New Grower First grow- Indoor Auto White Widow

[Jrw1981]

i was just thinking whos the other garage grower we had join up recently its @Luepke42
good sturdy cupboard for them fancy tools
good luck n keep er lit

Sweet looking cabinet build!

Great looking girl, also

Welcome to the best place on the net for weed growers.

Just ask & you will get answers. Good luck!

Yeup! Cabinet was definitely the way to go for my situation. No questions asked by anyone and it locks to keep kids and any curious house guests out. Cost a little more out of the gate, but stealth was a priority for me.

With doors closed its completely lightproof. DIY light louver for passive intake works better than I'd hoped.

This cheap (translation: LOUD) exhaust fan though....that's gonna need a little work. She sounds like a refrigerator with the compressor going when the doors are closed. Not an expensive refrigerator...haha

 

[jeffsos3000]

Hey guys, posted my intro a few days back and figured I'd throw a grow journal up and take advantage of all the experience you guys have to offer.

It's my first grow, auto or otherwise, so feel free to knock me upside the head in order to impart knowledge. Haha

Quick recap of my setup. I've built a 2x4x8 cabinet in my insulated garage. It's not the biggest, but it's stealthy and looks like it belongs there.View attachment 985931 View attachment 985932

Running 3 x Viparspectra R300s over 3 White Widow Auto fems from New420GuySeeds.

They were germinated in Rapid Rooters on Thanksgiving day (Nov 22). 2 had sprouted by Nov 25 and the third had shown her face the next day.

All three ladies are in 3 gallon fabric pots with Coco Loco. I started with GH Flora Trio but switched to @TaNg easy feeding schedule. So, AN Sensi Grow Coco A/B and GH CaliMagic for now. I've got Overdrive and Carboload for later on down the road. Currently feeding everyday with 1mL/L of each. Each plant gets a 2L bottle of water and run off is shop vacuumed out of the drip pan. As of last night, one of the girls looks like she might have a touch of N tox (or overwatering), but otherwise they have been growing strong. Still trying to determine which it is and then, I'll figure out how to keep her going strong.

In my research leading up to this first grow, I found @autobeast thread on topping and decided to give it a go. So, on day 15 from seed I topped the biggest of the 3 girls just above the 4th node.View attachment 985933 View attachment 985934

Then yesterday, when I had enough stalk to safely do it, I topped the other 2 girls.

So, today is day 17 from sprout and things are moving along. 2 of the girls are doing great and one needs a little extra love, but I'm not too concerned yet.

View attachment 985936 View attachment 985935 View attachment 985937

My droopy girl...View attachment 985938 View attachment 985939 View attachment 985940

Thanks for reading along. I'll post updates as I can. If any of you have any words of wisdom along the way, feel free to enlighten me. Thanks and y'all be safe!

Hey man welcome to the forum and the world of home growing. Your plants are looking pretty good. When I get home I'll try and remember to send you some files on diagnosing plant ailments. It really helps make it easier. You can also pop into the infirmary section on here to get feedback if needed.
Really nice cabinet build. Does it come in black.
I'm still a newb myself. I'm currently on my 4th grow. I only grow one plant at a time but I've been topping from the beginning with very nice results. Topping and training can make a real difference.

Here's my current girl. It's around 5 weeks old and is a dinafem blue cheese Auto. Decided to try this strain because of all the great reviews. And this thing is so easy to grow its laughable. Highly recommend it for a new grower.

 

[Jrw1981]

Hey man welcome to the forum and the world of home growing. Your plants are looking pretty good. When I get home I'll try and remember to send you some files on diagnosing plant ailments. It really helps make it easier. You can also pop into the infirmary section on here to get feedback if needed.
Really nice cabinet build. Does it come in black.
I'm still a newb myself. I'm currently on my 4th grow. I only grow one plant at a time but I've been topping from the beginning with very nice results. Topping and training can make a real difference.

Here's my current girl. It's around 5 weeks old and is a dinafem blue cheese Auto. Decided to try this strain because of all the great reviews. And this thing is so easy to grow its laughable. Highly recommend it for a new grower.

View attachment 986220 View attachment 986221

Hi Jeff, thanks man. It comes in whatever color paint your box store has in stock. Haha. Your girl looks great! I'm not up to the mainline yet. I've topped and plan to start LST in a few days after they all have a few to recover. Maybe I'll get a little braver in the future...

I did post up in the infirmary earlier today. Not a lot of traffic in there today. Honestly, I'm not super worried yet. I'm pretty sure she was watered too frequently, too soon, with just a hair too much N. I skipped my watering today. Pots are still damp below the surface but I wanted to let them dry just a little and use up some of the N already in the leaves/medium. Tomorrow I'll give each plant their regular 2L, but drop to .75mL/L each of the Sensi Bloom A/B.

