BC Northern Lights Producer grow

Hey everyone. I will be growing two strains: Northern Lights and Brainstorm (formerly Hempstar - don't know why the name change) in my new BCNL Producer. I welcome all comments, suggestions and advice. This is my first hydroponic grow. My other grows were in soil and more experimental (learning the ropes).

I've hooked everything up in the producer and tested my 125 watt CFL (I'll be using two 400 HPS bulbs during flower). Here's my initial thoughts on the unit thus far: Disclosure: I am not a BCNL employee nor am I being compensated financially in any way by the company. If they are interested in working out a nutrient trade for me maintaining this journal, I'm all for it, but I'm going to give my honest assessment. I think it's important to get this info out there for others who are interested in purchasing this. Rollitup and similar forums were integral in making my decision to purchase from this company.

The BCNL reps are very helpful. They are obviously trying to sell their product, but you get the feel that they are everyday guys (and gals) who really believe in what they are doing. The unit has a hefty pricetag. I spent about $4500 on my set up between the box, shipping, the veg upgrade, extra nutrients and feminized seeds (from www.marijuana-seeds.nl). You can go cheaper, but I had the extra money to go above and beyond. The shipment arrived quickly and hooking everything up was fairly simple. The picture below is a stock photo I found online. I will take pictures of mine as soon as my camera charges. My unit comes with a light socket for my CFL which is installed in the middle back wall of the main chamber.



This box is built SOLID. You pay out the ass for this box (not to say I feel that I overpaid), but what you get is a high quality, market tested and improved, prebuilt box with unlimited call in or online chat grow support. It was packed well, but I did find that both ballast mounts were busted upon arrival. I called BCNL and they said they'd ship out replacements tomorrow. I tested the CFL which turns the inside of the box daylight, and shut the doors. There was VERY little light leak. I guess some of the older models had problems. Not this one.

Overall, I'd rate the Producer an A+ based on first impressions. Maybe that will change as I start really growing and testing all the working parts.

You can have it pay for itself in 1 grow, easy and have enough left over to smoke on until the next crop comes in. The secret is clones.

Man I hope so. I'm skimming the bottom of my account after this purchase!

I've got 20 seeds germinating in ph balanced water so things are moving forward.

I have some pictures and updates. Here is my set up. That is a 125 watt CFL at 6400K.



Germination: I began by placing each set of 10 seeds (two strains) in a cup of ph balanced water (5.6). Within 36 hours, all of the Northern Lights seeds cracked open and were planted in 1" rockwool cubes. My Brainstorm seeds are struggling however. So far only four have cracked after three days, and one of them has a brown spot on the tap root. I'll give it another day or so and contact the seed company. Hopefully they will send me more seeds given the disparity in germination rates.

I've got NL twins!!! Any thoughts on how I should handle this?

Nice, I started my mothers before i ordered my producer. Just about to cut clones and put em in there. Will be cool to see how both ours turn out in our new producers.

Smokedup, let me know if you start a grow journal so I can follow you.

Anyone familiar with this?



Is this correct? I put all my seeds in tap root down. It was my understanding that the seed shell was pushed up, bent over and discarded. Have I been planting these seeds wrong?

Nope dont worry about seeds, i planted my first two seeds root down and the sprouted just fine. I then had a buddy practice with other seeds and he did so much wrong that it kill nearly 80% of what he did, what did he learn.
1. Don’t overwater (make sure medium is damp, not dripping) Found that one good watering and leaving them to dry out almost completely would grow roots and steam like steroids.
2. Never re position the seeds, He was messing up allot and thought pulling them out re planting them would work. Didn’t and they would die.
3. Dont put them under light to early, they can root and open up first set of leafs before they have to go under little light
All roots pointed down grew fine
As you can see in the first pic at the bottom each mother was placed in a small red cup after receiving its first set of leafs with about a inch to two of stem. Even tho very tiny, roots could be seen at the bottom of red cup so they had to be transplanted. (Plant is very low because we had switched to an 400mh and didn’t want them to die)
*In the second pic threw the mothers in the producer to hurry them up, 200w cfl 2X400w hps
Third pic is about a week ago

I dont really have plans for a journal but could always post some udated pics here and answer any questions you might have, compare and such

Thanks for the info. I actually kept the rockwool cubes with the seeds out in the garage in a clone dome which kept the tempurature in a nice warm range. I didn't put them under lights until I saw growth out the top. The Northern Lights are all looking decent, though some of the stems and new leaves have a purpleish hue. Im not sure if this is just a trait of that particular strain or not. The embryonic leaves are still green, but almost immediately curled down.

