Organic Auto AK77

Not long ago the legalization of planting and consumption of Marijuana for personal use had been passed in my country and so my journey begins. Spending many late nights researching the growing of cannabis and addictively studying grow journals I decided to give it crack. With the craze of going organic and a low maintenance and low budget grow I decided to prepare my own soil. Over the course of 3 long months and by the decomposition of organic material (avocado, bananas, rooibos tea, cardboard, grass mulch, chicken manure etc), I had created the perfect living soil with friendly inhabitants of microbes and earth worms amongst other things. My grow box was built from one sheet of melamine wood with a masonite back. For lighting during veg, I used 13 X 5W, 6000K downlights lying around the house that I never used and mounted it onto a piece of melamine board and suspended it from the top of the box using a plastic chain. Mounted an extractor fan at the top of the back of the box and cored holes through the bottom for air vents for a passive intake. Selection of seed breeder/ strain - To be blatantly honest, online selling of cannabis seeds in my country is somewhat new so on the recommendation of a friend of a specific online store I chose Victory Seeds simply because their seeds were the cheapest. I purchased four seeds and was given the fifth (AK 77) free so decided to give that a run since it was my first grow. And now to the main event, soaked my little bean in a glass of tap water n left it sitting in a glass off water in my dvr cabinet which provided a bit of warmth. After about 12hrs I had a look and the seed was still floating, so just gave it a nudge and it settled at the bottom of the glass. Almost 12hrs later and just before I popped the seed into the soil, I added a thin layer of seedling potting mix from a local nursery to the top of the soil to start the grow. I had seen some flies around but didn't think much and popped my seed in. After watering the soil a bit, these insects started coming up through the soil and to the surface, now this got me worried. Shortly after researching, I came to the conclusion that these insects were fungus gnats which where living in the potting mix. With the thought of them feasting on roots, it absolutely tore me apart and almost brought me to my knees. I quickly dashed to the local nursery and picked up a bag of diatomaceous earth and dusted the top layer of the soil. Placed a bowl of apple cider vinegar and dishwashing liquid inside the grow box as a trap. Few hours later and the seed popped through. The DE however had no effect on the fungus gnats whilst the apple cider vinegar mix did trap some gnats, the infestation was just too much. She had a good first week I would say, growing quite large leaves although the pictures doesn't really depict that. Don't think the gnats had any effect on her growth.

She's starting to take off, grew beautifully with massive leaves however very flat. Seems to be focusing its energy on lateral growth rather than vertical. Still having issues with fungus gnats. Added another container of water and yellow food colouring as a trap, seems to be working but no way near in keeping the problem in check. There is just too much of an infestation. Will give it a few more days or else will have to find another organic solution soon.

Good steady growth, a bit stocky, short and bushy with a thick stem. Tried raising the light to encourage some stretch so I could start some low stress training but couldnt see much off a difference. Leaves have a dark green shade to it, with the newer set of leaves of a lighter color. She showed preflowers on day 18 and so I decided to switch my lighting to a 4000K 110W LED light source on day 19. Started to water her on day 18 with 1 teaspoon blackstrapp mollasses and 5ml liquid kelp to 1litre of water to help feed and encourage the growth of beneficial microbes. Will use the regime on every watering from now unless it causes some issues. The diatomaceous earth seemed to have no effect on the fungus gnats and don't advise anyone to use this method. After intense researching , I was caught at a cross road, do I go ahead with a quick fix by using hydrogen peroxide at the cost of killing my microbes which took me so long to create or do I give the play sand method a try. Thank God I chose the play sand, added a layer of about 15mm in depth to the top of the soil and hung up some yellow sticky cards in the grow box on day 16.

This week saw some explosive growth, the roots seemed to have penetrated the bottom of the pot. Started some low stress training and top dressed with bonemeal on day 22 to give some release of phosphurus during flowering. The playsand seemed to have worked wonders in the control of fungus gnats, only see a few flying around.

This week saw the start of her stretch, expontential increase in height with beautiful lush growth, damn she looks amazing. Top dressed with a certified organic 3-1-5 slow release fertiliser to give her that boost of pottassium during flowering.

