RollingDope's Auto Northern Lights CFL Grow

Well I'm back for round two of growing! I just got my beans in yesterday from Herbies (fast and discreet shipping! Highly recommended!)
So I just germed my Auto Northern Lights by Nirvana in a cup yesterday and I'm still waiting for her to pop.
Here's my light scheduling and etc. for this grow:
Light schedule 18/6
Fox Farm Happy Frog Soil
Fox Farm Trio Nutes
Biotanicare Cal Mag
6x 26w CFLs Both cool and warm (I'm starting off with 2 and graduating build up to 6)
Tap water

I'll keep you guys posted once she finally pops!

Welcome this year home grower, my second ever Cfl grow is happening also- I wish you luck - Here's my setup on my autoflower strains= auto nefertiti x A little kushy auto
Fox Farm oceanic forest soil
2 3 gallon pots
2 23w 1450 lumens cool bulb/1 23 1500 lumens warm bulb/ 1 68w 4200 lumen warm bulb
Ph stripes for both up down solution
Closet space 1.3 feet by 4.5 feet/ 6 feet high

Ps- please let me know if i need much more cfls per plant, seeing that both of my ladies popped and are about a week old

Day 1
.So she(Emma) popped yesterday and officially unfolded her cotyledon leaves today so I will count today as day 1.
.Also humidity is an issue I'm spraying the walls with water and adding rolled up towels to add moisture to raise it. It's between 30-50.
.I can't invest in a humidifer so I was thinking about making a homemade humidity dome. Any help would be great!
,Are the "true" leaves suppose to be pointed like that?(In the pics below)

i've never seen the leaves like that. your plant looks healthy though so i wouldn't be concerned. also as far as counting goes..the way i'm doing it is counting 3 stages:

seedling
veg
flower

i'm gonna consider my plant a seedling until she has 4 true leaves. i've read a few times this is when people like to start counting for veg, and it makes sense to me so that's what i'm gonna' do. not sure why i shared that figured it can't hurt lol.

good luck with your grow

Thanks for the response CCCmints! I'm waiting until her 3rd set of true leaves to consider her in veg. Hope you enjoy the journal and feel free to comment,leave feedback,or just look. She should be in veg in another week. I'm just monitoring how he responds to this low humidity because this is the 1st time I've had it this low during a grow
-RollingDope

Day 4
Nothing really new just watching her grow and all. I'm still curious on why her leaves look the way they do? Is it due to humidity or is it just genetics?
Also One of her newer leaves that's growing is slightly shorter in length than the other. Is that normal?
Anyway besides that everything has been going good. I got the humidity to stay between 35-55 so that's a huge plus.
Well here's little Emma

So its been a crazy past week. Didn't have anytime this weekend to update about her.
But here's the report:
Day 9
.She's coming along real fast and is developing new leaves like it's over night!
.I'm still struggling with humidity but it's coming along alright for now.
.I fed her yesterday for the first time ad it was at 1/4 strength and so far she seems okay with it. No nute burn or any signs of stress.
.When will be a good time to swap out veg nutes for bloom nutes? the 4th week or 5th week?
And here's Ms.Emma

So here's my weekly update:
.Had to go out and buy a humidifier because the humidity is just too low in the grow room. This low humidity caused my baby Emma to have heat stress problems and that's why in the pictures her leaves are "cupping" and she hasn't been doing the best.
.I started her on 1/4th strength nutes last week and so far she has responded great to them.
.I popped my other auto blue mystic I had and she(Stacie) finally sprouted so now imma have two autos going.
.Also Emma(Northern Lights) has a slight weed smell to her switch took me by surprise with it only being 2 weeks.

Emma

Stacie


I'mma also start a northern lightsXskunk and auto candy kush grow next month once these ladies finish up.
-RollingDope

What's everyone!? Got some great news for ya!
Day 21:
.So I started LSTing her and she's responding well to it! The side branching are starting to catch up to the main stalk and I'm hoping to have more main colas this time around than with my last grow
.She's starting to stink(not in a omg it's all thru the house kinda smell but a yeah she's in that stage kinda smell lol)
.Any tips on how long I should keep her tied down?
.BTW she's getting alot better with her fan leaves and stuff. No more cupping! just a lil burnt leaves because of the CFLs but nothing too major


Day 6
After smoking and realizing that she may be a little runt my fears of her dying are long gone. She's starting to really take off as a seedling and is growing faster than I expected her too.
Nothing else about stacie until after I come back from vacation.

Happy holidays
-RollingDope

It's been a crazy last few weeks this holiday season. So I got alot to say since my last update. Where do I start? Well lets start with my Northern Lights(Emma) and I'll continue onward from there.

Before I get into my plants I made a DIY CFL reflector and wanted to see what everyone thinks about it? I know the bulbs are hanging below the reflector but what can a stoner do? This reflector lets me have up to 8 lights or more (I added more after taking the pics that's why you guys only see 6) sweet


Northern Lights Auto(Emma)
So after untying her and letting her grow out she started to experience her "pre-flower" blossom and started to grow like crazy!!! She has pistils coming in left and right. Now I know the seedbanks say between 6-8 weeks but after much reading and knowledge from my previous grow I don't see me getting anything great off of her until atleast the end of this month. The LSTing really helped the other branches so I can actually make a great yield from her. Will she start budding faster than a photo or is it about the same? Here's my baby


Blue Mystic Auto(Stacie)
This lil lady has been through hell and back since I went on vacation for christmas. The person I had watching them didn't even realize I had two plants -__-. So while he was doing the daily routine check the humidity was so low that she got heat stress and got stunted and burnt heavily. However after returning and playing doctor for the past week she's returned somewhat. Her lower leaves are still impacted but the newer ones growing are trying to make up for his asinine mistakes. Despite being stunted she's still on track sorta.

