Alien NLX Flowering day 30

[MisterE]

Here's a pic from today. Camera sucks, camerman pretty bad too, hehe. :pimp:

View is looking over the tops/branches of 2 plants in a 10 gallon rubbermaid bin. 400 watt HPS, 3 cfl's and 1 4ft flouro fixture.

Hoping I only have 20 more days or so. Will buy microscope soon, and will slowy be trimming leaf fingers from the bottom up so more energy focusses on fattening up hopefully, as well as better penetration to the flowers. (good/bad on that?)

[rustafa]

how is the odor on those plants on how much nutes are you currently giving to those plants also im guessing its a dwc?

[MisterE]

They were quite stinky until I got my Vaportek 4000. I dont use a carbon scrubber, but the vtek set on 3 right now eliminates the smell almost perfectly. I adjust it up every other day a little bit as it gets skunkier. They would absolutely reek if I had no odor eliminator..

I'm giving them Awesome Blossoms at about 3.5ml/gallon, and lucas formula GH nutes up to 1300ppm, and some calmag+ with RO water. Next res change I'll push it to 1500.

Yes it's a recirculating DWC, about 10 gallon total water capacity.

The plants have pretty much stopped their vertical growth finally. I'd recommend flowering this strain at only 18 inches or so unless you don't mind trees. I did no LST or topping at all, and yet several branches are taller than the main top on one plant.

This is my first hydro grow, and first grow since the mid 1980's or so. This strain seems forgiving of mistakes, plus they're inexpensive seeds (mine were freebies).

[MisterE]

One of my plants tipped over today. Luckily I was sitting right here and heard the ugly sound of branches and leaves brushing against walls. I was able to tie it to a wall from the base, and about halfway up, but it's all crooked from where it had been.
The 5.5 inch netpot had tipped out of the hole. The roots are SO packed in the tub that I cant even force it down all the way anymore, lol.. yikes.
Nevertheless, I will attempt to reinforce the screw holes in the rim of the netpot, and screw it down.
Wish me luck!

[MisterE]

Well, it's day 43 of flowering, so I snapped another pic for grins.
This is the top of one plant. It's from a low angle so the tape measure is a bit off, it's solid for the top 12 inches or so almost. Dense all around as well, maybe 4 inches across. I've strung up a line below it to gently keep it upright.
The other plants top is similar, but not quite as large. All of the branches are quite filled out.
Last week or so I did snip two tiny trich covered bud leaves to smoke, and it really was very nice. Laid me right out.

[GodBud]

MisterE

Its good to see some progress on NLX. AGS gave me 10 freebs as well and I basically have the exact same setup you have. Got 2 at day 40 going to 12/12 starting tonight. Can you take a close up of your best cola? I am anxious to see whats in store for me. I hear its a Northern Lights strain crossed with WW have you heard anything on that?

Peace :stoned:

[MisterE]

pic1 - Dec 2nd, grown from seed to this point under cool white shop light.
pic2 - Jan 2nd, under 400w MH, plus flouro for the side.
pic3 - Jan 30th, under 400w HPS, plus flouro, plus 3 cfl's because they got so big. The cola in the upper left of that pic is the largest. It's the top of the left plant.
pic4 - Feb 12th, the largest cola, top of the left plant. As I say it's about 12 inches solid, about 4 inches broad. Every pistil is still white and they're putting on weight.

I've heard also that it's northern lights x white widow, but I didnt specifically ask GSA or anything.

The top left cola reminds me of a football, lmao. I need to get busy and trim out some lower leaves. I'm not too good with the camera, and it's a super crappy ass old camera too, but I'll try to get a closeup at some point if the camera is capable of a macro focus or whatever. I also have a microscope on the way and will ATTEMPT to get a trichome pic or two..

[MisterE]

By the way, GodBud, yours look healthier than mine from what I can see. You have a couple of brown spots lower down maybe, but I have been putting up with them the entire grow. This is my first grow in like 20+yrs, and my first hydro attempt.
Yours will probably triple in size before they're done if you're just going to 12/12, lol. So be ready!

