Northern Lights, Onyx Soil Grow

This is my 3rd grow and I am pretty excited about it, given that my first failed miserably during the seedling stage, due to ignorance, impatience, but mostly lack of water and boiling temperatures. My second grow was all bag seed, but it was moving just fine that I didn't care as long as I was gaining valuable experience. And I was. My second shot was a charm: 55 days from seed I had somehow managed to keep all that germinated alive, eight beautiful plants that were all but asking me to flip the lights to 12/12. On this occasion, any fear I had of seeing my crop die due to inexperience yielded to a more ominous threat known as my girlfriend, which, appropriately, I will refer to as "The Brat".
The destruction she caused, I must admit, I saw coming. After a night of drinks, there was an argument at the apartment that erupted like a volcano, with the nastiest of insults being shouted back and forth. This was actually what I would consider normal for our relationship at the time. At the height of the argument was her with her ear to the phone threatening to call the police and have me revealed for my par-takings. In the end, the threat turned out only to be a false alarm, a mere attempt to put me in my place, show me that I had better watch how much shit I gave her. Nonetheless, the moment was so intense, so frightening, that I decided with my heart racing to erase all doubt and pull the crop. Officially, that is where my second grow ended. Here's my third:

Paradise Seeds Northern Lights, Onyx by Short Stuff, White Berry, bag seed I found in the crumb-infested depths of the couch.

All four seeds germinated successfully via the surefire wet paper towel method. Placed in soil, everyone except White Berry popped up after less than 2 days. Unnecessarily, I groped the soil at the top of the WB container hoping to see a sprout. I did, but my unwarranted probing resulted in the destruction of a very young, fragile, and innocent seedling that probably wanted nothing more than to go at its own pace. I uprooted the delicate seedling by the taproot, and despite efforts to remedy the stress, it never recovered.

This grow began approximately 18 days ago. In a perlite/soil mix, the young seedlings were placed just inches below cfl's. Each received 24 hours of constant light generated by 4 23-watt 6500K bulbs per seedling.

To get everyone caught up to this point, I will be posting random pictures of the babes as well as the current light setup, which is a 400 watt mh enclosed in a homemade air cooled hood.

Day 20
At this point, the remaining survivors (Northern Lights, Onyx, Bag Seed) are underneath the 400 watt mh. For reasons I do not understand, young seedlings
have a tendency to grow extremely bushy and stay short while at the mercy of CFL's. Because of this, I decided to employ the 400 watt mh significantly sooner
than what I did in previous grows. As you can tell from the pics, with these strains I have experienced extreme bushiness and stellar leaf growth, but it seems
as if the stems are not keeping up, resulting in very short plants that already have developed four to five or more sets of leaves.

Having read dozens upon dozens of posts, articles, and countless grow journals, both cfl and hid, I have honestly never came across any information that mentioned
similar growth using cfl's. Is this type of growth good or bad or in between? I know long dinky stems reflect stretch, which is not good, and compact, bushy plants is good, but
is there a downside to 2 or 3 inch plants with 4 to 5 sets of leaves already?

On a good note, the plants are definitely enjoying the 400 watt mh. All 3 plants have shown vigorous growth in the past 2 days, including both noticeable stem growth
as well as foliage. I think the mh was a great idea at just the right time. Temps stay around low to high 70's with the cold ac air blowing directly into one side of the hood
and out the other, through about 5 feet of ducting and out the room. Lights are on a timer set to 18/6, of course.

The onyx was a freebie thrown in by a certain favorite distributor. I didn't know at first that it was an autoflower strain, which to me is both a good and bad thing.
It supposedly will go directly to flower, and be ready to chop and crop in seven to ten weeks. Good. On a more disappointing note, it is not a strain that I can LST,
or Scrog, or clone, or otherwise have my way with. Bad. Nonetheless, it appears a nice strain and I am very much looking forward to nursing it for the next several weeks.

Northern Lights and Onyx were started in small containers, and have recently been transplanted into roughly 1 gallon pots. Both responded well, with the help of
a little superthrive. IMO, transplanting is as difficult a procedure as tying one's shoe. There is really nothing to it, and I have never had a plant die, or experienced delayed
growth that was of any significance. I have dropped plants, been rough with fragile seedlings, and had large chunks of soil containing roots break away from the soil mass being transplanted. All of this, and the plants continue to grow vigorously and without delay. The bag seed is nearing time for transplant.

