Looking for Mama - Northern Light from The Vault

[Saturnalia]

Hi all
There’s not many diaries on the go at the moment so I thought I would share the new developments in my grow room with you.
I’ve been enjoying all my growing so far, but I still can’t make my harvest last from one grow to the next. With all that good quality weed and a family full of pot heads it doesn’t seem to last very long!
I really want to sort myself out a continuous supply and for that I need a separate growing area to clone and veg my babies.
So here it is.

It’s a bit scrappy and could do with a coat of paint. But I will get that done soon. I had to have it ready now as I have babies to put in it. What you can’t see is a board with fittings for 4 cfls mounted behind the middle joist. This will give me some control over the intensity of light and also how high up it is (top socket is about 8” above the bottom socket). There’s also a wee PC fan for air movement and a shower fan pumping in fresh air from outside.
I’ve just received and germinated 5 Northern Light seeds from the Vault.
Here they are enjoying some sun before going into their new home.

Here’s the plan. Anybody who has followed any of my other diaries will know that this is likely to change as we move forward. ;-)
I’m going to veg out all 5 of these girls until I have at least 2 rooted clones from each one. I will then flower them and select the best one so that I can keep the clones as new mother plants. I will be looking mostly for potency but am also interested to see if any one is a bit quicker than her sisters.
My recent cloning success has gone from near on 100% down to pretty shit, so I have been researching cloning like mad and will have to try harder.
Once the mother has been selected I will flower out all the other clones, keeping just one or two of the selected ones as the new mothers. After that am not sure if I want to keep permanent mothers or try a Just in Time system. We will see.
Anyway. I put the girls in their new home and checked them a day later and they seem very happy. It was a wee bit cold in there so I have put a greenhouse heater in with them.
Here they are.

This will not be their permanent home. Once the monster I am waiting for in the flowering tent has finished they can go in there under the LEDs where they will veg better. The new room will then be used for the clones, vegging plants and mothers when they become available.

[shineman]

looks like your plan is coming together saturnalia, i keep a mother going and clone from her to keep my supply, i like to have two or three going and pick the strongest for my new mother when i move her to flowering. i also use my clones to barter with a buddy of mine to keep us both supplied. i have a separate room that i keep my clones quarantined in till i know they are bug free, can't be too careful. is the northern lights a hybrid of the matanuska strain? i grew a matanuska thunderfuck years ago when i got back from working in alaska and it was some of the best smoke i've ever had, it was an outside grow and was about 7ft. tall when i harvested it. i would love to have another one now that i know how clone them. good luck with your new plan, and keep us informed.
gary

[Saturnalia]

Hey Gary. Thanks for your feedback. Northern Lights is an old and famous strain that has been very popular in Europe for a long time. The exact genetic history is not very clear. I don't think there's any thunderfuck in it though. I have heard about that - sounds amazing.
The site recently published an interesting page all about Northern Lights here. https://howtogrowmarijuana.com/weed-s...-lights-seeds/
As I say, I got my seeds from the Vault and they don't say who the breeder is. Let's see what turns out. ;-)
So you use the Just in time system? That is you take a new clone and then flower the mother every cycle, rather than keeping the same mum for generation after generation?

[shineman]

after reading the link you gave i don't think it is related to the plant i had, but it sounds like a very good strain. i'll keep this one in mind for a future grow. i'll keep an eye on your diary so i know what to expect from it. i don't flower my mother every time i clone, but if this indoor grow room turns out ok i hope to give that system s try.
gary

[Saturnalia]

Hi Guys
The girls are quite happy in their new house. Here they are the night before last with an old reflector I've sat behind them. Since then I have put them into bigger pots. Pictures to follow.
The monster flowering in the tent is nearly finished so they will soon finish off in there and I will use the new area for clones and veg.

[shineman]

they look nice and healthy there saturnalia, did you make the tent for your room or buy it? i'm going to have to do something like that for my finishing room because i just can't seal off the light from one compartment to the other side. my old mother plant is trying to flower now but i think she isn't getting the complete darkness she needs, i just found out that my 2fast has some northern lights in it too, sounds like a real good strain. let me know what kind of harvest you get from her.
gary

[Saturnalia]

I bought the tent but there was not enough room for it beneath the rafters so I replaced the upright poles with copper pipes. Because it's now a bit too short the door doesn't close properly so there is a danger of light getting in. However it is in the loft so mostly pretty dark outwith the tent. I also use a weight to sit on the bottom of the zipper to help seal it up. It works for me.
The other new area is just a couple of sections under the eaves that I have boxed off with cardboard sheets. I have a black cloth to close it and so far it seems to be working OK. We'll test it properly when I start taking clones from the girls.
Keep an eye on the diary to see how those Northern Lights work out. I'm normally quite bad at weighing and checking my yields. I tend to have already started on it before it's all dried and cured properly , but I'll try and make a point of it this time as I will be selecting one of the girls as a mama.

[shineman]

i know what you mean, i have a hard time keeping track of my crop too. cuz you have to keep sampling early to make sure everything is going ok. the wait is a bitch but you always got a new crop to look after, that's the fun of growing. i had to move my old mother plant out to a room in my garage cuz i couldn't give her complete darkness in the grow room. had to build a new light set up for her there, but looks like she's flowering good now, i'll get a pic of her so you can see the rube goldberg system there.
gary

[Saturnalia]

Here's the Spice Girls a couple of days ago. They've got into their stride now. They will be moving into the tent under the big LED lights any day now. Pretty chuffed with how the new veg room has out worked though.

[shineman]

looks like your girls are doing great, bet they really take off when you get them under the LEDs. what kind of tent you got it must be pretty good size? how tall will they get? i saw on other thread that you crop and bend to keep them under control, i'm kind of afraid to do that but i can see that it would let you get more plants in a closed area. once you start cloning you should be set up for a continuous supply from now on.
gary

[Saturnalia]

The tent is a 1.2m X 1.2m. Not sure about the final size. Because I will be cloning them they will be topped and won't grow straight out. I do tend to bend and train and probably will do with these too. I haven't yet grown a plant out straight. Maybe with the next generation I will give it a try. They do say that LEDs produce much better if you get your buds in a nice even canopy.
The girls are doing great just now. Got them in the tent under the LEDs. These pics are about a week old now. I'm going up there later on tonight and will take new pictures.



The buds you can see photo bombing this picture are from a haze plant I had. I'm just going to keep it going in the veg room and see if I can revert it to the veg stage. It was a great plant but it caught me by surprise. I'd really like to have another go at growing it.
There are a couple of other additions to the tent. A friend gave me some blue rhino cuttings so I'm vegging those out in there too. You'll see them in the pictures I take later on.

[Saturnalia]

OK here's some more up to date pics. I went up to see them last night.



You can see the Blue Rhino clones at the front of this one. They will be coming along for the ride.




This one is Baby. Originally the smallest plant when they were coming out of the soil, now she's the tallest. Nearly ready for cloning. Maybe another week or so...

[shineman]

beautiful crop there. looks like you got things under control now.
gary

[Saturnalia]

Hi all. Gave the girls their first cut last night and took a clone of each and put the clones in the new room. They all look fine.
Here's The girls after their cut.


Here's a closer shot of Baby. She started out smallest but is now the tallest.


And here's Baby's baby.


Will be going to check on them in a bit and will post pics later.

[Saturnalia]

OK. Just a quick update to show you the clones. I've used rooting powder and have placed the cut stem at the very bottom of the peat cup in about 1/2 inch of standing water. Am feeling confident but let's have a look in a week or so and see if they root.