Thanks standsideways they are beginning to transition into the peak flowering stage. I'm super excited as this means that the wait is almost over!
Day 61 (Day 23 Flower)
The tops are starting to really fatten up which is a great sign. I'm going to get the 400w bulb today and I will plug her in and get them lumens cranking until the ripening phase.
The doctor is smelling very skunky/mangoey with a generous coating of trichomes. The white widows are very low odour at this stage - I have to get very up close and personal and even then they just smell like fresh lawn grass clippings lol
The midget widow will probably have her LED turned off once the 400w HPS bulb gets here as my landlord is getting suss on me about the electricity spike
Here is the 400w HPS installed. The LED panel had to get out I'd love to carry the LED full cycle but the electricity bill is making my landlord a bit suspicious.
She actually visited me randomly for an inspection and started checking out all the rooms... and walked right up to the grow tent and didn't detect it! LOL I was dripping sweat there for a second.
I have changed the set up a little bit. I raised all the plants onto crates and drilled holes into the saucepans and crates so that when I feed - it would be true run to waste and I wouldn't have to continuously remove the plants from the tent to feed them (which is what I have been doing lately and it was causing too much work)
Props to indiematth from icmag for inspiring this idea
and a closer look...
400W HPS bulbs make the photos extremely bright and even with some photoshop tweaking it still looks bloomin bright hahaha
The doctor is showing very vigorous growth and the smell is so sweet, skunky and mangoey it's incredible - her trichome production is also top notch.
The white widows are slowly catching up in terms of trichome production but still a very low odor strain at this stage. It might start smelling later?
In this picture the doctor is on the left and the widow is on the right. The doctor shows faster development in all categories (smell, floral growth, trichomes) and I'm sure if I can keep her alive full term she will be the biggest of the bunch no doubt.
..close up of the doctor
Fed today with my 1100PPM recipe. I'm now going to give them one quick dry cycle and then feed them next time with 1200-1300 PPM to see if they will tolerate it.
Yesterday I could definately say that the doctor was the largest plant in the tent. But almost overnight the taller White Widow has over taken it!
The white widow is now starting to produce more terpenes - the only word that I can think of to describe the scent is a fresh pine like smell.
It's going to be a close battle between the doctor and white widow
I wasn't satisfied with the way that my set up was draining so I cut holes into the tops of the crates and embedded the pots directly into the crates (and removed all the saucepans as they were unnecessary imo) doing this should make it drain more efficiently.
No food or water today. Going to let them dry out a bit and hit them with a stronger feed tomorrow!
Thanks IslandGrown the grow so far has been flowing along quite smoothly.
Tomorrow I will be boosting the PK for weeks 4, 5 and 6. It's time to plumpen these girls out
Day 65 (Day 27 Flower)
Daily update:
The ladies are going to be put through their paces. I fed them today with 1350 PPM (a bit higher than I originally said) I just want to see how they'll cope.
7ml Budlink
80mg Carbo Max
50ml Vitalink Coco Bloom
5ml Nitrozyme (this will be their last dose of Nitrozyme)
15ml Plant Angel Flowering Concentrate
1/2 tsp Magnesium Sulphate
PH 5.8 / PPM 1350
Tomorrow I will have a PK booster to use to assist these girls during their peak flowering phase and to help increase the yields. I spoke with female seeds and they said that I definitely have their White Widow and not their White Widow x Big Bud cross (phew!)
Terpene production on the White Widows are increasing gradually on a daily basis. A fresh skunky/smelly socks/piney smell emanates from their flowers and leaves. I like how it's developing.
standsideways > Yeah they're filling out nicely ^_^ I can't wait until they're done.
I'm going to be starting a new job as of next week so I'm a little bit worried about how I'm going to take care of them but I'm sure I will work out something!
Day 66 (Day 28 Flower)
Here they are this morning:
I've tweaked my feeding recipe to include a more absorbable PK in the form of Vitalink Buddy (which is a mix of phosphite/phosphate, potassium and magnesium 0-3.6-6)
I've done a bit of research and apparently, a PK booster is most efficient when the Potassium ratio is 2:1 in comparison to Phosphorus. I wonder if there is any truth to that? Let's find out!
Tweaked the feeding recipe today because I ran out of Vitalink Coco Bloom (oops). Have temporarily reverted to using the Grow formula with extra Buddy for additional PK.
I have decided that extra calmag will be added for weeks 4,5,6,7 to help the plant with floral production.
Here are my two favourite chunky ladies. The doctor looks like she's almost been outdone by the white widow... only time will tell who will produce more
I notice that the plants are putting out lots of little support leaves.
I'm not too sure if that's because I have too much nitrogen in my feeds or what but I will continue to increase the Buddy (PK) daily until they put more focus back on the flowers.
The doctor seems to be slowing down in terms of growth compared with the white widow. Let's hope the extra nutes will put her back in production mode!
(Tent: 26 degrees celsius / relative humidity 49%)
After much experimentation. I have finally found what I believe to be the sweet spot when using Vitalink Bloom and Buddy together.
There also seems to be a strong relationship with phosphorus and terpene production and having enough phosphorus for the plant will help improve it's smell production.
They are now fully focused on pumping up their bud size. It's very gradual but you can notice slight improvements on a day to day basis.
They are now being fed 1500-1550 PPM daily until week 6.
Good day fellas. Here is a daily update of day 38 flowering.
Fed this morning with 1550 PPM. The calyxes are still building and swelling. A few orange hairs have been spotted and the buds are plumping on the daily.
The midget widow is very frosty - but super short and squat compared to her bigger sisters. This pheno also features double serrated leaves.
Here's an idea that I've come up with recently. Instead of staking and tying up your stems/branches when the buds get bigger - make use of the humble zip ties! this method allows the branches to brace and support themselves and also helps to strengthen the main stem.
It's almost like an LST method as it allows the stem to strengthen itself gradually as the stems and branches put out heavier buds. This works better on topped plants due to the main stem structure as shown in the pic but will also work on plants left to grow naturally - just find something to hook the zip ties to.
Think of it like a body builder who wears the back strap as he's lifting serious loads all support!
Here's a pic of the largest cola on the white widow. This could potentially be a 9+ inch cola in the making if it connects up properly.