Grow Room Nirvana Northern Lights - Fish Tank Grow

[OldManZombie]

Just to give a little background, before I start chronicling my grow. I live in the midwest and our state is not cannabis friendly. I have battled anxiety, depression and insomnia for the last 10 years, and started smoking to help alleviate the insomnia which seems to make all the other things worse. Here we get what we can get from whoever and most of the time i have been pretty lucky , but at times I have gotten ahold of some that made things worse. I have never really looked at cannabis sites, and while I knew the difference between indica and sativa that is as far as my knowledge went.

In December my sources dried up and over that time I started to bottom out. I had tried psych meds in the past but hated the side effects and they literally turn me into an emotional zombie. However I hit bottom so hard I quit my job with nothing in line to take care of my family or pay my bills. I finally agreed to go back on meds at least for awhile. they help some but have since found a source, so for now i use both. MMJ at night and meds in morning.

During that time I was off work and hiding from the world due to my anxiety and depression, I really began to spend time reading every bit of information I could in regards to cannabis and decided to start my own grow. I was really encouraged by PsychedicSam and what he was able to do, so this is my first attempt.

I am running a mostly stealth grow due to my kids. It is set up under a fish tank, The dimensions are 30"H x 30"W by 12"D. i painted the inside flat white, built a ballast out of PVC using 4 CFL's. 150 actual watts in the 6500 spectrum and 46 actual watts in the 2700 spectrum. I have 3 1" holes drilled in back in bottom for passive intake and two cpu fans blowing outabout mid cabinet.

I am growing 1 Northern Lights Autoflower, as it is supposed to be easy to grow and fits my medicinal needs. In a few weeks I will add a splitter and add 2 more 23 watt bulbs in the warmer spectrum.

I am using Miracle Grow organic for soil, when I was buying everything a month or so ago all the nurseries were still closed for the winter, so I got what i could find. I added 30% perlite to the soil. My next grow I will use a better soil.

This post is already getting long so for now I will stop here.

 

[OldManZombie]

So I started off trying to germinate one NL seed using the paper towel method. 10 days went by and nothing. I decided to go against conventional wisdom and put that seed and one other on peat pellets to see what happened. I checked them day two and one had a tap root about an inch long poking though the side and nothing on other. I put them back on the top of the cabinet to check the next day. Like a dumb ass when I set the propagator back up there the one with the tap root got turned over, the tap root was broken about 1/4 of the way up. I was sick to my stomach but decided to plant it anyway. i checked the other one and it never did sprout. Just a bad seed I guess, it was the same one I tried in the paper towel method.

When the one broke the surface it had a purplish stem, I thought damn two seeds and not going to have anything. I did not know stems could have a purple hint to them. The internet is such a great thing, as I relaxed after reading a bit. I am now on day six from original germination start and things are not a total disaster. The cotyledons came on, now have my first set of leaves, so hoping I didn't do to much damage.

 

[OldManZombie]

Here are the pics to date. Since this is my first grow I am taking pictures everyday to have a comparison for the future. I will only post poctures from now on every 3 or 4 days or if I have an issue.

 

[wg]

OMZ: I'm sorry to hear about your problems brother. This will be the best feeling for you, it helps with anxiety, depression and general mood. Insomnia? You already know... Check out our medical forum as well for some cool stuff going on. There's a good deal of us here who do this personal meds and to be caregivers.

On to the lady! She's looking good bro. A little rippling going on with the leaves - make sure air flow is good and you're not overwatering. Other than that, braaaavo. Love the stealth aquarium design and the baby is lookin' beautiful.

 

[OldManZombie]

So here she is just 8 days above ground. She seems to be doing great, hope I am able to help her reach maturity. Kinda like my 15 year old daughter. Hmm?? Hope the plant listens better.

 

[OldManZombie]

Happy Easter.

Here is my baby girl on Easter Sunday. This is day 11 from breaking the surface.

 

[sugarman1210]

Good luck!

Zombie,

I am glad I came across this thread. I was diagnosed with Depression/Bi-Polar and Panic Disorder about 12 years ago. I have taken one specific psych med since then and now luckily I do not have the panic attacks anymore. I still battle the depression and the bi-polar. I am fairly young between 30 and 40. I just wanted you to know that I am empathetic to what you go through. BTW I also battled insomnia at one point in time and they made my panic attacks Hell. I believe this has to do with Serotonin production during REM sleep.

Also, like you, I am working with my first grow. I am about 30 days in and things are going well. Out of curiosity where did you get your seeds and whom from. I got mine from femaleseeds.nl and they have been awesome, no probs with germination or growth. I am working with Auto Bubble and Auto Critical. Nevermind I see you are using Northern Lights from Nirvana, my bad!

Hope all goes well, hang in there bro!

Sugarman

 

[GCase]

OMZ - You can't be much of a zombie. Your planning, knowledge and grow design is excellent. As are your writing skills. Had me for a minute. Thinking--oh no the NL's can, at times, get big and bushy. But, you choose a good pot size and you cabinet/aquarium combination is unique.
As I am certain you already have researched--and not to be redundant--you may end up doing some trimming or wrestling a few branches. Good strain choice. A pleasant relaxing strain. Takes a little experimenting and a bit of luck with germinating. :thumbs:

 

[OldManZombie]

Thanks all, I was nervous with the height but I wanted to try something that would be easy to grow and benefit my needs. I have done a lot of reading on LST, this is my first grow so I am nervous about trimming, except maybe an occasional fan leaf.

It is a Nirvana Northern Lights, but I got through Attitude.

Anyone recommend any strains they have seen work for insomnia and anxiety/depression. In the next six months to a year I would like to try a few different strains with, hope of getting off my anti depressants. Insomnia can be done with almost any indica, but need something I can also function with. Maybe one kind in morning and something different.

My goal is to keep a perpetual grow for my and my wife's use(she deals with chronic pain, broke her back years ago. So if we could try a few strains over the the next 6 months or so., and hone in on certain strains. Would live any input.

 

[OldManZombie]

Also so far I am only 1 for 2 in germination, so we will see how the rest comes along.

The name OMZ came from my crash over the winter. Everything was so dark and depressive, and then my wife was complaining about how meds make me a zombie. So it kinda just happened, not to mention I am a huge fan of anything zombie related.

On a side note, I am 44, so not old, but older than many that frequent these boards.