RoboticGanja's First Indoor CFL Grow - Single Feminized Northern Light Plant

[RoboticGanja]

Greetings, this is my first grow journal, and my first grow. I was getting pretty tired of feeling like a criminal searching for a hookup so I decided I should try my skills at indoor cultivation.

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Details:

Strain: Feminized Northern Lights from 420 (Robert Bergman), 90% Indica Dominant
Stage: Seedling
Type: Indoor grow
Medium: Soil
Medium mix: 70-30 (by volume) Nature's Care Potting Mix (unfertilized version of MiracleGro) and Vermiculate
Lighting: 6X23W CFL spirals, 4 x 5500k bulbs, 2 x 2700k bulbs
Temp of tent: 76 F
Relative Humidity: 42%
PH of medium: ~6.8
Fertilizers: None so far, I have .75 liters of liquid tomato fertilizer left over from last year (actual tomatoes) that I will try later on.

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SO here we go! I started with a water bath for a single seed for 24 hours, then sprouted in a peat pellet. I am preparing to plant the entire pellet and seedling in a 5-gallon SmartPot this evening as the baby tap root has just shot out of the bottom of the peat pellet this morning.

I hope everyone likes my preliminary tent, it is a drapery of mylar around a lighting fixture I built just to grow indoors. I really just want a 'single plant grow' at any time with a milder-smelling strain to avoid issues with neighbors/cops. Thus I chose Northern Lights, one of my favorite strains that really helps my mood & back pain. Below are some pictures of the start of my process and I promise to update every 48 hours or faster as my baby progresses.

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Here is her first bath before planting in peat:

Here is the preliminary tent setup along with lighting:

First and second day seedling photos:

Most recent photo, three day old seedling closeup!!!

 

[RoboticGanja]

Forgot to mention, 24 hour bath was on 6/26-6/27. Sprouted on 6/29. I will try and veg for 4-6 weeks depending upon how topping goes, and I will flower for as long as it takes...

 

[RoboticGanja]

Quick update, I've transplanted the entire peat pellet into a 5-gal smart pot filled with a 70-30 mix (by volume) of Nature's Care & Vermiculate. I will be investing in a quality tent once I'm closer to flowering, in the interim, if any of you have any comments or suggestions let me know. Also, if you would like details on how stealth this setup is, or if you have any questions on anything at all (like instructions on the light build, etc) I will be happy to answer them.

Photos of the setup after the transplant:

 

[RoboticGanja]

4-day old seedling, it has bounced back from the quick transplant yesterday. I'm thinking rock wool or peat pellets provides for the least stress in seedling transplants...but maybe that's just, like, my opinion.

 

[RoboticGanja]

It is pretty amazing how fast mj progresses. Here she is this morning, 5 day old seedling:

 

[RoboticGanja]

Looking good this afternoon, I haven't noticed any stretching so I'm thinking the lights are *just* right for now:

 

[RoboticGanja]

One week old seeding!

 

[Suspectbigg7]

Subbed in mate

Looking good, I'm on my first grow as well, lots of good people on here to give good advice.

All the best mate

 

[RoboticGanja]

Subbed in mate

Looking good, I'm on my first grow as well, lots of good people on here to give good advice.

All the best mate

Thanks, man. I'm learning a great deal reading through all of these journals and posts. I appreciate you subbing. I'll be updating tonight with pictures of my second week seedling. She's starting to take off!

 

[RoboticGanja]

Here she is last week:

And here she is this evening, my 2.5 week old seedling!

 

[RoboticGanja]

Quick update with photos. Liquid fertilizer started at 1/4 strength 5 days ago, "MiracleGro Liquafeed" for tomatoes. Everything is looking awesome so far:

 

[Grouchy]

Looking good!

What kind of yield are you hoping for?

So as far as your nutrients, that probably won't cut it. I don't know if budget is a problem but for about $30 you can get a GH Nutrient set that should last you an entire grow and comes with everything you need plus more. Alternatively, you can buy their 3 part series of Flora Micro, Flora Gro, and Flora Bloom that will last a couple grows (about 3 in my case) for about $30. Feeding should not wait until the 25th day. I start mine when they get their first set of tru leaves at 1/4 strength. Then, slowly bring them up to full strength. Yours seems to be doing fine but things can get bad real fast especially if you are measuring the PPMs and ph (which I assume you aren't because tomato ferts would throw both ph and PPMs in the wrong levels).

