First Timer - Holy Grail Kush, White Widow, Super Skunk Auto

Trying out my first grow and have realized I probably need a little more input from the pros... Have done a lot of research but clearly nothing beats experience.

So this is my set up FOR NOW (I'm a bit of a DIY guy with limited budget):
Small room (4x12ft, 10ft tall) built from timber and plaster board, inside my storage room
Covered walls with aluminum foil used for roofing insulation
Home made reflector with 2 bulb holders
2 x 250W MH
1 x 400W HPS
4 x 15litre autopots with airdomes
Coco Peat/ Perlite mix, 50/50
Hortimix A, B and MEK, (local shops nutes, might switch to General Hydroponics), Kelpak
Seeds:
1 x Holy Grail Kush fem
1 x White Widow fem
1 x Superskunk Autofem

Before I started this grow, rather embarrasingly, I germinated a few other seeds in rockwool under a 30W flourescent tube. All popped out, and started growing nicely, but it seems the light just wasn't enough for them (and I just didn't give them the attention they needed), and 3 of them didn't make it. Managed to keep one HGK barely alive until I had 250WMH going, and have added it to hopefully have 4 plants going...

Day 1
Germination:
Soaked rockwool, squeezed out excess water, and made holes about 1/2 inch down for seeds. These were placed under a 30W florescent tube a clear dome to keep from drying out too quickly

Day 2
Superskunk Auto already sprouted, HGK showing signs of a tiny white root out bottom of rockwool cube

Day 3
HGK sprouted, White Widow showing winy white root too now. SuperSkunk uncurling first little leaves

Day 4
All my babies are out. SS Auto a clear leader. Decided to transplant into autopots now to put under the MH, as I don’t want to have the same problem as first few seeds. Left them all in rockwool and just inserted into moist Cocopeat/perlite mix. Added the first attempt HGK and put all 4 pots about 12inches under the 250W. Put in a little fan to cool them down a bit and keep them dancing a little.
Older HGK not looking great- 2 sets of dead leaves at bottom, with another 2 extremely pale and small sets up top. Have added some nutes only to her... Hope she’ll will turn around!
Temps fluctuate throughout the day between 75 and 82, with around 50% humidity

Day 6
Slow and steady growth... SS Auto still leading the pack, but new HGK is catching up quickly. Noticed that the stems are bending towards the bulb, so starting to rotate the pots 180degs once a day with watering. Started all seedlings on 2ml Kelpak per 5litre water. Using osmotically filtered water from a very cheap shop around the corner, so PH is always just right.
Old HGK starting to recover, turning a darker green and finally showing signs of growth again. Saw a little browning on edge of leaves and suspect nute burn. Flushed with pure H2O.

Day 8
New HGK had a nice growth spurt and has finally caught up. I can see both the HGK and SS are about to get their second set of leaves. SS stem has mysteriously turned a purply red color, but this is apparently normal or gene related (I hope!). Old HGK looking better than ever. It seems the flush did its thing, and the stronger light is waking her up again. Would be great to have 2 healthy HGK’s for vegging.

Waiting on a capacitor for my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] 250W MH to get it going in the hood too. The two babies closest to the light are definitely doing better (obviously), so need to spread it a little better. For now when I rotate 180degs, I will just swap positions.


I apologize for the lack of pics... only just realized now that all the pics I took from the beginning are geotagged. Rookie move. Will add a few in the next few days

Starting set up
Super Skunk Auto day 8
Holy Grail Kush
White Widow
Older HGK

It seems the older HGK has a little problem. Leaves are curling up and browning a little. Others don't have this problem. Narrowed it down to being either too hot, magnesium deff, or ph too low. Finally saved up a bit and got EC and PH meters today, now waiting to get home and test. Gonna add some epsom salts for mag, and add another fan to the room. Also probably wise to change the light cycle to be off at the hottest time of the day. Not sure what else I should do? Any advice anyone????

So the EC and PH meters have put my mind to rest about the water (6.3ph and 0.2 EC) making me think its most likely heat that's the problem. Have added epsom salts just in case, and up nutes for the bigger girls to 0.4 EC. Light cycle now off during the hot days and hopefully the cooler nights will keep it in range.

If you dont mind me asking where did you get the super skunk auto from ? Is it Sensi Seeds genetics ? I recieved a freebie Super skunk fem from Attitude was never told anywhere it was an auto but it sure turned out to be one. Just curious if we have the same thing. I have pics of her if you would like to see. She is around 30 to 32 days old forgot to write it down haha.

Forgot to mention I am also growing holy grail kush they are about a month old as well but im keeping them back as mothers for now.

James8482 said:

If you dont mind me asking where did you get the super skunk auto from ? Is it Sensi Seeds genetics ? I recieved a freebie Super skunk fem from Attitude was never told anywhere it was an auto but it sure turned out to be one. Just curious if we have the same thing. I have pics of her if you would like to see. She is around 30 to 32 days old forgot to write it down haha.

Forgot to mention I am also growing holy grail kush they are about a month old as well but im keeping them back as mothers for now.

Click to expand...

Yeah, was the Sensi freebies. Might still have packaging somewhere- will check it out when I'm home later. Yeah let see some pics. Here's where I'm sitting at day 22:

Still cutting my teeth on hydro, so not the healthiest of leaf tips... but I think she'll pull through. There was a a bit of nute burn early on that I think I sorted out... anything else you see that I should be looking at? Also see others below:

HGK, older HGK, and then White Widow. Older HGK was a rescue from previous grow, and clearly is struggling. White Widow growing really slowly, but I guess thats just genetics?

