Snowcap_PHCs (UPGRADED 600w HPS) First Grow Northern Lights + White Widow Auto

Discussion in 'Indoor Grow Journals' started by sn0wcap_PHC, Nov 15, 2014.

  1. Okay, so I started a journal for this grow and it quickly got buried under all the traffic going on in the Indoor Grow Journal world haha. I recently got paid and was able to step my equipment up to something a bit more useful for my grow needs (yield+potency). Since its going to be almost a completely different grow than how I started, I decided to make a new journal and hope to get some of you to join me along and guide me to success with this newly renewed grow!
     
    Anyway, for those of you who probably missed my original post, I have a feminized Northern Lights from Ministry of Cannabis and a White Widow autofem from Dinafem.
     
    Medium: Coco/perlite (ReadyGro Moisture)
    Pot Size: 5-gal (though the WW pot is only about 3/5 full and i cut down the edges of the pot.)
    Light: 600w HPS
    Grow Space: 4x2x7 Lighthouse Hydro Tent
    Nutes: Canna A+B, Rhizotonic, CalMag
     
    So, I finally upgraded to a 600w HPS/MH cooltube from iPower. Obviously not top of the line stuff, but this is much better than what I had going originally in my opinion ( about 6x 40w CFLs and some 26w CFLs). I also had enough to get a 6" inline that moves about 440 CFM. I had some pretty bad heat issues with the CFLs and a circulating fan, bad enough that I lost a plant in the process. I half-fixed the problem after that happened but there was no way to cool the air enough with that fan without also drying the hell out of it, which was doing the girls harm as well. Now, I'm running 600w of HPS and my temps are at least 10 degrees (though who knows since I also JUST managed to get a hygrometer/thermometer as well). Now temps are at 77F and RH is at 46%, or as I like to call it, PERFECT.
     
    At the time, both girls are exactly 3 weeks from seed.They have been through some heat stress, slight nute burn, and less-than-optimal lighting, but have still shown resilience and now seem to be really popping up. I'm excited as hell, to say the least.
     
    The White Widow autofem is currently being LST'd. I had doubts about LSTing an auto, but from what I've seen around here, its not always the worst thing and it seems to do some good sometimes. I also decided to do this since the plant had VERY tight growth and there was no way for any light to get past the first couple of layers. I anchored her down and then bent her over, exposing some nice growth down under, a nice, stocky stem, and new bud sites. Still loads of leaves that are stacked very close and make it hard to really open things up.
     
    The Northern Lights has just recently PASSED the auto in growth. It's just a little taller and its stems are starting to stretch up a bit now under the HPS. It was topped at the 6th node 3 days and it seems to be recovering just fine.
     
    Here's the new iPower cool tube, all hung up with the 6" right next to it, pulling air right through.
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
    And here are the girls from the top. One on the left is the White Widow, right one is Northern Lights. Both looking great (and GOD it feels good to have accurate temp/humidity data :D )
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
    White Widow (sorry, don't have a picture of the LST from the top yet, but this is it already bent and held down with a clip)
     
    [​IMG]
     
    And finally, the Northern Lights
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
    Alright guys, that's it. Follow along and lets make this a successful grow :) I'm hoping to pull at least 1.5 ounces from the White Widow and at least 2 oz with the Northern Lights. The WW will flower when its ready, and I plan to veg the NL for at least another 5 weeks, so we'll see how it grows (haha, get it?) :p

     
  2. Alright so I've continued LSTing the White Widow. I pinned down a couple of more leave and tucked a bunch more. She's spread wide open now, lots of good growth sights being exposed and the top is still growing as well. First picture shows how bushy she is :)

    The Northern Lights is REALLY expanding now, the leaves are huge and she's shooting up a bit now. As I mentioned before, I topped her at the 6th node a few days ago, and it looks like I missed! 4 new growth sights have popped up and are coming in. These pictures are from this morning, I can't wait to get home and see what they look like now. The last two pics show her progress :)

    ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416107304.150509.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416107488.586774.jpg ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416107504.101436.jpg
     
  3. Sub'd in! Will be lurking and taking notes .. am currently in week 1 of my NL autos, failed one with improper lighting or bad pH .. Goodluck and cant wait to see results .. 
     
  4. Thanks man! Yeah, I'm excited to finally have some proper lighting and some temp control, room has been up and running for 2 days now and girls have exploded with growth. Best wishes with your grow! The NLs really do seem to be very resilient and grow pretty quick!




