Short Rider & Northern Lights Auto Grow

doniboy · Jun 4, 2013

Okay, this is my first of hopefully many Autoflower grows. I'm currently growing Short Rider and Northern Lights Fem'd Autos by Nirvana. I normally order my seeds from Attitude, but being that my last couple of orders took a while to get to me, I decided to place my order through Nirvana directly. My seed took 6 days to get to me. Taking into account 2 days for the weekend, and one day for a holiday, that was pretty damn quick compared to my Attitude orders that took 9 days for one and almost a month for another.

I do not know if you can tell from the pictures, but the Short Rider seeds are huge and way bigger than the Northern Lights.

I started with germinating 2 for each strain. I soaked both sets of seeds in tap water for 24 hours, and then I planted them straight into soil (3 gallon pots). Just to lessen the chance of burning my seedlings, I mixed FoxFarm's Ocean Forest with Light Warrior and Perlite... All four spouted two and a half days later.

No, I didn't try and pull the shell off; it sprouted this way. It's missing a cotyledon leaf.
This is the other NL that I germmed, it spouted yesterday and has been the same way ever since... Sitting there with the shell on top.
The first Short Rider
The second Short Rider.

Both Northern Lights seeds sprouted first, but they seemed to be small and had tiny leaves and stems... Well at least the one that opened had a tiny cotyledon...

The Short Riders, on the other hand, seemed to be a lot stronger with a thicker stem and cotyledon.

So this is day two of growth. Well see if the Northern lights make it or not. I probably won't ever order them again either way. muahahahaha donny boy

treegoesmoo · Jun 4, 2013

hey doni, its gonna be my first grow and i got NL auto from herbies and its currently germing right now. but might just mix 70/30 ffof and perlite, what do you think? and what is your feeding/watering schedule going to be like if i may ask

whitnasty1 · Jun 4, 2013

I'll be starting Sensi's NL Auto next week, will be watching this thread. Alot people growing auto NL's right now.

doniboy · Jun 4, 2013

treegoesmoo said:
hey doni, its gonna be my first grow and i got NL auto from herbies and its currently germing right now. but might just mix 70/30 ffof and perlite, what do you think? and what is your feeding/watering schedule going to be like if i may ask

Yup that should be fine. That's basically what I did, but I threw some Light Warrior in too. I plan on watering as needed. It's best to underwater than over water. I found that with my regular plants with my setup, they needed to be watered every other to every 2 to 3 days depending on the size of the plant and the temperature. I water until I see a little runoff come out the bottom drainage holes, then I stop.

As far as nutes are concerned and because I'm already using FoxFarm soil, I plan on using the FF trio nutes for soil. I will probably just use FF's feeding Schedule, but in 1/4 to 1/2 doses of what they recommend. I will try and post of everything I'm doing here. I've never grown Auto's before, so it's trail and error with me too.

treegoesmoo · Jun 5, 2013

doniboy said:
Yup that should be fine. That's basically what I did, but I threw some Light Warrior in too. I plan on watering as needed. It's best to underwater than over water. I found that with my regular plants with my setup, they needed to be watered every other to every 2 to 3 days depending on the size of the plant and the temperature. I water until I see a little runoff come out the bottom drainage holes, then I stop.

As far as nutes are concerned and because I'm already using FoxFarm soil, I plan on using the FF trio nutes for soil. I will probably just use FF's feeding Schedule, but in 1/4 to 1/2 doses of what they recommend. I will try and post of everything I'm doing here. I've never grown Auto's before, so it's trail and error with me too.

yeah i heard start with 1/4 nutes and since we're both using ffof, when do you plan to start feeding nutes? once you notice a little nute def? sorry lol im completely new to this, and do you plan to feed it veg nutes? or do you think the soil would hold until it starts to flower and we can skip that? so that would save me some money.

doniboy · Jun 5, 2013

treegoesmoo said:
yeah i heard start with 1/4 nutes and since we're both using ffof, when do you plan to start feeding nutes? once you notice a little nute def? sorry lol im completely new to this, and do you plan to feed it veg nutes? or do you think the soil would hold until it starts to flower and we can skip that? so that would save me some money.

Nope don't be sorry; I'm glad to help. I'm kind of new too, but I did a lot of researching online and on forums, and I brought lots of books from Amazon (but you can find them for free online). I'm going to go by this feeding schedule, but scaled down at first. I brought the FoxFarm Trio, i.e., Big Bloom, Big Grow, and Tiger Bloom from Amazon for $50 shipped. If you look at the feeding schedule, there's a "Time* Weeks", "Light Hours", Big Bloom, Big Grow, and Tiger Bloom rows.