[GodBud]

MisterE

Thanks for the comments. My babies look really healthy in person. Those spots tripped me out not sure what caused it but it was early in the game and havent seen any probs since, Just did a res change and got the HPS 400 Watt baking down on them. Got me 2 females (luck I guess) So are the buds that sweet lime green color? What method are you going to use to harvest and cure? About how many days can I expect to chop em in your opinion!

Peace

[MisterE]

Well, the bud leaf is much darker green. I'm sure it'll vary depending on nutes/strength etc. My humidity and nighttime temps are wildy fluctuating too, so I'm sure my results will be different.

I expect 55 or 60 days flowering. I'll know in a few days when I get my microscope how clear/cloudy my trichomes are. I PLAN to flush with florakleen and RO water for a week or so before I chop. I'll do a full res change and add the florakleen, and monitor my PPM until it stops dropping rapidly, then I'll know its flushed. Zandor recommends you flush until the PPM doesnt vary more than 50ppm from one day to the next. You can flush with florakleen right up to harvest day, no worries about that.

Starting now, I'm going to aggresively trim fan leaves from the bottom up. I'll leave some at the middle/top of the branches/buds to keep them working for me, but most of the bottom half of the plants' leaves will be gone shortly.

What I'll do is cut and trim down to solid bud and hang up in a dark closet with normal airflow to dry evenly. Once mostly dry, I'll put as much as I can in sealed glass containers, watching daily for any condensation. If I see some, I'll open the jar and let it evaporate, then seal again.

I try to be realistic too. I'm sure a lot of the looser lower buds I'll stick in paper bag(s) and just sample it now and then, saving the best for the good curing. Plus I dont have near enough glass containers for all this, hehe.

[MisterE]

Well for anyone following along, I've done some trichome viewing and I'm at mostly cloudy, still some clear and very few amber. So I'd say I'm a week or so from a good time to harvest.

Today is day 49 of flowering. Tomorrow I'll do a full res change with plain RO water, note my PPM and add flora kleen as per instructions. I'll take a leaf snipping every day and check the trichomes as the plants are flushed.

Ideally I want them to be as close to 100% cloudy as possible. My personal preference would be a head high rather than couch lock, so I'll be happy if a few are clear to maybe cloud up during drying.

So it looks like 55 days or so will be just right. For more of a couch lock 60+ it looks like. I think this strain would be fun to experiment going direct to 12/12 from seed.

[GodBud]

Thanks for the update. Well one of my NLX ers was a male leaves me with one female but thats all I need I am into day 46 veg. Thinkin about going to 12/12 in a couple days. IYHO do you you think this strain is going to be some good smoke?

Peace

[MisterE]

Hey, yeah I read where one of yours looked male. 12/12 would be good for yours right about now I'd say. It'll stretch a couple of feet I bet under HPS, so you should be ok.

I think it'll be good smoke. I've been doing fine just from trimmings. I'll report what the smoke is like when it's time.

[GodBud]

Yeah got a male and yanked it. At least I got one girl out of the deal. Do you think she looks okay? The leaves below the top node are not as vibrant. There are times though when they are stretching out and pointing upwards. I am sure there is some deficiency somewhere. Day 2 flowering perhaps the cycle has freaked her out a little and it may not be a deficiency. I am at about 800 pp, humidity is about 45%. 400 watt hps about 18" above the canopy. pH consistant 5.8 water temps are right at 60 to 65. roots look really healthy. What do you think. Anyone! Thanks in advance!

Peace

[MisterE]

It looks ok to me. If it's growing and looks green and healthy then it should be good.

I did my full res change yesterday before lights out after checking trichomes closely every day. Replaced with 10 gallons of RO water along with about 80ml of flora kleen. PPM is at 220 for now, should go down every day as I replace out a couple of gallons per day as it flushes.

During the change, one of the super heavy branches leaned wayyyyy over against a wall, so I played contortionist and managed to string it up before it snapped it's stem.

My PH constantly wants to rise back to 6.0 because the water has virtually zero buffering capacity, so I'm not going to worry too much about it at this point.

[GodBud]

Sweet thats awesome. IYHO how much do I stand to yield off this one babe?

Peace

[MisterE]

Yield? Oh boy, I have no idea since it depends on everything, lol. If you have 1 plant now in a 10 gallon tub, then it will be ABLE to get huge, definitely. If you're keeping it in a bathtub, you'll have buds packed against the wall maybe, hehe.

