First Grow! A little over 7 weeks in, but buds are still small! Help!

[Nicoleee]

So I started this grow mid october last year, I got two clones from a dispensary. Bubba Dub (have never found any strain info about it) and White Widow (which has always been a favorite of mine ) I'm growing indoors, in a box (dont remember dimensions) I made with a 250w HPS bulb, a 6" carbon filter attached to a 6" inline fan, painted white interior. Been using Fox Farms Trio nutes, along with a little RAW phosphorus and potassium. Ran into minimal problems, as the bubba dub was a little yellow when i got it (no sign of it now) so I'm about 7 weeks into the flower stage with these two girls, they look amazing and healthy. I know the BD has probably a couple more weeks to go, but the WW said 60 days flower time, which is the middle of next week. Ive been having a friend help me throughout my grow, but I would like other input as well! Im sure you'll know which is which but the BD is the one on the left, and the WW is the one on the right. Let me know what you think! Again this is my first grow, and I'm super excited about it! Also these pictures were all taken today!

 

[Mr.Goodtimes]

Kinda light you got on em? How high above canopy?

 

[HighRoller702]

Maybe next time you should PH your water and get better soil.

 

[Nirod]

Maybe next time you should PH your water and get better soil.

I didn't read whether he adjusts the pH of his water or anything about the quality of his soil. Anyway, back to the OP.

FYI - White Widow by Paradise seeds takes 10 to 11 weeks to flower from my experience and that's only getting 10% amber. Always assume 1 or 2 extra weeks than what is advertised. They look healthy but the flowers are small for being 7 weeks.

Check your timer and make sure you didn't accidentally mess with it.

Need some info about that light, how old the bulb is, brand, did you get it used? How far away is it from the canopy?

How often are you watering?

Knowing the dimensions of your area would help determine whether that light is too little or too much

I advise to not mix up differing brands of nutrients.

 

[Dr Magill]

They do look small. Lighting, nutes, medium?. My guess is limited lumens and a feeding program that was a bit random. It'll smoke.

 

[Cx2H]

Guano teas are your friend. Need some pk.
60 days is based on earliest possible harvest under optimal conditions and barring you had 0 issues during flower cycle. From what I know about WW it's a 77 day strain, not a 56-60.

Light was too far away as lanky as the ww is. Some lst and closer light you will yield better. Bottom s will be fluff IMO.

 

[Nicoleee]

Maybe next time you should PH your water and get better soil.

I do PH it, everytime, to about 6.1. Im using Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil

 

[Nicoleee]

Kinda light you got on em? How high above canopy?

Its a Philips 250w HPS bulb, brand new when i put it in 7 weeks ago, used a Philips 250w MH bulb in veg stage. Im not sure how far away it is from the light my box is 65" H 27" D 36" W

 

[Nicoleee]

I didn't read whether he adjusts the pH of his water or anything about the quality of his soil. Anyway, back to the OP.

FYI - White Widow by Paradise seeds takes 10 to 11 weeks to flower from my experience and that's only getting 10% amber. Always assume 1 or 2 extra weeks than what is advertised. They look healthy but the flowers are small for being 7 weeks.

Check your timer and make sure you didn't accidentally mess with it.

Need some info about that light, how old the bulb is, brand, did you get it used? How far away is it from the canopy?

How often are you watering?

Knowing the dimensions of your area would help determine whether that light is too little or too much

I advise to not mix up differing brands of nutrients.

Timer is fine, set to turn off at 6pm on at 6am. I just put the light info up there and dimensions. I only used a 1/16 tsp a gal of it, just to up the k

 

[Nicoleee]

Watering when the top of the soil is dry, maybe every 3 days

 

[Nirod]

Guano teas are your friend. Need some pk.
60 days is based on earliest possible harvest under optimal conditions and barring you had 0 issues during flower cycle. From what I know about WW it's a 77 day strain, not a 56-60.