Time* Week: Feed 2x per week in-between watering. Doses are in teaspoons (5ml) per gallon of water.
- Seedlings and Cutting: Once your plants sprout above ground, it's basically called a seedling. This stage last about 1 week, so I will follow the feeding schedule in this column for 1 week. If you go down the column, you'll see that it calls for 6 teaspoons (5ml) of Big Bloom, but for 1 week I'm going to feed 2x with 2ts of Big Bloom into 1 gallon of water. For example, I might feed on Monday, Water on Wednesday or Thursday, and then might feed again on Saturday or Sunday the first week after the seed sprouts.
- Veg Week #1: The column for week 1 only calls for 6 teaspoons (5ml) of Big Bloom again, so again, we're going to feed with 2ts of Big Bloom mixed in with 1 gallon of water.
- Veg Week #2: The column calls for 6ts of Big Bloom and 2ts Big Grow, so I might feed with 2-3ts of Big Bloom and .5-1ts Big Grow.
- Veg Week #3: The column calls for 6ts of Big Bloom and 3ts Big Grow, so I might feed with2-3ts of Big Bloom and .5-1ts Big Grow.
- Flower Week #5: Whenever flowering appears to start, the column calls for 3ts of Big Bloom, 2ts Big Grow, and 2ts Tiger Bloom. I might feed with 1-1.5ts Big Bloom, .5-1ts Big Grow, and .5-1ts Tiger Bloom.
- Flower Week #6: The column calls for 3ts of Big Bloom and 2ts Tiger Bloom. I might feed with 1-1.5ts Big Bloom and .5-1ts Tiger Bloom.

You get the picture? This isn't set in stone and may have to be varied if you get burning or have any deficiencies, and depending on how fast your soil dries out. Each plant and/or strain may vary. Also, you should feed in-between watering, and water lightly as needed. Like if you have a small seedling, I wouldn't drench the entire pot of soil with nutes or water when there's no roots there to use it. If you see any burning starting, you might skip a couple of feedings, and then start back up again with a weaker formula. Likewise, if you see any deficiencies or if your plants aren't burning, you might up the nutes by a little until you find out what works. You're plant will basically let you know when something is wrong.

I also brought and am going to be using Bush Doctor : Microbe Brew and Bush Doctor : Sledgehammer™™, but they aren't really necessary. If you do buy those too, they're also listed on the feeding schedule.

What kind of water do you plan on using, e.g., tap, reverse osmosis (RO), distilled, etc?

doniboy · Jun 11, 2013

Watered once on 6/7/2013 (3 days after they sprouted). (General Organics CaMg+ (half teaspoon)) and distilled water only.
My temp stay in the high 70s and low 80s, and my humidity has been in the 40-60% range.
I've had my T5HO about 3 inches above the plants ever since the first day that it sprouted and the leaves spread open. I've been using these cheap $1.50 stackable creates to keep an even canopy. I bought like 20 of them from Walmart, and they add a little over 6" of height each.
Week one down and 8 more to go.

treegoesmoo · Jun 11, 2013

Hey doni, your plant looks nice o.o. My NL auto just sprouted out of the ground about four days ago. I hope mine looks like that after a week lol. Anyways back to business.

You're feeding slight nutes already? You're using FFOF right? I'm doing the same thing, except w/o the light warrior. My soil seems to dry out pretty fast... So I've watered it three times now. First was to get the soil ready for transplant, and second was a day and half after when the soil really started to dry out. (Maybe its from my 150w HPS + 23w CFL) Hardly feel like thats it though.. anyways, Then I watered maybe half the usual amount, didn't even see any run off I believe. I have a couple questions for you that I hope you can answer if you don't mind.

First, I read a bunch of diff temps, I've been obsessing over them lately so I switched my 150w HPS for two CFLs. (65w + 55w) for veg and I'll swap the HPS with the CFLs once flowering starts. Temps after switching to CFLs have gotten the temp right on my plant at a nice 75F~. The temp on the floor in the box is around 70F~. I'm pretty sure the soils temp is around 65F~. Is that ok when the lights are on? I haven't had a chance to check soil temps once it hits night time and temps cool down even more to around 71F~. I've been on a 24/0 light schedule for now b/c I'm scared the plants gonna freeze to death.

Second, the watering/nute schedule. I think to start seeing run off in my one gallon soft pot, I use about 1/2 gallon of water? Does that sound about right? I'm gonna order the FFtrio nutes soon on amazon as well. So if I'm only using 1/2 gallon of water do I use half the nutes that you use? So if you put 6ts per gallon, I'd use 3ts for my 1/2 gal? Or should I just use 6ts per gallon and mix it in the water, and only use the water I need, and save the rest for later? Does that work? Or should it be fresh nutes every time. Right now I'm just using distilled water I bought from the store, but I might just start to "distill" my own water, just leave it open for a couple days. I know it won't get all the metals and what not out, but I heard that you shouldn't use completely distilled water or RO water, b/c it doesn't have anything left in the water? Not sure how valid that is, but it seems like as long as the chlorine is out of the tap it'll be ok?

Lastly, how did your plant respond to the early feeding? Looks like no burns or anything. What size containers are you using? And how much water do you use to water it usually, and how much do you mix in with the feed? Sorry so many questions lol. Thanks in advance

treegoesmoo · Jun 11, 2013

Alas! One more question, sorry doni boy... lol but how are you ph'ing your water? Do you get your water to around 6.5? And when you feed, do you ph after the nutes have been mixed in, and adjust accordingly? Heard using lime juice, and baking soda (or powder)? can be used as up and down. Did the FFtrio come stealth shipping from amazon? Cause I remember when I ordered my 150w HPS, shit was left right on my doorstep with nothing wrapped around it.. lol

doniboy · Jun 11, 2013

treegoesmoo said:
Hey doni, your plant looks nice o.o. My NL auto just sprouted out of the ground about four days ago. I hope mine looks like that after a week lol. Anyways back to business.

You're feeding slight nutes already? You're using FFOF right? I'm doing the same thing, except w/o the light warrior. My soil seems to dry out pretty fast... So I've watered it three times now. First was to get the soil ready for transplant, and second was a day and half after when the soil really started to dry out. (Maybe its from my 150w HPS + 23w CFL) Hardly feel like thats it though.. anyways, Then I watered maybe half the usual amount, didn't even see any run off I believe. I have a couple questions for you that I hope you can answer if you don't mind.

First, I read a bunch of diff temps, I've been obsessing over them lately so I switched my 150w HPS for two CFLs. (65w + 55w) for veg and I'll swap the HPS with the CFLs once flowering starts. Temps after switching to CFLs have gotten the temp right on my plant at a nice 75F~. The temp on the floor in the box is around 70F~. I'm pretty sure the soils temp is around 65F~. Is that ok when the lights are on? I haven't had a chance to check soil temps once it hits night time and temps cool down even more to around 71F~. I've been on a 24/0 light schedule for now b/c I'm scared the plants gonna freeze to death.

Second, the watering/nute schedule. I think to start seeing run off in my one gallon soft pot, I use about 1/2 gallon of water? Does that sound about right? I'm gonna order the FFtrio nutes soon on amazon as well. So if I'm only using 1/2 gallon of water do I use half the nutes that you use? So if you put 6ts per gallon, I'd use 3ts for my 1/2 gal? Or should I just use 6ts per gallon and mix it in the water, and only use the water I need, and save the rest for later? Does that work? Or should it be fresh nutes every time. Right now I'm just using distilled water I bought from the store, but I might just start to "distill" my own water, just leave it open for a couple days. I know it won't get all the metals and what not out, but I heard that you shouldn't use completely distilled water or RO water, b/c it doesn't have anything left in the water? Not sure how valid that is, but it seems like as long as the chlorine is out of the tap it'll be ok?

Lastly, how did your plant respond to the early feeding? Looks like no burns or anything. What size containers are you using? And how much water do you use to water it usually, and how much do you mix in with the feed? Sorry so many questions lol. Thanks in advance

The smaller your the pot, the more you'll have to water because it'll dry out quicker. I have 3 gallon pots vs your 1 gallon.

I don't stress out to much over my temps.. I have a window AC in my room that pretty much keeps my temps around 77F-84F, and I keep my lights on 24/7. Your tempts sound fine right where they are though.

As far as tap water goes, chlorine will evaporate away if left sitting out, but most cities are switching from chlorine to chloramine. If your tap water has chloramine in it, then you're just stuck with it because theres no easy way to get it out. My tap water has chloramine, and I've used it on my other plants with out any noticeable problems. Distilled and RO water are best to use if you can, but like you said, it does have any of the minerals that rain or tap water would have in it. That's why I added a very small amount of CalMag to my distilled water. It replaces some of the minerals that would naturally have been in the rain or tap water, but's not in RO or distilled water. It's not really "plant food" like the other nutes are. If I were using tap water, I wouldn't have used or needed it. I really haven't feed my pants yet.

Yes, if you're using half the water, then use have the about of nutes. I don't know if left over nutes can be left out, but I've done it before & started to see some mold growth in the bottle. Now I just throw the leftover in my frig (I put a "do not drink" warning on the bottle), and I just let it get back down to room temps before I use it again.

If I'm just watering with no nutes, I PH my water to be between 6-6.5, but if I'm feeding, I add the nutes to the water first, and then I PH it. PH the finished solution that's going to be added to the soil.