Some day 20 pics attached. Sorry for the terrible quality, but I am using a very basic cell phone. I will be purchasing a good camera in approximately 26 days.

Day 22
Once again, I continue to learn some of the simplest things that I should probably have figured out by now. I'm talking PH. I've always used distilled water, never tap. Unfortunately, I have used tap water only this entire grow, so far. I let it sit out 24-48 hours before using it on the plants, and it never occurred to me that while chlorine and other substances may dissipate through the process, pH may still need adjustment. And I thought all along I had already arrived at "fine-tuned" conditions. Lol!

After noticing light yellowish spots on some of northern light's fan leaves, I was compelled to check pH. With the liquid tester stuff, it came back the color that reflects 8.5 or higher. Terrible! For the moment, I used some tap water that had been sitting out and adjusted the pH to a low 6. This shall have to do for now, as I cannot get distilled water until tomorrow, hopefully. Then, I will give 'em a good flush and start nutes by week's end. Pics to come shortly...

Just convinced the ex to bring distilled water because one of my cats has gotten an irritation in the eyes and the internet says the best
remedy is to gently rub the eyes with distilled water, never tap. Lol!

Day 22 Pics: Once again, I apologize for the terrible photos, 3 more weeks and I will be shopping for
a decent digital camera. Any recommendations anyone? Price range $75-$200.

Day 27
So far, things are going decent. Thankfully, I was able to acquire a decent camera. In other news, sadly, I believe all
3 plants are experiencing what they call "lock-out". For the first twenty or so days from seed, I had been giving them
tap water that, to my dismay, turned out to have a pH that read 8.5 or higher according to the tester. All 3 have continued to grow,
but the rate of growth has definitely slowed to depressing levels.

Northern Lights I am most concerned about. The latest 3 sets of leaves are light green with yellow patches and streaks all throughout. They are noticeably thinner than any new sets of leaves I have seen in the past, and some appear twisted, kind of wrinkled.

Onyx is doing the best out of the 3. While she continues to reveal her feminine attributes-to my pleasure, of course- growth seems to have slowed down considerably

The bag seed, well, I'll say looks can be deceiving. While it looks totally fine and green and normal, I have been keeping a close eye
on its last two sets of new leaves, and over the past 24-48 hours I have noticed no new growth, or extremely little.

No nutes have been used to this point. I will administer those once I correct the current troubles. For the past two or 3 days, I have used
only distilled water, giving them very generous amounts hoping to lower the pH.

What do you guys think based on the pictures, and should I transplant to new soil or just continue watering with just distilled water????

Also, what could be the reason that the onyx leaves are starting to curl up? Temps never exceed 78 usually lower

Lots of text to read so i just skimmed through it a bit. Maybe you could sum up some of the main points?
Looks like nute burn, but if youre not using nutes maybe PH can cause similar effects. Or you have soil with nutes already mixed in and those were too much for the young plants.

Day 29
For the last week, I have been feeding distilled water only. Things have started to look somewhat better. Bagseed has came to a complete halt in growth
for about the last week. Onyx has some dry and curled up leaves, but seems to be budding pretty decently. Northern Lights has some fan leaves
that look absolutely terrible, deformed. top growth is extremely slow, but lower areas are experiencing growth at a fast pace. Last night, all plants
were flushed with heavy amounts of distilled, so I am hoping that today they will begin to come alive and pick things up a bit.
Day 29 Pics :

How often do you water?

Typically, I water no less than every 48 hours, sometimes even 72. I like to let the soil indicate when to water.
I let it get dry to about an inch down, that usually serves as a good barometer. However, do to the my current problems, and
a desperate need to help my plants recover from the high pH, I have been nearly drowning them every 48 hours with distilled water.

I think onyx is pretty much out of the woods, if it ever was in.
Northern Lights has tremendous lower growth, which somewhat puts me at ease, despite lack of growth from the top.
Bagseed has developed no lower growth, and still its newest set of leaves continues to not grow.

