AK-47 Autoflower Spring 2021

Getting bigger!

I installed an automatic watering system and started to see signs of over-watering using 10 seconds of flow every 12 hours. They perked back up after I let them dry out a bit. Plant #1 is noticeably smaller than plant #2, but they have had the exact same conditions. It did germinate about 12 hours behind Plant #2.

I was on a roll with first-time grower mistakes this week! Know better, do better! 1. I managed to hit Plant #1 when I was adjusting the fan and knocked it over. I replanted it in its pot and didn't see any damage. It was leaning but I didn't want to rebury it too deep or pack the soil too tightly. 2. There is purple on the branches of both plants, and I think it is "tannning" because of the light. It's only on the upper half of the branches, so after reading the light's instructions, I'm raising the light up to 18" and lowering the intensity to 60%. 3. After researching what I'd need to setup up carbon filter-wise, I noticed that I had a lot of negative pressure in my tent. This was because I didn't have any intake holes/flaps open. I opened the back intake panel on the tent and had significant airflow improvement. This is going to allow light into the tent during "nighttime" but since these girls are auto-flowers and the amount of light will be minimal, I'm not worried.

Day 22 - Plant #1 seems to be recovering from the knock over and her stem is getting much thicker and more stable. There is a significant difference in growth between Plant #1 and #2, about 5.5" in height. I don't expect Plant #1 to catch up to Plant #2 but hopefully, it'll still produce some harvest! I can smell them while in a different room so a carbon filter is on the way! The information I've read about growing in FoxFarm's Ocean Forest soil says that around week five is when nutes should start. I'm figuring out which ones to get and how I want to work them into my automatic watering system. I don't think I'm going to do any LST on this grow Day 26 - Plant #2 is not happy, and I can't tell what she needs. She is drooping a lot and the bottom leaves are lighter color/yellowish. I thought that meant nitrogen deficiency but I'm not sure. UPS is delayed with my nutes and filter because of the weather.

I tested my water with a pool PH strip and found that it was above seven! This makes sense that the high ph blocked the plants from absorbing all of the nutrients in FFOF causing nitrogen deficiency on top of simply not being fed nutes yet. After adjusting the PH with vinegar down to around six and waiting a couple of days, the plants look better! UPS STILL hasn't delivered my nutes, and I'm going to try and buy some locally if they don't deliver the nutes today. The lower leaves on both plants are yellowing a lot, and although they are still growing in height, they are hungry! There are definitely flowers starting too! Feb 24 - Bought and fed a full dose of Tiger Bloom. Fingers crossed they respond well!

Feb 27 - Gave a half dose of nutes. They all responded so well to the first feeding! I trimmed off the bottom leaves that were damaged beyond repair. March 1 - Wow! They have exploded in growth both upwards and in bud formation. Nearly five inches in four days, and their leaf colors look great!

March 5 - Gave a full strength dose of nutes. They were starting to wilt a little, and I didn't realize it had been that many days since I watered last. There were a surprising number of bright yellow lower leaves, hence the full dose.

Trichomes seem clear as expected, and the plants are thriving! The biggest one is touching the light, but I can't raise the light any higher.

I'm going to start harvesting some of the upper buds that seem most mature in the next few days. I didn't give any nutrients this week, just pure water.

Harvested plant 1 which may have been too early. I'll wait another week for plant 2.

I'm satisfied with the harvest for my first grow and had lots of lessons learned!