1st Grow - Indoor Northern Lights Auto

[GreenKitty]

Just because I love taking pictures of her

 

[GreenKitty]

I just bought:

Wholesale 160 Strips Full Range Ph Paper Water Alkaline Acid 1 14 Testing Kit B2 | eBay
and
Mini Round Outdoor Wet Hygrometer Humidity Thermometer Temperature Meter Hot | eBay

Do I need one of these?

3 in1 Flowers Plant Soil Ph Tester Moisture Light Meter Hydroponics Analyzer | eBay

Also I can see some roots on the surface of the soil, last time I watered it until I felt the bottom of the soil, through the draining holes get really wet, but there was no runoff and I thought "Well I guess I put just enough", but I searched a bit and maybe I should have watered a bit more, so there was runoff.

Also do you think I should give her nutes every time I water her? But like a very low dosage? 0.5ml/L or even less, like 0.35? Or I just watter her normally next time and then give her nutes after? It's just that I water her about every 5 days so that would mean that she wouldn't get nutes during 10 days.

EDIT: I can also see root endings on the drainage holes on the bottom of the pot, so I do know that she has roots on the whole pot already.

 

[Antics]

Ok now that you see some problems appear, you'll want to use your PH test strips when they arrive. You'll need to test the water you pour in, and then water until you have runoff, and test the runoff PH. You want to test the very first bit of runoff that drips into the collection pan, that will be most accurate.

Post both results when you have them.

Next, that 3 in 1 soil tester/PH meter is garbage. BUT! I use the same exact one. (Yes. I really do have the exact same one) Budget was tight when I started out, so I bought that one, knowing that something was better than nothing. I use that meter all the time, and it DOES really help. That type of meter will never be as good as the digital meters, but those will also be about 4-5 times more expensive. Not everyone has the $ to buy expensive testing equipment, and I completely understand that. Using the cheaper meter will be better than no meter. Just make sure you clean the probes after every use, and it should last you through a few grows.

That meter is also helpful in learning when to water. I use the moisture function still, and it works out pretty well for me.

When I start giving nutes, I mix each batch custom based on the plant size, and what growth phase she is in. I give nutes every time I water, and it's about once every 5-6 days. When you start giving nutes keep a close eye on the plant to look for deficiencies, and also look for nute burn.

If you see deficiencies while giving nutes, first check PH. If your PH is ok, then it is likely just a deficiency, and a small increase in nutes usually fixes it. If PH is not ok, fix PH first before giving nutes.

If you start to see nute burn, then you know it's a little too strong, so for the next batch just mix it a little less strong.

When you see roots at the drainage holes, that's when I know I need to transplant to a bigger container.

 

[GreenKitty]

Ok now that you see some problems appear, you'll want to use your PH test strips when they arrive. You'll need to test the water you pour in, and then water until you have runoff, and test the runoff PH. You want to test the very first bit of runoff that drips into the collection pan, that will be most accurate.

[...]

When you see roots at the drainage holes, that's when I know I need to transplant to a bigger container.

Yeah they should arrive in like 3 or 4 weeks I just ordered them.

I don't have any larger container and I bought the biggest vase the store had, it's 30x30x30cm kind of.

Her leaves are starting to touch the walls of her enclosure, is it fine? I think with LST I've widen her as much as she'll be able to be within the space that I have, which isn't very much.

EDIT: Shouldn't I do some defoliation about now?

 

[GreenKitty]

I pruned/defoliated her yesterday. After much research about how to do it and reading so many things contradicting each other I found an article that explained the function of the leaves and I think I did well.

Here's what I took:

Some photos of how she is now:

She's still pretty bushy but light certainly is penetrating better and reaching some places that it should be, I think I did well.

I was scared that taking leaves off would stunt the flowering but since I took the leaves, yesterday, pistils are appearing in lots of bud sites, here's a pic:

There's lots of others, I also watered her today, the pot was so light! The top of the soil was really dry. I gave her nutes too, a little bit less than the other time.

This is day 37, do I start counting from now the days that she's been in flowering? Because the pistils appeared?

 

[Antics]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm falling behind on subscriptions lol.

You did really well for your first defol. I don't like to take too much off, due to their function for the plant, so I only remove what is blocking light to other budsites if I can't tuck it in somewhere else to keep it out of the way.

For autos they count from seed if I remember correctly. So where you bought the seed would say xx days to harvest, that means from when it sprouted, but most people have found that those estimates tend to be exaggerated a little, and have grown plants 2 weeks past the harvest date to get the trichomes where they wanted them.

