Master Kush--215 Watts CFL Stealth Grow!

[RollingDope708]

Looking good boss. I wish I woulda LST like you did I was too lazy/scared to do it the first go round but imma use it next yr on my next grow.
Have u flipped the switch yet? And if u did your gonna really see her take off in the coming days lol.
BTW how is the NL? I'm thinking about getting the auto NL for next grow. Is she worth it?

 

[robnarley1111]

Looking good boss. I wish I woulda LST like you did I was too lazy/scared to do it the first go round but imma use it next yr on my next grow.
Have u flipped the switch yet? And if u did your gonna really see her take off in the coming days lol.
BTW how is the NL? I'm thinking about getting the auto NL for next grow. Is she worth it?

Lol....I definitely understand, I was too lazy myself to do much, I just drank a beer, grabbed a wire and tied down her top. I actually HAD to do it because the top was literally a day or two from touching the bulbs. Once I tied the top down, the side branches immediately flew upward.

I finally flipped the switch on the 13th! Northern Lights is definitely worth it from what I see so far. She grows with really no problems as long as she has the main necessities. She also eats a lot of nutrients. I feed EVERY watering. About once or twice a week at currently 3/4 teaspoons per gallon. May have to up that to full strength of 1 teaspoon/gallon if she doesn't get a tad bit more green in the next few days.

Pics coming now!

 

[robnarley1111]

Update!!


So the flip to 12/12 was switched 4 days ago, on the 13th. Since then, the Northern Lights has been shooting out lots of new pistils daily, getting ready for heavy flowering!! I haven't taken any pictures since 11/11, but once I fix my terrible phone cam I will definitely take some more. I took two clones so I'm waiting on those to root...we'll see.

Also, I had PH problems for about a week or so. My runoff PH was a whopping 4.9!! So I attributed that to needing a flush, since I haven't flushed her since her birth! So I PH'd one gallon of water to 6.2 and another gallon to 6.7, and flushed her well. Then, I fed her 2,200ml of Dyna-Gro at 3/4 tea/gallon along with 1 tbsp epsom salts. The runoff PH was back at 5.9-6.0! Needless to say I was glad it was nothing bigger than that. I calibrate my PH pen religiously AND PH before every feeding, as well as checking runoff.

Now that that's fixed, I will see if she needs to move up to 1 teaspoon per gallon in the coming days. I'll keep feeding veg. nutrients, 9-3-6, until the big stretch is over, and then I'll mix veg and bloom nutes at 50% each (9-3-6 and 3-12-6), until two weeks before harvest. At least that's my plan!


Day #51




I'll post some newer/better pics today or tomorrow!


Stay tuned!

 

[robnarley1111]

Thought I'd add some pics of her tent setup....her lovely new home!

First things, first, check out my DIY CFL hood. I am going to plate it with aluminum duct tape soon, so it's more reflective and it looks a bit more conventional.
I spent a total of $20 max on parts--so far!








More to come in a week or two so stay tuned!!

 

[robnarley1111]

Flowering Update!



I know I said a week or two but I couldn't help posting more pics. I noticed the Northern Lights plant has officially started flowering!

Here are some pics of her under the light with the others...


Day #58





Now, keep in mind this is only 160 watts of CFL lighting!! I have 450 more coming. The light hood has 4-40 watt. 2700K bulbs, and when the 1-to-4 adapters arrive, there will be 6 or 7-40 watt CFLs and 1 or 2-23 watt, 5000K CFLs PER light. A total of 600 watts for 4 plants roughly, and maybe some clones. Two-300 watt lights should do the trick.

I am going to build another hood and place it DIRECTLY next to the other with no space in between, creating an intense and wide array of light. The plants should love it.






Enough ranting...check out her start to flowering!




More to come soon....

 

[bigfattone420]

Flowering Update!



I know I said a week or two but I couldn't help posting more pics. I noticed the Northern Lights plant has officially started flowering!

Here are some pics of her under the light with the others...


Day #58

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Now, keep in mind this is only 160 watts of CFL lighting!! I have 450 more coming. The light hood has 4-40 watt. 2700K bulbs, and when the 1-to-4 adapters arrive, there will be 6 or 7-40 watt CFLs and 1 or 2-23 watt, 5000K CFLs PER light. A total of 600 watts for 4 plants roughly, and maybe some clones. Two-300 watt lights should do the trick.

I am going to build another hood and place it DIRECTLY next to the other with no space in between, creating an intense and wide array of light. The plants should love it.

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Enough ranting...check out her start to flowering!

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More to come soon....