I'm hoping to harvest at least 1 complete plant this weekend (maybe), so I'll post pics and data once I get trimmed etc. Personally, I dont care about weight since it's just for me, but since I own a scale for baking/cooking, I'll see what I can figure out for the sake of posting.

[Weedhound]

I have a friend who has a couple of 5-gal hydro bubblers in her spare bathroom. Haven't seen her since she started them but said she's turning them this week so they must like it in there. Those are terrific looking plants btw! ;)

[MisterE]

Thanks, Weedhound!

I'm still taking a small snip of trichome covered leaf each morning and inspecting closely. This morning's sample looked like every single one was ripe and milky, with only a few clear ones and 1 or 2 amber. I've tried getting a pic through the scope, and I can do it, but my camera is such an antique that they come out terrible. Oh well.

The hairs are still mostly white, but more are browning every day now. Flushing seems to be going fine, my PPM now is at 120.

I've been filling up 2 gallons of solution from the res each morning, and replacing with 3 gallons of RO water with more flora kleen (extra gallon due to natural plant uptake). Seems to work ok. I dont keep a huge stockpile of RO water around, so hopefully a few fresh gallons a day will do the trick.

[GodBud]

Sounding juicy....

Hey you think its alright to use FloraKleen say like the whole blooming cycle but of course the last week just use Florakleen and RO water.

Peace

[MisterE]

Florakleen is only used to flush nutrients out of the plant. So there is virtually no reason to use it for more than the final week.

Now on the bottle, it says you CAN use a little before you change your res, but I think the only time you might is if you have some serious nutrient overferting or something very unusual.

If you used it at every res change, you'd be basically in a cycle of sucking everything out of the plant, then replacing it from square 1. I'm not sure how the plant would like that. If you had tons of salt buildup or some signs like that during grow, then yeah someone might recommend to flush it as good as you could to save it.

[MisterE]

Well I'm at day 58 of flowering now, still haven't harvested. Still taking small snips of tric covered leaf and inspecting. More flowers have browned, but tric's are still maybe 80% cloudy, 15% clear, rest amber. Damn close I'd say. The samples I've tried have been very good.

I noticed a small leak somewhere around the rim of my growtub and popped the edge of the lid to peek in. The water was higher than it should be and was dripping out from a hole I made for the drip tube. I removed some water from the res to let it lower, but I think my drain tube is root clogged.

In the future, I'd use 3/4" tube (not 1/2), and also add a filter to help block roots from travelling all the way down the drain hose. In my case, the hose runs back to the res to give it recirculating ability. I was worried about this happening in the middle of the night and waking up to a huge emergency, lol. So if you're reading this and planning a system, take note.

[GodBud]

PICS PICS PICS :thumbsup:

[MisterE]

OK, here's probably the last pics before chop chop.

pic 1) Using a lighter for scale. Main cola on 1 plant.
pic 2) View over the tops. You can see the lighter in same spot on the left.
pic 3) A side view of some branches.

I'll take more pics after harvest when things are cleaned up.

[freewheelinfrank]

dude, that is some nice work you are doing, some of the better looking plants seen in here, in quite awhile :thumbsup:

[stinkyattic]

pic 1) Using a lighter for scale. Main cola on 1 plant..

Beefcake! BEEEEEEEFCAKE!!!!!!
:D
Nice work!

[MisterE]

Thanks for the props :thumbsup:

It's hard to be patient, but it's all flushed now (ppm is currently 20), and so it looks like it's time to gum up some clippers, lol.

Wish I could get better pics, but my camera is a first generation digital, and thats the best possible quality that I can get.

[GodBud]

MisterE

Impressive my friend. Thanks for posting some pics B4 the chop. When you get those budsicles cured and trimmed will you take pics of them under a Floro light or something that will really bring out the color. Also would like your description of how the most potent of the buds made you feel after smoking. Did you use a Bloom enhancer?

Peace :thumbsup:

[Weedhound]

Where do you live Mr E? Because looking at those I AM IN LOVE!!!:cool:

[MisterE]

Weedhound, you just love me for my big thick bud! hehee:D

GodBud, I used Awesome Blossoms. Did a res change with RO water, added the stuff according to the bottle, then added GH nutes until I was at 1500ppm, then adjusted ph after it had time to circulate a little while. I did that a couple of weeks in a row.

