NLa - How is this not?

Spike_KCanG How is this not: an Original Northern Lights auto? Officially, veg week 1 (according to my whacky standards) started yesterday. Something crucial happened this morning that could heavily influence this run, which is why I decided to push the diary update now and not in 5 days. It's better to note these things imediately, for just incase. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 14 After uploading and publishing this diary last week, her head had perked up and she showed us what she had been working on (besides getting taller): the first set of true leaves! PPFD is 400ish Watered 200ml + half dose of nutrients to prepare the medium for vegetation stage. 6.24ph going in 0.7g/L of Microbes because at a topsoil temperature of 28C, I don't suppose many are surviving, let alone being very productive 😅 ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 15 and 16 Tracking a steady growth of 1cm per day. She's getting leggy. Not on my watch! Lowering the lighting. 😈 PPFD to 450ish (June 16) ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 17 She is brighter colored than the past mornings. That neon green along the veins hints to me, and perhaps I am completely wrong here!, she found and is spreading Magnesium about. She found it a few days sooner than I would have liked, (which hints at her roots being bigger than I anticipated) but we'll see soon enough if any harm was done. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 18 Growth stopped at 5cm. It's not clear to me if she momentarily stopped growing due to: 1. the nutes 2. the lighting 3. an explosion of root growth 4. internal adjustments for the incoming veg stage or.. 5. a combination of multiple/all of the above Raising the lighting to get a PPFD of 425. I don't want to stunt her! Do not want her leggy either 😅 The leaves, upon touch, feel like velvet. Dunno if that's good or not but, documenting it here anyway. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 19 Main shaft/stem has started to grow! This is why the half-dose of nutrients was given earlier this week. I want her to grow from my resources and not her own aka. cannibalizing herself. That would stunt growth. She should be growing upwards and outwards, forming little tunnels and passing along nutrients, minerals and hormones. Not focussing energy inwards! She can do that at the flip 😋 ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 20 Woke up to find her neighbor, the OB3, with its pants down flashing its newly created sack-o-nuts. Sorry, not sorry but, HE was immediately removed from the tent due to "Disorderly Conduct" and "Indecent Exposure to a Minor". OB3 was brought before the court 1min later. Back to the NLa though, her Cotyledons halted at just under 5cm. With that, we have our answer to the question posed on the 18th. It was answer number 5 - a combination of 3 and 4. Based off of optics alone, I normally would have watered + fed her right now. The moisture meter is saying the topsoil is still moist enough (17%). Will not be watering her today. Nor tomorrow probably 😂 We'll see though. I'll scratch back some of the top layer when the meter reads 8% 😎 ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- She has the nutrients, the tent and the entire setup to herself now. I have decided not to pop any seeds until she is nearly finished and devote my upmost attention to her. Let's see what she can do in a 120x60x150 with two lights (at 35% intensity) shining down on her. If all of that isn't enough, I have yet another SF1000EVO (2024) to my disposal 😈😈😈 Erm, as long as my daughter's chili seeds don't hatch.. The intake and exhaust both run at two. The humidifier keeps everything at roughly 50%. Both ventilation fans run at speed one. You have enough headroom little lady. Show us what you can do. PPFD was 550ish after positioning both lights. 😅 Don't want to burn her! Raised the lights to 35cm and achieved a PPFD of 425ish again. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- For anyone wondering, The second charge against OB3 was later dropped in court by the ruling judge, Herr Spike. The decision refers to the age of the Defendant. HE is but a teenager himself, therefore also a minor. (👿👿 Freaking courts man, I tell ya! Can't win anything nowadays!! Bet the judge was bribed with money!! 👿👿) Thanks for stopping by 👊😎 (Hope to) See you with the next update! 😅

