Hidden Cabinet, Northern Lights 16" x 16" x 24" 97 Watts LED Low Odor

[Ancient Green]

Strain/s: Nirvana Nothern Lights fem
Genetic Makeup: Mainly Indica
Pot/Bucket Size: 3 Gallon Cloth
Tent Size: 16" x 16" x 24"
Grow Space: Grow Cabinet
How Many Plants: 1
Environment: Indoor
Stage: Veg through Flower week by week
Medium: Fox Farm Coco Loco, perlite, rabbit manure
Lights: Spiderfarmer SF-1000 with dimmer, 97 watts
Nutrients: Dynagrow Foliage Pro, Bloom, Calmag. Growers recharge used occasionally with plain waterings.
Room/Tent Temperature: 74 lights on 68 off
Relative Humidity: 50%
Media/Res PH: N/A
Pests: Who really knows ! No fungus gnats, BTI used early. Soil boiled and baked to 180degrees before grow. I dont like pests.
Watering: Coco loco holds water, too much, almost like a big sponge. Veg, 4-5 days. Flower 3 days. Watering around twice per week until the pot feels light. Watering to 20% runoff 1/2 gallon or more to 3 gallons soil. (yes, seems a bit much to me too but I want runoff...

 

[Ancient Green]

Hi all,

I had this grow posted on another forum but moved away and found a better home here at 420 Mag. I am a relatively new grower and the purpose of my journal here is to show that people can still enjoy the thrill of growing in very small spaces. Dont let a small space stop you ! It can be done and you'll enjoy all the thrills that big growers get, just at a smaller scale. (this includes the joys and the headaches of growing)... Bonus? Trim day wont be nearly as painful with one plant. I hate trim day, what a chore!

Low odor, this is not as important to most growers, but for stealth growers, it is key. My chosen strain is Nirvana Northern Lights, one of the most recommended low odor strains. I've grown this strain 4 times now, and will show why this is considered low odor and how it can work in a hidden grow space.

 

[Bill284]

Hey Buddy
Looking forward to your grow


Stay safe
Bill284

 

[Ancient Green]

Here, I will blab on and on for a bit, I am quite aware that talk/type too much. But some may want more details, others can just skip past for the juicy pictures, its all good !

Size:
This is a custom grow cabinet, a metal safe with locking doors. I am only using one side of the grow cabinet, and the chamber is 16 inches x 16 inches by 48 Inches. I am using a 4 inch carbon fiilter in this same chamber, hung over the light. Although my cabinet is 48 inches high, the space required for the carbon filter, light and a raised pot leaves me little vertical space.. around 20 inches for the plant. No worries ! , here is where training the right strain can still work
This grow was done in 3 gallons of Coco Loco soil to keep the plant size manageable. I am also using a Mainline/Manifold training technique, pics will show how this works later. (spoiler, I made huge mistakes here and lost around 4 weeks in Veg training to aggressively)

Watering:

I'm using a 3 gallon cloth pot and Fox Farm Coco Loco soil. This is my first run with Coco and I wont be using it again. For my grow style, Coco holds too much water.. Yes, I added tons of perlite, but its crazy how much water it holds. Its like a big sponge holding 3/4 - 1 gallon of water in 3 gallons of soil! Soil had better drainage for me and I'll be going back to soil for my nexy grow. I'm not bashing Coco Loco, but have a feeling this soil would be better watered less and more often, probably on a daily basis. Hidden grows and watering daily dont go together if you ask me.

Boiled and Baked soil:

I live on the east coast US, (note legal to grow state). It is humid and all of the super soils sold in nurseries are loaded with bugs. ALL of them. I just visited a Hydro store and the soil was stored inside. I walked around Pro Mix, Fox Farm, Coast of Maine, and noticed small flies everywhere. So, I bake my soil to 180 degrees which is a real shame, I know I'm killing all the good life in the soil but I'd rather all bugs dies. Root Aphids are a huge worry of mine. I also use BTI early on just to make sure no Fungus Gnats are alive after the baking. Here on the east coast, your almost guaranteed to get fungus gnats with your soil..

Note: I'm 18 weeks in this grow and have not a single fly in my yellow sticky trap. None.

Low Odor

OK, you have no idea how much time Ive spent researching low odor strains. Many of the breeders/Seedbanks have a low odor recommended section. Sifting through many, Northern Lights is always at the top of the list. Is it low odor? Yes ! and No !. You have to understand, weed smells, there is really no way around it. BUT Northern Lights has no odor at all, I mean none until week 6 of flower. Then it builds gradually to a sweet honey, pine and slightly acrid flower type smell,. (think of the smell of rose stems) . It can get by your carbon filter slightly, but it isnt a classic skunky weed smell. I'm in week 8 flower now using a cheap carbon filter and AC afinity fan (4 inch). My wife stands inches from my cabinet and cant notice a thing. I can smell it though when the lights are on late at night. So, Ive learned that timing your lights to when everyone is asleep is a good trick. Lights off, there is zero odor escaping.