In process of clipping yesterday and today, and probably through the whole weekend. I'm about halfway done with one plant. I just trimmed up a branch that weighed 2.9 oz wet. I'm sure that'll drop quite a lot when dried though.

The smaller fluffy stuff I'm putting in a cardboard box, and I'll try to turn it gently over daily. The larger branches I'm hanging whole. Not really trying to weigh everything wet, just a couple out of curiosity. When it's all dry I'll try to get a total per plant before I jar and cure as much as I can.

[Weedhound]

Mr E...;)

When I weigh things wet I try to figure they will dry out at about 25% of wet weight and I have found this to be pretty accurate as a rule in my scientific tests. Let us know how much beauty there is weight wise.:)

[MisterE]

I will do a thorough job when they're dry to weigh things really well.
I just clipped one other decent branch and took a pic, and indicated which one it is in a previous pic.

My back is sore after one or two branches, so weighing wet is just a step that's painful, lol.

This branch was jammed up against a wall for a couple of months. I'm surprised it filled out as well as it did really.

PS: My hands are sticky. :p

[GodBud]

Sweet MrE

Lookin Tizzzzite!

After I added the Big Bud Bloom enhancer it seemes like she took a liking to it! Looking at the pic thats an 18 gal res. There is no way there would be room for 2 plants as I origionally planned. Shes bushen out nicely. She is in her 11th day flower. When will I start seeing the formation of buds?

I am having to tuck the fan leaves and do some tieing so that the bud sites get as much light as possible. One thing I am noticing is that my PPM are rising dramatically. I believe this has something to do with the amount of water she is drinking is that accurate? If thats the case do I top off with just Ph'd water or do I top off with nutes/water.

Nice Pics

Peace :thumbsup:

[socialistpete]

MisterE just read thruogh this thread thread, fucking awe inspiring plants.:)

[MisterE]

Hey thanks. It's my first hydro grow, and I made plenty of mistakes and was chasing problems with brown spots on leaves the entire time. But I'm happy with the outcome.

GodBud, yeah both of mine were in a 10 gallon tub! There is absolutely no question whatsoever that my plants suffered from severe overcrowding because I let them veg a long time and they branched really perfectly and WIDE. They were shoving against each other the entire time, once one of them tipping over. Some buds are much smaller on the crowded sides obviously. I bet you get about as much from your 1 plant, as long as you keep it healthy and growing and it has enough space and light.

This strain worked great. I've only sampled a small bud that I clipped 2 weeks or so ago. It is not cured properly, but the effect is very strong for me.

I did weigh the main cola of the smaller plant last night and it was over 4 oz wet. No idea what is common, but there was actually one branch that was even larger than the main top.

Busy today chopping and trimming the larger plant and rearranging things for drying/curing.

[GodBud]

Thats cool yeah she is looking very healthy and I am checking on her quite often. Still confused about the ppm rising. Looks like your going to have a nice stash for awhile.

Peace

[MisterE]

Well, as plants uptake nutrients they give off waste if you read Zandors threads he talks about it. How long has it been since you completely drained and changed the water? It could be time. I never went longer than 10 days or so, and if I thought there could be an issue, I changed in between.

[GodBud]

I change every 7-10 days. Thats whats weird is that as the the plants take up the nutes my ppm should go down but instead its rising. I am thinking since water is being consumed through the plants and also through evapration that the nutients per water ratio is whats changing the ppm to rise. Meaning I am thinking the nute ratio to the water would be higher for the amount of water thats in the res. I bet if I just poored a gallon of Ph'd water with no nutes into the res my ppm would lower. You smell what im steppin in?

Peace

[MisterE]

Well another possibility is that the plant is only taking up water but not nutes.. so as water drops, the effect is higher PPM. I'd probably make sure the water doesn't smell nasty, keep an eye on new growth etc. You shouldnt get too much evaporating to make the ppm change I dont think. Does it recirculate really well enough?

Well, I got the other plant all trimmed and hung. The beefcake cola weighed 6.5oz wet. The far side of the plant was alot smaller than it could have been if I had more light/bigger light/light mover.

