Laserbrn - DP White Widow
- Thread starter laserbrn
- Start date
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
This is for future reference and to answer any questions people may have because I always skimp on the details on my journal. So this sort of my simple guide to growing marijuana. I’m going to try to remember to include as many details as possible.
Equipment:
4’x4’x7’ Tent
1000w Digital Ballast (Dimmable)
1000w Bulb HPS – Try to use the better bulbs and replace them every grow. The loss in yield isn’t worth the cost of the bulb. The more light, the more bud.
6 Lamp T5HO Fixture – The vegging light. Very likely to be replaced by LED’s in the near future, but I love this lamp. Times change.
6” Air cooled hood. – I use a Sun Systems XL, but there are a lot of options. For a 4x4 space I like a wider hood.
6” inline fan for exhaust 365cfm
4” inline fan for intake
20” Box Fan – Easy to find the summer, sometimes a real bitch to find one of these in the winter.
3 Gallon square soil pots – I love square pots.
Digital Soil PH Meter – This meter is for measuring the soil, not the nutrient solution. I have found this to be absolutely essential. Measuring run off isn’t enough information. It doesn’t draw you the picture. Measuring the runoff will not tell you everything that you need to know and/or consider.
Digital PH Meter / Pen
Portable RO Filter – I like growing with RO water. I originally caused my some problems, but the tap water in my area is too hard and I really just like starting with pure clean water.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-Drinking-100GPD-Reverse-Osmosis-RO-System-/110736559837?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c869cedd
Soil & Nutrients:
Happy Frog Soil for Seedlings
Fox Farms Ocean Forest
Fox Farms Grow Big, Big Bloom & Tiger Bloom
Botanicare Cal Mag Plus
View attachment 1920312
View attachment 1920329
Seeds – Dutch Passions White Widow – Feminized.
I get my seeds from Attitude Seedbank. I’ve tried a few different places and now this is my spot. If they screw me over that may change, but as long as they keep reliably sending me seeds and they keep selling this Dutch Passions White Widow, I’ll keep buying the seeds. I really enjoy growing this strain and at least for the time being, I’m done deviating. It’s much easier with a lockdown on one strain and this one is the hands down winner after years of growing different straings. This was the favorite that I found. The best production/quality combination. I wouldn’t even call it compromise, the shit is both powerfully strong and a fantastic producer. It grows big beautiful buds like the one in my avatar and everyone that smokes it says it’s the strongest shit they ever remember smoking. I use feminized seeds because there are gaps in my growing, I don’t continue with clones over and over as I have a spell in the summer when the temps are too high and I don’t grow. I have never had a hermie with this strain and I’ve had 100% females thus far.
Germinating –
I germinate my seeds directly in red solo cups filled with Happy Frog soil. The only important details here are that the cups are solid in color and not clear (light kills roots) and make sure to make holes in the bottoms of the cups for good drainage.
I just put the seed in the soil in the center of the cup about 1 inch deep and cover it with soil. Add water and leave it alone. After about 6 or 7 days a full on sprout forms. I do not add water before there is a full sprout.
Seedlings –
The T5HO is placed 20” above the cups. Yes, 20”. The light will stay at this height until they grow within an inch of the light, that’s when I’ll raise it. The light is very intense and the little seedlings don’t like it if it is placed too close. This also allows me to just place the box fan behind the plants and turn it on the “1” setting for a slow constant breeze between the plants and the light. The light breeze helps ensure strong stems. Not too strong, remember they are touchy. I will water the cups pretty thoroughly at this stage with RO water. They should have enough nutrients to last until about the 4th node.
Vegetative –
I consider this to be the stage after the 4th node. It is time to transplant into FFOF and their final home in the 3 gallon square pots. Not much to add here, just add the FFOF, drop the plants in and water them thoroughly with RO Water, but this time I’ll add Cal Mag Plus at ¼ strength = ¼ tsp/gallon of water.
This will last for a few weeks watering every 3rd day, so about twice a week.
After about 3-4 weeks the plants will be getting to the point where the nodes are alternating. The plants will be about 12-18” tall and have 8-9 nodes. We are ready to flower.
Flower –
At this point the plants will have just about used up all of the nutrients in the soil. It’s time to start feeding.
