My 3.5 week old AK47 auto is only 7 inches tall and 13 inch diameter but looks fine

robro

Active Member
I use coco plugs to germ my seeds,in a heated propogator then straight into final 11 litre pots.
As autos dnt like to be transplanted.
Ive only just found this about promix http://promixsoil.ca/
It seems that it is soilless/hydroponic mix,peat moss,perlite and vermiculite.
Or are you using another type?
 

pirate43a

Active Member
I found a local promix and just mixed it 50/50 with perlite. Not the same stuff detailed in the link you provided. I believe I'm going to buy coco coir and do a grow exactly as detailed in the GrowWeedEasy.com guide. I'm leaning towards using Northern Lights feminized seeds. Do you have any other seeds you prefer? The wife seems to have trouble sleeping.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
Well I took the plunge and bought some Nirvana Northern Lights feminized seeds and Nirvana Aurora Indica feminized seeds. I'm still debating about purchasing an Lighthouse blackstar LED setup. Lots of cash and I think I can tweak my CFL setup to do more. I love engineering.
 

robro

Active Member
Have you had a look at the indoor growing forum on RIU.It will give you plenty of info on led`s.
I like the description of the Aurora Indica you have ordered,it should help your wife get to sleep.
I think you will like growing in coco/perlite,not sure if your nutes are coco specific tho,you had best
check that out pirate.GL.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
Funny you should mention that Dr. Robro. Over the last few days I have agonized over a question. I am growing in 50% PROMIX and 50% perlite. I believe the PROMIX bag said POTTING SOIL so I naturally assumed that meant "SOIL". That might have been a bad assumption. I'm using the Fox Farm nutrients designed for "SOIL". I believe I should be using "HYDROPONIC" nutrients. Fox Farm has a trio of nutrients....Grow Big, Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom. Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom appear to be for both Soil and hydroponic but Grow Big SOIL is 6-4-4 whilst HYDROPONIC is 3-2-6 (big difference). I have ordered Grow Big HYDROPONIC. Plant is looking good since flush on Thursday with hairs longer and straight and even some small buds in interior of plant. Buds are increasing in size.
 

robro

Active Member
Thats what i was thinking about your promix and nutes.I just assumed you would get them compatable.
So we both made bad assumptions there pirate,but i dont think its caused too much damage.
Im pleased to hear shes looking ok,and buds are getting bigger,etc.
GL.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
DAY 59 - No big changes to plant. I watered her yesterday with 1 gallon of 6.5 pH water. No runoff so I watered again with 1 gallon of 6.2 water. 3 cups of runoff afterwards at 6.1 pH and a very low 47 ppm. Time for a feeding once she gets dry again. Buds still "airy" but filling in along cola. Hairs white. I'm waiting for arrival of hydroponic nutes and a USB microscope to examine trichomes. She looks ok but pretty beat up from previous stress.
 

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robro

Active Member
She looks beat up coz shes lacking P&K imo.You need to up your bloom nutes a fair bit.
If you have any bud booster,give her some in her next feed.
Pull off the bad leaves,as they wont recover and are only blocking light now.
It looks like your local promix contains peat moss or something that is acidic,as your ph seems to be low again.
So ph for hydro when you get your hydro nutes i.e.5.8.
GL.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
Fed this morning after removing some dead lower leaves. Water and nutes went in at 6.1 pH. The HYDROPONIC Grow Big hasn't arrived yet so I put a small amount of the SOIL version instead. A very small dose of Cal/Mag added with mix. I definitely will pH the medium when doing my next grow.
 

robro

Active Member
I think the high N content in your Grow Big for soil 6-4-4 and ph`ing for soil has caused the K def.
As it is locked out of hydro at about 6.0,also high N can lockout K.
So i think you were wise only to feed light with it this time.
You should have your hydro nutes for the next feed.
Its took some time,but we are getting there between us pirate.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
Don't you think the trichomes on this puppy should be showing the little heads at the end? I'm scanning over the plant and there does appear to be some resin on some of the leaves, which I can smell on my fingers but the plant in general is not heavy with resin. This AK47 auto plant is at 61 days into the grow so I don't think her life span is too much longer.
 

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robro

Active Member
Dnt worry pirate,the triches will become more apparrent as she gets older.
She could take another 3 or 4 weeks to finish,so plenty of time for her to do her thing.
I used to do a lot of Pike fishing,and that takes patience.But growing cannabis takes a lot more!!
GL.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
I took a whack at DEFOLIATING this morning since many of my plants leaves are either covering bud locations from direct light or are less than healthy. I didn't do a major defoliation but the plant looks a lot better. I did a feeding yesterday (now using HYDROPONIC nutes) at about 600 ppm. Although the nugs are not getting massive they are filling in slowly. That was one of the reasons for the defoliation. Take a look at pics and give me your impressions. I'm at day 65 of this AK47 auto.
 

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AXi0N

Active Member
I have an auto ak47 going that's at 21 days right now. Looking at your pics has given me a good idea of what to expect in the next few weeks. After reading through your thread, I noticed you had issues with overwatering. Have you considered Smartpots or Airpots for your next grow? I'm on my first grow now, and I chose Smartpots because tons of posts suggested that they're better for roots and make it hard to overwater.

