Seraphim does Auto White Widow by DP

[Seraphim19]

In this thread I will be growing an auto white widow from dutch passion. I will also be explaining the step by step process that I use for growing, so hopefully this thread will provide a growers guide for people wanting to try an autoflowering plant.

I am an organic farmer and everything I do with this plant will be based on that.

SOIL

Step one for me is soil preparation. I dont use hydro shops as I see just visiting one of these places as a risk on security, so instead of using happy frog or plagron soil I visit my local garden centre and get my soil from there.

When buying soil I look for a brand that has little or no fertiliser added and I steer well clear of anything that has miracle grow in it. the reason for this is because these fertilizers are slow release and will deliver nutrients at the wrong time i.e. during the final flush

Once I have the soil I mix it up using the following recipe:

This recipe if for 10 l

5 litres of soil
2.5 litres of perlite
2.5 litres of vermiculite
1 heaped table spoon of fish blood and bone
1 heaped table spoon of bat guano
the dried powdered shells from 2-3 eggs
1/2 cup of gardening sand

I mix these ingredient together thoroughly, fill a 10 l pot and wet it down. I then let this pot sit for at least a week and test the ph regularly to ensure that it falls between 63 and 6.5

Once the soil has had a chance to stabilise with the added ingredients its time to plant up.

 

[Seraphim19]

Germination and potting up

There are a lot of ways to germinate your seeds but for now I will just explain the method I use and why.

To start my plants I use root riot cubes. They are organic and save time and potential damage later on.

To germinate my seeds I simply place one into each cube and then sit them in a bowl containing water that is about 1cm deep. the water in the bottom of the bowl keeps the seeds moist without drowning them and should be topped up if it dries out.

Once this is done I put the bowl into my grow room(so I have a controlled temperature for germination) and wait.

After about a week the seed should have germinated and sprouted from the top of the cube. At this point you will need to plant the whole cube into the final growing pot. By planting the whole cube you will minimise the risk of damaging the roots when potting up,

The size of pot that I grow in depends on available space, strain of auto and the yield I am looking for.
for a small plant that will yield around 14 - 28 grams of dry bud I use a 4litre/1 gallon pot
for a regular auto that will yield 28 - 70 grams I use a 8 litre/2 gallon pot
for large strains or super autos I use a 10-12 litre/3 gallon pot

For this grow I will be using a 1o litre air-pot

My White widow broke ground on the 8th of Jan, I refer to the day a plant breaks ground as day 1

So far I have potted up the white widow and watered it in using r/o filtered water and 1ml/litre rhizio root stimulant.
Root stimulant is very important during the first 3 weeks of an auto's life as it has a very short veg period so a little help rooting massively increases the final performance of the plant.

 

[Mogrow]

let's see what we got here.
will follow with open mind
peace mogrow

 

[Seraphim19]

let's see what we got here.
will follow with open mind
peace mogrow

Its good to have you along for the ride Mogrow I will do my best to share what I know about autos with you

 

[Seraphim19]

Growing Environment

Now I have potted up I need to put my spout back into my grow area. In this post I will outline the equipment I will be using and the conditions I maintain for a good grow.

First the equipment.
For this one I will be growing in a converted wardrobe which has been lined with diamond mylar.

In this wardrobe I have a small carbon filter fited with a 4" duct fan. I have located the carbon filter at the top to expel the hottest air and help to maintain a constant temperature.

For lighting I will be using two lights
a 135w 3w chip ufo led with x2 lenses. This light is a full spectrum one
and a 180w 3w chip x2 lens square led light. This light only uses the red and blue spectrums
These lights run at 2/3rds of their stated wattage. This is to preserve the life of the light
So the 135 uses about 90watts and the 180 uses about 120watts

For air circulation I will be using one 8"clip on fan and two 3"usb powered fans

The wardrobe is also fitted with a hygrometer so I can keep track of temperatures and relative humidity

I have passive intake holes at the bottom of the wardrobe to the back and I also have a 4" intake fan that I turn on if I need to cool down the space.

I will post pictures of all the equipment in a couple of days once I get my camera back.

Now the Growing Environment

To get the best out of auto I maintain the following condition as best as I can

lighting - is set on a timer and runs at 20 hours on and 4 hours off. This will be the same for the entire grow

light distance - when young I keep the leds about 12-18" from the tops of the plants and when they have stopped the vertical growth I keep the lights about 9 - 12" from the tops

Air circulation - the circulation fans are on 24hrs a day

temperature - I try to keep the daytime temperature at 26 c (under 20c or over 30c and you will have problems)

relative humidity - I try to keep this in the 40 - 60% range so I am not in danger of developing budrot in the budding stages.

