White Widow cabinet grow

[PlainJane]

Well, I figure it's time I start a log.

I bought Feminised White Widow seeds and put 4 seeds into "Root Riot" organic starter cubes. When the first baby popped up I proudly started this thread.

Out of those 4 seeds I got 5 babies. (Photos in the linked thread) I had to separate them and they seem to be fine but the 5th one is a bit of a runt. We'll see what happens.

This is the cabinet:

[attachment=o201372] [attachment=o201373]

I have 4 passive intakes and a 130cfm (I think) extraction with carbon scrubber. So far so good there but things tend to be on the warmer side There is a 10ºc difference between the room temp and cabinet temp. It is often 28-30ºc inside (that's 82-86ºf) but it's just going to have to do for now. Hopefully they like it warm, they're going to have to. It's around 65% humidity in there.

I'm using a 250w HPS for the entire grow. I know it's not the ideal but it's what I'm doing for now. I might get CFLs or Metal Halide for veg sometime in the future. They are on 18/6 right now.

They are in "Canna Terra professional plus" soil and have had no nutes yet. The seeds only went in starter cubes for germination 13 days ago, so they've only had their heads out for about 10ish. When should they ideally have nutes? Should they have a few more leaves? I have Bio Bizz organic 8-2-6 and an additional insanely high Nitrogen feed 25-15-15 but it makes me nervous.

Without further ado, here is a photo from today:

[attachment=o201375]

Note that the "shorter" ones were the two that came from one seed and had to be separated. I was able to bury them deeper in the pots than the others, who stretched up a bit craving the light. None of them have gotten rapidly taller since I gave them a bit more light, just leafier.

The leaves are green but are turned downward slightly, is that OK? I am definitely not over-watering, it's well dry before I do that.

I'm wondering if I should pull the HPS closer to them:

[attachment=o201376]

PlainJane Reviewed by PlainJane on 09-17-2008. White Widow cabinet grow Well, I figure it's time I start a log. I bought Feminised White Widow seeds and put 4 seeds into "Root Riot" organic starter cubes. When the first baby popped up I proudly started this thread. Out of those 4 seeds I got 5 babies. (Photos in the linked thread) I had to separate them and they seem to be fine but the 5th one is a bit of a runt. We'll see what happens. This is the cabinet: Rating: 5

[Dutch Pimp]

I use weak-ass T-12 floro tubes (2-3 inches away) for the first 1-3 weeks. The 250 HPS light might be too close now. IMO.

[Puffzter]

Only danger with the light would be heat and if its not over 86ish degrees at the seedlings they are fine from that anyway.

As they go into veg they grow just fine even a tad warmer than that. I was on about 90-91 for a while with my WWs and the were still growing mad.
Same with nutes, they can take more than you think but ofc you have to be careful when they are so small.

More White Widow for the people!

Good luck with your project

Puffzter

[Dutch Pimp]

The HPS light is probably causing the stretching. It's not the ideal spectrum for veg. An HPS bulb with blue added would have helped...a lot. More blue light helps a lot in the veg cycle. IMO. HPS is great for flowering.

The veg cycle...is about growing roots. IMO

White Widows RULE...:jointsmile:

[PlainJane]

^ ^ thank you both.

Dutch Pimp, what do you mean HPS with blue added? (the Googles, they did not help ) Because if this is a cheap easy thing to sort it out, I'm there! Since that's seldom the case consider my breath not held.

If I had my way I'd have done a few things differently but I couldn't really afford to have it entirely my way this time round. Justifying the grow budget to the husband was a bit of a bugger really and he started to get shirty when I wanted all this extra shit, so HPS it had to be. It was a peace-keeping thing if I'm honest. :rasta:


I'm very glad to hear that white widow is such a sturdy variety because a total nOOb is at the helm.

[Puffzter]

The HPS light is probably causing the stretching. It's not the ideal spectrum for veg. An HPS bulb with blue added would have helped...a lot. More blue light helps a lot in the veg cycle. IMO. HPS is great for flowering.

The veg cycle...is about growing roots. IMO

White Widows RULE...:jointsmile:

Actually this is a truth that needs some modification.
There are blue light in all HPS's just not that much if counted in % of the total output.
So lets play around with some numbers a bit nothing will be on target or actual numbers to use for anything other than comparison.

Lets say you have a HPS that gives you 50000 lumens and only 20% of that is emitted as blue light. That still beats the crap out of a CFL with 80% blue light that would give you 15-20K lumens because the plants don't ONLY use blue light while in veg.
The HPS in itself will not make your plants stretch. Low lumens will though.
These plants were vegged with a flower spectrum HPS by the way.

I have a veg specific CFL but it didn't stand a chance in hell against the HPS.

I would say that generally it's all about the lumens if you experience stretching that is not coded in the genetics of the plant. That if the color of the light is in the neighbourhood of what it should be ofc.

Imho her flouro tube will be outmatched many many MANY times by her 250W HPS even if it is a pure flower spectrum and save her 1-2 weeks on veg to lets say 15 inches well developed plants.

Puffzter

[Puffzter]

Sorry was a bit late in editing so have to split posts.
This is a clone from one of the above plants so same genetics that on the picture had been in vegetative growth 3 days less than the HPS vegged plant under a pure veg CFL 125W.
It started as a plant instead of a sprouting seedling so it even had a head start.


Same nutes, same medium etc etc. Only difference the light.

Puffzter

[Dutch Pimp]

Dutch Pimp, what do you mean HPS with blue added? (the Googles, they did not help ) Because if this is a cheap easy thing to sort it out, I'm there! Since that's seldom the case consider my breath not held.

EYE Hortilux Super HPS


Hortilux bulbs have blue added...more than standard HPS bulbs. Something to remember ...next grow....:thumbsup:...(not cheap, sorry)

[PlainJane]

Thank you both again. Good info and very helpful.

The bulb is a "250w Osram Vialox Nav-T Super Son-T Plus 4Y", which apparently has 33,000 lumens. (That seems good.)

They appear to have stopped stretching up so much for the light since I brought the light down closer a few days back but the leaves are slightly turned under. (like the photo from yesterday) They are green and soft and still growing lovely leafiness. The soil dries out shockingly fast, maybe in my fears of over-watering I am under-watering. It's totally dry to the touch an inch or two in after 24 hours so I've been watering once per day. Hmmm, maybe a re-potting is in order soon.

Oh the first grow... the love and anxiety! :stoned:

[Dutch Pimp]

The soil dries out shockingly fast, maybe in my fears of over-watering I am under-watering. It's totally dry to the touch an inch or two in after 24 hours so I've been watering once per day. Hmmm, maybe a re-potting is in order soon.

1. Get a cheap moisture meter, with 8 inch probe. Three possible readings-Wet/Moist/Dry. Water when DRY...at the bottom. IMO.

2. Repot, when rootbound. IMO.

ps...I use a hand spray bottle, to keep top of the soil moist, during veg cycle.