From here out I pretty much follow the Fox Farms feeding schedule, except that I add Cal Mag Plus starting at ½ strength. I start the nutrients at ¼ strength for 2 feedings, then ½ strength for 2 feedings and then ¾ - full strength for the rest of the ride out. It is really strain dependant, but with DP White Widow I go full strength.
I mix the nutrients into a 2 gallon container and add water. Adjust the ph of the water/nutrient solution to 7.0 and go ahead and water.
I water every other day from here until the end. I follow a water-water-fee d schedule. But really I add Cal Mag on one of the water cycles so it would really be water-water(with Cal Mag)-Feed.
-I place the plants such that the largest or tallest plants are on the outside and the shortest plants are in the middle. Seems obvious, but just wanted to point it out.
At about the 8th week of flower I start checking the trichomes. Generally DP White Widow takes 9 weeks to finish so I generally just go by that. More on harvesting later when we get to that part.
-I switch to the 1000w light. During any warm periods that may exist in the very early and very late parts of the season I'll dim the ballast to 600w to keep temps under control.
I have found that in the dead of winter and during the coldest night (like it is right now) I can keep my 1000w light as close as about 12" in the center and as little as 8" from the plants off to the sides. The plants seem to love having tons of light, get'em as close as you can without frying them.
Equipment:
4’x4’x7’ Tent
1000w Digital Ballast (Dimmable)
1000w Bulb HPS – Try to use the better bulbs and replace them every grow. The loss in yield isn’t worth the cost of the bulb. The more light, the more bud.
6 Lamp T5HO Fixture – The vegging light. Very likely to be replaced by LED’s in the near future, but I love this lamp. Times change.
6” Air cooled hood. – I use a Sun Systems XL, but there are a lot of options. For a 4x4 space I like a wider hood.
6” inline fan for exhaust 365cfm
4” inline fan for intake
20” Box Fan – Easy to find the summer, sometimes a real bitch to find one of these in the winter.
3 Gallon square soil pots – I love square pots.
Digital Soil PH Meter – This meter is for measuring the soil, not the nutrient solution. I have found this to be absolutely essential. Measuring run off isn’t enough information. It doesn’t draw you the picture. Measuring the runoff will not tell you everything that you need to know and/or consider.
Digital PH Meter / Pen
Portable RO Filter – I like growing with RO water. I originally caused my some problems, but the tap water in my area is too hard and I really just like starting with pure clean water.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-Drinking-100GPD-Reverse-Osmosis-RO-System-/110736559837?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c869cedd
Soil & Nutrients:
Happy Frog Soil for Seedlings
Fox Farms Ocean Forest
Fox Farms Grow Big, Big Bloom & Tiger Bloom
Botanicare Cal Mag Plus
View attachment 1920312
View attachment 1920329
Seeds – Dutch Passions White Widow – Feminized.
I get my seeds from Attitude Seedbank. I’ve tried a few different places and now this is my spot. If they screw me over that may change, but as long as they keep reliably sending me seeds and they keep selling this Dutch Passions White Widow, I’ll keep buying the seeds. I really enjoy growing this strain and at least for the time being, I’m done deviating. It’s much easier with a lockdown on one strain and this one is the hands down winner after years of growing different straings. This was the favorite that I found. The best production/quality combination. I wouldn’t even call it compromise, the shit is both powerfully strong and a fantastic producer. It grows big beautiful buds like the one in my avatar and everyone that smokes it says it’s the strongest shit they ever remember smoking. I use feminized seeds because there are gaps in my growing, I don’t continue with clones over and over as I have a spell in the summer when the temps are too high and I don’t grow. I have never had a hermie with this strain and I’ve had 100% females thus far.
Germinating –
I germinate my seeds directly in red solo cups filled with Happy Frog soil. The only important details here are that the cups are solid in color and not clear (light kills roots) and make sure to make holes in the bottoms of the cups for good drainage.
I just put the seed in the soil in the center of the cup about 1 inch deep and cover it with soil. Add water and leave it alone. After about 6 or 7 days a full on sprout forms. I do not add water before there is a full sprout.
