AK48 Aeroponics/Hydroponics w/ 400w HPS

Bought 5 AK48 feminized seeds from Nirvana. Got here in 7 days from order date.

My grow room will soon be light proof with black fire proof and light proof blankets Also, I will have two 60cfm fans installed real soon (one for intake and one for outtake with activated charcoal to control odor). The room is 5x5x6, great for plants, terrible for standing.

I built it up onto a platform so I could drain the reservoir every two weeks and to keep things level.

Right now I just have the 5 seeds, but as this is my second grow and first grow with hydroponics I will take it slow and save the experimenting for next time. I plan to get a mother out of one of the plants and make a total of 16 clones for when I set up my extension unit.

One idea I had is to buy a NFT-1 that turns on the pump for 1m and off for 4m, giving a maximum amount of oxygen to the roots, while still keeping them wet. However, I don't know how cost effective that is as it costs ~$70 and I've already hit my budget.

I germinated them on top of a hot Apple TV with a 2L bottle humidity dome with composted bark (Perfect Starts). Worked very well. What you see in the pictures is after 3 days.

They were showing a tap root so I moved them over. There are no nutrients in the 15 gallon reservoir at the time being.

I plan to use Liquid Earth nutrients if everything looks good on Monday.

pH 7.4 (Just added some GH pH down, will check in 30m) edit: now at 6.2
ppM ~169
400w HPS 18/6
Humidity ~60%
Temperature ~78

Here are some pictures.
I will update with more and better ones when these girls take off.
Please, feel free to comment.

Ok, they're second leaves are well on their way.

One of them has yellow false leaves, but I think that is from the high pH water that was only in the res. for a couple hours. Problem should self-correct itself.

Or is the plant hungry? When should I add nutrients?

Maletor said:

Ok, they're second leaves are well on their way.

One of them has yellow false leaves, but I think that is from the high pH water that was only in the res. for a couple hours. Problem should self-correct itself.

Or is the plant hungry? When should I add nutrients?

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Wait until you have roots that are hanging in the reservoir. Then only go half strength for a few weeks, then to full strength.

bigbrew said:

Wait until you have roots that are hanging in the reservoir. Then only go half strength for a few weeks, then to full strength.

Click to expand...

pH 6.1
ppM ~990
400w HPS 18/6
Humidity ~60%
Temperature ~72
Res Temp. 68.2

Here they are at 8 days since I got the seeds in the mail. I'd say looking pretty good. They have some nice roots hanging down and I fixed an over watering problem by turning the misters upside down.

When the roots hit the reservoir there will be a 12" airstone in there so they won't be completely starved of oxygen. Besides it will just be the tap root. The nutrient roots will be at the top with the sprayers.

The biggest problem is stretching with these girls. I blame it on the HPS. I've been meaning to go out and get some HO Florescents to complete the veg.

I don't really want to top them cause that would slow them down and stress them out. I want my first aeroponics grow to be successful. Maybe in later ones.

I will start flower at 6 weeks or 12" in height or 12" in width which ever one comes first.

How would you say they are coming along for 8 days?
I will take some pictures later with the HPS off. But they look as green as can be. Growth should take off any day now...

Leaves are curling slightly up. No biggie. Moved the light back a few. I think it was heat stress. Roots are about 1-2" out of the medium now.

looks like u know what ur doing... subscribed for the ride

The growth is about right for the time frame.

However 900 ppm is really really high IMO for a week old plant. In my hydro I dont get them to 900 ppm until they're about 7 weeks old, due to burning at 600 ppm.

Do what you want but I would hate to see you burn a young one like that.

Maletor said:

I will have two 60cfm fans installed real soon (one for intake and one for outtake with activated charcoal to control odor).

Click to expand...

i'm no expert but... lol

seriously though i have heard that the intake needs to be a little smaller than the outtake in order to create negative air pressure. i'm sure you'll have no problems but its something to keep in mind.

your set-up is sweet as hell btw, i'm jealous! a buddy of mine grew some AK-48 and i was really impressed with it throughout the grow cycle. they got pretty tall but they were the most THC laden strain in his room.

keep up the good work

Ya, my fans are a problem on several levels.

One they make too much noise. It sounds like it's vibrations but it doesn't feel like it is. Two, the outtake isn't quite as strong as I'd like it to be to push through the carbon.

Will fix this once I get closer to flowering.

