I purchased 20 White Widow AF and 20 Blueberry AF seeds in April of this year. The WW came in 4 packs of 5 each and I have kept them in separate packages. So far I have tried 3 of the WW seeds, one from each of the first 3 packs. 2 of them sprouted but then died and the third has produced a plant that is struggling to survive. The one BB seed I have tried sprouted and is well into flowering while the one WW plant shows no signs of flowering.
Has anyone else had issues with the WW seeds?
I am not asking for compensation since the BB seeds I have will last me for many grows. All I want to know is it worth wasting my time trying additional WW seeds or should I just accept my losses.
As a background I have been an organic gardener for over 45 years and have never had an issue like this. All of my plants, vegetable and herbal, are started the same way and are grown in the same soil.
Yes, out of my newbie pack I got 5 each of WW, BG and AK.
3 seeds made it to veg. 1 didn’t sprout, the other is 6 days old, and about to go in the trash.
@BeeKeeper2 I think also had an issue with his WW not sprouting.
On a side note, am a new grower, and had constant issues with my AK, IMO they shouldn’t include that strain in a newbie pack labeled as easy to grow.
Lastly, I love the company, and overall happy with my purchase, and will buy from them again, just lesson learned.
Out of the 6 I started all sprouted however I lost one a couple days after breaking soil. But the other two in that batch are good about a week or two old growing good. The first batch are now a few weeks from harvest, they are sticky and frosty looking.
They all germinated, so they were good seeds. After that it’s pretty much up to you. The most common mistake is overwatering. Second would probably be over-fertilizing which can often be caused by the type of soil you use. I would encourage you to read the free grow bible available from ILGM and ask lots of questions on the forum when your plants are struggling. Be sure to include photos and fill out a support ticket with as much information as possible. If you don’t know some of the answers, just put “n/a” or “unknown.” Here’s an example you can copy and save to a file for later on:
Seed Strain:
Type(Regular, Feminized, Autoflower):
Medium(soil, DWC, Coco):
Size of container:
Brand/type of nutrients/supplements:
pH of water/solution before feeding:
pH of runoff in reservoir:
EC or PPM of water/solution before feeding:
EC or PPM of runoff in reservoir:
Indoor or Outdoor grow:
Light system(CFL, HID, LED):
Light watts(If LED: actual watts, not advertised):
Temperature(Day and Night):
Humidity(Day and Night):
Total time of growth:
If flowering, total time of flowering:
The fact that they sprouted does not indicate they are truly viable seeds.
Most of my plants are started the same way, between layers of paper towels moistened with distilled water. The germination container is then kept on top of a seed mat and the seeds usually sprout in 2 - 3 days for this type of plant. Once the seeds have a rootlet around 1/2 inch they are placed into small pots that are filled with a sterilized soil mix and are covered with a thin layer of soil. The pots are kept on top of the seed mat until the plants break the surface and are then placed under lights.
In this case the 2 that did not survive did not even break the surface after a week. I started one of the BBs less than a week ago and it is already up and under the lights
As far as environmental conditions being the issue the Blueberry seed along with several other kinds of seeds that I started were up and happy within a couple of days under the same conditions as the WWs. Since these seeds never made it to a regular growing container the majority of the environmental questions are moot, but I will answer them anyway:
Seed Strain: White Widow
Type(Regular, Feminized, Autoflower): AF
Medium(soil, DWC, Coco): Custom organic blend
Size of container: 2"
Brand/type of nutrients/supplements: none
pH of water/solution before feeding: 6.8
pH of runoff in reservoir: no reservoir
EC or PPM of water/solution before feeding: not measured
EC or PPM of runoff in reservoir: no reservoir
Indoor or Outdoor grow: indoor
Light system(CFL, HID, LED): never made it to the lights
Light watts(If LED: actual watts, not advertised): never made it to the lights
Temperature(Day and Night): 71
Humidity(Day and Night): light misting daily
Total time of growth: 1 day
If flowering, total time of flowering: 0
Since the only seeds I have had an issue with are the WWs I am going to try one from the last pack of 5. If that one behaves the same I will just assume the remaining ones are not truly viable. If that is the case will accept my losses and not waste my time trying any additional.
Over the past couple of years I have purchased almost $600 worth of seeds from ILGM and have never had an issue like this.