Seedlings –
The T5HO is placed 20” above the cups. Yes, 20”. The light will stay at this height until they grow within an inch of the light, that’s when I’ll raise it. The light is very intense and the little seedlings don’t like it if it is placed too close. This also allows me to just place the box fan behind the plants and turn it on the “1” setting for a slow constant breeze between the plants and the light. The light breeze helps ensure strong stems. Not too strong, remember they are touchy. I will water the cups pretty thoroughly at this stage with RO water. They should have enough nutrients to last until about the 4th node.
Vegetative –
I consider this to be the stage after the 4th node. It is time to transplant into FFOF and their final home in the 3 gallon square pots. Not much to add here, just add the FFOF, drop the plants in and water them thoroughly with RO Water, but this time I’ll add Cal Mag Plus at ¼ strength = ¼ tsp/gallon of water.
This will last for a few weeks watering every 3rd day, so about twice a week.
After about 3-4 weeks the plants will be getting to the point where the nodes are alternating. The plants will be about 12-18” tall and have 8-9 nodes. We are ready to flower.
Flower –
At this point the plants will have just about used up all of the nutrients in the soil. It’s time to start feeding.
From here out I pretty much follow the Fox Farms feeding schedule, except that I add Cal Mag Plus starting at ½ strength. I start the nutrients at ¼ strength for 2 feedings, then ½ strength for 2 feedings and then ¾ - full strength for the rest of the ride out. It is really strain dependant, but with DP White Widow I go full strength.
I mix the nutrients into a 2 gallon container and add water. Adjust the ph of the water/nutrient solution to 7.0 and go ahead and water.
I water every other day from here until the end. I follow a water-water-fee d schedule. But really I add Cal Mag on one of the water cycles so it would really be water-water(with Cal Mag)-Feed.
-I place the plants such that the largest or tallest plants are on the outside and the shortest plants are in the middle. Seems obvious, but just wanted to point it out.
At about the 8th week of flower I start checking the trichomes. Generally DP White Widow takes 9 weeks to finish so I generally just go by that. More on harvesting later when we get to that part.
-I switch to the 1000w light. During any warm periods that may exist in the very early and very late parts of the season I'll dim the ballast to 600w to keep temps under control.
I have found that in the dead of winter and during the coldest night (like it is right now) I can keep my 1000w light as close as about 12" in the center and as little as 8" from the plants off to the sides. The plants seem to love having tons of light, get'em as close as you can without frying them.
silusbotwin
Well-Known Member
Wow, our grows are pretty much identical aside from genetics. I'll be following closely!
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
4 weeks into flower. My plants are JUST starting to get a little light in color. I noticed a touch of burn on a couple of leaves from going full strength, so I'll back off from there. I have been watering with plain water all week to ensure no problems from burn. I will bump back up to 1/2 strength on the next feeding and next week I'll bump them up to 3/4 strength.
They received there doses of Grow Big and that did stop the spread of the yellowing of the lower leaves as expected, even caused a little "claw" on a couple of them. Nothing terrible, just the indicators I need to let me know where we are at.
They received there doses of Grow Big and that did stop the spread of the yellowing of the lower leaves as expected, even caused a little "claw" on a couple of them. Nothing terrible, just the indicators I need to let me know where we are at.
skinitti666
Well-Known Member
come on man really youre tryna jump on the rate of my growth look at the shit you got up in that bitch.come on be fair you know that my cfls aint got shit on yours and youre tryna make it seem as if you grew with the same shit it looks nice tho
TangerineDr
Member
Great stuff Laserbrn, subb'ed.
mistyriffs
Well-Known Member
beautiful 
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
I wasn't trying to jump on you. I was trying to be real clear to the OP in that thread that those plants are OVERFED, and that feeding DOUBLE was not an option that is going to save his plants. All I said was that you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. That's the truth and not something that you should be ashamed of. You are a new grower and as such should be VERY careful about assisting other people. Offering some input is one thing, but you were 100% dead wrong and that's damaging to another guys grow. You are seeing it as an opportunity to learn and try to help someone, but in reality you could easily be squashing this guys dream of a successful first grow.
I didn't intend for it to be personal, I just wanted to make sure that because I'm about to give conflicting advice to yours that he understands that your advice was coming from someone on their first grow who doesn't have experience witht the problem that this guy is facing. It's not a knock on you, someday I'm sure you'll overfeed and overwater your plants, and you'll know exactly what it looks like.