Hey! Those Ladies are looking lovely ,read your thread ,nice report also I like your DIY spirit..Shows that sometimes we can get good bud with some ingenuity..So Cool.......Looks like you may have some holiday buds,lol...Keep up the good work..Peace n Subbed....

 

[robnarley1111]

Hey! Those Ladies are looking lovely ,read your thread ,nice report also I like your DIY spirit..Shows that sometimes we can get good bud with some ingenuity..So Cool.......Looks like you may have some holiday buds,lol...Keep up the good work..Peace n Subbed....

Thanks for stopping by my journal! Hopefully she turns out as good as I'm hoping!!

 

[robnarley1111]

Update!!


Today is the 12th day since switching over to 12/12, and so far she's blooming without a hitch. Still feeding her veg. nutrients, Foliage Pro 9-3-6, at 1 teaspoon/gallon. Been watering every 4 days, but now that will be lowered to every 3 days, and accordingly after that. Want to make sure I keep the medium moist but not wet. Last feeding, I threw in 1 teaspoon/gallon of Brer Rabbit unsulfured molasses! I expect that to have a little impact, even if it's minimal. I'll probably feed molasses every other watering, or once a week til the 7-10 day flush.

Next feeding will be full bloom nutes for the first time, probably go 3/4 teaspoons/gallon or maybe even full dose, since it's 3-12-6. I intentionally gave her a full dose of Foliage Pro last watering to ensure she has enough nitrogen to last through the stretch. So she won't need much nitrogen next feeding. My motto is to keep perfectly green leaves until flush. So after the next feeding, I will mix Foliage Pro and Bloom nutrients at 50% each, which equals a ratio of 6-7-6, and see how she reacts. That should help with blooming while keeping green leaves.

I don't believe the marketing hype that leaves should yellow in flowering! I'll keep them as perfectly green as I can, and let them yellow during the 7+ day flush once the buds are ripe enough to harvest.

Enough ranting, here are some pics!


9 Days After 12/12 Switch..




11 Days After 12/12 Switch....


Excuse the bad pics..my cam sucks!






12 Days After Switching to 12/12...




I accidentally burned a bud this morning! The plant's top, that I tied down to even the canopy last month, burned. After feeding the plant yesterday,
all was well. Should have raised my light, but it was about 1 inch away from the top of the foliage. This morning, when the light came on, the plant's top had grew and inch....right into the light!! I was pretty sad. I just clipped the little leaves and all is well. I got to it within minutes of the lights coming on, so it didn't get too hot and cause too much damage. I'll be raising the light this evening to prevent this from happening again!!

Still waiting to add my other lights. Currently running on 183 watts right now, which is VERY LOW...but it's at least getting them started. Right??


Stay tuned..more pics to come in about a week or two!

 

[robnarley1111]

A few more pics...


Day #12 Since 12/12 Switch:





Day #16 Since 12/12 Switch - BUDDING SHOT!!




I finally got my 1-to-4 adapters yesterday, so I threw a mixture of 5000K, 2600K and 2100K CFLs. I am now running a total of 310 watts in my hood! On a 3:1 ratio of red to blues. Total amount of lumens is 20,400, @ 2 square feet, so an average of 10,200 lumens per sqare foot, or 150 watts per square foot. SO these buds should really start to plump up nice!


More to come in a week or two!

 

[robnarley1111]

'Early' pic update!

We are now in what I call "flowering week 2." Lights flipped on 11/13, so I started the official bloom date as 7 days after, since the plants were developing flowers several days after the flip. Oh, and I'm still feeding veg. nutrients; the 9-3-6 Foliage Pro. I gave one watering of bloom booster nearly two weeks ago, and I'll mix both during next feeding. This plant sucks up nitrogen continuously...so I'll just play it by ear as she loooooves fertilizer every watering (of course I'm using soil less so that matters).

Next week will be week #3 of flowering, and I currently have a total of 500 watts in the tent. One 300-watt CFL hood, another hood running 160 watts (the LSD and Super Skunk plant were just moved under this yesterday), and 40 watts of side-lighting. I'll post pics of the new tent setup soon.

Enough typing...here are some pics @ week 2 of bloom!


Flowering - Week #2:

She's really starting to fill out and grow wide...consuming a good portion of my tent!








Bud Shot of the Week!



All of the clones I took have rooted, and two have been moved into the veg. growbox under 101 watts/7,000 lumens to start. One was taken before flowering started and the other two after. I'll take pics of the clones and upload soon.


More to come later so stay tuned and let me know your thoughts!

 

[robnarley1111]

Northern Lights - Day #19 of Flower!


