White Widow Grow Journal - My First Grow

The time has come! I am finally starting my first grow. Here are the details:

• 5 Fem. White Widow Seeds from Nirvana

• 2 120v, 60Hz, 42W lights for Veg stage (I am thinking about picking up another 1 or 2 of these though what do you guys think?)

These are the details for now. I received the seeds yesterday and have them germinating right now in rockwool cubes. This was a germination kit I picked up from Home Depot.

Hopefully they will sprout out and come above soil in the next day or so and then I can turn on the lights!

I'll have pics up soon once my black and white Mylar come in.

All feedback is welcome throughout this entire grow! Thanks everyone for their support up to now it has been much appreciated and I look forward to further comments from you bright growers out there!

I also wanted to post down some questions that I have as of right now:

Can I pick up a ph reader from Home Depot? If not where?
What type of soil should I buy?

Additional notes are that I am buying 2 Gallon pots for the veg stage and will be transferring them into those pots in probably 5 days or so.

whiterain said:

I also wanted to post down some questions that I have as of right now:

Can I pick up a ph reader from Home Depot? If not where?
What type of soil should I buy?

Additional notes are that I am buying 2 Gallon pots for the veg stage and will be transferring them into those pots in probably 5 days or so.

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i just bought one at lowes that reads ph, moister and light in soil all 3 function 10 bucks!

oregon024 said:

i just bought one at lowes that reads ph, moister and light in soil all 3 function 10 bucks!

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Wow that sounds perfect and what a great deal!! Thanks for letting me know.

soil: foxfarm ocean forest is A+
Miracle grow is a B.

I miix the both together and use that.

jesus of Cannabis said:

soil: foxfarm ocean forest is A+
Miracle grow is a B.

I miix the both together and use that.

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Can you buy both of those at a Home Depot?

Also another question is what is the ideal PH for watering. I just run off tap water here in my apartment and am hoping that will just be fine. Please help me out with this question as it seems to be pretty important.

oregon024 said:

i just bought one at lowes that reads ph, moister and light in soil all 3 function 10 bucks!

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You'll likely be disappointed by that cheap piece of crap when it always reads 7 ph. Others have tried them and they dont work for shit. Invest some money in a decent digital ph meter like a Hanna. I had a Milwaukee PH600 as my first one, and it went belly up 8 days past the 30 day warranty. Hopefully Hanna will treat me right.

whiterain said:

Can you buy both of those at a Home Depot?

Also another question is what is the ideal PH for watering. I just run off tap water here in my apartment and am hoping that will just be fine. Please help me out with this question as it seems to be pretty important.

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I highly doubt you'll get Fox Farms at HD. Dont use Miracle Gro. Over-watering will cause you all kinds of problems as it has time release fertilizer. Do a search for soil mixes and you'll learn plenty.

You can use tap water, but it needs to sit out for 24 hours for the chlorine to evaporate. If it has chloramine, it'll take even longer and it may not even evaporate enough(you can buy chlorine/chloramine remover at a fish store). I personally buy R/O water from Walmart, but that also requires a Cal/Mag supplement.

A good ph for soil is 6.5-6.8.

You will want to invest in more CFL's. I dont use them, but I know you'll need more than that for 5 plants.

DaveCoulier said:

You'll likely be disappointed by that cheap piece of crap when it always reads 7 ph. Others have tried them and they dont work for shit. Invest some money in a decent digital ph meter like a Hanna. I had a Milwaukee PH600 as my first one, and it went belly up 8 days past the 30 day warranty. Hopefully Hanna will treat me right.



I highly doubt you'll get Fox Farms at HD. Dont use Miracle Gro. Over-watering will cause you all kinds of problems as it has time release fertilizer. Do a search for soil mixes and you'll learn plenty.

You can use tap water, but it needs to sit out for 24 hours for the chlorine to evaporate. If it has chloramine, it'll take even longer and it may not even evaporate enough(you can buy chlorine/chloramine remover at a fish store). I personally buy R/O water from Walmart, but that also requires a Cal/Mag supplement.

A good ph for soil is 6.5-6.8.

You will want to invest in more CFL's. I dont use them, but I know you'll need more than that for 5 plants.

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Alright so if I use straight up tap water then my plants will most likely die...is that what you are saying. How much is the water that you buy for Walmart?

whiterain said:

Alright so if I use straight up tap water then my plants will most likely die...is that what you are saying. How much is the water that you buy for Walmart?

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No . You can use it, you just dont want the chlorine in it. Im thinking R/O water really isnt necessary though. Its a pain in the ass to constantly go to walmart to buy it, plus you have to buy the Culligan Jug, which costs 9 bucks(one time price) for 3 gallon size. Then an extra $.33 for every gallon of water. Then you have to buy Cal/Mag additive.

Did you put all 5 in rockwool? and if you are gonna grow in soil why rockwool? You could use soil pellets (jiffy pellets). As far as I know Rockwool is usually used by people who do hydro or aeroponic grow, some people had trouble with them. Those lights, are they CFL? If you are gonna grow 5 those lights wouldn't be enough unfortunately. You might wanna use High Intensity Discharge Lamp to give enough light for 5.

I got that pHmeter/lightmeter/hygrometer. Let me tell you it's pHmeter is not working. Moisturemeter works fine tho, so you could use it to measure your soil moisture. How do I know pHmeter is not working? Well when I have a water with 6.5 adjusted pH (by using lab type Hanna digital desktop pHmeter) it shows its pH as 7.5 and its dial is always at near 8 while measuring soil. When it comes to measuring digital pHmeters are good but Hanna is the best in my opinion. They are a bit expensive tho.