Amazon did me like that too and it PISSED ME OFF! I had a huge, long, and wide box left on my fams door step all day long unwrapped with the words "Grow Light" written on the front along with a picture. It was my $200+ T5HO just left on their door step all day! The thing is, I have my stuff go to my family member's house, and I pick it up from there... They never knew what was being shipped, and they don't know I'm growing. I'd always make something up when & if they asked what was in the boxes. So yea, I was pissed off. Anyway, the nutes and everything else I've ever ordered from Amazon has been packaged in a box though.

treegoesmoo · Jun 11, 2013

Tyvm dani, really informative. Yeah I was scared for a bit b/c I've watered it so much compared to everyone else. And I guess I'll go ahead and order my nutes within the next week. I'm thinking I might start with 1/4 nutes to see in the second-third week ish. Anyways thanks a lot again, answered many questions.

treegoesmoo · Jun 11, 2013

OH yeah btw, are you gonna keep updating pics on this thread? Be interesting to follow.

beaves IOW · Jun 13, 2013

I'm goin thru my first grow using northern lights from nirvana seeds and mine are great! I'm almost at week 5 come Friday and all are well into flower now, tallest is around 30 inches smallest around 24. Usin bio bizz all mix soil and bio bizz bloom was usin veg nutes but only for a week....keep updating maybe some pics? Wud love to follow them n see how they do! GL

doniboy · Jun 13, 2013

treegoesmoo said:
OH yeah btw, are you gonna keep updating pics on this thread? Be interesting to follow.

beaves IOW said:
I'm goin thru my first grow using northern lights from nirvana seeds and mine are great! I'm almost at week 5 come Friday and all are well into flower now, tallest is around 30 inches smallest around 24. Usin bio bizz all mix soil and bio bizz bloom was usin veg nutes but only for a week....keep updating maybe some pics? Wud love to follow them n see how they do! GL

Yea I plan on posting an update once a week. @beaves: you got any pics?

beaves IOW · Jun 13, 2013

Yea I got a thread and just recently updated with pics yesterday (first ever grow 600w usin 10 northern lights) check them out

treegoesmoo · Jun 13, 2013

Hey dani, do you know if evaporating qwiso in my grow box through the CF is safe? B/c smell is an issue o.o

whitnasty1 · Jun 13, 2013

Which breeders NL are you using beaves? I have 5x Sensi NL and 3x Sensi Skunk #1's germing right now. will start my log this week.

beaves IOW · Jun 13, 2013

I'm usin nirvana seeds NL, 10 in total let me know when you start you log id like to take a look!

doniboy · Jun 18, 2013

Everything's going great so far. Three of the plants are now 14 days old today and one is 7 days old. The 14 day old plants are 4 inches tall now, and the 7 day old is 2 inches tall. I moved all my Regs to flower and rearranged my Veg room to accommodate my Autos. Being that I had the room now, I planted 2 more Short Riders and 2 more Northern Lights, so I have a total of 8 Autos in my Veg room. The 4 I just planted are on day #2 of germination, so they should be up and running, and I should have pictures by my next update a week from today.

From my experience with photoperiod plants, I believe that Topping does slow down growth for a day or two or more. Being that Autos only veg for such a short time, I do not feel comfortable with using the Topping or FIMing techniques. My plants have grown 2+ inches tall with several new sets of leaves a week so far, and are going to start growing even faster in the weeks to come, so I think every day of their short veg makes a huge difference. I decided that I'm going to do Low Stress Training (LST) via a Screen of Green (SCROG) setup to hopefully increase my yields being that I'm going to do a 100% T5HO grow.

I hit up YouTube for a tutorial on how to build the screen, I ran to Lowes, and about $25 and 30 minutes later, I had a screen! I purchased four 10 foot PVC pipes at $1.45 each, 4 PVC elbow joints at $1.20 each, a pack of screws at $3.50, roll of twine at $1, and a PVC cutter at $8. Also, My 3000k Bloom T5HO bulbs can in too, so right now I'm running both 6400k and 3000k bulbs in my T5 fixture.

Other than all of aforementioned activities, all I have done this week is lightly watered 2x, and I feed them for the first time yesterday. The PPM level of my tap water is only 80-100PPM. This time it was 102 PPM, and after mixing my nutes into 1 gallon of tap water, my PPM level was only 253 total. I mixed .5ts Grow Big, .5ts Big Bloom, .25ts CaMg+, and .25ts Root Drench. If everything looks okay after a few days, I will up the dosage the next time I feed them. Temps between 77F-85F, light 2-3 inches above, osculating fan blowing between light and plants...

fanofpanic · Jun 18, 2013

Looking good so far! really interested in how the grow finishes as it might give me ideas for my next grow!

Short Rider & Northern Lights Auto Grow

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