First grow: Autoflower Vertigo and Ak-47

This is my first attempt at growing. These forums (and others) have been VERY helpful in getting started, so I figured I'd share my progress along the way. Please feel free to comment or provide suggestions. I'm interested in any advice that could help my plants be as successful as possible!

Setup:

• 2x3 tent
• 450watt G8 LED
• 90watt G8 UFO LED (red spectrum for flowering)
• 5 gallon Smart pots with Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil
• 8 inch fan
• Cool mist humidifier (also has a nice fan)
• Fox Farm nutrients
• Distilled water with PH adjusted as necessary
• 2 Autoflower Vertigo
• 1 Autoflower Ak-47

Getting started:
• Germinated seeds using paper towel method and planted directly into 5 gallon Smart pots
• All 3 sprouted within 1 day, but the Ak-47 didn't shed its shell. After waiting a few days, I helped it along, but it didn't make it.
• After about 1 week, I planted an additional Ak-47 to replace the one that didn't make it. It sprouted quickly, and it looks healthy.

Lighting, humidity, and temperature
• Lighting schedule is set to 18/6
• Started with only the 450watt LED set at approximately 15 inches from sprouts.
• Humidity is currently between 50-55% (Humidifier will be removed when flowering begins to decrease humidity)
• Temperature runs between 77-81 with lights on, and 64-68 with lights off.
• Watering approximately every 3-5 days

Pics below show each of the spouts after only a couple days.

The two Vertigos are at approximately 2 weeks, and the new Ak-47 is at about 1 week (pic in original post). The only thing that has changed about my setup is raising the light. I'm still running only the 450watt LED, but it has now been raised to approximately 27 inches above the top of the plants. The past few days have shown a lot of new growth on the 2 Vertigos. See pics below. All three plants look healthy at this point.

Does anyone have a suggestion for when I should add the 90watt UFO LED with the red spectrum? My plan was to turn it on at the first sign of flowering, but I'm definitely open to suggestions. Thanks!

At this point, both Vertigo plants are about 3 weeks old, and the Ak47 is just under 2 weeks old. My timer malfunctioned and reset giving all 3 plants an extra 5 hours of darkness one night. I decided to switch my light cycle to 24/7 for the rest of the grow to keep from having this problem again. There are times when I'm gone all day, and I wouldn't want any major stress added because of light issues. Many growers recommend a 24 hour light cycle, so I'm going with it.

For the Vertigo, I added Fox Farm Grow Big to the weekly watering for the first time at just under 1/2 strength. Both have began showing evidence of pre-flowering, so I decided to go ahead and turn on the 90watt bloom spectrum LED. It is mainly directed at only the Vertigo plants at this point. All three plants still look green and healthy. Since adding the 2nd light, the temperature in my tent now maxes out at 84 degrees instead of 81 degrees.

The plants, particularly Vertigo #1, look large enough to begin LST. However, I'm still undecided if I want to attempt any training since this is my first grow. I may let these grow out on their own, and possibly do some slight training to bush out the lower branches. At minimum, I'll do some leaf tucking when the time comes to make sure lower branches are getting adequate light.

See attached photos. I noticed that the photo upload tools rotates the photos to be in landscape, so I apologize for the couple pics that show up sideways. I'll remember that when I post my next update.

I welcome any tips, advice, and comments, so please feel free to chime in! I know I'm only a few weeks in, but my thread feels a little lonely at this point. LoL

Vertigos = 27 days from seed
Ak47 = 19 days from seed

The two Vertigos are looking good with lots of new growth in the past week. The Ak47 is showing new growth as well. Due to be overly cautious at not overwatering, I think that I had been using too little water. The plants have never looked droopy or unhealthy, but after watching several videos on watering, I can see that I need to be using more water so that it penetrates the roots thoroughly. Hopefully this hasn't set me back too much on growth, but it's possible that my plants could be a little bigger had I used more water at feedings. Currently, they are about 11-12 inches at just under 4 weeks, but since this is my first grow, I don't have anything to compare them to. They are definitely growing pretty rapidly this week, as they have nearly doubled in height since my last post.