I was right about the roots in the drain pipe. I think I pulled about 4 feet of root out of it, lmao.

[Weedhound]

I found the same problem (well not really a problem)....in my first grow they drank more water....left more nutes. Second grow....ate more nutes....ppm's went down instead of up. This grow is the same. I'm figuring it's the time of year. My first grow was in summer.....AC on constantly. Next grow in fall and now in winter.....I'm actually seeing it stay more even in this grow. Could be coincidence but.....??

[GodBud]

Sweet on the beefcake bud wow!

Yeah my water is fine its not smelly or anything I have 3 airstones under the roots they love it, water temps are good and circulation is fine. They have to be eating the nutes they look ay to healthy not to be! Send some pics of that monster cola!

Peace

[GodBud]

Here she is day 13 flower! There are 15 bud nodes that I nipped and tucked on fan leaves so that they get optimal light!

Peace

[killacheeba]

hey, how long did each of you veg your plants?

[MisterE]

Well, mine sprouted about mid November, vegged until about December 30th and flowered for 60 days.

GodBud, you should make a grow log type thread and include your pics with dates and info. Be nice to follow along.

Mine are still drying. I have a small oscillating heater and also air purifier with fan in the drying room. The small buds I've sampled have been great. I've had the best nights sleep the past few nights than I have in a very very long time also. Can't wait to try the properly dried AND cured bud.

[GodBud]

Well I thought since we both were growing the same strain I would just include progress on this thread. Hope thats ok with you if not just let me know. Its nice to have another grower that I can relate to at least in that respect.

I started with 2 plants planted 12/30/06

Sprouted 1/3/07

Vegged until 2/19/07

Ended up with one female.

Started flowering her 2/20/07!

I am glad you are liking the smoke MrE. Thats a good sign! Still wouldnt mind seeing a pic of the monster Cola! :thumbsup:

Peace

[MisterE]

Well, everything is dry now. I got 179 grams of bud, 87 grams of leaf from one plant. 121 grams of bud, 42 grams of leaf from the other plant. I weighed the leaf for the hell of it since I had it seperate anyway. So I got 10.5 ounces of good buds from the 2 plants, and it'll last me forever, lol.

I think if it'd been 1 plant getting all the light, I could have gotten more but I'm pleased with the outcome :)

I dont have enough glass containers for it all, so I've had to use plastic bags for some of it. Hopefully it'll still cure ok without much ill effect.

I have the one clone still going in a coffee can in a 3inch netpot. I may stick it in the system once I clean it out with some bleach solution really well and flower it immediately.

[GodBud]

Congrats my friend, well done!

My girl is really shining! I cant wait!

[GodBud]

Day 18 Flower

[GodBud]

Mister E

What kind of high are you getting off the NLX? Good taste?

Any pics of the main colas!

Peace

[MisterE]

Well it's all relative really.. For me, if I smoke one hit of bud then I'm gone for an hour, lol. It smokes well, not harsh at all. Gives me a nice buzz and sure helps me sleep at night. I get to feeling more creative also with it during the day, which I like for my work.

Everything is curing in jars or bags. I'm going to need to research long-term storage ideas..

My clone, "Ugly", has decided it wants to shoot up and grow now.. I'm debating whether to just kill it since I just finished a grow.. Or stick it in the tub and LST the hell out of it and just go right to 12/12 for a couple months... decisions decisions..

[GodBud]

Day 25 Flower


:thumbsup:

Peace

[mackSwell]

Hi MisterE...

Just checking in on your ladies! You've been harvesting! I envy... Champ is STILL flowering. *chuckle* I finally posted some new pix tho.

Good looking grow. Glad you overcame your trials and tribulations!

[alwayssleepdeprived]

They look nice GB they should end up nice and fat by harvest...I'm pretty jealous of everyone elses grows at this point haha I've had tons of setbacks glad yours is working out

[GodBud]

Thanks man!

Yeah im pretty stoked! The buds are really starting to take off. I have been using big bud enhancer that shit seems to be working pretty good! I will post another round of pics around day 40!

Peace :thumbsup:

[GodBud]

I would say about 30 to 35 days till prime pickens!

Peace :stoned: