# First Grow - Feminized Northern Lights



## BioShock (Sep 17, 2007)

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.


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## Mutt (Sep 17, 2007)

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


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## fleshstain (Sep 17, 2007)

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


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## BioShock (Sep 19, 2007)

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?


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## BioShock (Sep 21, 2007)

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.


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## BioShock (Sep 25, 2007)

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


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## gardenandcats (Sep 25, 2007)

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..


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## BioShock (Sep 25, 2007)

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..


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## gardenandcats (Sep 26, 2007)

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...


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## BioShock (Sep 26, 2007)

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...



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?


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## PurpleSkunk (Sep 26, 2007)

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


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## Mutt (Sep 26, 2007)

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.


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## gardenandcats (Sep 26, 2007)

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..


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## BioShock (Oct 4, 2007)

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.


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## Mutt (Oct 4, 2007)

Looking good dude :aok:


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## BioShock (Oct 7, 2007)

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.


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## SSwest (Oct 7, 2007)

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


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## BioShock (Oct 7, 2007)

SSwest said:
			
		

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



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

just going by the schedule...


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## BioShock (Oct 8, 2007)

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


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## bombbudpuffa (Oct 8, 2007)

Looking very good, my friend.


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## md.apothecary (Oct 13, 2007)

where did you get your seeds?? just curious... i have been interested in NL's for a while now.


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## BioShock (Oct 13, 2007)

I don't want to jump the gun here but I think I should start flowering soon. Tomorrow will mark week #4, is this too early to start flowering? They're about 50% of the height of the box, which is about 25 inches and I don't want them to be busting out of the box. 

Over this past week I had flushed both plants because the nute burn was looking kinda bad, but not too bad. Just wanted to nip it in the bud before stuff started dying and deteriorating so I did about 4 days ago and it's not getting worse so I think I'm going to start back on quarter doses of grow big and then big bloom around week 2 of flower, then tiger bloom later on. Does that sound right? I don't want to burn them more..


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## md.apothecary (Oct 14, 2007)

BioShock said:
			
		

> I don't want to jump the gun here but I think I should start flowering soon. Tomorrow will mark week #4, is this too early to start flowering? They're about 50% of the height of the box, which is about 25 inches and I don't want them to be busting out of the box.
> 
> Over this past week I had flushed both plants because the nute burn was looking kinda bad, but not too bad. Just wanted to nip it in the bud before stuff started dying and deteriorating so I did about 4 days ago and it's not getting worse so I think I'm going to start back on quarter doses of grow big and then big bloom around week 2 of flower, then tiger bloom later on. Does that sound right? I don't want to burn them more..



I don't know how much truth there is to this, however, I read that after about 5 nodes on the main stem of the plant, you could flower it at any time.... I think that was in one of the magz I read a while back. After 5 nodes, it's strong enough to support its bloom, and it has enough foliage to go into the flowering process.


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## BioShock (Oct 14, 2007)

Yep i think regardless, that it's time to start flowering. One has 6 nodes, the other bigger one has 7.

I just set up the timer to turn the light off at 9am tomorrow morning (usually when it turns on after being off since 3am) and turn off at 9pm, that way it's off when no ones home and on when I'm home. Safer. Less electricity. Nice.

I haven't given them nutes in about a week. Is it safe to start giving them nutes at the start of flowering? Trying to avoid burning them again.

I'm (s)toked! :bong2:


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## md.apothecary (Oct 14, 2007)

Yeah, I would use plain water until flowering begins and gradually increase the nutes for flower/bloom. However... again these plants are unique and from what I have read (again), NL strains are very sensitive to nutes and proper ratios are important. So be gradual with your intro of nutes.


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## BioShock (Nov 3, 2007)

Yeah these ladies are definitely privy to nute burn. I've been using nutes every other watering to help combat this. I'm using full strength and there are a few leaves at the bottom that decided to curl up and die but the rest is fine. I was going to trim off some of the bottom anyway.

I've decided to mask the smell by getting a crapload of activated carbon things; the rock kind you use in a fish tank, and some sheets for an air purifier, and stuffed them all into this lint trap for the exhaust tube. Also got that citrus thing there and stuck it in the closet. Cuts down majorly.

The LST is going well. I just tied them down for a 2nd time because the buds were squishing up against the glass and one of them burnt pretty badly. 

I was just reading up on ScrOG. I don't know how I haven't heard of this method already but I really wish I could do it! Is it too late? Even if I put the mesh towards the top of the plants and fan them out without stressing them too much? I wanna maximize my yield...I didn't realize how easy it would be. 
Anyway, here's a picture update after almost week 7. They're coming in nicely!!! 

also, for good measure...here's my perk-ear scottish fold, Rofl.


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## Mutt (Nov 3, 2007)

:holysheep: WOW that cab is working great for you....WOW them plants are lookin good dude :aok:


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## lowrydergrower775 (Nov 3, 2007)

i like the cat


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## thestandard (Nov 3, 2007)

Really sweet grow man. I'm growing some NL too. Where'd you get yours?