Other strains to consider: (from much research)

Durban Poison (Ive grow this, it is low odor, similar to Northern Lights.
Master Kush
Jack Herer
C99
White Rhino
Green Ninja
Polar Express
AK-48

Grow Problems, I am still a newbie.

Week 6 of flower still gets me with deficiencies every grow. I'm working on getting this solved, but know that my harvest is heavily impacted. I'm hoping the folks here in 420 Mag hold my hand for my next grow, some have already offered to help... Love it here !

Ok, I'll shut up now and get to the good stuff. Pictures.

 

[Ancient Green]

My grow cabinet: Custom made, still needs some work.

Spiderfarmer Sf-1000 4 Inch Carbon filter, 4 inch AC afinity fan. Lights, and carbon filter installed in the right chamber, the fan is in the left chamber seperated from the grow room. All electronics and controllers are installed in the left chamber, completely seperated from the grow. (I can change fan settings without opening the grow chamber)

 

[Ancient Green]

Week 1

Odor Report for the entire Veg, = 0. None at all, no need for a carbon filter at all during veg. I cant say this for other strains I tried, they stunk in Veg. (White WIdow and Master Kush)

Transplanted seedlings get a bit rough for the first few weeks, I think the soil is a bit too hot. No worries, they seem to get though it after getting their feet down.

Week 2

Week 4 topping

Week 5 OOPS ! I'll lose a week at least, no worries, I'm in no rush. I cracked the mainline on the right side and decided to just rip it off instead of letting it heal.

Week 6 oops again ! Dammit, I'll lose a week or two again...No worries, its just a happy little accident. Maybe the long veg time will help beef up the frame. Lesson learned, dont train small young branches so aggressively.

Week 9 (jumping a bit to make up for my screw ups. I finally wound up with a right and left main branch after many weeks. Again, its all good. The main stem is thick and beefy from the extra veg time. I used a metal kabob rod to help hold down the mainline. Worked great !

Week 10 Defoliation to mainline. I want 4 colas per side. (kept nodes 1 and 3 on both sides, chopping node two) If done right, all the hard work is done here. The 8 colas will all grow into a even circle without need for much more training. Its all set it and forget it at this point ! Time to go 12/12 soon.

 

[Bill284]

My grow cabinet: Custom made, still needs some work.

Spiderfarmer Sf-1000 4 Inch Carbon filter, 4 inch AC afinity fan. Lights, and carbon filter installed in the right chamber, the fan is in the left chamber seperated from the grow room. All electronics and controllers are installed in the left chamber, completely seperated from the grow. (I can change fan settings without opening the grow chamber)

Air pots are my favorite.
Cool setup


Stay safe
Bill284

 

[Ancient Green]

Week 11 (week 1 Flower) Odor =none 0

Week 13 F3 Odor = none

Week 14 F4 Odor = none

Week 15 F5 Odor = none

Week 16 F6 Deficiencies, P K Calcium and Mag. The plant wont be all it should be, but hey, I'm a newbie. Odor = slight but I know its in the mail ! I got some great help from the folks here and the deficiencies seem to have slowed down. No leaves lost, thats a good sign.

Week 17 F 7 Odor = Noticable now, carbon filter needed. It smells like pine, honey and a slightly acrid smell like a rose stem. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say around 4.

Week 18 F8 Odor report, stronger but still manageable. With lights on, it gets past my filter slightly. Its not a pure weed smell though and easily covered... Incense used in rooms close to my grow cabinet, my family thinks I'm into meditation. Zero smell escaping when lights off, I make sure to turn lights on when everyone is asleep.

 

[Ancient Green]

Current: We are all caught up, I'll follow up with a harvest to be coming soon ! I'm almost at the end of week 8 now, seems to be mainly cloudy with quite a bit of clear trichs on the lower buds. Very few amber at this point, I think a week or so to go...

The buds arent what I was hoping for, I almost gave up on this grow at week 6 flower, but I'm no quitter. The good news is that I will get some bud. But I will say this, NONE of my dispensery purchased flowers comes anywhere close to the potency of my personally grown Northern lights. I smoked half a bowl of this last night and got too high. (older grow, 1 year cure time)... It sure feels good to produce something that blows the doors off the dispensery buds !

Gave one of the very tops to a friend and he told me after a big hit, he had to put a knee down. Thats a hell of a compliment coming form someone that smokes ounces of Gary Peyton, Zkittles, Runtz etc... This old school classic really packs a punch ! I love Northern Lights !

 

[Ancient Green]

Air pots are my favorite.
Cool setup


Stay safe
Bill284

The air pot in the cabinet pic was 7 gallons, which was quite a waist of soil as my plant only used 2 gallons of soil. In my low RH setup, the air pot wound up drying too quickly on the sides. I'm back to cloth, but I'm not against trying them again.

