove the ballache that is constantly adjusting the height of the lamps. I just sit mine 3/4's of the way up the tent and then just allow my plants to grow towards the light and then I only really need to move the lamp once late in flower to avoid any bleaching on the top colas. I honestly cannot praise LED's enough, they've been the best investment I've made so far, they improved my grows no end and have made life so easy for me. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't bought one already :)

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Photos are sorted now, sorry about that ;)

 

[Pumu]

DAY 6:

Freaky NL is still freaky


WW

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Looking good dude, that White Widow is right on track. Who's the breeder of these seeds btw?
Haha, yeah, that's definitely a funky one you have there. As I mentioned previously, mutants can be a lot of fun to keep around when you have the space. It's fun to watch them grow into weird and wonderful shapes but more often than not, mutant/stunted/abused plants, will for some reason be a lot more potent than any of it's couterparts and they always have a much more intense flavour.

There is one type of mutie I refuse to kill and actually even breed with it, are the three/four armed girls. I have one Bubbleicious I use for breeding which grows either sets of three branches or four at each internode meaning the fklowering points double on her compared to normal Bubbleicious lol. I'm in the process of trying to isolate this gene while turning it autoflower using a rather well known strain on another blog/forum we run. I might grow some out soon and I'll be able to show you :)

Looking really good though dude, keep up the good work :)

 

[Pumu]

Looking good dude, that White Widow is right on track. Who's the breeder of these seeds btw?

Hello dude, white widow is from Royal Queen Seeds, Northern Light is unknown.
to practise, i wanna LST them, approx. in which week should i start training?

There is one type of mutie I refuse to kill and actually even breed with it, are the three/four armed girls. I have one Bubbleicious I use for breeding which grows either sets of three branches or four at each internode meaning the fklowering points double on her compared to normal Bubbleicious lol. I'm in the process of trying to isolate this gene while turning it autoflower using a rather well known strain on another blog/forum we run. I might grow some out soon and I'll be able to show you :)

i'd really love to see it and also if you have a good LST guide would you share with me?
i ve found a few but may be you have a better one :D

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Hello dude, white widow is from Royal Queen Seeds, Northern Light is unknown.
to practise, i wanna LST them, approx. in which week should i start training?

Ah cool, cheers dude. I've read a lot about Royal Queen, I remember them first coming out with their auto's but I've still not tried any of their genetics yet.
I don't know what it is about Northern Lights and autoflowers but I've tried three different NL from 3 different breeders now and not one of them has grown well. I have fantastic results with tonnes of different plants but every Northern Lights I've tried has failed miserably. I do actually have a Northern Lights seed in storage from Royal Seeds as it happens so I might drop it soon and see how that fairs :)

i'd really love to see it and also if you have a good LST guide would you share with me?
i ve found a few but may be you have a better one :D

I can't remember if I've written a LST guide before, quite possibly and if I have, it will be found somewhere on autoflower.net.
That's where most of my work is.
However, a few friends of mine have started our own blog/forum specifically for autoflowers called autoflower-portal.net and this is where I work from now :)
Come and check us out, I'm sure you'll find lots of good knowledge tailored specifically for autos. I can always be found there too although I am trying to keep on top of this thread as posts come through. Hope to see you there one day though :)

I've been craving some bubblegum for a couple of months actually so yeah, I'll drop a few beans to show you the funky branch setting :)

 

[Junk]

DAY 4:
WW
View attachment 538025

NL : she seems strange View attachment 538031

Have you had that WW before? Any good? I've been strain chasing that for over a year.

 

[Junk]

Ah cool, cheers dude. I've read a lot about Royal Queen, I remember them first coming out with their auto's but I've still not tried any of their genetics yet.
I don't know what it is about Northern Lights and autoflowers but I've tried three different NL from 3 different breeders now and not one of them has grown well. I have fantastic results with tonnes of different plants but every Northern Lights I've tried has failed miserably. I do actually have a Northern Lights seed in storage from Royal Seeds as it happens so I might drop it soon and see how that fairs :)



I can't remember if I've written a LST guide before, quite possibly and if I have, it will be found somewhere on autoflower.net.
That's where most of my work is.
However, a few friends of mine have started our own blog/forum specifically for autoflowers called autoflower-portal.net and this is where I work from now :)
Come and check us out, I'm sure you'll find lots of good knowledge tailored specifically for autos. I can always be found there too although I am trying to keep on top of this thread as posts come through. Hope to see you there one day though :)

I've been craving some bubblegum for a couple of months actually so yeah, I'll drop a few beans to show you the funky branch setting :)

Everything I have gotten from RQ has been mediocre at best. That's anecdotal, so take it for what it's worth.

