Dutch Passion Auto White Widow

Day 12. The plants I didn't flush are chugging along. The runt is still a runt, and the new growth is slightly twisted. I've considered culling her, but I'll let her go and if I need the space, she'll have to go. The one I flushed, however, looks bad. I think the medium is capable of holding too much water, and choked the roots a little. Lots of what looks like burn on the older growth especially. The new growth seems ok, aside from the very slightly burned tips, and she is still growing rapidly, so not all bad. Those old fan leaves will drop off eventually as she continues to grow. I have probably hurt her future yield some, but it's too late now and I'll just let her dry out a little and I think she'll be fine and will continue to hold her own. I found a little white root tip coming out of the soil in her pot, which indicates the medium was too darn wet after the flush and the roots were searching for oxygen. This mix has the potential to hold WAY more water than I expected.

In future I won't flush and will just feed with much greater caution, as I don't want to choke the roots or throw off the pH too much by flushing. Those who say to feed very conservatively and only feed when they show you they need it are right on; a light feed is easy to administer, but when you burn your girls, you are pretty much fucked, and in this case a light burn led to flushing, which led to the condition she's in now.

Fortunately she looks to be doing ok despite my overfeed and flush attempt. I poked several 3-4" holes around the edge of the pot to allow air to get closer to the roots.

All the plants seem to have enough water for four to five more days. The medium can hold a ton of water, but I should allow the medium to dry out quite a bit more before I water again!

Next time they need a feed, I'll feed half the volume of nutes at 1/4 strength and feed at 1/8 or 1/4 strength, tops, as needed, unless they indicate they need more feeding. I bet they will be fine for several weeks off the feed they've already received!

The third fastest plant is catching up with the second fastest; those two girls are the picture of health. I'm really quite sad about my biggest girl, but I have a feeling she'll rebound very well if I just let her dry out some and she'll continue to do her thing. If not, no matter; I have two healthy girls and a runt that might yield 5-10g or so.

The next time I grow, I'll start a few extra seeds, so if I get a runt (or even more than one), I can cull them and focus on the more vigorous plants.

Largest plant seems to be doing great and is still ahead of the other two in development and overall size. Tough girl...good thing this issue was in veg and not in flowering. Could've been worse. It'll be interesting to see when she decides to let the burnt leaves go. It's possible the plant used those leaves to feed the new growth and then when the soil dried out some, the drain from the leaves stopped. Still lots of water in her soil, so it seems I can go another 4-5 days without watering. The second and third largest girls are doing frigging great and seem to be closing the gap some (it seems like the biggest lost a day of growth or so).

The runt is still oh so runty and has some seriously strange growth, too. I'm seriously considering culling her. I'll see how the other girls are doing later, and if need be, she'll get the axe. I'm curious to see if she normalizes out. I doubt it. Pre-flowering should start in the next week or two; day by day the tent is getting more and more aromatic. I'm pretty impressed by these AWWs for only two weeks old (aside from then runt, but hey, it happens)!

Extremely happy with how everything is going. My biggest plants ever at 14 days. The flushed plant is maintaining her lead. #3 is almost neck and neck with #2. #1 is still the biggest and there are still burnt tips on the new growth, so maybe flushing wasn't such a bad idea, even if the burn looks mild. The runt is growing too, even if all of her growth is seriously deformed and I'm getting weird leaf sets. I'm pretty much keeping her around to see what the hell she ends up like. Probably a 7 gram cola. Who knows, she might be the best plant of all come harvest time

The only plant that needed water today was the big girl, so she's definitely drinking. She's still 1-2 days ahead of #2 and #3. I gave the rest a splash to wet down the top of the medium; I don't want dust flying around everywhere and a little water seems to prevent wind (fan?) erosion.

I'm loving this grow method; I basically need to water twice a week and only feed as needed.

Day 15: Plant #1 still in the lead, but plant #3 is the widest of all and is now plant #2. Plant #3 is now significantly smaller than #2, a smidgen behind in development, and the runt is still weird as ever. It appears the plants with regular mix under the seed starting mix are doing much better. In future I'll stick to the regular mix and only use seed starting mix at the very top to get the seeds started.

Very very slight tip burn on 2 and 3, so definitely no need to feed; I think the burn is from the salt concentration increasing as the pots dry out some. I just have to keep feeding water for another week or two at least. Easiest grow ever! I know for future grows to feed at only 1/4 teaspoon per gallon and not to mix up a whole gallon when the plants are young as they don't need that much water! Hopefully they'll be ready to pot up by day 21 or so. I only bought one five gallon pot and two three gallon pots, so I'll decide which of the plants gets to go in the five gallon pot after I see how they're doing. I wonder when the first pistils will show.

