Farside05's Northern Lights Auto - Soilless Mix - LED - Grow Journal 2015

[ConfuciusSays]

Off to a great start, Farside.

Things will start happening fast very soon.

Subbed.

 

[farside05]

OK, was doing some more reading, specifically some of Atrain's threads on his auto grows. Upon further review, everything seems to be on pace (other than my runt). He uses the same medium as I am using and doesn't give them any nutes until day 10 (after breaking soil), which is where I was at. My pots aren't completely dried out, but aren't wet by any means. Inserting a finger into the soil there is only a very moderate amount of moisture a couple inches down. I decided I'd give the girls a little drink of 1/4 strength nutes to get them started. As to not over water, I kept it to 8oz per plant and poured it straight at the base of the stem. I checked back in on them 8 hours later and I can see the next set of leaves starting to develop. Also the runt's curled 1st set of real leafs are straitening out. One side is about to normal, sticking straight out, and the other side that was worse, about 1/2 of the curl has come out. Its still smaller than the others but its looking healthier.

I wasn't planning on doing any LST on them, due mainly to my limited knowledge on the subject, but I'm starting to change my mind (again more reading). Looks like it's typically done around day 15 or so after breaking soil, so that means that this Friday might be the time to start if I am going to do it.

Also, I had switched from 20/4 light schedule to 18/6 primarily due to heat concerns during the middle of the day. Now I come to find out that 18/6 is probably a more preferred schedule, so I plan on leaving the timer as is for the remainder of the grow.

Next on the agenda is giving these ladies some names so that I can distinguish them. For the lack of any better method, I'm considering naming them after some of my favorite porn stars. After all, I hope they turn into some sexy bitches.

 

[farside05]

Day 15 from seed/Day 12 from sprout

Looked in on the ladies this morning and they looked fine. Six hours later at lights out, they were starting to droop just a tad. Pots were fairly light. Decided to give them each 1 liter of water with nutes mixed at 1/4 tsp per gallon (the recommended dose for my nutes if using every watering). One liter was not enough to give any runoff. I've got some Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt coming and I'll wait for it to do a full watering. Six hours later at the beginning of the light cycle all the plants had perked back up. All my previous growing experience dealt with spring annuals for the yard. It amazes me on how quick these plants grow compared to them. You can see visual changes every 6 hours. All the ladies now have names based on some of my favorite porn stars. I like my ladies a little fuller figured and top heavy, so its only fitting. For the runt, I named her after Riley Reid, she's a little spinner. Speaking of the runt, she now looks completely normal, only a few days behind the others. No more curled leaves. Unless I screw something up royally from here, I should have 5 plants going till the end.

Used Photoshop automatic color correction to take some of the pink out of the pictures from the LED lights. Should give a better representation of what the foliage looks like in natural lighting.

Alexis

Carmella

Gianna

Katie

Riley

All the girls

 

[360noscope]

They look great man!! They will be in true veg soon and will pick up quick! Until they get 3-4 sets of true leafs be real careful with the nutes. I'd check the runoff pH just to know where your medium is at. I also use 18/6 now, lights off during hot parts of the day. They like to sleep too

Keep it up!

 

[farside05]

They look great man!! They will be in true veg soon and will pick up quick! Until they get 3-4 sets of true leafs be real careful with the nutes. I'd check the runoff pH just to know where your medium is at. I also use 18/6 now, lights off during hot parts of the day. They like to sleep too

Keep it up!

Thanks. Feel pretty safe at the 1/4 tsp per gallon rate on the nutes. That's the recommended for every watering, can go up to 1 tsp per gallon 1x a week. They've been fed 3x now with the 1/4 tsp solution and are not showing any adverse effects, but like you say, waiting for a little more development before I move up the scale. Figured the 1/2 liter drink I gave them yesterday will hold them till Friday when the other supplement comes in. Then they'll get watered till I get some runoff to test the PH. Wife thinks I'm a paranoid grower, which I partially am, but frankly I just like sticking my head in the tent to look at them. Already researching what I may want to grow next and I'm a couple months away from finishing this crop. Who said weed isn't addictive? At least the growing part is.

 

[farside05]

Day 17 from seed/ 14 from sprout

My Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt came in the mail today. Gave the girls a full watering (1/2 tsp Dyna-Gro Folliage Pro & 1/4 tsp Dyna_gro Pro-Tekt per gallon, PH adjusted to 6.2) until I had a tad or runoff. Each pot took 1.5 liters. Runoff came out at a PH of 6.8, so the lime included in the Pro-Mix must be doing its job. Feel like everything is going according to plan at this time. Couldn't be happier. Only issue at the moment is that I may need a filter before this grow is over. Right now there is a faint smell of pine and citrus. Smells delicious. But we are weeks away from flowering and I'm not sure how much more intense the smell will get. Time will tell.

 

[farside05]

Day 19 from seed/16 from sprout

Not much new to report. They are still working on their full watering from several days ago. May start some LST soon. Here's the latest pics.

Alexis

Carmella

Gianna

Katie

Riley

 

[Camo420Grow]

Hey farside, I'm subbed up brother! Good grow you got going here. Your setup is almost identical to hoe my setup is gonna be for my first grow. So I'll be sticking around till the end if you don't mind, been reading now for about 4-5 months and purchased some grow stuff!

