Obi's AK-48 - A Grow Journal & Review

Re: Obi's AK-48 - A Grow Journal & Review

Hmmm on my end, I just chopped down my AK48 at 57 days from flip. Samples from popcorn lower buds was already nice and that was from day 49. Just a little bit of amber as it was chopped. I will keep coming back for ur run. I am intrigued as to why yours did not perform and what your end result will turn out with this prolonged flowering. Very interesting. I would like to add my 2cents on Nirvana strains: Master Kush was the best smoke out of my first batch consisted of AK48, Lithium OG Kush, Misty Kush and Master Kush.
 
Obi Wan said:
Update
Day: 140
Stage: Flower
Veg Days: 70 @ 18/6 6500K 8 Bulb T5HO
Transition Days: 10 @ 12/12 mixed light spectrum
Flower Days: 60
Light: 12/12 3000K 8 Bulb T5HO
Temps: 64F-73F / 18C-22C
RH: 46%-64%
Water: None
Amount: N/A
Nutrients: None
Nutrient Strength: N/A

Notes: Day 60 of flower. The plants are looking shaggy. I keep looking for amber trichomes. There are a few here and there but not many. I'm trying to decide if I want to water one more time or just let them go. The potency is still disappointingly low.





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Click to expand...

I'd slowly lower the light on time for the next week. Read somewhere that some strains just won't go amber under 12/12 lighting. Just throwing that out there. I should have tried it with my papaya that never got over 5 % amber. The next will be better I hope cause as of now my buds aren't that potent to me either.. maybe it's Nirvanas seeds or just me being a rookie. When it comes to growing I will be successful no matter how long it takes me.
 
Re: Obi's AK-48 - A Grow Journal & Review

japawe said:
I definitely will be trying that. You get good results I guess seeing how you have done it for 2 yrs.
Click to expand...


Indeed. It seems to speed the onset of flowering, and while sativa-dom varieties seem to really like it, all varieties do very well.
 
Re: Obi's AK-48 - A Grow Journal & Review

Governmentchz said:
Indeed. It seems to speed the onset of flowering, and while sativa-dom varieties seem to really like it, all varieties do very well.
Click to expand...

You can even try the lighting curve.

!0 hours of light for the first 3 days.

11 hours of light for the next 7 days.

12 hours of light for the next 14 days.

13 hours of light to finish.

This shortens the amount of time it take for the plant to kick into the flowering program at the start, and going to 13 gives it extra time each day to flower shortening the end cycle.

Some plants will even tolerate 14 or 15 hour light cycles before reverting back to veg.

Using the lighting curve it shortened my cycle by 4 to 5 days. You can take your energy savings with that too.

However you don't want to drift lower than 10 hours for 3 days. Lower than this or longer will result in hermies developing.

Cheers
 
Harvest is scheduled for tomorrow night.

The plants have finished.

* The fan leaves have faded to uselessness or are gone.
* The smaller sugar leaves are a little rough but I'll get some sparkly trim off of them.
* After 5 days most containers are still quite full. The plants are drinking very little.
* Trichome check last week showed a couple amber and mostly cloudy/clear trichs.


The flowers themselves look nice. The many mains are pretty dense. I cannot see light through them. Some of the side nugs are dense and some are a little fluffier. Very Indica-like. The weight of the flowers are too much for the skinny branches.

I've been sampling the side nugs for the past two or three weeks trying to get a feel for the level of maturity, potency and effect. This could be one of those strains in which the Trichomes are a little difficult to read so I'm basing my date to harvest on multiple factors including time, general appearance and water uptake.

My Pure Power Plant stash has run out and I sense my tolerance lowering. The AK-48's effect to me is a mild Indica type buzz softly wandering about my body. There is very little head effect. The body buzz only became apparent over the last 10 days. I haven't really experienced much euphoria, mood elevation or even munchies.

I think this just might not be the strain for me. It's interesting that the reviews I have seen typically swing to either really liking it or wondering if something went wrong. Very hit and miss and a little too inconsistent in hindsight. Perhaps this strain really likes a good soil grow rather than hydro.

Boy, I really want to like this AK-48. I've got some time invested but based on the PPP grow and effect I think I'll have to leave this strain to better suited growers. I'll harvest this grow, let it dry and give it some cure time before I finish this journal out.

Oh, here is a sneak peak of the pre-harvest plants...

​

Cheers,
/Obi
 
I still like Nirvana's seeds. I understand that not every strain is going to knock my socks off. That's the nature of the beast. When strain hunting I think it's beneficial to stick with a breeder rather than hop around (provided you can find some success in a reasonable amount of time). I feel like you can get a sense for their cross breeding and general genetic growth patterns.

If anyone reading has tried the AK-48 and felt underwhelmed consider their Pure Power Plant as an alternative option. Perhaps we have similar Cannabinoid receptor profiles. The PPP is very strong to me. If the AK effect is a 3/10 the PPP is a 9/10 to give you a feel. Another thing about the PPP is I harvested a little early and still greened out on it once. It's very uplifting and I think with some additional grows one could truly add in a little more body effect or round out the head buzz by going a little longer. It's a workable strain and will be my first re-order during my hunt.

