Grooster's 1st Grow (top-drip, bato-bucket hydro) AK47 Clones

[Munki]

Looking healthy Grooster. Strain looks good for a ScrOG if you decide to go that route with a future grow using that strain. The internode spacing looks perfect for those little buds that are forming on the main branches to have sprung up through a screen.

You may be noticing that the plant spacing was set a bit tight. Do you think you would have spaced them out more or used less plants for the space? As flowering progresses, you will see what I mean.

Loving the grow Grooster.

 

[kailpot]

Hey Grooster, finally got some time to catch up on other journals! Your ladies are taking off
Are you just going to let them go now? I'm sure your in for a nice haul however you play it! All the best bro'!

 

[BassBong]

Another week closer. Go man grow.

 

[NobleWeed]

Damn Grooster i hope my AK47 turn out like yours. 5 stars.

 

[Green Utopia]

Looking healthy Grooster. Strain looks good for a ScrOG if you decide to go that route with a future grow using that strain. The internode spacing looks perfect for those little buds that are forming on the main branches to have sprung up through a screen.

You may be noticing that the plant spacing was set a bit tight. Do you think you would have spaced them out more or used less plants for the space? As flowering progresses, you will see what I mean.

Loving the grow Grooster.

You're spot on with the AK and scrogs. There are actually two very distinct phenos of AK and the tall one like this is perfect for scrogs. The short one is perfect for SOG, or Scrog with more topping.

I want more pics of your gals - G!!! MORE MORE MORE!

 

[Stealthy1]

Whats up Groo? Seen you around so I had to check out the grow. didnt read whole journal but allot of it...

Very clean setup I should strive for a setup without wires and hoses extension cords and whatnot everywhere like yours lol.

Just think if you went Deep Water Culture or dirt youd have another 12" or more there But looks like your doing just fine as is...

Keep it up ill be watching

P.S. Forgot to ask why you pull your exhaust from the floor area?

 

[Grooster]

Looks like ur ladies are just fine. Great job bro..

yeah grooster lookn good bro keep it up !!!

Grooster it's looking really nice there! Your getting close now brother!

I'm most certainly going to follow this grow nice job grooster. I like the setup.

Another week closer. Go man grow.

Damn Grooster i hope my AK47 turn out like yours. 5 stars.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the kind words and support. I have been real busy lately so haven't been updating as much. I will definitely be updating tomorrow as it is the end of week 3 of flower and there is quite a bit of change in the gals. Buds are forming and I really get a strong odor when I open up the tent. I love it!! Thanks again peeps! Update tomorrow.

L8ER

 

[Grooster]

G'day mate, Great to see your tent full of thick lush growth.
May your buds be fat n frosty. How are you finding the Lumatek and how has it affected your power bill????

Sup Groover!!? I love the Lumatek, of course I haven't had any other brand or type. From what I have read though they are more efficient, cooler, and quieter than the magnetic ballasts. Power bill was high though, but I attribute a lot of that to the Christmas lights and other holiday decorations we had going all month heheh. I have been tempted to get a Kill-a-watt (sp) thingy to calculate my usage but there are other things on the list that come first.

Looking healthy Grooster. Strain looks good for a ScrOG if you decide to go that route with a future grow using that strain. The internode spacing looks perfect for those little buds that are forming on the main branches to have sprung up through a screen.

You may be noticing that the plant spacing was set a bit tight. Do you think you would have spaced them out more or used less plants for the space? As flowering progresses, you will see what I mean.

Loving the grow Grooster.

Totally on the mark there Munki, I could have gotten away with two and screened 'em up like your setup. I was a bit worried about the 'portability' of the plants once you have them tied into the screen. Since I am not fully dialed in I thought I might need to take them out and move em around etc. Once I know I have it dialed in I think scrog will be my next move. For now, I think I can get by with tying and I might get some plant yo-yos.

Here's a question for you and anyone else...I hear some argue for trimming up the undergrowth and also some of the popcorn and others say it hurts the plant. Do you think I should trim up a bunch where there is no light or keep them as stores of energy for the plant? Its a tough call because there are so many for and equally as many against trimming.

Hey Grooster, finally got some time to catch up on other journals! Your ladies are taking off
Are you just going to let them go now? I'm sure your in for a nice haul however you play it! All the best bro'!

