Virgin Grow - AK-47 In 2x2x5 Tent With 250w HPS

[smokeywokey]

Hi. I'm just sprouting 3x Ak-47 feminised seeds under a 45w LED panel. (It's 12 inches away) This is my very first grow. I'm pressed for time. I need to get the whole grow done in 90 days so I won't be vegging for long so I can flower them properly. I'll be mixing rockdust, kelp and fish emulsion into the soil mix with perlite. I've got 3 gallon pots to put them in. They're just in jiffy pots at the moment. Temp in tent at 22ºC/71.5ºF. Humidity at 59%. I'm using bottled spring water right now but I have a pH pen and pH up and pH down to get my water right. I've also got composted poultry manure pellets that I've dissolved in water and been feeding to my houseplants to see if they like it. I've been reading up heaps on the forums but would love any and all advice. I'm looking at this as a trial run and am trying to keep my expectations as far as yield goes to a minimum. But I'll do my very best to get it right! Thanks to everyone who shares the love with their knowledge and expertise here. P.S. How do I upload photos? oops just found the photo info

 

[smokeywokey]

I'm finding it hard to keep the seeds warm. On the fridge isn't cutting it so I've put the heater on and warmed the room up a bit. It's coming into Autumn and it gets cold where I am. I also realised that growing from seed takes a lot more time to even get to the veg stage. I'm thinking I will have to throw them into 12/12 lighting before they are sexually mature so my plants will be tiny and have a seriously low yield. I've soaked and planted 3 more seeds to try and get a wee bit more out of this grow. I've only got 3 months in between my regular flat inspections to get it done. My house is tiny and the grow tent will stick out even with a cover over it and I can't risk getting caught. Next time I'm going to germinate and hopefully veg a bit in box or something with the led panel before the inspection and just hide a little box with the seedlings in it when he comes round. Then I will have enough time for veg and flowering. I'm still glad I'm doing it because it's all a learning curve. Next time will be much better



I just put a 60w incandescent over the seeds to warm them up better. I got the idea off a forum.

Photos are in the members gallery. Haven't figured out how to get them in my post yet.

 

[smokeywokey]

Great news! The Aks have sprouted! I was a bit worried there for a bit. I woke up this morning and they'd completely dried out under the lamp but I moistened them and prayed and when I came home one had poked through! Then all of them had just a wee while later. It's amazing how quickly they grow. The 3 mystery seeds are a day behind so they'll make an appearance hopefully tomorrow. I'm going to turn the LED panel on soon so they've got light when they need it but I'm worried about the temperature being too low. I was thinking of keeping the 60w lamp on them at an angle so as not to block the blurple light. A slighter higher wattage of bulb would better for that I think. The ambient temperature in the room outside the tent is a measly 15 degrees centigrade (59 F) at present and will drop further overnight. I might have to hang the HPS just for the heat even though it's not quite the right spectrum. Yay I'm so happy!

 

[smokeywokey]

If anyone can tell me how to put photos in my posts it would be much appreciated. I'm using a Macbook if it makes any difference and I've already resized them, but at the moment i can only get them into the member's gallery. I've turned the LED on and changed the incandescent to a 100w bulb off to the side. I will check the temp in an hour or so just in case it gets too hot. I've hydrated the bulb in my pH pen (took 24hrs) and am now calibrating it. I'm using bottled spring water now but have a bucket full of tap water that's hopefully evaporating the chlorine out to be used for watering. I'm dissolving 250g of poultry manure pellets in 2l of water in preparation for their first feeding.

 

[SnarlyWeed]

If anyone can tell me how to put photos in my posts it would be much appreciated. I'm using a Macbook if it makes any difference and I've already resized them, but at the moment i can only get them into the member's gallery. I've turned the LED on and changed the incandescent to a 100w bulb off to the side. I will check the temp in an hour or so just in case it gets too hot

Hi Smokie. Mind if I pull up a chair?
When you are doing your reply, in the bottom left hand corner there is a link that says "My Photos" When you click on it, your gallery should pop up. Then just click on the pictures that you want to display in your post. At least that's how it works for me..

 

[smokeywokey]

Hi Snarly! Lucky first person! Welcome welcome. Thanks for that about the photos. I'll do one now. Not much to see yet but tiny little baby stalks bending up through. I'm trying to put as much info in this as I can so it maybe can help somebody sometime. I'll check out your grow too. Wish me luck!

 

[smokeywokey]

I'm counting this as Day 1. The first appearance of a sprouting Ak-47 seed.

 

[SnarlyWeed]

Hi Snarly! Lucky first person! Welcome welcome. Thanks for that about the photos. I'll do one now. Not much to see yet but tiny little baby stalks bending up through. I'm trying to put as much info in this as I can so it maybe can help somebody sometime. I'll check out your grow too. Wish me luck!

Thanks for the welcome. Proud first!
I just keep stumbling around and my girls seem to grow in spite of me.

 

[SnarlyWeed]

I'm counting this as Day 1. The first appearance of a sprouting Ak-47 seed.

Looks likeyou are off to a good start

 

[smokeywokey]

Nice buds Snarly. I can already tell I'm going to have a lot of fun doing this

 

[SnarlyWeed]

Nice buds Snarly. I can already tell I'm going to have a lot of fun doing this

And it should be fun. When I started my first grow quite a few months ago, I really only wanted to make my meds more affordable. But you know, I think the grow is very therapeutic as well. Something about entering the room my tents are in, just smooths me out. What might have been chores has become a satisfying hobby. Even all the noob mistakes, accidents, play a part in the experience. If it was too easy, it wouldn't be as much fun. But honestly, it's pretty easy.

