Northern Lights X BB auto & Speed Devil auto

[Lady.J]

before the last 2 weeks. I know during the final 2 weeks before harvest you want to only plain water. I meant if the fert got in on say...the 3rd week before harvest I would use it. Though I guess you're right about needing less N during the end anyway. Eh I make sure I have at least 10% run off whenever I water, nutes included or not. Except when using the urine, that time was by accident and it was just a little bit.

I'm kind of going off of what my plants are telling me because I'm seeing a lot of reddening actually. A few lower branches are full red and the top growth has maybe 50% red stems. My mix was probably not even 1:15. Top growth has started again, but most of the lower growth has stopped. Not sure if that's because I'm about 1-2 into flowering or if that's the deficiency.

If you think so I may water with plain water before starting to use the blossom booster just to have a clean slate so to speak.

Lol my bad...I read super fast so I have the habit of missing slight details like that . Hey, I heard something about using ferts all the way to the end? Someone mentioned that it doesn't affect the taste of the bud and allows the leaves to feed the bud more before harvest. I don't know how true that is but def going to experiment with it in the perpetual.

I brought up the run-off cuz I started this watering cycle where I water less at one time but more often...aiming to basically just keep things moist, never dry and never flushing. That would be terrible to do with urine...unless you have a pristine diet. Almost made the mistake of not looking into it properly. Good thing for you that you already water correctly lol

Oh ok, if you feel your plants are telling you that they need more then you should go with that. Just keep in mind that you won't see full results for another week. Also, it's safe to foilar feed the mix...will get the N to your plants faster.

 

[Cloudz2600]

Idk about using ferts all the way through. If you went 100% organic I wouldn't see a problem with that though. All the stuff I've read say to flush out any synthetic fertilizers before you harvest. I'm guessing you're going to go the last 2 weeks w/o ferts on your current grow then? Not exactly a perfect experiment, but you should know which way is best for you from it.

Yea, that's the one thing I'm kind of concerned about. Your method of watering often, but less heavily makes sense. It's just a harder guideline to follow. When you water water with your ferts do you also water till you get a little run off or just when using plain water? Actually do you use any synthetic fertilizer anyway? Salt buildup/nute burn isn't as bad with organics I think.

Eh...I'm definitely not cool with foliar feeding my plants with any mix of urine. Bud production hasn't starting or anything, but...idk that's just where I draw the line. I do agree that I would get faster results though. There's only so much a man can compromise I think I read it wasn't a good idea to do with synthetic fertilizers because of the salt staying on the leaves, but that was just in passing, I've never done any research really on foliar feeding.

 

[Lady.J]

Idk about using ferts all the way through. If you went 100% organic I wouldn't see a problem with that though. All the stuff I've read say to flush out any synthetic fertilizers before you harvest. I'm guessing you're going to go the last 2 weeks w/o ferts on your current grow then? Not exactly a perfect experiment, but you should know which way is best for you from it.

Yea, that's the one thing I'm kind of concerned about. Your method of watering often, but less heavily makes sense. It's just a harder guideline to follow. When you water water with your ferts do you also water till you get a little run off or just when using plain water? Actually do you use any synthetic fertilizer anyway? Salt buildup/nute burn isn't as bad with organics I think.

Eh...I'm definitely not cool with foliar feeding my plants with any mix of urine. Bud production hasn't starting or anything, but...idk that's just where I draw the line. I do agree that I would get faster results though. There's only so much a man can compromise I think I read it wasn't a good idea to do with synthetic fertilizers because of the salt staying on the leaves, but that was just in passing, I've never done any research really on foliar feeding.

I guess I'm always assuming soil is going to be done organically lol. Refuse to go synthetic....and even though Fox Farm is maybe not 100% organic, using that and Fish & Seaweed ferts should keep me organic until I'm brewing tea.

Am not going to experiment on this current grow, am going to experiment in perpetual. For this grow I am going to alternate between bloom nutes, fish and Seaweed, liquid karma, and then switch to unsulphated (sp?) molasses for the last two. But that plan may change depending on what new info I come across lol.

When I water with ferts, don't usually water to the point of run off. Don't with plain water either. End up watering every other day. Not saying it's the best, but I figure I'd try it out and compare it to other ways later.

Haha I understand you not wanting to foliar feed. Am actually surprised you went ahead and tried it at all, so baby steps first . To be honest, I don't know much about synthetic ferts at all when it comes to soil. Decided from the get that I was going to use ferts made by natural means. Nute burn / salt buildup is almost nonexistent when you use organics. That was another deciding factor for me as a newbie, was paranoid about killing the plants!