I think tomorrow I will start them on GH nutes. I've got some seedlings going in a homemade DWC system.
All future grows will likely be straight DWC, no more messing with soil. Pics of all plants to come in a few hours. Check back...

Day 87
Finally back up and posting. Computer problems, camera problems, you name it I've had it. Fortunately, I am back to update and complete this journal. So here's where things lie:

Onyx: I have heard stories of the Onyx by short stuff being this amazing autoflowering strain that would change the game so to speak. In my opinion, not so much. Maybe in a DWC setup I could have done better, but in soil I pulled Yield: approximately 5 grams dry weight. I'd say I did everything by the book, so I was disappointed with the results to say the least. It went 58 days under a 400 watt hps. Maybe a little early, but it's not like another week or two would have ten-folded my yield.

Northern Lights: At the moment, she is in her 5th week of flowering. She looks good sharing a 400 watt hps with bagseed, althought I predict my yield will not be as good as it could have been due to my cats eating some of the lower growth. Unfortunate, yes, but they no longer have access to the growing area. I would love to let her go to 10 weeks, no hurry here.

Bagseed: This plant is probably my pride and joy. She looks great. Better than the NL. Approximately 5 weeks into flower. Trichomes starting to appear faintly, and the smell is pungent. It's a formidable scent, stings the nostril.

On the right are the Bagseed and NL. The left are either Seedsman White Widow, or Bagseed. I say either, because until recently my operation was very unorganized due to so many other responsibilities and too few hands and time. I failed to label them properly, so now I hope I can tell with a smoke test. Their sex is unknown, it is Day 1 of flower.

Beautiful growth! Esp. for 3rd time running up.

Very nice. So far northern lights has been my favorite grow and smoke. I'm sure that will change once this grow is over and I'm smokin BlueBerry. I had a problem with one of my cats taking out a good chunk of a plant in about 10 minutes. Since then doors are closed. However, as a good stoner father I still hand him a leaf every time I trim the ladies.

Thanks guys for all the kind words. It really means so much to receive praise for all the hard work that goes into my grows. The countless hours that I dedicate to developing plants is a serious source of stress at times since I am still a noob, or at best going through the transition from noob to whatever lies beyond that wherein I have slightly surpassed the competence of a noob. It is both rewarding and exciting to be able to take something as tiny as a seed and watch as it develops into a monstrous form of life.

I am so grateful for sites like this where I can spend late-night and early-morning-hours fulfilling my desire to acquire much-needed information that I couldn't possibly go without. I have become deeply absorbed and very passionate about ‘farming’ since the early days just the beginning of this year when I began throwing around the idea in my very eccentric mind. I am currently putting together a journal slash possible documentary to share my experiences with everyone else. After all, isn’t that what life is about to a large extent? Sharing experiences with others. I have this raging eagerness to share things like how I would stay awake until the early morning reading page after page, journal after journal on the internet until I told myself I had learned enough that would pay dividends in the form of knowledge applicable to my farming pursuits. I didn’t just skim either, at least not in the beginning. I would stumble across a well-structured journal maybe 25 pages long, start from the beginning, read every word, take a break, than read another. It was completely ridiculous and pathetic to my partner at the time how I would not come to bed at a decent hour because I was too busy on the computer looking up stupid weed stuff, but she had no idea. (inaudible laughs). The stupid weed stuff to her was a world about which I was completely curious, knew very little about, and knew that it was more than just the waste-of-time nonsense of which others might perceive from the outside looking in. That is to say, I view ‘farming’ as an investment much like Edison invested in the light bulb, or Gates invested in computer technology.

