last few days of flowering, first time grower with AK48

hey all, i took these pictures a few days ago and am thinking that the plant should be finished within days (before-on Sept 21st)

this is AK48, vegged indoors (24-0) and flowered outdoors with LST started during the veg phase


Should I wait longer? They seem to look like the pictures I've seen, I just don't want to wait too long and ruin the plant or harvest it now and miss out on letting it mature well.

How long you been in flowering?looks like it could go another 2 weeks have you looked at the trics.under a scope?NO SCOPE THEN TAKE A SAMPLE FROM 1 OF THE BOTTOM BUDS.i HAVE SOME AK47 AND THEY FILLED IN ALOT THE LAST 2 WEEKS OF FLOWER.After looking at the 3 pic they still have another 2 to3 weeks

SOMEBEECH said:

How long you been in flowering? have you looked at the trics under a scope?

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Your plant looks GREAT!! Nice and frosty. Do what SOMEBEECH said. Go to Radio Shack and get yourself a 100X lighted scope. They are cheap, $20-$30, and are the only accurate way to tell if your plants are ready to harvest. Check the Trichomes.

yeah, i have to be creative for seeing the trichomes (not in the USA...) i thought that the macro would help. i guess i have to start shopping around.

thanks for the props! i took the best care of her i could after assassinating her poor 9 brothers and sisters after the first week of having the seeds in soil (arg...). BUT-- I really think the LST took the plant to a whole new level. I recommend it!

I've been flowering since around August 10-15ish, which is bit more than the month AK48 needs for flowering... but i guess that stuff is just advertiser's bull. As long as it looks like it has some time to go i'll leave it and try and get some sort of magnifying glass.

will update soon

If you can't find a scope where you're at, go to your local toy and hobby shop and get yourself a small, inexpensive microscope. Cut a small leaf off of one of the top buds and throw the leaf under the microscope. Some microscopes even have lights built right in. If not, shine a flashlight on it while looking.

Looks like you do not have any stores that carry handheld microscopes. May want to look at electronic stores for the great ones in the US are in an electronic store called Radio Shack for under $20. In the future may want to order one online for your future grows. When I did not use a microscope many years ago I would go by the red hairs about 50% and white hairs 50% you see with the naked eye. And it seemed pretty damn close to the harvest window. Best of luck and great looking plant.

This plant is only 25 days flower at that time and i harvested it at 50 days and i love the high.Point being it all depends on the high you want like cali said 50 50 works fine,but i like the up high so i let some go longer than others and have the couchlock for night and this JUICY FRUIT for being social,lmao the ak will go out in your hand,and your mouth will be open for no apparent reason.

yeah, i've heard of that for the head high harvest early and the couch lock leave it a bit later-- I cut two medium sized branches off and am thinking I'll leave the rest for another week or so (not so into couch, but some is good).

so far so good, since this is my first plant. Hopefully next time I buy seeds I won't kill 90% of them within the first week (I won't), this way I can play around some more with harvesting times.

I've done AK48 twice, seems to be an 8 wk plant like many others. If you pretend it's a WW or something, and grow it like that, the buds will swell and glisten by 8 wks or so. I'm not a couch-lock type, but find that too early w/ the 48 and it lacks potency/flavor.

i saw the glistening today and decided to cut-- hoping to get somewhere between head and couch. I left the smaller flowers on the lower branches on the plant- it's already past the 12light-12night in South America so I should only let them stay outside for another week or two (not much past 11:45night-12:15day). They are pretty much all the way along, but I want to see if they'll puff up some. Will post more pics too, and of the curating I'm doing (hanging branches on a string for a few days, then placing them in a jar).

gluck to all!

Please tell me you didnt cut that thing yet = (

It deffently has another week or two left in it.

Very nice plant tho

That is a nice plant bro, can't wait to put my ak's in this spring. Nice healthy stems

Wow nice LST job i have not done it, but that is a perfect example of what good LST can do, all those nodes are like tops!! Nice little Banzai Tree you got there! I too am on my first grow very excited!! Check ebay man, online you can get a microscope pretty cheap! Latez

yeah, the picture above was taken a good 5 days or so before i posted. nearly all of my pistils were red, more than 90-95% on the top nodes, and the day I cut I saw crystal like shining. It might have been okay to leave it on for a bit longer, but I think I'll be fine Also, there were were some small flowers on the lowest part of the branches that I left on.

I LOVE LST, ps, and after reading on the pro-cons of LST vs Topping I think avoiding cutting your plant at all costs is a good idea.

you can get a jewerys loop for about 3-6 dollars on ebay. 30x and they also have stronger ones. things come from hong kong.

I totally agree, I think i stressed my girls out by Pruining too much! my first grow and i will have a decent harvest, but i have alot more knowledge for the next grow for sure! I think i am going to try LST how old do they have to be before tieing them down?

I would say the best time to LST depends on your plant's size and your space. I think once the plant can be bent over at a 90-near 90 degree angle you can do it. Also, because it's Low Stress you can't really mess up your plant, unless you snap the main branch in half (which some people do on purpose). The idea is with LST you can do it slowly, at any point really, but I personally started with my AK48 after around 3-3.5 weeks. You can also start when you begin to flower, as the plants do go through a HUGE growth spurt during this phase.

(on a side note, i love Rollitup but i think some of the pros can psych you out when you start your first grow. these plants have been grown by humans for more than 5,000 years. you probably won't do a worse job than a cave person, and will get what you need from it. a little common sense goes a long way!)

SOMEBEECH said:

This plant is only 25 days flower at that time and i harvested it at 50 days and i love the high.Point being it all depends on the high you want like cali said 50 50 works fine,but i like the up high so i let some go longer than others and have the couchlock for night and this JUICY FRUIT for being social,lmao the ak will go out in your hand,and your mouth will be open for no apparent reason.

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This is great for only 25 days flowering bro! You say this is JF ?: I have tootie fruity, and a few others like Heavy Duty Fruity, but I haven't been able to locate the Juciy Fruit at all!! Where did you grab your beans from ?: