Organic Indoor AK-48 under T5 (Veg & Bloom) with BMO Nutrients

Here it goes. I've done my reading for a few years, and it's about time to get my first seed in the soil. My grow journal will be updated weekly-ish and I encourage all questions/comments/recommendations. I am a big numbers freak, so I will also be doing extensive cost analysis of my grow and searching for the most efficient grow. First thing's first, my setup (with costs and suppliers):

Hydrofarm 4 foot (6 lamp - Came with 6 - 6500k lamps) T5 HO Commercial Fixture - $177 from TheHydroSource.com
3 - 3000k 48" T5 bulbs (for full spectrum) - $18 from local lighting store
Blue Mountain Organics 4-Pack - 1 Liter each of: Super Plant Tonic, Grow it Green, Flower Power, and Foliar Harmony - $35 shipped from eBay
10 Regular AK-48 (Non-feminized) Beans - $35 from NirvanaShop.com
Analog Thermometer/Hydrometer - $15 from local Ace Hardware
Light hanging chains - $8 from local Ace Hardware
Analog timer - $14 from local Ace Hardware
Primo TDS Tester - $23 from HTGSupply.com
Growbright 6" Clip on Fan - $15 from HTGSupply.com (I told them I could buy the same fan at Home Depot for 15 and they matched it on the spot - I like these guys)
100 Sq.Ft. of 6 mil. Black/White Poly Film - $9 from HTGSupply.com
55 Site Floating Seed Starter Kit with plugs - $19 from HTGSupply.com
Total: $368 without soil.

As I just mentioned, I don't have any soil, perlite, or worm castings - and a pH meter. I am going to try to pick up those in the next week (I still have about 5 days before my seeds get here - maybe more) and mix together for some quality soil. Either way, I am still looking at being able to get all supplies I need for under $400 (If anyone can think of other things I'm missing, please comment and let me know.)

Right now I have some lavendar (traditional or french, not sure) beefing up under the light, but it's light's off time right now, so I will throw some pictures up in the next couple hours of what kind of grow closet I'm working with. Other things to note, a friend gave me some bagseed of supposed Blackberry, which is germinating in the closet right now. I also have a couple of nutes from past gardens (pepper plants and flowers mostly): GardenTech Rootone and Schultz TakeRoot. I will be experimenting with three different rooting hormones in the cloning stage to find out which works most efficiently (the two prior mentioned, along with Super Plant Tonic which can be used as a rooting nute). I also have a bottle of dry Fertilome Root & Bloom soluble, which probably won't ever touch my organic babies, but I thought I would throw it out there. Thanks for checking my grow journal out.

A picture of the lavendar I have under the T5 now.

The timer that took me far too long to figure out...

A view of the growcloset with a rack above it where the fixture hangs from...

Grow closet from outside. Covered with just window curtains now, polyfilm on the way.

Another aerial view of the light...

One lavender seedling, one full-on lavendar plant vegging, and 6 cacti in 2 different pots that have yet to sprout (going on a month with these planted so far).


Lots more pictures to come as I get new equipment, nutes, etc. in the mail.

Still waiting... It's been 8 days since the order from Nirvana was placed, and 5 days since the beans shipped out of their ship. Hopefully should be seeing them within the next 3 days or so. Also, my BMO nutes shipped today via Priority Mail from Arkansas. And I think HTGSupply shipped all my stuff out last Friday, and should be getting it Wednesday. This is going to be a good week.

vary nice set up u got keep up

Ah, excellent. Someone finally posts! Thanks, I appreciate checking it out. I just got the BMO in the mail today; looks like a quality product. Now where they hell are those beans...

Just called HTGSupply as my order has yet to arrive and they said because of a computer error, my package never sent. To make up for it they are expediting shipping and threw in a pair of garden shears. Good deal.

Should Be A Interesting Grow Mate I Like To Watch The Old T5 in Action When Budding They Do A Nice Job Good Luck .Peace

I personally would use HPS at minimum 400 watts ( depending on how tall you want your plants) for flowering, far and away better for flowering than T5's not that the T5's won't work but expect the buds to be airy and not very dense and less yield.