 

[Tarsey]

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
View attachment 537852

DAY 1:
WW
View attachment 537853

NL
View attachment 537854

DAY 3:
WW
View attachment 537855

NL
View attachment 537856

HI; So you put the seed right into the 3 gal. pot put plastic over it and put it under the lights right away? I have one seed that I am trying out. I put it in dark with wet paper towels, then it hatched then put it in a peat pod then back in the dark covered for 2 days and now under the light. Do I have to do all that shit??
Tarsey

 

[Junk]

I use root riot cubes with good success. If it's a big tough seed you may want to scuff it up with some sand paper.

 

[Tarsey]

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

Hi; I am new at this. So I am trying assortment of seeds. I have one Widow auto. Just hatched and is looking good. Have on a 19 hr on and 5 hour off. Is this wrong? I have more autos on the same. Is it all wrong. Should it be 20 on and 4 off???
Thanks
Tarsey

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Have you had that WW before? Any good? I've been strain chasing that for over a year.

I haven't tried this particular Autoflowering White Widow from Royal Queen yet but one of my favourite autoflowers so far has been AutoWhite Widow from Dutch Passion. You'll find that here...
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/dutch-passion-autowhite-widow.60667/

I really do love that strain. Dutch Passion did a stunning job keeping it true to the original. It's one autoflower I recommend everyone should grow out once.

Everything I have gotten from RQ has been mediocre at best. That's anecdotal, so take it for what it's worth.

Cheers for the heads up dude. I kinda guess that's why I've not got round to growing any of thier stuff yet, I don't expect much. I tend to grow from a very select group of breeders and then use the ones I like to breed my own. I have thousands of seeds I've made I really need to begin developing lol. Cheers again dude :)

HI; So you put the seed right into the 3 gal. pot put plastic over it and put it under the lights right away? I have one seed that I am trying out. I put it in dark with wet paper towels, then it hatched then put it in a peat pod then back in the dark covered for 2 days and now under the light. Do I have to do all that shit??
Tarsey

It's really totally up to you how you want to go about germinating your seeds. A few friends of mine simply drop their seed in the soil and wait for it to sprout.
I personally prefer the paper towel method as I can see what seeds have germinated and what haven't even before sowing. I then sow the seeds and put the pots directly under the lights.
Some seeds I've had have taken over a month to germinate though so one should ever give up if you find they aren't cracking open lol.
But yeah, it's up to you how you go about it, if you find it easier to just drop the seed in the soil then do that.
One tip which will help if that's the method you choose and that is to soak the seeds overnight in a glass of water. This will help to prime them before sowing. :)

I use root riot cubes with good success. If it's a big tough seed you may want to scuff it up with some sand paper.

Great advice. Riot Cubes are a fantastic bit of kit. I don't use them myself but many of my growing buddies do with excellent results.
I really should use these for cloning rather than my usual method so I may pick up a bag of them at some point :)

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Hi; I am new at this. So I am trying assortment of seeds. I have one Widow auto. Just hatched and is looking good. Have on a 19 hr on and 5 hour off. Is this wrong? I have more autos on the same. Is it all wrong. Should it be 20 on and 4 off???
Thanks
Tarsey

Hi dude :)

Can I suggest starting a thread of your own in the autoflower section and we can hep you along with your grow one on one there rather than getting everything mixed up in Puma's thread :)