 

[jeffsos3000]

Hi Jeff, thanks man. It comes in whatever color paint your box store has in stock. Haha. Your girl looks great! I'm not up to the mainline yet. I've topped and plan to start LST in a few days after they all have a few to recover. Maybe I'll get a little braver in the future...

I did post up in the infirmary earlier today. Not a lot of traffic in there today. Honestly, I'm not super worried yet. I'm pretty sure she was watered too frequently, too soon, with just a hair too much N. I skipped my watering today. Pots are still damp below the surface but I wanted to let them dry just a little and use up some of the N already in the leaves/medium. Tomorrow I'll give each plant their regular 2L, but drop to .75mL/L each of the Sensi Bloom A/B.

Sounds like a good plan. You could probably even skip one nute feeding for that plant all together if you wanted. I also run the two part sensi grow and bloom. It's pretty potent stuff but I've always gotten good results with it. It can be tricky starting out knowing how much to feed especially since every strain is different. But the more you grow you'll start to learn your standard starting points and what not. And just let the plant talk to you. And thanks for the kind words on my plant. I owe this training to @Vapo69 it's his training and journal I've been following. And I'm loving the results.

 

[Jrw1981]

Sounds like a good plan. You could probably even skip one nute feeding for that plant all together if you wanted. I also run the two part sensi grow and bloom. It's pretty potent stuff but I've always gotten good results with it. It can be tricky starting out knowing how much to feed especially since every strain is different. But the more you grow you'll start to learn your standard starting points and what not. And just let the plant talk to you. And thanks for the kind words on my plant. I owe this training to @Vapo69 it's his training and journal I've been following. And I'm loving the results.

That's another area that seems to get a HUGE amount of disagreement in various forums. Water only vs feeding every water in coco. Some say water only is fine. Some say never water only in coco. Some say it's the end of the world. And some threw some seeds in a pot and don't seem to remember what happened afterwards...

So far, I've been feeding at quarter strength, but it's been every watering which has been every day for the last week or so. That said, I've read a few places now that Coco Loco tends to act more like a soil than other blends and to water far less frequently. So, now it's time to let the leaves do the talking.

Thanks for the advice man!

 

[jeffsos3000]

That's another area that seems to get a HUGE amount of disagreement in various forums. Water only vs feeding every water in coco. Some say water only is fine. Some say never water only in coco. Some say it's the end of the world. And some threw some seeds in a pot and don't seem to remember what happened afterwards...

So far, I've been feeding at quarter strength, but it's been every watering which has been every day for the last week or so. That said, I've read a few places now that Coco Loco tends to act more like a soil than other blends and to water far less frequently. So, now it's time to let the leaves do the talking.

Thanks for the advice man!

You're welcome, I'm still a newb myself but I'll try and help anyone if I can. I personally just grow in pro mix which is treated basically as a hydro type mix as well. I just watch the plant now to tell me what it needs. If it starts yellowing I feed higher strength. If it starts getting too burn and what not then I feed a little less or skip one feeding to let it use up some nutes. Biggest thing to remember is to keep your soil /coco mix in proper pH range. I always pH my water every feeding to 5.8ph. And I haven't had any issues since I started doing that religiously. That gives room for slight pH fluctuations one way or the other without hopefully causing any nute lockout. That can cause a whole range of head scratching issues haha. I try to follow the kiss (keep it simple stupid) philosophy as much as I can. I don't use any fancy additives or other things like overdrive or bud candy. Just base nutes and water. And it's been working well for me. Mind you I'm a pretty light user, only a few times a week or so. So I don't really need to worry about maximum yields. But I just doubled my lighting for this grow so I'm hoping for my heaviest harvest to date. Guess I'll find out later lol. We're running the same lights. I still think there amazing value for the dollar, though I do wish it had a little more red spectrum in it. But all my harvests have gotten me stoned so I can't complain!

Just ordered myself an airizer air 2 vaporizer to. So my bud usuage should go down a fair amount due to vaporizing being more efficient. Can't wait for it to arrive and give it a whirl. Plus it's Canadian made. So bonus.
And yeah like I said I'll try and remember to send you those files on diagnosing plant issues. It really helps.

If you like you can feel free to check out my current grow, I believe the link is in my signature. If not you can find it through my profile page, as well as my previous journals. Perhaps there might be something in there that can be of benefit to you one way or another.

