A/G first grow..Lowlife Auto AK47

PICS ADDED!!
This is my first grow. I've done some research over the past two months on the A/G. I feel like this is the perfect set up for me. I decided to keep a journal on my progress. I ordered 5 feminized lowlife auto ak47. I'm only planting one as I hear the A/G is only good for one plant but others will say you can do more. I feel the reservoir is to small to grow no more than two plants but that's just my opinion.
This is my set-up:
-A/G with 6 pods..4 pods are covered with electrical tape and the other pod is covered with a golf ball (will explain later in the grow why I did this)
-4in airstone with air pump. I have a valve to regulate how much air is being pushed through the airstone.
-2 23w(100w equivalent) 2700k
-Fan
-Advanced Nutrients Micro, Grow, Bloom(NOT using the A/G nutes)
-I have everything on a 20/4 schedule besides the fan and airstone I keep them on 24/7

I just started almost 72 hours ago. It has grown about 1 1/2-2in. since I have planted it in the sponge. The germination process was simple and I placed the seed with the tap root facing down in the sponge.

I have been monitoring the ph levels daily. I have been using walmart ph adjusted(5.8 )distilled water.


Here is my journal so far:

Oct. 19- Put in glass of water for 24hrs. for germination(8pm)
Oct. 20- Put in moist paper towel with a paper plate underneath and placed it on my cable box(turned on) for another 24 hours when the tap root pops out
Oct 21- Put in A/G time was 7pm......5.8PH NO Nutes
Oct 22-Checked PH it was @ 6.1 got it down to 5.8 time was 7PM
-Observation: Top of seedling on top of the sponge
Oct 23- Checked PH it was at 6.5 got it down to 5.6-5.7 time was 6 PM
-Observation: Seed/stem is a quarter inch out of the sponge
-Checked PH it was at 5.8 time was 6:35pm
Oct 24- PH was 5.9 time was 12PM. Didn't have to adjust PH
- Observation: It has sprouted 1 1/2 inch time was 12pm
-PH was 5.8 at 8pm

post some pics

I will starting tomorrow.

Looking forward to watching your grow, EZDank. I'm about a week behind you, starting on Nirvana PPP and Easyryder for my first grow in my AG VeggiePro. So it will be nice to keep tabs on your grow since you're a step or two ahead of me.

Just added a pic above.

Day 7

Oct. 25, 2010: PH was 5.8 @ 5:30. Didn't have to adjust PH.

Here is a few pics of the set-up. In the pics you can't see the fan or airstone pump.

hey man just wanted to stop by and say i done this same exact setup but with ak 47 blueberry, you look like you know what your doing, i used 20/4 the whole way except the last two weeks and got 52 grams of mine total, ill be stopping by now and then to check up on this, but good luck bro!

Thanks for the comments guys. I did notice my temps got up to 88F deg. today. The humidity I don't think has passed 44% since day 1. When I am home I keep my closet door open to try and keep temps down but it seems to be a steady 82-84F deg.

I'm glad I caught this one at the beginning. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Might I recommend getting a few more CFLs for the sides? My first AG grow was with the stock bulbs and the top two fan leaves became huge and soaked up all the light. See sig for example

assasinofyouth420 said:

I'm glad I caught this one at the beginning. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Might I recommend getting a few more CFLs for the sides? My first AG grow was with the stock bulbs and the top two fan leaves became huge and soaked up all the light. See sig for example

Click to expand...

Wow I'm glad you posted that just gave me some good ideas. I am limited on space but I might be able to add another CFL or two on the side. As far as the stock bulbs I planned on purchasing a fixture with some cfl's after this grow. Where did you get yours if you don't mind me asking?

All my CFLs are from home depot.

assasinofyouth420 said:

All my CFLs are from home depot.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry I meant the Hortilux MH fixture. I thought you had CFL's under that fixture and I relized you didn't. I will be going with something similar but maybe a CFL fixture.

Oh. I got my HID setup from my local hydro store. I'm using a Lumatek 400W digital.

assasinofyouth420 said:

Oh. I got my HID setup from my local hydro store. I'm using a Lumatek 400W digital.

Click to expand...

Gotcha, I'm really new to this as you can tell. When this grow comes to end I want to remove the A/G lights and install my own fixture but will see how this lowlife goes.

EZdank said:

Thanks for the comments guys. I did notice my temps got up to 88F deg. today. The humidity I don't think has passed 44% since day 1. When I am home I keep my closet door open to try and keep temps down but it seems to be a steady 82-84F deg.

Click to expand...

I've been having the same problem with the temps in my grow closet--steady around 83-86F degrees, no matter what I do; i.e. open closet with fans on in room and closet with ambient 72 degree temps in the main room outside the closet. The humidity has also been staying pretty steady in the mid-40s for me too. Also having a hard time keeping my reservoir temps below 75 degrees. Seems to stay in the 76 to 80 degree range. Not sure if that's bad or not, but it seems a little warm to me. Right now I've only got the stock AG lights (3 lamp VeggiePro hood) on it, so it's not like I've got a lot of additional lamps adding heat. I was planning on adding 4-6 CFLs once the babies get a little bigger, but not sure I can do that now with the current temperature situation. Don't want to push the temps up into the 90s, from what I understand, although I'm sure a brief peak into the 90s from time to time won't hurt them too bad.

I don't no what to do I just replaced one of the 23w with a 55w (200w) 2700k. The temps got up to 91F 50% Humidity. Right now I got the temps down to 88F but that's with the closet door open. I have a fan blowing directing at the plant 24/7. I might shut off the 23w till the plant gets bigger to lower temps. Any suggestions?

It needs more/smarter ventilation. You have to make sure that the air being exhausted fromm the closet isn't just te entering the closet.

That's the thing I don't how I'm going to do that.

So I've got the temps down to a steady 84F. That's the best I can do. It's starting to lean I don't no why.

PH has been a steady 5.6-5.8

EZDank, we're in almost identical situations at virtually the same stage of growth. To keep temps within tolerable ranges for the plants, I'm having to keep my closet doors open during the day while I'm at work. However, I've added 26 Watt 6500K CFLs to my setup. I'm using work lamps for the CFLs, and when I first added them I left the big reflector dishes on them, and the temps reached as high as 104 F degrees. So I took the reflector dishes off the two lamps in the front of the setup, and this seemed to improve air circulation as temps are now holding steady at about 88 F with all 4 CFLs and the AG lamp on during the day, with the closet doors open and both the closet fan and main room ceiling fan blowing.

I know that's a few degrees warmer than recommended, but my seedlings seem to be doing okay so far--they actually look to be thriving as far as I can tell. My digital thermometers (got two of 'em for validation) are telling me the daytime highs are 89 F, with nighttime lows (lights off) around room temperature (72 F). So I think you'll be alright with steady temps around 84 F degrees. From what I've read, that's right within the happy zone. I know it sucks you have to keep your closet open during the day to maintain those temps, but I really don't know how you're going to get better circulation and cooling without installing an exhaust fan in your closet. I'm not going to do that, so I've basically accepted the fact that I'm going to have to leave my closet doors open during the day, and just deal with it until we have guests, at which point I'll obviously have to close the doors, since this room (computer room/upstairs den) is open to guest access. Good luck man, I hope you find an arrangement that works for you. Excited to keep following along with your grow and comparing notes.