Emmies Grow Log - White Widow

[emilya]

12/19 (day 10) - Today is a good day. My plants have taught me something about myself today. It is amazing what one can learn if they take the time, and listen.

Anyway, on to the story. It seems that #3 had some problems standing up. Each watering would almost tilt her over and I was really worried about it until I read one of the other logs dealing with White Widows and saw that they had the same problem at this stage. I have bent a solid piece of wire into a little crutch to help her stand up and she seems to like it.

Next time, I will not start my babies in a large pot... Will start in cups, let the roots develop and then transplant. Looking at transplanting several times on the next grow to help develop a better root system as well as to clear the soil with new. I also will not be starting the next batch in Miracle Grow... save this for when the babies can handle it.

By the way, I numbered the plants in order from largest to smallest and so far this seems to be holding true. I am noticing that the smaller ones are trying to catch up a bit now as #1 has stopped the rapid vertical growth and started to get wider and throw out more leaves. The 6 leaves that were barely nubs yesterday have become substantial and I see another set starting to come in today. The new lights are working... the plants have really started to tighten up now that they are under the T5 bulbs as compared to reaching for that silly shop light that they started life with. It is very apparent from this growth pattern just how important the quality of the light source is to these babies. I can't wait to see how they respond in the new grow box with the T5x8 array!

Here are the pictures!





Emmie

[WashougalWonder]

You can also add a little more topsoil to hold it up.

They will love being 4" from the T5 light for a few days, that is what they need.

[emilya]

Two of my babies are showing an odd problem and I am not sure what it is telling me to do. It is #1 and the runt, #4. That is the best grower and the slowest grower, although the runt may have been a runt because of a j-root and not because of its genetics.

The cotyledons on both of these plants, have one of them showing a yellowing... sort of all through the middle of the leaf and not at the edges or the tips. The runt actually was showing a bit of this yellowing all over, hard to notice except under the bright lights... but I did notice it.

I purposely waited on watering last night because I just wasn't sure if it was time, and by noon today I determined that I did finally need to water everyone as there was no trace of moisture in the soil and the babies were starting to look a bit limp to me. In other words, I am pretty sure that I am not over watering.

Looking at other grow logs, I don't see any reference to the cotyledons falling off, but when I look at growing forums of other plants, I see people ask about this and the answer seems to be that this is normal... and WHEN they actually fall off, it is time to do the first feeding. Could it be that I have actually created soil using MG that has a good enough flow through that I have rinsed a lot of the nitrogen out of it and this is true? Or, is this indicating that it is coming up to the time to think about transplanting the babies into larger pots soon? They are already in 6" pots and I thought that I would have till about the 3rd week or later before I had to go to the 3gal buckets.

I am trying not to stress out, and will do my normal morning pictures in about 12 hours so you can see what is going on, but other than this everything looks great and the babies look strong and are developing fast.

Emmie

[WashougalWonder]

Emmie,
Don't worry about the cot's, they do that.

Frankly I would not even consider any ferts until at least 6 weeks old, but I am a don't fert person. Glad you are checking to make sure you are not over watering.

[emilya]

Dec 20 (day 11)
It is remarkable to me how much growth can happen in 24 hours. There are dramatic differences between yesterday and today and I would have to conclude that the babies are happy. :thumbsup:

First to the problem with the cotyledons. The yellowing is still there, but not quite so bad this morning and I have a theory. For the last couple of days I have had a small heat problem and could not figure it out. Temperature each time I visited the closet was at least 2 degrees higher than I had it set, at one point I saw it at 81 deg. Mostly it was hanging out at 79 deg and the humidity felt high. Stupid me... I had left my oven on and it seems that the heat was traveling across the ceiling into the next room and into the closet. The fan was bringing that heat down from the ceiling and into my project. Last night when I decided to have pizza for dinner I found this problem and corrected it so temperatures were back to 75 deg/70 overnight consistently. I think the babies appreciated that I was no longer trying to burn the place down and calmed themselves. Here is a picture of the cotyledons on #1.

Yellowing Cotyledon on my big bad boy


Next I want to notice the change since switching to the big SB44 T5 lights. My fastest grower was right at 2" and seemed to be stretching for light. Now vertical growth has drastically slowed and he is stretching horizontally and throwing out great growth to the sides. I can tell by his stability in the soil when I water that his root system has also developed well in this last week. Here I offer a side view so you can see how he has decided to tighten up and show off his heredity. :hippy:

Sneaking up on #1 from the side


So, things look pretty good here I think. I am still just watering (no nutes) and PH is holding at 6.3 after sitting out for 24 hours. I have also begun to aerate the water by shaking it up in a large jug before watering. The biggest thing I am doing is trying hard to maintain a consistent environment for them. The 20,000 lumens is at approximately 3-4 inches away from their tops, temp is 75/70 and light schedule is 18/6. Airflow is good inside the closet with a fan pointed at the light and causing a slight stir in the leaves of all my babies. Here are todays pictures!

#4, The Runt... looking strong and showing signs of staying short but stocky.


#3 and her crutch... Probably not necessary anymore


#2 - really starting to take off


#1 - he is really proud of himself.. don't tell him about my scissors


Enjoy your day! I am going to work on the grow box some more today.
Emmie

[WashougalWonder]

That runt is showing strong female. I like that one a bunch.

Probably have to get someone to confirm this, but I believe the cotyledons are the 'food' until the first set of leaves can make some.

[Dutch Pimp]

That runt is showing strong female. I like that one a bunch.

Probably have to get someone to confirm this, but I believe the cotyledons are the 'food' until the first set of leaves can make some.

I agree...:thumbsup:...their like a fuse that burns until the main charge is ready..

[emilya]

Dec 21 (day 12) - Overall, things are looking good this morning. All the babies are still showing constant and dramatic growth and continue to throw out new leaf development. I'm still puzzling over this slight yellowing on the runt and the cot's on #1. If anything, the problem got worse yesterday. The only thing that happened yesterday was that they all got a good drenching. I went to the troubleshooting guide and looked at pictures for a good long time last night and the only picture that even came close to looking like my problem was the description of over-watering. This combined with me watering them yesterday has me convinced that I must restrain myself a bit more. The next watering will not happen until I am convinced that they must have it. I'm sorry babies... mama does love you, you just can't have a drink right now.

I just had one of those "ah ha" moments. I think I am hurting my runt by assuming that she has the same water needs as the bigger plants next to her. She just does not need as much water yet as the rest of them. Too much love. Bad Emmie.

I am also on the warpath as of today. I saw a bug. Damn little flying thing, I'm guessing it was a white fly. OOOh... this bug has no idea what he started! This will never do! I'm getting a sticky strip and I am spraying something hideous in that closet. I did a close inspection under leaves and all through things and see no sign of the bugs on my babies... yet.

Here are the morning pictures!

The runt with her yellowing problem... still growing well though!


Number 3 getting ready to take off now


Number 2 looking good!


Number 1, Ain't he handsome?


Number 1 from his good side


Have a great day everyone!
Emmie

[gypski]

Doesn't look like anything is wrong to me. I wet the little ones good then leave them for a couple of days or until my finger is dry about 1/2"-3/4" when I poke their container. :thumbsup:

[Rusty Trichome]

Again...

...Let the soil dry-out a bit before using it for the seedlings. Over-saturated soil can kill seedlings.

Don't overwater. Keep a fan on the little darlings. The breeze will help minimize the stretch. ... :thumbsup: