AK-47 under SANlight Q5W-Gen.2 LEDs

For this round I started 15 plants of AK-47 feminized from SERIOUS SEEDS in small pots with soil (=PLAGRON Grow-Mix). The plants were germinated and put into small plastic containers for the first week after germination. Once the plants had grown two sets of real leaves and the roots started to grow out at the bottom (already at day 15 after germination!) the strongest 12 plants were repotted into 7 liter fabric pots filled with PLAGRON Grow-Mix. I use the whole Mills nutrients line for this grow and follow the Mills feeding-scheme (downloaded from the Mills website). The HOMEBOX Ambient R120 (=1m2 of area) is filled with the 12 pots and I use two Q5W-Generation 2 LED-lamps from SANlight in Austria as my light source.During the first three weeks the lamps are hung at 100 cm distance above the plants and are dimmed to 60% power (=1 green light ON on the dimmer). I was so extremely satisfied with the results of my Q4W-Gen.2 LED-lamps on the Serious Happiness (see my other diaries), that I had to try the stronger version (= Q5W-Gen.2) as well. Each lamp has 205 Watts of power, I therefore use 410 Watts of light this time. In opposite to last round I grow 12 instead of 4 plants this time, but will veg. them only for a shorter time. I am curious to see, how that changes the harvest outcome.

During week 4 the twelve AK-47 plants from SERIOUS SEEDS have grown VERY WELL under the SANlight Q5W-Gen.2 LEDs. Both lamps are still dimmed to 60% and appr. 80 cm above canopy, which ensures a proper stretch of the plants. With every watering I feed them following the MILLS NUTRIENTS schedule (2ml of A+B right now plus 1ml of START-R and 0,2 ml of VITALIZE) and all plants have a healthy green color, which means they are well fed inside the PLAGRON Grow-Mix they are planted in. The development until now is EXCELLENT, the plants love the spectrum and the intensity of the LEDs and at the same time I save extra energy, because they are dimmed until now.

At the beginning of week 5 I switch my timer (i use a digital-timer in the power supply of my LED-lamps) to 12/12 hours of light/darkness in order to induce flowering of the twelve AK-47 plants form SERIOUS SEEDS. Both SANlight Q5W-Gen.2 lamps are still dimmed to 60% (=1 GREEN LIGHT on the dimmer ON) without the SUNRISE-FADE activated (=ORANGE LIGHT on dimmer is OFF) and hang at a distance of 75 cm to the canopy. The plants develop VERY WELL and fill out all the space inside my HOMEBOX-tent. They grow with a nice healthy green color, which means the MILLS NUTRIENTS added to every watering are well received by the plants. It seems to me, as if the spectrum and intensity of the LEDs is PERFECT for the plants, as promised by SANlight. They developed their LED-lights for growing Cannabis and tested them on REAL Cannabis plants...check out their u-tube channel for more info: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhLo4Yv8QqfbaNSY6ROeWQ Unfortunately the humidity inside my tent is 60% at the moment and therefore a little on the high side now. That was OK during veg., but hopefully comes doen now in flowering.

In week 6 the twelve AK-47 plants from SERIOUS SEEDS continue to THRIVE and in the meantime they have TOTALLY FILLED OUT the space in the HOMEBOX tent. Therefore on day 41 (=flowering day 13) its time to DEFOLIATE the plants and take off the biggest fan-leaves and lowest branches of each plant (see in video). In this second week of flowering they continue to get fed every watering with MILLS NUTRIENTS (following their feeding schedule from the MILLS website I changed from 1 ml START-R to 1 ml of C-4 now) and since they have a healthy dark-green color nothing further needs to be done. The SANlight LEDs are still dimmed to 60% (=one GREEN LIGHT on dimmer ON) and are appr. 70 cm above the top of the plants. The humidity inside the tent is dropping now, it went from 59% (due to bad weather outside and nothing I can change) to 41 % right now.