The Vertigos definitely look like they're beginning to flower. I accidentily bumped the top of the taller one today, and the smell is quite strong. Somewhat of a citrus, yet pungent odor.

Next watering, I'm going to give the Vertigos another shot of Grow Big, and the following feeding, I'll add some flowering nuts for the last few weeks. For the Ak-47, I'm going to give it Grow Big for the first time as it has now almost 3 weeks old.

Below are updated pics. I notice the top leaves are slightly lighter at the very tips. Anyone know if this is normal? They look healthy, and it could be light related as my 450watt is now only about 22-23 inches above the tops.

The two Vertigos are now 30 days from seed, so this is supposedly the halfway point. Both received a feeding today with 1/2 strength Grow Big and Tiger Bloom. Both still appear healthy. This strain appears more stretchy than the ak47. Vertigo #1 is almost 16 inches tall with quite a few secondary branches with good flower development. Vertigo #2 is at about 12 inches with slightly less branching and flower sites.

The ak47 is now at 22 days, and it has become quite bushy. From pics on other threads, it seems to be developing well. All 3 plants are a nice shade of green, but the Vertigos have a slight yellow tinge at the end of the top leaves. I've seen this on other people's photos, so I'm not concerned with it at this point. If anyone thinks this is a problem developing, then please let me know.

I changed my tent around a little, and I placed my small fan in front of an intake at the bottom. This has lowered the temperature in my tent to the ideal range of 72-77 degrees. I'll be installing an exhaust fan with a carbon filter soon, so I probably won't need my circulating fan in front of the intake at that point. Humidity stays between 40-50%.

Below are some updated pics. It's getting more difficult to take photos of them individually in the tent, but as the buds develop, I'll take them out from time to time to get some better shots. I've started tucking leaves as need, so some of the fan leaves may look a little bent in the photos.

At this point, my grow has went very smooth. Hopefully, things continue to go smoothly up until harvest. I'm looking forward to some good smoke!

I was just comparing my pics from 3 days ago to those I posted tonight, and it's quite noticeable that all 3 plants have grown a lot in a few days. The two Vertigos are now branching out past the sides of the 5 gallon pots, and the ak47 has easily doubled in size as it bushed out.

Had a look through your grow journal AXiON,all looking good,perhaps a bit dark green which would suggest too much N.
Some yellowing on tips of leaves.You will be cutting back on N soon anyways as she goes into flower.
The seedling stage is probably the worst time to give autos too much N as it can stunt them very easily IME.
I noticed you put them straight into final pots with FFOF(looks cut with perlite,but i dnt know FFOF)after only a coule of days.
Seedlings dnt need fed for a couple of weeks,when you see the cotyledon leaves turning yellow,its time to feed.
I keep my seedlings in a heated propogator for about 10 days before planting into final pot,then i only feed when the cotyledons
start going yellow.
I would guess the AK47 & Vertigo are very N tolerant strains.
A lot of strains would have been cremated being exposed to nutrients at a couple of days.
As your plants are still growing is a good sign,and they look fine,but they still have to go thro their 2nd growth spurt.
This growth can be explosive and good to see,but sometimes its virtually non existant and you know youve overdone the N.
Just my experience from my mistakes in the past.
Lets hope you are ok,as pirate did the same with his plant(overfed)and look at it now.
GL.
EDIT; Just had a look at your last pics and the Vertigo`s seem to be on their growth spurt.
This is mainly advice for future grows AXiON,get a heated propogator and some coco plugs.

looking great m8 KEEP IT UP

My little gal is in her 67th day and I'm still scratching my head waiting for some major resin production. The trichome heads have not formed. I would guess this gal is getting some age on her and should be showing mature signs. Take a peek.