While I currently operate solely to supply myself and a close circle of a couple buds (always wanted to do this: pun intended), and do not condone or partake in growing illegally to get rich and not work for an honest living like decent folks are expected, I am not a pushover. I am not ignorant. Nor unaware, delusional, or misinformed. I see a bigger picture: the booming market for legal medical marijuana. If I am of any mind to determine the prognosis of a situation, I believe there is a movement occurring at this juncture in American history. I wouldn’t take this belief if I hadn’t did my homework to learn the history of medical marijuna, including the 16 states that have somewhat recently adopted laws allowing the use and sale of it, the rate at which it has become quite prevalent in these aforementioned states, the demand for it in these states and also in others, the relative ease in which one person (having succeeded in prior business or not) can earn a comfortable living either farming and supplying their handful of patients, operating a dispensary legally distributing medical marijuana and/or snacks containing medical marijuana, or opening a business to supply the great demand from customers who will continue to need products necessary to cultivate medical marijuana, or plants in general, and whom in many cases will likely continue to prefer shopping at brick-and-mortar than doing so on the internet due to an unwillingness to leave a credit-card paper-trail behind due to the traditionally illegal status of marijuana.

With all that said, I will continue to update this journal on a day-to-day basis and share with you all all my farming pursuits. Thanks and enjoy!

hahaha slim I think I know who you are but I'm not tellin. I just realized it said slim. You need an avatar, bro. Don't worry, I do too. Off
to find one.

LOL. Great knowledge here, I do agree. I have read 100s of pages on how to grow, just not here. But from forums and sites similar to this one. Yet never started nothing. So forgot my information that I learned over probably two years of google'n it and such.

Anyways, legalization is not only important for medical. Its a billion dollar industry. Marijuana can be used for many things! Can be brought to many heights! It is proven to be safer then tobacco and alcohol combined! And helps medically also!


Im getting lazy. and i do need a avatar. lol. hmmm.

Bagseed or White Widow Approx 35-40 Days from seed.

Here are two plants I started awhile back. The mammoth, bushy freak is either Bag or WW. She looks like a lady to me. As far as being able to determine sex before the flowering period, I am not saying I can. I will say, though, that out of the dozen or so plants I have raised, it seems the males I have found display similar phenotypes (appearances). I have pulled 2 males thus far, and they were both tall, lanky, and there was less growth around where the main stem meets the node. But, I did recently pull one that was fairly nice and bushy only to turn out to have balls.

The mammoth is in a 5 gallon DWC type system under a 400 watt MH at the moment, though she will be going into flower very shortly. I use General Hydroponics three-part and liquid karma on all my hydroponic plants. I use RO water from a major chain store, and have yet to secure any Cal-Mag. I haven't seen any adverse effects due to the lack of Cal-Mag with RO water, but I do plan to get some as I would hate to experience a calcium deficiency.

The smaller plant in the pot next to the mammoth is a bagseed whose lineage is unknown, and whom started out with a terrible upbringing. One day a friend dropped off a small pot with about 20 or so seedlings fighting for space. They looked terrible, some of the worst stretching I had ever seen. I untangled and mangled roots, and put each in a separate pot with soil and distilled water.

Out of the twenty, five remain. Three are about one week into flower, and I think one looks male. None of them look very promising, but really I think I am only experimenting to see how much they can produce. Why not? The other three are still vegging. You wouldn't know it by their appearance, but all of these latch-key babies are about 4 months old now. It's hard to believe they are so underdeveloped for 4 months old, but it just reveals how much a plants growth is limited by pot size, having multiple plants to one pot, dirty soil, inadequate water and light supply, and probably just bad genetics to begin with.

Stay tuned...

Just beautiful! I think the color on them are excellent. Just hope all are females and the produce is greater! None the less, it is a learning experience and all productive. Looking forward to seeing how they turn on in the end. Can't rush your way to perfection in anything though.

11/29 update:

With the latest development, if I had one word to describe the changes that have taken place in the last 24-48 hours, I would have to steal a line from this rapper named eminem and use the term "holly meca-rebeca". Let me catch you up on the latest if you've been following, or hopefully you start now.