 

[Cloudz2600]

Yea a lot of people use synthetic ferts, organic is probably cheaper and easier to use, but synthetic usually has higher concentrations of what plants need. Not always a good thing, but it means using less of it I think. I used it because people said it worked, I read that organic ferts usually stink and at $8 for half a pound I couldn't really go wrong. Damn you've got got a lot for nutes lol. I was having another discussion with somebody about sugar yesterday, I may look into buying some molasses and supplementing my watering with it. The liquid karma is just a supplement I guess though right?

I think(and read ofc) that it's best to get a little run off just to be sure you've watered the enter pot. I notice that for a little run of I water a 1 gallon pot(it's 2 cups sort of a gallon w/e) about half a gallon. After that last watering the soil is a little dry, by tomorrow maybe it would need a good watering. So that's every 2 days, which is every other day right? I usually try to shoot for more run off so that makes sense.

Not asking you to do my research for me(ok I am ), but if you were to buy veg and bloom nutes while keeping it as organic as possible what would you recommend? Without recommending fox farm.

Oh yea there was an ehow on using sugar with plants. Said use 50...something of sugar in 1 liter of water and boil it. I'm assuming that you let it cool and it's fine to use. I think molasses would be better, but some people disagree lol.

 

[Lady.J]

Yea a lot of people use synthetic ferts, organic is probably cheaper and easier to use, but synthetic usually has higher concentrations of what plants need. Not always a good thing, but it means using less of it I think. I used it because people said it worked, I read that organic ferts usually stink and at $8 for half a pound I couldn't really go wrong. Damn you've got got a lot for nutes lol. I was having another discussion with somebody about sugar yesterday, I may look into buying some molasses and supplementing my watering with it. The liquid karma is just a supplement I guess though right?

I think(and read ofc) that it's best to get a little run off just to be sure you've watered the enter pot. I notice that for a little run of I water a 1 gallon pot(it's 2 cups sort of a gallon w/e) about half a gallon. After that last watering the soil is a little dry, by tomorrow maybe it would need a good watering. So that's every 2 days, which is every other day right? I usually try to shoot for more run off so that makes sense.

Not asking you to do my research for me(ok I am ), but if you were to buy veg and bloom nutes while keeping it as organic as possible what would you recommend? Without recommending fox farm.

Oh yea there was an ehow on using sugar with plants. Said use 50...something of sugar in 1 liter of water and boil it. I'm assuming that you let it cool and it's fine to use. I think molasses would be better, but some people disagree lol.

Well my experience with organic ferts has been positive...haven't had any problems with smell. The fish and seaweed mix stunk when I put my nose to it lol, but other than that I don't smell anything except weed . Also, have barely touched the bottles. Have a quart of the Fox Farm and use 4 cap fulls to the gallon at the moment...seems as there is enough for at least a few more grows. Lol, I know I use a lot but couldn't resist the benefits from each! I'm going to post the summaries from the mft:

Neptune's Harvest Organic Fish & Seaweed Fertilizer: Growers using our fish/seaweed blend fertilizer on a regular basis have reported increased marketable yields and improved shelf life on fruits and vegetables. Fish and Seaweed are known to build the natural sugar in plants. Flowers and foliage will be stronger and more colorful. Blooms will be more plentiful, fragrant and longer lasting.

Liquid Karma: The introduction of LIQUID KARMA ™ represents a major and significant breakthrough in plant nutrition. This is because LIQUID KARMA ™ contains a full complement of metabolically active organic compounds not found in regular plant foods or supplements. These unique compounds are absorbed immediately and act as regulatory signals, activators or catalysts to produce synchronized and accelerated growth under all conditions. LIQUID KARMA ™ functions as a growth engine because its high metabolic activity produces a large amount of energy which is immediately transformed to growth.
Benefits of Using LIQUID KARMA ™
Extensive research and field trials indicate that LIQUID KARMA ™ produces beneficial results during every phase of plant growth. Starting with seed germination and following through to vegetative growth, budding and flowering, the continued use of LIQUID KARMA ™ ensures optimal plant growth at every stage.

Fox Farm Big Bloom: This odorless, liquid fertilizer is a live culture of vitamins, amino acids, natural growth hormones, enzymes, and beneficial organic microbes. Our special, micro-brewed formula incorporates earthworm castings, bat guano and other high test organic ingredients that offer a full, balanced range of nutrients. Norwegian kelp improves nutrient uptake and increases yields. Rock phosphate helps transfer energy from one part of the plant to another, which means bigger buds and more fragrant flowers.