I'm open to any suggestions and comments. Sorry it took so long for an update, I'm normally not this busy this time of the year but what can ya do?
My last grow journal on here is gonna be an auto bubblicious by nirvana and auto candy kush by autoseeds. Hopefully my journals helped someone but I'm done writing about my grows after those two.
-RollingDope

Hi there RD!

I heard cfls are brighter on their side, so you may want to align them accordingly.

As you see, I'm also planning to be growing (at least vegging) with cfls. It is nearly done, and the middle light fixture is for two 4-pin cfl. This one actually
It has a -seemingly- very good spectral distribution, but I have yet to experience growing with them. I can only advise you to try them. They have them from 2700k up to 8000k.

Your NL looks flourishing. How big is it? (width, height) And in how big pots?

It's a bit sad about pretty lil mystic. If only it wasn't auto, it may have made her stronger.

Good luck with your grow. I have just germinated 2 Sensi Auto NL too.
(I find it weird how little of journals are about Sensi's)

I'm looking forward, and subscribed!

Thanks for subbing NoHam. Lol love the username.
As far as the setup for mines its working out great. I would advise not to use cardboard however it may work due to the fact that CFLs don't run hot unless you got a bunch of those fuggers like I do.
When I post my weekly update Thursday or Saturday ill let you know how big she is & my blue mystic is pulling through surprisingly lol.
Well once you start your journal you'll be able to hhelp those who are in your predicament with limited info on sensi seeds. GL bro
-RollingDope

Looking great bro! I just started my grow if you read on the same thread I explain what happened.

I too would too advise against cardboard, but I figured it does not produce as much heat to be a problem. Also, I didn't want to spend $70 for a sheet of metal, which is ridiculous, and I have not yet the equipment to work with metals.
I've got to love a good oscillating saw. Never had to work with metals and don't think I'll have to (much), but a I'd take multifunctioning tool.

Back to topic: Even if I do a journal, I hesitate about posting it here. It would just make me feel unsecure... i guess?

NoHam:
You could get a piece of ductwork like I did and construction one similar to mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs_QRorECvo
Doesn't require too much $$ for metal lol.
As far as posting it's the best thing that happened to me. I learned alot more and it helped me solved problems quicker and more specifically than trying to google majority of the stuff without finding nothing similar to my problems.

CFLNoob:
I saw man. sorry to hear what happen to em. Can't wait to see those lil fuggers take off! lol
-RollingDope

Cool man. I"ve bookmarked it.

And by the $70 I meant reflectors, which are very overpriced. But then again, I live in a poor country.

Back with my not so timely weekly update lol.

My Northern Lights-
Emma is just so amazing and has proven to me that autoflowers should be taken more seriously than they are! I measured her today and she was 27 1/2 in(69-70 cm)! She is almost the same height as my photoperiod LA Confidential plant. Besides her growth spurt and her drinking like a fish I got some more exciting news. She's finally starting to show hairs everywhere and is gonna start clustering this week. I plan on cutting her down in 2 weeks. Is that still to early? I want her to finish early and let my blue mystic grow out fully. Any advice on this would be greatful.
Also is it normal for autoflowers pistils to turn brown on the main stalk? I never experienced this with my last grow.
Here she is btw

Blue Mystic-
So Stacie is doing much better than she was when I came back from vacation last month. I did clip some of her burnt leaves and fan leaves because they were severely stressed and blocked the lower branches. I do understand removing fan leaves is bad but it was a must, they were damaged and unneeded. She's still preflowering however I'm going to hold off switching nutes for another 2 weeks to allow her to achieve her full potential.

-RollingDope

Thank you for seeing my grow.
I hope all goes as good for you, as it does now, because your NL looks fascinating.
Regarding your question about cutting her down, I'd wait at least 4 weeks, and post pictures of her every week, to help us track her progress.
You may want to get a magnifying glass, and look for them trichomes appearance (so I've heard...).

Good 'luck' for you too, and have a good night!

Time for a weekly update, isn't it?

So I moved them,once again, to their new permanent home(my closet). I've also my new candy kush seed in a paper towel so I'm waiting on her to crack.

Northern Lights(Emma)-
Everything is going great for her. Nothing new except the fact she's finally putting on weight and the hairs are starting to cluster. I've removed a few fan leaves from the main stalk to allow more light in the canopy. I know I'm not suppose to remove fan leaves but she seems to be responding to the pruning very well. I didn't go nuts but her legs needed to be shaved lol. Can you guys tell a huge difference?
I'm thinking of cutting her this saturday or next week. I know it's still early but like I said I'm letting my blue mystic grow out completely and plus she was preparing me with LSTing, trimming during flowering, and etc. I don't mind having an early harvest because I got another one right after her
Day 49

Day 50

Blue Mystic(Stacie)-
She's doing alot better. She's starting to really take off with her pre-flowering growth and has come a long way. I'mma switch nutes next week so I can put her in flowering so I can start my next grow. She does look like she does have heat stress/nute burn but all is well and it is being treated.

One more seed to pop and that's the end of my grow journals.
-RollingDope