The Fox's Northernberry Grow - T5/250HPS, Organic Media

Newbie here starting my first grow, heres some general info about it:

Genetics - Northernberry and Mixed seeds from Peakseeds BC

Media - Organic compost, worm castings, coco coir, perlite

Ferts - BMO organics

Lighting - 96 watts 4x2ft T5 for veg and 250 watt HPS hortilux eye flower running off a Lumatek e-ballast

Ventilation - 6" Soler Palau TD150, 300cfm mixed vent fan + some oscillators



*Pics below are at 7-15 days (I did stepwise germination to minimize loss in case I f*d up...) 18/6 under 96 watt T5

*Would love to get some feedback from some experienced folks out there, particularly what I might expect from northernberry. Ill post some pics of my grow room soon to get feedback on that too. :leaf:Thanks
 

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So its day 19 from seed, I was concerned that my plants were light starved under the 96 watts of T5 so I added the 250 HPS, running both on a 20/4 cycle. However, I cant get them very close to the plants, maybe 24" just because it gets too hot.

Now the plants are yellowing and still look like runts. Ive been adding some organic 5-2-5 at half strength once a week.

Im concerned that the high wood content of my compost is sucking out the nitrogen, is this likely?? Any advice??
 

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westchef

Well-Known Member
Now how many plants is that?I don't add nuts until I've re-potted into the final growing medium depending on the soil contents, but I've been using Foxfarm Ocean forest which has enough nuts for seedlings and early veging stage..
What kind of soil mix do you have going on? Also, I tried to email Peakseeds but there email is out of commission. Howd you get there Northernberry? Are they still doing buisness? I've heard nothing but good things about the Northernberry genetics.. w
So its day 19 from seed, I was concerned that my plants were light starved under the 96 watts of T5 so I added the 250 HPS, running both on a 20/4 cycle. However, I cant get them very close to the plants, maybe 24" just because it gets too hot.

Now the plants are yellowing and still look like runts. Ive been adding some organic 5-2-5 at half strength once a week.

Im concerned that the high wood content of my compost is sucking out the nitrogen, is this likely?? Any advice??
 
Now how many plants is that?I don't add nuts until I've re-potted into the final growing medium depending on the soil contents, but I've been using Foxfarm Ocean forest which has enough nuts for seedlings and early veging stage..
What kind of soil mix do you have going on? Also, I tried to email Peakseeds but there email is out of commission. Howd you get there Northernberry? Are they still doing buisness? I've heard nothing but good things about the Northernberry genetics.. w
Hey Man, sorry I let this thread die for a while. My plants nearly died but I revived them in a DWC and Ill be carrying out the rest of the grow in a hybrid DWC aeroponic unit that I built using Blue Mountain Organic Nutes.

To answer your question: Peakseeds isnt great about answering emails but they are alive and well. Just mail them your order with cash (they really prefer cash and will give you free seeds if you pay cash) I got 10 free seeds!

Here are my plants: Pic 1 is the condition they were in upon transferring to DWC, Pic 2 is 1 week into DWC, Pic 3 is 2 weeks in, Pic 4 is today (3 weeks in). I will start flower at 5 weeks.

Anyone feel free to post with questions or comments! Will be posting more pics of my setup in the future
 

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I made some drastic changes to the grow after having a terrible experience with the soil grow that I should mention. Unfortunately I cant change the title of the thread...

Changes to Grow Room:
- Soil to Hydro (hybrid RDWC aeroponic)
- 96 T5Fluoro/250 HPS to 400 MH/400 HPS for veg/flower (I kept the fluoro for a seperate clone box though, running 48 watts)

I posted today to show the acceleration in growth after moving the ladies from clone box to large RDWC. Pic on the left is Day 21 into the RDWC and Pic on the right is Day 24 (yes, thats just 3 days of growth!)

The other two pics are of a plant with obvious cal/mag deficiency. I added about 1 tbsp of epsom salt and 1tsp of fine dolomite lime to the res after diluting in about 20oz water.
 

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heh, actually its 400 MH, now.

In case anyone is wondering, my 400 MH is running in a sun system super sun II reflector with a lumatek 400 watt ballast. Its one of the newer lumateks with a super lumen switch that gives it a 10% power boost - the power boost mode CANNOT be used with an MH bulb, only HPS can handle the boost. I know this because I blew my first MH bulb in one day because of this...
 
Thought Id post some pics of my setup today:

Its an RDWC with aeroponics :) This is my first grow so I wasnt sure which would be best.

After about a month of growing I can tell you that the recirculating function of the RDWC is practically useless. I wont be turning it on unless I need to pump the water out of the res.

