BC Northern Lights Producer Grow #2

This is grow #2 for me in my BC Northern Lights Producer where I will once again be growing the famous Northern Lights strain feminized. I chose this strain because of its forgiving nature, high yield and good quality. One of the best overall strains in my opinion.

You can check out my first grow by clicking here. To summarize... I love the Producer which makes everything simple. It is extremely well built, and the guys at BC Northern Lights are very helpful. Unfortunately, I allowed my plants to veg way too long on my first grow which caused half of my potential yield to burn up in the lights when they were flowering. I also lost some bud to mold. On 8 healthy plants I yielded 4.5 oz dry. My goal on my second grow is 1 oz per plant.

I have 13 healthy seedlings born on March 16th. Here are some pictures...

Day 8

Day 11

Finally filled my res and I'm using full week 1 nutes at about 250ppm following the BCNL schedule. Since my airstones don't create enough mist coverage for all 13 plants, I am rotating each plant about twice per day.

Looks good so far man! Can I ask why you chose seedlings, and chose not to fill it to capacity? I hope you nail the veg time this round All in all, 4.5 on only 8 plants for a first attempt is pretty good bro!

Good questions...

1. I would eventually like to house a mother plant for clones, but I am a one man show currently and I am planning on spending a couple months in California this summer (after this grow). I would have no one to watch over my mother, and even if I did, I'd rather leave my house behind knowing that it is "clean".

2. I purchased 20 Nirvana Feminized seeds and attempted to germinate all of them, but only 13 successfully sprouted. To be fair, I accidentally left one seed behind in the bag, so it was really a 13 out of 19 success rate. Next time, I'll purchase 25 seeds. I thought my success rate would be better.

I think I'll get the veg time right this round. Last time I let the plants veg for about 35 days before switching them over. This time, I'm shooting for about 25 days. We'll see when I get to that point. If I veg them slightly too short, that's probably a good thing. That means I'll have it down perfect for my future grows... at least for this strain.

great stuff ancap im after been glued to my computer looking at ur grows.im doing northen lights meself had height issues with one of my plants but i had well more height in my closet than you had in yours.im not sure if your even gona get this message but if you do give us a shout back .plus im glad to see your going for northen lights again.you must have enjoyed the toke of it good man

AARONCAHILL said:

great stuff ancap im after been glued to my computer looking at ur grows.im doing northen lights meself had height issues with one of my plants but i had well more height in my closet than you had in yours.im not sure if your even gona get this message but if you do give us a shout back .plus im glad to see your going for northen lights again.you must have enjoyed the toke of it good man

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Right on bro, thanks for checking out my grow. Northern Lights is a good strain. I'll start experimenting with other grows once I get this whole process down. Still learning...

Lookin good ancap...where u gonna be at in cali...if u dont mind me asking...but so far so good...and i know the air stones dont mist that well but maybe throw a few extra gallons of water in there and that might help thats what i did my secone grow and i got all my roots hittin the water by the 2nd week atter that you can just go bacc to 10 gal a week...just a thought...im on week 7 thinkin about choppin them down after week 8. i have been told that KB is a 9 week strain...but i went over last time and it cost me so this time i might just be on the safe side..then exploded in the last week that overdirve seems to have done the trick...

smacc46 said:

Lookin good ancap...where u gonna be at in cali...if u dont mind me asking...but so far so good...and i know the air stones dont mist that well but maybe throw a few extra gallons of water in there and that might help thats what i did my secone grow and i got all my roots hittin the water by the 2nd week atter that you can just go bacc to 10 gal a week...

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I'm going to be out in LA. You in that area?

I added some airstones (about to post more pics), but I'm not real happy with the ones I just bought. They aren't as long as the others so it's harder to get coverage under two pots. I think I'll add some water like you suggested.

Day 14

As you can see, I modified the box slightly to accomodate another airline that feeds two new airstones. I got the idea from Smokedup12. What you can't see is the extra hole I drilled in the front to feed into the res. I also just kicked on one of the 400 Watt mh lights. Tomorrow I'll throw on both.

Day 16

I am currently feeding at levels under week two strength. This strain doesn't seem to need the amount of nutes that other growers are feeding their plants. In fact, I started to get nute burn on my last grow when my ppm was at 580 on day 18 from seed. I was told from someone else (a reputable source) that I should be at 800ppm by that point. It wasn't until I scaled back my ppm levels by about 40% that things leveled out. I'm glad I didn't dose more.

Here's where I'm at now...

18 hours light with two 400 Watt MH, a 125 Watt daylight CFL, and my T-5's.

430 ppm (number includes 130 ppm from my tap water). My res probably has about 10-11 gallons instead of 9.

5.8 pH

One thing I've noticed that was interesting was this strain's tolerance of high heat levels. I intentionally allowed the heat to rise in the box to measure the tolerance level and found that they were doing consistently well in 86-87 degree temps. It wasn't until I sustained 89 degrees that I noticed a little burning on one leaf. I've since turned my AC unit on and the box temp is around 79 now. This info is good to know so that I can feel comfortable leaving the AC off in the morning until about noon (as long as the weather is nice). Saves a little $$$.

