New 150 Watt HPS, Emily's Garden, Aghan & N.L.

HobbyGrower · Nov 17, 2010

I started a new grow of Afghan and Northern Lights obtained from marijuana-seeds.nl

I will be using a 150 Watt HPS from start to finish and a Emily's Garden Hyrdo system. The grow room is currently a small upstairs closet which is 33"wide, 33"deep, and about 7' tall. Will be getting a grow tent because of the heat/ventilation issues I currently have.

I've germinated 4 of each strain in rockwool with no pre-soaking, will early sex them saving pollen from each and maybe even cross them. Don't know if I'll add that in this diary or not, but stay tuned.

This is a very small grow and if all goes well I hope to have 2 - 3 plants at most for personal, recreational use.

One of the Afghan has sprouted and rest can't be too far behind.

Wish me luck.

HobbyGrower · Nov 18, 2010

I'm on day 6 and two afghans have sprouted and 1 NL is on its way. a quick peek inside the rockwool of the others show they too have germed and are ready to break soil. The two afghans are showing signs of their first true leaves. Even though the NL is a couple of days behind I've read that they grow very quick in comparison to the afghan.

pics will be up soon.

HobbyGrower · Nov 18, 2010

001 is day one

010 is the afghan day 5

014 is the whole set up.

HobbyGrower · Nov 19, 2010

Day 7...

So far I'm not really impressed with the NL. Had one sprout then die when it hit the surface. Had another that was ready to unfurl and died. Only one of the 4 have sprouted (25%). Hopefully i'll have 50% and all i need is one girl. I hadn't counted on it but if I can get one healthy fem NL I'll clone it. Problem solved.

I had one afghan die (my fault) and two have sprouted and are working on their first set of true leave. They look strong, healthy and are growing up in a good environment.

I can keep my temps in the mid to low 70s and I have a new thermometer with humidity gauge on it on the way. I also ordered a small grow cabinet perfect for a 150 watt HPS micro grow. Cost: $75, free shipping. Even though my upstairs closet is perfect size I have no real way of venting without cutting holes into a place that isn't mine. Plus, it's a hallway closet... I don't need people passing by seeing what's growing so I'm moving this downstairs where I can vent properly, control temp, there's no foot traffic, and I have way more options.

Ideally I'd like to wind up with 1 fem NL, 1 fem afghan, and 1 male (for seed). If the genetics aren't right then I won't cross. There's no point in propagating bad genes... already a huge problem in the world today. I'll separate the male collecting its pollen and manually pollinate a single site for future grow.

The one critique I have about the sun systems 150 with integrated ballast is that it generates a good amount of heat. So, if you're planning on using this system you'll also need to plan on good ventilation.

I welcome and value your feedback.

HobbyGrower · Nov 20, 2010

Day 7 update

Day 7 update

so here's a picture of what happened to that NL.

As you can see from this picture there's a small black thing that connects the stem from the cotyledon. I'm not exactly sure what this is. Examining under my microscope it appears as a flake of some sort that's embedded inside the stem. It appeared to cut off any nutrients from the stem to these embryo-tic leaves and the sprout died.

Has anyone ever seen this before? Bad genes, birth defect?

BeardedClam · Nov 20, 2010

HobbyGrower · Nov 22, 2010

Day 10 since sowing

Day 10 since sowing

So here we are, day 10 since the seeds went into the ground.

The NL in the upper left is growing very fast now :dance013:

. It's catching up to the 1st afghan that sprouted and is almost bigger than it. Very encouraging.

The 2nd NL (upper middle) is showing it's first sign of true leaves, also very encouraging.

The 1st afghan to sprout (bottom middle) is going slowly while the 2nd (bottom right) is doing very, very well. I labeled this one as "tiger stripe" because the seed had a very nice color with dark tiger stripes. I hope this plant is female as I'm sure he/she will do very well. I'll keep this one in mind to cross male or female.

The third picture is of the 2nd NL to sprout. You'll see some "residue" on the cotyledon. I hope this falls off as it's blocking light. I'll keep an eye on it.

CannabisDog · Nov 23, 2010

HobbyGrower said:
Has anyone ever seen this before? Bad genes, birth defect?

I have seen this in the older seeds that I am growing now. Not sure if your seeds were older but it could have something to do with the cotyledon drying out inside the seed shell. After long periods of storage the seeds lose a lot of moisture. Not sure if this is the case here.

HobbyGrower · Nov 23, 2010

thanks for the feedback CannabisDog. I hope I can save that one that's looking a little weak.

HobbyGrower · Nov 25, 2010

Day 12 - my grow tent came in. I'm able to get my temps in check (around 80f) with only 1 small fan. It may be a little high for veg but my plants were in a much hotter environment before and were doing just fine.

I was able to save that little NL plant. Will have pics up tomorrow. I think the problem was accidentally using club soda to feed co2 instead of seltzer. My guess is that the stomata were clogged and caused it to curl under. So, no more foliar feeding until it's of age and no more using club soda (could've sworn i picked up seltzer).

I'm going to be ordering an 4" inline duct (80cfm) to replace the little fan i have hooked up now. This will be attached to the bottom of the tent pulling fresh air in. Also getting a clip-on circulating fan for inside to blow on the plants themselves.

Debating on whether to buy the 4" inline fan/carbon scrubber for $120 or just making my own carbon scrubber.

Also added a 100watt cfl to the mix and switching lights on 24/0 to increase the veg cycle.