Your girls look great, oh btw love the names

 

[shadowmoses]

Make sure you are letting those girls dry up really good in between watering. Once those roots are nice and strong, they will explode with growth!

Keep it up farside, they are looking healthy.

 

[farside05]

Day 22 from seed/19 from sprout

Started some LST/Ponytailing this morning. Tied the uppermost leaves together so light can penetrate to the lower growth and hopefully produce more branching. Will leave it that way for 4 hours, then will untie them. The plan is to do this every day for the next 5 days. Also lowered the lights from 22 inches to 19 inches from the tops. The growth the last 2 days seems to be picking up. It appears the biggest gains come during their 6 hours of darkness. Riley (the runt) has made a complete rebound and has caught up to the 2nd smallest plant (Alexis). I think that was possible since she occupies the front center spot of the tent where there is some bleed over from both of the 2 lighting fixtures. The biggest plant is in the center rear, so its likely that the center spots are the best. Will probably start rotating the plants around the tent so they all get their turns at one of the two center spots.


Alexis

Carmella

Gianna

Katie

Riley

Group

 

[Camo420Grow]

Hey farside, girls are looking fantastic ! How long do you plan on doing the ponytail style training for ? +reps

 

[farside05]

Hey farside, girls are looking fantastic ! How long do you plan on doing the ponytail style training for ? +reps

The current plan, which is somewhat messed up by my crazy work schedule... I did it for 4 hours this morning, the last 4 hours of its light cycle. I will do it the same tomorrow. Days 3 &4 I will do it for 6 hours at the beginning of the light cycle. And for day 5, I'll be back at 4 hours at the end of the cycle. If I had my preference I would do it 6 hours every time, at the beginning of the light cycle, for 5 days. Repeating the process as needed throughout veg/preflower. The employment gods won't let me do what I prefer.

PS - Love the pic of your Rottie in your profile. Have 2 myself. They are my favorite breed. Contrary to public opinion (thanks Hollywood), they are big babies. People are just afraid of big black dogs.

 

[Camo420Grow]

Haha I totally understand about those employment gods. I'm currently active duty and about to be getting out in the next 4-5 months and be back in civilian life so I'll be dealing with civilian ones but glad to put the active duty behind and be able to do something I love(smoking & growing) and that medicinal helps me ! I like the training style case it seems very low stress and a good idea! Have you heard of the bowl style training for autos? It's good too.

And yes that is my big baby! Everyone loves her and she loves everyone. I hate the bad rep that they have and that society's given them. Much like marijuana ! They are awesome dogs and mj is an awesome herb.

 

[farside05]

Hadn't heard of bowl training. See there is a YouTube video on it. I'll check it out when I get off work.

 

[bridgeofsighs]

Always like learning new stuff. Bowl training sounds like a great low stress idea.

 

[Camo420Grow]

Sounds good, it's a simple technique meant for autos. Basically you pull the limbs surrounding the main cola out slightly to give more light to lower nodes for denser nugs. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in the video brother ! Hey I was wondering, I'm growing for myself and my grandmother who has fibromyalgia aswell, what strains do you find best suited for those symptoms ?

 

[farside05]

Watched 2 YouTube videos on the subject. Yes it looks pretty simple and straight forward. I really can't comment on strains. This is my 1st grow so I just went with something that said it was good for beginners. The wife is also new to using marijuana for her fibro pain control. She's been on the opiate based pain meds for a couple years now and a friend of hers that has bad arthritis shared a small amount her stash. Not sure what strain it was but the wife got some better relief from her fibro pain than with her hydros so we're exploring this road of treatment.

 

[farside05]

Got home this AM and the girls were a little droopy and the pots were light. Mixed up some food. 1/2 tsp of Foliage-Pro and 1/4 tsp of Pro-Tekt per gallon, PH'd to 6.25. They all got 1.5 liters. Enough to wet them well , but not so much as to have run off. Was later than expected getting home so I'm going to hold off on the 4 hours of pony tailing this AM and they'll get 6 hours at lights on instead.

 

[Camo420Grow]

Got home this AM and the girls were a little droopy and the pots were light. Mixed up some food. 1/2 tsp of Foliage-Pro and 1/4 tsp of Pro-Tekt per gallon, PH'd to 6.25. They all got 1.5 liters. Enough to wet them well , but not so much as to have run off. Was later than expected getting home so I'm going to hold off on the 4 hours of pony tailing this AM and they'll get 6 hours at lights on instead.

Thanks farside, big time. I'm trying to convince her to try mmj but she is scared about her workplace policy and such. She retires in 5 years and either it's simple RSO oil, food products, or hell regular smoke I think she would benefit way more from mmj than the 14-15 pills she takes daily with no benefits. Again thank you so much for that reply

 

[Katatonia]

Great setup man , i love the way u named ur plants i'm definitely gonna do that on my next grow !
I'm also growing northern lights , but feminized seeds , check my journal if u want :

Katatonia's Journal - CFLs - Northern Light - Soil

I'll be following ! good luck