LED AK-48 Grow Journal

[erwinsweeney]

I'm starting this journal a little bit late. I started 4 AK-48 seeds from Buy Dutch Seeds about 8 weeks ago. All 4 sprouted. I have vegged them under a 120 watt LED unit from California Nurseries. It utilizes 88-1.07 watt red bridgelux LED's, and 24-1.07 watt blue LED's. They are in a 2'-4'-5' grown tent that I keep in a walk-in closet. I made 2 DIY carbon filters which are attached to 4" duct fans. The fans suck air through the filters, and blow it out of the tent. I dont have any fans blowing into the tent, with the fans blowing out, it seems to draw in enough through the vents. 2 of the plants were female and 2 were male, males were removed immediately. I have started 4 clones from the bigger plant on the left. She has always been a little bigger, and showed sex a little earlier as well. I did get some nute burn on her after taking clones as can be seen, but I've been flushing for a few days now, and it's starting to clear up. The LED light has been running 24/0 for the whole time. THIS IS MY FIRST GROW EVER, BY THE WAY. The bigger one on left is about 16", and one on the right is about 15" tall.

 

[erwinsweeney]

I am going to change the light cycle tomorrow to 12/12 and begin them flowering. The LED unit emits 3600 lumens. So that being said, I am going to continue using the LED unit in a separate area to veg the clones. I will begin flowering the 2 big plants tomorrow under a 2700K 250 watt CFL bulb and reflector which emits 10,800 lumens. I have not tried to flower under the LED before, however I don't believe 3600 lumens will be enough to properly flower these two plants. I am however very satisfied with the job that the LED light has done in vegging the plants, and will continue to use it for that purpose. The plants are stout and very bushy, which is what I was looking for. I have been using Fox Farms Grow Big and Big Bloom so far, but have recently been flushing with water only, due to some nute burn. I will use Tiger Bloom as well in flowering.

 

[erwinsweeney]

I had a small Fungus Gnat infestation. You can see in one of the pics, under the plant on the left I put a horticulture yellow sticky insect trap. In the matter of a couple days, this seems to have gotten a handle on it.

 

[SPEARCHUCKER]

Looks great erwin. Nice LED you got there too.

 

[erwinsweeney]

Man, I recently found a grow journal by BombBudPuffa where he did AK-48 and started flowering when the plant was 6" tall, and his still ended up pretty big, and quality smoke. I'm curious how big these will get since they are 16" tall already?

 

[erwinsweeney]

One thing I don't fully understand is the reasoning on having a dedicated mother plant. I have four clones going from my bigger plant. They are in veg stage. Since they are clones, can I just take my next round of clones from them before I put them into flowering?? Is the reason for keeping a mother plant, just in case something goes wrong with clones?

 

[erwinsweeney]

Thank you Spear. I got a great deal on the LED light. At the manufacturers site they retail for $499.99. I found one on E-Bay that was barely used, and got it for $200. Worth every penny I believe.

 

[MootPointBlank]

One thing I don't fully understand is the reasoning on having a dedicated mother plant. I have four clones going from my bigger plant. They are in veg stage. Since they are clones, can I just take my next round of clones from them before I put them into flowering?? Is the reason for keeping a mother plant, just in case something goes wrong with clones?

I've asked the same question about cloning from clones and there are three considerations that I've come across. The first consideration is time; the biological clock in all species starts ticking at the point of conception. From that point on there is a finite amount of time that that organism will survive before cellular degeneration becomes great enough to overcome the organism's ability to metabolize and maintain stasis. A clone is just a replica taken from that organism at a particular point in time. The clone, though smaller, is exactly as old as the original plant grown from seed (the mother) even though the original may be long gone. The second consideration is the "Xerox Effect", whereby successive copies of genetic code produce "weaker" phenotype characteristics. This is not something as indicative of cloning as it is inbreeding a particular species that tends to produce this result. The third consideration is that a mother plant (the original grown from seed) can be maintained separately from the rest of your process, so that if some catastrophic event were to befall your harvestable clone crop, you would only have to start over with new clones from mom. Every time you anticipate that you will take clones from your clones in veg, you are waging a bet that nothing bad will happen to them in the meantime. Of course, this is just my opinion. I'm still trying to get it right to begin with.

