Northern Lights first grow

Berserkjibis This is my first grow. I germinated using the paper towel method. The first 2 weeks or so it will be in a solo cup, then I will move it over to the 20gallon fabric pot. I'm using super soil from buildasoil, it will mostly be water only. I might use some aloe and coconut water, with some of buildasoil's top dressings, and some of my own EWC. I might possibly do some KNF if I get around to making any ferments. My light is a HLG135 3000k which I'll be using for the entire grow. I'm going to build a 2x2 scrog and get it filled as much as I can. I think the soil might be too wet right now, hopefully that doesn't slow growth too much.

Berserkjibis Seems to be growing pretty well, I think I'm finally getting the watering thing down. Does it look ok for day 8? It's drooping a little because I watered it earlier today.

Berserkjibis I've been dealing with my plant being droopy for about a week, but it looks like it's perking up in it's new pot. I thought I had spider mites and started my IPM, but I'm not sure that's what it was now. Yesterday I transplanted to the 20g fabric pot, added 20 or 30 worms, top dressing, diatomaceous earth, and planted the cover crop and added barley mulch. I used aloe and silica to water with, I'll probably use them about once a week, and switch over to coconut instead of aloe for flowering. I'll probably be topping in less than a week.

Berserkjibis Topped about 4 days ago. I decided not to build a 2x2 scrog, as I feel like the pot is big enough to do the LST on. I think I'm only gonna go with that one topping this go. As you can see the cover crop came up. Here in about 5 days or so I'll start the LST.

Berserkjibis Just now started LST. I ended up breaking one of the main stems at the knuckle, do you think it will pull through? I'm thinking another week and a half or 2 weeks and I'll flip to flower.

Berserkjibis Seems to be filling in pretty nicely with around 15 tops. I plan to veg for about 1 more week then switch to flower. This week I'm running 16/8 to help the transition, and give maybe a little stretch to help space the tops out better.

Berserkjibis I switched to 12/12 yesterday, last day of week 7. I put down a layer of Gro Kashi, and will add some of my own vermicomost here in the next few days. I also watered with coconut powder, recharge, buildabloom, and silica. I defoliated a little bit a few days ago, should I try to do some more?

Berserkjibis It's been 7 days since I switched to 12/12, so it started to show hairs on the 2nd day after switching. On the second or third day I noticed the light was on in the middle of dark period, so I went in there and the timer was still going but apparently it doesn't turn off anymore. I immediately went and got a new timer, but I'm not sure if there was any damage done to flowering. I added some vermicomost to the to of the mulch a few days ago.

Berserkjibis It's at F12 now and if you look closely you can definitely tell it's flowering now. There are several tops that are up high and quite a few that are lower down too. I'm trying to decide if I should remove some of the lower tops, since they won't get as much light.

Berserkjibis Took these pics yesterday morning, just now got around to updating the journal. I've done a little more lollipopping and defoliation than It looks like in the pics. I removed a few of the lower tops that won't get enough light. For my defoliation I've basically been trying to remove the bigger fan leaves that are covering up other tops.

Berserkjibis Things seem to be moving along great. I've still been doing a little defoliation every few days, when I see big fan leaves covering up tops. I'm excited bc I can see frost starting on the sugar leaves!

Berserkjibis I'm only watering about once a week, 2 gallons. Is that normal at this point? Also as you can see in one of the pics, there is this weird hook thing going on with one of the leaves. As far as smell goes, it seems like its actually lessened a bit. I gently squeezed one of the buds and it smelled just like fruity pebbles. Does it seem like they are about the right size for F33 or does it look like I'm behind?

Berserkjibis Any guesses as to what kind of yield I'll be getting from this? I guess its still pretty early, I'm thinking I have around 4.5 to 5 weeks until chop. Do they look about the right size or are they small for the age?

Berserkjibis I'm happy to see they are starting to fatten up a bit. I don't really have anything else to add other than It smells amazing. 3 or 4 weeks to go!

Berserkjibis Took a short video this week to hopefully help you get a better idea of the size of the plant and nugs. I think I've got about 2.5 weeks to go!

Berserkjibis About two weeks left. If it's ready before I'm on days off from work I might give it a few days of darkness. I took some pics with the loupe but I'm new to it so they're not that clear. Getting close folks I'm excited!!!

Berserkjibis I know the tric pics suck, but it's looking to me like they are almost all clear still. Does anyone have a recommendation on how long I should let them go? I was going to harvest them a week from now, but I could do it sooner, or later depending on what the consensus is.

Berserkjibis I'm still not seeing a lot of amber, but I think tomorrow night I'll put them in 3 days of darkness before the chop. Is it normal that it's still shooting out new pistils at this point? They don't seem to be smelling as much as they were mid-way through flowering, is that normal also? After I chop I plan hang up the plant whole to dry at 60RH for two weeks. Thanks for checking out my diary!

Berserkjibis After 3 days of darkness I harvested at F79. I slow dried for 2 weeks at 60RH, then trimmed and jarred it up. I ended up with 110.8 grams of bud, right over 2oz of nice tops, and about 1.7 ounces of smaller buds and larf. The smell is similar to fruity pebbles, with a little bit of skunk/pungent smell going on. I'm currently working a CDL job, and will have to figure something else out before I can try it, so the buds are probably going to get a nice long cure. After I try it, I'll come back and update my journal on what the high/flavor is like. Thanks a bunch to everyone who has helped me along the way! Edit: I finally tried it last night with my Arizer Solo 2. It was very relaxing, not much of a head high but that's ok. Watched Monte Pythons Holy Grail, and after an hour or so I was ready to go to sleep. I would definitely recommend this strain if you have pain, insomnia, or a hard time relaxing.