Instead of trying to help everyone who has a problem, try to stick to problems that you are familiar with. The new growers REALLY want to be successful and as much as it helps your experience to see and deal with a lot of problems vicariously through the internet, it can be very damaging if you give poor advice.
mistyriffs
Well-Known Member
good advice. i hope my first grow is successful 
frettfreak
Well-Known Member
laserbrn your plants look amazing bro!! Nice work!
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
Frettfreak (I'm assuming that's a guitar reference?)....
I got your PM. I'm going to look through your pics and try to tell you what I think you should do to put them back on track. At least what I would do in your shoes. I have grown hydro and have more experience with it than soil so I'll be able to help you out. I actually find hydro to be pretty straightforward compared to soil, a lot less 'Mystery' about what was in the soil, what's effecting ph, etc. I am just walking out the door of my office right now to head home, when I get there I'll look it over and see if we can get your plants on the road to happy and healthy. I looked at a couple of pics and so far they don't seem terribly off, maybe just a couple of items that could be wrong.
I got your PM. I'm going to look through your pics and try to tell you what I think you should do to put them back on track. At least what I would do in your shoes. I have grown hydro and have more experience with it than soil so I'll be able to help you out. I actually find hydro to be pretty straightforward compared to soil, a lot less 'Mystery' about what was in the soil, what's effecting ph, etc. I am just walking out the door of my office right now to head home, when I get there I'll look it over and see if we can get your plants on the road to happy and healthy. I looked at a couple of pics and so far they don't seem terribly off, maybe just a couple of items that could be wrong.
skinitti666
Well-Known Member
my bad bro for jumpin the wagon you actually taught me something new i mean next time bro just spit the knowledge man dont make me feel like shit good grow man i dig it
frettfreak
Well-Known Member
Yup.. guitar reference
Yeah, they werent too bad looking yet, although i had the same thing happen last time, i didnt correct it and spent the whole grow trying to combat it, so thanks again for your input!! Just out of curiosity, what made you switch from hydro to soil? also, you said that you water water feed on your grow, now i know that is soil, but should i be doing something like that with hydro?? I usually give them a 1/4 strength water / flush once a week but more so when they start to flower than in veg. Just curious on your thoughts with that too.
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
I haven't really "switched" from hydro to soil. I am a hydro grower experimenting still with soil. It took me awhile to really get hydro down so I wanted to give soil a fair shake. I think I have it down pretty good now, but if this grow is successful, I'll switch back to hydro, lol. If this all falls apart my OCD ass won't let me leave it alone. I'll be starting over with different soil and nutes. I can't really say I'm terribly happy with this lineup.
mistyriffs
Well-Known Member
I like your style! i started with soil and my curiosity is about to get the best of me to give hydro a go around. i was thinking of starting a dwc. what did you start with originally?
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
I started out my very first grow in soil. My next grow I did Ebb & Flow and that became my primary way of doing business. I have tried DWC and it's just not very practical on even a medium size scale. Having a big ass tube that is completely immobile just became too much for me. Rockwool cubes, hydroton, and a tray, good to go.
frettfreak
Well-Known Member
I have never used hydroton, always the rockwool croutons (which are great as long as you REALLY rinse and sack WELL prior to transplant) but have been curious about hydroton. Do you have to pre-saok and flush that too?
Someguy15
Well-Known Member
Lots of washing but don't really have to condition it. It just takes a lot of washing to get it clean enough. 2 50L bag will take me about 2-3 hours to wash properly. Results r worth the work tho.
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
Yeah, hydroton is just a shit ton of rinsing and washing. I've never tried the rockwool croutons as you put it, but my best results have been in a tray filled with hydroton. Started the plants in 4x4 RW cubes, then put the cubes into the tray, BOOM....explosive. That was where the avatar buds came from and I'll likely go back to that system. I tried using mesh-bottom filled pots with hydroton and for some reason it didn't really replicate the results. It was a lot less hydroton, but for some reason it seems that when the tap root never finds a "bottom" and the other roots never find a side, the roots just grow and grow and grow and thus the plant just grows and grows and grows.