Garden tip: Big Bloom™ is ideal for all flowering and fruiting plants, and it’s safe enough to use every time you water. You’ll enjoy healthy, vigorous flowers and dramatically improved fruit and vegetable flavors. Best of all, Big Bloom™ will intensify flower fragrance, and it will increase essential oil production, which means stronger flavors in herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Use Big Bloom™ to extend your fruit and flowering season late into the year. And when a plant is struggling, a root drench of Big Bloom™ will bring it back to life.

Have seen quite a few threads on the fish & seaweed fertilizer and liquid karma...only see positive reviews. Some people have mixed feeling about Fox Farm but it's working out for me, so I'll use the rest of it before switching to something else.

I know I've watered the entire pot without run off because I pour my mix into a water bottle (measured out four times gives good watering) and water that way every time. It seems like it works ok...never open the box and see wilted plants or anything like that. I had to do a pre measure amount due to how my screen was fastened to the box...was unable to move my planter out. Now that the screen is removed and I can take the plants out, will be watering until there is run off.

Grabbed this bit from UB (you probably already read it):

• Watering technique - contrary to popular belief, wet/dry cycles are NOT good, especially for organic growers. Keep the soil medium moist but not saturated to the point where air is excluded. When you water, don’t be shy. Water until there is a good runoff. The issue is not overwatering, it's watering to the point of the exclusion of air.
  ​

If the soil seems dry, def give it a watering tomorrow.

If I had to recommend nutes for veg and flower, I would tell you to mix you own soil with something like this: http://hightimes.com/grow/subcool/5728

On a much smaller scale of course! That way you don't have to worry about bugs, Ph, aeration, or giving ferts...all you do is water. Remember when I told you not to re-use soil? I found a link where there is a good way to recycle your soil with just adding a few of the things from the link I just provided. Didn't realize you could re-use soil successfully, but it made sense when they compared it to a farmer's top soil.

Is my diary entry long enough for you?

 

[Cloudz2600]

As much as I love reading Uncle Ben's stuff I really only do so when I either have a problem or when he happens to be posting in the same thread as me. I think when I finish this grow I'll go ahead and buy that fish/seaweed fert, liquid karma(or another brands version,maybe) and I might just take the plunge for the FFBB if you say it will last a few grows. What size containers did you buy?

What I got from that article: "Ocean Forest is known for burning plants and having the wrong ratio of nutrients, but when cut with Light Warrior, it makes a pretty good base-soil mix." Awesome was going to buy Happy Frog, but I'll do this instead.
8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs Bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
¾ cup Epson salts
½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
½ cup azomite (trace elements)
2 tbsp powdered humic acid

That's...a bit much...I really don't have room to keep a bunch of bags. I'm really just moving to a 5 bedroom house with a few other people that's near to my college so I can't have all this shit(pun intended) laying around. That totally sounds like it would be beyond awesome to have though and no doubt would work. The bat guano, blood meal and bone meal afaik don't come in 1lb bags and most likely will be around the same size and the bag of soil. If I'm totally wrong on that then I might just look this up, but whenever I go to Lowes/Home Depot all I see for soil are the normal sized large bags.

 

[Cloudz2600]

Watered the plants and readjusted some of the LST'd stems today. Bottom leaves have all pretty much died out. I'm assuming(I'm in denial) that's party due to them just not getting enough light and the Nitrogen deficiency. That top node on the NL needs to be LST'd, but the stem still looks a bit weak. I'll give it another week maybe. Still no pistils on the NL, but almost every node that's sticking out on the BM has em. I just can't get as good as a pic as you Lady lol. Probably would help if I took the pics inside the bin, but it's hard to LST inside the bin so I took em out.

Included pics of my bin, one with flash on, one with flash off for the lulz. The one with flash off is the brighter one. The emergency blanket side is on the bottom and keeps a light more like in. The first pic are the pistils on one of the lower branches on the Blue Mammoth. I still don't see anything on the NL. Pic 5 is a healthy leaf and pic 6 is a leaf starting to yellow at the tip(which I just noticed you can't see >.<)

 

[Lady.J]

As much as I love reading Uncle Ben's stuff I really only do so when I either have a problem or when he happens to be posting in the same thread as me. I think when I finish this grow I'll go ahead and buy that fish/seaweed fert, liquid karma(or another brands version,maybe) and I might just take the plunge for the FFBB if you say it will last a few grows. What size containers did you buy?

