HYDRO Third Grow Journal: Northern Lights and Red Cheese

[madams9]

And the third grow begins. This is my most ambitious venture yet with 2 instances of Northen LIghts (AF) and 2 instances of Red Cheese (AF). I've got 4 good seedlings with tap roots and one of those has already erupted from the rooter plug. I got the Red Cheese in on Monday and the Northen Lights when in this evening. We'll see how it goes and I'll post updates here.

Now for the action shot:

[Sledrock]

Good Luck with your grow!@Madams9 I hope Nirvana sent us Real Autos and not Photos.

I'll be following your grow closely to see how your Northern Lights grow. (I'll be starting NL Autos around March 15th)

[FunkyButtLovin]

I'm in for this one I have never grown anything hydroponically and I think I might try a single DWC bucket this summer to get my feet wet.

[madams9]

Good Luck with your grow!@Madams9 I hope Nirvana sent us Real Autos and not Photos.

I'm interested in seeing how your grow goes.

This batch of seed is from Southern Oregon Seeds. The one NL seed from Nirvana I was able to germinate and grow was an auto. It went pretty well, but I blew threw 4 seeds that failed at one point or another. I'm not really pointing the finger at Nirvana - it could have been me - but the one plant I got was hearty and survived my hit-and-miss PH regulation. I'm looking forward to seeing if these samples of NL prove any different. I'm also curious to see what this Red Cheese is all about.

And my next grow will be something called Bride Cake which looks like a small plant that produces THC-rich (27%) flowers. Growing is a lot of fun. I look forward to yours.

[madams9]

I'm in for this one I have never grown anything hydroponically and I think I might try a single DWC bucket this summer to get my feet wet.

Heh, I see what you did there.

I've never grown anything but hydro because it lends itself better to my situation that dealing with dirt. It is a little more complicated that soil seems to be, but that's because there are so many other things that can be controlled. A single bucket is pretty simple. I wish you the best of luck. There are plenty of expertise here if you have any questions. I look forward to reading about it.

[madams9]

And then there was trouble....

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here or if I just got unlucky. As documented above, I germinated 2 instances if Red Cheese (AF) from SOS and 2 Northern Lights (AF) also from SOS. They produced roots and I loaded them into Rapid Rooters, set them in net cups surrounded by Hydroton. A couple of weeks later, I've got one of each of those varieties looking good, and one of each that have evidently failed.

Here are the Red Cheese, both germinated at the same time.

This plant produced a root first and showed the most promise, but it hasn't progressed since producing cotolydons. For the past couple of weeks it has looked just like this:



The color isn't good under the grow light, but this plant is pale and yellowish at the center. I have no idea what to do - leave it and see if it eventually grows or just write it off and try again.

Here is the other Red Cheese seed that I germinated at the same time:



Looks great, right?


Now, the Northern Lights. Here is the seed that was a bit slow to produce a root:


It stuck it's head above the rooter plug and just quit. As near as I can tell, it's dead. Ugh.

Here is the sibling germinated at the same time and treated identically:




I'm looking for advice. Any ideas on what I can do that might save these things? I suspect the NL creature is just gone, but what about this other thing? Why is it stalled out?

And the customary Action shot:


Thanks for looking.

[alltatup]

Lookin good!!

[madams9]

Thanks alltatup, but 2 of these things are dying and I have no idea what to do!

[alltatup]

You are probably drowning them; too much water and no oxygen to the roots. Pinch dry them a bit and see if they bounce back. This will help: https://www.growweedeasy.com/seedling-problems

Also, 90's a bit hot; you might wanna lower temp to 80.

And do you clean your hydroton before reuse? I soak mine in diluted H2O2 and rinse a couple of times.

[madams9]

Week 4

I wrote off the two casualties and bleached/washed and rinsed the clay, the buckets and the net tops for those installations. I've got another pair of seeds germinating now and I'll see how that all works out. There really wasn't anything I could do about the temp, but the thermometer you see in those shots is hanging directly under the light. The temp at the top of the buckets is somewhat lower, but I went ahead and raised the light anyway. Temps are showing in the mid 80's or so.