Well, if you haven't stumbled upon this one I recommend reading this. It is full of useful info that might help you more have fun...

DaveCoulier said:

No . You can use it, you just dont want the chlorine in it. Im thinking R/O water really isnt necessary though. Its a pain in the ass to constantly go to walmart to buy it, plus you have to buy the Culligan Jug, which costs 9 bucks(one time price) for 3 gallon size. Then an extra $.33 for every gallon of water. Then you have to buy Cal/Mag additive.

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Alright so I can use just straight up tap water and be fine or how can I be sure if there is chlorine in it and how to get it out?

mv400 said:

Those lights, are they CFL? If you are gonna grow 5 those lights wouldn't be enough unfortunately. You might wanna use High Intensity Discharge Lamp to give enough light for 5.

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Thanks for that link.

Here is what lights I'm using: 120v, 60Hz, 42W lights

I have two of them. I bought them at home depot. Someone said I would need about two more of them. I really need to know how many I need to get as the veg. stage will begin sometime this weekend.

UPDATE: Alright it's Day 3 and I have checked on my baby seeds. 3/5 have sprouted a root. They seem to be doing well. Nothing has risen above the surface. Should I turn the lights on now? Please give advice...

whiterain said:

Alright so I can use just straight up tap water and be fine or how can I be sure if there is chlorine in it and how to get it out?

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Just smell your water to know when the chlorine has evaporated. Normally its not something you even notice since its not on the forefront of your mind, but now that I use RO water the chlorine smell is so overpowering. I can't even drink a glass of tap water now. Ive already told you two ways to get rid of chlorine previously btw.

whiterain said:

UPDATE: Alright it's Day 3 and I have checked on my baby seeds. 3/5 have sprouted a root. They seem to be doing well. Nothing has risen above the surface. Should I turn the lights on now? Please give advice...

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I like to have the lights on my plants while they germinate in the soil so the medium is kept warm. You may as well go ahead and do it now. Also once you use up your rockwool cubes, theres no need to buy more. Just sow your seeds straight in soil and they will pop in 3-5 days without any unneccessary pre-germination crap.

I'm sorry the medium was not rockwool cubes, it's just a type of soil that came with the germination kit. Today is day 4 and now all of the seeds have germinated and are now ready to being having lights on. I only have 2 120v, 60Hz, 42W lights and I know I need to get another 2 of them, but they should be okay for a day or two with only 2 lights right?

Pics will be posted up asap.

whiterain said:

I'm sorry the medium was not rockwool cubes, it's just a type of soil that came with the germination kit. Today is day 4 and now all of the seeds have germinated and are now ready to being having lights on. I only have 2 120v, 60Hz, 42W lights and I know I need to get another 2 of them, but they should be okay for a day or two with only 2 lights right?

Pics will be posted up asap.

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Yeah they'll be fine for a couple of days till you get more lights. BTW, the voltage and hertz isn't needed to describe your lights

Good luck on the grow. Hope it goes smoothly.

Hey everyone I just wanted to let you know that I purchased a few things today from the good ole' home depot. First off, I got two more 42 watt cfl, which makes the total 4. It says that they release 2600 lumens each. This is now sufficient enough for 5 plants vegging correct?

I also picked up a thermometer and the humidity is around 40% in the room. The temperature is in the high 80's, which I know is too hot, but I did put a fan in there and am trying to cool it down that way. Would high 70's be ideal?

Anyways I can't seem to find my charger for my camera so I still don't have any pictures up of the whole setup, but I will keep on looking or try and borrow someones tonight so I can give you all a visual of what is going on.

Other than that my only question is how long after the seeds sprout should they start emerging from the surface and growing the "stalk" of the plant?

I finally found my camera charger so here are some pics of my setup as of right now. It's day 5 by the way. Also, please keep in mind that I have black and white mylar coming in the mail on monday or tuesday along with 2 gallon pots for these babies. Anyway here are the pics...please let me know what you think:

Side Angle with blanket off


Wiring


Inside Look


Overtop


Overtop

Bump - I really would appreciate any comments or help along the way here as this is my first grow.

Alright no one has really come to follow me on this journey of mine, but I am hopeful that some will come.

Anyways it is day 7 (my first week of growing has completed) and here are some pics of my white widow babies coming along:

Overhead shot


Sideshot


Picture of the weakest one in the close right corner any comments on what might be going on wit that one would be greatly appreciated:


Here are some details:

I can keep the temp down in my room by keeping the window in the room open, but it's pretty cold outside and I wont be able to live in that room without getting sick so I need to know another way of bringing the temp down as it is around 85ish. I have a fan on all day next to the grow, but that doesn't seem to be doing much as far as temp goes.

Also, the humidity in my room is pretty dry. I don't know how important that is, but it's around 30% when I think it would be ideal to have it around 60%. I put a bucket of water next to the grow to try and bring the humidity up.

I water my plants a shot worth of water total. That means together the 5 of them share a shots worth of water. Should I be watering more or less?

I am going to putting them into 2 gallon pots when they come in from HTGSupply and was wondering what soil I should buy from Home Depot? Also, what ferts would you recommend and when should I start?

Thanks and please someone come and start helping me along my way...I really need it. This is my first grow after all.