Theeres no stopping this one, she just keeps on stretching. Don't have much space left to raise the lights, not getting proper light distribution and penetration, got the dimensions all wrong with this grow box, just never anticipate the plant to be this size. Also feel the light may not be adequate to produce some dense flower considering it is only a 110W luminaire producing close to 10000 lumens which is not even a grow light. Just hope the plant stops stretching soon. Strongly believe this plant has great genetics.

She continues to impress, still gaining significant height, growing into the light. Need to tie her down and get some nice light distribution going. She's very bushy though, contemplating some defoliation but since its my first grow dont want to mess around. Starting to witness some nice bud and trichome production. Exciting times ahead.

The stretch continues, ran out of height space. She grew into and above the light, ended up with some light burn on the leaves. Tied her down here and there on some of the taller colas to get her under the light and for better light exposure on prime bud sites. She is growing absolutely beautiful, way better than I anticipated. Upgraded lighting to 160W LED on Day 54, hoping it would make some difference in the final few weeks. Not getting much light at the bottom of the plant though. Its way too bushy and not getting good light penetration from the LED. Cant blame the light though, think the plant is way to close to the light, not getting the correct light distribution. I know I'm going to end up with a lot of popcorn buds at the bottom of the plant, can see they not developing as well as the buds closer to the light. Learning a lot though from the grow.

Leaves are yellowing and falling, trichomes seem to be mostly cloudy, Have mixed feeling, this journey seems to be coming to an end, feel rather sad and yet at the same time excited about the harvest. She looks rather beautiful with mix of yellow and green hues. Buds closer to the lights are fattening up quite nicely, really dissapointed with the lower branches/ bud sites, very fluffy and undeveloped. Cant blame the plant though, guess you cant have the world on a budget setup. Need to redesign the grow setup for future grows.

As week 10 comes to the end, the trichomes are mostly cloudy with a touch of amber. Most of the buds closer to the light have devolped quite nicely and dense but very dissapointed with lower buds sites, its almost harvest time and they appear to be in early stages off flowering. Will probably harvest the upper branches first and leave the lower sites to continue developing, not sure how the plant will react though and whether they will continue to develop, only time will tell. There seems to be some foxtailing on the bud site closest to the light, very irregular shape. Day 69, decided to put her in 3 days of darkness before I do a partial harvest. Been reading that some believe it does increase THC and so I decided to give it a try. Lets Hope for the best.

