Northern Lights 2: Attic Boogaloo

Nothing too exciting for week 1 of veg. The new light came in and I’m super impressed with it. I ended up going with a more budget friendly option in the viparspectra xs2000. It seems to have a more blue/white spectrum than the sf-2000 in the tent downstairs but this one actually feels a little more solidly built and has a thicker heat sink with the fins to increase the surface area. The real reason I went with this one though is because it runs hotter and this tent is in a very lightly insulated attic and it’s starting to get cold out here. I got a temperature controller to cut on a small space heater whenever it gets down to ~65F and it’s keeping the tent in a stable 65-78F range. I’m hoping I can get some healthy plants up there this round.

Not much to say here, week 2 of veg is kind of boring haha. I’ve been letting her do her thing up in the attic. Got a temperature controller to keep the tent warm since it’s dipping down into the 30’s at night and my attic isn’t super insulated but it’s doing great at keeping the plants happy. Thinking I’ll see a big increase in growth in the next couple weeks. I think I’m going to go a bit lighter on the LST for these plants. Loving the new light, can’t wait to see how it does in flower.

This run is going great so far, both plants in the attic tent are thriving and have been super low maintenance. They really seem to be loving the new light and I’ve just been feeding with recharge once every 7-10 days. I just started a bit of LST today by pulling the main stem down a bit and tied it to the edge and tucking some of those huge fan leaves to let the other tops get some light. Not really going for yield this round since I have both tents going simultaneously, I’m really just trying to keep these girls healthy and shooting for some good quality smoke.

Lots of growth this week and I started LST so I have a bunch of new top sites. Still no signs of pistils yet but I’d bet they’ll start showing this week. Lots of foliage so I’ll definitely need to defoliate a bit before flower. I have some stuff from build a soil coming on Monday that I picked up on a Black Friday deal so I’m stoked to see how these plants do without relying on the bottled nutrients so heavily.

Another good week for this girl, lots of vigorous growth. I’m not seeing pistils yet but I’m expecting them soon. This is about when they started popping the first time I ran this strain. I too dressed with the build a soil build a flower top dress kit which is just a couple different types of compost and some organic dry amendments with emphasis on the PK and Ca. She’s still super happy but this is about the time the last plant went to shit. Granted this time around I haven’t overdone it with the bottled nutrients so I’m hoping to avoid the burn this time but I’m definitely going to keep an eye on it.

So far so good here. She started flowering for sure this week and she still looks healthy. I’ll have to keep an eye out because this is about when it went to shit last time. Hoping the build a flower is just right this round.

Not much change this week, lots of stretch but that’s about it. A couple of spots on the leaves that I noticed last week that showed around this time last round, that I’m almost positive is calcium deficiency. I started adding cal mag and raising the pH I water with to 6.7. I’m not sure if it’s lack of calcium or just pH but I want to rule both out. Other than that just another good week. I need to defoliate a bit but I want to make sure I get the cause of the spots under control before adding any extra stress. I have a better feeling this time around.

This girl is doing great, the yellowing and spots seem to have been resolved by the switch to a new bottle of calmag, the leaves darkened quite a bit and the progression of the spots seems to have slowed if not halted entirely after adding it for a couple of feedings. She stretched a bit more and is a solid few inches taller than the gg4 auto it’s sharing a tent with. I’ve done a little defoliation to expose a few of the lower bud sites and I need to do it some more to help with airflow deeper in the canopy. I did some minor LST to try to space out the colas before they start packing on a lot of weight. All in all I’m really glad I decided to run this strain again. I’ve been really impressed with how easy and low maintenance the attic tent has been, just automating the temperature control has been a game changer.

Another good week for this plant. A few leaves have shown some spotting/chlorosis that I think is from a lack of calcium (not sure if from pH or if the medium is actually depleted) but nothing too crazy, overall she’s still okay looking pretty healthy. I brewed up a compost/nutrient tea with some cowoco vermicompost and build a soil craft blend since it’s been about a month since I last top dressed her so I watered that in last night. It’s the first tea I’ve brewed and it came out a bit stronger than I expected so I diluted it down a bit but she looks good today so I’m not sure how helpful it’ll be but it looks like it didn’t hurt. I’m expecting to see some more bud development and bulking up within the next week. I’ll probably top her off with a thin layer of castings so she has what she needs for the last few weeks while she finishes out. She’ll have a bunch of extra room in the tent soon because the gg4 auto she’s sharing the tent with is just about ready to be chopped.