 

[smokeywokey]

Hey snarly, do you know much about pHing water? I just tested my tap water and it's 7.5. I have no idea what the pH of the soil I'm going to use is. I have some pH down (phosporic acid) and it says to use 4ml per 100l of water. That's a lot of water! any way to easily do, say, a 10l bucket full? Maybe how many drops? I should have started growing ages ago but only now have I got my own place and the funds to get a basic set up, which isn't cheap. I've made a promise to myself to only smoke weed I've grown myself from now on. Over here they sell 0.5g for $25 and 2.5g for $50! ($NZ and $CA are pretty equal) Exorbitant isn't the word! I've read that using composted manure can neutralize pH in the soil too. What do you think?

 

[SnarlyWeed]

Hey snarly, do you know much about pHing water? I just tested my tap water and it's 7.5. I have no idea what the pH of the soil I'm going to use is. I have some pH down (phosporic acid) and it says to use 4ml per 100l of water. That's a lot of water! any way to easily do, say, a 10l bucket full? Maybe how many drops? I should have started growing ages ago but only now have I got my own place and the funds to get a basic set up, which isn't cheap. I've made a promise to myself to only smoke weed I've grown myself from now on. Over here they sell 0.5g for $25 and 2.5g for $50! ($NZ and $CA are pretty equal) Exorbitant isn't the word! I've read that using composted manure can neutralize pH in the soil too. What do you think?

Oh man, you are asking the wrong person. I only occasionally check tap water and drainage water. Been lucky so far. Your tap water does sound a bit high. And it sounds like the ph down is for a hot tub maybe? Would ph down for aquariums be better? Dunno. But hey, there are a lot of people on here that know what they are talking about when it comes to ph, hopefully someone will chime in!

And yup, smokin yer own is always better

 

[smokeywokey]

Day 2. I worked out the pH down. It's 4mls per 100l, so 0.4mls per 10l. 1 drop is 0.05mls, so 8 drops is 0.4mls. I'm going to pH my tap water from 7.5 to 6.5. I've read that pHing is only necessary for hydroponics and can actually damage your plants. Then more people recommend it for soil grows so the roots have more access to nutrients when the water is around 6.5. It's hard sifting through all the information sometimes. But this is my first go so it'll all be trial and error. I'm keeping a diary for future reference and I'll have this record too. Right now I'm just keeping the sprouts warm and moist. I'm keen to put a dilution of the composted chicken manure in with some water soon but don't want to jump the gate. How soon is too soon to feed? I'll have to research that one. I find all the maths a bit of a challenge. I'm as poor as a church mouse right now so I have to wait for a couple of days to order the ducting for the carbon filter. In the meantime I'll just ventilate with the clip on fans when it's time to. I had to flick a seed husk off one. They're only an inch high and the mystery seeds are still below ground. I hope they were viable. Peace out

 

[Aotearoa]

Hey Smoke. Have you considered auto flowers? You can grow a crop from seed to harvest in under 90 days with a lot of strains, decent yields too.

What soil are you using?

 

[smokeywokey]

I'm using black magic seed raising mix with a bit of perlite just now. For the bigger pots I got the cheapest potting mix from the garden shop. Norlake I think it's called. I think it's just composted wood chips. I asked for the one with the least additives. I'm mixing in 20% rockdustplus which is granite dust, kelp and fishmeal. Lots of trace minerals and encourages microbial growth apparently. And 20% perlite. I wanted to add lime but can't afford it right now. Been looking at fish food to add to my mix too lol. You're meant to mix it up well beforehand to let it compost a bit. The good news is that you can reuse it and it gets better with age. I'm going to get bonemeal to top dress with just before I flower for extra phosphorus, calcium and magnesium.

Auto flowers for sure next time. I'll be getting the cheapest, guaranteed delivery Northern Lights I can find. I got these seeds off Robert Bergman but he's just raised his prices a lot. Probably because it's the Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Everyone wants seeds up there now.

I just realised I didn't hydrate my pH pen properly so I'm going to have to get some storage solution next week before it gets damaged. This wee hobby is turning out to be quite expensive but oh well. Sure beats paying through the nose for tiny amounts of variable quality weed hands down.

What are you using?

I apologise for asking silly questions. I usually find the answer after a bit of googling. I don't know yet what I even need to find out until it's happening though

 

[Aotearoa]

I haven't used that soil before, I tried terrazilla which I got from my hydro shop. I'm convinced it had spider mite eggs when I bought it.

I've switched to coco for this grow. I'll be making my own soil once I get my own place. No worries with the questions, I'm still quite a new grower too.

 

[smokeywokey]

Lol about the spider mite eggs! I thought they were meant to be bug free? That's why we don't just use dirt out of the garden. I read somewhere that they're in the air but who knows? Coco is coconut fibre right? Are you going kind of hydro? I just plugged the lights into the timer so they'll be on 18/6 from now until flower time. I'm allowing 70 days to flower cos that's what some guy said his Ak's took. Really short veg. Can't set up my HPS until I've got the tent ducted to extract some heat. Been perusing seed suppliers. Still can't go past Bergman for his free guaranteed shipping to germination. I'm gonna have to buy some soon to get them sent, sprouted and ready for the next grow.

 

[Aotearoa]

Coco coir is the husk of a coconut, yeah it's pretty hydro but similar to soil. A lot more forgiving when it comes to correcting defficiencies and a lot cheaper to buy than soil. A 5kg brick cost me $10 + shipping. But you'll use more nutrients compared to soil.

 

[smokeywokey]

Day 3. I gave them a teaspoon of poo tea each and they're on 18/6 now. I keep going down rabbit holes on the net reading academic papers on mycorrhizae fungi and natural sources of phosphorus etc etc lol. I'm just going to leave them to it for awhile tonight methinks. Take it easy people.