Shov's Christmas Sativas 2008

I'm starting another grow log. This time I'll be doing much the same things as I've done in past grows, however it's not going to be BUBBLEGUM or anything quite like it (Afghani-indica).

I got these seeds from Holland and the UK. I started five each, AK-47 and Neville's Haze which I have put in a wet paper towel, in a sandwich baggie, in a tin, on top of my computer cable box (98ºf). The soil is from the same batch I mixed for my last grow. I will be using my (2) 40" window boxes with five plants each. Peeple say that it's NFG to put more than one plant in a pot, but I've had great results this way. The boxes do not dry out as quickly as the little pots do. I'll have them in larger containers soon anyway.

I have a 50" x 30" grow area with removable mylar reflectors on all sides. I'll be starting them under a four lamp T5HO 54W 4100K (4'). I've yet to decide on 18 hours or 24 hours. I've always done 18 hours but these sativas (or sativa dom hybrid) may like the extra light. Can anyone make a suggestion based on experience here? Thanks.

I'll post photos of the grow area when the seedlings 'pop'.

Shovelhandle

I have no info on the light situation. I've only read that people go both ways on the 18/6 vs. 24/0...which obviously isn't any help to you

But I'm susbscribing cause this sounds bomb

Shov I've gotten better results I feel generally with 18/6 but I'd say that about all cannabis plants...not just sativas.

I'm in for this one....can't wait to see some Neville's Haze grown. :thumbsup:

You know I always pegged ak47 as an indica dominant but you're right......it's pretty much sativa. We're within a few days of our first harvest of one....early finisher!!

Welcome back Shov.

I'm sure this will be yet another great log from you and I will follow it closelly.
Good luck.
You are not concidering 20/4 then by the way. Very popular photoperiod for many growers these days it seems.

Puffzter

Nice strain selection. I dare not grow sativa's (at least pure) due to my height concerns. I would deff go 18/6. But you could go higher, and get more veg growth, and try tying/breaking/pinching tricks;)

I can't help you with the lights I've never been brave enough to grow inside(G) Anyway I can't wait to watch your grow I am thinking of having a sativa or two in my next grow.

Hey Shov,

Good to see your next grow starting so soon :thumbsup: Never had the pleasure of trying Neville's Haze but i've heard good things about it, as for AK-47 i'm sure you'll love it, had it a couple of years ago in the dam and it blew me away, defo one of my favourite smokes :D

I've always used 18/6 for veg too, just seems more natural than 24/0 (and since sativa's get less light in nature my gut would tell me to go for a shorter photo period) and i save a bit of electricity. How's your grow area for height? I think the AK stays reasonably short but doesn't the NH get very tall? If you've any concerns over height the shorter lights on schedule could also help restrict growth in veg so the plants finish shorter. This isn't from experience of growing sats shov, just stuff i've read, thought i'd mention it tho and maybe you could look a little more in depth at it if height was a possible issue.

Good luck, can't wait for the pics to start :rastasmoke:

Shov,

Glad to see you starting your next grow and I am looking forward to another great log.

As for your question. You know I do some things differently than most and I use 24/0. Thing is I have never did 18/6 so I can not give you a commpairson.

My reasoning, longer light cycles= more growth time. Works for me.

BOL JG

I also run 24/0 and that is because I can keep a steadier temperature with the constant light.
This is going to be really neat! Nevilles Haze is a classic and suits ya perfectly!

Subscribed!!!
great strains man, and I always did 18/6, and trying 24/0 seems to actually get less growth for me...could be the LEDs or the strain though...zi thought it was that the plants could grow better with a lil sleep...just MHO, but if stinks uses 24, I may be wrong...lol
whiskeytango

nevilles is truely one of the BEST sativas out there...and metal haze...MMMM

looked into this a little and decided to stay 18/6. The hairy Spainiard says that the plants may not mature as quickly with 24 hrs compared to 18 of light, and not to force flower until they are mature. As the NH is known to grow tall I'd like them to mature as quickly as possible. Even so, I'll be using LST and supercropping (again) to even out the tops.

