Brian420pm's First Grow Sept 2019: Indoor, Northern Lights

[Brian420pm]

Oh the weeks are flying by lol.

Thank you G! I never mind people saying how they do things, it's when they cross the "no judgement" line that irks me, like "don't do that", or "you shouldn't do that", or "leave them alone" when I share that I like to rotate and handle my plants, or "this is bad for your yield" or "your yield will suffer" when I say I didn't top my plants, etc.

BTW, I'm starting the flower switch tomorrow, then will post the Veg Week #6 update, then I'll be caught up

 

[Brian420pm]

Veg Week #6

Last week of Veg! Feeding 6 times a day now, the 4 plants have pretty much filled the 3 x 3 area.

About the LST training of the main stem, I can tell if dominance is broken by the size and color of the new leaves on the other, lateral stems. One plant of the 4 I can't tell which tip is dominant because the colors and leaf sizes are roughly equal across all 5 growing points... this is the ideal outcome. Next grow I'll start LST a week earlier and hope all plant grow points will show equal growth patterns (or I'll top the main, which I discuss in previous post).

Here is one plant that the main is clearly still dominant, beautiful deep green, large leaves and stands apart from the other tips.

Switching to Flower today, plants are in 30 hrs of darkness, will begin 12/12 light period tomorrow, October 23, exactly 50 days from germination

Stay tuned for Flower Week #1!

 

[Maritimer]

Ahoy my friend,
Out for a spin before my girls wake up, came bye to check in on your first run. Very clean and looking great.
Man O Man am I digging your gear. Nice.

 

[Brian420pm]

Man O Man am I digging your gear. Nice.

Welcome! Thank you! Someone told me recently to survive the zombie apocalypse, I'd be the guy to have around. lol Best compliment EVER

I saw a post from you elsewhere... I have a lower disc that likes to pop out when I do heavy and/or awkward lifting, so I got a 4 x 8 tent with a chair on each side with the 3 x 3 growing platform in the middle, works out really well. Next I need to run a water line to my 15g nute container cause hauling 5 gallon buckets around is difficult for me.

 

[Brian420pm]

So this is the reaction from the Veg to Flower transition. After 30 hrs of dark, and mostly though the first 12hr cycle of light, all the top leaves have angled up, showing their bottoms. Very dramatic compared to the last photo! Any theories?

 

[Maritimer]

I am not very familiar with the concept of an extended period of darkness prior to the photoperiod adjustment. If it relates to being gentle on the cultivars, I am all for it. I have been known too take a week to go from 18 down to 12 but have not really benefited from the practice other than I enjoy being what I think is gentle.

Sorry to hear we have more in common than gardening.
Bad backs. Ugh

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Week #1

Not much news this week, switched to 12/12, updated nutes per the GH chart (at 50%). They gettin BUSHY!

Stay tuned for Flower Week #2!

 

[Brian420pm]

Noticed one leaf out of 6 plants has this off coloration, any ideas? Thanks!

My EC is 1500 and runoff at 1700, perhaps I upped it too fast when I started flower. I put it back to 1300.

 

[Maritimer]

Ahoy there!
I have not had Northern Lights do that, although I have seen it in other strains. The disorder can resolve itself during veg. but I have also rode it out through flower. I would not pull clones from that specimen for breeding, but I think your girls will be fine to grow out.

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Week #2 - part 1

Work in the tent!, now my back hurts ugh. I got a new 3 x 3' tray, coincidentally fits my auto water system perfectly! I tilted it slightly so all the water now drains out into the waiting pump, humidity has already dropped 10% in the tent, well worth the $80!

Had a chance to take my time and go over each plant, just beautiful!

Trimmed a bit under the skirt, nice and breezy now You can see how I trained these.. I pulled the main down and let 4 laterals from nodes 2 and 3 grow out for 5 main bud sites. Next time I'll do more, my setup can probably support more than 5.

I pruned all the lower and smallest lateral branches, now will let the plant GROW for the final 5+ weeks! The root ball is practically a solid mass, I could barely push the yellow marker down into the coco it was so dense.

EC at 1300, reduced feeding frequency from 6 to 4.5 times a day. Feeding 12 gallons every 4 days, or 3/4 gallon per plant per day.

Should be an easy breezy month.

Thanks for watching, stay tuned!

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Weeks #2 and 3

Easy weeks!

Buds starting to form nicely

Thanks for the visit! See you in a week or two.

 

[GHempster]

Looking good

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Week #3

Ever since bumping up the GH Bloom nutes the girls are PRAYING like crazy, the fan leaves are 45 degrees or more pointing up. I trust that's a really good sign Easy week, EC at 1350, feeding every 5 hours.

 

[Dutchman1990]

Hey Brian nice setup! I’ll join in and tag along for the rest of this journey. Ladies are looking healthy. Keep doing what your doing

 

[Homer Simpson]

I agree with Dutch, very nice and green and healthy-looking. I see your chart but I don't see what nutrient line you are using? I have been mostly hanging out at the MegaCrop journal because I use it but keep getting some kind of deficiency. I am either not using enough or need calmag. Tests are being performed as we speak; looks like you nailed yours... Keep up the good work.

 

[Brian420pm]

Keep doing what your doing

very nice and green and healthy-looking. I see your chart but I don't see what nutrient line you are using?

Thank you both! I'm using GH Flora. This is my current chart...

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Week #4

Just started week 4, buds are growing really fast, wow. Hands free growing except mix up nutes every 5 days.

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Week #5

Another hands off week in my Northern Lights 3 x 3, no changes. Gettin FLUFFY!

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Week #6

Food requirements are still around 3/4 gallon per plant per day, top feeding every 4 hours for one minute intervals. EC is 1500, runoff is within 300 at 1700-1800.

I started adding Ascorbic acid powder to neutralize chlorine and chloramine from my tap water... 1/8th teaspoon for the 12 gallons I typically mix up every 5 days. That's 1/2 gram, and I bought 100 grams for $8, so enough for 200 treatments, or roughly 10 grows.

I put a 3 foot piece of 1/2" pvc pipe in my 15 gallon nute drum so I could easily stir it up after adding nutes, but I noticed it kicks up the EC as it scrapes across the bottom and stirs up settled solids. After stirring today my EC went up 300 to 1800+, so I'll stick with a small circulating pump instead and turn it on once a day for 15 minutes. I don't see any harm with having a small amount of buildup near the end of a grow that will be cleaned up in a few weeks anyway.

These leaves are REALLY praying, love how they look at the start of week 6!

Some pistils are darkening, which I assume means the plants are passing through their reproductive peak and entering the last stage of their life cycle.

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for Flower Week 7!

 

[Brian420pm]

Flower Week #7

Another hands-free week. Buds still fattening and pistils turning brown. The smell is intoxicating! My intitial plan was to start dialing down the nutes in week 7 but maybe I should wait another week, do you agree?

Home Stretch! Week #8 coming soon!