I have been growing all kinds of plants organically for the past 45 years without issues so I think my methods are good.
Actually, it does - from the standpoint of the seed germination, at least. After that, genetics and environment come into play heavily for seedlings. At this point, I will just leave you with a tip: I would encourage you to do a post-mortem on your roots, as this can tell you a lot (overwatering, underwatering, evidence of nutrients in soil, breakage, lack of root hairs) just as the leaves on a mature plant tell you a lot. As with the mature state, not all plants should necessarily be treated the same. Even if you have no plans to work with this strain anymore, you may enjoy learning about reading your roots.
All my WW seeds I have started, photos and autos, have done well and no issues other than operator mistakes. The Autos are curing, and the photos are almost 8’ tall
Just because a seed germinates does not mean it is viable i.e.capable of living. True this could be caused by environmental factors, but in this case the environmental factors are exactly the same as as were used for germinating over 80 other seeds, vegetable and herbal that I have started this year. To me that indicates a problem with the seeds.
I’m sorry you feel that way. I was simply trying to help you become a better grower. I will just leave you with these comments/tips and then be done with this thread:
If the seeds germinate, then they are viable. Some require more care than others, and it should never be assumed that they should be treated the same at any stage of growth.
Don’t water your seeds/soil after planting. Just use humidity domes until a few days after they have sprouted.
Use inert soil for seedlings.
Raise your temperature up by at least 6 degrees. This will make a big difference not only for germination and seedlings but also will promote generous growth in the early vegetative state.
You can analyze sickly roots with the naked eye. No microscope necessary. Issues are pretty obvious.
I do wish you the best of luck with your future grows.
And since this is all you really wanted an answer to: Nope, I have had no problems with ILGM White Widow Autoflower seeds.
I also have a WW growing problem, though a little different from oldgeezer2. I purchased a 20 pack of autofem seeds (ILG-WWW-FP20) ~ 1 year ago (because it was a good deal$), however just got them started in April of this year. No problem with sprouting, no problem with vegetative growth, however the plants simply aren’t flowering. I’m now in 14th week, which is way beyond expected time to flower, although some pistils are just starting to appear. The plants are ~3 feet tall. I pruned the plants several times during growth phase.
Growing conditions are 3x3 grow tent, four plants, 18/6 lighting cycle and fan, LED full spectrum lite (Spider Farmer SF1000).
Has anyone had problems with late flowering or lack of flowering? I can’t figure out whether I have insufficient light, non-AF seeds, or potentially some other operator-induced problem
@chefBoyRDee you have photoperiod plants. The part number for autoflowering White Widow would have been ILG-WWW-FAP20
Switch your lights to a 12/12 schedule and your plants should begin flowering shortly.
I find it interesting that so far the only viable seed from an order of 4x WHW-FAP5 05-03-01 is behaving the same way. But I guess it is because I need to become a better grower (damn the past 45 years of experience) and get my eyes fixed so I can see microscopic details.
As with several other forums on various subjects that I subscribed to in the past this one has disintegrated into the “experts” and the “know nothings”. Because of those attitudes I left the other forums as I am doing with this one.
Thanks to the ILGM staff for what they do and I wish them the best.
Photoperiod are “normal” plants. They pay attention to mother nature, and when they notice the days are getting shorter and fall is coming, they begin flowering and the slow journey to the end of their life.
Autoflowering plants are photoperiod plants that have been crossed with a type (Ruderalis) of marijuana that grows in regions with very short growing seasons. This creates a plant that will begin flowering on its own after (usually) a relatively short time, regardless of of how much light there is.
You can read a little bit about Ruderalis here:
There are lots of great growing guides at ILGM, which can be found here:
Also - you might want to start your own thread(s) in the various forum categories so that this one can die and fade away.
I am a first time grower in a 3x3x6 tent. I started with just one white widow auto. Im on day 50 and my gal is short, busy and still in vegatative stage. Not sure if its a genetics thing or of i was sent non auto seeds.
I’m having the same problem with 20 WW AF purchased in March. Only 5 germinated. 3 of those went on to emerge from soil. 1 lasted about 2 weeks before dying off, 1 got to about an inch then fell over, and the last one just emerged yesterday, so time will tell how it goes. I’m not looking to go through any hoops to try again, I’ve already accepted this as a loss and will just move on if this one doesn’t pan out.