Everything is going well so far! Other than a little bit of a nitrogen deficiency starting to progress in the lower leaves, everything has been going fine. Now the leaves are a nice dark green, especially since this plant loves the nitrogen at this stage of flower. I noticed the stretching has pretty much stopped, so now I position the hood and certain bulbs as close to foliage as possible for large, dense flowers (hopefully)!

Still feeding veg nutes, until I see she's not using so much nitrogen as she is. I'll mix bloom and veg nutes next watering, in about three days if not less. She's frosting up sooo nice! Maybe that's due to a low humidity ranging from 20-40%, but mostly in the low 20% range. Oh...and the smell is SOOO lovely! Kind of like a burned fruit and melon smell. I can't explain the smell but it is amazing! Doesn't smell like a plant at all; maybe some kind of exotic tea is more fitting to describe the smell.

At any rate, I am hoping she'll be done at 9 weeks, and ready to chop! I cut two clones from her and they are in the growbucket waiting for January to roll around so I can harvest their "mom" and throw one (or both) of them in flower!

Here are some pics...

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Close-Ups!




More to come in a week or so!

 

[robnarley1111]

Update - Week #4 of Flowering!


Things are still going pretty good. Just checking in on her everyday and feeding/watering every three days now. She is still a nutrient hog and will start yellowing in a couple of days if her "feet" don't have decent levels of nitrogen. It's been a balancing act keeping her green and without deficiencies AND making sure I don't burn her, since she's started flowering.

She's been getting a mix of bloom nutrients and Foliage Pro; 1/4 tea/gallon of Bloom & 1/2 tea/gallon of Foliage Pro; along with 1 tbsp Epsom salts per gallon and 1 tsp of molasses per gallon about every 10 days. So she's looking nice, green and healthy.

Temps have been steady at 75°-78° with lights on, sometimes peaking at 81°-82° depending on ambient temps. Seems to run 5-7 degrees warmer than ambient room temps where the tent is at. Humidity varies from 24-30%.

The stretch is over, so now I just move the plant around to get light in equal portions. She's sharing a hood with the OG Kush plant, so it's time to raise the light up, add another bulb and position both plants for max light. January 16th will be 9 weeks since 12/12 switch, so I'll start eye-ing her for ripeness/harvest readiness during the first week of January. I'm so excited...my first harvest is approaching!


Okay, enough already, here are some pics!









So far she's looking frosty happy?! Also it looks as if the flowers will be nice and dense!


More updates to come soon!

 

[robnarley1111]

Update - Week #5 of Flowering!


She's still filling in. Buds still shooting new pistils and packing on weight. I'm assuming the weight is really going to start picking up now, going into week 6-8. Still feeding "veg" nutrients and some bloom mixed in here and there. The smell is getting more intense now; like flowers, spice and a hint of melon. I'll start checking her trichomes under a scope after the first week of January.

From the way she looks, I'm assuming she has another 3 weeks to go, and an additional week for maximum ripeness. I expect to harvest 1/16/14; no later than 1/21/14. But we'll see!

Okay enough typing, here are the pics!



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And here is the bud on the main stem, that was burned by a 40-watt light several weeks ago. It's now the fattest bud on the plant and is "repairing" itself rather nicely!

View attachment 2939110



Stay tuned for more!

 

[bigfattone420]

Looking frosty great job...now I'm intrigue with the NL...

 

[Soviet343]

Very impressive man!! We have almost the same setup using a 4x2x5 tent. Do you run a filtration system to keep the stink down? If you do what size and brand filter / fan do you use?

I have yet to grow, so I'm learning a LOT from your journal since our setups are so similar.

I'll be using about 8 CFLs to supplement a Blackstar 240UV I picked up.

So you fit 2 plants in your tent? Any chance you can snap a shot with the doors zipped open? I have no idea if I can run two or three plants (I plan to SCROG) so I'll use yours as a gauge on how much I can fit.

Keep up the awesome grow!!

 

[robnarley1111]

Looking frosty great job...now I'm intrigue with the NL...

Thanks! Yes..I'm very impressed with Northern Lights. I'll definitely keep this strain going!

 

[robnarley1111]

Very impressive man!! We have almost the same setup using a 4x2x5 tent. Do you run a filtration system to keep the stink down? If you do what size and brand filter / fan do you use?

I have yet to grow, so I'm learning a LOT from your journal since our setups are so similar.

I'll be using about 8 CFLs to supplement a Blackstar 240UV I picked up.

So you fit 2 plants in your tent? Any chance you can snap a shot with the doors zipped open? I have no idea if I can run two or three plants (I plan to SCROG) so I'll use yours as a gauge on how much I can fit.

Keep up the awesome grow!!

