Northern Lights in DWC System

nunya

New Member
My cousin is scared to post her own grow journal so I said I would post it for him. All replies will be forwarded to her and then I will post the response, therefore it may be a few days before posts are responded to. ENJOY!
 
Here are the nutes that will be used:
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To start, 4 Northern Lights seeds are germinated by soaking them overnight in a shot glass of tepid water pH 5.8. this glass is covered with a coffee mug to keep it dark. no heat pad used.
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After the overnight soak, from 9pm to 10am, all four seeds are moved to a folded wet paper towel covered with a cereal bowl to keep it dark until all four radicals have emerged.

The next day following this move to paper towel all the radicals have emerged by 4pm. Four rockwool cubes are soaked in tepid water four 2 hours. pH of water is 5.8. Seeds are then inserted into the cubes with the radicals pointing DOWN. The hole where the seeds were inserted is pinched shut so no light will hit them until they sprout. The cubes are put in a germination station under a t5 florescent light, 2 bulbs 4 feet long.
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On the 4th day at 4pm the first seed has sprouted the rockwool cube, with all four seeds sprouting by the 6th day.
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On the 8th day all four are showing their 2nd set of leaves.
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On th 9th day the tap root has emerged from the bottom of the cubes on all four sprouts.
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This same day is when the plants are transplanted to the DWC system. This is the first grow so one will be grown as a mother plant and the other three will be in the DWC system. The system will not be active until the plants show signs that they require nutrients, since up until not they have only been fed water. The early transplant is so that there is less chance of root damage, since only a small portion of root is showing. Until the system is active the plants, named NL1 NL2 and NL3, will be top watered with tepid water. This system consist of a 2.5 gallon bucket with a lid. a hole is cut into the center of the lid where a 5" net pot is inserted. the net pot is then filled with Hydroton pebbles that have been soaked overnight in tepid water, pH 5.8. The rockwool cubes with the sprouts is then inserted CAREFULLY into the hydroton to a depth where the top of the rockwoolis barely covered by the hydroton. this will help the rockwool to not dry out too fast. the buckets are equipped with a clear plastic tube that shows the water level of the bucket. this tube causes problems later with leaks and algae growth so regular buckets are then used at that point. the mother plant will be grown in a quart pot in cocogro, coconut soil alternative. No nutrients are being used on any of the plants at this point.
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Plants remain under the t5 2 lamp 4 foot light at this point.
 
I forgot to mention that this grow is in progress so these first few posts will be catching up. Also the main focus will be NL1 NL2 and NL3 because they will be continuing on to Flower and NL4 is not, since she's the mother.
 
On day 14 the plants are slightly yellow after returning from a 2 day trip, this possibly means they are ready for some food. Each DWC bucket is now filled with a nutrient solution I like to call a transplant solution. This solution consist of 2 gallons of water, purified with a zerowater filter (ppm is less than 5), 3 tsp of Sugardaddy and 3 tsp of Root 66, pH adjusted to 5.8, ending ppm is 150. this solution is mixed 2 gallons at a time and each bucket is filled so the water level is touching the rockwool cubes. An aquarium air pump is used with an air stone for each bucket. the air hose connected to the air diffuser stone is taped to the bottom of the bucket to keep the stone in the center of the bucket.
The pH is adjusted daily to keep it at 5.8.

On Day 22 NL1, NL2, and NL3 all have roots coming out of the net pots.
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NL4 is being fed this same solution and is looking good as well.
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On Day 27 NL1 and NL2 are showing some yellowing on the serrations of the older leaves, this does not look like nute burn but more likely to be nutrient deficiency.
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NL1
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NL2
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NL3

NL4 is looking overall yellow, not just the tips, possibly nitrogen deficiency.
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NL4

All plants are now switched to 1/2 Strength Vegetative solution consisting of 2 gallons purified water, 3 tsp B.C. Boost, 1 1/2 tsp B.C. Grow, 1/2 tsp B1 Red, 1/2 tsp MagiCal, 2 tsp Sugardaddy. Ending ppm is 550 and adjusted to pH 5.8.

On Day 28 NL1 and NL2 are showing new growth which does not have yellow edges. NL3 never have this yellowing so continues to grow normally with new solution.
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NL1
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NL2

NL4 is now topped to promote side growth.
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NL4 before topping
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NL4 after topping
 
On Day 32 all four plants are moved to a stronger t5 florescent light, 6 lamp 4 foot. This is the light they will use for the remainder of the Vegetative stage. They will also remain on the 1/2 Strength nutrient solution mentioned before. NL4 is given nutrients every feeding (not feed water water). NL1 and NL2 begin LST (Low Stress Training), NL3 is still a little short to be trained yet. LST is to allow multiple tops to grow (multiple colas) without harming the plant like topping would. The plant is tied down sideways so it will grow laterally rather than vertically. twist ties are used to do this.

