NG's Northern Lights AutoFlower, First Grow Ever, Aerogarden Versus Traditional Soil

N

NewlyGrowin

Active Member
Greetins everyone!

I am going to attempt my first grow and document the train wreck for all to see. Feel free to chime in and offer guidance, suggestions or raspberries as desired! I have never done this and am sort of flying by the seat of my pants.

What are we growing?
Northern Lights - Autoflower (Cuz I am a complete newbie at this.) - from CKS!

Equipment

Seed 1
  • Aerogarden bounty Elite (I commandeered the wife's herb garden for this experiment.)
  • Advanced nutrition nutrients
  • built-in 47 watt multi-spectrum LED

Seed 2
  • 5 gallon pot
  • Kellogg's organic patio soil with added perlite -- bat guano, poultry manure and kelp meal additives
  • Advanced nutrition nutrients
  • 300W multi-spectrum LED

How are we growing?
This part will be fluid, I need to adapt as things go since I haven't done this before.

The big standouts for me are:
  • check PH in the aerogarden, keep it about 6-ish
  • Add nutrients about a week in
  • Crank up the light once I hit about 3 leaves and they are as wide as the pot they are in.
  • I will have a small fan blowing across the potted seedling and a ceiling fan circulating air around the aerogarden.
  • Once every week or so I should change the water in the aerogarden.
I have taken two of my 10 seeds and germinated them using the water/paper towel method as CKS recommends. They turned out perfect. I took one of them and planted it in a "jiffy pot" about 1/4" deep in moist soil and set it under a 50-ish watt LED from the Aerogarden. The other seedling is in the standard spongy receptacle that fits in the Aerogarden. I had to pat a little soil onto the top of the Aerogarden pod to cover the tap root, it wouldn't completely fit inside the spongy thing. (technical term.)

Day1.jpg

Day1.jpg


Expected results

Aerogarden
I fully expect that the Aerogarden, with it's anemic 50-ish watt LED lighting will turn out a mediocre-at-best yield. I expect that the changing of water and balancing of PH will be a pain in the butt and in the end make it not worth it to use as a grow medium. BUT, I have seen some journals where people have had success. I also suspect that I will take pity on the poor anemic looking plant and add several 100 watts of light into the process. Scientifically I should not, but my empathy may win.

Traditional Soil
I will be placing this jiffy pot in the larger 5 gallon pot once it hits about 3 leaves and about 4 inches in diameter. (Just gleaning information from everything I have read.) I expect that once I do that and slap 300W on it this plant will take off like gangbusters. About a week in, nutrients, and I expect a dramatically higher yield from this than the AeroGarden.

Final thoughts
I don't have a plan on where to put the traditional grow. I need to figure out a way to position the LED panel over top of it still, and I need to figure out if I am putting it in the garage or trying to keep it in the house. (Probably garage just for the smell? I am not sure.) Growing up to 6 plants at a time is legal here in California so I am not concerned with anyone seeing it.

Also, I planted the traditional seedling in soil about 10 hours ago and it is already pushing up the soil. Wow, this is going to be a ride.

Thanks for reading this far!
-NG
 
In first :popcorn:

Just a heads up.....cannabis creates a huge odor when growing.......much more than bagged weed does. Some people get away with not filtering the air, but not many. If you have neighbors closer than a few miles, you may want to contain those plants somehow to filter the smell from them.

Just my opinion......
 
Thank you for that! These are the kinds of things that will make this whole thing "fluid" for me. I am sure it will be fine in the house... until the wife starts to complain about the smell. I REALLY want a grow tent so I can put in some scrubbers. I think I need to wait till the wife complains though, then she will buy into it without issue:)

I have neighbors about 30 feet from me... so yeah. I am not too concerned though. It is completely legal here.

Bonsaiweed said:
In first :popcorn:

Just a heads up.....cannabis creates a huge odor when growing.......much more than bagged weed does. Some people get away with not filtering the air, but not many. If you have neighbors closer than a few miles, you may want to contain those plants somehow to filter the smell from them.

Just my opinion......
Click to expand...
 
NewlyGrowin said:
Thank you for that! These are the kinds of things that will make this whole thing "fluid" for me. I am sure it will be fine in the house... until the wife starts to complain about the smell. I REALLY want a grow tent so I can put in some scrubbers. I think I need to wait till the wife complains though, then she will buy into it without issue:)

I have neighbors about 30 feet from me... so yeah. I am not too concerned though. It is completely legal here.
Click to expand...
Oh, if you are in a state with compliance, then you are good.

The wife will be into the tent idea quickly..... in about 3-4 weeks..... ;)
 
Day 2.