What I got from that article: "Ocean Forest is known for burning plants and having the wrong ratio of nutrients, but when cut with Light Warrior, it makes a pretty good base-soil mix." Awesome was going to buy Happy Frog, but I'll do this instead.
8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs Bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
¾ cup Epson salts
½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
½ cup azomite (trace elements)
2 tbsp powdered humic acid

That's...a bit much...I really don't have room to keep a bunch of bags. I'm really just moving to a 5 bedroom house with a few other people that's near to my college so I can't have all this shit(pun intended) laying around. That totally sounds like it would be beyond awesome to have though and no doubt would work. The bat guano, blood meal and bone meal afaik don't come in 1lb bags and most likely will be around the same size and the bag of soil. If I'm totally wrong on that then I might just look this up, but whenever I go to Lowes/Home Depot all I see for soil are the normal sized large bags.

Yea I heard that about Ocean Forest...that's why I went Black Gold, and had deficiency instead lol. I just bought some Happy Frog formulated for tomatoes so hopefully that will be better. Anyway, I'm starting the plants in seed starter soil first so that by the time they touch the Happy Frog, they should be old enough to handle it.

I am starting them in 5inch Jiffy pots...the flower box the skunk and kush are growing in is about 23 inches long and 7 inches deep. I'm switching for the perpetual though...think I will do 8-10 inch individual pots.

It IS a lot of ingredients you'll be using, but as you know, the batch will be much smaller. You actually can buy 1-2lb bags of all of it. Some things weigh even less. And once you do buy, you'll have the ingredients for multiple grows where you never have to worry about nutes. Not to mention, organic grows are known for both tasting and yielding better than chemical ferts.

I didn't want to have to get all the stuff together and put out more money since I decided to use some funds for making the closet...so I ordered Happy Frog for now. But when I run out, am making my own soil!

 

[Cloudz2600]

I think the nursery only sold FFOF and Happy Frog so I may go with the frog this time, I haven't been there in about 6 months so I could be wrong. Home Depot/Lowes/Wal-mart only sell miracle grow(gag). Ordering soil online seems like a rip off to me. Amazon charges $15 more than the largest size of soil(1.5cu) for the smallest size for FFOF and then I pay shipping to boot. Selection is always great, but that's just not worth it to me. I've seen people debating on the frog and OF so it can't be that much of a difference. If anything the frog is lighter in nutes so it won't burn my plants. I do plan on keeping them in jiffy pellets until I see roots trying to escape though so hopefully by that time they'll be strong enough.

I may get something like that flower box you have. I'm wasting inches having a vertical pot instead of a bed. I'l have to get organic ferts for sure then because any fertilizer I use would go to both plants.

 

[Lady.J]

Watered the plants and readjusted some of the LST'd stems today. Bottom leaves have all pretty much died out. I'm assuming(I'm in denial) that's party due to them just not getting enough light and the Nitrogen deficiency. That top node on the NL needs to be LST'd, but the stem still looks a bit weak. I'll give it another week maybe. Still no pistils on the NL, but almost every node that's sticking out on the BM has em. I just can't get as good as a pic as you Lady lol. Probably would help if I took the pics inside the bin, but it's hard to LST inside the bin so I took em out.

Included pics of my bin, one with flash on, one with flash off for the lulz. The one with flash off is the brighter one. The emergency blanket side is on the bottom and keeps a light more like in. The first pic are the pistils on one of the lower branches on the Blue Mammoth. I still don't see anything on the NL. Pic 5 is a healthy leaf and pic 6 is a leaf starting to yellow at the tip(which I just noticed you can't see >.<)

I must have missed this post while I was blabbing lol...they are looking pretty good! You are LSTing them really well, can't tell it's your first time. Clear out those dead leaves and it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and prune the yellow ones off. They're going to die anyway.

 

[Cloudz2600]

I should of taken the obviously dead ones off you're right. I totally wasn't even thinking about it. I'm not one for pruning tbh. I think the plant will do it's own pruning if the leaf is dead until then the plant still provides some photosynthesis already I guess it would help keep whatever N the plant has to the healthy parts. Yea, besides the initial break of the NL I'm getting the hang of it. I think scrog might be easier to work with once I get the screen set up though.

 

[Lady.J]

I should of taken the obviously dead ones off you're right. I totally wasn't even thinking about it. I'm not one for pruning tbh. I think the plant will do it's own pruning if the leaf is dead until then the plant still provides some photosynthesis already I guess it would help keep whatever N the plant has to the healthy parts. Yea, besides the initial break of the NL I'm getting the hang of it. I think scrog might be easier to work with once I get the screen set up though.