Thanks Kailpot! I am pretty much gonna just let them go, but I did have to tie down several tops to help keep them level with others and because head-room is getting tight in there! So continued tucking, selective plucking and a wee bit of tying should do the trick.

You're spot on with the AK and scrogs. There are actually two very distinct phenos of AK and the tall one like this is perfect for scrogs. The short one is perfect for SOG, or Scrog with more topping.

I want more pics of your gals - G!!! MORE MORE MORE!

Hey there PapaG! Gonna post a bunch of pics tomorrow as it will be the conclusion of week 3 of flower. Lots of changes to see which should be a little exciting! I have loved working with this strain so far because it is so easy to bend and manipulate without snapping any stems. (knock on wood) I am glad there is a lot of information on this site about the AK strain.

Whats up Groo? Seen you around so I had to check out the grow. didnt read whole journal but allot of it...

Very clean setup I should strive for a setup without wires and hoses extension cords and whatnot everywhere like yours lol.

Just think if you went Deep Water Culture or dirt youd have another 12" or more there But looks like your doing just fine as is...

Keep it up ill be watching

P.S. Forgot to ask why you pull your exhaust from the floor area?

Hey Stealthy1 Thanks for the compliment on the tent. I try to keep it clean and non-cluttered in there. But if I took pics around the tent you would see chaos hehe! You're right about the vertical space I could save using other methods. I still have the option of going to a half-sized tote and cutting the stand down some. This could give me that 12" I think. I need to measure exactly first to see what I can still get out of my vertical. I still have 3-4" above as well. About the exhaust...I started taking the pics before i had actually tested it and made sure I liked how it worked. Right after that I put it up much higher. You will be able to see that in the next update. I think I am still going to change the config a bit more though.

Thanks all for the comments I really appreciate it! Pic update tomorrow. Stay Green!
L8ER
L8ER

 

[Grooster]

What up 420Mag!?? Here is the update for Day 56 (20 days flowering). I have been experimenting with my camera a little bit trying to get better pics. These are still terrible but I am working on improving. I am really excited at 20 days flowering the girls are showing tons of bud sites. I am thrilled to be able to post my first pics of baby-bud pr0n! Lots of good looking colas and tons more lowers. I got some GH Nektar to add to the nutes to start fattening up the budz. The stretch seems to have slowed to a crawl. Dunno if they are gonna spurt again or not. Hoping they stay this sized and just pack on the budz. I trimmed up a little under-foliage as well. Gonna keep on trimming weak shoots and under-grown bud-sites that will never be more than puny popcorn. I want all the growth going to the tops!

Well Here are the pics...I am going to post a few more throughout the week as I experiment more with the cam. Hopefully I can get some better pics. I have finally figured out the tungsten setting to reduce the red from the HPS. More to come....

My First Budz!!

Some wide angle of the gals...

Many bud sites all over...

A young cola...

A wee trimmed bush...

Another young cola...

Thanks for looking!!

L8ER

 

[MountainHigh]

Girls are looking great bro!



from the mountains

 

[groover]

G'day mate, Girls are lookin good and right on track.
The best is yet to come brother.

 

[Retired Three]

Good Morning Grooster!
How's the new tent working out for you?
How have the plants responded to it?

 

[kailpot]

yeah! Some budpr0n from Grooster! Looking great dude, can't wait to see them joining up and getting big! Bet its getting smelly in that tent!

 

[Grooster]

Girls are looking great bro!



from the mountains

Thanks a bunch MH!!

G'day mate, Girls are lookin good and right on track.
The best is yet to come brother.

Thanks Groover, I am really enjoying watching everything unfold. It is slow going but worth every minute.

Good Morning Grooster!
How's the new tent working out for you?
How have the plants responded to it?

Hey Joe, I am loving the tent. I finally have nearly everything the way I want it. I say nearly because vertical is a little tight. Next go will be a bit different I think. Did you happen to catch the photo update on page 14? The girls are loving the tent and the nutes. Stretching has slowed to nearly nothing and the bud sites are shooting hairs like crazy. So far so good, keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way. Thanks for checking in brother.

yeah! Some budpr0n from Grooster! Looking great dude, can't wait to see them joining up and getting big! Bet its getting smelly in that tent!

Sup Kailpot!!?? Can you believe it!!?? I actually have some baby buds heeh. Very exciting for a n00b such as myself. Yeah when I unzip it to check em out I pop just my head inside and get a big whiff. Smells great. I have noticed the smell increasing as the days go by. Hope my air-scrubber works as intended...

