HYDRO Northen Lights (AF) Grow Diary 2019-2020

[LurkingInTheGrass]

You have seen that twice?

Different seeds or same strain?

 

[madams9]

Different, but both autoflowers. I think it has more to do with the rooter plugs and the way I'm using them than anything else. It seems that plants that take hold and grow quickly have the ability to somehow allow the taproot to just push the whole structure up and out of the plug. It's possible that I'm just not getting the seeds deeply into the plug. I'll have to bear all this in mind for my next grow.

 

[madams9]

Here we are on the cusp of week 10. it's been a hectic few weeks and I haven't had the time I would like to tend to this stuff. Fortunately, there isn't that much to be done since I've basically just let this plant do what it wants to do without a lot of intervention on my part. The plant seems healthy, though the leaves look pretty bad - brown spots and burnt edges (is this just the way Northern Lights looks?). And there was the issue of the tap root pushing the stem out of the rooter plug which is also documented above. I've just been watching water levels and PH and some feeding as documented above. I'm planning to feed some more, possibly tomorrow. Because I had the space and light, I planted one of the Red Cheese seeds gifted me by Southern Oregon Seeds. I'm curious to see what happens with that.

In the meantime, here are some glamor shots and an action photo.

So it continues.

 

[alltatup]

Have you ever given this plant a break from nutes? A flush break? It might help the leaves, tho the ones already damaged won't change, But it might be a sign of nutrient lockout.https://www.growweedeasy.com/flushing-sick-cannabis

 

[madams9]

alltatup I have not considered it. I also notice this in the link provided:

Flushing sick plants is NOT for…

Hydroponic or DWC grow setups – if you have a nutrient or pH problem, just change the reservoir so it has exactly what you want

I may move it to fresh reservoir but, the leaves at the bottom of the plant (newer) look pretty good. The plant seems to be doing okay and I'm reluctant to mess with it too much.

 

[alltatup]

madams9 I grow hydro too, and here's what I do: I add pH'd water toward the end of each week now that the plants are growing faster, so that's basically fresh water they're in for 36-48 hours before nute change.

After I switch to flower, I keep a very close eye on the leaves and growth patterns, and if they need a flush, I give it to them. I keep adding fresh water each week 2 days before nute change. Like a mini flush.

But a lot of plants get into flowering--this happened to me fairly regularly on my early grows--and they start to overdose on nutes, causing nute lockout. In order to avoid what used to happen, I do what I do now, and I haven't had symptoms of problems on leaves for a while.

 

[madams9]

Okay, that sounds pretty simple. I'll prep a bucket and move the plant when I get a chance this evening. I'll see how it goes.

 

[madams9]

Week 12
I ditched the soup in the original res and placed the plant is a fresh, PH controlled res for about 4 days. That res is now looking good in terms of nutes (~810 PPM) and PH (~6.15). The plant doesn't look any worse and I snipped some of the larger, browner leaves. It seems healthy and is getting heavy. I may have to add another support to help it stay upright. I snipped a couple of samples from colas and 'scoped them. It looks like we are on schedule for a mid-to-late January harvest on this one.

Feel free to let me know what you think.

 

[alltatup]

Looking good! It's always hard to tell from someone's pics what the trichomes are really doing, but one indicator I always look for through my jeweler's loupe is triches bending over from the weight of the head. Yours still look pretty vertical from what I can see. If they're already turning milky, I don't know if I'd wait a whole nother two weeks to harvest, but you may like a lot more CBN and amber than I do. ;-}

 

[SoOrbudgal]

I was gonna say I see milky pretty much all through the bud shot.

 

[madams9]

alltatup Thanks for the input. This plant is just about 11 weeks old. My plan was to wait until about week 12 to take it down. That would be next week. I'll have to take a good hard look at harvesting in the next week or so. I don't see any amber trichomes yet and I would generally wait until I've got some amber in there. At least that has been the plan up to now.

 

[madams9]

SoOrbudgal there is some milky stuff happening, but I don't see any amber. See above comment to alltatup. I'm watching closely and the time is certainly drawing near.

 

[alltatup]

I look forward to seeing the harvest!! ;-}

 

[SoOrbudgal]

You've had a hard run on this one but next one I bet you'll have way less issues. Good luck madams9 I got 2 same as you showing milky no amber yet, patience is our friendly neighbor:embarassed:

 

[LurkingInTheGrass]

Friendly?

I always found him to be loud and boisterous, trying to pressure me into cutting early, maybe I am confusing him with his roommate?

 

[SoOrbudgal]

LurkingInTheGrass yes that little voice I've been hearing lately when I glance into my tent, smell the lovely scents look at the frosted rock hard golf balls and want to use my Poulin 16" on it, limb it hang it cure it OMG hurry up ( I sure as heck hope it's all that good ):wink:

 

[alltatup]

Yes, patience is a bitch...

 

[madams9]

And here we are at week 13. It looks to me as if this plant will be coming down this weekend. The buds are visibly darker and taking on an amber hue. They are tight and kind of purple. Here are some pics and the customary action shot. Note that I have moved to a different webcam solution and am trying a monochrome rendering of the screenshot. It's overexposed, but adequate for my needs.

Let me know what you think.

Roll of paper towels for scale.

Our sample subject:

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Looks like you will be harvesting soon. That's one fat cola.

 

[madams9]

So the deed is done. I chopped it Saturday and hung it to dry. What I noticed is that the yield is kind of light and it dried really fast. I've already got it in jars. It hasn't been sampled yet, but it looks okay. I'll update the diary when I know more. In the meantime, I'm prepped for the next round - 2 more Northern Lights and 2 Red Cheese. I've successfully germinated the Red Cheese and I'm waiting on the Northern Lights but I have some confidence. And here are some pics.