2nd grow let's see if I learned anything

The unknown breeder Northern Lights auto is biggest and looking the best to me so still in the lead / liable to be the seedling I choose to go forward. Will murder the other two seedlings here in a couple days and transplant the winner to a 5 gallon pot and carry forward only the one plant. Will also start adding nutes other than CaliMagic to my RO water very soon. "I close my eyes Only for a moment, and the moment's gone All my dreams Pass before my eyes, a curiosity Dust in the wind All they are is dust in the wind" - Dust in the Wind by Kansas

Things are coming along pretty well. I kept the best looking of the girls which turned out to be the unknown breeder / Northern Lights Auto Feminized which I got as a freebie at North Atlantic Seed Co. Apologize for the short post, but a very rough week at work which is why I missed posting yesterday. "Thinking about ways you could lose the path It's all harmful distractions" - Stay the Course by Iration PS - pretty sure I posted a stay the course quote before but it is very relevant today.

She is looking good to my eyes. Not very tall (Northern Lights is an Indica so not too surprising) but obviously we have seen very good growth here and the leaves are large and uniformly green, etc. I expect she will grow in size considerably in the next couple weeks and I am preparing to do some LST and tie the main stalk down to the side when she gets a little taller. I'm using a combination of the coco for cannabis feeding schedule + the one from growweedeasy. Still using RO water + the Calimagic and Flori Trio from General Hydroponics. Something I read online had scared me away from pre-mixing nutrients with my first grow but I have been doing it for a couple days at a time with my second grow here and so far I am satisfied with the results - the plant sure hasn't shown any signs of suffering for it. I think I may have been the victim of "Bro science" when I read a post where somebody claimed that nutes should always be mixed fresh every day. As a result this grow is a lot less work than mixing 1 gallon new every day! I'm still playing it relatively safe and only doing the pre-mixing of nutrients for 3-4 days at a time but it has still reduced the work considerably. I guess learning how to avoid the "bro science" is part of the journey. On the other hand I cannot condemn that philosophy against pre-mixing because maybe premixing DOES cause issues if it sits for longer than a few days (which I haven't tried yet), and perhaps some of the argument against premixing is that the advice is to be flexible and be quickly prepared to do a different mix on a different day if the plant begins to show signs it needs a change. In any case, I will keep doing my pre-mixing for 3 or 4 days at a time and see how things go. "I don't condemn, I don't convert, This is a calling have you heard" - Love is My Religion by Ziggy Marley

Started some LST this week and bent the main cola over to the side - you can see the little green tie in one of the photos. Plant still looks short to me but this is not too surprising given Northern Lights is an Indica and this is also an autoflower which tend to be smaller. It looks squatty but also looks healthy to me so I am happy for now. I upped the amount of CalMag I was adding (beyond what is called for in the Coco for Cannabis + Growweedeasy feeding charts) because some of the newer fan leaves showed signs of deficiency - my base water is RO water so I definitely need supplements. "People act strange when it's getting out of beat So let me be your oxygen" - Oxygen by Dirty Heads

Did more LST than I have ever done before this week + also a bit of defoliation to remove those fan leaves covering bud sites. Reduced the FloraGro a little bit per the schedule from growweedeasy and also reduced the Calimag slightly. May raise it again if I see any signs of deficiency. Looking like good growth and good flowering to my amateur eyes and I am really liking the shape + relatively level top canopy that LST has provided and I hope it pays dividends. Otherwise, I'm just going to stay the course since I'm happy with how things are going. "I want to run away From this awful place in my mind Don't wanna do no more time" - Burning Up by The Expendables

