First grow - CFL stealth box

Hello everyone. First I would like to thank everyone for the great info on the site. I have been referring to it constantly throughout this project and it has been immensely helpful.

I'll start with my setup. Right now I have a medium size clothes dresser that I am using to grow in. I have put white plastic up and since I only have one plant so far and it isn't very big I have put off doing some of the other stuff I planned on. I am also having a really hard time finding simple things such as pots that are the right size, ferts, and a ph tester since I live in an area that doesn't have these things readily available.

I started out with four AK47 seeds that were given to me by my brother. Unfortunately, the seeds were quite old and only one germinated and sprouted properly. I'm one month in now and I think it is doing well. I'm slightly worried that it isn't growing as fast as it should, but due to my lack of experience can't really make that call. I have read some other people's posts and it seemed that theirs grew faster, but that could just be because it was a different strain than mine. It started in a very small pot that I made just by using the bottom half of a bottle of water that I cut some hole out in the bottom.


The first 2 weeks


After I started seeing roots around the sides and the plant started to turn lighter green/slightly yellow I transplanted it into a bigger pot.


The plant right before the transplant with the roots showing.


I had been giving it only tap water until now, but when I transplanted it into the bigger pot I started giving it quarter strength fertilizer and micro nutrients. The plant seemed to love it and turned back to it's healthy darker green color and started growing again right away.


The plant right after the transplant. Light green/yellow color.


Now, one week later the plant is doing much better. It has a few more nodes and the color is much healthier. I just have a couple concerns. The plant is about 5 weeks old now from when I germinated the seed and is around five to six inches tall. Has anyone else grown the AK from serious seeds that can tell me if this is a decent size for its age? Second, I can see a root or two poking out from the drainage holes. Will this hurt the plant?


Roots showing.


The plant in it's current state.

Overall I think the plant is looking pretty healthy, and since it is my only one I'm praying for a female. My long term goal is to get a SOG setup in the clothes dresser and if this one is female I'm hoping to get around 15-20 clones off of it since that is the max I think I could fit in the space I have. I will probably take one clone off early to determine sex first though.

So while I wait for it to get bigger I'm working on preparing the rest of the cabinet. I'm almost done with a home made scrubber and ventilation system using some 120mm computer fans, and sectioning the cabinet off into six separate compartments (four for plants, one for mother, one for clones). Right now I have just two 23 watt CFLs on the one plant, but when It things get rolling I want to have four lights in each compartment.

Thanks for listening and anyone is welcome to post any comments or constructive criticism.

looks good, the roots sticking out will be fine. it shoulds show sex after a while even in the vegetative state. I tried to flower the clones of my first plants but the mothers ended up showing preflowers before the clones.

Roots coming out of the bottom wont hurt the plant. Just shows shes reached the walls of her pot and you could repot her into something bigger. Since shes your only plant you might as well let her have something nice and big to grow in. Otherwise she is looking healthy

Hmmm...Thinking about topping it, letting it grow out a bit, then cutting the lower branches for cloning and flowering the top. Since this is the only plant at the moment I can let it grow a bit in the space I have and I'm looking to get a good number of clones for a SOG next time around. Any thoughts?

Looking good. Bigger than I pictured. Shouldn't be too long before you can determine sex. Probably another 2 weeks max I'd guess.

Thanks to everyone who posted so far for the reassurance. Makes me worry less now that some experienced growers are telling me she looks good. Now I'm just waiting till it starts showing it's sex. Since I don't have anymore seeds and it would be a pain to get any I'm really depending on this one being female. I'll take pics in the next day or two when there is a noticeable change from the last pics.

Day 31

I think some problems might be beginning to develop. The leaves are drooping a little and some of the old leaves and all the new growth seems to be getting light green again, and yellow around the edges. I have given it 2 liters of water with quarter strength nutrients and micro nutes for the last 10 days, so today I flushed it out a bit with normal tap water. Runoff water PH tested at around 6.5, so I think that is ok. I know I'm probably just panicking over nothing, but being my first grow I'm working myself into a a tizzy checking the plant every hour Today or tomorrow I'm going to get a couple more 23 watt cool daylight lights for a total of 92 watts and better light coverage.

Anyway, here are the pics from today. Let me know what you think.