It definitely

Its a Philips 250w HPS bulb, brand new when i put it in 7 weeks ago, used a Philips 250w MH bulb in veg stage. Im not sure how far away it is from the light my box is 65" H 27" D 36" W

So your grow area is 6.75 square feet. At 250w that is 37 watts per square foot. That's a little on the low side at least for me. I aim for 50 watts per square foot.

But, a small space like that would be hard to keep cool running 50w per sqft. Smaller tents are harder to pump 50 w per sqft and stay cool than a bigger tent with a proportionate increase in watts. It's counter intuitive because you would think that if I halve the size of my tent and halve the watts they both should be just as easy to cool. But that's not the case. Surface area does not increase proportionately with volume.

Something to know about small watt lights. Four 250w lights would not be equal in performance to one 1000w light. Sure they use the same amount of watts, but the par out put of smaller bulbs drop off quicker over distance than the higher watt bulbs. So most of that photoactive radiation is focused in the center of the light leaving pockets of insufficient light. So now the spots that get the most energy have to share that energy with the areas of low light. But....The act of transporting that energy (biologically) results in a loss of efficiency.

My first grow I got 0.5 g per watt with a 600w light. I'm around 0.9 to 1.1 g per watt running double ended 1000 w lamps. The gold standard is 1g per watt assuming you are doing everything right.

All in all, considering your on soil, small space, small light and that you haven't scrogged what I'm seeing looks about right. I would definitely scrog and super cropped next time around. Maybe even do some mainlining if you can get seeds because that would make it easier for the plant to share energy. But if you can upgrade to at least a 4x4 with a 600w light your first harvest will double the return. Some places offer financing, that's how I started. 12 mo same as cash, paid it off in 3 months. I think you will do fine. They look healthy.

 

[Nicoleee]

It definitely

So your grow area is 6.75 square feet. At 250w that is 37 watts per square foot. That's a little on the low side at least for me. I aim for 50 watts per square foot.

But, a small space like that would be hard to keep cool running 50w per sqft. Smaller tents are harder to pump 50 w per sqft and stay cool than a bigger tent with a proportionate increase in watts. It's counter intuitive because you would think that if I halve the size of my tent and halve the watts they both should be just as easy to cool. But that's not the case. Surface area does not increase proportionately with volume.

Something to know about small watt lights. Four 250w lights would not be equal in performance to one 1000w light. Sure they use the same amount of watts, but the par out put of smaller bulbs drop off quicker over distance than the higher watt bulbs. So most of that photoactive radiation is focused in the center of the light leaving pockets of insufficient light. So now the spots that get the most energy have to share that energy with the areas of low light. But....The act of transporting that energy (biologically) results in a loss of efficiency.

My first grow I got 0.5 g per watt with a 600w light. I'm around 0.9 to 1.1 g per watt running double ended 1000 w lamps. The gold standard is 1g per watt assuming you are doing everything right.

All in all, considering your on soil, small space, small light and that you haven't scrogged what I'm seeing looks about right. I would definitely scrog and super cropped next time around. Maybe even do some mainlining if you can get seeds because that would make it easier for the plant to share energy. But if you can upgrade to at least a 4x4 with a 600w light your first harvest will double the return. Some places offer financing, that's how I started. 12 mo same as cash, paid it off in 3 months. I think you will do fine. They look healthy.

Thank you! This is still a learning process for me, i wasnt really expecting much from this. I just wanted to know what somebody thought about my setup and things i could improve to make the best out of it! Unfortunately i cant make it any bigger or change the size at all, but is there anything else i could do to improve for next time? Anything helps

 

[Kevin Pickford]

Guano teas are your friend. Need some pk.
60 days is based on earliest possible harvest under optimal conditions and barring you had 0 issues during flower cycle. From what I know about WW it's a 77 day strain, not a 56-60.

Light was too far away as lanky as the ww is. Some lst and closer light you will yield better. Bottom s will be fluff IMO.

60 days under a set of mh & hps 1000watt maybe.. My 250 grows often go longer. 600watt digital switchable is a great starter light for smaller grows.