Yeah my 2nd HGK i just repotted a few days back and over watered her so the leaf tips are very curled down right now but its slowly coming out of it. I have grown in coco before but i must have been growing the most forgiving strain ever because she never gave me and problems not even one time. I grow in soil now though. This is my 2nd HGK with water stress about 32 days old.
This is HGK #1

I topped them about a week ago and transplanted them like 2 days later. I put them in milk jugs lol I was not ready to go from a solo cup to a 5 gallon pot right away. Will let them fill these up first then move to 5 gallon.

This is my Sensi Seeds Super Skunk "FEM" freebie i received.

She has been under 18 hours of light a day since 1 week old ( 24 hours first week to avoid seedling stretch)

This is the package I got it in. Notice it does not say Auto and neither does my order summary from Attitude.

I wouldnt have even been upset if they would have just told me upfront it was an Auto instead of letting me find out after i already super cropped it. It is a very healthy and vigorous plant that has been taking the same nutes dose as my other plants in flower that are twice its size and age. Never burned once.

Should also add im using 600 watt digital ballast 4x4x8 tent with Flora Nova Bloom nutes. Im using two inline fans with two carbon filters. One cools the hood and pulls through a carbon filter the other just pulls through a carbon filter and exhausts.

looking good

Do you know what your temps are getting up to during lights on ? The cupping is a sure sign of heat stress or very low humidity or a combination of both imo.

My tent fluctuates between 78 lights off 85 lights on. I try to mist the leaves a little every couple of days between waterings to help raise humidity that is low because of my gas furnace sucking all the moisture out of my apt.

Also are the stems on your HGK purpling ? Mine have not at all so im going to assume they have or are having problems uptaking certain nutrients due to heat stress or salt build up. Im just giving you my opinion though. There is a great chart in the forum section Marijuana plant problems that may help diagnose your nutrient deficiency more accurately than i can. The nutrient deficiency could also just be because you over ferted them at such a young age and will take a while before they get back on track.

Best advice i can give you is not to over do the ferts or additives. I use to freak out when my plants showed the slightest sign of any problem and i would either over water them or over feed them. Now sometimes i open my tent and see one clear drooped over looking dead and i laugh add some water and a few hours later its back up and looks like it never had a problem other than it ate a few fan leaves for water lol.

Next watering flush them out real good with just water and let them dry out to almost the point where they start to droop and then feed them with an 1/8 or a 1/4 dose of nutrients. They should be fine. They are at that age now where they are about to really start taking off and growing very fast.

Thanks for the advice James!
Temps range between 72 and 82 (this is MAX, trying to keep it around 76), with humidity generally around 50%. Haven't misted any yet but will give that a try. Have a large floor fan that PUMPS air upwards to the dome I made, as well as a desk flan blowing directly onto the plants. Someone mentioned that I might possibly be getting wind burn- have a look at the HGK bottom right fan leaf how its shrivelling up. Is this a possibility? Can imagine a lot of air movement will make the water in the plants evaporate too quickly, despite humidity being 50%. Will be getting an inline fan next week (and going to try and make a charcoal filter) to connect up to the hood to cool without ridiculous air movement, and have turned down the desk fan.

The one HGK has purpled a little, and this is the one that is struggling. She was planted about 3 weeks before the others, and was pretty much dead, but the picked up again... could it be that she's been too stressed? Also I think my hortishops own nutes are just not good enough... and they haven't got in GH nutes in for a long time. I flushed 2 days ago, and am thinking maybe the next watering I do a quarter strength, and maybe some kelp extract and epsom salts? Just not sure about quantities at this stage... will obviously use less for white widow yes? Any other additives you think would do them good?

Yours are looking fantastic- a rather different green from mine! I hope mine can catch up a bit and will darken in the next 2 weeks! Was planning on fimming this evening, but is this wise if they're not at their healthiest? Going to end up scrogging so need to get this going soon!

Oh yeah, and that Super Skunk is insane, even if it is an auto... maybe just a mutated seed? Still trying to find my packaging, and don't have original order as this was ordered by and delivered to a mates place for added stealth... Will let you know as soon as I do

Yeah the sick HGK probably purpled from being over stressed. I never considered wind burn. I have a 20 inch box fan on mine on high never had any problems but maybe its because i mist the leaves idk.

I have a bunch of unknown heavy indica strains flowering that are showing a major deficiency today over half the fan leaves are spotted rusty brown on the veins. Probably need some epsom salt myself.

I would hold off on doing any training until you see some good new growth especially from the middle node area of the plant. Thats when you will know they have recovered and are ready to go. No point in stressing them during recovery.

I am very happy with how the Super Skunk is turning out as well it has doubled in height over the past week from 9 inches to about 16 inches seems very durable even with all the mistakes i have made thinking it was not an auto.

Just give the girls some time and you should notice them taking off soon.

Forgot to add I once had a white widow crossed with an unknown. I grew it in coco amended with coffee grounds and crushed egg shells. I almost never ever had to feed it other than mollasses witch isnt beneficial to the plant but the microbes that may be in the growing medium. Seriously i fed it like 4 times its whole life (5 months first cycle before reveg) total i had her 2 years she was a beast on last reveg 6 feet tall and produced almost a pound indoors) and it was super happy never had a deficiency never stressed. She did drink a whole lot of water though. I had to water it every other day once it was 2 months old. It was in a 3 gallon pot. I revegged it 3 times and took hundreds of clones off of it. I could literally just stick the clones in a peat puck and a humidity dome and have roots in 10 days. I even chopped a 2 foot plant in half put the top part straight in soil in a 3 gallon pot and it rooted in 2 weeks and still had like 5 nodes lol. Basically White widow was the easiest plant i ever grew needed almost nothing and was a joy to smell and smoke. Not to mention CRYSTALS every where like a snow storm.