Day 18

On my last grow right around this time I started having problems with light green splotches forming on the leaves, starting in the middle bottom of the new growth and working its way out. As it grew, the leaf color became even more of a neon green. My total ppm was around 580 at that time. Here's what it looked like on my grow last October...




I reduced the total ppm to around 320 and it started to turn around. I bring this up because the same thing started to happened again (to a lesser extent) on this new grow on about the same day as last time. I think this is because day 18 is right about when the roots are starting to hit the water. My current nutrient ppm (less my tap water ppm) is 330 and the pH is 5.8.

Here are some pictures of my current grow taken today. With the extra airstones, everything is growing fairly uniform. There are a couple that seem to be a little behind, but not too bad.









On average, my roots seem to be in much better shape on day 18 of this grow than on day 18 of my last grow. The extra airstones, line and pump cost me about $20 and took 30 minutes to install. I recommend anyone with this type of box to make a similar modification.

Looking great buddy. Here's me crossing my fingers for a nice even canopy with those seedlings!

Have you ever thought about LSTing the more vigorous seedlings, and placing them near spaces that arent being used? I figure a few are bound to grow faster than others, that might allow you to get a bit more to your final yield, taking advantage of that free space. Just a thought. I'm looking at airpumps as well... the one I'm looking at at the hydro store powers an extra 4, let me know what you think of this one.

I wish there was a meter to measure oxygen levels in the water!

lookin good and I am with you on saving money...i didnt have to run my ac at when they were in my producer...and im not running it at all now....i changed the time on my producer so my veg runs from 6pm to 12 pm the next day....so running threw the night will all the weather to do the cooling...and when i flip to 12/12 it will run from 9pm to 9 am. just a thought...because its been cool enough so im takin advantage....i wanna try a grow from seed just to see how it turns out....

looks great im really learning my unit by reading your posts thank u.i live n california and have access to healthy clones during week one of veg what should my ppm read,i use nukes recommended by bcnl and what lighting should i use for week one 125cl and one 400ml.thanks u alot

stillcantroll said:

Looking great buddy. Here's me crossing my fingers for a nice even canopy with those seedlings!

Have you ever thought about LSTing the more vigorous seedlings, and placing them near spaces that arent being used?

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No, I'm a little wary of experimenting on my second grow. Maybe next time. What has been your experience with LSTing in this box?

smacc46 said:

lookin good and I am with you on saving money...i didnt have to run my ac at when they were in my producer...and im not running it at all now....i changed the time on my producer so my veg runs from 6pm to 12 pm the next day....so running threw the night will all the weather to do the cooling...and when i flip to 12/12 it will run from 9pm to 9 am. just a thought...because its been cool enough so im takin advantage....i wanna try a grow from seed just to see how it turns out....

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It's a really good idea that I've been contemplating. I may do 6pm to 6am just so I have a few extra hours to work on things in the evening.

big daddy cane said:

looks great im really learning my unit by reading your posts thank u.i live n california and have access to healthy clones during week one of veg what should my ppm read,i use nukes recommended by bcnl and what lighting should i use for week one 125cl and one 400ml.thanks u alot

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I'm not going to be too much help for you because I've only grown from seed. My advice would be to give your clones some amount of time to adjust to the lights. Start with the CFL and then add one 400 Watt MH light. If they are responding well, add the other 400 Watt.

I keep my ppm light in veg around 300-400 which is what my plants like, but that could be the strain. Always start low and increase. If you see any stress or burning, just pull back.

big daddy cane said:

looks great im really learning my unit by reading your posts thank u.i live n california and have access to healthy clones during week one of veg what should my ppm read,i use nukes recommended by bcnl and what lighting should i use for week one 125cl and one 400ml.thanks u alot

Click to expand...

Man i thought i posted this a little earlier....but i would keep it pretty low...i dont even follow the nute chart any more...for the first few weeks all i use is bloom A and B and vood juice...and a little bit of rhino skin...works just fine for me and saves money...for the first few days i only use the 125 and then 2nd week u turn on all the lights sometimes after about 4 or 5 days...just pay close attention that first day...and if they are ok they u should be good to go...but alot depends on the clones im only on my 3rd grow...but thats what I did the last 2 times and seems to be working great...let me know if u start up a journal...

Day 20

This grow is about 3 days ahead of where it was this time last grow in terms of vertical growth and root growth. Everything looks bushy and healthy, and I might have a nice even canopy this time around. On my last grow, I started flowering on day 32 from seed when the tallest plant was nearing 12" tall. This time around I will begin flowering tomorrow on day 21 when my tallest plant is about 6" tall. These guys have another 10 hours of veg left from the time the pictures below were taken...

I started by hand watering and only went through one week in the res with these plants in veg. I've been feeding with...

Sensi Grow A and B
Voodoo Juice
B-52
Sensizym
Piranha Powder
Tarantula Powder

300 nutrient ppm
5.5 pH

thanks alot,i also learned from u to cover the cubes with foil and to add extra airstones to my unit simple but effective thanks.medical dispensiries are on every corner here n sacramento so clones r plentiful which strain would u recommend?indica or sativa.also i read that u should top your plants what week n bloom should i do this in? thank u alot.