 

[Kevin Pickford]

Thank you! This is still a learning process for me, i wasnt really expecting much from this. I just wanted to know what somebody thought about my setup and things i could improve to make the best out of it! Unfortunately i cant make it any bigger or change the size at all, but is there anything else i could do to improve for next time? Anything helps

keep the 250 I love those lil energy savers.. Just use a 600watt days 28 of bloom until harvest next time will surely give you a better yield than this time alone
.. Cheers to a great first grow.. She's still alive and looking good for 250watt!

 

[Nirod]

Thank you! This is still a learning process for me, i wasnt really expecting much from this. I just wanted to know what somebody thought about my setup and things i could improve to make the best out of it! Unfortunately i cant make it any bigger or change the size at all, but is there anything else i could do to improve for next time? Anything helps

Definitely scrog. Or if you can get a small area for clones try a SOG. I would fill that area with as many 4 inch by 4 inch square pots that could fit with coco, clones, veg for a week then flip.

 

[Huckster79]

Yea good advice on days... read up on how to read trichome and start examining those. Harvest wen shes ready not off a calandar. And yes those advertised days keep you from gaining the best the plant has to offer in my opinion cutting off sometimes 2 weeks she really needs.

Get that light as close as possible without burning em.

I have small room and i LST them into bonsai tree looking girls and i get much more canopy than just letting em grow el naturel.

Your on track to finish with plants alive and smokable herb... success period. It was your first pat youself on back and toke up.

A pilot once told me people compliment you "good landing" when you land real smooth. He said a pilot considers it a good landing when the planes on the ground and everyones safe... period

Its quite the learning experience, make the learning part of the fun and you will do just fine

 

[nfhiggs]

Thank you! This is still a learning process for me, i wasnt really expecting much from this. I just wanted to know what somebody thought about my setup and things i could improve to make the best out of it! Unfortunately i cant make it any bigger or change the size at all, but is there anything else i could do to improve for next time? Anything helps

I would surmise that lighting and lack of plant training is your main issue. The 250W HIDs are just not very efficient, when compared to their bigger brethren - but the bigger ones are just too much heat (and light) for that small an area. Consider going with COB LEDs instead. You can build a 6 COB, 400W LED (true watts) fixture similar to mine for around 140 bucks - I can even give you a parts list. Here are what my girls look like at 6 weeks - 24d x 39w x 60h space dimensions:

 

[Cx2H]

60 days under a set of mh & hps 1000watt maybe.. My 250 grows often go longer. 600watt digital switchable is a great starter light for smaller grows.

Yeah that was part of optimal conditions.

 

[mauricem00]

Thank you! This is still a learning process for me, i wasnt really expecting much from this. I just wanted to know what somebody thought about my setup and things i could improve to make the best out of it! Unfortunately i cant make it any bigger or change the size at all, but is there anything else i could do to improve for next time? Anything helps

I have been growing for a few years now and am still learning.good growers never stop learning. your plants look healthy and you have equipment that is commonly used by growers so you should do fine. you will get a harvest out of this crop and thats better than some first time growers. does that light have a mechanical or electric ballast?if your light has a mechanical ballast you may consider trying one of these http://www.thehydroshops.com/grow-light-bulbs/mastercolor-ceramic-metal-halide-250-watt-horizontal/ I do not see why a 250 watt light would not work in that area. I grow in a 2 ft by 4 ft closet with a 6 bulb T5ho (324 watts) and my last harvest produced 8 ounces of high quality bud.the actual power draw of your light is probably 270 watts from the wall so you should have plenty of light for your plants. strains often take longer to flower than the seed banks claim. growing is as much an art as a science but in the end we are at the mercy of forces more powerful than we are. plants will finish when their ready and we just need to be patient and wait for them

 

[Kevin Pickford]

Yeah that was part of optimal conditions.

As long as you don't set your digital 600 watt ballast directly in the grow area and run fans you can probably pull it off... Need about 18in from top bud though with them 600s.