The third plant is the one showing algae on the clay. I've treated that with H2O2 and Great White on the roots, such as they are. I've also covered that situation with a piece of cardboard to prevent light from hitting the clay but allow the plant to grow through a hole. I'm watching to see if I need to spray some more H2O2 on it or adjust the cardboard shield.

I'm also looking at plant #1 which is doing quite well. I need to decide within the next couple of days whether to top that plant or not. I'm tempted to just watch it let it go like the last one.

Finally, I'm getting close to ordering a second light which will create another variable in the tent.

Any suggestions welcome.

Namaste.

Action shot:

[madams9]

Week 5

I have a weird thing going on with one of my plants.

This plant is a Red Cheese AF that went into the tent 1/17/2020:




This plant is a Northern Lights specimen that went into the tent 4 days later:



I don't know if you can appreciate the difference in these two plants from these pics, but if you look at the screenshot, these plants are on the right-hand side of the image. The NL specimen is weird. The leaves are malformed and large. I'm leaving it in the tent to see what happens, but this thing looks wild.

Anybody have a clue as to what might be going on here?

Thanks.

[madams9]

Week 6

Still a mixed bag. Thing 1 is coming on strong and showing pistils.





Thing 2 is showing signs of not being an autoflower. I think I may have a full-sized photoperiodic plant here. That could prove a little inconvenient, but as long as it's not male, I should be good to go with it.




Thing 3 is small and making progress, but so slowly I think it may be a goner. More information as it develops.



Thing 4 remains valiantly dead. I don't know what I'm doing to kill these things, but I'm not going to worry about it for now.

And the action shot:



Let me know what you think, particularly about Thing 2 - autoflower or photoperiodic? I'm really curious about it.

[madams9]

Week 11

That's right, no update for 5 weeks. I've been busy. I also had the flue (not Covid-19, thankfully).

So, the plants are kind of struggling. The red cheese is really red and not very big. The buds look good, but they are not large nor are they plentiful, but I'll take it. The Northern Lights plant that kind of freaked me out when it germinated got under control, but I was not able to keep up with it while sick and it isn't producing much by way of flowers. Looks like I may end up with popcorn. In all fairness, it wasn't under sufficient light. I have a new lamp ordered and it should be here Friday. It will be useful for my next grow. Thing 3 is still tiny and trying to flower. harvest from it is likely to be negligible.

Here are some pick:

Thing 1 - Red Cheese



Thing 2 - Northern Lights



Thing 3 - Red Cheese




And a not very well framed action shot of things 1 and 2:


More as it develops.

[SoOrbudgal]

Sister sorry for the health issue glad you've rebounded stay well and lay low. Drink lots of fluids. Shit happens with our grows life gets in the way. Chalk this one up as your lesson and grow onward the next time. It's a bummer but not a loss by any means. You'll get a harvest and perhaps better smoke than you thought? I get 1-2 plants a year give me hell but can't wack them just grow them out with the others. SOS just sent out a new newsletter you get one? I've not bought from them for a while no need. Good luck and keep healthy

[madams9]

I have not seen the newsletter from SOS, but thank you for the support and encouragement. I need to get this grow out to dry and get grow #4 underway. There was a rumor about dispensaries closing here. Fortunately that didn't happen. It's all delivery and drive thru and that's okay,but I need to get a productive grow going.

Next grow should be three Bride Cake plants. They are supposed to be small but potent. We'll see how that goes when the time comes. For now, it's time to focus on the environment in the tent.i the good news is that I finally added a second light. That's causing the temp in the tent to run a little high, but there isn't much I can do about it. I hope I don't have to upgrade to a 6" exhaust setup. Time will tell.

[madams9]

Week 12

We start week 12 with Thing 1, Red Cheese, getting ready to wrap up. There are a few white pistols still showing, but this plant is not long from harvest.




Thing 2, Northern Lights, is hanging in there and seems to be enjoying the extra light. Sadly, it is not producing the size of buds one would expect from a plant this size. I assume this has to do with the fact that I was unable to tend to it adequately as it started to flower while I was down with the flu. This plant look like it has several weeks yet to grow; we'll see how things progress from this point.