Clones: So I built a clone machine using a rough-neck, and a two-hundred and sum gallon per hour water pump from a local hydro shop. It's 16 site. About five weeks ago, I took some cuttings from one of the plants, and tried it out. Turned out, my inexperience would get the best of me. After putting them in the clone machine, twenty minutes later I check back and they were drooping badly, so I assumed they were dead and there was no chance of them coming to. I realize now, I was mostly wrong. I didn't know that clones will typically droop heavily soon after being placed in the clone machine. Anyways, I tried again, and this time I have finally achieved what I never that I would ever see: healthy-looking clones with a nice first set of emerging roots. After having success, I can now say that cloning really is quite simple for even the novice grower, so long as he has the right equipment to provide the cuttings with an environment optimal to nurturing his clones. What you will need to successfully clone, or in my opinion, what you could use is: A 5-gallon bucket or roughneck container, a water-pump, and plenty of distilled or similar water. A razor-blade and some pruning shears are also great. That really is all you need, unless, like me, you hear that cloning gels help and decide to use them as well. Which I did, I used Olivias. Anyways, It did take quite long (two weeks) for the cuttings to grow roots, but likely this can be linked to the fact that for the first 12 or so days the room temperature was around 64-68 degrees, when the optimum temperature range for nurturing cuttings is typically 72-80 degrees, from what I have read. Here is a portfolio of the cuttings that have shown roots so far, which is I believe 3 of them, though all others are clearly showing signs of incoming roots, which are little white specks that start showing up near the bottom of the cutting and a day or two before a root actually surfaces.

Northern Lights/Bagseed update
11/29
Day 90
Approximately 35 days into flower
Light cycle: 12/12
400 watt hps
Homemade cooled hood (fan not running)
2 plants
5-gallon buckets
Expert Gardener Soil
RO water

~ ~ The past week or so I have noticed some of the fan leaves on both plants turning a pale yellow color. It could be only one yellow leaf surrounded by nice, healthy-looking deep-green leaves. That part I don't understand. I have ruled out pH issues, and I know how and when to water, so I am guessing it is not receiving enough nitrogen by the look of the yellow leaves. This makes sense because the plants were put in the five gallon bucket with new soil about 6 weeks ago, and I have yet to add any nutrients at all. So, last night I added a moderate amount of some 4-10-2 liquid nutrients bought on sale awhile back from a major chain store. I also added a moderate amount of GH bloom, as the plant is in flowering. It's been only one day, so if the problem persists I will be give it another feeding to ensure the plant has just enough nitrogen as I am still 4-5 weeks away from harvest, and I would hate to be denying the plant nitrogen altogether so far from harvest. If it were 2 weeks away, I might not add the extra nitrogen, or bloom for that matter, as it is good practice to discontinue the use of nutes shortly before harvest in order to deprive the plant of chemicals, and therefore, allow for bud that is smoother in taste. The pictures that follow are of the flowering Northern Lights and Bagseed. The bagseed is the darker plant with two main colas. Enjoy!

WW/BS
Day 40
11/30
DWC
General Hydroponics Nutrients/ Liquid Karma
I've decided to officially call these plants 40 days old. I know they are 5 or 6 weeks from seed, so I decided 40 days would suffice. Anyways, they are all doing well hovering around 900 ppm of nutes looking good for the most part. Some yellowing a bit at the bottom of a couple, so I guess I'll raise the nutes and check the pH.

There are 4 of these plants in flower right at the moment. They are either White Widow or Bagseed. This is only the 3rd full day of flower, and already I have some great news. I can tell at least 2 of them are indeed females, as indicated by thin white pistols protruding near the flower regions. I actually think another of the plants looked female, but I am unable to make an official determination at this juncture. It appeared one was male, but that one was slightly questionable as well, as it is only 3 days into the flowering cycle, after all. At any rate, I would not be disappointed at all if I can land two females out of four. I will take that any day.

Clones: I am glad that I decided to take clones, because they were cut from the plants mentioned above. I took one clone from plant H, two from plant L, and these
plants came out female, so I know I now have three female clones to start a perpetual harvest party! Plus, another clone was taken from plant I, not pictured above, and that means that one might turn out female as well. But, It's still relatively early to starting taking names just yet.

Of the 3 confirmed female clones, one is ready to be placed in my begginer DWC system, which is a fairly small plastic tote with several air-stones to generate enough bubbles for the young root systems until they are "weened" and ready for their own 5-gallon bucket. It's a good way to start several plants and save space. Eventually though, their root systems will grow fuller and if not moved in time, roots will tangle and you don't want to be involved in something like that. Trust me, I have had to cut roots before with scissors because two had become tangled, and I couldn't let them remain in that begginner tote for the remainder of their days.

The following are the mother plants currently on day 3 of flower.