Thanks! So far I don't even use a carbon filter on my setup. However, I did made a DIY filter using a 6" to 4" duct reducer, a window screen, pantyhose, duct tape and activated carbon. I have yet to mount it because the cheapo duct booster fan I have doesn't have enough power to blow through the filter without my tent temps increasing several °F.

Since my average temps with lights on run between 75-80°F on average, I'm running without a filter. I just placed a car air freshener (lemon & lime scent) on the tent next to the exhaust. Believe it or not, it actually works and smells like a mild lemon-based cleaning solution in the room with the tent. I plan on replacing the freshener once a week until I upgrade my fan. I would have bought a better fan to start with, but I knew I would need an exhaust fan for vegging when I got a bigger tent, and I wanted to try out the duct booster to see how it will hold up in flower, with or without a filter.

If the smell starts to get worse (my strains have a smell that is more like spices and citrus at the moment), I'll definitely buy that fan quicker and pop on the filter. I plan on upgrading to a 6" 440CFM centrifugal fan next month, and my 4x2x5 will become my vegetative tent; I'll get a 5X5 tent for flowering so I can grow my plants bigger without running out of room.

Right now there are five plants in the tent. One hood has Northern Lights and OG Kush under it, and the other has LSD and Super Skunk under it. The Juicy Fruit is in the middle of the lights, getting the leftover light. I can fit more plants in the tent (about 6, comfortably), but the fan I'm using to circulate air takes up too much space to do much. I'm going to buy a clip-on fan in a couple of weeks so I can have more space.

I'll take a pic with the doors open during the next watering tomorrow and I'll also take a pic of my DIY carbon filter! Thanks for checking out my grow and post a journal for yours when you get going!

 

[robnarley1111]

Northern Lights Update Time!



Week #7 of Flowering

10 more days until harvest and I can't wait! I just picked up a 30X jeweler's loupe to check out the trichomes, but I will be using my eye and "intuition" to estimate when to harvest. I want her to be fully ripe, so I am going to let her go no less than 9 weeks total, until the 16th of the month. I decided I will NOT be flushing at all. I will use plain distilled water for the last watering, about 3 days before I pull her. But I see no point in flushing (starving) my plant for 1-2 weeks, during a time which she'd otherwise be ripening up and packing on more weight.

She's still getting pretty good amounts of nitrogen, 100% of the Foliage Pro recommended dosage since the last few feedings, to ensure her leaves stay healthy green. I HATE yellow leaves! So after I chop her, I'm going to hang her up--without removing ANY leaves--for at least one week. That way, I don't have to worry about her drying to fast in my low-humidity climate.

Right now I'm using my "practice harvest" from my Juicy Fruit plant, to get a hang of properly drying/curing. In low humidity, the plant will dry in 2-3 days, which won't be enough time to break down the chlorophyll in the plant, and curing will stop, giving that "hay" or grassy taste, and a harsh smoke and/or lack of flavor. It's my understanding that many people blame lack of flushing as the reason their herb tastes bad and smokes bad, when the dry and cure was the only factor causing it. I refuse to let four months pass of dedicated growing just to lose the wonderful smell and possible good taste of my top-shelf Cannabis!!

Anyways...I'm jumping the gun a bit. Here are some pics!
















Stay tuned!

 

[robnarley1111]

Northern Lights Update Time!


She's been harvested!! Cut her down at 67 days of flowering and hung up the entire plant...nearly 10 weeks of flowering!

She started looking super-ripe: her top fan leaves turned an amber color, and most turned yellow, even though she was still getting moderate amounts of nitrogen. She simply refused to take in any more nutrients. Her pistils all receded and she just looked...done!

And for the record, I didn't flush. I hate the word/concept actually! Flushing can't remove nutrients from your buds! So I'll be going for a 10 day to 2 week dry and a 4 week cure, to break down the chlorophyll and give me connoiseur-quality herb!

So here are some pics of her last days; the buds are literally rock-hard dense and the smell is outta-this-world unbelievable!


View attachment 2968597

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Stay tuned for more pics and weight update once she dries and gets prepped for the brown bags/jars!

 

[robnarley1111]

Here is the Northern Lights plant hanging, a day or two after the chop. Nothing but buds!



Currently on day 4 of drying now, so I'm cutting off the thinner branches with buds that have dried (but the stems are still not dry), trimming the dried fan leaves off, putting them in ziplock bags to sweat--inside of paper bags for 24 hours. Then they get placed flat in a brown bag for 6-12 hours to re-distribute the moisture, then back inside ziplocks again.


Screw the growing; drying and curing IS the toughest part of this. I'll be back soon...