After flushing it slightly the tips of some of the leaves and the new growth started turning yellow, so I watered it with some half strength nutes. Bought two more lights, unfortunately one was defective so I have to take it back for an exchange. Made pop can reflectors for the 3 lights that are working. Also tested the tap water and it was a bit alkaline maybe slightly below 7.5. Hoping with nutes it will balance out to neutral or slightly acidic. I'm still watching pretty closely for sex.

Just be sure to keep the nutes low for now, flushing it seems to have removed all the nutes in the soil causing it to yellow up. Generally the plant is still looking very fine.
I wouldnt spend too much time vegging/training etc, its such a risk only having one plant hoping for it to be female. Might just let it veg another week and then set it into flowering. Get this grow behind you so you can start the next one.

Thanks for the advice. After flushing it I gave is half strength nutes and it is doing great now. Almost enough growth now where I can take a decent number of clones. Since I don't have any access to seeds at the moment, clones would be the only way for me to keep things going. Just hoping she is female. I have been told that it should start showing sex withing the next week or two hopefully. If it is female I'll take the clones I need and throw her into flowering. I'll post some current pics tomorrow.

They wont show sex untill 7-10 days of 12/12 lighting.

Hmmm...I thought I read somewhere that the sex would show after a certain stage in veg, but I could very well be mistaken, or misread it. If that is the case I'll take the cuttings for clones in another week or so and after they establish their roots and seem happy, I'll throw one right into flowering to determine the sex. BTW thanks for taking the time to help out.

As it seems, plants can show sex during veg after 1-2 months. Ive never seen it before myself, then again I dont have too many grows where i vegged very long.
Most people find out after switching to 12/12 or flowering a cutting and dont rely on preflowers to determine sex.

Good news today. I'm 99% sure it is female. I think I'm seeing some female pre-flowers. I tried taking some pics, but all I have is the camera on my phone. I'll try and get some better pics later today if I have time.




Don't know if it is clear enough of not, but the second pic is of the pre-flower.

Now I just need to get a couple things for cloning and I'll start doing that soon. Still debating if I should make this plant my mother, or if I should make one of the clones the mother and throw this one into flowering. I know I should probably use this one as the mother instead of trying to have two different light cycles in the same little closet, but it's been five years since I had any real bud and it is pretty tempting to flower this one asap. Anyway, hopefully I'll have better pics of the pre-flowers I'll post in the next day or two.

It was my day off today so I decided to try and do some cloning for my first time. I'm not going to go into details, just post some pics, and in a week or so we'll see how many made it.


Last pics of it before the chopping started.


Stupid cat got in a few nibbles while I was looking away.


The clones and the mother in their new homes.

Now for anyone easily offended skip the next part. I finally got a decent shot of her girl parts...



Now, I am a bit worried... I found some things that might be balls, but they are really tiny at the moment and I don't want to jump to conclusions.



So, I guess I'm just hoping that it isn't a hermie. If anyone that has more experience than me can tell from the pics please don't be afraid to speak up!
Finally I'll leave you all with a few pics of my poor chopped up plant.




So, again, if anyone can tell if it is a hermie or not let me know.

OK, all my clones are looking like shit. They are all droopy and don't look healthy at all. I wired them up straight, but I don't think they are gonna last long. I'll post pics when I get back from work.

Well, the clones are still looking pretty sad. Thinking maybe the temp was getting a bit high and I didn't make sure the soil was moist enough before I planted them, so I made sure there was plenty of moisture in the soil and switched places with the mother since I think it will keep them cooler. Here are some current pics. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Clones are looking slightly better now after the watering and being moved to the bottom.

Wish I had been able to see and reply sooner, you also had a ton of light on them. I used to use like2 cfl(s) for a whole tray of clones. They don't need alot of light. Good that you moved em. Anxious to hear whether or not you got a girl or a hermy. Those first pics are definitely pistils which means female but if those are balls...let's just hope they aren't.

Well shit....the farther along things go the more it looks like I have a hermie... Here are some more pics.



Hope they show up well enough for you to see them since the resolution gets lower when you upload them to the site. On the plus side, my clones are looking way better. Too bad they are most likely garbage. At least this is good experience for when I get my hands on some new seeds.