How sensitive have they been to your nutes? How many weeks in when you started adding them? I'm hearing NL can be sensitive, in this thread and others.

If you did it again, would you wait til flower to start adding nutes?


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## BioShock (Nov 4, 2007)

thestandard said:
			
		

> Really sweet grow man. I'm growing some NL too. Where'd you get yours?


 Seedboutique. It was the 4-pack of fem NL.



			
				thestandard said:
			
		

> How sensitive have they been to your nutes?


 Pretty sensitive. I do full strength every other watering and still get yellow leaves at the base but I pull them off. Everything else is green as can be.



			
				thestandard said:
			
		

> How many weeks in when you started adding them? I'm hearing NL can be sensitive, in this thread and others.


 I started them in MG time release soil and regretted it, so I ended up switching to FF ocean forest, around then it was 3-4 weeks and was going to flower soon so I started with big bloom around week 4, but before that tried using the veg nute (grow big) but due to the MG soil, ended up burning them so I cut nutes completely until about week 4.



			
				thestandard said:
			
		

> If you did it again, would you wait til flower to start adding nutes?


Yes, if I was using the same soil I would wait until flower, though I would start 12/12 around week 3 instead of 4 due to my limited grow area. I also plan on doing Scrog next grow.


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## BioShock (Nov 7, 2007)

Just a pic update 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




little worried. There's a hot spot right in the middle of the pane of glass, from the bulb. It's scorching some of the top leaves and one of the big buds. 

Also one of some dank nugs i picked up the other day.


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## thestandard (Nov 7, 2007)

love this thread. ive beaten bioshock like 4 times - even saved every girl one time. NINE DAYS til crysis, the 5 year long wait is finally over.


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## Mutt (Nov 7, 2007)

Nice buds man. Nice bushy plants too. I hope you work out the heat issue.


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## BioShock (Nov 7, 2007)

thestandard said:
			
		

> love this thread. ive beaten bioshock like 4 times - even saved every girl one time. NINE DAYS til crysis, the 5 year long wait is finally over.



NICE. Yes I can't wait for Crysis, though I have to get a dual boot going since I recently did the old Vista switcheroo. Big mistake. 
Anyway, BioShock was awesome but I kind of wore it out. I'm a moderator on the official 2k games forum and it was awesome...i got to go to the launch party and booze and shmooze with the devs and Ken Levine. Insane.


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## BioShock (Nov 15, 2007)

2 Month mark

Doing good so far guys 

Them shits is coming in nicely. To keep the canopy as even as possible and keep them away from touching the hotspot in the glass, I've used some of the abundance of zip ties I got in a big bucket thing of them from walmart, heheh. 

It works out nicely because when it gets comfortable, i can just pull the tie tighter and even hook them on to each other to grab multiple branches.

On full strength nutes now, going by the FF grow schedule on week 8 (1 tbsp of big bloom, 2 tsp of tiger bloom and 2 tsp of grow big), continuing to water every other day. Most of the lower foliage has been trimmed off and a good bit of it has died. The top seems fine though! Not too concerned.


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## BizzyHigh (Nov 15, 2007)

BioShock your plants are looking amazing and i have to commend you on the LST it worked out quite nicely for you it appears. Congrats man! You have to let me no how it smokes when it comes that time because i have always been interested in some NL  Have a good one!


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## yeroc1982 (Nov 15, 2007)

Nice, really big fat leaves!!


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## BioShock (Nov 20, 2007)

I have some questions if anyone can help me.

How long should I expect to be flowering these for? I've read NL strains can be as quick as 6-7 weeks flowering. Does anyone have any experience with NL in a microgrow environment and how long they should take?
Trying to plan accordingly...they're on week 5 of flower right now and if that's true, then I should start feeding them water only right?


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## Mutt (Nov 20, 2007)

I grew Nirvana NL took 8 weeks.
The only tried and true way of telling harvest is to look at the trichomes.
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17609
You will need a 30X or better magnifier. You can get a handheld microscope at radioshck for 10-12 bucks,
Or you can look for a jewlers loupe. Every grower should have a magnifier on hand


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## BioShock (Nov 20, 2007)

Yea I have a 2x and 4x one lol...it works for now. Maybe I'll put a few bucks into that 420scope thing.


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## BioShock (Dec 4, 2007)

*Update - Week 7 of Flower*

Need some input folks  and some of that green mojo!

The bigger of the two plants is acting weird. I don't know what to make of it. It could be natural foliage death at this age but the leaves around the buds are drying out around the edges of the leaves and kinda hardening in a dark color and some bits are turning necrotic. There are some of these dark spots in the middle of the leaves too. They're kinda calloused and hard, reminds me of a scab.

I also picked up one of those 420 scopes and its awesome! I had no idea even shitty swag weed looks amazing under it.

I'd say about 20% of the hairs have turned darker brown so far on the bigger of the 2 plants. The 2nd one I'd say is more like 10%. That one is a runt in comparison! All because i ripped out some roots when it was young 

I'm feeding them water only right now, every other day. They don't seem to be drinking up just the water only as quickly as they would with nutes, which I find interesting.
SITE RULES ...