20/4 would be better for the auto's in my opinion. 19/5 is fine and they will grow perfectly well with that light cycle however, as autoflowers have a predetermined grow time and they also don't need a night cycle to flower, it makes sense to have your lights on for a long as possible to promote as much growth as possible. I regularly grow my auto's on a 24/0 cycle so they have zero darkness from the moment the break ground to the moment they're harvested The whole grow they sit bathing under the light so really, it's up to you how long you want to keep your lights on for (electricity bill is normally a factor here lol) but just remember the more darkness you give them, the slower they will grow, the more light you give them, the faster they will grow.
The two I always recommend though are 24/0 and/or 20/4.
One thing I do quite often is to veg them on 24/0 and then when they flower change that to 20/4 but rarely do I notice a difference to just having the lights on all day long, again, mainly it just came down to trying to keep the electricity bill down a little bit lol.

Anyways, if you start your own thread let me know and I'll do my best to help you along or check out our blog/forum address in my post above and I will meet you there :)

 

[Tarsey]

Hi dude :)

Can I suggest starting a thread of your own in the autoflower section and we can hep you along with your grow one on one there rather than getting everything mixed up in Puma's thread :)

20/4 would be better for the auto's in my opinion. 19/5 is fine and they will grow perfectly well with that light cycle however, as autoflowers have a predetermined grow time and they also don't need a night cycle to flower, it makes sense to have your lights on for a long as possible to promote as much growth as possible. I regularly grow my auto's on a 24/0 cycle so they have zero darkness from the moment the break ground to the moment they're harvested The whole grow they sit bathing under the light so really, it's up to you how long you want to keep your lights on for (electricity bill is normally a factor here lol) but just remember the more darkness you give them, the slower they will grow, the more light you give them, the faster they will grow.
The two I always recommend though are 24/0 and/or 20/4.
One thing I do quite often is to veg them on 24/0 and then when they flower change that to 20/4 but rarely do I notice a difference to just having the lights on all day long, again, mainly it just came down to trying to keep the electricity bill down a little bit lol.

Anyways, if you start your own thread let me know and I'll do my best to help you along or check out our blog/forum address in my post above and I will meet you there :)

Hi dude :)

Can I suggest starting a thread of your own in the autoflower section and we can hep you along with your grow one on one there rather than getting everything mixed up in Puma's thread :)

20/4 would be better for the auto's in my opinion. 19/5 is fine and they will grow perfectly well with that light cycle however, as autoflowers have a predetermined grow time and they also don't need a night cycle to flower, it makes sense to have your lights on for a long as possible to promote as much growth as possible. I regularly grow my auto's on a 24/0 cycle so they have zero darkness from the moment the break ground to the moment they're harvested The whole grow they sit bathing under the light so really, it's up to you how long you want to keep your lights on for (electricity bill is normally a factor here lol) but just remember the more darkness you give them, the slower they will grow, the more light you give them, the faster they will grow.
The two I always recommend though are 24/0 and/or 20/4.
One thing I do quite often is to veg them on 24/0 and then when they flower change that to 20/4 but rarely do I notice a difference to just having the lights on all day long, again, mainly it just came down to trying to keep the electricity bill down a little bit lol.

Anyways, if you start your own thread let me know and I'll do my best to help you along or check out our blog/forum address in my post above and I will meet you there :)

Thanks;
Tarsey

 

[Pumu]

Have you had that WW before? Any good? I've been strain chasing that for over a year.

Hello Junk, no i haven't tried before, actually this is my second grow, 1st one was a Diesel Ryder from an unknown source which i expected to gain some experience.

HI; So you put the seed right into the 3 gal. pot put plastic over it and put it under the lights right away? I have one seed that I am trying out. I put it in dark with wet paper towels, then it hatched then put it in a peat pod then back in the dark covered for 2 days and now under the light. Do I have to do all that shit??
Tarsey

Hello Tarsey, yeah i prefer this way, i am just trying to keep things simple.

 

[Pumu]

Hello everyone I completed first week today
Last few day outside temp was around 29-30 C so it was difficult to control growbox temp.
Thanks God that starting today it's going to decrease almost 10 C
But in anyway I prepared a DIY CO2 generator and put in my box. I hope my girls love it and I hope it's not early to give them CO2.

Here is pic of new adjustment:


And my girls
WW


NL


Keep in peace you all ✌