Another good week. I started seeing some fall colors coming out in the fan leaves and it had been about a month since I last topdressed so I added about an inch thick layer of build a flower to the top of the soil. The gorilla glue auto she was sharing a tent with got harvested this week and I probably would’ve let her go another week but the fade came on fast and the leaves started dying so I pulled her because I didn’t want to risk mold from the decaying leaves. I didn’t want this one to fade as early so I want to make sure the medium has all the nutrients it needs. We also got slammed with that winter storm that struck the east coast and the tent is in the attic so it could just be the temperature that’s bringing out the colors. The build a flower is pretty hot though and there was a bit of burn on a couple of leaves but I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as the gg4 plant got. Aside from that she’s doing great, still a bit of spotting on a few leaves that I’m almost certain is calcium deficiency and the leaves are a lighter green, which I think is magnesium, so I watered in some cal mag tonight. I can tell the flowers are ready to start bulking up so I expect that they’ll pack on some mass this week. I’m hoping she finishes out in 2-3 weeks because I have a couple of photos that I want to move up to the attic tent and flip to flower ASAP. I’m trying to time it so the change of weather in the spring doesn’t hit too early into flower since the attic tent gets brutally hot if the temps outside reach above 80. I’m also going out of town for a week in April and I’m hoping to harvest and let them dry during that time.

Getting there with this girl. Not loving the bud structure so far but I’m hoping she packs on the mass in the next couple of weeks. A few of the tops are turning into pretty long spears, I’m not sure if I defoliated enough to let those lower sites really develop. I’m a bit concerned with the way the pistils are turning this early despite the fact that it hasn’t bulked up yet but we’ll see. I’ll probably start taking a peek at the trichomes this week but I’d guess she still has at least two weeks left, maybe three.

Still not super impressed with this strain. The buds feel pretty dense but they’re long and thin and I’m not a fan of that personally. I’m hoping it just needs a bit more time to bulk up but I’m not super confident it’s going to make it much longer. It seems like the leaves are fading at an alarming rate. I’m definitely still working on dialing in the organic style. Like the gorilla glue plant that this one shared a tent with, this one is fading early. I thought it was just a magnesium issue with that plant but I’ve been keeping up with the cal mag with this one so now I’m wondering if the build a flower top dress kit just didn’t have enough nitrogen to be used as the only supplemental fertilization. I actually added a bit of salt based nutrients with this last feeding, not a ton but just enough to have some soluble NPK available to slow the fade because I think she needs at least another week, more if it’ll make it. Part of the bud structure issue could also just be that the environment isn’t dialed in either. I’ve had a hard time keeping the humidity up. Since the tent is in the attic it’s a lot more at the mercy of the weather, which has been dry at this time of the year. I like that I’m at a lower risk of mold but I feel like it could be low enough that it’s negatively impacting the health of the plant.

Well, she made it another week. I’ve been pruning off the leaves as they die to help avoid mold and it does look like the flowers are still developing, but I don’t think she’s going to last much longer so this will probably the last proper grow update. By this time next week I imagine I’ll have chopped her, so we’ll get a final harvest update on a couple of weeks. All in all this has been an alright grow, still not super impressed with this strain and I think I see why fastbuds discontinued it, but I’m sure the final flowers will be decent. It’s all photoperiods for the foreseeable future, I’ll be back with some more autos in the fall.

Well, I didn’t think it was possible but this girl made it another week. She’s still ripening despite the fact that most of the fan leaves have died or are very close to being dead. The trichomes are nearly ready, I could chop today but the other two plants in the tent aren’t ready to be repotted yet so I’m going to give her one more day. At the rate this plant is maturing I might as well have just grown a photoperiod plant. I love northern lights but I don’t think I’ll grow this strain as an auto again. Between the insane burn the last plant had and how slow this one is growing it’s just not worth it. Still love fastbuds but I’m glad they pulled this strain from their lineup. With the chop happening tomorrow the next and final update will come whenever she dries. Thanks for tuning into this grow!

All in all a pretty average grow, albeit a bit extended. Excited to be taking a break from the autos.