Spike_KCanG How is this not: an Original Northern Lights auto? (12 days old) Officially, veg week 2 would end this coming Friday. I'm pushing the diary forward a little because another heat wave could be hitting soon and I want every weather induced change to the plant documented. Light height and intensity had to be adjusted several times this week, to battle the heat. PPFD never changed though. Also, I had to reposition the humidifier several times as well. RH stayed 45ish though. This tank of a plant sure is chooglin along!! (Credence Clearwater Revival reference, for those that are wondering 😅) ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 21 Heatwave hit today and it looks like 34C weather the entire weekend and most of next week 😅 Other than nutrient dispersion issues, most likely from the heat and high vpd, I'm not really seeing anything else wrong with her. Wonder how she will respond to the upcoming days.. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 22 Nutrient dispersion issue has slowed. That could be a good as well as bad sign. The fact she exploded with growth in one day signals to me, she is doing more than fine. She wouldn't have exploded if she wasn't getting nutes where they need to be 👍 Heat/Light resistance is superb so far. She's not created any UV protecting trichomes as of yet but, the leaf edges are curling up slightly. That might be because I haven't repositioned the ventilation fan up 2cm higher, as an adjustment to her upwards growth. Could also be heat stress. Repositioned the fan 4cm higher and raised the lights 3cm higher to achieve a 435 ppfd reading. Scratched back a portion of soil directly around her base. The top 1cm was completely dry. Moisture meter is reading 6%. She could probably go one more day without, but getting nutrients and microbes into the medium again, before she starts complaining, is more important to me. Will increase CalMag from 2.7 to 3ml per 4L to help photosynthesis along. Watered her 2L of dechlorinated tapwater + feed (full doses) + PH Min to 6.2 Microbes stayed at 0.7g/L due to the soil temperature (30C). I doubt any are living, let alone being productive in these temps but I refuse to neglect her! I also readjust the moisture meter. It is no longer in the topsoil but placed through the side of the fabric pot. It is now measuring the root section's values. Her roots should be far enough down and wide enough that the measurements taken in this zone better represent what is going on in the medium. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 23 Main branches are coming in. I'm contemplating removing the uppermost leaves because they are blocking light from the underlying foliage coming in. Then again, she needs all the leaves she can get right now! Weather is still 34C/20RH outside. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 24 Heatwave dies off a little. It's only 30C outside today 😂 Sure made the tent manageable again. 28C / 45RH / 450 PPFD Lowered the lighting to 20cm distance and decreased intensity to 30%. Reading 450PPFD, only because the meter is directly in a hotspot. At this distance, the par map is all over the place with it's readings. The plant is comfy at 425. (Relieving her a little bit before the next dose of nutrients goes in) ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 25 Adjusted the lighting, again. The internode spacing of her topmost node is concerning me. She hit a hotspot under the lamps and was blasted with 600ppfd 😅😅😅 Understandable why she has trichomes now 😂 She doesn't look damaged in any way. On the contrary, I'd almost say she quite enjoyed it! I want the next batch of nutrients in the soil before I increase anything else. Yes, she might drink quicker if I bumped the ppfd from 450 to 500/525 but that would also increase the temps in the tent. If she is going to have to push through a hot summer, she's going to have to get stronger first. The moisture meter is currently reading 7.8%. She'll be thirsty tomorrow, latest Friday. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- In summary for this 'week', there are already noticeable differences with my previous grows. I'm pretty sure having used a citric based PH Down in the past, was the primary instigator to most of my grow issues. PH Min is not citric based, hence the moisture swings much less. And ph'ing the feed down to 6.1/6.2 has helped keep the ph under 6.5 up till now. That, and the nutrients. I'm sure those two have played major roles so far in her progress. She is a tank so far and I'm extremely curious what she has in store for us. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for stopping by 👊😎 (Hope to) See you with the next update! 😅

Spike_KCanG How is this not: an Original Northern Lights auto? (19 days old) What a f-ing champ!!! ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 26 Watered + fed 3L Last of the BioBizz Microbes used. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 28 I pondered long and hard if I wanted to top her. If so, it would need to be done no later than tomorrow, safely before she shows her sex and indicates the flowering stage will be soon. It's an autoflower, so she's probably extra sensitive to these things. In the end, I decided for a training method I have never attempted: defoliating the mainstem and keeping the future bud sites / nodes in direct light. The idea sounds easy. When the mainstem spits out another pair of leaves, and they start blocking vegetation under them, you cut them off. Simple as that, right? Not exactly. By removing these particular leaves, you are slowing the growth of the mainstem. This should let the lower foliage catchup in height, right in time for flowering stage to kick in. That's the theory of it and there are certain signs to watch out for, like, has she tossed a pre-flower yet? Mine has not... yet. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 29 As I was busy with the Vermicompost today, I took three handfuls of worm 💩, mixed it in to the NLa's topsoil and chased it with 1L of dechlorinated tapwater. Was there really an other reason besides, for the fun of it? Erm.. yes! Worm 💩 is full of nutrients and beneficial bacteria! Even though she is showing no signs of a deficiency, I want to make sure there is enough nutrients available to her at the end of this veg week. Usually around the 3rd to 4th veg week, autos take off.. again 😅 (We can discuss current weather vs growing capability later 😜) If or when she starts taking off, she might need those nutes I am adding today as the 4ml/L of Grow may not be sufficient to get her through that phase and into flower. Fingers crossed I don't burn her! ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- June 30 Okay, I didn't expect the defoliation route to payoff so quickly.. erm, two days later and she's nearly got an even canopy 😳😳😳 Was I too late with the worm 💩? We'll find out soon enough. I don't know how to handle this situation. I expected the canopy to even itself out after a week or so, not within three days!!! She still doesn't even have one pre flower yet but the canopy alone is ready for flower 😂 Gonna ride this out... ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 1 Well, she did it. Her canopy is an even height. She stands proud at 14cm / 45rh / 550ppfd and is praying most of the time. (Praying for someone to give her an ice bath!! It's 37.5C in the tent!) As a reward for pushing through the summer heat, I sprinkled 3g of Super Microbes BoostX into her topsoil. Did not chase this with water, this time, as the soil is dry but not ready for a watering. In hindsight, this might have been a bad idea as she just received the worm 💩. Secondly, because I just spotted a couple burnt leaf tips 😅 Is it windburn? Is it nutrient burn? I don't know. Repositioned the fan a little higher though. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 2 Today is the last day, for this week, of unbearable weather. It's supposed to get up to 40C in some places!! If she makes it through today... ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, but it's too hot to write and concentrate any longer. Thanks for stopping by 👊😎 (Hope to) See you with the next update! 😅