Mate Ive seen some buds offa t5 beat hps + if you using good genetics and grow good your get nice weed iver way But Yu wud be better off with hps for a massive yield but ther are people out ther that think t5 give stronger weed but who nows but id strongly Reccomend that you get more bulbs if you keep with the t5.peace

Forest G. said:

I personally would use HPS at minimum 400 watts ( depending on how tall you want your plants) for flowering, far and away better for flowering than T5's not that the T5's won't work but expect the buds to be airy and not very dense and less yield.

Click to expand...

I went with T5 for a couple reasons: 1.) Electricity cost 2.) Heat signature 3.) Grow closet temperatures - If I had the right conditions (in my opinion), I would use HPS.

Auzzie07 said:

I went with T5 for a couple reasons: 1.) Electricity cost 2.) Heat signature 3.) Grow closet temperatures - If I had the right conditions (in my opinion), I would use HPS.

Click to expand...

I figured there was a reason, at any rate AK-48 is a good strain I've been growing her for about 2 years along with Wonder Woman, and Herijuana, and she has had the biggest yields out of the 3 and is definetly the strong stinky one in the bunch but doesn't get you as high as the other 2. She still gets you blasted just not for as long IMHO.

any way good luck

Thanks, yo. Good to hear some input on what harvest time will be like.

Looking great so far auzzie, any word on the seeds yet? Ak-48 is mixed with ice "I belive." My wonderwoman is also mixed with Ice and she flowered awesome under cfl's! Actually she is in her last few days before harvest, thats her<< In my avatar

It sounds like you've done your research and have some good genetics to start with!!

Forest G. said:

I personally would use HPS at minimum 400 watts ( depending on how tall you want your plants) for flowering, far and away better for flowering than T5's not that the T5's won't work but expect the buds to be airy and not very dense and less yield.

Click to expand...

You have very obviously grown with a T5 bro... I do and my buds are rock hard my man sorry.

My personal opinion is that the bud density is somewhat in the dry and cure stage. But just dropped a germinated Blackberry bagseed in the some soil tonight, hopefully it will pop out of the soil soon. The friend gave me two Blackberry seeds, but the cotyledons on the first seed were all fucked-up looking; so I'm trying the second one now. Fingers crossed!

bigv1976 said:

You have very obviously grown with a T5 bro... I do and my buds are rock hard my man sorry.

Click to expand...

I think you meant that I haven't grown with T5's not that I "obviously grown with t5 bro" and as a matter of fact I started my first grow with t5's and they turned out good for using t5's. However when I switched to HPS in flowering I realized I was missing out on bigger better buds produced from an HPS, so think what ever you want but the truth is any grower who can use HPS and doesn't is missing out on way better yields and BIGGER BUDS so keep growing your "rock hard" tiny buds and I'll stick to my monster buds.,... don't be sorry your the one missing out so sorry to you my naive friend. What I'm stating is nothing more than fact HPS is better for flowering than T5's PERIOD

First big update:

Everything (sans the beans) has come in the mail finally! The fan, poly-film, TDS meter, propagation tray, and FREE HTG trimming shears. I put up the poly film today (using only duct tape - it was a bitch).

The set-up as of right now.

Sorry I didn't rotate. But here is the closet with the poly-film up. The red curtains are dropped down usually when it needs to be more stealthy.

Some nutrients. Not all are for the MJ as you can see; I just like to keep things together. Anyone have a recommendation as to which rooting powder of the two I have, that they prefer?

Temperatures have been a bit high (80-85 degrees Fahrenheit), so I raised the light a bit and positioned the fan much closer to it. But I've heard of people growing in these temperatures before, so I know it can be done. I will eventually invest some money (which I don't have right now) into an exhaust fan. As of right now I just have one clip-on fan moving air around.

Blackberry bagseed on day 2.

This was shot before I put in the poly-film: Lavender that has been kicking ass after putting it under the light (as compared to outside). Also there is a spider plant in there that needed some love while I still have room under the light. The lavender got a bit of nute burn (Can someone confirm my suspicions that nute bute always starts at the tips of the leaves and works its way in? Also, after accidently putting your plant through nutrient burn, do you flush immediately after you notice it? Or does one wait until the soil drys up again to flush with ph'd water?)

Blue Mountain Organics Compost tea Nutrients

T5 in action.