I'll check the seeds this evening and if they are ready I'll plant them. The grow area is freshly cleaned and ready to grow.

lolololol @ 'Hairy Spainard'!!! Too funny.
Happy growin'!

Just wondering about your supercropping shov, i've heard a couple of slightly different ways of doing it, how do you do yours and how deep into flower do you do it?

Cheers

e2a I know it's a little early but maybe you'd be kind enough to share your method when the time comes, i've been forced into doing some brutal supercropping recently to keep an even canopy and it's certainly been effective in that regard but i'd love to hear more on the subject.

Well hairiness aside....I run plants at 24/0 AND 18/6 and have seen no difference in how fast they grow but that's just me. Perhaps I'm not hairy enough to be giving you cannabis advice.....:D :D

supercropping, where you 'break the hurd' of the branches.
I don't remember exactly when, but I started lst in week 4 of veg, probably did the supercropping shortly after. One plant I did nine branches and that pheno ended up extaordinary. maybe co-inkydink maybe not. I finger-squeeze the top branches when they get a little stretchy. I do this between the top nodes.

not hairy enough? I bet you've got one hell of a pelt. <G>

i cant wait to see this one shov.. it should be a good christmas for sho:rastasmoke:

I planted five each of AK-47 and Neville's Haze. I somehow managed to loose one Neville's Haze seed while planting. Hopefully it is in the box under the paper towel (which I use to keep the seeds from floating out of their holes and keep the soil moist on top. Usually, I'll use plastic wrap for this). I watered them in with 1 gallon of WARM water w/ one drop of Superthrive. I will hear on in be using unsoftened cold water, which I believe helps the female to male ratio.
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Here's some photos of the grow area. It is in a dark room, so no need to have a light-tight enclosure. The mylar is glued to cardboard sheets and is easily removed for watering etc. It is now set up on a sawhorse but will be dropped closer to the floor as they grow.
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The lights are set as close as possible to the planters. The temp is around 70ºF. The lights will bring this temp up during the 18 hour days. No fan until the seedlings are up and shed their hull.
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Looking forward to following this one, Shov. :hippy:

Have a good one, and Be Safe.:jointsmile:

/subscribed\

man, cant wait to see how that nevilles haze turnes out. from GH? nice choice.

im also just as excited to find youve made a new log, and for x mas! awsome. ive learned alot from your logs, mainly on patience. but i am a fan.

Thanks for tuning in. For Christmas I hope to be trying out the AK-47 and decorating the Neville's Haze. <G>

Only four or five seeds have broke ground. I was thinking that the soil temp was too high so I moved the T-5s 6" off the soil. I decided that I wanted to have a better choices when I go to cull them (remembering that my last grow was 100% feminized) So, I am starting another two seeds of each. Sorry ifn I don't make good sence, good herbs!

Shov....great strains, i would love to grow some AK47....maybe next year....Good luck whit this grow...I'll be watching....:thumbsup:

I forgot to mention, I had new lamps delivered from HTG along with a fresh supply of nutes.
The lamps are (4) T5HO54W in the 'grow' spectrum. The cost was reasonable, $5 a lamp. I was quoted $10 at the electrical supply I deal with, so this is great.
The nutes are Technaflora, an organic nute system. Again, I bought the 'starter kit' with all the nutes for a couple of grows and includes a calmag product, clone gel, a root system feed, a carb product, two B1 formulas, the Boost, Grow and Flower formulas, and a flower suppliment - Awesome Blossoms. And as if that wasn't quite enough, I also have GH products' TopMax and Superthrive. JEES! I guess I won't need any Neptune fish/kelp emulsions for this grow.

Stay tuned, I'll post weekly pics even though the first weeks are usually not very impressive.

Thanks, Shov

Not much to photograph, or talk about. The seeds didn't 'pop' as quickly as usual. I had the T-5HO lamps a few inches away and the soil temp got to 95º. In teh past I used 32 watt T-8s to start the seeds. So, I did raise the lamps about 6"-8" and air the fan right across the pots. Temp went down to 80º. Surprising as the ambient is constant 70º. I guess I forgot how warm the T-5s can get. Anyway, there are 4 or five up and I added another 2 of each the other day.