I appreciate you looking through my grow journal and offering advice, robro! With the vertigos, I think I got a little jumpy with the nutes, since I gave them a small dose of Grow Big at about 2 weeks. I had planned on waiting a bit longer, but they appeared to be growing slow, I started reading forums, and the next thing I know I'm feeding them a small dose of nutes. lol It was a tough decision trying to follow other people's schedules with a strain that's predicted to go less than 9 weeks. With the ak47, it got a small dose just a few days ago at about 3 weeks old. The good new is that all of the plants are exploding with new growth! I definitely see what you mean when you say they hit a second growth spurt because they are shooting up quick. One Vertigo is nearly at 20 inches tall now with the other just right behind. The ak47 is looking a lot like pirate's did, and it's now nearly at 8 inches and very bushy.

I planted directly into the final pots based on the recommendations of most of the forum posts about autos. It seemed most people say that they don't transfer well, and that it's best to plant them directly into their final pot. With coco plugs, don't you just insert those into soil and leave it? Meaning...I could start future seeds in coco plugs inside of my 5 gallon pots and just let 'em grow?

I appreciate the advice! I'm happy to not have killed them by this point considering my inexperience. lol It's kind of funny that I've been smoking this stuff for over 2 decades, yet this is my first time harvesting my own. It's been smooth sailing up until now, and I really hope this continues for the next few weeks! (knock on wood!)

Thanks, zander19! Having never grown a damn thing in my life, I'm happy I haven't off'd them at this point! lol

pirate43a, I noticed that you said you accidentally posted the pics here, but no worries. I'm glad you did. I'm super interested to see how your ak turns out. According to what the seed site says, that ak should be done real soon. Of course, I don't know much at this point, but maybe it's possible that the troubles you had early on added a little bit of time for it to mature? Although I've seen a lot of threads that say that autos can normally take up to 2-3 weeks longer than what the seed distributor claims.

btw...I don't think I ever noticed what light cycle you're using? 18/6, 20/4, 24/0?

Today, I added an exhaust fan to my setup. Up until this point, I had been leaving the top of my tent unzipped to allow for air exchange. Now, that it's getting closer to flowering time, I didn't think this was a good option anymore. The tent needs to be closed for odor control, so I've added the exhaust fan with a carbon filter attached to it. After running the tent closed for a bit, I noticed the temp was running at a steady 70 degrees, which is a little below where I need it to be. LEDs just don't add enough heat! Originally, I had purchased a warm mist humidifier by mistake, so I swapped out my cool mist humidifier in the tent for the warm mist to see if that will raise my temps back up to the ideal range. It's pretty cold where I'm at right now, so this is probably only a temporary need. Initial checks suggest the warm mist humidifier brings the temp up to 75-77 degrees.

Besides that nothing else has changed except that my plants have added a few inches of growth since I posted 2 days ago. Updated pics below. Some of the leaves are in awkward positions due to leaf tucking. The ak47 has sort of a funny shape because I've tucked several of the large fan leaves to expose the new growth underneath.

vertigos = 32 days from seed
height = 18 inches and 14 inches

ak47 = 24 days from seed
height = 7.5 inches

I forgot to add these close-ups of the top flowers on the vertigos...

Pleased to hear your vertigos have got their growth spurt.
What i meant about planting your 2day old seedling into FFOF is that FFOF has nutes in it for about 3 or 4 weeks i think.
So your seedling would be getting nutes at 2 days old.Your idea of planting into plugs already in your FFOF will help keep
the seedlings roots out of the nutrients untill it needs them,around 2 weeks from sprout.
I think youve been overfeeding a little,with the nutes in your soil and the nutes you added,thats why your leaf tips are going yellow.Just give them water for a week or so,if it gets no worse you should be fine.
GL.

Hiya Axion, yep, my AK47 is gaining bud size and resin is increasing a bit but I'm worried she won't give good yield come harvest time. I'm on a 20/4 light schedule with a bunch of CFLs. I opted away from HID lights due to heat issues in my non ventilated grow room. Also as a small time grower I don't need a high end setup at this point in time. The CFLs were great during veg and I've added some more during flowering but as you noticed I did abuse the little gal along the way. It's good to hear that you've read that harvest is sometimes 2-3 weeks late for AK47 autos. The website says it flowers for 9 weeks. I've added 2 weeks on to that for vegging which comes to 11 weeks total. 68 Days comes to almost 10 weeks so in theory that would mean I should be harvesting next week. Since buds are not yet swelling to my expectations and trichomes don't have adequate heads I'm hoping by delaying harvest until closer to 13 weeks to harvest will provide better yields & potency. It will of course all depend on how she looks. One website says to look at lower buds to see when hairs start to turn in towards bud as a trigger to harvest. Have you read of any other telltale signs aside from trichomes going amber?

