1st Grow ever... Northern Lights

[strokinwarmblood]

I figured I should start one of these and see if maybe someone may learn from me as I have from many others, even though I'm a bit later in the grow. This is my first grow ever, and I'm 14 days into flowering now. But I'll fill you in on what has happened so far. I germinated the seeds Feb.1, within 12 hours, all seeds had popped and were put into a prop tray with dome and sunblaster t5. Once roots showed out the bottom, I moved them into Dixie cups. In the meantime, I built a small top drip system to be used for my "next grow", but I couldn't wait. I flushed the dirt out of the root balls of the 6 strongest plants and transplanted. It all went smoothly. I am using GH Flora series 3 part. I mixed 1/4 strength and let them adjust during the night. They had completely recovered and growth began within 24 hours. Now the closet. Illuminated by 400watt MH for veg and HPS for flower. Rubbermaid top drip, with six, 5" net pots. 1" Rockwool cubes and hydroton. Roots are in res which is airated by two, 1 foot air stones. Veg for almost 2 months then switched to 12/12. So far, she's been good, other than stunted because of my impatience. I keep my PH at 5.8-6.0, no ppm meter yet. I just weeded out all but 2 plants. They were all female, but only 2 are big strong ladies. I also have 9 clones, 1 of which just had the roots pop out the bottom today. which is 3.5 x 3.5x7.0. I know it's small, but I am limited to space. Soon enough I will be able to dedicate a whole room to this. I've got 5 fem G13 Blueberry Gum, and 3 fem G13 Cheese. I will probably end up germinating one seed here soon and grow it into a mother under a t5. I might top her so I have more tops to take clones from, and grow a SOG in this closet. Today I rigged up a C02 system with a 2L pop bottle with C02 and baking soda. I'm open to any advise or questions!!!

 

[strokinwarmblood]

So this is my closet. And the last one should be my fancy CO2 setup.

 

[bigslama912]

if you are going to top them, I would do it before they get too far into flowering.

Looks good, I'm going to check back along the way

Ive always heard of yeast and sugar to make CO2... any idea on how long that rig will keep producing co2?

 

[strokinwarmblood]

Ok so here's an update. These plants are beginning to flower. I'm on weeks 4 of flowering now, so I increased the ppm to about 1300. Hopefully they won't grow TOO much more, I only have 1ft of space between the light tube and the ceiling.

 

[strokinwarmblood]

**UPDATE**
Today, I flushed my system, and then added tap water (I don't bother letting it sit, our water isn't very chlorinated) along with Week 8, or 5 weeks into flowering of the GH Flora 3 part and dry solubles from Holland Secret. I also added 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide and will add 1/4 cup every other day. My PH was 5.9 after this project then settled at 6.1 two hours later where it will stal, which according to my memory and strict records, is the norm. Tomorrow I will bring the PH down to 5.9. There are a lot of huge clusters of calyxes. I've got the lower 8-10" of the plants bare, and have been pruning off all of the very tiny bottom buds that don't see much light so the plant can focus on the higher ones. There is now, obviously noticeable resin production of resin on the leaves surrounding the budding sites. In some spots I'd almost say frosty. Next time I will post a picture of my roots. And as always, I am open to any constructive criticism, tips, or advice. Happy growing, happy smoking, and most of all, happy loving!

 

[danneede]

Nice grow man, but why did you hang your ballast and all your other electrical stuff on the door? Keeping up all those cords and clutter out of the way makes a big difference when working in a small space. I think you would be better off with 3x3 flood table in that space. Good easy system And you wouldn't need half the stuff you have.

 

[danneede]

Can we get an update?

 

[strokinwarmblood]

Nice grow man, but why did you hang your ballast and all your other electrical stuff on the door? Keeping up all those cords and clutter out of the way makes a big difference when working in a small space. I think you would be better off with 3x3 flood table in that space. Good easy system And you wouldn't need half the stuff you have.

Hey, I'm trying to keep the room as normal looking as possible because of where I am. Would you maybe suggest lower on the door? I'm still on week 5 of flowering. Vertical growth has halted completely is seems, and the many many budding sites are expanding at an alarming rate. It's always a surprise to open the door and see the difference. The PH has been rock solid at 5.9. Also, I've got a G13 Blueberry Gum Fem seedling in the ole prop dome. Questions, suggestions and criticism are always welcome! Thanks for following!

 

[danneede]

I would hang everything on a solid wall, and run the cords down the wall. Just to get everything out of the way. I wouldn't put any electrical especially your ballast on the ground in case you have a flood or spill water. Make sure you hang everything you need to get at regularly with in arms reach. The ballast and some other stuff you can put any where cause you don't really need to access it. I would say in your situation it would be best to do this stuff after you harvest your current grow. It will be much easier when the plants aren't in the way.

 

[strokinwarmblood]

Agreed, I won't be able to do anything yet but after this grow, there are a lot of changes happening in the closet. That seedling I have is going to be a mom, and I'm going to have a SoG w/ it's clones in there. So I will probably use a tray and buckets with expanded clay top drip, or something else, depends on what I learn from now until then. Also, I plan to have all of the electrical NOT in the same room as the plants, I just need to think of a way to set it up so it's neat, convenient, and above all, safe.

 

[strokinwarmblood]

Alrighty, it's Thursday. Thursday is flush day, and new nutrients. I'm on Week 9 of the GH Flora Series (Expert Recirculating) chart; Or week 6 or flowering. The calyx's are starting to swell and new ones are still appearing. There are visible trichomes covering all of the leaves around the bud sites.

 

[strokinwarmblood]

Greetings and salutations my friends, fellow growers, and everyone that happens to read this. I have flushed my system, and changed the nutrients a day early. According to the feeding chart I am on week 10 of the GH Flora Series. They are swelling at a fairly steady rate. The buds are gorgeous already in my opinion, but they still have a week to go on nutrients, then a week of flushing! Wow! Also, the last 3 pictures are of a 25$ greenhouse that I lined with mylar, and put 4 mothers in a small dwc. The seedling on the back left is a mother-2-be G13 Fem Blueberry Gum. The rest are Northern Lights. Then up top is just a prop dome with 3 NL clones. I only have the one sunblaster T5 on the mothers but will have another here soon, it's in the mail. Please feel free to comment, criticize, or contribute! Thanks for reading!

 

[chaky]

Wow, nice grow! Started some NL seedlings myself. Been wondering about the odor, NL is typically a low odor plant. How was the odor on your plants while flowering?