I had a 300W LED array show up today. This should definitely help:)

So wow, these little gals grow fast don't they? Two days ago there was just soil.

Nothing dramatic happened. I have kept everything moist in the pot and it is growing like gangbusters.

The Aerogarden had no activity so I pulled out the pod and it had actually started growing out the side and down into the water reservoir. I had to do some careful work to pull out the seed and taproot and realign everything so it grew up and towards the light instead of down into the water. I then packed a little soil on top of the plug because a little of the taproot was still showing. I think I saved the patient, we will see.

Day2.jpg

Day2.jpg

 
She is putting on roots.....so it will be a few days until you see more action above the soil... (My opinion only)
 
Your opinion is valued, thank you sir:)

So I think I have decided to grow this outside. What with the fact that it is legal here in California, there is an abundance of sunlight, and I would rather not have to worry about a grow tent in the house with the wife and kiddos I think it is the best choice right now.

So the soil-based grow will be outside. Northern California, average about 57% humidity year round, temps are in the 80-100F range right now. As long as I keep her hydrated I am hoping she is good. I am expecting a DLI of about mid-40's as long as I get about 6 hours of direct sun a day, shouldn't be an issue. Also I expect another 6 hours of indirect sunlight as well which will boost my DLI even further.

The Aerogarden grow I am winging it so far, we will see how that one goes. I might just end up transplanting that one into a pot should it not grow very well. So far the growth from the AG is about half of that from soil.

Day5.jpg

Day5.jpg

 
So nothing super new.

I learned how to crop photos so there is that.

The soil grow is going well.

Soil_Day_7.jpg

Soil_Day_7.jpg


Day 7, I am going to throw some fertilizer on her today. I need to read up again but I think the nutes I am using have success with 1/4 of the recommended dosage when seedlings. (Micro-Grow-Bloom) I need to look that up though.

The AeroGarden is a little anemic and I am leaning towards taking pity on the little girl and giving her some soil.

AeroGarden_Day_7.jpg

AeroGarden_Day_7.jpg


Other than that it is just me being patient. blah.

One thing slightly of note. Not a fan of the peat pots. Due to moisture on the outside of the pot I am getting a little wispy growth of white something, probably some sort of fungus. I may transplant it into a non-peat pot. Any thoughts on that one? I am reading it can be benign.
 
Well I caved on a few fronts. I was not happy with the "anemic" look of my seedling in the Aerogarden. I decided to transplant it into a solo cup with real honest to goodness soil. (What CAN'T they do??)

In the process, and since I had the soil out, I decided to transplant the one that was doing really well into a solo cup as well. (Holes punched in it for drainage and such.) That white wispy fungus on the outside of the peat pot was bothering me. It had some good roots grown already, about 1-2 inches long into the soil. I think I left them all intact when I moved it so we will see how it goes. I also added about 40-50% perlite to the soil as well. Looking for some better drainage.

Also ordered some 30 gallon fabric pots that should be here soon. Once they are big enough I am planting them outside so as to get as big as possible. Since they are autoflowering I don't have to worry about much!

This is a blast!

Also am working on a "growPi". Using a raspberry pi I am writing a program that will monitor the soil and humidity and send me a text message should the soil moisture or ambient temp and humidity go askew. (Not much I can do if they are outside except water of course.)

If I can get a barometer piece working too I might just take some running calculations of VPD and DLI and track that information as well. Just throwing that out there for posterity's sake!

Peace,
NG
 
The growPi is in place. I ended up with a raspberry pi and an arduino with a moisture sensor. In analog mode I can capture the percentageof water in the soil and it texts me if it goes below a certain percentage. I have it set at 50% right now. (Adjusting as needed.)

Sadly, the Aerogarden seedling has died. My (wife's) dog decided he wanted to have a taste and it didn't recover from the brief chewing he gave it. I retired it today. I also germinated a new seedling and am starting with that one in soil now too.

The best one I have was starting to get a little yellow-ish. After 14 days I decided to adjust the LED lighting to about 15" instead of the 6" I had it at, and I also added some nutrients. Within 24 hours it popped 2 new sets of leaves and is showing signs of greening up nicely. Another week or two and I will be setting it outside in a larger pot. I picked up some fabric pots to host them, both 7 and 30 gallon.

week 3.jpg

week 3.jpg

 
This is looking really good! Nice idea on the Raspberry Pi. I'd like to see a couple pics of your Pi. :drool:
 
Day 24
----------
Even though we are only about 4 inches high we are already seeing buds forming. I was concerned that autoflowering strains start flowering around 3 weeks and mine was still pretty tiny. All seems well though, little white, whispery tentacles are forming on the main cola.

