AK47 Serious Seeds - First Grow - CFL - Soil

[GreeenFingers]

right let me get this right, are we harrvesting by the colour of the trichs on the bud leaves or are we harvesting by the trichs on the actual bud, it seems their is 2 differences here, so would going by the leaves by the buds mean we are harvesting early, i never thought about that, i just thought once the sweet leave is ready then the plants ready, maybe i been harvesting a bit to early, plus i got plenty of bud to last me so ill leave these a lot longer and see what results i get, thanks for bringing this up with the comment about the trichs

I would like to think that we are harvesting based on the Trichomes on the surface of the actual buds and on the interior of the buds as this is where the majority of the trichomes lie and I think that to really get that peak potency all of the trichomes should be developed and not just the sugar leaves

It will be interesting to see what results you get considering you will have old grows to compare to from experience

I must stop by your ( huge ) journal and have an extensive read and catch up to where you're at now as soon as I get some time ha ha

Thanks for stopping by, and I am happy I could have helped

 

[donpaul.p]

thanks for all the great info, i was always waiting till i had 10% amber trichs, clearly this sounds like its past its best, now as i have got buds left from previous grows then i can compare the buds, so ill go with as near to 100% cloudy as possible, i was always told to check the sugar leaves on the buds for their trichs, so instead this time round ill go by the buds themselves and ill see how it goes,

thats some great info in the write up above, ill try and give you reps if it lets me,
feel free to check my journal, ill put some pics up tomorrow of how things are now, i got a lot more plants going and have not journalled them yet,

i book marked this page for future reference, plus i need to tell the others that to get the best affect from the buds then the trichs need to be 100% cloudy or their about, so according to that write up we are losing some of the strength of the thc by letting the plants go past their best, this has completely changed the way i think of the best time to harvest, its pretty obvious really when you think about it, why let the plant go past its best before we harvest,

ill have a look around the net and check out what other write ups say, but that above is clear enough and clearly states and dictates the best harvest time, ill be using that for this harvest and see how it compares with the buds i got from the mother plant of these strains im growing

 

[geturgrowon]

I wish I could chop them I really do, but I cant, not yet, I really need to have patience ha ha

Would you or anyone else like to have a guess of the yield ? To help with your decision there about 25 - 30 tops all of the pictures above.

Really interested to see what other people think it could be

i would say that u will yeild 10 oz

 

[Smokemupm8]

Thanks mate, Ive seen this before buddy
I am just a little skeptical on the "exact science' that this is meant to be based on.. Most ganja ive smoked thats got amber trichs has ALWAYS had a stronger stone, as opposed to the lighter head high of cloudy/clear trichs..
It may also be the strain but yeah..
Ok so if im reading this correct, your saying that my soil will be locked out of nutes with PH at 6.4?? Most of my soil grows have been in this area??
My last 3 grows actually, i dont recall any being more than 6.5 PH?? Well ill try raise the soils PH then,but if the soil has lost its buffering abilities, what is the best course of action then? Do i need to feed her more often, more nutes for her to maintain a level thats appropriate for her?? Thanks mate and cheers for going to the effort of finding that post of THC?CBN BREAKDOWN! Later mate, Smokemup..

 

[Greenhouse250]

Have you been sampling? You might want to so you have an idea when you like your meds harvested. Just a thought... not sure what i was smoking but the ak's are only 13 days flowering. 10 weeks!! wow so much for quik 8-9 week starin eh!

 

[GreeenFingers]

thanks for all the great info, i was always waiting till i had 10% amber trichs, clearly this sounds like its past its best, now as i have got buds left from previous grows then i can compare the buds, so ill go with as near to 100% cloudy as possible, i was always told to check the sugar leaves on the buds for their trichs, so instead this time round ill go by the buds themselves and ill see how it goes,

thats some great info in the write up above, ill try and give you reps if it lets me,
feel free to check my journal, ill put some pics up tomorrow of how things are now, i got a lot more plants going and have not journalled them yet,

i book marked this page for future reference, plus i need to tell the others that to get the best affect from the buds then the trichs need to be 100% cloudy or their about, so according to that write up we are losing some of the strength of the thc by letting the plants go past their best, this has completely changed the way i think of the best time to harvest, its pretty obvious really when you think about it, why let the plant go past its best before we harvest,

ill have a look around the net and check out what other write ups say, but that above is clear enough and clearly states and dictates the best harvest time, ill be using that for this harvest and see how it compares with the buds i got from the mother plant of these strains im growing

