Northern Light from Bulldog Seeds (clones forced by the deer)

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

~01Dec2015

 

The 2 older sisters responded nicely to my abusive LST.  The flowers showed a bit of Expansion, and as well, the stems are repairing themselves.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

~03Dec2015

 

The flowers have expanded a bit, and the stems have repaired themselves.

 

I am feeding a mixture of solution siphoned from the Vegg room 50/50 (Powderfeeding and Advanced Hydroponics) thinned a bit and then mixed with flowering nutrients from Bio-Bizz (Bloom, Micro, Top-Max, Alga-Mic)

 

The smaller sisters are doing fine, so I transferred the smallest sister from Vegg also into flowering.

 

Temp/Hygrometer

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

~06Dec2015

Good response from all the plants in the flower room.  The buds are expanding, and the 3 little sisters are starting to stretch as they produce pre-flowers.

 

I am feeding the 2 taller sisters now only rainwater with the recommended dose of Bio-Bizz Top-Max to aid in flushing and to optimize taste.

 

I am now feeding the 3 little sisters a full cocktail of Bio-Bizz (the recommended dosing of Grow, Bloom, Bio-Heaven, Top-Max and Alga-Mic for "week 4"), and all that is mixed into the weak solutions siphoned from the Vegg room reservoirs.  Dosed feeding is followed a day or two later with just rainwater, and then another day or two later with rainwater again.

 

But, from the healthy look of these plants, it is time to torture them again.....

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

~06Dec2015

Looks terrible, but it does encourage an explosion in growth or bud production.

 

I have discovered something that many of you probably already know. 

 

Whereas in the past, while performing LST, I had been trying to knick the stems without breaking them open, but as is often the case, that method often resulted in a stem that broke completely across the stem.  Not good.  That can allow the inner tissues to dry too fast (embolism?), resulting in the death or over-stress of the plant above the knick.

 

I have discovered that it is much better to first squeeze the stem between the thumb and finger until I feel the crunch of crushing cambrium tissue.  I do this in multiple places along a section of the stem between two nodes, and then I bend the stem radically downwards, sometimes in 2 or 3 places along that stem section.  By first crushing the stem tissue, the bending is made easier to perform with much less danger of breaking the stem.  And since the outer "skin" of the branch is mostly still intact, the plant can repair itself much faster and without excessive loss of fluids.

I perform this procedure to multiple stem sections on each branch of the plant.

Here are some pics

[Tokage 2,156]

Hey Buddy, it´s looking fine as always. The technic you are describing is called "super cropping" and squeezing the stem between your fingers before you bend is the correct and true way.
By doing that you will activate hormones and promote better and stronger growth. 
Super cropping should not be done when they flower.

Look up Soma seeds and his way of super cropping for some cool facts. He is the Master.
 

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

Thank you Mr. Tokage.  I shall certainly research the Soma Seed Information and add that to my library.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

10Dec2015

 

Peppery Northern Light smell in the room.

 

The two taller sisters are getting heavy.

 

The three smaller sisters are repairing strong.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

15Dec2015

Opened the flowering room to discover that the 2 taller sisters got so heavy that they fell forward onto the 3 smaller sisters, so I tied them up.

I watered them with only rainwater; they're close to harvest now, so I only want to flush them.

 

The 3 little sisters are well-repaired now, and they are stretching.  They're a bit dry, so I mixed up another batch of nutrients using a little of the acidic leftover from the Vegg Room mixed with Rainwater and Bio-Bizz Nutrients, and fed them.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

16Dec2015

Checked on them again.   OOPS, the solution for the 3 little sisters was a bit too acidic, maybe also too much N.  Immediately, I fed each of them 1-Liter of pure Rainwater to flush away the acid.

 

All the plants are sucking up all the water that I feed them, so I flushed the 2 taller sisters again with rainwater.

 

Lots of pictures here, just to see them under different lighting - LED - Fluorescent - and no light with just the flash from the camera.

 

The buds are looking really nice.  Some 50% of the pistils are browning, so I might harvest tomorrow.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

17Dec2015

Harvested one of the taller sisters.  Left the other to continue for a while longer just to see if it might progress further.

 

Here are the popcorn Northern Light buds already trimmed, hanging and drying.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

~22Dec2015

Harvested and dried the second tall sister.

First sister delivered approx. 15 grams dried bud.

Second sister delivered approx. 18 grams dried bud.

The two together delivered approx. 8 grams sugar-coated dried bud trim.

 

Early trials before cure deliver an enjoyable heady buzz with long-term body stone.  Nice and potent-feeling.

 

Ash is not yet white; it needs a while in cure to finish converting the chlorophyl sugars to improve that.  But the taste is already good.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

~24Dec2015

Now that the tall sisters are harvested, I cleaned-up the 3 little sisters and set them into the rear tub under the rear GrowLED.  Turned off the forward GrowLED.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

Took a look at the 3 sisters today.  Glad I did.  These girls are thirsty.  Perfect time to feed again.  Thinned-out the normal solution to one-third strength and watered well.  Almost like a flush.

 

By the way, follow my Journal in the SLEX and GreenHouse Kush Test.  I'm performing heavy LST techniques on GHKush in rockwool, as well as cloning the tops from the 4 GHK candidates to produce 4 symmetric clones to go in soil for the summer balcony garden.  The two Kaia Kushes are slowly following the progress of the GHK's.