The aeroponic misters are good for the first couple of weeks when the roots are getting established. However, I start my plants in a mini DWC so the roots are already long enough to reach the water when Im transplanting to the large DWC. Therefore, the benefits of the misters are minimal.
 

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4 more days of growth here, unbelievable! Hydro is much better than soil in my opinion. Takes a little longer to set up and optimize but you have so much control and less to deal with in the long run it seems, so glad I switched.

You may notice some bricks of dry ice in the pic, this is because I get free dry ice from work on the weekends, Ill be supplementing my ladies weekly by placing the bricks near the plants and turning off the fans during the light cycle.

This is my first grow and I feel like things are going well now. However, Id def appreciate advice from some DWC hydro veterans in maintaining this properly and informing me of any pitfalls I should be aware of.

Anyone may feel free to post relevant info on this thread. Appreciate any advice, tips, experiences. Thanks!
 

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Gettin crowded in here...I was planning on starting the flower at Day 35 but I decided to just go ahead and start today. These are not feminized plants so I figure Ill lose between two and four to males, itll be sad but itll also make some more room for the others.

I took some clones today too so Ill be able to perpetuate the ones that turn out to be females.

Anyone know how long itll take before Ill be able to sex them properly?
 

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my plants havent pre-flowered. I dont want to flower prematurely and have my plants go hermie on me. Is this likely if I try to flower today? Should I wait it out. I read that force-flowering doesnt speed up the flowering anyway, it just increases chances of herming. Any advice?
 

notoriousb

Well-Known Member
my plants havent pre-flowered. I dont want to flower prematurely and have my plants go hermie on me. Is this likely if I try to flower today? Should I wait it out. I read that force-flowering doesnt speed up the flowering anyway, it just increases chances of herming. Any advice?
so these are seeds and not clones? you should take some clones of each and flower them to see which ones are which. then keep the mothers and do a load of clones. like your setup tho and I'm switching to a dwc myself pretty soon after this last run with soil I think. scribed bongsmilie
 
Turns out my plants were in pre-flower, I just didnt look carefully enough. I got 3 females and 3 males, no hermies!, cant complain I suppose. Actually to my surprise, the biggest healthiest one is a female!

My light cycle is on a 400w 16/8 HPS now and I added some phosphorus based organic ferts to the res. Basically, I am trying to coax them into flower, dont want to shock them right from 18/6 MH to 12/12 HPS. Figure this gradual shift is more like what happens in nature. Ill go to 12/12 on Day 35 like I planned before. I have a new lumatek ballast with a "super lumen" switch that Ill also turn on Day 35. This switch is only to be used with HPS bulbs, adds 10% more energy = more lumens :)

Thanks for scribin notorious, I figured I could have flowered clones but I thought itd take too long. Cuz they gotta get rooted first then flower, seems like itd take 4 weeks by itself and I could just get to pre-flower in that time anyway.

I ended up with some large males that Ima use for hash eventually. I did take cuttings from the three females that Ill just perpetuate in my mini dwc. I got some other mystery clones too that Ill pop into the large DWC later in the flower cycle to determine sex.
 

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The ladies will be starting the flower cycle tonight. You can see the heavy red spectrum light on the plants from the HPS now.

I noticed that the new growth on my largest plant starts out pretty yellow and greens up later. The other two are fairly deep green color all the time. Is that normal or an indication of nitro def or perhaps some other deficiency?

...they startin to smell a lil skunky...mmm. Is it weird that it makes my mouth water? :)
 

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yeah, I just started flower 2 days ago. I started looking up some info on scrog and it seems many folks "train" their plants on the screen for a bit in veg before flowering. I obviously didnt do this but I am quite space limited so I wanted to start now.

I tried to add a screen to them today but I nearly broke off one of the main stems on my largest plant. I splinted it and hope it recovers...think Ill try scrog on my next grow
 

qpoonz

Member
lookin great man!

My girls looked like that, and then grew about 18 inches in 5 days during flowering...AKA ur in for a real treat here soon!

You can still use a Scrog to train them, In fact i would highly recommend it! great work! I cant wait to trade harvest pics brotha!
 

notoriousb

Well-Known Member
yeah, I just started flower 2 days ago. I started looking up some info on scrog and it seems many folks "train" their plants on the screen for a bit in veg before flowering. I obviously didnt do this but I am quite space limited so I wanted to start now.

I tried to add a screen to them today but I nearly broke off one of the main stems on my largest plant. I splinted it and hope it recovers...think Ill try scrog on my next grow
yea man. its a lot easier training them when they're younger. scrog's are typically easier with more sativa dominant plants too compared to those stalky indica's that are a little harder to train. if you're really inclined to try it, you could, just gotta be super careful. as you already know ;-)
 
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