 

[GreenKitty]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm falling behind on subscriptions lol.

You did really well for your first defol. I don't like to take too much off, due to their function for the plant, so I only remove what is blocking light to other budsites if I can't tuck it in somewhere else to keep it out of the way.

For autos they count from seed if I remember correctly. So where you bought the seed would say xx days to harvest, that means from when it sprouted, but most people have found that those estimates tend to be exaggerated a little, and have grown plants 2 weeks past the harvest date to get the trichomes where they wanted them.

Omg I'm so glad you think I did well xD There's been like a doubling of pistils in the last 24 hours! I also only took what was blocking light.

Next grow I'm going to control the plant much better than with this one, I have learned so much! Looking at the plant and having now past experience I think I could get maybe 10 grams from it, I'm going to backbuild all the buds and I'm trying to get the toppings better distributed but there's some branches that are too low and didn't grow because they didn't have enough light, next time I'll defol better to improve the growth of the lower branches, but she's still gonna grow a lot I guess!

I'm so excited to see the buds grow! My partner only smokes with his friends and I don't really hang with them that much, I've actually never had a bud in my hands or seen one in real life xD I'm so new at everything it's hilarious xD

 

[Antics]

This is the most addictive part about Cannabis. Once you start growing, it's hard to stop. You want each new grow to be better than the last, you want to try new things, and the list just goes on and on.

You can also use LST to pull down the highest branches, and use wire or pipe cleaners to tie the small branches so they are in direct light.
But if you're talking about very small branches... skinny like a toochpick, at the bottom of the plant, and only a few inches/cm long, those branches I just cut off.

 

[thermoUncle]

your plant looking good im also growing nl auto (43 days)

 

[GreenKitty]

your plant looking good im also growing nl auto (43 days)

Thanks :3 I did so many mistakes, and I have such limited resources, I really want to step up my game for the next plant but it all depends on what the harvest on this one is going to be... I really wish I could reach 10-15g, if I got an once out of this plant then I could get some nice growth enclosure with more lights and better food for next grow, but I don't think I'll pass the 10 grams xD

Anyway, thanks for stopping by! I'm subbed on your grow, hope your plants do good until the harvest!

 

[GreenKitty]

This is the most addictive part about Cannabis. Once you start growing, it's hard to stop. You want each new grow to be better than the last, you want to try new things, and the list just goes on and on.

You can also use LST to pull down the highest branches, and use wire or pipe cleaners to tie the small branches so they are in direct light.
But if you're talking about very small branches... skinny like a toochpick, at the bottom of the plant, and only a few inches/cm long, those branches I just cut off.

Yeah, it's so challenging but it's also such an amazing trip, getting them from seed to veg phase, seeing them grow and now when they flower they are all grown up and fulfilling their life's goal! And the plants are so beautiful! *.*

I'm trying to get some of the lower branches some better exposure and I also gave a couple of them 2 days, if they're not developing like the others are I'll just cut them. They're not toothpick thick, but almost.

Do I keep the lights 18/6? If I had strong lights would it make sense to increase the amount of dark time to get more growth?

EDIT: Day 39 (just to keep track)

 

[thermoUncle]

Thanks :3 I did so many mistakes, and I have such limited resources, I really want to step up my game for the next plant but it all depends on what the harvest on this one is going to be... I really wish I could reach 10-15g, if I got an once out of this plant then I could get some nice growth enclosure with more lights and better food for next grow, but I don't think I'll pass the 10 grams xD

Anyway, thanks for stopping by! I'm subbed on your grow, hope your plants do good until the harvest!

i made also many mistakes .. but now we have experience and next grow will be better and better ..

 

[Antics]

Yeah, it's so challenging but it's also such an amazing trip, getting them from seed to veg phase, seeing them grow and now when they flower they are all grown up and fulfilling their life's goal! And the plants are so beautiful! *.*

I'm trying to get some of the lower branches some better exposure and I also gave a couple of them 2 days, if they're not developing like the others are I'll just cut them. They're not toothpick thick, but almost.

Do I keep the lights 18/6? If I had strong lights would it make sense to increase the amount of dark time to get more growth?

EDIT: Day 39 (just to keep track)

And don't forget about how good they smell. I could smell Cannabis all day. It has some amazing aromas, as well as tastes.

Being an auto, you want to limit your high stress training as much as you can, especially on your first grow. Keep it simple, and add new things on each following grow.