Here's the link.

http://forums.strainhunters.com/topic/9522-green-house-kush-test-compared-against-kaia-kush-each-comparing-short-powder-feeding-against-advanced-hydroponics-nutrients-by-cannabissapean/page-4

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

I found a very interesting documentary about Humbolt County Growers on youtube called "One Good Year"

[Gordon 90]

Hey mate,

 

something's wrong here, I just don't know what. As FIM said already, these plants don't look like NL at all. The leaves are too thin, the stems are too weak and the plants don't particularly thrive. It reminds me of a friend's grow who had some bag seed under a HPS from an old street lamp. The plants looked the same way. Also your buds (for an NL!) are too small despite them pistils being brown already. This is a sign something is wrong. I suggest you get a pH meter and an EC meter asap since these are absolutely crucial with the system you are using. Working without them you're just wasting your time really. Dunno why nobody told you thus far!

 

Good luck.

 

Peace,

 

G.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

Hey Gordon,

You could very well be comparing Northern Lights Strains from different breeders.  I have always heard, that eventhough Northern Lights is an Indica-dominant strain, it produces Sativa-like leaves and stretches somewhat more than an Indica stretches.  It could be that just such a pheno had been selected by Bulldog Seeds to produce the batch that resulted in the seeds that I had received.

 

Here is the picture of the seed package from which these plants grew.

 

I have also captured the Northern Lights Strain descriptions from Bulldog Seeds and from Royal Queen Seeds.  If I can paste that information in here, then one can compare for one's self.  It is very possible that different breeders might attempt to cultivate their own strain of what they believe Northern Lights should be, and then name it as Northern Lights.  I don't know if it is possible to patent or to copyright a strain or a strain-name in this industry, but as this industry continues to evolve (especially in the direction of "medical cannabis"), maybe we will start to see such commercial activity.  Of course, patents and copyrights are established and enforced through government authorities, meaning that laws need also to evolve in order to embrace this industry.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

OK, here is the description of Northern Lights from Bulldog Seeds.  I cannot paste all the pretty color graphics that was on the webpage, but I was able to capture the text.

 

Category:

 

Indoor/Outdoor

Pedigree:

 

Skunk#1 x Northern Light x El Niño                                    

Indica/Sativa:

 

Mostly Indica 80/20

Flowering Time:

 

8 Weeks

Yield:

 

500/600 gr./sqm

Effect:

 

Relaxing High

Flavor:

 

Sweet

THC:

 

+/-  19,77 %

CBD:

 

+/-  0,10 %

CBN:

 

+/-  0,27 %

 

Cannabis consumers agree that Northern Lights is always a great choice and never fails to satisfy. By surpassing expectations time and time again, Northern Lights is said to be one of the best smokes in the world. This variety from The Bulldog Seeds is a hybrid combination of the profound Skunk #1 and a Northern Lights mother. If you have never experienced this strain for yourself, we recommend that you consider trying it!!

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

And here is the description of Northern Lights strain from Royal Queen Seeds, again, no pretty colors, just text.

 

So, one can see that there is the possibility that not all strains of the same name are not necessarily of the same lineage.

 

This description of Northern Light Strain is from Royal Queen Seeds:

When it comes to strains that have laid down their mark on the cannabis plant genetics that are around today, there are few names that can be mentioned as often as Northern Lights. The exact makeup of the Northern Lights heritage is thought to have come out of west coast America, originally from eleven different seeds. Each of these varieties have been bred, inbred and hybridised so much over the years that the exact genetic remains a mystery. However, one thing that is certain is that Northern Lights has been the basis for many of the award-winning classics in the history of cannabis.

According to the legend, Northern Lights was an exclusive Indica plant from Afghanistan, although some of the original eleven plants were said to contain Thai genetics. Today we bring you our feminized Northern Lights which is still an indica dominant hybrid, but carries a lot of sativa in its leaf structure.

Our Northern Lights Feminized will grow as high as 1.2 m tall indoors, but it will stretch to over 2 m tall outside. It will produce relatively wider internode spacing, with long thin leafs, demonstrating its sativa background. Upon flowering is when its Afghan heritage comes to life, with dense, resin-covered nuggets which form all over the plant; however, it will produce a giant main cola.

It will yield on average 50-60 g per plant, or about 500 g per square metre under a 600w light. Grown outdoors, it can give as much as 625 g per plant, but will need the nice warm environment of southern Spain, California or North Africa.  Placed in full sunlight and given enough food and water, Northern Lights will grow into a tree and give excellent results for yield.

Flowering is complete after 7-8 weeks, although some growers report harvesting after just 7 weeks.  During the flowering process, all buds are formed with a light, resin-covered surface which starts to glow towards the end of the grow.

Northern Lights is simply one of those knockout smokes that guarantees a couchlock session for the next few minutes. The Afghan heritage really shines through in the smoke, and anyone looking for that strong stone need seek no further than Northern Lights Feminized.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

~15 Jan

 

The last 3 girls have filled-in nicely and smell great.  But they are not large buds, just popcorn buds.  Right after taking these pictures, I flushed each plant with 3 or 4 times thhe volume of their pots.  I'll let them go another couple weeks and then harvest.  Here are a few pictures of their flowers.

[Cannabissapean 1,223]

28 Jan

 

I harvested the last of the deer-forced clones.  Here are some pictures just before the cut. 

 

Mmmmm, Northern Lights smokes excellent on its own.  It is also wonderful to grind together with White Widow...

 

So, that just about does it for this thread.  Harvesting the deer-forced clones allows me to clean the flowering tent and make room for the GH Kush plants that I am growing in the Slex and GH Kush Test Contest.

To see them, go to my Contest thread.

http://forums.strainhunters.com/topic/9522-green-house-kush-test-compared-against-kaia-kush-each-comparing-short-powder-feeding-against-advanced-hydroponics-nutrients-by-cannabissapean/

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks for reading.  Hope you enjoyed it.