The cubes themselves were soaked in water before planting. I then wrung out about half of the water before placing the seed in. The cubes seem to retaining this water pretty well (I was hoping they'd dry out faster). I will take your advice and not water again until they are at a 10% moisture level. By then, I might use a very mild nutrient mix (per BCNL instructions).

Purple stems are signs of good health. All my seedlings were purplish stems. At about a month my stems actually shed and underneath was very healthy green stem. Most all purple is gone except a few branches here and there.
Your leaves should be opening up soon embracing the light

Looking good bro, subscribed

Day 7

Only four of the Brainstorm germinated, and only two were healthy. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town for two days and both Brainstorm dried up and are on the brink of death. However, I have eight very healthy Northern Lights sprouts, and another one that I'm so-so about (got a little too dry). I'll be here from now on to tend to these guys, so I won't have any more of these issues.



I began my feeding schedule at half strength. I am using the Advanced Nutrients line of nutes. Here is what I am feeding these guys from my 9 gallon reservoir...

Sensi-Grow A: 7ml
Sensi-Grow B: 7ml
B-52: 72ml
Sensizym: 90ml
Voodoo Juice: 21ml

Here are some pictures. Feel free to comment if you're following. I took a profile shot of one of the sprouts with a penny so you can tell me if you see any stretching issues.

looking good. Just keep an eye out for nute burn in case those seedlings are to small for nutes

Smokedup and others,

Here is one of my seedlings. This has looked splotchy for several days now compared to the others, but seems to be perky and green. What could be going on here? The picture below is of another seedling for comparison.






One more thing... My 125 Watt daylight CFL is nearly 2 feet away from the tops of these seedlings. Will this cause stretching? Should I find a way to lift the reservoir and plants closer to the light?

Perky and green is always a good thing, Keep an eye on it and if you see any more a problem post pic asap. If growth continues on top your fine.
1. Only power with the CFL
2. Fill up hydro tube with only water every few days if u see it getting lower. Good idea is to make some kind of marking on the tub to know where water level should be at all times.(yes only water, water will be absorbed faster then nutes making ppm go up. Getting in the habit now will keep you from having problem in the future.)

3. Whenever you get chance cover entire top of rock wool and holder with tin foil or poly so the Rockwool doesn’t start growing algae

1. Thanks. I'll keep an eye on this sprout.

2. Is topping off water necessary if I plan on changing out the reservoir weekly? I'm going to be introducing different nutes and strengths with each progressing week of veg and flower.

3. I was thinking of doing this, but do you think it will cause any reflective hot spots on the young seedlings if I do it now?

Tried it on one. Is this what you are wanting me to do?

under sides of leave dont absorb light so i dont the reasoning in doing tinfoil on your plants....

see this all the time and always see it as pointless, your box is already made White to reflect also...

hotspots are highly doubtful... just a wasted idea imo

Topping water may not be necessary at this early stage but when your ppm is at a max of 1200ppm and water is being absorbed faster than the nutes you will see a gradual increase and by the time you change your rez it will be at 1700pm possibly killing all of your plants. By adding water daily you keep the balance and your ppm should decrease throughout the week rather than raising.

Tin foil example and poly example,
for ploy you lay down and cut X's for each plant slot

LimitedTimer
common problem in these boxes are the rockwell when exposed to constant light will begin growing algae, covering them up prevents this, it has nothing to do with light reflection.

And no will not cause hot spots or reflections. I perfer poly because i have sun blaster attachments for bottom.