Lifted up the net pots a little bit more with pencils and now I have studious MJ.

Lesson learned. Never use rockwool again. Only clones because my system will soak rockwool beyond recognition.

Yes, 900PPM is probably too high and I don't want to burn these babies either, but they have roots and that means they are hungry. I read StinkBud jacks his PPM up to 1500ppm in veg when he starts from seed and when they start to pop roots he throws them in veg. So I can't be too far off.

I'm strongly considering buying a 400W MH conversion bulb. But maybe will save for the next grow as so many things have been. Like the desired NFT 1.

pH - 5.8
ppm - 1080
RH - 50%
Temp - 68
Res. Temp - 70.2

Hey guys

pH - 5.9
PPM - 1520

Everything else looks good. The leaves look a little wilted but overall the new growth is healthy as can be.

I got a question.

My grow area is only 6' high. And deduct 2' from that because of the reservoir and another 1'6" because of the light and distance it has to stay underneath it.

I think I'm going to have some height problems.

Can I use SCROG to keep my plants at a certain height?
Will I sacrifice yield by doing so?
What's the difference between SOG and SCROG?
How high will my plant be if I top it? More than once?

Thanks for your help.

only a noobie myself but isn't there enough nutes in the seed to keep life going with out nutes for the first 2 weeks? I would have thought that by using that much in that early stage would have stunded root grouth or killed them? Are well ive only ever growen coco an soil but 1500ppm is like a max dose for a near completed cycle of growth. Lol yer rockwool in a airponics wouldnt be good, read a thread and ya wanna not water the rockwool but rather the expanded clay to get roots dropping so there searching for food/water. Umm lol after looking where the fuck is it?

2stroke said:

only a noobie myself but isn't there enough nutes in the seed to keep life going with out nutes for the first 2 weeks? I would have thought that by using that much in that early stage would have stunded root grouth or killed them? Are well ive only ever growen coco an soil but 1500ppm is like a max dose for a near completed cycle of growth. Lol yer rockwool in a airponics wouldnt be good, read a thread and ya wanna not water the rockwool but rather the expanded clay to get roots dropping so there searching for food/water. Umm lol after looking where the fuck is it?

Click to expand...

My roots are healthy and long as shit. The rockwool is not wet. The new growth is green and healthy and the leaves are not curling down or yellow. Therefore no nutrient burn or any other of the concerns you mentioned.

I know what I am doing. Sorry to burst your bubble dude. On the 24th nutrients are going to 2000PPM.

Just so you know when roots are showing that means the plants are hungry.

Now I just have to figure out what to do about my height problem. I have 3' to work with so I think topping and tying some growth down to fence posts will keep the plants under control.

Here they are at day 17.

Res temp. 76.00F
Ambient temp. 80
RH - Humid as f**k
pH - 5.80
ppm - 2000+

Started the PPM up at 1250, then went to 1500, now I'm at 2000 all over the course of a week.

Plants liked it so I kept it up. I'll hover around 2000 for now until they are 6 weeks old. Then I'll test 2500+ and try to dial in the AK48. (Slowly bring it up until the leaves curl down or yellowing occurs then just drop it down a hair.)

The plants are stretching a little bit, but so be it. I ordered a MH light about a week ago and it's still not here yet. A little stretch will not be the end of the world.

Other than that the plants look really healthy. I just wish I was using organic nutrients. I'm using this stuff called Liquid Earth. It seems OK, but organic is the way to go. I also dumped 75mL of H202 in the reservoir to keep my plants healthy. They seem to like it.

Can't wait to start flowering these girls.

Oh ya, I have a general question. My space will allow the plants to grow about 3' 6" including 12" for the light. Is this too small? What would be the easiest thing to do if they get to close to the light? Training?

Also, can someone point me to a good topping tutorial I think I might do that. I've looked and everything out there doesn't seem too detailed.

Thanks.

Here is 2 more pictures.
Things are going very well.
6 wks of veg. Now switching over to flower for next ~8 weeks, then 1 week of flushing.

pH = 5.8
PPM = 800 (moving up to 1250 after res. change today)
Temp = 73
RH = 55%
15 gallons

Some burn but it's ok.

I am new to the site this is my first post. but I am soon to be running and aero nft system to produce some ak-48. My question to you is what nutrients are you using? specific measurements would be awesome. I want my girls to turn out nice and big