So the reason I ask what kind of yield you were trying to get was because the lights you have now will work. However, you won't yield very much. If you throw a few more lights up, you'll increase the yield to something more favorable. From what I've "heard," 3000 lumens per square foot is the minimum for a decent crop. The way you have your lights set up, you are looking at a smaller yield. If you were to buy 3 Y-splitters for your sockets ($2 per), you would utilize your lights better because there is more surface space on the side of the bulbs than on the end. You want to maximize the surface space. More surface space = more light the plants get.

Be sure to keep your lights 1-3 inches away from the top of your plant. At the age they are now, they will grow very fast and since the lights are so close, you risk burning them. But don't worry! These bulbs don't do much damage to the plant but too much can stress them. It's never happened to me (stress from light burn) but you just gotta keep an eye out for it.

Now smell, you shouldn't have to worry too much about it smelling outside your home but inside, it will smell very bad (or good... ). A carbon filter might be a necessity when you turn to flower depending on the size of her.

I'm also growing northern lights and I'm in flower now so if you want to see what yours will look like, take a look!

I'm subbed though! I wish you the best of luck! You'll enjoy your homegrown more than any other you can buy!

 

[Grouchy]

I also noticed one more thing. Your ground seems to be concrete. That will lower the soil temperature by a considerable amount. You can get a soil thermometer and monitor it just in case

 

[orangehaze]

I think you are fine with those nutes but I would follow the advise of adding a few more bulbs, at least when she starts to flower. The lighting you expose the plant to now is fine, same as the professionals would give their flowers in veg. Also, a carbon filter is a really good investment.

 

[RoboticGanja]

Orangehaze: Thanks, man. I just added 4 bulbs today for a total light output of 13,800 Lumens on about a square foot of grow. I'm hoping these nutes work well. There is so much conflicting information on "regular" type nutrients that it's really just an experiment in being frugal as I use the same stuff in my vegetable garden to pretty good results.

Grouchy: Thanks for all of the advice. I am hoping to net around 3/4 to 1-1/4 oz. It looks like I will have at least three good colas if I keep the two outer branches leaned over like they are now. We'll see. But I'm hoping for the best. I went out and bought the Y-adapters so I could add 4 new bulbs. Right now the output is about 13,800 lumens. I'll put up some pictures here in a minute!

 

[RoboticGanja]

So here are some photos, along with two shots of the extra bulbs I added. The carbon filter is currently sitting in its box because every single duct fan I have tried just doesn't cut it (3 so far). So, Im ordering a 190CFM unit over the weekend so that should be ready by the time I start the flowering schedule.

Man, let me just say that this has been an incredibly interesting process for a first grow, and it "seems" like I'll have some quality bud in about 10 weeks... I added a 1.5 liter Smartwater bottle to a picture so the viewers can gauge overall size thus far. So enough said, photos:

 

[RoboticGanja]

So after about 18 hours of time with the 4 extra bulbs I am certainly noticing a happier plant. I'm on the fence about exactly how to tame and LST the side branches, though. I weighed a couple down with just pipe cleaner and they are training towards the light, and I also tied two down to the "holders" on the sides of the smart-pot and they are also training towards the light. I guess I'm worried I'm being too simple and not really getting the best out of my first grow...hmmm, maybe 'less is so much more' on the first grow and I just wait until I drop a White Widow down after this harvest to try full LST?

Well, I try not to post without photos, so here is one as of today:

This lady is so bushy I may have to come up with an interesting name, even though she's the only one I'm keeping track of

 

[RoboticGanja]

Well, sad story...after being gone on business for 4 days I returned to a wilted, sad plant due to an electrical issue. It looks like while the breakers are rated at 20AMP, the wiring and/or GF outlets were not, so the system shut itself down. I tried looking over everything and while my tent setup is A-OK, the wiring/breakers/GF outlets are not, so I'm gonna have to abandon this grow until I can get an electrician to look over the breaker box and outlets.

So, now I have a wilted 24" indica plant with pre-flowers. Such a shame, but thanks for being along for the ride.

 

[Frostbourne]

Oh no!!! what a bummer man, get those lights up again and id like to see how she does now, you had a nice plant going!

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.