My First Attempt! Hawaii Grown Northern Light Autos In Coco - 2 Special Girls!

[Saul GoodMan]

First time beginner here. Thank you for taking a look!

To start, a few details about my girls. Keep in mind, I live in Hawaii where power is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. This sadly leaves HID lighting out of the equation. Unfortunately, I also do not have the space needed for an outdoor grow. This leaves me with limited options, but we will persevere! Anywho, more to the point:

Strain:
2 - Northern Lights, Autos

Environment:
4'x2'x4' cab
Average temps - 22 to 28C
Humidity average - 60% - 75%

Media:
3 gal buckets
60% coco - 40% lava cinders
runoff pH hovers around 6.3 - 6.5

Lighting:
200w CFL - 50w LED

Ferts and water:
Calimagic
Canna Coco A&B
R/O water - pH to 5.5 - 6.0
handwater every 4-5 days as needed - push 20% runoff


Yield:
as long as it's tasty, we're all good!

Current situation: (i.e. the learning process)
Early on after week 1 I believe I overnuted when they were still too young due to knowing coco to be inert. Lightly flushed coco the next watering with pHed R/O water. The next waterings alternated between VERY light ferts and plain pHed R/O. Everything went swimmingly for a while. Until....

One of my girls became a slow grower. Noticed slight leaf droopage, followed by yellowing of bottom leaves a few days later. Even though I thought I was being quite careful, I took this as a sign of overwatering even though my other girl is still going strong. Since I believed this was the case, I have held off on water now for 5 days. However, I'm not seeing signs of improvement.

The good news, my other girl is blowing up! So everything can't be all bad, right?

Right now, I am contemplating my options, hoping to learn from some input along the way. Let the trail and error begin!

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Here's the first shots of the 2 girls , 10 days after sprouting began. There seems to be evidence of what I took to be nute burn.

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Same day (day 10), different angle. Nute burn was far more prominent on just one youngster .

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Now fast forwarding to July 2nd, day 16. They looked good to my untrained eye!

 

[Saul GoodMan]

And now I found myself in the troubled stages. When looking at the two side by side, the dwarfing, drooping, and yellowing has become more apparent in my troublesome little girl.

I have yet to water when these pics were just taken, still deciding on best course of action.
All I can do is give these babies some love and hope the masters around here can augment with some sound advice and a trained eye.

 

[Sejd2131]

You`re watering way to often. leave them alone for the next 10 days..

 

[Canna Montana]

How often do you water? How much and what kind of nutes have you given?

 

[Ruza]

Hi, i am also attempting to first grow. How far you have your lights? If you have strong led panel you can easily burn your leaves especially on young plant. But this is just my thoughts, i'm not experienced grower

Hope your babies will be ok. I'll be watching your thread and learn from others thoughts.

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Thank for the advice! I was assuming this was the case.

Canna Montana,

I've been handwatering with R/O every 4-5 days as needed (surface begins to dry, light container) starting after a 1 week period to let them get a few leaves and roots. The first few waterings weren't much, just a few cups around the plant in circles. This last watering 5 days ago was enough for 20% runoff. About 4-5 cups each?

Nutes very light so far after burnt tips. Using nutes every other watering. Used Canna A&B 1/4ml per liter. Calimagic 1/2ml per liter.
Also I charged the Coco coir with cal-mag.

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Ruza,
The LEDs are about 3 feet off the plants right now. CFLs are closer.

Thanks for your reply and best of luck on your grow. Some very happy looking plants.

 

[Canna Montana]

I'm going to post a few charts that may be helpful to you. It seems I have been sharing these a lot lately, and if I shared them here already, sorry for the repetitive post.

I think every 4-5 days may break too much watering at that age. You can stick your finger in the soil to the 2nd knuckle. If it's damp in that area, give her another day or two. Also when watering, it's best to get the whole pot and all the soil wet. When the roots drink all they have readily available in their area, they will reach out to find more water. Waiting to water promotes root growth. Bigger rootball = bigger plant = bigger yields at harvest time. I hope this helps. Have a good day!!

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Thanks for those charts! some good stuff to be found there for sure.


I will take the advice and keep holding off on the watering. Moving into day 7 of no water in an attempt to dry things out a bit.

It seems there's a large dispute that goes on between coco being treated as soil or like hydro. I thought I would go the hydro route as larger yields sounded so tantalizing, but it looks like the plants have spoken and that's what I really need to listen to for this first grow. :]




Cheers

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Aloha David,

Yes, this grow continues on. Although I recieved advice at the beginning that I was overwatering, it turned out to be a mag deficiency. Unfortunately the haitus on watering made the problem worse. Also, as this strain was an auto, I didn't figure it out before flowering began.

But I'm doing the best I can to carry it through with some decreased foliage. I've switched from R/O to tap water after running some trials with my tap water on my tomatoes. I did not see good results using Canna A&B with R/O, even with a cal-mag supplement. Luckily I have been successful in stopping any further issues for now.

After some LST, it looks like I'll still get something come harvest, even though they are stunted. Overall, I'm just very thankful I've been able to get this far on my first grow. I've learned a lot and have a million ideas for my next go.


I'm somewhat close to finishing, so I'll post a strain review once I'm done. The smell is light and wonderful, and Northern Lights is a hardy strain. It doesn't like a lot of nutes, but it can withstand my constant high temps and high humidity. It really bounced back once I nailed the deficiency. It's a shame I didn't dial it in sooner.

Thank you for the interest in this journal and your energy for the grow. We can surely use lots of it right now.

Cheers.

 

[Saul GoodMan]

Not sure why this journal is still abandoned, but oh well. Finished these girls today! Landlord is having a termite inspection so I had to cut them down a few days early, but it was stiill well within the harvest window. Flushed for 10 days with R/O, left in the dark for 48 hours. Not a bad harvest at all, the smell is primo and the nugs are currently hanging to dry and cure.

Expecting dry weight around 1 and 1/2 oz or so. Not bad for a learner. Really enjoyed this grow, looking forward to the next one! Thanks for the interest in this journal.

Cheers.

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please feel free to start a new journal here: Journals in Progress

You can use the Report Post feature found at the bottom left of every post and we'll move it for you right away.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.