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I’m super excited for my first grow! I’ve been reading and lurking in forums for years but finally I am able to grow a few plants! I started germinating 5 ILGM northern lights autoflower seeds on New Years Eve.
I was super overwhelmed with all the options for equipment so I got a Vivosun complete kit on sale, I’m happy with everything so far and expect to upgrade some things once I know better what I need.
I thought I was ready from all the research but already I’m learning from mistakes! I would love any constructive criticism from any experienced growers and will plan on updating frequently.
I planted 4 of 5 seeds in soil on the morning of 1/2, the last seed was ready and planted by the evening. I put on a light on a low setting (40%) and a fan and have been keeping the soil moist with a mister.
This morning, 1/4, 3 of 5 seeds have emerged from the soil and the other 2 look like they might emerge by the end of the day. I bumped the light up to 50% and gave them all a light mist with the sprayer. The soil was still a bit moist from being watered the previous evening so I’m going to wait for the soil to dry before I water or mist them again.
The temp is about 75 degrees F, with humidity around 70-80%
I’m so excited that I’m having a hard time being patient and leaving them alone! Please feel free to let me know what you think so far!
Howdy! I’m at the end of week 2 and all is looking well. I think all 5 plants look good and green with 3-lobed leaves on 4 of 5 plants and another set of leaves developing.
One runty plant is a few days behind with 3-lined leaves just forming but I’m going to keep giving that guy some love.
The daily routine has been spraying the soil and rotating the plants in the tent every morning, with another spray bottle mist at night. An oscillating fan is on high setting 24/hrs a day. Lights on 18 hours, 400 watt LEDs have been gradually raised from 50% dimming to now 80%.
I haven’t felt a need for the inline fan much yet, but have been running that whenever the temp gets too high. I’ve been letting the top of the soil dry between misting and have been watering every few days once the soil is no longer moist and the pot feels lighter.
I think all is well so far! I’m thinking of giving the plants a low dose of fertilizer as we get into week 3 and maybe run the inline more frequently as the plants lead out a bit more.
Thanks for reading! ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Hello from the end of week 2 veg! I put days 1-7 in germ, so days 14-21 are here.
Everything is looking green and happy, I have been spraying the plants twice daily still and gave everyone a big drink this week with a low dose (<5ml gallon) of nutrients.
The light is at 80% capacity and the oscillating and inline fans are now on 24/7. There is a weak smell and they smell skunky and delicious!
Hello from days 21-28! The plants are really starting to bush out and grow fast!
Everything is going well, plants look happy and green. Gave two big waterings with light nutrients this week and have been spraying and rotating the plants in the tent every day.
I started to LST the plants this week and they are doing well with it. The lights are now at 100% capacity and I am seeing pistils forming on the plants. The smell is not strong yet, but very tasty!
I think they might flower soon so maybe this week I will switch to the bloom nutrients?
☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Hello from days 29-35! lots of pistils and buds forming so I’m calling this the first week of flowering stage.
I noticed a bit of yellowing on leaf tips so I held off on nutrients this week, just plain water every 2-3 days. Kept up with LST too, trying to spread bud sites out.
Each plant is looking great! Very green and bushy, starting to get tall and really fill the tent up. Smell is getting nice and skunky too. Even the runt has caught up to the rest, I can barely tell which one it was anymore.
Thanks for reading! ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Howdy from day 36-42!
The plants are looking green and happy, I watered every 2-3 days about 1/2 gallon each. Switched up to bloom nutrients and gave everyone a low dose (about 1/2 what it says on the chart) early this week.
I did some minor defoliation early in the week, followed by a more intense one later in the week. It seemed like the lower leaves were not getting much light and I wanted better airflow on the bottom of plants. I also tried to remove leaves that were cramped or touching each other, or blocking buds.
I am also seeing some raised white bumps on some of the leaves, mostly the older darker green ones? I was worried it was mold but it’s not really fuzzy and doesn’t wipe off or anything. It looks like maybe just part of the leaf does anybody know what it is?
Looking forward to week 7 I’m hoping that these buds will get bigger!! ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
I have some pics of white lumps on the leaves does anybody know what these are? I was worried it was mold but I’m not sure, it is not fuzzy and doesn’t seem to wipe off at all?
It seems to be part of the leaf structure? I mostly see it on older darker leaves, not trichomes?
Looking good on days 43-49 from germination!
I’ve been watering about a half gallon each every other day, I fed once earlier in the week with bloom nutrients and cal mag.
The plants look healthy and green, the smell is fantastic and there are lots of nice crystals forming. The plants haven’t grown much this week but the buds are getting fatter by the day.
