Is white widow still worth your while?

[Saratj1]

I'm a noob and white widow was the best going in my younger days. I am wondering if its still a good choice when compared with all the new stuff out. I've been lurking around here and haven't heard many people say anything about it. Also would this be a somewhat forgiving strain lending itself to live through my noobness? Thanks

[Saratj1]

Also some more info. I'm doing indoor dwc/bubble bucket with a 400w MH/hps. I also grow coral so that's kinda what got me into this as they are similar hobbies.

[cannabis-seeds]

White Widow is still considered a very good breed. In fact, a lot of the newer hybrids claim to be a "White" strain meaning that White Widow is somewhere in its family tree.

However, the market is flooded with White Widows, so you have to be very careful what you choose if you're going with a seed.

Most breeders market White Widow & Northern Lights as great beginner-friendly indoor strains, but I'll leave the grow advice to the experts.

[Saratj1]

Thanks for the quick reply.
Could you elaborate on "be careful on what you choose if your going with a seed"
I think I kinda get where your going with that, but maybe not.
And just FYI I ordered from nirvana and got 10 regular indoor seeds .
Are fem seeds worth the mark up? I've read that usually 7 out of ten seeds are fems anyways. My luck may not work out like that.

[cannabis-seeds]

If you know what you're doing, you'll be fine with regular seeds - they generally cost about 1/2 of what feminized seeds go for within the same breeder's catalog.
(I'm sure you noticed that Nirvana's 10-packs of regulars are exactly the same price as their feminized 5-packs within the same strain.)

However, if you're not skilled at identifying/isolating any males, you could run into problems. People I know who are low on space or don't want to run the risk of having any male pollen floating around say that feminized seeds are well worth it. (I've also noticed that Europeans will stick with feminized seeds more often while Americans are much more willing to go with regular seeds, and that many American breeders don't bother with creating feminized versions. No judgments - just an observation.)

There are also mistakes that will increase the number of males you may get (you've heard stories I'm sure where someone germs 5 seeds and 4 turn out to be male) - the same mistakes can make feminized seeds turn hermie.

With White Widow, I've noticed that some brands describe theirs as Sativa dominant while others describe them as Indica dominant. That's not to say that they're not all equally good - they're just obviously not the same, so if you've used White Widow before, you might not get what you expect unless you carefully at the specs.

If you ordered White Widow from Nirvana, I'm sure you'll get the classic strain - they stick pretty much to the standard formula.

[Dutch Pimp]

don't kill all the Nirvana White Widow males

keep one for an extra 3 weeks to hand pollinate the lower branches of the females

White Widow is such a stable strain; the seeds produce good, too.

so do Nirvana Northern Lights. IMO

[Saratj1]

Thanks, and what you said was not what I was thinking at all lol, about the pollinating , I was thinking about that like somehow isolating a male then introducing it to just one part of the fem to get some more seeds, thanks again

[cannabis-seeds]

Dutch Pimp has a good point and I think that's more in line with what you're planning.

The people I know are more interested in getting seedless results.

It's all in what you're going for, and some breeders say that you actually get better vigour, yield & power from regular seeds so they don't feminize at all.

I think it's just a matter of preference personally.

[Saratj1]

Dutch Pimp has a good point and I think that's more in line with what you're planning.

The people I know are more interested in getting seedless results.

It's all in what you're going for, and some breeders say that you actually get better vigour, yield & power from regular seeds so they don't feminize at all.

I think it's just a matter of preference personally.

I am interested in a seedless result, although I would like to get a few seeds, to have them, and it seems like these particular seeds have some value by themselves. I wouldn't want to ruin my whole grow though trying to get a couple seeds.

I'm practicing with some bag seeds and have already made a little mistake and stretched them a little. I started with a 10w 3000k led, then went to a 400w mh , I put the MH about 2ft too high I suppose. I've lowered it back down now and everything seems ok. It's just if I mist them with h20 they will fall over from the added weight.

[emilya]

I am interested in a seedless result, although I would like to get a few seeds, to have them, and it seems like these particular seeds have some value by themselves. I wouldn't want to ruin my whole grow though trying to get a couple seeds.

I'm practicing with some bag seeds and have already made a little mistake and stretched them a little. I started with a 10w 3000k led, then went to a 400w mh , I put the MH about 2ft too high I suppose. I've lowered it back down now and everything seems ok. It's just if I mist them with h20 they will fall over from the added weight.

When I was new I was very scared of the males, thinking that one male in the house could somehow turn all my girls into breeders. Now I know better and see that it is actually difficult to pollinate plants not in the same room with the little bit of pollen that hits the air. When I want to work with a male I isolate him in another room, away from my fans in the flowering tent. Then I simply gather some of his pollen into an empty pill container and using a small artists paintbrush, I carefully apply this pollen to one bud on one branch of a 2 week old flowering plant. I put a colored twisty tie on that branch to label it, and then watch as the pistils on that pollinated bud turn brown and curl up over the next day or two, showing me that pollination has occurred. This allows the rest of the plant to develop as sensimilla and I only turn one bud into a seed factory.

[Saratj1]

When I was new I was very scared of the males, thinking that one male in the house could somehow turn all my girls into breeders. Now I know better and see that it is actually difficult to pollinate plants not in the same room with the little bit of pollen that hits the air. When I want to work with a male I isolate him in another room, away from my fans in the flowering tent. Then I simply gather some of his pollen into an empty pill container and using a small artists paintbrush, I carefully apply this pollen to one bud on one branch of a 2 week old flowering plant. I put a colored twisty tie on that branch to label it, and then watch as the pistils on that pollinated bud turn brown and curl up over the next day or two, showing me that pollination has occurred. This allows the rest of the plant to develop as sensimilla and I only turn one bud into a seed factory.


Exactly what I wanted to know thank you. I was trying to figure out how I could do this using a sterile technique (which would be nearly impossible). This reply puts me at ease a little. But this info is about 32 steps ahead of where I'm at now. Right now I'm just trying to keep things alive. I would like to get my own seeds though because ordering seeds online is a significant expense. Thanks for the reply.

[XXXJAYXXX]

You may want to consider cloning your plants.. being that you are starting from seed with the first one.. these would be perfect to start a new line of clones. Its not terribly difficult to do.. there are a few vids on youtube showing various techniques... but this is a great way to guarantee female plants with every crop. Just before you flip your plants to 12/12, take 4 or 5 clones off of each plant, and keep them seperated and labled so you can keep track of which clones came from which plant. Then.. when your plants start to show thier sex, you can scrap any male clones and keep the females for mother plants. Keeping 3 or 4 mother plants will easily allow you to take 50-60 cuttings every 2 months as needed.. just make sure you take cuttings off your mothers 2 weeks before your crop is set to come down.. that way your babies will be rooted and ready to transplant on time! Its a great way to perpetuate your crop without having the hassle of buying seeds and sexing the plants all the time.. All it takes is about 40 bucks worth of supplies from home depot.. and you can get your own little cloning set up happening.. Cheers!