Since I have a few different formulas, adding 20-20-20 to 9-45-15 sounds like a good mid-flowering fertilizer. 29-65-35 dilutes down to approximately 7.5-16-9, or even 3.75-8-4.5, which is a good balance of NPK IMO. The 9-45-15 is only around 2.25-11.25-3.75 at 1/4 strength, or 1-6-2, so will be good to finish up with (if needed). It'll be interesting to see when they show me they need feeding because all they've shown me so far is that they've had a little too much!

Picked up some Dinafem Auto Amnesia and DP's Auto Night Queen. I might have to move after this run, so I won't start anymore girls just yet; I have just enough time to dry the girls out and jar them before the move if they're done at 80 days as expected. I'm hoping I can stay put, but I won't know for another month or so!

The WWs already smell sweet when I unzip the tent a little; the filter seems to be doing a fine job of keeping the smell down, but the real test will be in full flowering!

Day 17. The girls are doing great, and are drinking a lot more than they were a week ago. I left them for two days and the pots were lighter than I expected, but no wilt. Some tip burn on the plants (solely on the new growth) because of the swing in salt concentration as the medium dried out. Minor clawing too. I Watered everything very well. Growth has been rapid for the last few days! It seems it is better to keep the soil moisture level at an even level vs allowing for swings which can cause salt burns. In hydro you keep the concentration stable, so there's no reason why you shouldn't in peat. You just have to get it right so there's enough water and enough air to keep them healthy.

From now on I think I'll water a little every day, if possible, so as to keep the salt concentration constant. That should prevent further nute burns until they use up some of the nutes in the soil. Apparently 3/4 of a teaspoon in a gallon (across two feedings) was far too much. Chemical fertilizers are no joke! Lesson learned (I should know this lesson well already). Plant burn hurts quality and yield, so don't do it. I wish I'd fed less, but there's no rewind button on overfeeding. Lesson learned for next time. Fortunately the burn and clawing is minor compared to some of the damage I've done to my girls in the past. These girls should be just fine as long as I keep the soil moisture content constant.

The second largest plant is now almost as tall as the largest. For next time, one single feed at 1/4 tsp per gallon when they need it (and not before) will be where I start at, and I won't mix up a whole gallon of feed for four plants in two gallon pots next time! 1/2 a gallon would've been fine.

Girl #1 and #3 are showing pistils already! Girl #1 is quite a bit farther ahead in development. She'll probably be first to finish, I think.

Thinking about the next feed (whenever): 1/8 tsp of 20-20-20 and 1/16 of 9-45-15 gives me approx 3-6-3.5. That should make for a nice, weak feed that won't hurt flowering. I bet they still have enough N to make it through the next few weeks of flowering.

Decided to check on the roots on the two biggest girls; not quite rootbound, but I lifted them out and filled the bottom of the pots with more pro mix. Did the same with the third largest; funky smell from the bottom of that pot. I think the seed starting mix holds too much water vs the regular mix. I put regular mix under her, so hopefully she picks up once her roots grow down into the regular mix. Gave all three a good watering and put them under the HPS. Hopefully they won't experience any transplant shock! I raised the lights by an inch to compensate for the greater height since they're higher up in the pots now. I was wasting quite a bit of room in the pot by not filling all the way up, so Mandala Mike was right about that too.

Adding more mix should help dilute the salt concentration some and allow it to disperse through the new medium. Hopefully this will stop the slight tip burn. The claw seems to have retreated after a good watering, so they aren't TOO overfertilized (just a touch).

Girls look great today. They took the extra soil like champs and look huge today; at least 1/2-1" of growth overnight. The big girl is so bushy I'm struggling to tuck all the fan leaves. I might put them in bigger pots in a week since Mandala Mike thinks you can up pot all the way up to day 30 in flowering! 3 gallons would be quite the step up for them.

19 days...damn, my mental arithmetic sucks. I thought it was day 18, but it's day 19. Day 21 coming up! That'll put them past the 20% mark. Time sure flies. They are really growing now!

Day 20: girls are chugging right along. Very mild skunk in the air when I went in the room today. I turned up the scrubber a little; hopefully that's all they needed. When I added more soil to the pots (under the roots), I buried a little of the stem too. The two girls are around 15" and 13" right now. Third largest is around 11-12". The third largest and runt (in seed starting mix) showed mild nitrogen deficiency and got a light feed today (around 1/12th of a teaspoon in a third of a gallon). They haven't been drinking much, so it might be that the seed starting mix just holds too much water, or perhaps it's because they are growing slower because of a lack of nutes. Let's see how the third largest performs now that she's had a little feed.

