Hello! I don't really know why I'm posting my grow here, other than my need to log every detail of my Nirvana Northern Light Grow. And this is my first time growing weed. I actually smoked only twice before, but I like the cultivation and patience required for growing. Also, I'm bored with life, the chance of getting caught excites me. Enough about me, time for a rundown: Lights - 2 46 watts daytime CFL, 4 23 watts softlights CFL Soil - Promix premium potting soil Ventilation - High Static Pressure PC fan for outlet and a 4" Carbon Filter (also an ONA gel in case of emergency) Seed - Nirvana Northern Lights Regular Grow box space is about 1x1x2. Micro grow. It's been 6 days since I started this grow. I tried germinating 2 seed before but was frustrated that it took too long for the first one to germinate. The 2nd seed is a GSC strain. It popped but then I found out that they stank like hell. Counter productive to my stealth grow. ~~~~~~~~~~Day 6~~~~~~~~~~ - 3rd day of seedling stage I don't know what the hell is going on but she looks retarded (sorry babe) but still it's still growing. Some smaller leaves, probably the first set of true leaves are sprouting. She is positioned 4 inches below the 2 daylight CFLs, and she still has the zip lock bag covering the pot to retain humidity. Here is a photo of her:
You don't need to cover with a zip lock bag. What's going on is she's growing it's 3 days old. Patience is a virtue! A 1x1x2 is not going to work to grow a full-size plant. And it's not even an auto it's a regular seed. You're going to need a bigger space, for a regular seed, even an Auto! Go to U-Haul and buy a wardrobe there are about $10 there about 4 x 5. You have the right concept with the carbon filter and ventilation you just don't have the space how do you fit a 4 inch carbon filter into a 1 foot space? I may be missing something! One thing marijuana plants stink my man! You were northern lights stank too much and it was counterproductive to your stealth grow? Do some reading before you start growing there's plenty of information out there. Btw: Did you just say getting caught excites you Lmao! You shouldn't say shit like that bro! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
You need to adjust your soil mix. Drainage is key with these plants and the soil you're growing in looks more like compost which is going to act like a sponge and hold water. If you'll take some time and peruse some journals of the more experienced growers, you'll see that the soil looks more like perlite than it does soil. The consistency of your mix needs to be so arid that unless you water very slowly, the water will just dump through the plant and into the drain tray. You need about a 60/40 mix of soil and perlite...regardless of which soil you use unless it's a true formulated grow soil. We use Roots Organics Original and it's insanely expensive but the difference it makes in my plants makes it worth every penny it costs. It's designed specifically for these plants and has everything they need in it. Because I use truly excellent quality soil, I have to use only very limited nutes. If I feed over 1/4 the recommended soil strength, it burns my plants. Don't get on the "nute train" and be like most all the new growers starting out who think that nutes are the magic that grows a plant. Nutes are just plant food and they only need what they need. Giving too much is just going to fry your plant and not help you out. No new plant needs water or nutes or anything other than light, soil and water until it has had time to establish a root system and get back to putting on new growth. While they're rooting, they're not going to do much above ground and you have to be patience and allow this to happen. You started your plant off in too large a container. Starting a seed out in a huge container just slows the rooting in process down because they have so much soil to root into. Keeping the plant and the container relative in size will get you faster foliage growth. NEVER, EVER, EVER water a plant until it is at least 80-90% dry. They don't like sitting in wet conditions all the time and allowing them to dry out forces the plant to search out the entire pot for water and food which creates a larger root ball. To keep your plant healthy and happy, you have to keep the roots healthy and happy as they are the nerve center of the plant. Now, here's the killer....everything that happens with that plant is going to go back to one thing....the quality and strength of your light. To get a plant to give you all it's got, the plant needs to have the wattage it needs along with enough space to relax and spread so the light can penetrate the foliage below the canopy. Sadly, weak light will only grow a weak plant that will be thin and lanky and under-developed. If you want to get anything worth all the time and effort it takes to grow, you've got to have a light source strong enough to force the plant to do it. That's just the way it is. Heck, your standard is the sun my friend. Man hasn't come anywhere near inventing anything that will come close to the strength of the sun, so when you think about it that way...needing a light that is strong enough makes total sense. You can grow a plant with CFLs...that will be small and under-developed, but the more light it gets, the better and larger it will grow. You definitely need to make many adjustments in your grow setup along with spending some time reading up on how to tend one of these plants in an indoor grow and keep it healthy. Find yourself something that is actually large enough to hang a light AND grow a plant in and try again. Hope this helps some. TWW
-I'll be careful not to! Thanks! -It's actually a rubbermaid box, and the ventilation system extends outside. I will just probably make a bigger grow box, I got huge a space and lots of materials. 4x5 is pretty easy to do. And I think I can manage about the smell. Airlock container and pc fan, and ona outside. I've read that northern lights doesn't stink that much. Also.. I like living dangerously! -The soil is actually very light and composed of coco fibre, perlite, moss, lime. Maybe it needs a little more perlite, but the water just holds fine. It holds a decent quantity of water quite well actually. I'm trying to grow it with very very little amount of excessive attention because I know plants are sturdy. What hold them all together is a small styro cup, It just happens that I zoomed too much on the plant that the background seems gigantic. I will put more lights when it starts to vegetate, and put it in a bigger pot. I have a 6" but I don't know if that's enough even for a small stealthy grow. Also, I'm broke, so lots of nutrition is not actually in my mind right now, just a pure, natural, unadulterated cannabis.