Not a problem donpaul I'm happy you enjoyed it and thanks for the +Reps

Considering we are growing our plants purely for their Trichomes as they contain the active compounds we are looking for, it makes sense that we would wait until the majority of the Trichomes on as many of the buds as possible have turned cloudy because it is very obvious from smoking buds that were picked too early with only clear Trichomes that clear barely produces a high at all, therefore we could assume that clear Trichomes are not yet ' activated ' . When they turn cloudy its like the spherical caps are being injected with THC and other compounds when turning from Clear to Cloudy, and then turning from Cloudy to Amber has to be the degradation process of the THC to CBN , the Trichome even looks like its dying when turning amber and there is a huge loss of THC in the degredation process.

I will be stopping by your journal as soon as I can free up some time, I can barely keep up with my own ha ha it will be really interesting to see what type of different effects you can achieve in comparison with your old plants and new if you try to get as many cloudy Trichomes as possible

I think that I am averaging about 60% Cloudy 35% Clear and 5% Amber at the moment with my girls so not long now until they get the chop

 

[GreeenFingers]

i would say that u will yeild 10 oz

10 oz I don't think that would be physically possible in such a small space ha ha but that would be a dream come true

 

[GreeenFingers]

Thanks mate, Ive seen this before buddy
I am just a little skeptical on the "exact science' that this is meant to be based on.. Most ganja ive smoked thats got amber trichs has ALWAYS had a stronger stone, as opposed to the lighter head high of cloudy/clear trichs..
It may also be the strain but yeah..

I think the Science would be relatively easy to validate considering a lot of that information came from Montana Biotech, all they would have to do is take samples from the same plant at different stages of trichome development weather being Clear, Cloudy, Amber and do a Gas Chromatography test to determine the percentages of THC, CBD, CBN throughout those stages.

It would make sense that a higher % of Amber trichomes could produce somewhat more of a body stone but I would believe this to be because of the reduced THC levels in comparison to the other cannabinoids and the increased level of CBN because that is what the THC has degraded into. I see no reason to degrade the trichomes to try and achieve a body stone as this reduces the THC potency therefore the main potency of the plant.

I am not trying to totally put down Amber Trichomes as I think the extra compounds are very useful, I think increased levels of amber can be good as long as the process of getting them increases the % of Cloudy and decreases the % of Clear.

If you want to test the potency comparison you should take 1 of Cindys colas when it is almost 100% cloudy and just beginning to turn amber, dry it and cure it just like normal while letting the rest of the plant go for longer for more amber, and when the more mature amber buds are cured you can do a smoke comparison

Many Medicinal users prefer higher level of CBN for its use as an analgesic or pain relief but it is only considered mildly psychoactive.

I think to get the real '' STONE '' that you are looking for a strong Indica would be best as you can preserve the High % in THC and a high % of CBD which balances out the THC and gives that strong body stone. The high CBD comes with Indicas whereas Sativas have high THC and very little CBD thus giving a very head high.

I have the perfect video for what I am trying to explain

In the video do not pay attention about any of her remarks to '' Skunk '' as we all know that description has been greatly mis-used in media propaganda, an awful lot more of what she says does not seem to be true but just watch what happens

Her first test is pure THC which would be like the strongest possible Sativa, her reaction to me seemed to me like the obvious ' Super Paranoia' that I am sure we all know people can sometimes get when smoking a very strong Sativa.

Her second test was with the the THC including, what they call Cannabinoids either encompassing all Cannabinoids or just what I presume would just be the other main active compound CBD because they were injecting it in a synthesised form, therefore like a strong Indica and the results certainly seem to show this, have a look


[video=youtube;8J7cZf2tFCQ]

[/video]

Ok so if im reading this correct, your saying that my soil will be locked out of nutes with PH at 6.4?? Most of my soil grows have been in this area??
My last 3 grows actually, i dont recall any being more than 6.5 PH?? Well ill try raise the soils PH then,but if the soil has lost its buffering abilities, what is the best course of action then? Do i need to feed her more often, more nutes for her to maintain a level thats appropriate for her?? Thanks mate and cheers for going to the effort of finding that post of THC?CBN BREAKDOWN! Later mate, Smokemup..

