1st Grow Pyramid's Auto Northern Lights (CFL)

Note: Anyone is welcome to leave tips, advice, or inquire about my grow.

Hi all!

I am new to growing and started this grow 8 days ago after germinating my Northern Lights seeds. I have lurked on this forum with no account for some time now, but I am definitely still a fresh newbie! Anyway, I am using my closet to grow. Right now it is equipped with 10 CFLs 2 6500k 23 watt and 3 2700k 23 watt bulbs for each plant. I am using the 24/7 light cycle. Each plant is 8 days old and have suffered a little bit of heat stress due to having the lights too close (I have since raised the lights). I was also stupid and added a half tablspoon of Blood meal to each of my pots a couple of days ago, this caused a little burning, but I flushed them and hopefully they should be recovering fine. I have two fans going, one on top aiming down onto the plants and one to the side of them. I was planning on using grow big towards the end of the veg state and big bloom at the first sign of flowering, I am now rethinking this due to the nute burn. I am also planning on using LST when the time comes. Anyways here are some pics of my grow area. Let me know what you think! I plan on updating this journal regularly.

Don't give them lots of water when their in big pots(when they're young like thoughs there).. 8 to 10 fluid onzes of water should be enough..

What kind of soil are you using?

farmerfischer said:

Don't give them lots of water when their in big pots.. 8 to 10 fluid onzes of water should be enough..

What kind of soil are you using?

Click to expand...

Yeah I was overwatering them at first. Then I had to flush out that Blood meal so I wont be watering them for at least 10 days. The soil isnt the best but it was all I had available to me. It is Robin hood potting soil. I got it at Lowe's as it was the only soil either there or at Home Depot that had no ferts baked in it, the rest was miracle gro and I've read to stay away from that. It has wood in it but most of it looks like it has been thoroughly processed, not a lot of big pieces of wood.

That's why I had asked about the soil.. You shouldn't of had to add anything to it if it was quality potting soil.. It looks good in the pics.
Did you top dress or mix in the blood meal..?

farmerfischer said:

That's why I had asked about the soil.. You shouldn't of had to add anything to it if it was quality potting soil.. It looks good in the pics.
Did you top dress or mix in the blood meal..?

Click to expand...

I mixed it in. It was a stupid idea, I thought since the soil had no ferts in it that the blood meal would help veg growth with some nitrogen. I didnt know that the blood meal had to sit in the soil for a long time or that it would be so hot. I flushed my plants though so hopefully they are now on the right track. I just have to let them both be completely dry before I water again.

Chances are there's still blood meal still in there.
You may want to consider replanting them in some fress soil if they start getting worse.
They are young So they maybe fine.. The curl and yellowing/lightening of the leaves is concerning though..

Yes I'm starting to think I should get them out of this soil considering I just found this! Wtf! This is the first time I've seen any kind of bug in my closet! Is this some kind of aphid? Or a gnat? I took precautions by laying out a apple cider vinegar and dishsoap mixture. I saw it crawling on some cardboard I laid out so I smushed it. Should I get my girls out of there fast? Will they become to stunted to yield from transplant shock?

farmerfischer said:

Chances are there's still blood meal still in there.
You may want to consider replanting them in some fress soil

Click to expand...

Also what type of soil would you suggest?

That's a fly.

Also for soil at home depot you can get miracle grow potting soil or pro mix.
I used the miracle grow for my first grow and it turned out great.

Blood meal usually had maggots in it.. At least the two time I used it years ago. Yes some mirical gro soil can grow you good buds but don't buy it.. Don't use promix until your more familiar with the basics..
Happy frog is good stuff but prone to have fungus gnats so watch for that if you go with this. Ocean forest is good but it's hot on young plants. But is remedied by using a seed starter mix on the top few inches of this soil..

any organic potting mix will work really. Just read some more and get more familiar with the basics and be patient ... Biggest cause of problems is trying to hurry the plants growth.

newguy123 said:

That's a fly.

Click to expand...

So it isn't going to hurt my plants like an aphid or fungus gnat?

I thoroughly inspected my plants, soil, and grow area and I have not found any other pests or signs of pests. I looked for larvae as well. The plants are looking fine and I don't see any sign of nute burn on any of the new leaves. They are still looking a little overwatered but thats to be expected and hopefully they will dry as quick as possible. The one on the right is still growing slower than the one on the left, hopefully this is just from overwatering and she will catch up.

farmerfischer said:

any organic potting mix will work really. Just read some more and get more familiar with the basics and be patient ... Biggest cause of problems is trying to hurry the plants growth.

Click to expand...

I don't think I am going to transplant them unless things get worse. I've heard good things about Happy Frog and Fox Farm soils Ill be looking into them if I do decide to transplant. Thank you for the advice! I'm definitely not trying to be to heavy handed or rush growth with them since the blood meal incident.I am only going to transplant them if I get a pest situation I cannot control or nute burn starts to show up again.

Good plan..

Hey guys, I didn't want to post again till there was some noticable progress. These girls have really shot up this week, I haven't seen many pests at all but I still put up a fly trap. The lights are currently about 9 inches away they were 6 inches away until I noticed curling on some of the leaves and moved them up today. I think its safe to say these girls are in full veg mode right now I dont plan on watering for another 5 days at least. Pics attached the girls today, 12 days old

Today when looking at my plants I noticed this orange blotch on one of my plant's first leaves, I am not sure if this is natural, it may be from trace blood meal or a fungus. I am currently looking for a solution, any help would be appreciated. Thanks pics below two weeks old.

Hello all!
It has been a while since I posted here, My plants have climbed a huge hurdle. My A/C went out for almost 2 weeks, during which my temps got up to about 85-90 degree range. They got some decent heat damage but they stuck it out! And now they seem to be recovering very nicely pics attached. Ive been feeding them smaller doses of cal mag and fox farm grow big and just recently fed them big bloom! They seem to be growing at a much more comfortable rate now.