On a positive note I keep getting nice buds from the curing jars. Still a few more plants that I haven't tried yet.

Shov

Glad to hear you have a few jars left.

I am going to cut it close with my stash. I hope I don't have to go out and get some with around 8 or more weeks to go in my grow.

Good catch on on the pots getting to warm, that could of been a bummer of a mistake.

JG

Subscribed, as usual! Look forward to your holiday gro's. The info comes thru and it is nice to know you are enjoying your prev. gro while doing it. I am afraid I'll screw up, if I toke and talk! Understand you well.

Christmas in Vermont, I think that is a movie, without any plants in it, tsk!

Hope you get lots of hairy nugs! pr:jointsmile:

This looks nice, i envy your setup a bit i must admit.

Good luck with the new ladies im outs for bed...

I've tasted some AK47 grown by a friend of mine, and I know you will have much success with it too. I am also interested in following your NH - I've got a Colombian Red Haze out by the pool; it's a cross of Colombian Red with NH. It's about 16 days into veg now, and I feel certain I will have to create an indoor setup into which to bring it so it will be able to finish. She is a long, lean gal, but that 20% THC content is too dang tempting to pass up. I know you will do great things with your NH. Take good care up there, my friend!

You are definitely going to have a nice and sticky Christmas this year(G) AK47 is on my too long "strains I want to try" list. I have always been intimidated by the idea od an indoor grow but you and others do make it look so easy.

This morning I planted the last 3 of each kind of seeds. So, that will be all ten of each AK-47 and Neville's Haze. I had that heat problem early on that boiled a few of the sprouts before they cound even break the soil. But now I at least have a few of each looking very nice and healthy. If I can get these six to grow I should have plenty to cull some males and still have a full house. Hopefully, I will be able to keep a couple of nice males to seed a bud or two for future grows. I will try and get a photo up on Wednesday.

Shovel

Hey Danish, What about the set-up do you like? It's cardboard sheets with shiny mylar and covers about a meter² area. Pretty small area but decent kinds should produce 400-500gm/meter². And cultivation can be a heavy rap.

It just looks nice and clean i like that ...

But mostly its your plants ;)

Thanks, Me too, I like a clean work area. it's easy to take down and re-arrange and clean. The panels are hung by wires and the light fixtures are hung with chain and are easily adjusted up and down. Plus, it doesn't look like a 'grow op', especially when it's broken down, which can be done in a minute.

Shov

Yea we just have a room with hooks which holds lamps and then we place buckets in bottoms to allow runthrough...

But im seriously considering building some kind of little private project for 1-2 plants...

Think i can push a "church" inside a fullsize tower casing for a computer ?
(its aprox. 45x60x100cm)

Anyways i think your gonna have a jolly good christmas with that load coming in keep it up and ill keep watching your nice ladies...

I was really impressed when one guy here did produce 2 ozs of bud in a PC case. It was just last year, I think. So, you might check into his grow log. It was posted on this log forum.

I am building a PC case growbox just to see if i can, but i'd rather have room for a setup like yours so i can nurse for my plants instead, but im looking forward to seeing this grow get underway

A few plants are up and thriving, I expect (hope) that the three of each seeds I planted early this week will pop. For now we see four of each (one didn't show in the photo, bleached out, I guess).

Them in their boxes, Haze in front, AK in behind.
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Close-up of the AK
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Close-up of the Neville's Haze
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I'll be out of town all next week so no updates until the following weekend. :smokin:

Two more AK-47 up this morning. 6-AK, 4 Haze. so far.

Purdy! Have a nice trip! pr :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Looking good Shov....:thumbsup:
When do you plan to transplant?? and how you gonna separate em??

Shov, you've got quite the eye and camera! Those are some mighty perty pictures there! And, you have some mighty fine seedlings to take pictures of. It's always interesting to see how some absolutely take off, while others take a bit longer to catch up. I wonder if it was just a sweet spot in the soil, or if that particular bean's genetics provided it a quicker start.

Enjoy your weekend, my friend! I'm looking forward to your return and update!