Hank Dank's Mulligan: Organic Soil LST - 60DayWonder + Northern Lights Auto

HankDank said:

Hi guys, just looking for a quick opinion. I got the 150hps about 8" above the plant. At this point im kind of scared to move it much closer unless i absolutely need to. Does this look like stretching is taking place does this seem about normal for a 2-3 day old seedling? Im new at all this so i don't quite know the difference in a stretching seedling and one thats not.
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Cant really tell. Put a lighter up to it so we can judge size. If you really want to keep the internodes tight id suggest going to home depot and buying a y splitter, two 26 watt daylight bulbs, and a reflector for both plants. Yow wont be vegging for long so those should keep them tighter than an hps and save you on electricity As for your question about your ventilation.. Make it like outside. You dont want them whipping around but you DO want something pushing on them so the stem develops a strong base. Its also important during flowering to help prevent bud rot.

I'll put up a few pix in a bit, need a shower been out working all day. So i got home just now and checked on them, the sprouts doing fine, i lifted the "shade" i had on top of the germing seed pot, nothing above ground, but u can see the top of the shell. Well heres the thing, the shell is still well on it, only the tail and root is coming out it doesnt look like its shedding the shell at all, is this normal when the beans so close to the surface? Just asking because the last 2 times i did it i saw more of the side of the "stem" coming out of the ground with the shell kind of underneath it, not directly on top like a helmet. Im sure this is probably normal just thought id double check.

Edit/update
Was about to take pics, and saw that the temp in the box was 73F i was like oh shit whats going on how'd it get so cold in there. Opened the door and of course their tryin to sleep lol, u would think id remember when the lights are supposed to go out

Update:
So I got my microscope in today
First off, this thing is kind of tiny and a bit awkward, you basically have to have it sitting on top of whatever u want to look at. So i probably wouldnt recommend it for the application i purchased it for.
However...i did use it on the seedling..and what you get to see, is amazing.
I could see little cloudly specks that look exactly like trichs but they have no "stems" yet. I honestly didnt know it got trichs on it so early.

The other seedling has surfaced, barely..however it looks kind of rough to me, we'll see what she looks like tonight.
Heres a pic of the first NLauto and shes doing great, already has 2nd leaf set starting to come in.


and the hellions!

Ok, back home and we have some good signs
NLa#1 is doing her thing, grown just a bit since this morning


And i checked on the newbie, she had this "skin" from the inside of the shell basically dried around her cotyledons, looked like a body glove it was so tight, so i took an sterile needle and lightly flicked the side of the skin and she sprung right open like u see now, so we officially have 2 NL autos going, hoping for a good harvest in about 3-4 months, Nirvana states they have a short flowering period tho, so we will see.



Also i see a major design flaw in my setup as it is, aside from the ventilation, which im going to change...really the only place i have to put the fan i have in there..is under the ballast..otherwise i can only raise or lower my light to the height of wherever the fan would be if it was attached to the inside of the box.
Well the problem is, now i have 2 plants growing..and no matter what i do..1 is going to be right under that fan....so...im guessing i have to eliminate that fan some how..while still keeping a good airflow going and not just up the back side of the box like it currently does now. It's all trial and error when you've never done this before or built a box before.
Im definitely open to any suggestions

UPDATE: Day 5
So plants are looking good, however the oldest one's leaves are starting to turn a lime green/yellowish color from the inside outward...im guessing this is just a normal process, nothing major..however if you feel otherwise please feel free to let me know what you think is up.

UPDATE
so i go out to get a few grams of good buds and come back, open my box..and i was so shocked at what i had seen, i could'nt even register it for over a good second or two..the f'n fan i had attached under the ballast was laying in the pot where my older seedling should be!! Luckily some how she dodged the bullet and was just barely layed over on the other side of it, no noticeable damage, propped her back up and piled a little dirt around her stem....still bugged about theses leaves tho, they look to me like they are getting a little more greenish yellow to them, i don't think im doing anything wrong or theres anything wrong with my setup though, it might be the light but perhaps more so its just the strain

Just throwing up some new pics, everythng looks good, watered them for the first time today, just added a little superthrive thats about it, the leaves are still getting this lime green color, im going to say at this points its genetics, been like that for a few days, and no other signs of stress that i can see, have been keeping the box down in the mid to low 70's with 60-70rh. Reworked the inside of the box a little, made the light stationary and moved the fan in between the intake and exhaust, so what fresh air does come in and roll up the back towards the exhaust will atleast been blow over the plants first. And look i found a good use for my old ninja turtle tapes!

