White Widow Fast Grow

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crimsonecho

crimsonecho

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I like that approach. It’s hard to say how much a plant needs since there are so many variables with enviornment but increasing the food little by little until you hit the sweet spot is part of the learning curve when it comes to soilless/hydro type mediums. It’s a much safer idea than bombarding them with a strong feed.


Yup. With fertile balanced organic soil you don’t really need to check pH or add additional nutrients. However I believe in MissBotany’s case the “soil” that was used isn’t truly soil but actually what is called a soilless medium. It’s ment to be flexible. It’s up to the gardener to amend it into a soil or to use it as a hybrid hydro medium. I really dislike how some companys label bags of perlite and peat as soil just because they added earth worm castings. It’s just not enough diversity to be true living soil by itself IMO.

Agreed. It is real easy to ammend the soil tho and just let it do its thing without the hassle of phing and adjusting correct amount of nutes and so on.
But as i said if you are phing you should do it at 6.8, imo it will be better for your plants. When you do 6.5, as the organic material decomposes it becomes acidic and at 6.4 P is not available for the plant according to the chart i posted above.
 
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crimsonecho

crimsonecho

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After after feeding, new and existing growth does fine then after a few days the issue appears. I rotated the plants because it appears the leaves that receive the highest light intensity are showing the defecieny/excess.

Increased rate of photosynthesis = increased nutrient uptake which could either mean they are getting too many nutrients or not enough. If the leaves that are now receiving the highest PAR become effected then I’ll know it’s because the lights are too close, again. However, I can’t raise the lights up any higher. I’ll have to get them moved into my other tent (which is occupied for another week or two).

Here’s a picture after I rotated the pots. The damaged leaves are now receiving lower intensity light and the healthy leaves are now in the highest PAR “footprint,” receiving the most intense light.

Also i see some brown spots on you leaves which can be caused by cal def. which is also not available below 6.5, these are all coming from a novice, so all opinions. But i had cal def. before and it looks just like those rusty spots on your leaves. Also if i am not mistaken cal def first shows on the leaves that are getting the most light.
 
MissBotany

MissBotany

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All good advice!
I think I have a couple of issues going on with light intensity and nutrients/soil.

Here’s the Rx for my sickly plants:
Feed 1 tsp of each gro, micro, bloom per gallon each watering, as needed. Adjust pH to 6.8. If needed, increase nutrient strength after one week.

Move light up as high as possible (I have 4” to work with). In the mean time, I moved all plants as far away as possible from the center of the tent to avoid the high intensity light.

Also, after 8 hours of rotating the pots, look what popped up on my previously healthy leaf!
 
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crimsonecho

crimsonecho

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All good advice!
I think I have a couple of issues going on with light intensity and nutrients/soil.

Here’s the Rx for my sickly plants:
Feed 1 tsp of each gro, micro, flora per gallon each watering, as needed. Adjust pH to 6.8. If needed, increase nutrient strength after one week.

Move light up as high as possible (I have 4” to work with). In the mean time, I moved all plants as far away as possible from the center of the tent to avoid the high intensity light.

Also, after 8 hours of rotating the pots, look what popped up on my previously healthy leaf!

I don’t think at 4 feet your issues are from light intensity 4 feet is a lot and these are not seedlings they should be ok with it, i have total of 220 true draw lights over 3 plants for veg hanging at 15 inches, started at 25 when they were seedlings and they were and currently are very comfortable with it. Mine are not qb’s but still 4 feet is mh or hps distance. I think phing at 6.8 will help.

Edit: i see that you said you have 4 feet not that you are at 4 feet, sorry, little baked. Well still they look healthy they should be ok with it imo tho i am not a qb expert by any means, how many watts do yours draw?
 
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justiceman

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Agreed. It is real easy to ammend the soil tho and just let it do its thing without the hassle of phing and adjusting correct amount of nutes and so on.
But as i said if you are phing you should do it at 6.8, imo it will be better for your plants. When you do 6.5, as the organic material decomposes it becomes acidic and at 6.4 P is not available for the plant according to the chart i posted above.
Yes I too prefer to amend my soil grows so that only water is necessary. Makes things much easier with organics.

I completely agree that in a real soil scenario you aren’t wrong about pH but there are a few key points that IMO change the typical rules of thumb for this particular grow. In the Epsoma mix the only thing that isn’t inert is worm castibgs which has already been processed and has a nuetral pH. There’s no blood, bone, or guano to break down and become acidic nor is there any dolomite lime or oyster shell to help balance out the acidity of the previous ingredients stated. None of them are there. There’s no food available from organic inputs nor is there food for the biology in the worm castings to munch on. It’s an incomplete soil web.

The epsoma mix is pretty much like promix and they are more suited to a slightly lower pH than true soil since it has no additional organic inputs. IMO I wouldn’t start changing the pH just yet.

