NL auto-2nd grow attempt

Hey everyone! I've been away for a while. I've had a lot of crap going on and just haven't had the time get on the computer as much. But, I do have a Northern Lights auto from Nirvana going right now. It's about a month from seed. It's doing ok...I think.. I got the lights a little too close and singed the tips a bit, but she seems to be doing well. Also, got a bit of deficiency issues that I think I've got under control now, but still got some ugly fan leaves down low.

Right now, I've got 7-23 watt (actual watts) CFL, mixed spectrum and 1 150 HPS that is hanging above her. I'm pretty sure that for one plant, that is more than sufficient. My first grow, I ran with all CFL and pulled nearly 4 oz from 2 plants. I'm hoping that with the HPS added, I can get 3+ from the one plant. Pretty much I'm using the exact same specs, with the addition of the 150 HPS. From what I've read, that HPS should really help me get denser buds than just the CFLs. A couple pics are added. Oh yea, using a mix of DG seed starter, MG potting mix and MG Perlite. Thanks for looking, feedback is always welcome!

right about the hps lights. i've grown several nirvana autos:they're a hardy plant. looking good! GL

Po boy said:

right about the hps lights. i've grown several nirvana autos:they're a hardy plant. looking good! GL

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Thanks! I'm looking at over 300 actual watts, if you add up all the CFLs and the HPS. I'm thinking that should be more than enough for 1 plant.

How long did the plant take before it went into flower? Mine is about three and a half weeks and no sign of buds yet and it's becoming a beast

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ClydeFrogIsGreen said:

How long did the plant take before it went into flower? Mine is about three and a half weeks and no sign of buds yet and it's becoming a beast

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My first NL auto that I grew went into flower right about 3 1/2 weeks, this one seems to be taking a bit longer. I think the cooler temps that we're having in my area is playing a huge role. My first grow, I had to fight to keep the temps in my cabinet under 90, this time around, I'm having to fight to keep them above 50 lol. But, in the past few days, I can really see an increase in pistils and the clusters are actually starting to look like buds now. GL with your grow. feel free to post up a pic.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the buds on this plant are way more dense at just a couple weeks of flowering than my last grow were at harvest. I'm guessing adding the 150W hps to the cabinet is making the difference. The last grow, I only used CFLs. Any thoughts?

Go check out my NL grow its royal queen and its in week 12 still not done these NL take a lot longer to finish

new2420grow said:

My first NL auto that I grew went into flower right about 3 1/2 weeks, this one seems to be taking a bit longer. I think the cooler temps that we're having in my area is playing a huge role. My first grow, I had to fight to keep the temps in my cabinet under 90, this time around, I'm having to fight to keep them above 50 lol. But, in the past few days, I can really see an increase in pistils and the clusters are actually starting to look like buds now. GL with your grow. feel free to post up a pic.

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I feel you bro, saame thing happening over here. One day its dry super high humidity pushing my temps to like 84 and 86, then it cold snaps like 3 times a week and drops down to 70 at night. I got a sweet northern lights blue going, 31 days old and not flowering yet, but growing like a beast. 14 inches and no sign of slowing down so far.

OrangeHaze said:

I feel you bro, saame thing happening over here. One day its dry super high humidity pushing my temps to like 84 and 86, then it cold snaps like 3 times a week and drops down to 70 at night. I got a sweet northern lights blue going, 31 days old and not flowering yet, but growing like a beast. 14 inches and no sign of slowing down so far.

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My first NL auto, got about 30 inches tall, I pulled over 2oz's from her, all CFL, took about 12 weeks from seed. She was awesome.

That is great! 2 ounces from a 30 inch tall weed plant is awesome by my book. Not an expert grower so if I can have the same from my Diesel babies then that would make me grin from ear to ear.

Mestizomatt said:

Go check out my NL grow its royal queen and its in week 12 still not done these NL take a lot longer to finish

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my last NL auto, took right about 12 weeks. I pulled some a couple weeks earlier and pulled some a week or so later.

Just a couple pics for an update. Still getting used to the HPS, got it a little too close and burned a few leaves and part of a couple buds. She's about 8 or 9 weeks from seed. Thanks for looking! Any comments, suggestions are welcome.

