Golfer - NL Auto - Soil - LED/CFL - Grow 2

[golfer420]

Time to start a new journal

Planted one Northern Light auto outside and one inside. The one outside is very questionable. It can't stand straight and is very spindly. It doesn't get much sun so I'm not that optimistic about the outside plant.

Here are some pics of the indoor plant. Here are her details:

Northern Lights Auto. Indica 70%, Sativa 20% Rudderalis 10%.
They're 15 days old
In a small grow tent and the area is 30x18x30. It's in the garage.
Potting soil with perlite added into 3g fabric pot
Under a 300w Mars Hydro LED (old style) - will put some CFL's in when they start flowering. Currently 24 hr light.
6" exhaust fan, one small fan inside and a large fan blowing in

Gave a very light feeding today FF big bloom and growbig in 500ml of water

It's been really hot the past few days and she's obviously showing signs of heat stress. The 6" exhaust came today and I'm hoping the heat breaks soon so she can get some sub-80 temps. Its been 85-100.

I originally had the light very close to the plant (3"). I moved it further away hoping to get a bit more stretching and hopefully reduce the heat. She's very short and compact. I'm seeing much more growth than I saw in either of the first two plants. I've been doing a little lst with some ties and trying to let some undergrowth come out the sides so I can keep her low but wide.

I'm hoping that with the much larger fabric pots that this lady will turn out much better than the first two.

Thanks for stopping by

(5 days ago - but doesn't look much different)

 

[golfer420]

Here are pics at day 18. Much further along than my first two plants that were started under CFL's for the first 28 days. The change to LED could also be why they didn't bud up as nicely as I would have hoped.

This lady is very compact with quite of bit of green coming out everywhere. I've been doing some lst to keep the arms stretching outward.

Some of the fan leaves look like they would be blocking some of the future bud sites. I've been trying to push them under a bit to allow for more light.

Question - I'm tempted to remove some of those big fan leaves. Since she's' an auto - will removing one of those fan leaves significantly impact any future bud sites - positively or negatively?

I'd like to believe that it would help by allowing more light to the other nodes beneath. Then again, maybe it is stressful and at day 18 (approximately 10 days from when the last one showed her sex) she should not stress and just be allowed to grow.

Appreciate any input on the thinning of large fan leaves at this stage.

Thanks!

 

[MassMedMan]

Here are pics at day 18. Much further along than my first two plants that were started under CFL's for the first 28 days. The change to LED could also be why they didn't bud up as nicely as I would have hoped.

This lady is very compact with quite of bit of green coming out everywhere. I've been doing some lst to keep the arms stretching outward.

Some of the fan leaves look like they would be blocking some of the future bud sites. I've been trying to push them under a bit to allow for more light.

Question - I'm tempted to remove some of those big fan leaves. Since she's' an auto - will removing one of those fan leaves significantly impact any future bud sites - positively or negatively?

I'd like to believe that it would help by allowing more light to the other nodes beneath. Then again, maybe it is stressful and at day 18 (approximately 10 days from when the last one showed her sex) she should not stress and just be allowed to grow.

Appreciate any input on the thinning of large fan leaves at this stage.

Thanks!

Tough one. normally I'd say tuck those leaves... But,, that's not going to help with airflow. .those are pretty short and compact. I might take one, and tuck the rest. It does happen in nature,, I like to pinch them at night. Give them plenty of time to recover.

Good luck. I'll catch you later and follow....

 

[golfer420]

Ended up taking 6 leaves and a couple of shriveled ones inside. Hoping it cools off a bit more. Trying to hold some of the branches down with hanger wire. Changed from 24 hr light to 18/6.

Thanks for the feedback, MassMedMan!

 

[golfer420]

All good news today. She's 3 weeks old today and looking great compared to the other grow. Very tight and compact. Look close and you can see the white wire I've used to pull down some of the side nodes. The internode spacing is close too, less than a 1/2".

I'm considering how I might be able to start some training on the main cola - pulling it to one side, if possible. Based on how the other ladies grew, they grew 4 main nodes off the main stem with a bud site on top of each (16 small main buds and 1 larger center cola). Based on that, this lady is has 3 main nodes and 1 or 2 more coming before she'll start showing the sex (hoping she is female and the heat stress didn't screw her up). She's much shorter than the first two so I'm hoping that the overall buds turn out much better with more bud sites and tighter buds.

