First Grow - Feminized Northern Lights

Well you guys are going to have to mind my lack of pictures for now. My camera isn't working right now and my camera phone has recently decided to stop sending the pictures to my online album. How lame.

Anywho-
I've set up a growbox that i built using a 2 door storage organizer cabinet, inline fan + duct into a lint trap kit, and ripped apart a spotlight and wired up the 100w HPS in it with the balast (I have to relocate the balast, it's inside the grow area right now but it's proving to heat things up a bit, i didn't think it would get so hot), and an intake 80mm CMF fan. Temps with everything closed is in the mid 80's on average. Humidity seems steady at 35%.

I ordered a 4 pack of feminized northern lights seeds from Seedboutique and started germinating using the wet paper towel in a ziploc method. I got a little impatient and ended up sticking them in the soil after about a day. I need to test the grow box out for temps and humidity with everything in it.

They're in 6" plastic pots with MG time release soil (guarenteed to feed for 3 months)

So that started last friday, the 14th. 3 days later two have them have sprouted and I'm as proud as a new daddy.

More to come...
in the meantime I gotta get one of these damn cameras working.

good
green mojo for your new grow.
Get the ballast outa the box and you'll be fine
Better get a cheapo digi just for fun
I am lookin forward to this grow...sorta watched it from the beginning

I'm itching to see them indo girls

good luck with the grow....i'll be watching....

Now it's official, I'm down to two sprouts. One of them never germinated and the other seems to have keeled over and died. It turned brown. Looked like it curled around itself in a way.

I've got a slight problem with bugs though. I never see them on the sprouts, they seem to be feeding from the soil or something. They're extremely tiny little flies, hopefully nothing to worry about but what are some quick cheap preventative measures I can take to keep it from getting worse?

All right, here's a couple of very crude pictures I took with my cellphone. As I'm sure you've seen with other photos, one has that dark lines thing going. It's aggrivating but it goes away when I get away from the light. I'll try to get more...









You'll notice in the second one that two have sprouted next to each other. I must have got two in that hole and missed one; thusly why the thing never supposedly germinated! hahah i get too stoned sometimes man... :bong2:

I've managed to regulate temps to stay in the upper 80's but I still feel it's too hot. I ordered a piece of tempered glass from the dimensions of one of the shelves. It should fit perfect. Then I'm taking the intake fan (80mm CMF) and swapping it out with a 120mm, then putting 2 80mm's to vent the bulb area out the back at the very top of the box in the back.
One thing I've done to lower the temp was to lead the exhaust away from the back of the cabinet. It had nowhere else to go but now it's out a bit and its a little bit louder too.
I also put a small fan inside the box, that i got from Walmart in the summer but can't find any more of, sadly. These things are perfect for something this size.

Day 9 -

So far so good! Just thought I'd update with a couple pics of the two that seem to be flourishing. The third was growing in the same pot as one of these; it seems to be smaller so I put it in its own pot. It's getting there but not picture material yet

MG time released soil is the worse soil you could choose.I would repot ASAP. many a grow has been ruined by this type of soil! First young plants do not need any nutes. With time released nutes every time you water they get fed. Its best to add nutes as needed. Fox farms are a good type to use.
The extremely tiny little flies can be a major problem.Fungus gnats thrive in overfertilized, over-watered grow mediums, especially those where organic fertilizer high in nitrogen has been used. Gnats can be killed by disturbing soil, heating soil, by predatory wasps, and by applying insecticidal soap, neem, rotenone, and garlic oil to gnat infestations..
Fungus gnats feed on roots, which causes a decrease in plants' ability to uptake nutrients. Gnats are tiny, mobile, and dark..

Thank you for the input! I do appreciate it; I don't get much feedback on my posts

I was debating on this soil, but haven't heard anyone else warn me about it. What kind of soil would you recommend from a home depot type store? Also can you find these foxfarm nutes at a place like that, or more of a garden center?
I don't have many of these places around and prefer buying online *shrug*

Thanks again

EDIT:
Should I plan on using something like this for later on? http://cgi.ebay.com/FoxFarm-Peace-o...ryZ20540QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

gardenandcats said:

MG time released soil is the worse soil you could choose.I would repot ASAP. many a grow has been ruined by this type of soil! First young plants do not need any nutes. With time released nutes every time you water they get fed. Its best to add nutes as needed. Fox farms are a good type to use.
The extremely tiny little flies can be a major problem.Fungus gnats thrive in overfertilized, over-watered grow mediums, especially those where organic fertilizer high in nitrogen has been used. Gnats can be killed by disturbing soil, heating soil, by predatory wasps, and by applying insecticidal soap, neem, rotenone, and garlic oil to gnat infestations..
Fungus gnats feed on roots, which causes a decrease in plants' ability to uptake nutrients. Gnats are tiny, mobile, and dark..

