Lockdown Learning: My First Grow 2x Northern Lights Auto & The Random

[Ziggy42]

Hi,

I'm a few weeks into my first real grow and after weeks of browsing posts on this site I thought I might as well dive in and start off a grow journal I've dabbled in the past growing a random seed here and there and got some nice looking plants but nothing that ever got to the stage where it was remotely smokable.

So cut to lockdown....I started to think now is the ideal time to give a proper grow a try, did some research and ended up buying the following from eBay as a bundle kit. I'm a bit relaxed when it comes to PH/watering (I water when it pot feels light) and even nutrients (although I learnt my lesson on that).

60x60x140cm Grow Tent (Budda Room)
1x extractor fan
2x 600w LED grow ligt
50l Coco Coir
4x medium pots

In terms of seeds I wanted to simplify it and got some Northern LIght's Auto from Gorilla Seed Bank (Fastbudz brand)….it came with a free seed too (its destiny was not good but more on that later). Whilst I was working up to ordering I also got a random seed I found lurking around and got that sprouted...by the time the everything was set up the random was doing well and my first addition to the tent to bathe in the lovely light!

Then I started two of the NL Auto's off..both sprouted fairly quickly and I popped them in two pots filled with the Coco Coir stuff, the random seed was still in some general soil I got from the garden. Ordered a fan too as that was a missing tent component....the random growing nicely an the other two (Ermintrude and Elsa) got off to a nice start.

The Autos popped up on 1st April, unsure of the age of the random or breed...it could be anything! After reading a few posts I decided to dabble with some LST on the random, this worked nicely and it quickly started to get a really bushy grow on. The growth of the girls worried me a bit, they just didn't feel like they were growing quick enough, I researched and found that the Coco stuff isn't great for nutrients so proceeded to mix in some normal soil with the coco stuff being careful with the baby's….this went ok no trauma and growth all good. At this point the random adopted the name 'The monster'

I then decided to buy some nutrients as I became paranoid that I needed to give my brood more good stuff...got some Canna BIO Vega for veg stage and some Biobizz Bio Bloom for flowering. Things went well to start with then I glugged too much Vege nutrient into one feed and after a few days leaves started to look a bit patchy and unhealthy I realised immediately, flushed them all and hoped for the best....thankfully all good and I made them happier buying some CalMag (hopefully the last additional purchase...yeah right...lol!).

At this point I panic grew a couple more seeds thinking I had killed everything....I now have more younglings around but no idea of type or sex. I also went and bought another Auto seed as the other NL Auto and the Free seed died after baking in the sunshine in their pots...they got seriously hot!


I also bought a CO2 bag...this kicked in working after a few days but the smell horrible....maybe my tent is just too small for it...it went shortly after as worried it would be harming the children.

This week has had another traumatic learning experience develop.....the fan above one of the girls dropped and broke off two branches which was a tad distressing. Happily the smaller of the two is flowering and the broken one is, both a tad smaller than I hoped but hey ho they might get a stretch on during flowering.

The tent as it was earlier in the week pre fan drop

So all is going well.....my main point of questioning at the moment is the gender of the Monster....is it a boy or girl? I know it's a likely to be a photo and I think I have found preflowers but not entirely sure if they are male or female.....bought a USB microscope which arrived yesterday.....what do you think....male or female?

My other half will be happy I have started this grow journal as I see eyes glaze over when I talk about my little lockdown buddies

Hope I haven't waffled too much and look forward to sharing more about my first grow as the weeks zoom by.

 

[Mark Gordan Smith]

Hello Ziggy42, Welcome on in to 420mag (flip the lights to off for nice green pictures....but back on again after).
Lockdown-Younglings family and some individual names too, nice touch.
It's not an advice reply here, no way am I qualified for that.
I do reckon you're on track by way of the grow and the lockdown anti-stress.

You are doing better than me, Dude.

In your travels you've quite possibly done the Proper Way to Water etc: It's in the sig of any Emilya post.

 

[Ziggy42]

Hello Ziggy42, Welcome on in to 420mag (flip the lights to off for nice green pictures....but back on again after).
Lockdown-Younglings family and some individual names too, nice touch.
It's not an advice reply here, no way am I qualified for that.
I do reckon you're on track by way of the grow and the lockdown anti-stress.

You are doing better than me, Dude.

In your travels you've quite possibly done the Proper Way to Water etc: It's in the sig of any Emilya post.

Hi Mark - thanks for the advice, will get a few shots with the lights off and add them later, do some better pics of each of the children

This grow has definitely given me something else to focus on during this insane time and already learnt so much I would apply second time around.

 

[Mark Gordan Smith]

Well, as Mr Punch said as Judy admired his grow: That's the way to do it!

 

[Ziggy42]

Bit delayed but finally got some further shots of the lockdown crew outside of the tent. Everything appears to be going nicely, the two Northern Lights Autos are getting on with the job...one further along the flowering path than the other but looking good.

First up its Elsa...the second NL Auto that popped...always a bit behind her sister but first to flower and caught up with Ermintrude in terms of size.

I haven't kept track of dates in terms of start of flowering so just hoping everything continues as its going....for a first attempt I'm made up with this one so far

 

[CagedApe]

Cool, I'll watch

 

[Ziggy42]

Next up its Ermintrude another NL Auto....recovered well from the major incident the other week of the fan drop and losing a couple of branches. Its filled in nicely and has started flowering....changes daily and definitely heading in the right direction.

 

[Ziggy42]

And then there is the Monster.....a few more preflowers but being a photo and in 18/6 light schedule I am not expecting anything to happen. I hope beyond all hopes its a girl as the growth on this has been awesome, so busy and responded well to LST, the stem twists and is so thick. Aiming to flip this once the autos are done and then hope for the best....two more mystery sproutlings in progress as backup