I hardened it over the course of a week. Several hours of direct sun every day, increasing it until I left it out in 100F direct sun (California) all day long. It is handling it well without presenting any sign of distress.

Yesterday I transplanted into a 7 gallon fabric pot, soaked it well and sat it out all night. This morning it looks super happy. I can't wait to see it take off since the roots can now grow like crazy.

Of note. Even though my little plant was in a Solo cup and only a few inches high, when I cut the cup open to transplant that soil was POLLUTED with roots. It was most likely on the cusp of being rootbound. That's crazy, I have never seen a root system so pervasive as that from such a small plant. With that said, she now has 7 gallons of organic soil with about 40% perlite to have fun with! Things are going well I think.

I am looking into making an insect repellent out of marigolds. Any thoughts on that? Does it work? Any concerns?


How to make marigold bug spray:
Click to expand...

  • Put water and marigolds in a blender and pulse for just a few seconds. The mixture should still be chunky.
  • Place in a mason jar and let it sit in a cool dark place for 2 days. Shake occasionally.
  • After the 2 days have passed, strain the mixture out through a cheesecloth squeezing the cheesecloth to get the last of the liquid out.
  • Pour into a plant sprayer and dilute with about 6 cups of water.
  • You can also add 1/4 tsp of Castile soap to help the mixture to stick to your plants.
Store the marigold spray in the refrigerator. It should keep for at least 2 weeks.
Click to expand...


Pictures later!
 
Well here is mah baby outside. I battle hardened her as best I could against the 100 degree weather here in California. She has been outside in that weather for about 3 days now.

Stats:
7 gallon felt pot
in direct sun from 8:30AM to about 5PM.

My bottom leaves are a little yellow, not sure if that is a concern but I am keeping an eye on it. If you look close you can see the first little white hairs forming. SO exciting!

I am not sure how much water we need yet. I have watered daily just because it is so hot. One knuckle down into the soil is borderline dry/wet by the end of the day so I usually water then.

Today I tied it into my main drip system for the rest of my flowers and plants. I have three drip emitters dropping 1 gallon per hour for about 15 minutes every morning right when the sun comes up. I am calculating 3/4 gallon every morning.

Since tomorrow morning is day 1 on the irrigation system I have no idea if that is not enough or too much yet.

Anyone have thoughts on that? I check it daily so if It seems sopping wet or not enough I should be able to find out pretty quick.

outside.jpg

outside.jpg

 
So based on another thread I have done a few things wrong. Which is FINE! This is my first attempt and I am learning.

I am keeping it too moist and not making it "work" to grow it's roots. This is probably stunting the growth.

Nutrients I am shaky on. I need to be more consistent with them after week 2-3.

I should germinate in the pot I am going to grow in, 7 gallon fabric. By allowing the roots to start becoming "bound" inside the solo cup it started flowering.

Well I have another seed germinated and am attempting germination of 4 others that I took out of the freezer. (Hopefully they will be viable.) I will apply everything I have learned here to do it better next time!

In summary:
germinate as usual with soaking/paper towel
plant in final pot after germination (Instead of solo cup)
Allow only indirect sunlight until 3 sets of leaves.
Water along the inside edge of the pot every 2-3 days so as to force the roots to push out and grow better

Ok, we got this.
 
Well things are going as good as they can I think.

It is still growing and producing buds. I am fertilizing every few days with watering of course. I am thinking we are about 8 inches high right now and BOY does it smell delicious.

I have 5 more fabric pots, 7 gallons, with small plants in them now. They started in 7 gallons so no root problems. They are already growing so much faster than this first one.

Here is baby #1. I will probably start another thread for these newest ones.

MVIMG_20180725_080635.jpg

MVIMG_20180725_080635.jpg

 
A little older and a little wiser.

My first grow is still going and it seems to be getting better. I have three preliminary buds now that are starting to increase in size, although none are very big. I am glad I didn't scrap this one for being so small. It is turning out to be a good learning experience. I have a jeweler's loupe on the way, LED backlighting and 3-60x magnification. This should help me understand when we are done!

Trichome production looks awesome, from my newb perspective, and boy does she smell good!

You are allowed to laugh at the new guy that's happy he is going to get a couple grams out of an entire plant:p I have better hopes for the others I am now growing. They are certainly not rootbound and already looking SO much better than my first try!

Day 49 - 1.png


I started 5 others and two have flopped over where the stem meets the soil. Almost like the stem got "crimped" or something. I am thinking pests but I don't know. One died before I could save it, the other I cut off above where the "crimp" was and I am trying to regrow some roots on it. It has two small sets of leaves on it so hopefully I can save it. It has been almost 24 hours in water and it seems to be fine so far.
 

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