AK-47 in E&F - rockwool/clay medium (First Grow Log)

bert,

the carbon filter will get rid of your smell problem 99.99% as long as you dont have many leaks on the tent. you can run the exhaust fan all the time now your roots are down. i have an ozone generator and hardly use it ever.

You must suck through the filter not blow.

The light... I appreciate you cant afford this all at once. the lights you have now should do the job this time. but I was really trying to put you off ro water as a priority, other things would better your grow for the money.

On the subject of topping, some strains don't like it, chronic for example, produces less when topped so get to know the strain before you go too crazy!

Yes, sounds like a good way to harvest, cool, dry and dark.

Subzero.

@subzero - Well I've made my mind up for a carbon filter...I think I'm going to go with this DIY one HERE. You think it will be just as good as any other one? I don't see why not...I think its pure genius...should be fun to build :thumbsup:

I'm it total agreement with you about the water man. I think for now investing in lights is more of a priority than RO water. I need to get the hang of just growing with what I've got first before I get too fancy and RO water is probably a little to rich for my blood right now with my lack of experience.

:apachecopter:

Also, something else I ment to add...I'm hoping my plants show their sex soon, its getting pretty crowded in there. They have now been in 4 days on 12/12...today will be the 5th starting at 8pm. I also got that 20k lumin ballast installed yesterday right below the box fan at a 45 degree angle. I'll take some pictures of my setup after I get that carbon filter built and installed. I think I'm just going to go buy the parts today.

Thats quite the diy endeavor! should work fine though. :thumbsup:

They will show sex soon, have patience. look for balls on the tallest ones,at the nodes they will probably show first (the males).

good luck with the filter.

Subzero :)

So....I retake my comment about that carbon filter being fun to build. My hands make me look like I just got out of a bar fight where glass was involved...:blueknife:

[attachment=o217496] [attachment=o217497] [attachment=o217498] [attachment=o217499]

Look's real nice Bert,Good Job.

Dive:stoned:

Nice job bert! Let me know how it is working!

When you mentioned building one i thought it may be a bit more difficult than expected but it looks really good. how much did it cost to make in the end?

Talk soon
Subzero.

Thanks guys! It was harder than I thought it was going to be. Biggest problem was, you have to buy a single spool of the chicken wire so I had to cut it down, which left sharp edges that I bent down so the panty hose wouldn't get runs but it ended up acting as hooks when I screwed up and had to pull the panty hose off again. I actually ruined 3 legs that I had cut up in the process. My recommendation that would have made it way easier and I wouldn't have got so damn bloodied up was to go shop at the "Big Lady" store and bought some big ass panty hose that could actually fit over a 6" diameter chicken wire cylinder. I bought the Q+ size from a regular supermarket store. I was the largest size they had, and was definately not big enouph. I think this would have been alot easier if I had bigger panty hose. Total cost ~90 USD. I bought some other shit at the hardware store but subtracting that, yea roughly $90, maybe a little less. Activated carbon was over $30 by itself so I think thats pretty reasonable. I think next time I'm going to wait and see if there is sell at the pet store to go buy that carbon. I can already tell that its making a difference. What little odor there was so far its definately neutralized. I'll have to give an update on it as the the plants progress. Oh, one other thing I forgot about...I ended up using a 3" plumbing end cap instead of the recommended 4" and I'll tell you why. The reducer I found (only one they had) didn't have that lip on the inside so I shoved the chicken wire all the way to the inside of the 4" side of the reducer and the chicken wire around the 3" cap fit perfectly inside there. The 6" chicken wire cyclinder I measured 1/2" above the inside cylinder, I think it was roughly 11" height. If anyone decides to do this I hope that helps. Cheers!

Some bad news guys. I just pulled 8 plants of the 12. All males. The remaining four, 2 are definately females, other two not sure yet but they are looking like males also. Would herms show themselves this early? I'm thinking there is a chance these two are if that is the case because they were so stressed till just resently. I think I may put my 20gal. reservoir and smaller flood table in the tent and push these two females to harvest. I may just say screw it and grow through the summer =p. Do it right this time probably get alot better results now that I think I've figured out what all my problems have been. I feel alot more confident I could do alot better with my next grow.

Something else I haven't mentioned but if you are wondering why those plants exploded so quickly after fixing the tent...I started running CO2 in there. When I started it was recommended to me. I have a regulator specifically for hydro but my tank ran out cause I used it on a previous grow and used most of it then. I keep it specifically for the size tent with the chart that comes with the regulator, which is not much really. I did 15 minutes of CO2, 15 minutes of no exhaust, then exhaust kicks on 15 minutes after CO2 shuts off. 7 rotations a a light cycle.

Hi bert,
Sorry to hear about your males, I was worried as you know about the quality of seed stock you are using. If they came from a female that had some seeds chances are they have hermie genes in at least some of em.

Femaleseeds.nl has some female ak seeds, they are the only female seed co that I would trust.

The co2 is great and you can run higher temps with it, but really it is something else that newbee's buy before they get their head around growing.

I used to use it but the heat from a big sodium when your fan is off for 15 min will stress the plants more than the good it will do imo. I used it for a while but the expense outweighed the benifit for my application.

The explosive growth was down to the fact that you finally got some roots down, not so much the co2 for such small plants, there is enough co2 in the air with your door open and a fan blowing in to grow out those 2 plants without it, should you go that root!

What I would do now is grow out the ones you have now (females) get some good seeds, start them all, put them in soil, take 2 clones off each one, flower the ones in soil to select the females, keep the corresponding female clones as moms. grow them until you have enough female clones on your best mom and use them for your next grow. your looking at probably 10 weeks before you could start again this way but you will end up with only the best females in your next grow and you will have something to smoke in the mean time.

I don't think that stress from the tent would affect stable genetics, (my females didnt hermie after recovery from the poison gas chamber i had)

Bert, you really need to do things by the book, problems like you are having is why most people give up and do not grow. Rule number 1 get reliable genetics. Look at the time, effort, and stress you have endured just to find out that you have a room full of males, I bet you would spend 20 bucks each on some female clones right now wouldn't you? I know the equiptment, seeds, electric ect is expensive but you get what you pay for in most cases and you need to get it right before you drive yourself nuts trying to overcome unnessesary problem after problem. This for example would never happen the way I explain because you have seen the moms growing all through their lifecycle and ther will be no surprises when it comes to a full clone crop.

Not trying to burst your bubble but you need to get it right,I have stayed around this site long enough to help you out and I feel almost as bad as you do about about these babies being males! It is like they are my babies too somehow and I was confident that your problems were behind you until you hit this wall that nobody can help you with, a male is a male.

Don't give up my friend, get some seeds and get them going.
Keep the females you have or you will regret it as soon as you cut them down.

Orr, just an afterthought, take some clones off the females you have now. watch the moms to make sure they dont hermie an if they dont, use the clones as clone mothers for your next grow. I would get some decent seeds though in case they do hermie.

Thats enough rambling for me for a minute,

Let me know what you decide to do.

Have patience,
Subzero :)