> 7. Please try to post all of your pictures on this site. Linking to other sites has inherent risks involved that should be kept to a minimum if at all possible. We have both a Gallery and the ability to post as many as eight pictures with each post you make. Please post your pictures here, instead of linking to them.


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## BioShock (Dec 6, 2007)

Ok guy now I'm starting to worry. I feel like the bigger of the two plants is ready to harvest. The trichs look more cloudy than ever on both plants, and the percentage of browned calyxes seems pretty high (like 80%). Should i cut them down now?? I'm a little worried and don't want to miss the window.


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## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Dec 6, 2007)

*Looks like ya got yourself a case of nute burn or heat stress mang. You haven't missed that window yet. Depending on what kinda high your looking for i would wait until you see a few amber trichromes before harvesting but that's just me.  *


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## akirahz (Dec 6, 2007)

yeah let her go for about 8 and a ½ weeks, then during the final 24-48 hours keep em' in complete 100% darkness, and they'll get ûberfrosty


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## BioShock (Dec 6, 2007)

Well last night I wasn't getting any helpful answers and I was a little panicked about them, so I cut them down and did the whole harvest thing. They're up to dry right now. 

The smaller of the 2 plants' trichs were showing a very milky white and some tiny bits of amber but not much; the bigger plant- I'm definitely not sure it was ready but i didn't want the burn to get any worse. It was starting to effect the tip of the buds, they were drying out and browning pretty badly. Pretty much all fan leaves were curled up except for a couple of the bigger ones. I know it's not heat stress because my grow box has been a steady 70º-75º throughout the entire grow. Besides, it's turning into winter here and temps are lower than usual.

The thing that I find odd is that the nute burn started showing badly AFTER i put them on water-only. I can understand flushing out the nute buildup but this was pretty drastic and unexpected. This whole thing caught me by surprise and I wasn't prepared - lesson learned and next time it will be better.


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## thestandard (Dec 6, 2007)

pics!


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## md.apothecary (Dec 6, 2007)

when watering, you could have been using a hard water or a bad pH water. Hard water leaves salt deposits and can cause nutrients to be locked in those deposits when flushing. This could cause a nute burn. I have hard water in my tap and it's a problem. I used GH hard water micro nutrients with my 3 part nutrient setup, but it doesn't seem to work that well, I always get salt. 

I would recommend flushing next time with distilled water. It's expensive, but might save you troubles like this in the future. IF this was the problem.


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## BioShock (Dec 6, 2007)

If pH was a problem with my water, i would have known ages ago. I've been using Brita-filtered tap water since day 1. Maybe it was a salt problem that caused the nute burn but I don't think it was from the water; probably from the original soil I used (MG time release) that may have had some of it's nute pellets lodged deep in the root ball. Who knows.

I think I picked the right time to harvest. I checked the trichs again and theyre more light amber than I remember. 

So what happens with the buds when you don't flush in the last 2 weeks? I only used water-only for about 4 or 5 days before it seemed time to harvest. 

Is this going to make drying and/or curing harder, is it going to make it less potent...or what? Need to know what to expect.

Thank you for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.


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## md.apothecary (Dec 6, 2007)

I would assume that after a few days flushing it should be less chemical tasting as im sure you've plateau'd after a few days. As far as potency, it depends on how bad the lockout or nute problems were during the actual flowering phase, mostly early and mid flowering. 

I would ASSUME, that there might be a small decrease in potency, but probably nothing much to worry about. NL is pretty strong to begin with, so you may not even notice a difference.


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## BioShock (Dec 12, 2007)

So it turns out the smaller of the two plants was a hermie or something! I got 12 seeds out of it...they were lodged deep in the buds so I had no idea until i went to test some out last night. Is it safe to use these seeds to start another grow? I would think they would be of the same strain, feminized and all, right??


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## Mutt (Dec 12, 2007)

BioShock said:
			
		

> So it turns out the smaller of the two plants was a hermie or something! I got 12 seeds out of it...they were lodged deep in the buds so I had no idea until i went to test some out last night. Is it safe to use these seeds to start another grow? I would think they would be of the same strain, feminized and all, right??


 
nope, herm seeds procreate herms.
I would not use em.


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## BioShock (Dec 12, 2007)

Sigh. I wasn't sure. Too bad! 

I'm thinking either white widow or white rhino for my next grow. I'm going to Scrog this time so what would be my best bet? 

This bud is so freaking good though. Northern lights is delicious and gives an incredible body/head high that i can only describe as a more intense hazey kind of stone.


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## md.apothecary (Dec 12, 2007)

any pics of the final product?


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## BioShock (Dec 12, 2007)

Not yet...I'll take pictures when they're completely done drying. I just took a sample last night to get a feel for how much longer they need. I'll give em a few more days. My buds are pretty loose and not very compact so the drying process is making them look a lot better. 

_wait for it...._


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## Miss Lead (Dec 12, 2007)

are you going to get feminized seeds again the next time you grow?  

as more and more of my plants are turning out to be males, this is tempting to me.


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