For now, I'd say maybe it'd be best to leave them since you already did some defol, and you don't want her to slow down too much. And for autos an 18/6 schedule is fine for the entire grow. You don't have to change it, and they have a 6 hour dark period for rest and producing hormones, so you should be good. Regardless of the type of light used, most growers seem to use 18/6 for the whole grow of autos.

 

[GreenKitty]

I trimmed some branches, they showed no growth and I figured they would just eat up resources, maybe I was too aggressive, looking back I would rather cut off the lower branches or trim them and I could have gotten away with having some of those big fan leaves. I still don't really understand a lot about what to cut and the functions of the leaves, but I think I did a decent enough job to try and get a nice canopy. The only problem I have is there's certain branches that are way more developed than others, are are forcing me to put the lights a little higher that I would like.

I watered her today and fed nutes too, I gave about half the dosage of nutes I was feeding, I saw one sign of nitrogen toxicity in one leaf, and some signs of overfeeding so I cut the dosage in half to play it safe.

I think she's looking decent, but when am I going to see real buds? Should I be seeing them by now but because I was maybe too aggressive with the defol she's slow? It's day 41 now, the site of the seed provider says that flowering starts from week 5 to 7th and harvest 9th to 10th week. So I figure I have about 3 weeks from it being nearly ready.

Will I need to defol later? Or should I not defol at all until harvest? Since I've been maybe a little bit too aggressive. I just got like this little feeling inside of me, the OCD started acting up once I did that first defol and I was just trying to get everything about as perfect as I could, maybe I overdid it.

One thing I'm certain, she's getting really big and tall and too wide for the enclosure, air circulation isn't an issue because my fan is pretty big. But she's got leaves touching the white plastic and walls, I try to get her into a position that minimizes that but she still has lots of leaves touching the white plastic. Is it okay? I figure she'll just try and grow taller now and not go wider. I have taken off some of the LSTs because I figure they aren't needed anymore.

Also right now I wish I could have a scrog thing going on, it would be so much better to organize the plant and optimize space.

 

[Antics]

I wouldn't defoliiate too much, being your frist grow, as well as an auto. Just be patient, the buds will come.

Also keep in mind, a lot of people have found that their plants went 2 weeks +/- beyond what the breeder said that plants would go. I also had a similar experience with autos that ran well past when they were supposed to be harvested.

 

[GreenKitty]

Day 45, she's getting maybe too bushy. There's so many more pistils, here's pics of 3 branches:

Here's pics of how she is:

She's also getting too tall, the enclosure can barely contain her, the fan and the bulbs :/ The net will also be to manage the space inside the enclosure. But how can I make he not grow more and just flower? Or is that impossible?

A week ago I was afraid she was too small and wasn't going to give more than 5 grams but now I'm really afraid that the lack of space will affect the harvest more than anything else. There's a bunch of leaves that are always touching the walls and the enclosure.

EDIT: Not going to do the net thing... I tried and gave up. I think I'm just going to let her do her thing and hope the results are good. Unless you advise me to do otherwise.

 

[GreenKitty]

This is how she looks inside her little house:

 

[Garage Grower]

Looks good.

Guess I missed this thread in the earlier stages, but I'm going to keep an eye on it now. I'm growing a NL too, but mine is photo and a few weeks behind yours. will be interesting to see the differences

Good luck

 

[GreenKitty]

Looks good.

Guess I missed this thread in the earlier stages, but I'm going to keep an eye on it now. I'm growing a NL too, but mine is photo and a few weeks behind yours. will be interesting to see the differences

Good luck

Hey there :3 Thank you, I'm going to sub to your journal I also really want to see the differences ^^

 

[alrightythen]

Sorry for the late reply, I'm falling behind on subscriptions lol.

You did really well for your first defol. I don't like to take too much off, due to their function for the plant, so I only remove what is blocking light to other budsites if I can't tuck it in somewhere else to keep it out of the way.

For autos they count from seed if I remember correctly. So where you bought the seed would say xx days to harvest, that means from when it sprouted, but most people have found that those estimates tend to be exaggerated a little, and have grown plants 2 weeks past the harvest date to get the trichomes where they wanted them.

hi....nice work...i would like to say that autos do say from seed x days but it is not everytime correct...sometimes u need acoupleof weeks more...it is better to see with eye when is ready or if u have a the thing u can see the trichomes..but it is not correct what the seeds banks said.usually need a bit more time...by the way nice plant...many tops ihope u will havea nice harvest