Autoflower Northern Lights Grow Update and Qs

Good morning fellow growers,

I want to post an update on my single autoflower Northern Lights grow.

I germinated via paper towel in a humidity tray 8/1 - 8/3 had a nice taproot
Put it in the rapid rooter and in the humidity tray
Transplanted into apotforpot 5 gallon kit 8/9 then went into my AC Infinity 2x2x4 tent - AC infinity induct fan, small oscillating fan, Bloomspect 1000W LED dimmable. 50% dim start.
August 15th noticed brown spots on first set of leaves - used CalMag in purified water 1gallon watering which helped further growth - increased light to 75% power.
8/18 found a singular worm crawling on a leaf so I removed it and sprayed neem oil/dish soap mixture
8/20 watered 1Gallon with CalMag
8/25 watered 1 Gallon with CalMag
8/30 I began including nutrients - watered 1 Gallon with 5mL CalMag - 8.5mL FloraMicro - 8mL FloraGro - 6mL FloraBloom

To today where I’m posting my update! I feel good so far but I need help with training or topping. I’ve been reading LST is important to create multiple flowering spots instead of the usual one. However as I look at my plant, I’m not sure if it’s the 2x2x4 set up with the 75% power LED light above but it appears to have multiple spots of growth instead of one in the center. Maybe I’m not seeing it right but I don’t know if I have to bend the main stalk since it’s spreading so wide already. I’m lieu of that perhaps I do need to top leaves eventually? They are already pretty thick and I figure more light to the flowers eventually is what I want. Now This is my first grow and I need help proceeding - when to increase my LED to 100%? Should I bother LST? Topping? Leave it for now?

Let me know if I need to upload more pics or information!

Thank y’all!



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Looking great! Keep on keeping on.

Looking green and healthy, good job.

Nice looking plant you got there

Nice and healthy looking and about 2 weeks in on the veg stage, or what I call this period for autos. Some do, some don’t. For LST I would locate the main stalk and bend it over and tie it down, follow along the sides doing the same to expose the center bud sites and open her up for air circulation :love_you_gesture:

After looking again, I would start with tieing down the side branches then move to the main. I don’t see any signs of flowering yet, so topping the main could be an option.

Ok I tied the edge branches down, then the center I bent gently where able 90 degrees. I was worried one of the outer larger branches almost split at the base but it is just a crack.

Check it out - definitely not as pretty but this should produce much higher yield yes?



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Any advise? How’s it look?

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Also I didn’t mean topping my apologies for the miscommunication.

I meant defoliation - removing certain leaves to expose flower to extra light. When should I do this? and how can I do this?

How does my LST look?

A sharp thumb nail is the best tool, but sharp shears work fine.

I defóliate only when I’ve got too many giant fan leaves for anything to be getting light except those leaves. Right now you’re looking pretty good, I wouldn’t be defoliating unless you’re seeing a lot of your leaves rubbing up on eachother (too much overlap inhibits air flow and can be a breeding ground for powdery mildew and the like) or if you have spots of obvious dead growth due to lack of light (I don’t see any on your plant from the photos provided).

Truthfully, I’d steer the course and let them grow with the lst in place. Start to remove stuff only if it’s seriously inhibiting light penetration.

I remove any leaves facing the inside of the plant. Only if and after the plant is big enough to take the trimming. I like a trellis net and I tuck branches where I want them to go. I didn’t enjoy having to tie every branch out of the way.

Nice job brother, she’ll reach for the light daily. Just keep up the training. Those sides you tied down will allow the middle bud growth to catch up to the side colas and get you a nice even canopy. You take take of any lower fan leaves, the middle looks great :love_you_gesture:

This for a way from me a little, auto skittlez but you can see how the middle filled out. Had I kept the side tied down more it would’ve been a nice even canopy. I was running 6 at the time and some got more attention :love_you_gesture:

Wow that is awesome @OGIncognito !

I appreciate the affirmation guys I’m getting pretty excited about what this baby will grow up to be!

So, yesterday I performed some defoliation. I had been wanting to understand it more as you know it was only a couple days ago I thought it was called topping - shows how much I knew. So I do understand it’s to prevent health issues of major overlapping, also to remove those big ol fan leaves that completely or mostly block light of flowering zones. I got a bit off there but not a lot, I just rotated the plant while finding sites that were hidden by the fan leaves then removed those.



I do have a question - I provided nutrients on the 8/31 watering, only 3 days later she’s already looking like she’s close to needing another watering at 8.5lbs.

Do I put that scale of nutrients in every watering? Or do I put nutrients in only one watering per week?
I ask because I don’t want to burn her, and the schedule only shows dosage per week not per watering. If I need to water her before the next week do I use just the water and CalMag? Then on the next watering nutrients again?

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Nice job on the defoliation, she’ll be good for a while as long as you keep her spread out. Use every bit of that 2 x 2 x 4 tent. Keeping her flat now will help with the stretch that’s coming so you won’t suffer light burn down the road. The pot 4 pot medium says you can grow from seed to harvest but that’s not the case. It’s coco so no worries of over watering. Some feed daily and some water/feed/water ect… when I top fed my plants I did both according to my run off numbers. I grow in auto pots now so they get fed daily. You’re doing good Bro, are you watering to run off? Do you have a TDS/PH pen to test your nutrient solution?

I went to the mfr website and saw the feed chart you’re using. They definitely do recommend feeding all three throughout the life cycle. I am not used to that. I am used to a veg nutrient, a transition nutrient, and a bloom nutrient fed individually as the plant matures.

If the plants need water between feedings I would just use dechlorinated tap, pHed, Cal-Mag + if you want, and some microbes in it like Recharge and Mammoth P (there are others).

Hey everyone how’s it going?!

Update:

I raised the light up highest the ropes allowed, and turned it up to 100% power.
I figured that should be good till I need to raise it some more during flowering phase, then I’ll just attach the light directly to the tent chassis.

Watered it on September 3rd - just 1 gallon water and 5mL CalMag

I gave her a full feeding yesterday, 4 days after watering and a full week after the last nutrient feed - 1 Gallon water with the same level of nutrients 8.5mL Micro 8mL Gro and 6mL Bloom plus 5mL CalMag

I do see she’s filling out after the defoliation and LST, there are so many new big fan leaves spreading through the center.

Also I noticed some spotting and discoloration in some areas - is this something I should be concerned about?





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It’s definitely something to watch. It looks like a deficiency (specifically potassium but I’m no expert in this realm). The leaves that have started spotting won’t improve, but keep an eye on new growth to see if the nutrients you just fed are adequate to fuel healthy new leaves.

Are you checking your water runoff for PPMs and PH coming out of the plant?

Last pic looks like heat stress. Curled clawing leafs and the bud top looks burnt. How high is the light above your canopy, I see you raised it.

Ok I do have a pH tester - calibrated it some time ago, when I checked my water and CalMag mix I watered it with today it showed 6-6.7
I haven’t checked the run off before, I will do that in a moment since I just watered.
TBH I’m a bit iffy on the accuracy of my tester. Maybe it’s my inexperience.

The light was raised to be about a foot and half above the plant - she’s still growing as the pictures show.

I don’t see heavy signs of new growth with crazy damage, but take a peek and tell me what y’all see.






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As in it fluctuated from 6 to 6.7 in the same mixture? Or gave you a reading of 6 and then 6.7 after it was well mixed? Or gave you a range of possible PHs?

What meter are you using?

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