Hey all, time for a summer grow and this time I'm trying the White Widow Max strain from 420-seeds.com. As a basis for comparison, I started with two seeds in soil and two seeds in hydro. The soil babies get a 300W cfl (going to use these as 'Mothers'). The hydro babies get an old used up 400W MH bulb that I am going to replace this weekend - you can see in the pics of the hydro babies, their growth is lagging behind the soil guys).
See my last grow (random bagseed experiment) here --> Consciousness420s random bagseed hydro grow

SETUP :
Closet dimensions : 3.5 feet x 10 feet x 12 feet
its a small room BUT I have a 185CFM air blower feeding to a dryer vent to the outside via a 5 foot ducting (continuously on when the light is on)
Two standard oscillating fans - one of them brings in fresh air into the room from the rest of the house.
One 400W Metal Halide for veg cycle for the hydro plants
One 400W HPS for flowering (lights not used simultaneously) - for hydro
One General Hydroponics PowerGrower ECO (with
Rockwool media (1.5 inch starter cubes and 4x4 inch grow cubes)
Nutrients : General Hydroponics Flora series
Hydro drip rate --> 15 minutes on per hour (40mL/minute)
Transpiration rate --> so far seems to be about 1/2 gallon per day
Soil plants have a 300W CFL and regular plant food/water
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4 seeds were germinated using the paper towel method for two days
Sprouts were put into Rockwool on 5/10
Metal Halide light ran 18 hours per day
Nutrient solution at 1/4 strength for first week
Soil is fully watered every 3rd day
Soil plants are 6 inches from CFLs and hydro plants are 2.5 feet from old 400W MH

It is 5/16 and all four seedlings survived and are thriving at the end of the first week (pics below). I will update this journal each week with pics and procedure. Feel free to comment. So far I am impressed with the 420-seeds.com White Widow Max (germination rate and health of seedlings); a pack of 10 were mailed discreetly from Europe (was impressed with the packaging and price - only $50). As soon as I get a new MH bulb, I think the hydro babies will catch up with the soil babies growth rate. Hopefully this grow will yield some incredible White Widow kind bud! I plan to use the soil plants as 'Mothers' and just put clones in the hydro setup for a brief veg then flower, BUT if the current hydro guys get going and do well, if any are girls, I'll bud them before starting a new 'sea of green'. Stay tuned!

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It is 5/24 and all four plants are thriving at the end of the second week (pics below). The hydros were given a fresh Metal Halide bulb and the growth has started to pick up the pace. The hydros are now on 1:1:1 NPK ratio solution. The soil plants were transplanted into a larger container. There is a pungent scent of natural oils from the tops of the plants. The light cycle for all plants is 18/6. The plan is to change the hydros to 12/12 in 2-3 weeks and keep the soil plants at 18/6 as 'mothers' (to be determined later).

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It is 5/31 so it is the end of the 3rd week and this strain from 420-seeds.com is really something else! 100% germination and very healthy seedlings and now they are vegging into very good looking plants. Since the soil plants are only going to be used for harvesting cuttings, I have topped them both and will continue to keep them at a height of 1 foot.
The hydros are extremely dense (insanely short internodal length) and lush with an amazingly great marijuana smell to them. The nutrient solution is now at NPK 3:2:1. The plan is to veg them for another week or so until they reach 1 foot (currently at 6 inches), then I will begin flower cycle.
Pics below.. laterz

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It is the end of the 4th week and the hydros are doing very well.
For the transition into pre-flowering, the NPK ratio was changed to 2:2:2
and the photoperiod was changed to 12/12. I will them let sit under the Metal Halide bulb for another week or two at 12/12 until I can determine sex, then hopefully if any girls exist I will at that time change to the HPS bulb. Humidity is held constant at 50% and temp is held at 85 F and drops to 78-80 F with no lights. Both plants are at 1 foot in height.
I really am pleased with this strain and I can see why 420-seeds.com tacked on the 'Max' to the name because the lower branching is insanely robust/thick (almost like multiple whole twin plants coming out from the base as side branches).
Pics below, later....

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The plants are in the pre-flowering phase (transition into flowering). One of them is a male so I am going to cut it down.
Hopefully the other plant is a female; if not, I'll have to take cuttings from the two 'Mothers' (still not sure of the sex of the soil plants) and put them in the hydro setup to find out if any will flower. The other plant is shorter and has not yet shown signs of flowering so hopefully it is a female.
Pics below.. later

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Both hydro plants turned out to be male so I cut them down. I replaced the planter with two clones from the two 'Mothers' (soil plants), but I do not yet know the sex of these so I will have to wait a while before I know if any will flower. Will update this journal in a few weeks once I know the outcome...

The clones from the 'Mother' plants (still not sure what sex) are doing well at the end of the second week. Nutrient ratio is now at 1:1:1 after the first week was at 0.5:0.25:0.25. They need another week or two before they go to the flowering 12/12 photoperiod; at which point we'll see if any are female. Pics below...

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What was female to male ratio on the white widow max? I'm growing one myself from the same seedbank. Day 38 in flower.

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I received 10 seeds from that seedbank and I only germinated 4 of them, 2 out of the 4 so far have been male, but very soon I'll be able to see if there are any females as regards the mothers/clones...
Nice looking bud

Arrggghhh, nothing but males; just unlucky.. Both clones were males (pics below) so that means the soil plants are males so I have cut all of the plants down and going to start a new crop soon. I am going to do exactly the same procedure with the new crop so IF I can eventually get a female plant I will update this journal... laterz

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