Thing 3, Cheese, is just a small plant. It appears to be the Chihuahua of the Cannabis plant world, though this could be an anomaly of genetics or my failure to raise it appropriately. It looks like it may produce some popcorn, but it's got quite a bit to grow before we're done and it may come on strong at some point. The only real concern I have about the plant is that the roots don't look good. They are relatively small in comparison to the foliage and they are a yellow color. I've dusted those roots with Great White, but I've seen no improvement. Again, its a wait-and-see situation.



And here is the group photo:




And here is a monochrome version of that screenshot because I can't decide which I like best.

[madams9]

Week 12 update

The pistils of Thing 1 are about 75% brown. Time for harvest draws neigh. I'm looking at trichomes and it looks like it will be another 3 or 4 weeks (in my humble estimation). Here are pics taken from a random bud. What do you think?

[SoOrbudgal]

That thing #1 red is a thing of beauty. Yes those trichs do look 1/2 ready i'd wait not sure if it will be as long as you think though let's hope. Let's hope the runt comes charging at the finish LOL good luck ( I got a lot of hope these days )

[madams9]

Week 13

Things look pretty good despite the rough time these plants have had over the past couple of months. Time is really short for Thing 1 and I'm especially happy with the way Thing 2 is working out. Even Thing 3 seems to be plumping up. Here are some pics:

Thing 1 looks bad. it's dying. The flowers are looking really good. I've included extreme closups of a piece I clipped off this afternoon.



Here's a shot of the central cola.



And here are the trichomes:







Those are looking pretty milky. I'm thinking this plant may not make it to the end of the week.


Thing 2:



And the cola:




And Thing 3:






The cola:




So, I'd like to know what you think? Is Thing 1 going to make it 2 more weeks?

Stay safe. Stay home.

Edit: Forgot the action shot.

[SoOrbudgal]

In the black and white photo that right front one that's the milky one? Yes she is very near, real nice cola sorry about the issues from your grow. I like a lot of amber bet she does go there by Friday. Hoping for ya

[madams9]

Thanks much. You are correct, the Red Cheese which is about done is in the lower right of the black and white screeenshot. The more I look at the situation now, the happier I am with this grow. These plants seemed to survive the two or three weeks of neglect they suffered without any serious trouble.

Because I had issues with germination, these plants are spread out a bit across the calendar. Thing 1 is about done but Things 2 and 3 have another couple of weeks at least. I'm stoked about it. I think it's going to be pretty grand for what it is. So far, I've learned that Northern Lights is just a little bigger plant. The Red Cheese is looking more modestly sized, but potent. The little Cheese plant seems to be productive but small. I think it's just a small plant, but I information related to the variety says that it should be much, much larger. I stunted it somehow. Oh well, better luck next time.

All in all I'm pretty happy so far, the situation being what it is.

[madams9]

Week 14

Things are going well at the beginning of week 14. Details to follow:

Thing 1:



Still looks pretty bad, but there are green leaves feeding the plant. It's about as healthy as can be expected given that it is almost 14 weeks old.




The cola doesn't appear to have grown appreciably since last week.

Up close, it looks kind of wild.




The issue that I'm wrestling with shows up below.








There's a lot of amber in those trichomes. I'm wrestling over whether to take the plant down today or wait until the middle of the week. I think the Red Cheese is about done. What do you think?


Thing 2 has put on a bunch of weight over the past 2 weeks. The buds ate starting to weigh on the stems.




The cola isn't huge, but there are other buds showing up that are bigger than I thought they would be.





Given what this plant has had to suffer through, I'm pleased. I would not hesitate to grow Northern Lights in the future. This plant looks pretty bad because it's reaching end of life. It's not much younger than the Red Cheese next to it.


Thing 3 is small but really trying. The tips of the leaves show some presumed nutrient burn, but I have reset the ECC and PH and the plant is doing well.



If this thing can buy a little time, it could produce something good.




And the action shot. Let me know what you think. Is time up for Thing 1?