Feeling optimistic about this one!

Also, I smoked some of plant 2 today and got buzzed. Sure - I'd be pissed if I paid someone for the little popcorn buds but I get a kick out of knowing I grew this myself. She still has more time to cure (62% rh), so it can only get better.

 

[Mars Hydro]

keep doing great!

 

[golfer420]

Here are some pics at day 24. Still very low and spread out. I'm expecting the sex to show in the next 7 days, based on the first two.

I'm happy with how the LST looks on the cola. I was a little nervous at first but I'm not as concerned now as it begins to turn up towards the light. I don't think I'm slowing the growth down too much with the stress - certainly not compared to the first two. Much more growth going on here. I didn't get the LED last time until the 28th, so it has really helped this grow having it from the beginning.

Close up where the string is pulling down

 

[golfer420]

It's week 4 and the first signs of pistils are there.

I undid the LST I had on the main cola. You can see it's rebounded a little. I figured since she is beginning the flowering stage, I didn't want to add any more stress. I haven't clipped any leaves in the last 5 days and I will only be clipping those that are shriveled, yellow or falling off.

I raised the LED higher. I can go about 3 inches higher and that's the limit. I'm happy at the way she has a fairly even canopy. Growth from the nodes underneath seems to do pretty well too. It's still very compact but I can see the bud sites starting to push up. Considering my tight growing quarters, she looks better than my last grow.

I fed her today with a 1/2 gallon of water with grow big, big bloom, and tiger bloom that was ph balanced. I put about 1/2 tsp less than the recommended amount. I poured it under the leaves until I got run off. I tested the run off and the ph looked pretty good about 6.5

Overall it's looking pretty good.

Here are some pictures!

 

[golfer420]

She's gone on a growth spurt since the feeding a couple days ago. Filled out quite a bit. Some good stretching going on and its allowing light to the growth underneath. You can hardly see the black edge of the pot any longer!

It's been very hot out and temps inside have been around 90. I think that's the reason for some of the curling along the edges. I tested the ph the other day from the run off and it seemed to be in the 6.5 range (maybe slightly less).

There are some close ups here and I noticed very little yellow on the tips. Is that something to be concerned with? I was thinking maybe there was a bit too much nutes. I'll keep my eyes out for further changes.

I'm pulling some of the side nodes down slightly to promote more outward growth. The main cola is not quite the center of attention like it was, so there is somewhat of an even canopy. It's definitely continuing to sprout upwards but hopefully the side notes continue to grow as well.

To give a comparison to my last grow, I've got a picture of both at the same age of 31 days. This plant has much more growth going and a fairly even canopy compared to the other two.

 

[Papa Stirnz]

Looking good man! Will be keeping track. Good luck on your Northern Lights grow.

 

[Beams]

Subbed. How high is your tent?

 

[golfer420]

only 30". Part necessity, part me being my own worst enemy.

 

[golfer420]

For those following along, check out this picture. LED's screw up the color but it's the white tips that I'm concerned about. Look to be drying/twisting a bit at the very tip. You can see it in my pictures from 2 days ago but it didn't seem as many. Today I took notice.

Any thoughts?

 

[golfer420]

I'm thinking those serrated edges looking curly might be some cal/mag so I'm getting some - just in case.

 

[OldMedUser]

High Golfer420

I have an NL5 x LowRyder1 but she doesn't look anything like that.

Those browning tips and turned up edges of the leaves look like mild heat stress and/or a wee bit of nute burn but more likely heat stress. If those turned up edges start going brown from their tips then you got some nute burn happening. Low Ca starts with slower growth, discoloured/twisted new growth and a real close look at your pic blown up looks like there might be some of that going on. Some CalMag won't hurt.

In your first post you say you have a fan in there. Is it enough to flutter the leaves a bit? Helps with transpiration and cooling the plant a bit. Have you tried checking the root zone temp? That black bag will suck up heat if the light is hitting it like it looks like in your pics. My NL has been going outside in the hot sun and the temp got up to almost 100F/37C. She did not like that and had the same kind of leaf action as yours. I hung a piece of tin foil on the side of the pot facing the sun and the temp went down to 77F/25C. She perked right up and the leaves went flat again.