HobbyGrower · Nov 25, 2010

Day 12 pictures

Day 12 pictures

This is day 12 since they went in the ground (rockwool), not from sprout.

Grow 11 - close up of the box
Grow 10 - pulled back a little further
Grow 05 - Afghan, a little leaf curling, don't know why but it's doing fine.
Grow 06 - Afghan, definitely a different pheno
Grow 07 - this is the little NL, it's bouncing back
Grow 08 - this is the other NL, 2nd set of leaves

I plan on keeping a plant in each corner and covering up the two middle slots with a black garbage bag (neatly of course). If I get 1 female I'll be happy; 2, I'll be thrilled; 3, effing ecstatic; 4, a little worried about space. I'd rather bring 1 or 2 females to full harvest then have to worry about 3 smaller plants.

HobbyGrower · Nov 30, 2010

Day 18 (12 of veg)

Day 18 (12 of veg)

Here we are at day 18 since they were put in the ground, day 12 of veg.

1: this picture is of all of them together.

2: the largest Afghan. Very bushy, a little leaf curl that i'll figure out.

3: this is Afghan also. They sprouted the same time but it's definitely a different pheno. None of the bushiness the other one has.

4: this is the eldest northern lights. it's doing quite well.

5: this is the youngest northern lights. it's bounced back since i almost killed it (overfeeding)

HobbyGrower · Dec 1, 2010

Day 18 add...

Figured out that the curling is most likely a magnese deficiency. My pH was climbing above 6, a little each day to about 6.5. Probably because I'm using a little less than 1/4 strength nutes. Also, the hydroton wasn't completely washed and the resevoir was pretty contaminated. I bought an EC meter that's on it's way. So the combination of high ppm and high pH was probably locking out magnese and other essentials out.

Needless to say the rez is cleaned, fresh nutes (still 1/4 strength) and they seem much happier. pH is around 5.8, temps are around 72 - 79 with rh @ about 40-50%. Lights are at 24/0 and in a couple to a few weeks I'll begin to flower them. Been using vinegar and baking soda to lower and raise my pH accordingly. ph Up and ph Down are on their way.

Also ordered feminized Widorella from another company. Once this crop is done I'm going to grow two of those under my current 150 watt and see what kind of yield I can get the second time around. In any case I'll have crop to enjoy while I'm waiting for the WR to mature. It's a cross between White Widow and Cinderella '99. Heard nothing but great things about this indica/sativa cross. Can't wait.

MeLikesPCs · Dec 2, 2010

Hey Hobby,

Looking good so far. How are you going to "early sex them"? I'm running out of room, and need to know the sex of mine. I can't see any pre-flowers at about day 40. I don't want to flip to 12/12 too early. Want to make sure they are mature with lots of bud sites first.

I'm noticing a trend with all growers (including myself)...next time I'm going to...after this I'm going to...

I guess there's a lot of expermineting to do until you have a bunch of successful grows under your belt

Always thinking and planning

HobbyGrower · Dec 2, 2010

i've read an article where you can cover a lower branch for 12 hours a day (using construction paper or brown paper bag painted black (something that breathes) and that will cause it to flower :chin:

. I'm gonna give that a shot and record my success. If it works, great! If not, back to the drawing board. :dance013:

MeLikesPCs · Dec 3, 2010

That's an interesting idea. I want to start scrog now, but need to kill a few males to make room. Can you fool a plant's branch, and not the plant? Getting no light penetration on that branch will probably be challenging. Good luck.

MeLikesPCs · Dec 3, 2010

I found the below on another board. I'm thinking use heavy duty construction bags, those will prevent light--but of course that branch won't breath well for 12 hours every day, and you gotta remeber to take i on and off every day

Looks like you gotta wait 3 weeks though !

"To do this a piece of a black plastic garbage bag can be secured to the end of a branch using twist ties. Apply the bag so that the branch receives 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. Ex. On at 6PM off at 6AM. Within three weeks the male plants will have what look like little balls forming on the branch. The females will have two tiny white hairs emerging from a immature calyx. The males can now be removed and you are guaranteed a crop of all females. Remove the plastic from the branch of the female and she will begin growing again. "

HobbyGrower · Dec 5, 2010

I'm gonna give it a shot but I'm still a few weeks from beginning to flower. My alternative is just to veg them and let them all flower at the same time. Once any males show up I can remove them from the area. I'll update this journal with the details.

pezmasterelite · Dec 5, 2010

Hi, I usually never go for any different ways to determine the sex of my plants.

Generally I will root a clone and flower that when it is of appropriate size with some other plants. This method has the advantage of never flowering the parent seedlings you hold onto.

The other method is to cut clones and flower the seedlings saving the clones for future generations and work. This method allows you to test the buds faster, and usually the clones are the size of mothers by time the original seedlings are harvested.

One method I have heard of people using to quickly tell the sex is to take a very small cut from the bottom of the plant and try to put it directly in 12/12 when it is rooting. This will shock the cut into producing some flowers very quickly. I have heard of people learning the sex of plants before the cut even roots in some cases.

Like I said though I have not tried the third method here, but I have friends of friends who have done that and they say it works.

Peace and good luck on the grow, things look good so far.

HobbyGrower · Dec 5, 2010

thanks for the info pez. i just don't have the space. i only have one grow tent and at any one time it's either flower or veg. gonna pick up some auto flower seeds after the widowrella (christmas gift). those i see you can keep in constant 18/6, no light changes and they even come in fem varieties!

New 150 Watt HPS, Emily's Garden, Aghan & N.L.

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