I'm just like you, I don't like to prune either...but just a couple here and there can improve circulation beneath the leaves. When I took the planter out of the box for the first time, I noticed some leafs had been trapped together at certain points and had suffocated each other, turning yellow and limp. If I had been pruning, could have prevented that. Again, only literally talking about a few leaves here and there at the bottom or congested areas! I don't like to do unnecessary stress to my ladies...

 

[Cloudz2600]

I think I'm going to put the plants on 12/12 as of today(god Wednesday is such an odd day to start). It's week 7 1/2 and I've seen no signs of buds. I'm supposed to see them around week 5-6. I'm going to have the lights off from 3pm to 3am. Oddly enough I'm finding the morning temps to be a bit cooler than the nighttime temps. Was 73 last night and it was 68 around 5am or so. I may change the time a bit, 3pm is just when the lights usually go off. I think 12pm to 12am would be a bit better for outside temperature, I find myself sleeping with the window open.

Worst case the the stress set their clock back a little and the 12/12 will just be reduced lighting. Going to give it a week or so. Autosflowers are supposed to be done within 11 weeks and there's no way the buds will be finished and ripe by now. The Blue Mammoth is a new strain too, so I'm curious how stable the genetics are. As for World of Seeds I've only heard good things about them.

 

[Lady.J]

I think I'm going to put the plants on 12/12 as of today(god Wednesday is such an odd day to start). It's week 7 1/2 and I've seen no signs of buds. I'm supposed to see them around week 5-6. I'm going to have the lights off from 3pm to 3am. Oddly enough I'm finding the morning temps to be a bit cooler than the nighttime temps. Was 73 last night and it was 68 around 5am or so. I may change the time a bit, 3pm is just when the lights usually go off. I think 12pm to 12am would be a bit better for outside temperature, I find myself sleeping with the window open.

Worst case the the stress set their clock back a little and the 12/12 will just be reduced lighting. Going to give it a week or so. Autosflowers are supposed to be done within 11 weeks and there's no way the buds will be finished and ripe by now. The Blue Mammoth is a new strain too, so I'm curious how stable the genetics are. As for World of Seeds I've only heard good things about them.

Hope everything works out with the Autos! Strange that they haven't started flowering yet...

 

[Cloudz2600]

Thinking maybe all the nitrogen may have slowed the flowering process. At this point though I really just looking for answers. https://www.rollitup.org/auto-flowering-strains/535770-week-7-still-no-buds.html Amaximus' plants at week 7 show obvious flowering. I'm not even close to that.

Decided to go 18/6 this week and next Wed if I still don't see any signs of bud production starting I'll go to 12/12. I'm also going to start using the blossom booster although I think I'll use plain water for my next watering, not sure just yet. Yellowing has stopped as far as I can see. I don't really inspect the plant unless I take it out to water it.

 

[Cloudz2600]

Just noticed pistils on the Northern Lights, very very small pistils. I got some more responses on that thread so I decided to go 12/12. This room isn't light proof by any means so I'm going to have the lights go on at 7am and off at 7pm which should more or less match the outside brightness. I just hope these girls can finish before the semester starts and I have to move in 8 weeks. Transporting them would be such a pain in the ass.

 

[Lady.J]

Hey at least you're seeing pistils now! Don't stress it...they had a rough start so it's probably just taking them a little bit longer. I switched to about the same hours for the same reason you did. Don't have to worry about light leaks that way. If you're really concerned about them not finishing fast enough, you can give them more darkness than usual. You won't yield as much but the buds will finish faster. Just read it in a guide...have it bookmarked somewhere. If you're interested I'll send it to you.

 

[Cloudz2600]

Always interested in learning more lol. Oh I got my Veg+Bloom sample today. I might stick with the 1-3-2 though. I guess I have to do a bit more research on this stuff now. I heard "free fertilizer" and jumped on it without really doing any looking into it ^_^

 

[Lady.J]

Always interested in learning more lol. Oh I got my Veg+Bloom sample today. I might stick with the 1-3-2 though. I guess I have to do a bit more research on this stuff now. I heard "free fertilizer" and jumped on it without really doing any looking into it ^_^

lmao mine came today too. Thought it was yesterday but that was a different sample. I don't think I will use it for soil...maybe in the homemade bubble cloner after the clones take root.

 

[Cloudz2600]

Just make sure you're using the right type. The ppm is different for each.