Northern Lights Auto x 2

atebillion 1 week from seed planted in the soil. Germinated seeds in a glass of water for 12 hours then folded in kitchen roll and placed on top of a modem for a bit of heat. Germinated really quickly and transplanted into 12l air pots which will be their first and final grow pot. Watering with PH'd water and 1ml/l Canna Rhizo for root development. Will continue with this solution for the next week or so. Not much else to report.

atebillion Growth has been very slow possibly because the humidity has been very low (about 30%) or more likely because I planted the seedlings straight into their final container (I've read that with Autos this is a good idea??). Switched to the blurple light which I will do for a few weeks and then go back the 1000w LED once they get a bit bigger - temps and humidity seem better off and I think they are responding better.

atebillion Progress is much better this week beginning the feed of Canna A + B. Reading around the consensus seems to be that I should have fed this from the start as I'm growing in coco, and it seems this could be the case. I'm using cut off coke bottles to act as propagators to raise the humidity to around 60-70% which appears to be a good idea and something I should have done from the beginning. I will continue using these until the leaves touch the sides. Also give the plants a light misting of PH water with a bit of Rhizo twice a day if I remember.

atebillion An explosive week in comparison to the last 2. Planting straight into their final big 12 litre pot always starts slow however after a few weeks we see explosive growth which fingers crossed will continue. Without the need for transplanting into another pot the plants should continue their fast, strong growth. There is a small look of a possible magnesium def which apparently isn't uncommon when growing in coco?? I will be adding Cal Mag into the feed this week and will continue this throughout the grow if I get no further issues and upping the strength of nutes. Switched back to the 1000W LED, plants are responding well however the humidity is very low. Not sure if this will or is a problem however will tackle and issue as it arrives.

atebillion Big week in terms of progress. Addition of cal mag with growing in coco is an absolute win. Intention was to start the SCROG at this stage however as they're still vertically challenged will wait for another week or so before I drop the net in. Is it worth starting LST before this time???

atebillion Started LST this week working at spreading out the canopy before I drop in the SCROG net (2in x 2in wire mesh). Hopefully this will be pretty soon. Going to install the net 12 inch above the pots so they still have some vertical growth that needs to happen. I'm unsure whether its best to let the plant gain height then start training heavy once the net is in or do what I'm going now which is start creating the canopy using LST and wait longer to begin the SCROG. The latter obvs reduces vertical growth...?? Any suggestions more than welcome! All is looking really good, growth is strong and the plants are looking really healthy. Up to full strength nutes now and watering until run off. Have trimmed the odd few leaves covering and bud sites and will continue doing so every few days. Have been foliar feeding a dilute Rhizo formula once or twice a day however I will probs taper this off as roots are well formed and healthy, also I can't be arsed haha!

atebillion Pre and post defoliation shots. Removed a good 50% of the larger leaves on both plants to expose more of the bud sites to the light. I have read many mixed reviews on defoliation - cutting off the plants solar panels etc... But more bud sites in the light = bigger, better buds and for me it works. Also increased air flow and easier to work around. I'm a big fan of defoliating where possible. Added the SCROG net at 18cm inch above pot which is very low however they are super short plants. I'm not sure whether doing a bit of LST before now has meant that I have restricted vertical growth too much, subsequently meaning I am late starting the SCROG - time will tell. I removed the ties on 1 of the plants in an attempt to speed up vertical growth and start using the net to create a super lush dense canopy! Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

atebillion Decided to remove the SCROG net as I think its going to do more harm than good. 2 main factors influencing this. Auto strain and also limited space. 1. If It were a photo strain I would have much longer to work with, as would keep in veg until the screen is full.I think this largely makes Autos poor performers with a SCROG. The plants are starting to flower and as they are so short, were barely touching the SCROG net at an 8 inch height... I will perhaps try this again with a photo strain however with an Auto were working against the clock and it wont achieve its potential. 2. Limited space. I'm using a 100 x 50 cm tent so have limited space to work with. Being able to rotate the plants for watering and defoliating is a massive win and something that would be lost with the SCROG technique.

atebillion Looking good this week with the addition of PK which I will be feeding for this week as well as last. Bud formation is coming along nicely. I was hoping that they would have commenced the flowering stretch to open up the bud sites a little more as the plants are really compact with inter-nodal spacing really tight. If they do have a nice stretch I will remove some more of the leaves to open up bud sites further.

atebillion Final defoliation and on to the finish. They are very short plants, I'm hoping this doesn't affect the yield however not sure what I could have done differently or better!!? Finished 2 weeks of feeding PK and will revert back to just the A+B and CalMag leading up to the flush. It seems like a winning formula, no issues whatsoever. These next few weeks should see them pile on some weight :)

atebillion Nearing the final few weeks. All looking really good. Dropped of PK this week and will continue watering with just the A/B and CalMag until the flush. As the plants are pretty compact i'm sceptical about the size of yield however should still be pretty decent. Heard good stuff about Northern Lights so looking forward to trying it :)

atebillion All going really well. Will start the flush next week for 1 week then were harvesting! Checked the trichomes under a microscope today and there are a very small number turning cloudy so a week or more should see us golden!!

atebillion Final week and starter with the daily flush of plain PH'd water. The left (smaller) plant grew to be a different shape and I think it will yield less than the other - assumed seeds from the same pack from the same company would produce roughly identical plants!!?? Apart from that the grow has been great, no deficiencies and plain sailing from day 1. I have started another set of Nothern Lights Auto (seeds from a diff company) that you can see popping up in between the main plants. Great strain and fingers crossed for a juicy harvest!!