First Grow, NL Auto and Power Africa Auto

Hi there all, this is my first attempt at growing my own, it's been a big learning curve but very interesting and hence enjoyable

I accidentally bought autos, too many tabs open and I clicked "Buy" on the wrong one.


I started off with a 400w HID but after a day realised it wasn't going to happen due to the need for stealth restricting the fans from getting rid of all the heat.


After a lot of reading and research I bought a Vipar V240 240w LED augmented by a 200w red/blue cfl. I build gaming PC's and I fricking love technology/science so took the leap


I'm using Vitalink HW nutes at half strength max and Vitalink Buddy for the last 5 weeks. After the veg stage it became rapidly obvious I needed to add Calmag urgently, apparently LED grows need this but I never did find out the science behind why, it worked but if anyone knows why I'd love to know?


I'm trying the PK 9/18 approach instead of 13/14, purely on the basis that is what the nutes and buddy give me and I can't be arsed fannying about changing it now.


The tent is .75m x .75m x 1.5m.


Nft hydro in a GT205 tank.


1 100mm fan extracting through a carbon filter with two lower vents open providing fresh air and a clip on fan for circulation.


Temps are running at a steady 25c - 26c for 20 hours lights on and an oil heater keeps them at 23c during the 4 hours lights off. Humidity is steady between 45% and 55%.


EC has been kept steady at 1.4 gradually being dropped to 1.0 for the last stage. Both plants hated it above 1.4 and the only other problem I came across was water pooling at the end of the top tray due to the mass of roots causing the plant closest to show signs of overwatering. Solved that by turning the water pump off for an hour a day.


Ph I have varied from 5 - 6 to allow the absorption of the different nutes and the reservoir temps are kept steady between 17c and 19c.


Air pump and brick keeps the water oxygenated.


Due to the size of the tent I decided to try scrogging but it's become more of a semi scrog due to the fact I'm new and the plants got away from me a bit.


After much reading and the very real risk I would run out of space I had to take the decision to FIM the autos early on and then at the end of veg/first sign of flowering I defoliated 90% and the same again after another two weeks of full flowering. I've just been tucking and lightly trimming since then.


I also added a Giant Red 300w 9U CFL to help them along because I could.


I've been a bit remiss and not taken enough pics but what I have got are below, any comments/advice/rage hating of LED's most welcome lol.


Day 10 in tank, 13 from seed.



Day 51 NL drooping from pooling in tank.



Day 53 perked up now.



Day 61 seem to be doing well.



Day 67 and some general pics of plants and setup.

I need a bit of advice from those with more experience than me, i.e. anyone who has finished a grow!

I've got 3 weeks left to harvest according to the schedule, I'm checking the thingies turning amber and stuff but I noticed the NL seems to be ahead of the Power Africa by quite a margin (it did flower first by about a week).

I've managed to get some pics of an average cola of each plant and I've got a few questions;

Is 3 weeks a realistic time frame or do I need longer? (I've got some Kalashnikova and Blue Cheese clones coming but the guy is a bit crap at saying when, not because he can't tell when the clones are ready but because he's a bit scatty and forgets dates/times any more accurate than which month lol.)

Since I've got to use the same space for drying I can't really harvest them separately so from the pics does it look like that's going to be ok?

If I have to leave the NL in there until the PA catches up will it affect the NL in a bad way?

Thanks in advance!


NL Auto Power Africa Auto

So after 10 weeks of the CFL's keeping the temperatures steady Spring has finally arrived here and the ambient temp has gone up which has affected canopy temps much more than I could ever have imagined 15f to 20f higher in the tent! Tried with the big CFL turned off but it was still getting towards 95f so I took all the CFL's out and the temp dropped to a nice 75f - 78f with the oil heater stopping it getting too low.

This meant I had a crappy 140w true on the plants now so I've had to bite the bullet and bought a Vipar V300 to sit beside the V240, at least taking the true watts up to a more respectable 340 ish (or 540w if you believe the sales stuff) which is perfect for the small tent.

It's harvest a week today whatever happens so here are a few pics so you can let me know if there is anything obvious I've missed that needs correcting!

The nutes are down to 0.8 now and I'll lower them to 0.6 later this week, it's really the Calmag that keeps them up but I've found it to be essential under LED's.

I had a heart stopping day last week where I thought I could leave it out for the last couple of weeks so the EC could be kept lower with Bloom Buddy and standard nutes but when I checked them the next morning they looked like they had died overnight, I kid you not, leaves yellowing/browning and covered in spots over the top 1/3rd of the plant. One half teaspoon of Calmag and within 36 hours they were back to health with just a few scars to show for the ordeal.

Anyway, the Vipar V300 arrived this morning (I'm not sponsored by them or anything but I have to say their service is the best I've found anywhere online and great communicative staff!) so it's up beside the V240 and the plants have a week of huge amounts of light for their final push .

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Just a quick pick of the harvest after the first trim, 42 ounces wet. Final weights posted in a few days.

Well just spent the evening doing the final trimming and getting the buds into the jars for curing.

The Northern lights was the densest of the two and weighed in at a final 5 and a half ounces, not surprising as it flowered a week earlier.

The Power Africa came in at 4 and a half ounces. Both weights allow for losing another 5% during curing btw.

Tried them both (just the little bits and bud tips) and the taste is distinctly different, I prefer the NL, the wife prefers the Power Africa. She's a green fiend anyway so loves the super strong stuff, I like a long mellow so perfect choices

Anyway, it's been fun, a big learning curve and a real surprise at the amounts, I was told to expect no more than 2 ounces total under LED in that size tent, I secretly hoped for 4 and got 10 so I'm off to get completely mashed and think about the next grow starting this weekend when the Kalashnikova clones get here! Must order that Buddha's Tree 9/18 for the next time!