Spike_KCanG How is this not: an Original Northern Lights auto? (26 days old) We got pre-flowers!!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 3 Found a couple tips of leaves that are having an issue. I figured it would be a nitrogen issue, but after close inspection, it turned out to be magnesium. I'll be leaving CalMag and switching over to Epsom Salt for the duration of this run. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 4 - 6 Checking multiple times daily for preflowers, or balls. Continuing the mainstem defoliation. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 7 Another measurement and application of a slight LST to pull the under canopy outwards just a little. Using the metal hooks as weights. She is starting to give of a smell. Pine-scent from the underside of the leaves. Upper-side smells like earth. It won't be long now. Either she is going to give of pre flowers or balls this week!! ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 9 Removed the metal hooks and tucked some more foliage. Upon closer inspection, I found the first two pre flowers!!! Will attempt to push to 600ppfd by the end of this week. End of next week 700. Goal is 750ppfd at the second week of flowering, if she'll take it. Will defoliate the bottom most foliage today, in preparation for the upcoming stretch. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for stopping by 👊😎 (Hope to) See you with the next update! 😅

Spike_KCanG How is this not: an Original Northern Lights auto? (32 days old) Well, the five weeks have passed. Does she resemble a Northern Lights? ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 15 She has pre flowers everywhere! The stretch is on as well. Going to have to remove Grow from her diet and replace it with Bloom starting next watering! Will mix two handfuls of worm 💩 into her soil as well, to prevent a N-deficiency until the Bloom kicks in. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Installed the 3rd SF1000EVO in the tent to help with the flowering stage. She is already that wide that she gets direct light from all three lamps 😳 Crazy I tell you! Lights are 20cm away from the plant. 750ppfd as of today, and slowly increasing as she gets taller. May have to raise the lights soon 😅 ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for stopping by! (Hope to) see you with the next update! 👊😎

Spike_KCanG How is this not: an Original Northern Lights auto? (38 days old) Well, six weeks have passed. Does she resemble a typical Northern Lights? ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- July 21 The stretch is on! She is growing about 4cm per day and smells very much like the typical 1990's dutch coffeeshop 😊😍 I may have to start farting in the grow room to hide her smell from the neighbors 😂 The height of the lights was raised to accommodate the stretch, and increased the intensity to 75% to achieve a ppfd of 700. That was 4 days ago! The uppermost part of the canopy is scratching 900ppfd, without any signs of tips burning. 😲😲😲 Innercanopy, she is filled up with leaves. It's a daily struggle not to remove any foliage, out of fear that I might stunt her stretch. Adjusted the two clip fans in the tent to attempt a useful airflow. We don't want mold developing in there!! She was drinking 4L every 2-3 days. Today, I attempted a batch of 7L of feed. She drank it all, with just 200ml of runoff 😨 Will see when she is thirsty again, and will adjust the amount of water/feed accordingly. I prefer to see dry-back more often than not though, her roots shouldn't be growing very much more after another week or two. Fingers crossed, she makes it through the stretch to the next defoliation (or perhaps even lollipop). That should occur next week Wednesday or Thursday. 🙏🙏🙏 ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for stopping by! (Hope to) see you with the next update! 👊😎