I'm not necessarily saying that your soil will be locked out at PH 6.4 ha ha

The rootzone PH range that cannabis grown in soil generally tends to prefer is between PH 6.3 - PH 6.8 of course this is strain dependant but different strains and phenotypes needs may lean more towards one end of the scale or the other.

All that I am saying is that Cindy has been in the lower end of the PH scale and has shown all the signs of a low PH, a Magnesium, Calcium and Phosphorous deficiency. Although your other grows have been perfect with a PH of 6.5 and below, it is quite possible throughout flowering that Cindys phenotype just needs a slightly higher PH than your other girls needed and it seems like the best way to resolve her problems

The soil loosing its buffering ability is not really much of an issue as long as an adequate rootzone PH for that plant can be maintained and that can be easily monitered by checking the PH of the water going in and then checking the PH of the Runoff coming out and then calculating the PH of the rootzone. I think that I told you how to do it a while back but ill just post it again for people who haven't seen

Just say you water with PH 7.0 and the runoff PH is 6.5, ( 6.5 PH is the half way point ) so that would mean that the PH of the rootzone is 6.0

If you water with PH 6.5 and the runoff is 6.0 it means the rootzone is PH 5.5

If you water with PH 6.5 and the runoff is 7.0 it means the rootzone is PH 7.5

if you water with PH 6.5 and the runoff is 6.3 it means the rootzone is PH 6.1

You shouldn't have to worry about nutes, your normal stable feeding regime with low N and high P and K every second watering should be adequate with whatever PH that she prefers
No problem Smokemup I hope that my explanations are helpful

 

[GreeenFingers]

Have you been sampling? You might want to so you have an idea when you like your meds harvested. Just a thought... not sure what i was smoking but the ak's are only 13 days flowering. 10 weeks!! wow so much for quik 8-9 week starin eh!

Hey Greenhouse250

I have been taking samples but a problem lies in my sampling process ha ha

The most develpoed parts are the colas but I really don't want to just break a chunk off the side of the cola so I end up only taking really low down small buds with mostly clear Trichomes and needless to say the effects were negligible so it looks like I wont know what kind of a punch these girls really pack until they are cut down and dried and then the rest Cured

Are you sure your AK's have not been flowering for a lot longer than that considering your herm looked well developed and that was a while ago ? ha ha how are the AK47 girls looking now ?

I know I really was not expecting a 10 week wait but I suppose the wait will be worth it, I think at the very most I am going to let them hit the 11th week ( 77 days ) they are now on day 73 so they should be getting pulled any day now, they look so damn frosty I have never seen anything like it before

My seeds arrived last week without any problems Have you received yours yet ?

 

[AboveDaCloud9]

very nice and clean grow, very organized for your first attempt, great job!

 

[GreeenFingers]

very nice and clean grow, very organized for your first attempt, great job!

Thanks AboveDaCloud9

I see that this is your 1st post, +Reps for you for joining 420

I'm happy to know you have enjoyed the journal so far

 

[ajagunle]

[video=youtube;8J7cZf2tFCQ]

[/video]

Brilliant video demonstration

How many UVb watts are you tanning the ladies with?

 

[Smokemupm8]