More pics soon...

L8ER

 

[Screwnuts33]

Full house and lots of buds forming. Looking great!

 

[DroJo]

Awww, man. You're in for a helluva harvest, your ladies look really sexy. N ur setup is efficient & clean too!

+rep

 

[Sonzor]

Wow, lots of buds and plants are looking amazingly healthy, Great job...

 

[Dee House]

What up 420Mag!?? Here is the update for Day 56 (20 days flowering). I have been experimenting with my camera a little bit trying to get better pics. These are still terrible but I am working on improving. I am really excited at 20 days flowering the girls are showing tons of bud sites. I am thrilled to be able to post my first pics of baby-bud pr0n! Lots of good looking colas and tons more lowers. I got some GH Nektar to add to the nutes to start fattening up the budz. The stretch seems to have slowed to a crawl. Dunno if they are gonna spurt again or not. Hoping they stay this sized and just pack on the budz. I trimmed up a little under-foliage as well. Gonna keep on trimming weak shoots and under-grown bud-sites that will never be more than puny popcorn. I want all the growth going to the tops!

Well Here are the pics...I am going to post a few more throughout the week as I experiment more with the cam. Hopefully I can get some better pics. I have finally figured out the tungsten setting to reduce the red from the HPS. More to come....

My First Budz!!

Some wide angle of the gals...

Many bud sites all over...

A young cola...

A wee trimmed bush...

Another young cola...

Thanks for looking!!

L8ER

bro those r some big bushes !!!!!! lol nice even conopy good job !!!!

 

[Grooster]

Full house and lots of buds forming. Looking great!

Thanks Screwnuts! Been looking great...but now??

Awww, man. You're in for a helluva harvest, your ladies look really sexy. N ur setup is efficient & clean too!

+rep

Thanks for the reps DroJo, everything has been running smoothly...until now...of course...see below...

Wow, lots of buds and plants are looking amazingly healthy, Great job...

Thanks so much Sonzor, but I am having issues now that I didn't see till now!! YIKES...

bro those r some big bushes !!!!!! lol nice even conopy good job !!!!

Thanks SS I thought everything was going perfectly. But of course I knew it had to be to good to be true...Well, here it is...

Spider F*CKING MITES!! I can't believe I didn't notice them till now. I didn't see them or their damage at all until I started using the camera to take close up shots of the buds sites. I saw the tell-tale flecking patterns on the tops of the leaves. I then looked under the leaves, and saw little specs. I got out a magnifying glass and looked at the specs and lo-and-behold I got two spot spider mites!! NOoooo! Not that huge of an infestation yet but I know its going to boom soon. On a leaf with the most flecking and a big leaf I counted 4 or 5 mites and tons of eggs.

I started sh!tting myself. Then I toked some Headband and started reading. Just like most topics there are several ways of approaching the problem. First and foremost is prevention...well, I screwed the pooch on that so on to the next thing....

Eradication: complicating matters I have learned is being 3 weeks into flowering. I looked at predators (mites and ladybugs), Neem oils, homemade stuff, No Pest Strips and other chemicals but I decided to go with Floramite SC (just 1/2 oz). This seems to be the best option for me at this point. I now know what I missed and I won't be making that n00b mistake again. I hope the Floramite works fast and doesn't harm my buds. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears...Wish me luck on this! Well, I shouldn't have expected it to go without any issues I guess.

On a side note, now that I know what I am looking at, I can say, without a doubt, that the dispensary where I got them is selling clones with mites. When I was there last time I was looking at the clones and noticed the mite damage but didn't know it at the time. I thought it was just from stress or something. Now I know!! Pisses me off they are selling them like that. They want like $30.00 bucks for em too. I bought my girls there and I bet the mites were already on them. Now I know to check em out with a loup and dunk em etc. Thanks for listening to my rambling rant!! A wee more medicine should help.

L8ER

 

[MountainHigh]

So sorry to hear about your pest problem, I dread the day I have to fight those creatures, but I hear it is an inevitability if you grow, I myself need to start working on a prevention setup as fast as I can afford it.

Someone needs to make a Smilie slaying little mites with a machine gun or something....flame thrower....whatever... I am almost medicated enough to try sleep again....laters bro and again I am soooo sorry you got mites on your first grow. I just wish bugs understood they are not welcome indoors.

from the mountains