Also, I was considering giving the Blackberry seedling some BMO Super Plant Tonic at half of label strength, but wanted to get some input on this. Anyone have an opinion on this?

Thanks for checking in. I'll try to keep this updated when new things happen, and when I have new questions.

Updates:
TDS Meter -
I was anxious to put to use my handy-dandy, new TDS meter and wanted to check the chloride levels in my city's tap water (as I am using it and occasionally distilled water). What interested me was that out-of-the-faucet the TDS read 195-200 ppm (Yes, I calibrated it) and then I tested a 2L bottle of water that I had let sit out for 48 hours and the tested again. My results? 185-190 ppm meaning that only 5-15 ppm of the tap water was chlorides which evaporated out. Confused by this, I consulted my expert grower I know. He said the remaining ppm are minerals and fluorides, which won't evaporate out.
High Temperatures -
I've been experiencing slightly high temperatures (85-90 degrees Fahrenheit lights on; 80-82 degrees lights off). If you look at prior pictures of the grow area, you will notice that it's pretty much just a closet that's closed off with poly-film. Inside there is one 6" clip-on fan circulating air within the space, but I don't have an exhaust system. My question is this: Would I be better off keeping the 6" clip-on fan as a circulating air fan inside the grow space, or should I try to hang it as an exhaust fan (pointing outside the poly-film) around a bottom (or top as heat rises) corner of the closet and cut a hole in the poly? I'm not sure which of these two would be more beneficial, as the circulating air also provides a gentle "breeze" for the plants, but doesn't exhaust out hot air. Where as using it as an exhaust fan, I would lose the "breeze effect", and I'm not even sure if it is a strong enough fan to expel enough hot air to keep temperatures down. So what do you think RIT'ers?

My one baby (Blackberry Bagseed) -
I gave my seedling baby his first taste of BMO today as the soil had dried out from it's initial watering of just distilled water (which was unfortunately not pH'd as I don't have a meter - Any kind soul want to send me an old pH meter, I'd appreciate it ) So I gave her (or possibly, but hopefully not, him) a half-strength light watering of Super Plant Tonic, followed by a drizzle of distilled water as well. Either way, it's first (yet tiny) pair of true leaves are starting to uncoil from the cotyledons. Right now I have it about 6" from the lighting fixture with the fan pointed up towards the light to dissipate heat directly around the pot.

Nirvana AK-48 Beans -
Still en route... unfortunately. Fingers crossed that tomorrow (the two week mark from the time they shipped them) will be the day.

Again, I'm encouraging all questions, comments, and recommendations. Thanks.

And some pictures with it:

To demonstrate the distance of the T5 fluorescent to the foliage. I feel this is the closest I can get without scorching the seedling. I believe that once the plant matures and gets more leaves, I could probably even put the top of the canopy a couple inches closer to the light. I'm at about 6-7" right now. Can someone confirm this? You can also see the fan placement in this photo - straight up towards the lamp as to push the hot air that emanates from it, to the sides of the light and upwards.

Another shot with the lavender in there too. Which, by the way, recovered from the minor case of nutrient burn.

My little amigo who got his first Super Plant Tonic (at a shade under half label strength) feeding today. I've heard this helps break down the nutrients in the soil and allow the plant's nutrient uptake efficiency to increase.


I know most of my posts are riddled with questions, but I refuse to go through a grow and not learn as much as possible. And I would really appreciate it if someone knowledge wouldn't mind subscribing to my journal and providing input on my current status, as well as let me know what they have to say about the questions I pose; which you will notice because they are in bold. This may be a bit much to ask, but I do want to note that I contribute as much as possible to the community as I can. I am constantly hitting the New Threads button and answering the dreaded "noob" questions of "Why is my one 15W 6500k CFL making my plant flower slowly?" As well as, "How do I germinate seeds?" So not to pat myself on the back, but I feel if everyone helps out when they can with a positive attitude, this can become a nexus of knowledge for all things cannabis horticulture.

Thanks again, I'm very grateful for this solid community.

Yea I agree, as long as its not stretching to much keep the light there until it grows some true leaves.. Then start getting it closer.. When it gets a good 6 nodes on it, your gonna want to keep that beast 2-3" to the light!!

Lookin good brotha!!