Runt removed from tent. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Day 21! The girls reek today. I moved the fan and I think I need to have it pointed away from the door as I can smell a little sweetness outside the tent. I think I might need to pull the trigger on a replacement scrubber because I shouldn't be smelling anything outside the tent when it's closed. Rapid growth; just raised the light a little over an inch, and the girls are drinking rapidly. I don't think the two biggest girls can go two days without watering at this stage. It appears potting up from 2 to 3 gallons is gonna be very necessary in a week so I have a little buffer as far as watering. Hopefully the roots don't fill the extra gallon up too quick as I only have one five gallon pot on hand.

Day 22...a few of the big girl's tips were pointing down from pH swing. Pot was super light! Watered thoroughly, but she's drinking everything I can give her in about 36 hours. Decided to pot up to 3 gallons. That should give her some room to expand. She'd grown into the additional mix under her in five days. I bet she'll root out the three gallon in a week or two, so she might need to move on up to the five gallon pot or I'll be struggling to water her. Hopefully #2 won't root out her pot quite as quickly; she isn't drinking anywhere near as fast. I want to give #1 everything I can since I bet she'll be the primary yielder in the tent. Time will tell! She's already forming buds and is zooming along.

I bought an overpriced clip fan for $25 today--just in case the girls grow out so far that the desk fan on the floor of the tent has to be moved out. The extra fans really have them blowing around. I bet they're enjoying the breeze!

Second largest plant is now the tallest, and is several days behind in development from the former #1. #3 is doing much better after adding more medium under her.

#4, the runt, didn't show me pistils...and now it's showing me balls!

I repotted #2 (now #1 in height) today. She looked amazing. All perky and all of her leaves were 'praying' up to the light. I bet she enjoys the extra medium. She had rooted out her pot much better than the former #1; I broke a few tiny roots when potting up, but nothing major. I'm sure she'll be just fine. 3 gallons appear to be very necessary for these AWWs if you get them to a respectable size (especially if you want a moisture buffer in case you can't water every day). I'm hoping the two big girls don't demand five gallon pots in a week or so!

28 days in...seven weeks to go! Girls look great. Lots of bud sites. They aren't too stinky (yet)! They seem to be relatively low odor. Two girls are in three gallons and the most developed got a five gallon because she's so thirsty. I'm thinking the second largest might need a five gallon soon, but she's still stretching! Noticing some effects of either pH swings or minor root damage on two or three fans on the two largest girls. Now that I've potted them up, they should be fine. I'll give them a light feed again in a few days.

So I've been overwatering some, especially after I potted up several days ago. The newly potted plants are doing fine after drying out some, but the biggest girl seems to be rootbound and she was overwatered to boot. A lot of her fans are dying off, and she is still stretching for the light! Definitely a sativa pheno (Thai leaning by the looks of her). I'll be sure not to overwater any of them during the rest of flowering since they need less water now and are more prone to mold when overwatered.

I should pot the biggest girl up, but she's so darn tall that I think she'll hit the roof if I pot up. Perhaps restricting her roots is the way to go to keep her height down.

Went ahead and cleaned the big girl up...quite a pile of leaves. She's almost at 3 ft tall in a 3 gallon pot! I bought her a new pot, just in case she needs to go up to a 5. I had to put cartons under the two other girls to even out the canopy some. The phenos on the WW really are all over the place!

I put another 2-3" of soil under the big girl. She was well rooted. The extra few inches should give her a little wiggle room until the bigger pots come in. I hope she doesn't stretch anymore. She'd probably benefit from tying her apart some to give her more light! The squat pheno is so solid I couldn't LST her out if I wanted to! Those are some rigid branches. She's going to be a beach ball of bud.

Also, working around the girls has given me the ol' contact dermatitis from the fan leaves. My arms sure are itchy!

The smallest girl is really pretty. No unhealthy fans and she is going to be one solid little cola of bud with 4 branches with nice buds on em too. It'll be interesting to see how the smoke varies between em!

Impressive growth for 31 days. I can't see them going a full 77-80 at this rate, but I could be wrong.

Big girl had her first trichs on some bud leaves today. Let the frostiness begin!