Started adding increasing amounts of Liquid KoolBloom this week since we're about halfway through (1/2 tsp per gallon earlier in the week and then up to 1 tsp today + going forward). Based on how much runoff I'm seeing I'd say she wants about .75 gallons of water each day so I've been doing 2 days .5 gallons each day and then 1 day 1 gallon and repeat.... I think we are getting to where she will take the full gallon each day going forward (this to achieve 10-20% runoff each time with coco coir). Did some more LST adjustments and leaf tucking every day / far more than I did with my first grow. In the 5 gallon pot she is doing a good job of filling my 27"x27" tent and is about the same size of both of my plants from my last grow when I used 3 gallon pots and to my eyes she is looking better with a more even canopy thanks to the LST. Still looking very healthy to me with no major nutrient issues/not seeing any issues with the leaves whatsoever. At this point I plan to keep doing what I'm doing unless somebody on Growdiaries has a better idea! "Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through (Everybody say I'm cool) (He's cool) I can't complain but sometimes I still do Life's been good to me so far" - Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh

This is still a big, bushy plant that is filling the tent out nicely. No LST this week but still doing my leaf tucking every day. I've been tempted to do some defoliation but have decided against it for now since we are in the flowering phase and I keep seeing conflicting information about whether it is appropriate right now. In past diary entries I was putting .05 gallons of water+nutes every 24 hours, when it was really .5 (1/2 gallon every 24 hours)....oops. Anyway she's been at .75 gallons per 24 hours for the last week or so, so I've adjusted it/fixed it this week. Everything seems to be on track still - she looks healthy and the leaves look great without any spots or anything so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. "Some are gonna grow up fast forget about the past Some are gonna take it slow but in time they'll grow When I was trapped in the mold I couldn't break it But now it's come undone and I can feel the sun" - All This Time by Iration

Still leaf tucking every day. TDS is 521 in and 375 out w/ drainage. Still feeding her about 3/4 gallon of water per day with nutes. She is looking good to me - extremely bushy but the buds are definitely coming in. I might get more out of this one plant than I did with my last two at this rate! Here's hoping... "Its kicking in Knees to my chin But I still have a grin There is nothing now that can discomfort me Because my friends are here, they keep the harmony" - My Dose by The Expendables

She still looks good to me. I see plenty of much bigger colas on sites like this but must admit I wonder if I will ever achieve that kind of success with a Mars TS 600. It looks to me like I will get a large amount out of this plant so I can't complain. Still leaf tucking daily. Switched from Liquid KoolBloom to Flower Fuel Bloom Booster, just because I had it and to mix things up a bit. My thought right now is that earliest chance I will chop is next Saturday (8 days from now) although I realize this may get pushed out depending on how the trichomes look as we get closer to the end here. Will make the decision to flush or not flush in preparation for that in about 4 days but I'm going in with the expectation that I'll end up pushing a week or two. "How has your garden grown? Is there fruit on your trees? Do you need a laborer to pull up those weeds?" - Wells by The Expendables

She still looks healthy to me - 554 ppm in and 350 ppm out so she is feeding. I currently plan on chopping next Friday whether she is ready by most standards or not. This is so that I can have some folks over for a get-together and for them to help with the wet trimming, so it is a matter of convenience/timing. I know that people say wait for more cloudy/amber trichomes. Two more weeks and all that. I am not looking for couch lock, and enjoy the energetic effects of young bud - especially when I'm worried about a solid indica like Northern Lights being too couch-locky to begin with. So hopefully the experienced growers around here will forgive me, but at least I am not doing it with blinders on ;-) On the other hand I may crack and decide I better do it right this time around and push out the gathering and hope everybody can make it. I plan to start flushing in 2 days so she will get 5 days of that. "The first light of the morning, The sun shining on my face. I give thanks for the good bread." - First Light by Soul Majestic

I don't know who the breeder was for this NL Auto since it came as a freebie from North Atlantic Seeds but it grew well and I'm happy with the outcome. 3.3 oz for one plant certainly beats the 2 oz I got out of the 2 plants for my first grow. Going with a 5 gallon / 1 plant scheme from now on given the smaller size of my tent. I know I harvested early, but I'm looking to avoid the In-da-couch effects of indica, and my friends also prefer the effects of young bud. Already germinating my third grow! Gas Reaper Genetics "Hellbender". "We play the music of Jah In the harvest time Come with sweet melodies To ease your mind" - Harvest Time by Tribal Seeds