One additional thought came to me that you might consider Axion. I also have an activated charcoal filter attached to an inline fan to vent from my grow tent but it vents to the room. My problem is the opposite from yours in that my tent can get too hot (instead of too cold). Although I will continue to use this filter system since so far my AK47 is very low odor I do have a backup plan. I kept reading about a product called ONA which doesn't mask odor but actually eliminates it. Great reviews! I found a small can of it for under $10 on Ebay (including shipping) which will last through an entire grow.

pirate43a said:

Hiya Axion, yep, my AK47 is gaining bud size and resin is increasing a bit but I'm worried she won't give good yield come harvest time. I'm on a 20/4 light schedule with a bunch of CFLs. I opted away from HID lights due to heat issues in my non ventilated grow room. Also as a small time grower I don't need a high end setup at this point in time. The CFLs were great during veg and I've added some more during flowering but as you noticed I did abuse the little gal along the way. It's good to hear that you've read that harvest is sometimes 2-3 weeks late for AK47 autos. The website says it flowers for 9 weeks. I've added 2 weeks on to that for vegging which comes to 11 weeks total. 68 Days comes to almost 10 weeks so in theory that would mean I should be harvesting next week. Since buds are not yet swelling to my expectations and trichomes don't have adequate heads I'm hoping by delaying harvest until closer to 13 weeks to harvest will provide better yields & potency. It will of course all depend on how she looks. One website says to look at lower buds to see when hairs start to turn in towards bud as a trigger to harvest. Have you read of any other telltale signs aside from trichomes going amber?

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I tried searching for info on how long Vision Seeds' ak47 takes from seed to harvest, but the seedfinder website only has their ak49 listed. =/ I've seen other posts that mention trichomes aren't always the best sign on autos, and many people have suggested that the leaves yellowing are the tell-tale sign of when to harvest. I caught one thread that said waiting too long can cause the buds to develop male parts (banana looking), so if you start seeing that, then chop it. When I can, I'll try to get you some links to some of that info.

I've seen posts about Ona gel, and from what I read, it's supposed to work great for small grows. I'll probably end up getting some because I won't be able to dry my vertigo in the tent, since the ak47 won't be ready to harvest at the same time.

Since I'll be harvesting pretty soon I'll let you know how my Ona gel works. Sounds like I can drill holes thru the plastic and regulate how much odor control is necessary. This will also increase the lifespan of the Ona. I'm anxious to try it since my next grow will be 2 plants instead of 1. Last night I also bought a C Vault from Ebay to cure and store my cannabis. I love trying out gadgets.

pirate43a said:

Since I'll be harvesting pretty soon I'll let you know how my Ona gel works. Sounds like I can drill holes thru the plastic and regulate how much odor control is necessary. This will also increase the lifespan of the Ona. I'm anxious to try it since my next grow will be 2 plants instead of 1. Last night I also bought a C Vault from Ebay to cure and store my cannabis. I love trying out gadgets.

Click to expand...

Awesome! Ona gel looks like the way to go. If it works well for you, then I'll be picking some up as well. If I could harvest all 3 at once, then I wouldn't need it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to this time.

The C Vault looks good. I'm planning on buying the humidity packets that it comes with separately and using them in my own containers for storage. Amazon has 10 packs for around $10. =) I'm super worried about drying and curing properly, since I've never had to do that myself. There are a lot of different instructions out there, and a lot of it seems dependent upon your local conditions (RH, temp). Here is a link that I'll probably be following: https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/514841-perfect-cure-every-time.html