Wow...0_o..
I must say shit mate, great information and relativity to the growers choice of harvesting at optimum THC productivity!!
There s not much else left to say Lol.. But yeah, because what ever element it is that makes us feel 'HIGH' may be a certain one, say, THC,
But the deeper body/heavier eyelid type weed, that some growers achieve by waiting until the appearance of some Amber trichomes, may be due to the resulting THC, degrading into CBN, but - COMBINED - they give a heavier stone feel, as opposed to a high heady spacey stone
It is usually the grower who decides when he thinks/assesses the plant is ready, and harvesting parts of a plant, while leaving the rest of the plant to go for a bit longer is something i have done before.. Some times due to how the plant is grown, some larger buds maybe a little riper and further developed than the ones beneath it that have been getting totally shadowed.. So ive left the bottom 2/3rds going and along with different drying/curing techniques combined to give me smoke, from the same plant - that had many different 'FEELS' to it.
The buds i left attached to the plant for 3 months hanging upside down still while drying, had cured well I liked that smoke!! It wasnt the strongest but it did stick around a bit longer and was smooth as silk to toke! I trimmed it up and just left all the small buds stay on the Weed skeleton as it sat in room temp.
I maybe harvesting when Cindy s at near 90% Cloudy depending on what happens from now.. She does need a bit more time as the tops of the large cola's are blooming outward, again.. Im foliar feeding and just watering her.. The leaves i fed her with the other day are still looking ok, some leaves, I THINK?? have managed to just keep some green tinge to them? HOPE SO!!!
I dont want her pulled early if i can help it, im thinking if able to, the main branches will have a couple of nice buds for me to show you guys
But as mentioned before mate, her roots may well be inadequate in some respects atm?? Trying to keep this PH stable is not really something that i can control, it s very possibly lost buffering abililties and is just a air and water system now..
With nutes needing to be applied to foliage so she can absorb some nutrients straight into her leaves, dont know if this is more efficient, but its going ok sort of, the leaves ive fed thru are all still not burned and maintain green color.
Cindy s size and need for nutrients to supply all her bud sites with adequate food for growth, may be harder if damage from gnats is as bad as what i estimate, she may be just a mess of tattered roots. They were all nice thick healthy and white, then along came Gnats.. Now top roots are all thin and whispy and brown sigh..
Just for arguments sake, if i wanted to try raise the soils/rootzone's PH, other than putting Cal/mag on to the surface and watering in, and using some baking soda to raise the PH, what can i use thats easy to access - fairly fast acting and safe for the plant??
Cos if i can water with something and try get soil to 6.6PH minimum, maybe she can still gather nutrients?? Most likely the run off will be lower, and if it is, and means my rootzones actual PH is 5.5, and ive just given those 2 things, what do i do?? Im assuming adding more Baking soda s bad, also more Cal/mag?? Wouldnt it cause salt/sulphur buildups and stuff again?? Hmmmm... MAN.. I AM FRIED FROM THIS!! Its making me go bonkers!! So many stoopid questions and stoopid actions on behalf of me!! Just hope she will be able to orange more pistils/cloudy all trichs!!! GO CINDY - B4 YOU DIE...... Thanks for your great effort on this and all the time youve taken to do it! THANK YOU!! Smokemup $ CINDY

 

[Greenhouse250]

Damn! That kinda sucks i was hoping for shorter flowering time. I already have the diesel that's 70+ days. As far as sampling you will probably have a few grows before you really decide when you like to harvest. I flipped the switch on the AK's on Oct.1st, and before that they were on glr for 2-3 weeks. The hermie appeared on 24hrs and 18hrs light cycles. Some pics of them in my sig (vert grow).
Can't wait to see some nice dry nugs!

 

[Smokemupm8]

here, here.. I SECOND THE MOTION!!

 

[GreeenFingers]

Brilliant video demonstration

How many UVb watts are you tanning the ladies with?

Hey ajagunle

I've only been using the single 23w bulb throughout this grow but I would like to get a UVB Fluorescent tube rather than a CFL for the next grow so that there is a better spread of the UVB, but of course I will be adding the CFL too ha ha

 

[GreeenFingers]