 

[Jrw1981]

You're welcome, I'm still a newb myself but I'll try and help anyone if I can. I personally just grow in pro mix which is treated basically as a hydro type mix as well. I just watch the plant now to tell me what it needs. If it starts yellowing I feed higher strength. If it starts getting too burn and what not then I feed a little less or skip one feeding to let it use up some nutes. Biggest thing to remember is to keep your soil /coco mix in proper pH range. I always pH my water every feeding to 5.8ph. And I haven't had any issues since I started doing that religiously. That gives room for slight pH fluctuations one way or the other without hopefully causing any nute lockout. That can cause a whole range of head scratching issues haha. I try to follow the kiss (keep it simple stupid) philosophy as much as I can. I don't use any fancy additives or other things like overdrive or bud candy. Just base nutes and water. And it's been working well for me. Mind you I'm a pretty light user, only a few times a week or so. So I don't really need to worry about maximum yields. But I just doubled my lighting for this grow so I'm hoping for my heaviest harvest to date. Guess I'll find out later lol. We're running the same lights. I still think there amazing value for the dollar, though I do wish it had a little more red spectrum in it. But all my harvests have gotten me stoned so I can't complain!

Just ordered myself an airizer air 2 vaporizer to. So my bud usuage should go down a fair amount due to vaporizing being more efficient. Can't wait for it to arrive and give it a whirl. Plus it's Canadian made. So bonus.
And yeah like I said I'll try and remember to send you those files on diagnosing plant issues. It really helps.

If you like you can feel free to check out my current grow, I believe the link is in my signature. If not you can find it through my profile page, as well as my previous journals. Perhaps there might be something in there that can be of benefit to you one way or another.

All great advice. I'm using AN's pH Perfect Sensi line. As I understand it, its chelated to the point that as long as the pH isn't off the chart, it will be ok. I no longer try to adjust the pH after adding the nutes. Everything I've read says to just set and forget. Mine sits in the low 6's after adding nutes. I guess we'll see...haha

Did you get the Viparspectra V300 or R300? I got the R model as it has significantly more in the red spectrum. Yeah, definitely a value. To be honest, I initially bought a Vivosun 600W Hid. But, it was crazy hot on the test run, even with the exhaust fan on full blast. 15-20 deg above ambient in the cabinet. So...reconfigured the duct work and bought what I could afford. Time will tell whether they slowly get upgraded to diy cobs...

I'll swing by and check out your journal. Thanks again for all the advice...

 

[jeffsos3000]

All great advice. I'm using AN's pH Perfect Sensi line. As I understand it, its chelated to the point that as long as the pH isn't off the chart, it will be ok. I no longer try to adjust the pH after adding the nutes. Everything I've read says to just set and forget. Mine sits in the low 6's after adding nutes. I guess we'll see...haha

Did you get the Viparspectra V300 or R300? I got the R model as it has significantly more in the red spectrum. Yeah, definitely a value. To be honest, I initially bought a Vivosun 600W Hid. But, it was crazy hot on the test run, even with the exhaust fan on full blast. 15-20 deg above ambient in the cabinet. So...reconfigured the duct work and bought what I could afford. Time will tell whether they slowly get upgraded to diy cobs...

I'll swing by and check out your journal. Thanks again for all the advice...

I have the v300. I bought it from Amazon Canada, I didn't know there was an r300. At least not on Amazon Canada site. Wish I had known lol. Oh well mine still seem to perform well enough for my liking lol.

And yeah I use the pH perfect sensi line as well. But I still pH my nuted water to 5.8, but I'm also using city tap water so it's pH is higher then typical ro water. I've been told that as your watered pot dries out the pH usually starts to increase. And I believe anything over 6.2 with hydro mediums can start to cause lockout. So I adjust to 5.8 every watering just to be on the safe side to compensate. Otherwise even my nute water will still read around 6.5 to 7ph. Unless I adjust it. So that's why I'm picky about it lol.

 

[Jrw1981]

Day 18

The girls look good this morning. Skipping yesterday's water/feed seems to have been a step in the right direction. Even Miss Droopy seems to be a little happier this morning. Today, each girl will get their standard 2L run through the coco, except I'll be reducing base nute strength by 25% today. So, it'll be 1.5 mL each of the Sensi Bloom A/B to a 2L bottle and CaliMagic at 2 mL per bottle.

For the time being, I'm going to follow the advice of some of the vets here (@TaNg @autobeast ), and not touch the pH with the Sensi line. As I understand it, the chelation of the nutes essentially allows the roots to absorb nutrients well outside of the norms, effectively preventing lockout. For you veteran growers out there....If I'm misunderstanding that, please feel free to correct me.

The girls this morning...

More to follow...you guys stay safe today!

 

[Vapo]

Sounds like a good plan. You could probably even skip one nute feeding for that plant all together if you wanted. I also run the two part sensi grow and bloom. It's pretty potent stuff but I've always gotten good results with it. It can be tricky starting out knowing how much to feed especially since every strain is different. But the more you grow you'll start to learn your standard starting points and what not. And just let the plant talk to you. And thanks for the kind words on my plant. I owe this training to @Vapo69 it's his training and journal I've been following. And I'm loving the results.

Thank you bro, very nice of you to say sobut you did all the work