This has been a long and enjoyable journey, theres no words that can describe this new adventure of mine. Whilst consuming cannabis can be therapuetic, growing cannabis is just as much relaxing and freeing the mind, would totally recommend this to anyone who wants to relieve stress. A lot of research and preparation went into this grow. Took me three months to create my "perfect" living soil by the decomposition of organic material. Had the worse possible start though, applied a layer of seedling potting mix to my soil to start my seed in and unknowingly it was infested with fungus gnats which almost brought me to tears. Since it was a completely organic grow, I tried using a layer diatomaceous earth but this in no way seemed to have any effect. I then applied a layer of fine play sand, advice I picked up from experienced growers on the net. Trust me this method works, would certainly vouch for its effectiveness and would encourage growers to try this method before contemplating the use of chemicals. After a week or two of application, the gnats where completely eliminated. This has been such a pleasant and easy grow, this girI has been highly resilient to disease with absolutely zero issues. Each watering since week 3 contained blackstrapp mollasses and liquid kelp. Being a completely organic grow meant I had really not much to do apart from watering her and applying an organic fertiliser twice throughout the grow. The first time was some bone meal applied shortly after the sight of preflowers to give that slow release of phosphurus through out the flowering stage and then a round of a 3:1:5 fertiliser during week 5 for that boost in pottassium. The only regret I have is not building a larger grow box, she has out done herself and all I can say is that she reached for the stars. Ran out of height space quite early in the grow as she exceeded 80cm tall and grew into the light which meant the distribution and penetration of light was compromised. Overall I'm extremely satisified with the grow, never expected this outcome considering it was a budget grow and had no idea how the plant would respond to normal LED lighting. Day 72: Harvested the upper branches and just left a little at the bottom to continue developing outdoors with natural light. Eager to see what comes of it. The bud sites closer to the light seem fairly dense with nice trichome production. The lower sites though aren't as attractive, have to say they quite fluffy and that can be attributed to the fact they still developing and havent reached "maturity", trichomes are still clear. Just goes to show the importance of good lighting and light distribution. Its has definately been a learning curve for me. I genuinely believe the three days of darkness before the harvest did improve trichome production as can be seen from before and after pictures, or maybe its just what my eyes want me to see. Anyway, just waiting for the drying process to complete and then the weigh in. Decided to go for the dry trimming option, left the fan leaves for more moisture content and a slower curing process as I believe this improves overall quality. Day 82: This girl is nothing short of incredible. She's been 10 days in the harsh outdoors having to deal with the rain and heavy winds, taken a bit of battering with some stems bent over but she still thrives. She is incredibly strong and very resistant to disease, all which can be attributed to high quality genetics, well done Victory Seeds. Those popcorn buds have come a long way and developed quite nicely, maybe I should have left more imatture bud sites on during the harvest? Day 83: Well its 11 days after harvest and finally I hear that "cracking" noise when bending the stem whilst not snapping in two. Spent the last 6 hours or so manicuring about a third of the buds. Never expected it to take this long and don't be fooled, it is some work however at the same time I find it rather therapeutic. I've been using regular scissor, tried two types that I had lying around at home and I think here the proverb "using the right tool for the right job" would be apt. Lets say my fingers aren't the happiest, would definately have to invest in something better. So far I have accrued 21g of A grade buds and 6g of popcorn. Will continue my trimming tomorrow. Smoked a bit of bud, while the effects are not as potent as I expected, I am fairly satisified with the buzz. I'm a huge Sativa fan and it definately gave me that uplifted, euphoric, creative buzz that I strive for. Very similar to my all time favorite, Durban Posion but as I mentioned before it lacks a bit of potency. Would be an excelent smoke for daytime social events as it is not that intense. Day 84: So after another 14 hours or so of labour, I finally completed the trimming (well for now that is). Whilst initially the trimming process was therapeutic, towards the end it started feeling like a chore. In total she yielded a wopping 92g, 68g of A grade buds and 24g of popcorn buds. She is definately going to tip the 100g barrier after I harvest the remainder of buds that was left outdoors to coninue growing. Day 85: Harvested remainder of plant which was left outdoors, hung up to dry. Day 91: Smoked some bud after roughly 8 days of curing. Couldnt believe it was the same weed that I smoked previously. This time it was a absolute banger, the potency significantly increased and the buzz was quite different. The head high was much more pronounced but to add to that I could feel the indica side to it. For some reason felt the left side of my body was numb and muscles very relaxed together with calming sensation. Not sure what to make of the strain as yet. So after trying different buds over the course of the next few days, I find myself struggling to decode this weed. The effects are never consistent, it feels like there is a fight of dominance between Indica and Sativa. I'm not sure if this could be attributed to the different maturity levels of the buds, some buds closer to the light had some amber trichomes in the mix , whilst the bottom buds having mainly cloudy or clear trichomes. I can almost guarantee you that the popcorn buds give a different effect to the A grade buds and that makes me think otherwise as I have previously read that popcorn buds have the same potency as other buds however I stand to be corrected. Day 101: I guess it is what it is, trimmed the buds that was left growing outdoors and those popcorns buds remained popcorn buds. Majority of the buds where light and airy which just a few being a little compact. Dont get me wrong, there was definately further growth from day 72 but just not that significant. So in total, this girl smashed 113g of dry bud weight, what a legend!!! DAy 102: Infused the entire 45g of popcorn buds in 500ml of coconut oil. Tested the left over infused oil in the baking tray, not sure what the quantity was but it was a really bad idea. After about 45min I started to feel the effect and from there I just kept on getting higher to a point that I eventually vomitted. Was buzzing for well over 12 hours and into the better of the next day with a slight head high, never experienced this before.