In week 7 the humidity inside my HOMEBOX tent skyrockets again due to bad outside weather (with a maximum of 79% !!!). The plants continue to grow well and the first white crowns of flower hairs (=pistils) can be seen forming on the plants, flowering has definitely started. All twelve AK-47 plants from SERIOUS SEEDS have a healthy green color and LOVE the MILLS nutrients and the spectrum of the SANlight-LEDs. Both Q5W-Gen. 2 lamps are now dimmed to 80 % (=TWO GREEN LIGHTS on dimmer ON) and still WITHOUT the SUNRISE-FADE function (=ORANGE light on dimmer is OFF). The LEDs are still at appr. 70 cm distance of the canopy in order to ensure a proper stretch. The plants develop fast and have FILLED OUT the tent COMPLETELY again after being defoliated last week. On day 47 I decide to give the plants full power for flowering and change the dimmer to 100% (=3 GREEN LIGHTS on dimmer ON). Lets see how this works out, I LOVE how it goes so far...😍👍😎

During week 8 the AK-47 from SERIOUS SEEDS continues to develop NEW FLOWER CLUSTERS ALL OVER THE PLANTS! The HOMEBOX tent is totally filled out with the twelve plants. Therefore its time to DEFOLIATE the plants and take off the lower branches and the biggest fan leaves. All have a nice dark green color, which is a sign that they are healthy and well. The MILLS NUTRIENTS schedule works GREAT up to this point. Both Q5W-Gen.2 LED-lamps from SANlight in Austria are now running on full power, with the dimmer set to 100% (=3 GREEN LIGHTS on dimmer ON) and hung at a distance of appr. 50 cm to the top of the plants. This ensures full light intensity over the whole canopy and should also boost the flowering of the plants.

During week 9 the twelve AK-47 plants continue to thrive. All of them have a healthy green color and grow more and more flowers from top to bottom. The plants start to form HUGE colas and I am astounded by the speed of the new flower development. The trichome production is in full swing and the pants get stickier every day. I still feed them following the mills nutrient schedule and they seem to have all they could wish for. The SANlight Q5W-Gen.2 LED lamps are dimmed to 100% (=3 green lights on dimer ON) without the SUNRISE-FADE (=orange light on dimmer OFF) and are at a distance of 50 cm from the top of the plants. This ensures that the whole canopy gets the maximum of light. Very informing were the recommendations from SANlight on their u-tube channel, see here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhLo4Yv8QqfbaNSY6ROeWQ The aroma of the plants is getting stronger now, they have a heavy and mildly sweet smell (reminiscent of sandalwood), which is typical for the AK-47 from Serious Seeds. I cant wait till its finished and I get to try my medicine...😄

During the 6th week of flowering (=week 10 of the grow) the Mills-Nutrient schedule starts to add 'Ultimate PK' (2ml/l) to the waterings, in order to ensure full flower production. The 12 AK-47 plants form SERIOUS SEEDS are VERY HAPPY with it, they all have a healthy green color and BULK UP MORE and MORE! All the main branches continue to grow HUGE colas and even the side-branches are now full of flowers from top to bottom. This will be a HUGE harvest as it looks like now. The aroma of the plants is WONDERFUL, its a musky and sweet smell with hints of sandalwood and it is SIMPLY MOUTHWATERING. The plants glisten in the flashlight when I take pics, because the TRICHOMES are EVERYWHERE! The potency of the AK-47 from Serious Seeds is legendary, I cant wait to try it as my medicine against my chronic back-pain. The HOMEBOX-tent has again totally filled out, so I sometimes take off the bigger fan leaves (=defoliation), in order to make sure the LED-light from the SANlight Q5W-Gen.2 lamps can penetrate well into the canopy. The two lamps are still dimmed to 100% without the sunrise-fade function on and hang at appr. 50 cm from the top of the plants.

The bad weather outside is causing the relative humidity inside my tent to sky-rocket (max of 69%) during week 11 of this grow. I hope I dont get bud-rot anywhere...😱 The plants continue to develop VERY WELL, the buds grow bigger every day and TOTALLY FILL OUT all 12 AK-47 plants from SERIOUS SEEDS. The aroma is still MOUTHWATERING (sweet and musky) and the smell inside my Homebox-tent is getting stronger by the minute, a huge wave greets me every time I open it to feed the plants. The plants still get 'Ultimate PK' from MILLS-Nutrients as flower booster during this stage of flowering and LOVE IT! The dark green color of the plants is a clear sign that they are healthy and fine. The two SANlight Q5W-gen.2 LED-lamps are dimmed to 100% and therefore in FULL-POWER mode. This is recommended by SANlight at this stages in order to ensure FULL FLOWER PRODUCTION. The result is FLABBERGASTING, the AK-47 plants have all grown HUGE colas, bigger than I have ever seen...😎

In week 12 the humidity inside my HOMEBOX-tent is unfortunately still VERY HIGH (maximum of 73%). The combination of big buds and high humidity is BAD...I fear bud-rot. The 12 AK-47 plants from SERIOUS SEEDS continue to THRIVE! They all have a healthy green color and produce buds all over. All branches have formed HUGE colas at this point...its AMAZING to see how big the AK-47 can get. Every watering I add MILLS-nutrients following the feeding schedule of Mills from their website and the plants LOVE IT. The trichome production is INSANE, they are FROSTY AS HELL NOW! 😎 I cant wait to try this amazing smelling strain and see how good it works against my chronic back pain. The VERY STRONG aroma reminds me of Sandalwood end is THICK and HEAVY at this stage of flowering. The two SANlight Q5W-Gen.2 LED-lamps are doing an EXCELLENT job until now, the spectrum is PERFECT for cannabis. Both LEDs are dimmed to 100% now in week 8 of flowering, because FULL-POWER mode is needed for abundant flower production.I LOVE THOSE LEDs 😍 and I can only strongly recommend to every grower to give them a try!

During week 13 I stop giving any nutrients in order to FLUSH the plants. The 12 AK-47 plants from SERIOUS SEEDS are in their last week of flowering (=9th week) and have developed into huge little trees. The size of the colas is ASTOUNDING to me at this stage, bigger than anything I have seen on plants in 7 liter pots. Unfortunately I see first signs of bud-rot on some plants, therefore its time to soon harvest the plants. The humidity during the late stages of flowering has been much too high due to bad weather outside. The high humidity with the huge size of the buds are the perfect circumstances for bud-rot beginning to grow INSIDE the buds (it always starts at the stem and grows to the outside). I spot a yellow sugar leave on a top and pull it out, since I feel no resistance at all, I take a closer look and open up the bud carefully. I spot grey mold at the center of the bud growing out of the stem and want to start to cry...my worst fear has come true...BUD-ROT is inside my beautiful plants! The only thing to do now is to cut off any infected parts and finish the grow as quickly as possible. The SANlight Q5W-Gen.2 LED-lights are still in full-power mode and some plants now show signs of light-bleaching at the very top of the plants. This means the plants grow white new flowers instead of green ones. The plants look like they have small snow-caps on top of the plants...an AMAZING THING to see. This can be avoided by dimming the LEDs during the last week of flowering or by hanging the LEDs higher. The white parts of the bud have the same quality as the rest, therefore i dont mind a little light-bleaching. What makes my heart hurt is the parts with bud-rot. Since mold can cause cancer when burned and inhaled, it is of utmost importance to cut off any infected parts off the plants when they are harvested. This means I will get much less medicine that I hoped...😢 At least the quality will be GREAT, since the buds are glistening with trichomes now and they SMELL AMAZING. The aroma is heavy and thick and lightly sweet with hints of Sandalwood...simply DELICIOUS!

After one week of flushing I harvest the AK-47 plants from SERIOUS SEEDS in week 13 (after 91 days from germination and with 62 days of flowering). Unfortunately the bud-rot has continued to spread during the last week and I had to cut off a lot of the main colas, because they had mold inside them. The TOTAL HARVEST WEIGHT was an ASTOUNDING 760 gram of dried bud (=63,3 gram per plant). This means I produced 760 grams of medicine with only 410 Watts of light power. This ratio of 1,85 gram per watt beats ANYTHING I have ever seen. This is better than ANY HPS-GROW I EVER HAD! The spectrum of the Q5W-Gen.2 LEDs from SANlight in Austria is TRULY PERFECT for growing Cannabis, they dont promise too much. With the magnetic dimmer I was able to perfectly balance the amount of light over the plants during every stage of the grow and that paid off on the scales! The amount of trichomes produced was AMAZING as well, the plants are sticky as hell. Aroma and taste of the AK-47 have come out PERFECTLY, I am very satisfied with it. Although I had bud-rot due to bad weather, this grow can be seen asa HUGE success and more proof to me that LED-technology is the way to go! 👏😎