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NL1
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NL2
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NL3

NL4 shows two small new growths as result of topping.
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NL4

On Day 34 the plants have started to grow very quickly. NL1 and NL2 need adjustments to their LST almost daily to ensure the new growth continues sideways rather than up.
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NL1
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NL1

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NL2
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NL2

NL3 begins LST
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NL3
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NL3

NL4 is showing more new growth from topping, Success! Now 2 tops!
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NL4
 
On Day 41 NL1, NL2 and NL3 are becoming very bushy, it is hard to see the stem with all the leaves but LST continues.
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NL1
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NL2
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NL3

NL4 is healthy and responded well to topping.
This is the last I'll talk about NL4, she will continue to be pinched out and topped to maximize the number of available clones.
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NL4

On Day 45 all three plants have reached the edge of the bucket due to LST.
Still very bushy.
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NL1
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NL1

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NL2
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NL2

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NL3
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NL3

LST continues to be adjusted as needed to keep main stem top growing sideways.
 
WOW that LST´ing seems to work amazingly im gnna try that with my grow aswell, you think that you can you can do this even if they are flowering? btw with ur DWC do you have tubes running in to your net pots with a water pump or they just "dangling" in the water?
 
WOW that LST´ing seems to work amazingly im gnna try that with my grow aswell, you think that you can you can do this even if they are flowering? btw with ur DWC do you have tubes running in to your net pots with a water pump or they just "dangling" in the water?

Thanks for look at this for all yall that have so far. To answer your question the net pots do not have tubes running water or nutrients to the plants. rather the net pots just sit in the lid and the roots hang down into the bucket of nutrient solution. the roots are able to receive Oxygen due to the air bubbles coming from the air pump through the diffuser stone. without that air the plant will suffocate and drown in the water. Another note is the more air available in this system the better the plant will grow. using ceramic air stones to produce smaller bubbles and therefore more oxygen actually in contact with the water will give the roots more oxygen and they will grow faster and stronger. also adequate air pressure is needed to pump enough air through the stone, so stronger pumps will help as well.

For your LST question, you can train in flowering, but it would be more beneficial to do so in veg. As a normal plant will grow straight up towards the light, one main top (or main cola eventually) will form at the top of the main stem. growing the plant sideways, as in LST, the main stem will be growing sideways but the plant will still overall grow towards the light. This means that the side branches will grow upward. these side branched will then be at the top of the plant, allowing for multiple top colas to eventually form without having to harm the plant to do so, since topping actually hurts and stresses the plant. So yes you can LST during flowering to allow more light to reach the lower and middle of the plant, but those side colas will have less time to grow upward and if done late into flowering you may still and up with a single prominent main cola.

More updates on the progress will come soon, what is posted is still way behind actual progress in real time. Thanks for looking
 
On Day 47 an accident occurred with NL3. The LST was pulling down too hard as the plant was growing up and the growth snapped the main stem more than halfway through.
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NL3
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NL3

On Day 54, All three plants were tall enough for me to want to put them in flower stage. The tallest plant stood 13" with the other two close to that size too.
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NL1 (couldn't figure out how to flip it)
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NL2
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NL3

NL1, NL2 and NL3 are each, one at a time, put to the side while their buckets are rinsed out and cleaned and then filled again with flowering nutrient solution. This is mainly equal parts of boost and bloom with micro nutrients as well.

This will make 1/2 strength Flowering solution:
for two (2) gallons of water mix
-3 tsp Boost
-3 tsp Bloom
-1/2 tsp b1 red
-1/2 tsp awesome blossom
-1/2 tsp MagiCal
-2 1/2 tsp sugardaddy
Adjust pH to 5.8

All three are now switched to a 600w hps lamp in a separate tent on a 12/12 cycle.
 
Here are some pics just before they were moved to the flower tent.

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Day 55 is the 1st day of Flower cycle, 12/12. Here's the set up.
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The light wouldn't hang any lower so i jacked em up with some blocks, tryin to keep em short and fat.

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Thats the 600w hps with a fan on the other side suckin hot air through and out.
There is also a fan blowing in cool air at the bottom of the tent, you cant see it tho.


On day 4 the plants have reached about 17 inches, they are all about the same height.

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On Day 6 they are all about 22 inches. They have grown about 5 inches in 2 days!
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Here are some top pics
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On Day 9, a top on NL3 was growing way too fast, about 5 inches above any other tops. I decided to LST it to slow vertical growth and let more light into the middle plant.

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NL3 LST

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NL3 closeup

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9 days into flower, think i'll run out of room?


On day 11, some hairs are starting to come out of node sites.

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Still growing fast

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hairs barely emerging

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Day 11, can see hairs, but very short


Day 15, the hairs are getting thicker and longer

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Lookin more like bud

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Nice hair growth by day 15

OK!!!!

now it is up to date and i will post as it continues.

Any suggestions or ideas about how it can improve would be cool.

Hope yall enjoy!
 
By day 17, the hairs are still getting bigger and the plants still getting taller. They are just over 3 feet right now.
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Lots of tops showing

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On Day 19, the bud sites continue to grow. The plants stand 3'2" today.

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From looking at other people's journals, it seems kinda early to have this many hairs, it's not even three weeks in yet. does this look about normal for anyone that has done NL before?

And is anyone really watching this?
 
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