 

[Ancient Green]

Well, I'm 8.5 weeks into flower now, 90% red pistols curling in. Trichs 80 % cloudy 10% amber 10% clear.

She is telling me that the end is coming, drinking less water, leaves yellowing, buds tightening up..

I'd love to give this another week but think I'm already pushing it....Thought I'd ask what you all think.

 

[Azimuth]

I guess I'm a little late as I see the grow is almost over, but I'd like to follow along. Lots of similarities to how I like to grow; small cabinet, Northern Lights (#5 for me), stealth importance, training as a necessity (quadlining for me), smallish containers (I flower in 2 gallon SIP buckets) etc.

Have you thought about doing a small mother/veg section in the other half? Would allow for clones/seed starts while the other side is in flower allowing for a perpetual harvest, etc.

In any event, welcome to The Forums. Lots of knowledgeable, and friendly growers here happy to offer advice for the asking.

 

[Ancient Green]

I guess I'm a little late as I see the grow is almost over, but I'd like to follow along. Lots of similarities to how I like to grow; small cabinet, Northern Lights (#5 for me), stealth importance, training as a necessity (quadlining for me), smallish containers (I flower in 2 gallon SIP buckets) etc.

I posted this late towards the end of the grow so the pictures would stay together. Your not late, I think I'm too early... (or whatever you want to call it !)

Cool to know I'm not the only one growing small micro grows, I'm having a blast.I love Northern Lights too, this is my 4th try. I havent tried NL #5 but am very curious. Do you have any journals up?

Quadlining is a new one to me, I'll have to look it up. Let me guess, a mainline with 4 colas? SIP is new to me too, I'm looking into this as well..

Tonight may be choppy time... How long did you flower NL 5 for out of curiosity?

Have you thought about doing a small mother/veg section in the other half? Would allow for clones/seed starts while the other side is in flower allowing for a perpetual harvest, etc.

In any event, welcome to The Forums. Lots of knowledgeable, and friendly growers here happy to offer advice for the asking.

 

[Azimuth]

Links to both quadlining and SIP are in my sig.

 

[Ancient Green]

Links to both quadlining and SIP are in my sig.

Nice ! I just finished my second Mainline and wound up with 8 colas both grows. The quality is AMAZING but the harvest weight is a little low compared to letting the plant go wild.

Man ! I am so glad I looked at your sig, the Quadline is exactly what I'm looking for. My main goal is to keep everything low, and this is perfect. I also want more tops than eight as I've found the tops are all that really matters.

Here is my mainline, as you can see I got ripped off a bit using this technique. I also made the mistake of letting too much lower growth build up. Next grow I'll be going with a quadline and lower defoliation.

Shoulda lollipopped this, lesson learned.

 

[Ancient Green]

Seeing a few ambers, mainly all cloudy but a lot of clear trichs under the buds and in the lower regions. I'll probably go a few more days. I look forward to harvest as much as getting my teeth drilled at the dentist. I'm in no rush !

 

[Azimuth]

Those look like nice, solid colas.

 

[Azimuth]

Man ! I am so glad I looked at your sig, the Quadline is exactly what I'm looking for. My main goal is to keep everything low, and this is perfect. I also want more tops than eight as I've found the tops are all that really matters.

The quad is a really good growing style, fast to construct and gives you a nice looking plant. My flower space is onlty 36"/1m wide and tall and about half that deep. I run two plants in there 6 weeks apart for a continual harvest so I have to keep them in check and the quad plus the SIP makes a great combination, at least for me and my constraints.

 

[Ancient Green]

Those look like nice, solid colas.

Thanks, I harvested tonight at day 61. I could have gone another week but I'm definately in the harvest window now. The colas are the fattest Ive grown yet, over 2 ounces each after wet trim. Leafy as hell though, was a bugger to trim. Next time, I lollipop !

My RH was too low, so I constructed a box with string to hang the colas in my grow cabinet. Oddly, the RH went up to 55 which is just about right I think. The box is open slightly, the idea is to let them cure slowly...10-14 days before jarring.

Going on vacation the 23rd, so I was rushed to start the dry process a bit...

Quick wet trim, (rough) I'll polish them up over the next few days.. Here is my box trick.

 

[Ancient Green]

The quad is a really good growing style, fast to construct and gives you a nice looking plant. My flower space is onlty 36"/1m wide and tall and about half that deep. I run two plants in there 6 weeks apart for a continual harvest so I have to keep them in check and the quad plus the SIP makes a great combination, at least for me and my constraints.

Glad I bumped into you, I did some reading today to learn more about SIP buckets.. Perfect ! Add the quadline training and Ive got something new to try. Appreciate the tips !