First grow, Northern Lights

[smigula]

Hey everyone this is my first grow, I will be growing some Nirvana Northern Light seeds. For this grow I will be doing a soil grow, just picked up some Promix BX the other day.

I bought this light the other day, should be here in the next couple of days. I already built a DWC system and have been developing an Arduino controlled grow like this one, I am only missing a PPM/EC meter I will get one at the end of this month and use that next grow.

For this grow I am keeping it really simple, I got some Silica Blast the other day too, already have some Calimagic and for this grow I am going to use the nutrients I already have (Veg+Bloom). I am using distilled water, and for the first 2 weeks I am only adding the Silica blast (possibly haven't decided yet).

I germinated 5 seeds as I only wanted to grow 3 plants but all 5 sprouted (which is good), I put them in a wet papertowl in a sealed container Thursday, yesterday they had all sprouted with the root being 1-2 inches so I put them in my propagator pro (I will upload pic when google drive starts working again). For this stage of the grow I am the seeds in the prop pro for 3-5 days (depending on if these plants grow really fast) with a 24/0 light cycle. It seems I may have gotten lucky and got a fast growing phenotype

The light I got is a MH/HPS, so I was going to use the MH bulb for the veg stage but the lumen disparity (54,000 vs 36,000) has me wondering if I should just use the HPS bulb for the entire grow, what do you think?

 

[smigula]

Day 5

 

[Jersey'sFinest]

Best of Luck, and BIG UPS alone for growing NL. Epic Strain. Often overlooked these days, with all of the kush/diesel/peanut butter 3000 etc making the rounds. Go for it! Long Live NORTHERN LIGHTS

 

[HighFi]

Yeh I grew a northern lights auto a couple months ago. At that time I didn't have a decent light, but I got 24g off of a 1 foot plant by way of LSTing. They really seem to like LST, so I would definitely suggest that. But yeh it really is a great strain. To me, best strain I've had for pain relief and it was long-lasting for me was smooth coming down. Very nice.

 

[smigula]

Yeh I grew a northern lights auto a couple months ago. At that time I didn't have a decent light, but I got 24g off of a 1 foot plant by way of LSTing. They really seem to like LST, so I would definitely suggest that. But yeh it really is a great strain. To me, best strain I've had for pain relief and it was long-lasting for me was smooth coming down. Very nice.

thats perfect I fractured 2 of my vertebrae about 2 years ago and I have a lot of neuropathic pain, even the pain killers I took for months do nothing for that pain...

can you give me a good LST beginner guide?

 

[zack66]

Personal choice on the bulb you use. I personally like to run the mh in veg and for the first 2 weeks of switching to 12/12. Then I hit them with the hps and they take right off. Good luck.

 

[smigula]

I am probably going to get this bulb for my next grow, I already put my plants in my prop pro and I am already about to have to take them out and put them in solo cups as most of them have already grown as high as they can in the prop pro. I will post pictures later today when I transplant them

 

[smigula]

ok so these seeds grew a lot faster than I expected, I thought they would be in the prop pro until I at least got my MH/HPS light in a couple days but I guess not. I transplanted them into solo cups and until I get my light they are sitting under a few CFL lights.

For the first couple of weeks I am watering them with distilled water, 1 teaspoon of calmag and 1 teaspoon of silica blast.

Day 7

 

[MugsySiegel]

I just competed a grow of Nirvana Northern Lights you can see it in my signature. I will have pics up of all the dryed nugs soon. I experienced 4 different phenos if you get the indica dominant one with dense buds clone it. They all tasted lemony and sweet it is no shit now one of my all time fav strains and helps anxiety a lot.

 

[eastcoastmo]

Nice work dude you may want to put your seedlings closer to the light, they look like they're stretching a bit. When you transplant, put the soil up halfway up the stem and they will grow new roots out of the stem

 

[Po boy]

great choice! i'm a northern lights fan and love the easy grow, excellent yield and outstanding smoke. keep it green. GL

 

[smigula]

Alright so I am going to put the seedlings closer to the light whenever my MH/HPS light gets here, should be today or tomorrow. I am thinking very close for the next few days like a few inches.

As this is my first grow I am going to take pictures every day, I will post them here every few days.

Day 8

 

[smigula]

MugsySiegel I read that you used molasses in your last grow, when did you start feeding them that? Also I thought I read that the NL plants grew in 7 weeks for you, how long did you veg them?

 

[HighFi]

thats perfect I fractured 2 of my vertebrae about 2 years ago and I have a lot of neuropathic pain, even the pain killers I took for months do nothing for that pain...

can you give me a good LST beginner guide?

Well hopefully it works well for you...I let the plant get to some amber before harvesting and I got a real heavy body buzz myself. Basically all I do to LST is wait until I get about 7 or 8 nodes and just bend it over as much as you can and tie it down. I use pipe cleaners. Then it will point back up and continue to grow, and you continue to bend it over again and tie it down. Proceed until you are satisfied with the number of nodes that grow up from the side. Since I've been doing this my yield has increased significantly and you will have a lot more top buds and a lot more light getting to the buds.

 

[smigula]

ok thanks HighFi, I was actually already planning on doing LST with this grow I just didnt know it was called that.

I am also going to keep this grow journal updated with pics nearly every day, this is mostly for me as this is my first grow.

Day 9

 

[smigula]

Alright I got my 400w MH light setup, here is a pic of it. I am going to use the MH bulb for the next 2.5 weeks then switch to the HPS bulb

 

[smigula]

So I didn't think this light was going to produce a lot of heat as its only 400w, but so far it has been producing a noticeable amount of heat, so in 5 or 6 days I am going to change the light cycle from 24/0 to 18/6.

From now on I am going to measure the height of each plant, here it is for day 11:

1. 95mm
2. 87mm
3. 97mm
4. 70mm
5. 87mm

I have a single fan pointed in the middle of the light and the top of the plants, I had to raise the light a good amount as I don't want to burn the plants.

Day 11

 

[EasyPound]

Simugla, looks like a nice start to a great grow! Sub'd

@eastcoastmo: do you generally plant half way up the stem on every grow? I'm learnin' everyday man.

 

[eastcoastmo]

Hey EasyP, nah mate, I only plant half way up the stem if the seedlings stretch a bit too much in the beginning. I like to have about 1-2 inches of stem coming out of the pot. Its not critical but more so to stop them falling over during veg, a thick stem produces thicker buds

 

[smigula]

yeah currently I have popsicle sticks in each cup and I tie the stems (loosely with yarn) to them, and I have a fan on them too so I can help strengthen the stem.

I just had to dim the bulb down from 400w to 250w, it was getting way too hot, I just tested the temperature and it got up to 91 wow.

I am thinking about getting this, putting it in a spray bottle and spraying the foilage every day, what do you think?