Interestingly enough the two most effective strains I've grown for myself have been from their F1 hybrid stock. Aurora Indica and the aforementioned PPP. Opposite effects but heavy hitters. Armed with this knowledge I might try their Raspberry Cough once I get the new grow rooms up and running.
 
Ah well mate,

Maybe not what you had hoped for. But I must say they really look great.

Maybe was the lighting, the strain or the hydro. Is not uncommon for certain strains to not live up to expectations in hydro. Not many like to admit it. But it happened more often than you might think.

However you got a chance to hone your kung fu a bit more.

The ppp you speak highly of. did you use the same regime on AK 48 as you did on PPP?

Cheers
 
Sneaky Snids said:
Ah well mate,

Maybe not what you had hoped for. But I must say they really look great.

Maybe was the lighting, the strain or the hydro. Is not uncommon for certain strains to not live up to expectations in hydro. Not many like to admit it. But it happened more often than you might think.

However you got a chance to hone your kung fu a bit more.

The ppp you speak highly of. did you use the same regime on AK 48 as you did on PPP?

Cheers
Click to expand...


Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

The PPP was a very similar grow. My low temps were not quite as low but the grow media, nutes, light, cabinet, fans, RO water, frequency... same. I'm going to dial that one in. I'm considering bumping the Papaya tryout to get things started.

Nirvana recently raised their seed prices so I'm off comparing seed banks who have them cheaper now. Browsing the sponsors and some old tried and true.

Keep it green,
/Obi
 
Obi,

Well at this point I cant recommend what I'm growing just yet :)

Have you tried your hand at cloning? Cloning in rockwool is a snap. Once you learn a few very key steps, your success rate will be 100%.

When you do a cloned grow so many things go better. Having the grow rate of all plants identical really helps. If you canopy is even you can then lower your light to maximize growth. And since everyone is the same, output is very predictable.

I've seen sensible seeds recommended more that once - for what its worth.


Cheers
 
Update
Day: 148
Stage: Drying
Veg Days: 70 @ 18/6 6500K 8 Bulb T5HO
Transition Days: 10 @ 12/12 65000K + 3000K 8 Bulb T5HO
Flower Days: 68 @ 12/12 3000K 8 Bulb T5HO
Drying Days: 0
Temps: 62F-67F / 16C-19C
RH: 33%-55%

Notes: AK-48 in 148 days :)

I performed a defoliation and lollipop before chopping and hanging to dry.









​

I have a fair amount of trim that I placed in a couple of large paper bags as well. I was pretty liberal on what I deemed hash bag nugs often throwing entire branches in this time. I'll play around with some of that while the good stuff is drying.

/Obi
 
Update
Day: 150
Stage: Drying
Veg Days: 70 @ 18/6 6500K 8 Bulb T5HO
Transition Days: 10 @ 12/12 65000K + 3000K 8 Bulb T5HO
Flower Days: 68 @ 12/12 3000K 8 Bulb T5HO
Drying Days: 2
Temps: 65F-68F / 18C-20C
RH: 35%-55%

Notes: After two days of drying the smaller shaggy leaves are getting crispy. The flowers are still damp. I've turned off the circulation fan that was pointing at the wall. I still have 450cfm exhaust running near by.
 
Update
Day: 154
Stage: Curing
Veg Days: 70 @ 18/6 6500K 8 Bulb T5HO
Transition Days: 10 @ 12/12 65000K + 3000K 8 Bulb T5HO
Flower Days: 68 @ 12/12 3000K 8 Bulb T5HO
Drying Days: 4
Curing Days: 2
Harvest Amount: 300g in the jars plus trim
Temps: 66F / 19C
RH: @ 60%

Notes: I slowed the exhaust fan to 50% for the last day of hang drying. I wanted to try to pull a little more moisture out of the flowers without over-drying the edges before final trim and jarring. That worked well.

I feel like I put the buds into the jars at just the right time this grow. Waiting until the branches snap is too dry. I'm working on controlling the final day(s) of drying in the jar and transitioning the buds slowly to curing. In the past I've used my Boveda packs to re-hydrate slightly over-dry buds. Not this time. I think I'm figuring things out.

This may be the best flush I've been able to do as well. Some sample buds I've taken from a jar vape and smoke very smoothly. My smoothest yet. I don't care for smoke but I can handle this stuff pretty well for testing sake.

I'm going to give them a week to get comfy in their jars.

Cheers,
/Obi
 
I agree with the thought process on drying. I don't let them get "snappy" either. That's always seemed too dry to me. Also, once jarred, I use some readers and a pen light to check them for condensation. If I don't see any I don't even burp/open the jars as constant opening will slow the cure process. You want that chemical process to proceed uninhibited for best results and constantly opening them will slow it down.

Good job Obi.
 
Buds are curing nicely. I've been vaping and smoking the harvest steadily. I'll wrap this up soon.
 

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