All good advice!
I think I have a couple of issues going on with light intensity and nutrients/soil.

Here’s the Rx for my sickly plants:
Feed 1 tsp of each gro, micro, bloom per gallon each watering, as needed. Adjust pH to 6.8. If needed, increase nutrient strength after one week.

Move light up as high as possible (I have 4” to work with). In the mean time, I moved all plants as far away as possible from the center of the tent to avoid the high intensity light.

Also, after 8 hours of rotating the pots, look what popped up on my previously healthy leaf!
I like that nutrient plan. They seem to be pretty happy with N so if you see them get any greener or the leaves start to claw down you will know to reduce the grow and/or micro a bit.
 
crimsonecho

crimsonecho

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Yes I too prefer to amend my soil grows so that only water is necessary. Makes things much easier with organics.

I completely agree that in a real soil scenario you aren’t wrong about pH but there are a few key points that IMO change the typical rules of thumb for this particular grow. In the Epsoma mix the only thing that isn’t inert is worm castibgs which has already been processed and has a nuetral pH. There’s no blood, bone, or guano to break down and become acidic nor is there any dolomite lime or oyster shell to help balance out the acidity of the previous ingredients stated. None of them are there. There’s no food available from organic inputs nor is there food for the biology in the worm castings to munch on. It’s an incomplete soil web.

The epsoma mix is pretty much like promix and they are more suited to a slightly lower pH than true soil since it has no additional organic inputs. IMO I wouldn’t start changing the pH just yet.

I think tinkering with the ph is the easiest thing to do in this scenario tho, thats my opinion, i agree about the incomplete soil web and not much organics to lower the ph but if this is a peat mix, peat moss is organic and i think at least that decomposes over time?
 
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justiceman

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I think tinkering with the ph is the easiest thing to do in this scenario tho, thats my opinion, i agree about the incomplete soil web and not much organics to lower the ph but if this is a peat mix, peat moss is organic and i think at least that decomposes over time?
True tinkering with pH isn’t that hard to do. In this case only the little reactive strips and color chart are available to Missbotany. They get it done but the strips aren’t perfect for precise pH measurments so I would be weary in attempting to guess 6.8 in fear that it’s above 7 as hydroponic nutrients don’t do well above 7.

Good point. Peat moss does decompose over time but unfortunatley its nutritional value is practically nothing.
 
crimsonecho

crimsonecho

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True tinkering with pH isn’t that hard to do. In this case only the little reactive strips and color chart are available to Missbotany. They get it done but the strips aren’t perfect for precise pH measurments so I would be weary in attempting to guess 6.8 in fear that it’s above 7 as hydroponic nutrients don’t do well above 7.

Good point. Peat moss does decompose over time but unfortunatley its nutritional value is practically nothing.

Actually that was my concern too, when i was phing anything that gives off a tint to the water, the strips and drops were inaccurate for me so bought a ph pen then moved to organic soil which is the best for me, slow but steady. In this case because she doesn’t have a ph pen, she could be setting the ph even lower, that would cause a lockout i think. Well in anycase i think she had diagnosed a P deficiency earlier and also i think what she now has looks like a calcium deficiency, what would be your suggestion about the solution, from your posts i think you are advising to up the nutes right? Which i too think should be done, but also with correct ph because it is as you said, like a soilless grow, correct ph value becomes more important in this case.
 
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justiceman

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Actually that was my concern too, when i was phing anything that gives off a tint to the water, the strips and drops were inaccurate for me so bought a ph pen then moved to organic soil which is the best for me, slow but steady. In this case because she doesn’t have a ph pen, she could be setting the ph even lower, that would cause a lockout i think. Well in anycase i think she had diagnosed a P deficiency earlier and also i think what she now has looks like a calcium deficiency, what would be your suggestion about the solution, from your posts i think you are advising to up the nutes right? Which i too think should be done, but also with correct ph because it is as you said, like a soilless grow, correct ph value becomes more important in this case.

Yup we are on the same page for the solution. I believe MissBotany has a decent plan of attack at this point. Increased frequency of light strength feeding for a week and then assessing from there.
 
MissBotany

MissBotany

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My plan for treating my white widows worked. They were definitely synthesizing nutrients faster than I was providing because of how efficient these lights are. They been watered/fed twice since I started this new feeding schedule. All new and old growth is healthy. I’ve also put a fan blowing on the airpots to help dry out the soil since it’s made to stay wet. This has helped immensely because it allows the soil to dry out so I can feed them without overwatering.

I took three clones today and moved the larger white widow to the flower tent. Hopefully my clones take because I won’t have more seeds for another two/three weeks.

I do feel a little bad about how negative I was towards espoma soil. It would definitely be beneficial for those who grow outdoors in very hot/dry climates. You’d probably want to add soil conditioners since it’s pretty inert. But I’m still a little salty about the false advertising.
 