I’m looking at some other diaries that have grown the same strain and judging by pictures I think these plants might be done in just a couple more weeks. I plan on backing off on the nutrients for now to let the plants start to flush a bit.
Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any input on how much longer these plants have! ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Looking good and smelling great on days 50-56!!
Rotating the plants daily and watering each about 0.5-1gal water every 2-3 days. I stopped giving extra nutrients so the plants can use up what is already in the soil.
Lots of clear crystals and some seem to be clouding up. No amber yet, maybe 20-50% of hairs are orange, some plants are a few days ahead.
I think these might be ready in the next week or two, if anybody has any interest bout that would be great!!
Thanks for reading 😃 ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Hello, this is my first grow and I think these will be ready for harvest soon, I was wondering if anybody could give insight based on pictures.
I’m looking for amber trichomes and more orange hairs, gotta get a better mag lens. Thanks!
Howdy from days 57-63!
The buds are getting nice and fat with maybe about 50% of pistils turned orange. Lots of trichomes ranging clear to cloudy, few amber on sugar leaves.
I’m trying to flush and have been watering with plain ph balanced water for the past two weeks.
Lots of really nice color change going on, 2 plants are ahead of the other 3 but I am hoping to be able to wait another week or two and harvest all at once.
Trying to keep humidity low it ranges 30-45%, the temp was getting a bit warm around 76 so I raised the light a bit and now it’s around 74 under the light.
Gonna try to give another big watering or two in the next week to help flush and I’m thinking I can harvest in another week or two?
Thanks for reading! ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Hello from days 64-70!
Lots of beautiful leaf cold changes this week, most of the buds are starting to appear frosty and have clear to cloudy trichomes, with few amber observed.
The temp started to get too high on the tent as weather changed this week, I ended up dimming the lights down a bit which helped.
I also reduced water this week, letting soil get very dry before giving them 25% of the usual water.
Keeping an eye on trichomes, I’m hoping to harvest soon! Let me know if you have any input on the harvest timeline based on the trichomes pics!
Thanks for reading ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Hello from the final week before harvest, which is just a few days. I haven’t watered in about a week and the humidity has been low. Turned off the lights for a day before harvest.
The bugs look big and covered in crystals, the smell is amazing!
Harvested on day 74! Harvest update to follow ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
ILGM Northern lights was very easy to grow, especially considering I had no prior experience. It was also very fast, with a higher yield than I expected!
I had no problems with pests or mold, and the plants seemed to tolerate beginner mistakes like under/overwatering pretty well.
The final product smells and tastes amazing after curing for about a week! I plan to cure the rest for a few weeks longer but there are a few buds I had to test for quality control 😋 The taste is very herbal and earthy, with a hint of diesel.
Overall I would highly recommend this strain! Thanks for reading! ☮️ ❤️ 🌱
Looks, great man. You are doing a lot right for your first time out the gate. Very impressive. Your temps right now are perfect. Through all my experience we find that buds formed over 80 degrees will be big yes, But very airy and prone to fox tailing. They will also never cake up as much as buds formed at lower temps. We find that lights on mid 70's to high 70's for the first 4 to 6 weeks depending on the strain & no more than 9 degrees less with lights off. Once the plants have finished growing vertically we like to open up that temp gap to beyond 10 degrees between lights on and lights off. Usually, this has occurred by weeks 4 to 6 of flower depending on the strain, Obviously sooner with autoflowers. Once this has happened allowing for a larger temp swing between lights on and off will send a signal to the plant to put extra energy into its budding process and resin production. Doing this prematurely while the plant is still growing will cause it to instead stretch, That is why timing is key.
This is a good rule of thumb but with more intricate manipulation you can take advantage of both size and density. As the buds are forming we can run temps of up to 82 and then as soon as cake begins to show and the buds are now swelling we drop that temp down to the mid 70s and begin slowly walking it down each week as we finish the crop off. This will give you nice big buds but also will carry with them good density. Size is great but the weight comes from dense buds which form more at lower temps. Enviromental manipulation plays a huge key in how we develop our buds and how they will form.
If you do not have them already get yourself a thermal temp gun and a PAR meter to read the tops of your plants and dial everything in as optimally as you can. These pieces of equipment will really help you get the most potential out of your lights. Keep up the great work man and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask me. If you got a minute, Please check out my 200 light 7,000 plant diary & follow my profile. Happy growing my friend.
I've just finished my run of Northernlights , and yours look real good , mine went a few weeks longer then I expected but the final results were awesome,👌 Good luck mate on your grow👍
Happyjack42