The added HPS should give you denser buds this time around, I've just switched from 400w CFL to 600w HPS and can see the difference. I've got my HPS about 8 inches from the tops and i'm not getting any burn (No cool tube or similar), I did start higher and let them grow into the light so this may have helped them get used to it, not having any issues with burn anyway. I have two auto cream caramels and have had issues with yellowing leaves on both, had to change the nutes to one with NPK of 20-20-20 and added some Epsom salts to the feed. Only fed half the recommended but seems to have sorted the problem. How did you sort your yellowing leaves? I normally grow photoperiod and have found these auto's drain the N out of the leaves overnight with little warning and if you don't get straight onto the issue you end up losing a lot of leaves. Good luck with the rest of your grow, nice bushy plant.

spliffbuddy said:

The added HPS should give you denser buds this time around, I've just switched from 400w CFL to 600w HPS and can see the difference. I've got my HPS about 8 inches from the tops and i'm not getting any burn (No cool tube or similar), I did start higher and let them grow into the light so this may have helped them get used to it, not having any issues with burn anyway. I have two auto cream caramels and have had issues with yellowing leaves on both, had to change the nutes to one with NPK of 20-20-20 and added some Epsom salts to the feed. Only fed half the recommended but seems to have sorted the problem. How did you sort your yellowing leaves? I normally grow photoperiod and have found these auto's drain the N out of the leaves overnight with little warning and if you don't get straight onto the issue you end up losing a lot of leaves. Good luck with the rest of your grow, nice bushy plant.

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I really haven't sorted out the yellowing leaves. Still pretty new at this, only 1 harvest under my belt so far. I just feed em, it fights back the yellow some, but I'm still so worried about overfeeding and burning them, that I err on the side of underfeeding. Hopefully, eventually, I'll get the hang of growing these ladies and get it dialed in better. Just from everything I've read, I'd rather them be a bit N def'd than nute burned or locked out. If I'm looking at it wrong, someone please straighten me out.

As far as the denser bud, I'm only running a 150W HPS and I can definitely tell the difference so far. This plant is not near as big as the two plants from my first grow were at this state, but I'm thinking she is going to yield more per plant because of how dense the buds are. Thanks for the reply!

Hello there.

Your plant looks great! Have they recieved any special treatment? (not seeing the first month of grow)

Also, can you put something alongside the plant to show its size?

If it yields as much as the first, you are doing really well.

getting thick, nice job!

noham said:

Hello there.

Your plant looks great! Have they recieved any special treatment? (not seeing the first month of grow)

Also, can you put something alongside the plant to show its size?

If it yields as much as the first, you are doing really well.

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Thanks for the kind words! I haven't really given her any special treatment at all. In fact, if anything, I've abused the poor gal. My house is really old, like no central heat/air old and when it gets cold, I depend on kerosene heat. But, we don't typically have bad cold here, really, we usually only get a couple to 3 weeks a year of really cold weather, but this year, we turned off cold in October unexpectedly and for the most part, it's stayed chilly. Although, it got up to nearly 80 2 days ago(right now it's in the 20s). So, I've had a time fighting to keep the cabinet warm enough. On my first grow, I fought like the dickens to keep the cab under 95, now, it sometimes drops down to mid 40's, almost never gets above 65 in the box. But, one of the good things about growing autos is that the ruderalis that is in them, really seems to deal with cold pretty well.

It's just dollar general seedling mix, mixed with MG potting mix and MG Perlite, using MG bloom nutes and water straight from my tap that I let sit in a gallon milk jug overnight to air out. I've never PH'd a thing. I'm still new to this, but I just don't understand why some people freak out about a lot what goes on. Seems to me that these plants are hearty and strong. I'm having a great time learning how to do this and my goal is to get better at it and I know that adding better soil, nutes, lights, etc will help me get more from my ladies, and when I have time and MONEY to do it better I will, but in the meantime, I've got no complaints about how they are turning out. I just snapped a pic with a pack of smokes so you can see some size comparison. Thanks again for commenting and your input!.

OrangeHaze said:

getting thick, nice job!

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Thanks Ohaze!

How is/was the smell?
...and the smoke of the previous? ^^

Also, how much heat does that 150w HPS produce?
How much cfls did you use during your first grow?

So many questions...

and when I have time and MONEY to do it better I will

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How long does 4 oz last you? I wouldn't be in much of a hurry to do 'better' than THAT!

noham said:

How is/was the smell?
...and the smoke of the previous? ^^

Also, how much heat does that 150w HPS produce?
How much cfls did you use during your first grow?

So many questions...


How long does 4 oz last you? I wouldn't be in much of a hurry to do 'better' than THAT!

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Those are really good questions. Currently, she's smelling good, but not too strong. That's one of the upsides to growing NL inside, it has a great, earthy and almost piney smell, but it's not overwhelming.

The smoke on the previous grow was outstanding. Both the NL and the PE were smooth, which I think is because about 2 1/2 weeks before harvest, I flushed them heavy, then nothing but water thereafter, also, I got a good dry and cure on them.

On my first grow, I used about a dozen, 23 watt, actual watt CFLs, mixed spectrum. The 150W hps doesn't throw off a lot of heat, actually, less than I was expecting.

4 oz will last a loooooong time. I actually started growing to supply my galpal. She smokes daily, but an ounce will last her over a month. Me personally, I've only smoked twice this month. The second time being a few hours ago. I hit some of the PE from my first grow. My goal is to have enough to last for 6 months to a year, in stock and curing, with several different strains, so we can have variety and not have to worry about her building too high of a tolerance to a single strain.