Did you LST that ak47, or did it branch out to it's current form on its own?
 

robro

Active Member
Not looking too bad at all pirate.There looks to be a fair amount of bud on her,and good to hear buds are growing.
If something was seriously wrong,you would not have got bud growth like that.IMO.
She looks good for the thinning out,its still like a jungle in there.haha.
GL.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
Hello Axion, no I haven't considered Smartpots but will look into it. I did indeed overwater the girl (and overfed). I'm a first time grower and just about loved her to death. Robro suggested that coco coir might be a good fit for me to avoid overwatering. My present mix is 50% promix and 50% perlite but the soil seems to have packed down during the grow so it takes a while for medium to dry out. The plant is in a 7+ gallon pot which also makes judging waterings a bit harder. I'm going with smaller containers and grow Nirvana's Northern Lights and Nirvana's Aurora Indica next and start utilizing clones instead of autoflowering. Thank goodness I haven't killed my plant yet and hopefully in a few weeks I'll harvest. I didn't LST this plant but intend to do so in the future. Thanks for the tip about Smartpots and happy growing.
 

AXi0N

Active Member
I'm a first time grower as well, and I feel like I did the opposite. lol For the first couple of weeks, I think I might have used too little water because I read that overwatering could stunt growth. My plants never looked unhealthy, but it's possible that they could have grown a little more had I used more water. I watched a few YouTube videos on watering, and all is good now. I think...

I've read through every page of this thread, and I learned a few things from robro as well. Most notably, I definitely want to include lime in my next soil mix. I saw it mentioned elsewhere, but I wasn't aware of the benefits until I read robro's comments here. I'm currently using Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil, and next time I'm thinking about mixing it with another called Light Warrior, since I've seen it recommended on many of the forums. The FFOF has been good to my plants, but I figured I'll try to improve a little on the next grow.

I went with autos this time around mostly for the quick turnaround. Along with my 1 auto ak47, I have 2 auto Vertigos going that are supposedly 60 day plants. I'm in need of smoke, so I didn't want to wait 3-4 months on a photoperiod plant this time. If these autos turn out well, I'll probably try to create my own seeds. If not, then I'll also be switching to a photoperiod strain in the near future. I notice that some people on the forums bash autos, but if they get me good smoke in my 2x3 tent, then I'll stick with them. :lol: They seem damn easy to grow at this point...

I'm looking forward to seeing how the harvest on that ak47 comes out. I saw that you mentioned bonzaseeds, so I think that we're growing the same strain. Your pics have given me a high expectations on what to expect from my plant. Mine is looking somewhat similar as yours did early on, so I'm thinking that it'll develop into a similar plant. The two Vertigos I have are much more stretchy than the ak47, but they are growing nice as well. The flowers on them developed in under 30 days.

Here are Smart pots. The benefits are supposedly that they encourage better root growth because they allow more air into the roots. They also trap less water, and the best part is that they are reusable. After harvest, you just wash them and start again. They come in various sizes. I'm using the 5 gallon, but i didn't get the ones with the handles unfortunately. http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Pots-5-Gallon-Soft-Sided-Container/dp/B0055E7KR2
 

pirate43a

Active Member
Axiom, great to hear from you and always nice to hear from a newbie like myself. I ended up buying 6 two gallon Air-Pots from Ebay for a little over $30. I read several comments that users hear root ends ripping when they moved the Smart Pots. I tend to move my plant a lot doing measurements so the rigid Air-Pots might suit me better. You haven't mentioned what type of lights you use. As you can tell from this thread I'm using CFLs. I even added a few more yesterday to fully bathe the plant from as many angles as possible. My AK47 I believe will harvest in 2-3 weeks. The cheap 3 watt red & blue LED panel I have is a mystery to me. I use it for some side lighting and sometimes I think it's helping (I notice some long hairs) but sometimes I just think it's junk. I've looked at upgrading it to a Lighthouse Blackstar unit but have read mixed reviews about LEDs in general. I don't know if I mentioned it in the thread but I made a bad assumption early in my grow thinking PROMIX POTTING SOIL was indeed "SOIL". I bought Fox Farms trio of nutes for SOIL. Oops! Grow Big component for SOIL of this trio has waaaay different NPK composition than their HYDROPONIC version. I'm using the right stuff now. Have you looked at GrowWeedEasy.com for Nebula Haze's guide for beginner's growing? I like clear concise and almost recipe type guides and this one caught my eye.
 

pirate43a

Active Member
I forgot to mention that my plan for next grow is to first veg a Northern Lights and an Aurora Indica for 2 months. Then take 2 or 3 clones from each and put in a separate vegging area which I'm building now. The original 2 plants will then be flowered and 2 clones will serve as mother plants. The other clone(s) will be vegged for 2 months and then take their place in flowering tent. My hope is I can have a harvest every 2 months by staggering the plant. I'm sure that is the way others grow but it was just the other day the "light" went on for me. I'm not the smartest cookie in the box ;-]
 
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