    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  5. Will be posting more pictures later tonight, continued the LST on the auto and she seems to be taking t well, though I'm concerned she may start flowering soon, it's been over 3 weeks so it may be any day. As for the NL, I'm just waiting for her new tops to get bigger and I'm gonna give her a 4-way LST. The tops are already coming along, each about a half inch big. Thinking about vegging her for another 4 weeks before I flower her :)


    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  6. PICTURE UPDATE :)
     
    First up is the White Widow autofem. She's looking quite stocky and has developed a thick, strong main stem, as well as some beefy leaves. I've continued the LST and I've got at least 4 promising growth sites reaching for the light and growing strong and fast. I've been giving this one lots of attention, tucking and rearranging leaves for the best light distribution. My only concern is that I may need to slow down on the training as she may start flowering sometime soon (at least that's what I think, from what I read about autos.) Should I remove the ties or do I leave them on but stop moving them around as the plant continues to grow? I just wanted to do some LST to expose more growth, but now I just want to see these few exposed sites grow, so do I leave the ties where they are or remove them altogether? Still don't get that part of LST? :confused_2:
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
    The Northern Lights is doing absolutely fantastic (from what I'm seeing, anyway). Her leaves are nice and big, especially at the top, and I can definitely see the sativa-dom in this one :hello:  Leaves are thin and spread apart, very nice color. She's growing every day, I've started tucking leaves to open her up just a little. I want to start training her as well, but since I topped her and she's starting to grow her new tops now, I want to wait for them to come up and just start training from there. What do you guys think? I'm thinking about keeping her in veg for another 4 weeks, for a total of 7 weeks veg (the first three under about 170W of CFL light). How big do you think she'll get? Shes been growing pretty tight so far, I am very impressed and very pleased :smoke:
     
    [​IMG]
     
    (This is the best pic I could get of her new tops coming in :) )
     
    [​IMG]
     
    Alright guys, things seem to be picking up. I'm excited to see the first signs of flowering in the auto and to see some stretch in both. I am absolutely ecstatic with this new setup. The fan was definitely a lot louder than I expected, and the girlfriend and I had to sleep in the living room for a couple of nights until I finally got my fan controller in the mail today. But now, I've got the fan turned down to about 20% and its keeping temps at a steady 82F :D She's asleep in there now, and I was able to keep the light running at 600W!!! This is going to be a hell of a ride :) Hope you guys stay tuned and join me for all the fun that's to come :D
     
  7. Wow looking nooooiiiicceee!!! Yum look at that patch  :yummy:  did you not LST the NL? Why? Just curious is all   :smoke:  Also, whats your humidity running like at 82F? I was thinking of boosting temps up cause of colder weather coming in. 
     
  8. Nah, haven't started LSTing the NL because I was waiting for her tops to come in so I could LST from there. Ill post some pictures later tonight, but I just did some light super cropping on the tops and got a nice 4-way split going, opened up nice and wide.

    Well, actually, I do have a pic on my phone. Here she is ImageUploadedByGrasscity Forum1416549714.715708.jpg


    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  9. At the time of those last pics, temps were at 82 but my humidity was pretty low, hovering between 25-40%. I've managed to get it up to around 50% by putting a damp roll of paper towels down by the plants. Seems to work well :) been trying to bring temps lower though, would definitely like to have them around 75-79 if I could. It's getting a bit cooler here now so I just have to figure out a good ventilation setup to maximize cold air.


    Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
     
  10. Time for another update!
     
    So, temps have now been stabilized at around 79F and I'm content with that. I've managed to get the 600w HPS around 24 inches away from the girls are loving it. Humidity has been hovering between 40-55%. Conditions are looking good, I'm really happy to finally have that under control. Moving the plants down into the floor instead of the little table I had them on really helped improve temps. I also have the fan exhausting directly out of a window now, and all intake is from bottom vents.
     
    The WW is doing quite well, she's got a very nice color to her. I took off a couple of old, damaged leaves and it really cleaned her up. I had noticed a little bit of very slight yellowing/light green patches developing on some leaves and feared it might be a nitrogen def, since I realized I've been 1/2 strength of the recommended light feeding schedule I got from the Canna website, so there's definitely a chance she's starting to eat more and I've been giving half of a weak dose. Anyway, I moved up to the full dose (still for the light feeding schedule) and fed this morning. She seems to have taken it well so far, but we'll see a little later on tonight. The LST is doing a great job and I'm really digging the structure it's got going on. I am very happy with how she's looking, maybe a bit small still, but for my first grow of anything, ever, I've honestly impressed myself (considering I was sure I would kill them before they even got 3 nodes lol). Here she is, in here glory :)
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
     
    Moving on to the Northern Lights :) She's been growing like hell and its been a tough time keeping here opened up since my rotating fan gave out on me and I don't want any wet spots forming from the leaves bunching up. I took off a couple of more weak looking leaves from the bottom branches and there seems to be pretty good airflow going through. Her tops are coming in really strong, and I decided to do some supercropping instead of the initial LSTing I had planned. I'm embarrassed to admit that I accidentally snapped on of the branches coming right below the where she was topped and had to tape it up. I hope it make it through. Aside from that, I think I had a pretty sketchy cut when I topped it because one of the tops had been coming in really weak and small, and it basically just came off yesterday when I brushed against it with the back of my hand. Sad to see it go, but I'm sure it was going to to be a weak one anyway, so it's all good, I've still got 3 tops to work with :) Check her out :)
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     
    Tell me how they look to all you GC experts out there, maybe there's something I'm missing? I've got some Canna PK13/14 coming in the mail in a few days and my PPM/TDS meter is coming in today. I'd really love some suggestions on where my PPMs should be now at the beginning of the 4th week and how they should progress from here, specifically for growing in coco. I've heard some things about PPMs working slightly different with Canna A+B but that may be wrong, I don't know. Would REALLY appreciate some suggestions on this now that I'll have a meter. Thanks in advance guys!
     