MissBotany

MissBotany

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I’m tired of messing around with soil. Luckily my white widow got through the soil debacle and are all 1 week into flower and healthy.

I FINALLY called a garden center about 15 min from me that is supposed to have Fox Farm products in stock and they do! It’s $18.99 for 1.5cu ft of FFOF. Much better than online prices. They also have happy frog but I’ll stick with ocean forest for now.
 
MissBotany

MissBotany

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The White widow are doing good. I defoliated a few days ago. This is a must for me to get better light penetration (until
I get new lights) and to help prevent PM since my humidity is on the higher end and my nighttime gets pretty cool.

My seeds should be here soon. I can’t wait to get the next grow started. My order is pretty diverse and I have some strains that should be cool to watch grow. If anyone has any recommendations on strains with high THC and tend to be “showy” (interesting calyx color, pistil color, etc.) let me know. I really want to find a good blue strain.

I have my eye on Frisian Duck, bloody skunk auto, and blue ox.
 
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MissBotany

MissBotany

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I’d say it’s a pretty good day! Seeds came in the mail and a sweet watermelon. I love my watermelon almost as much as I love growing :)

Now debating on which 4 to grow first. When I put 4 of the photoperiod in the flower tent, I’m going to start 1 auto in the veg on 4000k so they finish at the same time.
 
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MissBotany

MissBotany

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I’m so jealous of all these outdoor grows! The best energy source at my fingertips and I can’t even use it. I understand the DEA drug classiciations but COME ON, how can marijuana be a schedule 1 and alcohol be completely legal. Alcohol is more addictive and statistically more destructive than marijuana ever could be. I may be biased because I hate alcohol (the sound of any can popping open or the sight of a daytime drinker makes me cringe). Any substance has the potential to be a gateway drug or the source of someone’s addition. Maybe marijuana is addictive but once a person deals with a raging alcoholic or any kind of destructive addiction, anything less destructive to replace the more destruction addiction is better.

In the mean time, I’ll enjoy my small grow with my artificial lights :)


First pic: White Widow nice and lush. Almost two weeks into flower.

Second pic: after vegging Nirvana bubblelicious under a blurple light (first grow) and now under an HLG qb65, I found they are just very compact plants. Very little to no difference except the fan leaf size. Slightly bigger under the qb. I am taking more time to train this one with multiple toppings. Going to put her in the flower tent once she bounces back from the toppings in order to make room in the veg tent for my next grow.
 
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I agree with the comment about alcohol I do not hate it but; I do agree it is very addicting and way worse than cannabis wether some ppl will admit it or not . On another note the plants are looking good , that second pic looks like a goofy plant lol.
 
MissBotany

MissBotany

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I took off a few of the huge fan leaves that were blocking future bud sites and now it does look goofy.

Edit: I don’t completely hate alcohol, I do enjoy the occasional drink here and there but there are certain triggers related to alcohol that put me in full blown panic mode.
 
justiceman

justiceman

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I hear you. It's really fun to grow outside, but it's also still really fun to grow inside too :cool:. It's always baffled me how much alcohol some people can drink on a regular basis, and I'm not talking about their ability to handle the intoxication. It's hard not to notice the negative side affects on the body a day or so after. I myself like a drink or so every now and then but it's not easy on the body like cannabis is for me at least.

The plants are looking great. What feeding schedule did you end up adopting to cover their needs? Good job. It's much harder for growers to come back from deficiency than it is to smooth sail all the way through.
 
MissBotany

MissBotany

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They are really thirsty plants so I end up watering about every two/three days. They get about 1/2 strength nutes @ 600ppm (gp massive, GH bloom & micro), then water and molasses, then full strength @ 1100ppm (gp massive, GH bloom & micro). If they need an extra watering between all that then it’s just plain water. Settled in on about 6.8 pH.
 
MissBotany

MissBotany

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And then there were none.
Mr. Hyde came out to play last night and during all the fun, every single plant was cut down. I saw the alcohol sneaking its claws back in over the past two months but all a person can do is really wait until something catastrophic enough happens that will result in a positive change. Thankfully, the journey to sobriety starts over. On a positive note, I got to clean my tents out and and tidy up a bit.

So here’s my plan. Since the husband is running low on cannabis and having this grow destroyed seriously puts a time crunch on things. I have 9 seeds germinating as of today: 5 autos(RQS Diesel and Dark devil) and 4 photos (blueberry, Jack Herer, peppermint kush, CBD cream and cheese). I’m am putting the autos in the big tent and vegging the four photos until the autos are done. I layered my soil for the autos so that FFOF fills 3/4 of the smart pot and a “diluted” mixture of FFOF and plain soil on top so the auto seedlings don’t burn. By the time they get a better root system. established, they will get come into contact with the pure FFOF. I started to experiment with mainlining before the incident so I will continue that venture with the new photos.
 
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