Wow...0_o..
I must say shit mate, great information and relativity to the growers choice of harvesting at optimum THC productivity!!
There s not much else left to say Lol.. But yeah, because what ever element it is that makes us feel 'HIGH' may be a certain one, say, THC,
But the deeper body/heavier eyelid type weed, that some growers achieve by waiting until the appearance of some Amber trichomes, may be due to the resulting THC, degrading into CBN, but - COMBINED - they give a heavier stone feel, as opposed to a high heady spacey stone
It is usually the grower who decides when he thinks/assesses the plant is ready, and harvesting parts of a plant, while leaving the rest of the plant to go for a bit longer is something i have done before.. Some times due to how the plant is grown, some larger buds maybe a little riper and further developed than the ones beneath it that have been getting totally shadowed.. So ive left the bottom 2/3rds going and along with different drying/curing techniques combined to give me smoke, from the same plant - that had many different 'FEELS' to it.
The buds i left attached to the plant for 3 months hanging upside down still while drying, had cured well I liked that smoke!! It wasnt the strongest but it did stick around a bit longer and was smooth as silk to toke! I trimmed it up and just left all the small buds stay on the Weed skeleton as it sat in room temp.
I maybe harvesting when Cindy s at near 90% Cloudy depending on what happens from now.. She does need a bit more time as the tops of the large cola's are blooming outward, again.. Im foliar feeding and just watering her.. The leaves i fed her with the other day are still looking ok, some leaves, I THINK?? have managed to just keep some green tinge to them? HOPE SO!!!
I dont want her pulled early if i can help it, im thinking if able to, the main branches will have a couple of nice buds for me to show you guys
But as mentioned before mate, her roots may well be inadequate in some respects atm?? Trying to keep this PH stable is not really something that i can control, it s very possibly lost buffering abililties and is just a air and water system now..
With nutes needing to be applied to foliage so she can absorb some nutrients straight into her leaves, dont know if this is more efficient, but its going ok sort of, the leaves ive fed thru are all still not burned and maintain green color.
Cindy s size and need for nutrients to supply all her bud sites with adequate food for growth, may be harder if damage from gnats is as bad as what i estimate, she may be just a mess of tattered roots. They were all nice thick healthy and white, then along came Gnats.. Now top roots are all thin and whispy and brown sigh..
Just for arguments sake, if i wanted to try raise the soils/rootzone's PH, other than putting Cal/mag on to the surface and watering in, and using some baking soda to raise the PH, what can i use thats easy to access - fairly fast acting and safe for the plant??
Cos if i can water with something and try get soil to 6.6PH minimum, maybe she can still gather nutrients?? Most likely the run off will be lower, and if it is, and means my rootzones actual PH is 5.5, and ive just given those 2 things, what do i do?? Im assuming adding more Baking soda s bad, also more Cal/mag?? Wouldnt it cause salt/sulphur buildups and stuff again?? Hmmmm... MAN.. I AM FRIED FROM THIS!! Its making me go bonkers!! So many stoopid questions and stoopid actions on behalf of me!! Just hope she will be able to orange more pistils/cloudy all trichs!!! GO CINDY - B4 YOU DIE...... Thanks for your great effort on this and all the time youve taken to do it! THANK YOU!! Smokemup $ CINDY

Thanks Smokemup

I had a look at Cindy, she really is looking Damn impressive, those Colas are monsters ha ha +Reps for you, she does look like she could go for another week or two but even with her little bit of damage I think she will be well able for the time ahead, my girls lost so many leaves and still managed to make it to the finish line

I would recommend Baking soda I used it to stabilise my PH and it worked perfect, I know it is basically a salt but it didn't really seem like enough to cause any problems or buildups as it didn't really require much to up the PH a rootzone PH of 5.5 is pretty damn low ha ha I really think using half strength nutes and upping the PH with the baking soda should work perfect for you.

Even with those tattered roots there will be some nutrient absorption, you could be surprised at what she still might be capable of

No problem Smokemup I'm just trying to help you and Cindy out to the best of my knowledge ha ha

 

[GreeenFingers]

Damn! That kinda sucks i was hoping for shorter flowering time. I already have the diesel that's 70+ days. As far as sampling you will probably have a few grows before you really decide when you like to harvest. I flipped the switch on the AK's on Oct.1st, and before that they were on glr for 2-3 weeks. The hermie appeared on 24hrs and 18hrs light cycles. Some pics of them in my sig (vert grow).
Can't wait to see some nice dry nugs!

You never know, yours might have a shorter flowering time considering my seeds were bought a year and a half ago and from a different batch.

The girls had their lights switched off last night day 77 exactly 11 weeks, they look finished now for the 48 hours of darkness but realistically I think they could have gone for 12 weeks but I felt that already waiting 2 - 3 weeks extra was long enough and now I am just focused on getting some new strains, I'm thinking Blue Cheese, OG kush #18 and possibly Super Skunk but I am still open to suggestions ha ha

Harvest will be on Monday night so stay tuned for some pictures

 

[geturgrowon]

cant wait man ! GL

 

[Greenhouse250]

OH! that never crossed my mind thanks for mentioning this, will be on the look out. lol So your not keeping this strain alive? I might be able to get an old cutting of the ak-47, but need to find out how old it really is...