  11. What kind of setup are you running?
     
  12. Thanks a lot man! :) yeah, the NL is doing great, I've been lagging on posting pictures but they will be up very soon. Pushed the NL a little too far with supercropping and accidentally broke a branch, but she's taking it like a champ.
     
    Sub'd in man, your grow looks like its coming along awesome :D
     
  13. SHE'S STARTING FLOWERING :)
     
    Okay, so overnight my White Widow shot out those preflowers! She's looking mighty fine and she's really surprising me with how well she's recovered from the stress she went through early on. I have to say I'm really happy with Dinafem genetics, or at least the pheno I got, its so strong! She's been a pleasure to work with and she's been very forgiving for everything I put her through. She's really filling in now, and the LST is working wonders to spread her out and expose more surface area. She's already going over the edge of the pot!
     
    Well, here are some pictures for your inspection/admiration? Let me know if there's anything I need to know, or if there is anything I should start doing soon? GIve me some advice guys, or just tell me theyre okay :D
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     
  14. Another pic of the White Widow :D
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
    Since my last post focused on the WW, I supposed I'll catch up to speed on the Northern Lights. So, I had to keep going back to a couple of the tops and "readjusting" the supercropping because I think I wasn't actually breaking that internal structure so they just kinda kept straightening out on me. Low and behold, I snapped another top and it was just too far gone. Valuable lessons being learned! I have to sharpen up my finer motor skills again haha and also not be the fucking Hulk when I'm working with my plants. But we live and we learn, and of course, it *IS* only my first grow! lol so the point is she's down two main tops but they are the two healthiest and thickest tops :) Oh, and I finally got the supercropping right once I was able to really get in there and get a good grip on those branches.
     
    Here she is, going in to week 5 of veg :D
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
    Now please guys, if you have any advice, or any suggestions or comments or ANYTHING, please let me know. I think I've been lucky so far considering I don't know a thing about growing and I've never grown anything in my whole life. I've been chasing down mistakes since I started this grow but I'm sure as hell learning from every one of them. But please, any of you who have more time than me, give me some suggestions or advice or even some praise, whatever! Or tell me I suck! m :p
     
    Also, my current battle has been with humidity in my grow room. I am currently broke and cannot afford to buy a humidifier so if ANYONE knows ANYTHING that works to raise humidity even just 5-10%, that would be awesome.
     
  15. Alright, its been a couple of weeks since my last update and a LOT has happened with the girls :)
     
    FIrst, the White Widow. She finally flowered about 14 days ago and she's looking pretty good. I had to leave the girls unattended for about 5 days while I went home for the holidays and she was REAL thirsty when I got back, I can definitely tell if slowed what could have been some massive growth in those  first days of flower, but lesson learned. The LST really split her buds up and I actually really like the way she looks. I've been trying to adjust everything to get it even and get light to as many buds as possible; seeing as I don't think I'll be getting much in terms of yield, I want to get the best quality I can. I'm still hoping the buds have yet to go through a swelling phase, just to get a bit more weight on them. I'm anticipating that flowering will take a little longer than suggested because of the stress she's been through. Anyway, here are my latest pics:
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     
     
    The NL is doing pretty well, too. She did seem to have a bit of a Cal deficiency, got some brown spotting on the new growth and some yellowing. Gave her some CalMag and she's bouncing back now. The topping and supercropping from earlier on took very well, I did a bit more and just tied down some branches an opened everything up again. I did about 3 more toppings and the new growth is coming in now. Things are looking good, she's got a good size and I plan on flowering her about a week before the auto is set to be done, so about 3-4 more weeks. Only one good picture I have right now, but there isnt much to see on her yet anyway.
     
    [​IMG]
     
  16. Just a couple of fresh pics I just took of the White Widow in some cooler lighting. I'm really liking how she's looking, though these buds could definitely be bigger. I know buds really puff up and swell a few weeks in to flowering, though, so maybe they'll get a at least double in size. I would be happy to get a quarter from this plant at this point, but maybe she'll surprise me and bulk up a bit. I know not to expect anything close to an ounce, but a little more weight would be nice. Either way, she's looking healthy and I'm already seeing some frostiness on the leaves around the buds, some nice looking baby triches haha. I do have some red/purplish stems that I figured was from underwatering from when I went home for the holidays or from some kind of N/P/K deficiency, but I've fed every watering since then and I've been watering pretty regularly. Is she still thirsty/hungry? or do stems just kinda stay that way once they turn that color?
     
    [​IMG]
     
    [​IMG]
     

Share This Page