MPB

 

[erwinsweeney]

That does make a lot of sense to me MPB. Definitely some considerations I was not aware of. That gives me some thoughts to chew on for the rest of the evening. Thank you again.

 

[erwinsweeney]

I finally got my CFL bulb today. As you can see it is HUGE. It is a 250 watt, 2700K, 10,800 lumen CFL bulb. I believe it will do a better job flowering than the LED. I will use the LED for vegging clones. They are about 2 months old. Both plants have calyxs with hairs coming out of them at every node on the main branch, on both sides, and nearly every node on all the branches. I cant wait to see how these turn out. This is my very first grow. Will add pics later. Server too busy right now.

 

[SherwoodForest]

I think one reason you don't see clones from clones is because folks don't grow their clones big enough in the veg cycle to be able to take clones from them. The mother is in a constant veg, and you can toss a clone in with her and have twin mothers.

 

[Jarvis]

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[erwinsweeney]

These are the pics I was attempting to add last night, but the server was too busy. Today will be their first day under CFL light. IMO, the LED light did an awesome job vegging these plants, considering it only drew 120 watts, and had 3600 lumens output. These so far are very bushy and stout. The main stem is HUGE. I wonder how big these will get during flowering??

 

[erwinsweeney]

I took 4 clones from plant on the left. It is my intention to continue cloning, and have 4-6 plants in flowering in the tent. From the looks of it now, these two will pretty much use up all the space. What's your opinion? Would it be better to always grow 2 biggies like this, or veg them smaller and do the 4-6 plants?

 

[smokeup420]

i cant give any input on ur cloning since iv never done it,nore tryed it. i am kinda interestede but not at this moment, butt nice grow man,n same wit usin the led's good job, i hurd they dnt giv enought output to break threw the top canopy(excuse the spelling lol) but good job,plus any led under 1 wat each is garbage i was told, but u gots over 1 watt soo that prob y it worked... alsoif anyone has told u cfl;s suck dnt listen to them, yea hps n mh works better but cfl's work just fine

 

[MootPointBlank]

I took 4 clones from plant on the left. It is my intention to continue cloning, and have 4-6 plants in flowering in the tent. From the looks of it now, these two will pretty much use up all the space. What's your opinion? Would it be better to always grow 2 biggies like this, or veg them smaller and do the 4-6 plants?

Ultimately your space is what limits you to how much you can produce. Bigger plants make bigger buds, so you have to ask yourself if you prefer a larger quantity of smaller buds or a few big ones. If you're just growing for yourself, it makes more sense to me to do a couple of big plants simply because less plants are less work. If you are considering retail, it would be better to have smaller buds for the sake of weighing and packaging. Nice grow.

MPb

 

[erwinsweeney]

Good information MPB. My intention is to have enough for my wife to use medicinally. My reason for starting the grow in the first place is so I don't have to go and buy it for her. Since starting the grow, I have fallen in love with the horticultural aspect of it. If there is leftover, I would probably just share it with some of my buddies. It's a fun hobby.

 

[Jambi the Snizzz!]

I have fallen in love with the horticultural aspect of it. If there is leftover, I would probably just share it with some of my buddies. It's a fun hobby.

nice, a true gardener. and i get to taste this beast of a plant soon. i'm truly excited.

 

[GrowinGreen]

those LEDs did do a nice job, they all look real good. I've bought from california nurseries- good place. Curious to see how the massive CFL does-

 

[erwinsweeney]

I guess since you came over and helped build and install the carbon filters, that kinda entitles you there T Snizzz... All is going pretty well so far as you can see. It wont be too long. Seems like forever though.