Soil ph - I test this at every feeding and I will be keeping this at 6.5

 

[Seraphim19]

I think I am about up to date with this grow now so I will update this thread again on Wednesday when I can get some pictures up.
For the next post I will be showing the equipment and the plant. Then I will go through my nutrients and feeding schedule

the plant will be 7 days old when I show her off.

 

[Seraphim19]

Sorry guys I have been away for a bit but I am back now and I will get back up to date very soon.

Here is my White widow at day 14

She is being fed 2ml rhiziotonic ad 1ml bio bizz grow (per litre)

 

[Seraphim19]

As you can see she has done a lot of growing in the last 7 days

I have got her on 3ml bio bizz grow and 2ml rhiziotonic root stim.
If she keeps growing at this rate I will start a bit of LST next week so I can spread her out a bit.

I promise I will take pics of the grow equipment and show it on the next update, plus I will put up my new feeding schedule.

 

[Seraphim19]

Sorry for the break in the thread I will bring it up to date shortly.

I went to Nepal on a strain hunt, so I had to leave a friend to care for the plant. He didn't do a good job and I came back to a ph imbalance that has taken me 2 weeks to correct.

At least I can show what happens when your soil ph is wrong and how to correct it.

I will be starting another auto thread today so I can show off one that has been grown without problems.

I am off to sort through the photos, updates soon!

 

[Seraphim19]

Ok here we go, at day 21 she was struck down by a soil ph problem. I don't know how he did it but my friend who I left it with managed to take the soil ph from 6.5 to 5.7

Anyway here are some pictures of the devastation.

So once I figured out what the problem was I applied some lime and fed the plant as normal.

She was fed 3ml grow, 2ml rhizio this week

 

[Seraphim19]

Day 28

She has started to recover, her colour is beginning to come back now. The soil ph has just come back up into the acceptable range so I am hoping for a big improvement in condition over the next two weeks.

Considering she was suffering and had slowed her growth, I decided to do a little lst to try and get the best out of her.

This week she was fed on 4ml grow and 2ml rhizio

 

[Seraphim19]

Day 35

She is still not completely recovered but she does have much better colour this week.

You can see the way I have spread her out in these pictures. She has taken the lst well and is back to growing a bit faster.

She has just started to develop crystals so I thought I would show a couple of close ups.

This week she was fed on 4ml grow and 2ml rhizio

OK that's it I am back up to date now. the next update will be on weds 5th

 

[Seraphim19]

sorry for the delay in updating I have been running around with work so I have been short of time.

Anyway let me bring you back up to date.
Firstly I just realised going back through this thread that my dates are well off.
the correct timeline is
post #7 = 14 days - food = 1ml grow, 2ml rhizio
post #8 = 21 days - food = 3ml grow, 2ml rhizio
post #10 = 28 days - food = 3ml grow, 2ml rhizio(supposedly I wasn't there)
post #11 = 35 days - food = 3ml grow, 2ml rhizio
post #12 = 49 days - food = 4ml grow, 2ml rhizio

I missed out a week of photos and I labelled two weeks as the same date so its best I straighten that out now before someone pulls me up on it.

She stopped her vertical growth at around day 40 and I started to lower the grow nutrients and raise the bloom nutrients

She is on 2ml grow and 2ml bloom this week
Now here are some pics from day 56

 

[Seraphim19]

Day 66

she is currently being fed 3.5ml bio bizz bloom

this strain is very resilient, she has taken a lot of punishment and she is still looking like giving me a nice harvest.

She is swelling up nicely now, but I think she will be another 3 weeks before she is done. Its a bit longer than I would usually expect one of my strains to take, but if the reports I have read are true then it will be well worth the wait.

Here are the latest pics of her

 

[caveman4.20]

Nice recovery!

 

[Seraphim19]

Nice recovery!

thanks mate

 

[Seraphim19]

Day 73

Here she is at day 73, I think she will be ready for harvest in another 2 weeks.
For the last 2 weeks I will be feeding her plain water and molasses.

 

[str8smokn]

So what ever happened? Any pictures? Way to save her my friend. :)what was final weight?
STR8