Click to expand...

I use pro mix with just abit of organic mixture in it..Fox farm nutes can be ordered online directly from their web site http://www.foxfarmfertilizer.com/
Check out the feeding schedule it can also be bought on ebay.During the Folige stage use Grow big and Big Bloom 1x a week when it starts flowering stop the grow big and use tiger bloom... The big Bloom is used right from the start mixed with the grow big then mixed with tiger bloom during flowering. these nutes are well worth the money in my opinion...

gardenandcats said:

I use pro mix with just abit of organic mixture in it..Fox farm nutes can be ordered online directly from their web site http://www.foxfarmfertilizer.com/
Check out the feeding schedule it can also be bought on ebay.During the Folige stage use Grow big and Big Bloom 1x a week when it starts flowering stop the grow big and use tiger bloom... The big Bloom is used right from the start mixed with the grow big then mixed with tiger bloom during flowering. these nutes are well worth the money in my opinion...

Click to expand...

Gotcha...though I dont see aynwhere on the foxfarm site to purchase direct.

Otherwise, also keep in mind this is a micro grow. As much as I need the nutrients and want the plants to flourish even more, i also don't have room for them to be busting out of the box

So the plan is to get some Ocean Forest potting soil, then some big bloom and grow big (link to ebay) and all that. Not gonna worry bout tiger bloom until flowering

Also...
when should i be going to 18 hours? I'm doing 24/24 right now.
how does one "flush" the soil?

looking good bio block keep up the good work.
i use foxfarm ocean mist its works great i get it local in my area 12 bucks a bag online its about 20.
i youse to use super soil from the depot,but foxfarm is were its at.
and if your doing 24 u can stay that way till u flower or to save energy go 18/6 but when u flower u want 12/12.good luck

I agree MG potting soil is not great....can also create minor problems. but...look at TBG and my grow journals. We sprout and grow MJ just fine in it. Not ideal I would rather use a good all natural organic composted soil. but every where I go its all pre-fert. So I'm stuck. but to say it doesn't work. Is not entirely true.
Your sprouts are looking good Bio.

I would start 18/6 now.No need to keep the lights on 24/24.Flushing the soil is pouring water a few gallons at a time into your pots.This is only done if you plants are having major problems. Nute burn or nute lock out ect.Yours don't need to be flushed! With the pre fert soil that would just release to much nutes into the soil. Some can and do grow in pre fert soil.But if you don't have to its best not too. It can cause problems and being your first grow problems you might not be able to fix.
You can use computer fans for exhaust in your grow box many do and find they work well..

Update - Day 18

Got some Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil and transplanted them today. One of them is bending over horribly no matter how much i pack the soil in to told it up. That one ended up losing a lot of roots from the transplant. I wasn't expecting as many roots as there were!

Also grabbed the 3 pack of grow big, big bloom, and tiger bloom, they should be here on monday. I'm gonna start off right away with grow big and big bloom because the chart on the Fox Farm site says so. Gonna start off quarter-strength then step it up to full methinks.

Here they are...two of em are from today but one (the one of both) is from maybe 4 days ago.

Looking good dude :aok:

Week 3

Upgraded to 10" pots yesterday with awesome fox farm soil + grow big + big blooms ferts at half strength. They're lookin beautiful. Though, the 3rd runt doesn't seem to be doin so good, but his color is fine. I don't know what to make of that one. A friend of mine is taking it, so it's not really a concern to me right now.

Also, they're on 18/6 lights now.

I was under the impressing that Fox Farms big blooms nutes were for flowering? Not vegging.

SSwest said:

I was under the impressing that Fox Farms big blooms nutes were for flowering? Not vegging.

Click to expand...

http://www.foxfarmfertilizer.com/soilfeed.pdf

just going by the schedule...

Yea I think that was a bad call to put both Grow Big and Big Bloom in simultaneously for the first time. One of the plants is showing possible nute burn. It's got some small yellow dots, and the veins into the leaves from the branches is a really bright yellow. Think I overdid it. Today I fed only grow big in a half dose, will continue to do the same until I see improvement

Looking very good, my friend.