Well checked on my plants a little while ago, #2 is looking good, just growing right along, but #1 is droopy, and still has that lime green color to the leaves. Soils a bit moist at the bottom, think it might be holding to much water down there.


Any ideas or advice?

Looking good bro. Ya #1 is looking a little overwatered. Just let her dry out a little. Liking the vent upgrade. That should work good. Not too sure about the color cause the hps makes them lighter than they really are. I usually turn mine off when i take pics but i have cfls still going.

Thanks, yeah they are liking the way i have the fan set up now, they both get a nice breeze that lets the leaves move just a little. I think the soil just got too moist at the bottom, i think she'll look better in a few days. I have some Air-Pots coming in the mail, im going to transfer them both into those for their final pots. When i do that im going to add more perlite into my soil medium, its still not draining quite as well as id like, i added more vermiculite than i should have originally. When should i start to LST, when there 2-3 nodes or what?

HankDank said:

Thanks, yeah they are liking the way i have the fan set up now, they both get a nice breeze that lets the leaves move just a little. I think the soil just got too moist at the bottom, i think she'll look better in a few days. I have some Air-Pots coming in the mail, im going to transfer them both into those for their final pots. When i do that im going to add more perlite into my soil medium, its still not draining quite as well as id like, i added more vermiculite than i should have originally. When should i start to LST, when there 2-3 nodes or what?

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Thats what i liked about having little plants in big pots. I only watered once a week. I thought i had the same problem as you. I even put it in my journal about adding more perlite but i didnt and now im down to every 3rd day. If i go 4 they dry up. Im using ffof and it doesnt have alot of perlite. Im deff going with airpots on my next grow though.

Yeah i think for the price difference being a few bucks more for the air pots its a no brainer. They say whatever size container you using now, you can use half that size air pot and keep the same results.

I believe it. I actually had the lady at my hydro store give me a 2gallon air pot to try it out but i had already built my setup. They will be used for sure in my closet grow.

So i've been letting #1 dry out since it got over watered, it looked it this yesterday. As you can see the soil is quite dry on top.


Got a package in yesterday, it was my nutes and my airpots


So i decided maybe i need to actually water #1 when she was kind of falling over because of how loose the top soil was. So i watered her, this is what she looks like today.

Also heres what #2 is looking like, im quite happy with her so far

Looking good. What day are they on(above ground)?

Oh and wicked looking pots..

Mechanical said:

Looking good. What day are they on(above ground)?

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#1 is day 13 i believe, and #2 is day 8

I forgot they were autos.. I looked at my day 13 and its much bigger.. Lol i guess that is the point of auto's though. Im dumb.. Thats alot of nutes!!! Have you figured out your schedule?

No not yet, when i watered #1 last night i added a half dose of the bio root and some of the seaweed extract to help the roots a little bit but i didnt add anything else. I think ill wait until the watering after next before i start introducing any any real nutes tho, and probably in minor doses at that.
I think #1 would look much bigger if it had'nt been stunted a little bit with transplanting and over watering. But she should pick up soon. And yeah they probably won't get to awefully big since they are autoflowers like you said.

Heres some more pics of the babies
#2 left, #1 on right


#1 at 15 days old is looking better, leaves are perked back up, but as you can see shes still has this lime yellowish tint to her. Now keep in mind my camera is using flash during these pics so the color might be a bit brighter than it truely is


And #2 at 10 days old is nearly caught up, you can see the differences between a stressed plants growth and one thats been rocking along since germination.


what do you guys think for autos? about the right size?