Day 32: bought some white paracord (so I can see if anything grows on it). Going to have to repot the tall girl to a five gallon pot to keep her healthy and she will need tying down to keep her height down. I might open up the bushy girl some as well as she is too dense, and I worry about mold. 40% of the way there now, if they're done on day 80 as expected (I expect the bushy girl to be done earlier and the leggy one to be done later). Time will tell! I bought a pocket microscope for the ol' trich check. I'd rather harvest early than late to prevent mold. I'm all about mold prevention this time!

So lessons learned for next time:

Possibly use pH down to get water within range. I've noticed pH swings and leaf tips pointing up and down, and that can't help things. That might just have been from the wet/dry cycles and the plants getting rootbound. pH symptoms might be a good indicator of girls that are rootbound.

Don't feed indoors, they probably won't need it in good soil. Mandala Mike was right. Even my very light feedings have resulted in tip burn and leaves that are too dark and a few bud leaves even show nitrogen clawing.

Pot up from two gallons to seven gallon square pots; if they prove themselves in two and aren't runts/mutants, they get a full seven gallons to spread their legs in. Root space = yield and I think my plants are flowering earlier than they would've been as a result of being rootbound. I potted the second biggest girl up to a five gallon a little too late and the tallest girl lost a lot of fan leaves from being rootbound; but I think it helped stop her from stretching too much, and those lower fans weren't getting anywhere near as much light. As is she is around 3 ft and significantly taller than the rest. I will pot her up to a five gallon ASAP and then tie her down some.

Seven gallons is as big as I can go in this tent if I want to grow two plants side by side, and since I only intend to grow three at a time to full flowering, they might as well be comfortable and allowed to grow closer to their full potential.

Based on what I'm seeing, these girls are two to three weeks ahead of schedule because they're rootbound, and the two shorter ones will finish in four or five weeks IMO. The tallest girl's stretch is over and she's now building buds.

Girls continue to fill out. Tallest one is drinking less; dropping the leaves means her demand for water and nutes dropped. She should kick back into high gear once she's potted up. I bought seven gallon square pots for the next run. Gonna switch to Compo Sana potting soil for next time as it is cheaper and readily available locally (no having to get it shipped in). It is also highly recommended by Mandala Mike, so I expect it to serve my plants well from start to finish.

Got my Amnesia and Auto Night Queen beans in today. Got a Nirvana Bubblicious Auto freebie as well as a NL Fem freebie on my last order (non-auto). I will definitely give those a whirl too. Still waiting to see if I need to move after this run. I'm hoping I don't as moving is a huge pain in the ass!

Week 6 begins shortly! The girls are doing well. They're filling out nicely. Still some leaf loss on the two largest girls, but the shorter squat one is only losing leaves that were going to go. the larger one is still letting them go. She's the least far along of the three, so when I pot her up to five gallons in the next few days, she should do well. Same deal with the second largest, who looks like she'll be a footlong cola of bud. I think they'll both explode with new growth after potting up! The squat pheno is fattening up nicely and I think I'll get a 6-8" main bud, 4 x 3-4" buds and four 2" inner buds. Let's see how fat they get! There is still tip burn on the new growth, so I won't feed again for now. I think they will have enough fertilizer to make it to the end, especially after I pot them up. No need for a flush this way; they will use up whatever they can before they finish.

Day 37...potted the two in 3 gal pots up to 5 gals. They're going to love it, I know it! I tried to tie the largest girl open and damaged one of the large branches where it meets the stem. I tied it into place with paracord and taped it over. I bet it will recover well since it's not a clean break and the branch didn't wilt at all. Here's hoping it heals up stronger than it used to be and ends up being a super productive branch!

All of the girls are filling out nicely. Began using pH down (phosphoric acid) today. I only need one drop per quart to get my pH into range, so I don't think excess P will be an issue. I wish I'd never ferted the girls. It'll be interesting to see how my next run performs in different soil and without additional ferts (unless necessary). I'm thinking about trying two different kinds of soil to see how they perform; one organic and one regular.

Lovely aromas coming from the tent, but nothing is leaking out of the tent at all. As long as I keep the humidity down, the scrubber can handle everything without a hitch.

Day 37 now...around halfway there. I think this will be a staggered harvest; the most developed girl first, the second most developed 3-5 days later and the branchy girl about a week or two after the others! The most developed girl is really filling out nicely, especially on the main stem. It's going to be quite the cola I think!

Fertilizing my autos did much more damage than helping, and I had them in organic soil. Next run will just be in organic soil and watering only. I'll let the nutrients in the soil feed the autos, no need to add more for autos. Picked up some Mephisto autos for my next go around. There is a real learning curve when you try autos for the first time. Good luck with yours.