Her mother is 3 weeks into flowering now and looks to be throwing me some phat colas!

That's a cool looking plant and I bet you'll be chopping phat colas yourself.

L8r

 

[golfer420]

Week 5

So far so good. Starting to stretch a bit more. I'm able to get inside her now and pull some of the dead leaves out. I continue to use some LST on the outer branches to keep her spread out a little. She's got a much more of an even canopy than the first two plants from my first grow. I hope that helps the bud development of the side colas.

I fed her today and added some cal/mag. We'll see how that helps. I took a picture of where the very tips of a handful of leaves near the buds that seem to twist. Not sure what that is a symptom of.

Took her outside for a few minutes to take a few photos. First time she's been outside.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[OldMedUser]

The twisting of the newer leaves in the buds can be a sign of Ca deficiency and also low Fe. Both are in most CalMags so you might have it beat.

I that top picture is true colour the leaves are dark enough green along with the slightly turned up leaf edges to indicate slight over-feeding and that it's just on the edge of nute burn. That can be good to maximize the growth during stretch but don't fall over that edge when stretch slows down and the plant slows it's feeding to settle into producing flowers. After stretch an excess of N will retard flower production and can lead to burn easily. P and K are the order of the day with more K than P being better for pot and the reverse for tomatoes.

Autos can take a bit more N in later flowering than regular plants because their veg growth continues until they are finished and they need it for that. After stretch for regulars they stop veg growth and just pack on the buds.

When I was growing using 3-part nutes I would stop using the Grow bottle after stretch and just use the Micro and Bloom as the Micro has enough N in it for the flowering stage.

She's looking really good too!

L8r

 

[golfer420]

I could use some feedback. I fed her on 8/20. 1/2 gallon of water with 1.5 tsp of big bloom and 1 tsp of tiger bloom. 3ml of CalMag. PH adjusted to about 6.5.

Today she looked very wilty to me. Most of the leaves coming off the bud sites were drooping down. Seemed dry so I thought I would flush her. (FYI - the other day was the 4 feeding I've given her. Only fed on alternative waterings

I have run 4 gallons of water that was PH adj to about 7 (kinda greenish yellow). All of the run off looks like the photo. Very low around 5.

Should I continue running ph'd water through her until the run off gets more yellow/green? Should I have the ph going in be a little higher (to offset the low soil reading)?

Thanks!

 

[golfer420]

Did some reading and in addition to my flushing yesterday, I went and got some lime (dolomite). Sprinkled about a cup on to the top of the soil and proceeded to flush another 4 gallons through her.

She looked better this morning, with the leaves showing signs of lifting. I took a picture of how I've been flushing and measuring the PH. I've been pouring the water through her to get run off on the cover she's sitting on.

Looks like the PH is yellow to green, so it's moving up past 6, much better than the orange it was yesterday. She's completely soaked through so no more watering for at least a couple of days.

Took some close up pics of the bud sites. I'm concerned because it looks very similar to my last grow where all I got was popcorn buds. Maybe its the light and its not far enough away for the spectrums to mix.

Getting a little better each time. Jealous of some of these other grows I've seen with CFL's and small spaces.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[OldMedUser]

Dolomite lime is slow release which is why your plant is not dead today. A cup of "lime" would burn all the roots at once and it would be game over.

Try putting a tsp of that lime in a cup of warm water and stir it for a bit. Then test it with your kit and if it doesn't show 7 or higher then your kit is no good. Drooping leaves like what you have can also indicate over-watering. Kinda goes against common sense but it is what it is.

Don't be envious about what you perceive to be your lack of success. Use those feelings to dig in deeper, study more info about growing pot and the various reasons things go wrong. Often you will stumble across something that makes it all much clearer or see a problem that points out something you are doing that you thought was right but leads to problems you are having.

Problems are opportunities to increase your knowledge and improve your chances of better grows in the future. Myself and many of the more experienced growers didn't get good at growing pot over night. Hundreds of hours of researching and hundreds of plants under our belts make a lot of it 2nd nature and I for one tend to get a little complacent and now I have a problem of my own that needs fixing. I have been falling asleep lately reading thru my grow bibles trying to narrow down the reasons and possible fix.

Nobody is perfect and if they think they are then that just shows their imperfection.

L8r