[radom]

I 'been reading a lot of different suggestions on topping ak47's.
Are this plants respond well to topping or not ?

Have 3 clones and 2 seedlings going on right now, but cant decide on what to do.

First hand experiences please...

Thank You

[jayd]

from the grow reports ive seen id say do not top as ak47 is mainly a single big cola strain. but it looks like it responds well to being bent over or some lst

[Claude]

Hi,

Yes AK47 respond well to topping, here is the proof!

https://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e6...pse4522781.jpg

Respect
Claude

Dam claude is that 1 plant ? in DWC is there any info on what hydro system that was growin in

[Crowmax]

it is white russian guys not ak47
grower's thread (foaf) is here
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=240957
and more detailed here:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=236270

[etinarcadiaego]

I must confess I was at least a little bit disappointedf to see nothing but yes or no answers to your question, as with everything botanical, technique is the key.

Let me start by saying that AK can get a little leggy on 'ya if you're not careful. Hell, she'll get a LOT leggy on you. The real key with topping AK-47 is TIMING TIMING TIMING.

I recommend topping AK earlier than you would other strains, top too late and the new branches won't have the girth or node spacing to support huge buds, and you'll get AK buds like this one, a little small for my liking:






Top her earlier, and she'll fill out those bud sites much better, the two pics below are from the same run, on a plant topped twice, no screen:











Anyways, top her earlier. AK is also perfect for SCROGing, and if you can go that route, I'd recommend it. With a screen and proper training (screen style LST) I can easily yield 1g/watt of light with my AK mother, which is not the best yielding strain I've run . . . err, wtf am I talking about? Trained right AK is the best yielding strain I've ever fuggin run!

One other thing, every AK I've flowered, and I've flowered more than a few, gave me one problem with bud development that I'll fill you in on. DONT OVER FEED K (Potassium) in flower! Too much and she will NOT reward you.

My AK can take the nutes, now granted I'm all organic, not just organic, but all OMRI listed organic. Not because I give a shit about the OMRI rating, it just so happens my nutes are OMRI listed.

For example, if you use a Molasses based product in the first 3-4 weeks of flower, which I do, don't add another product that has any more K, even seaweed or kelp based products can cause a little too much K to build up, and you'll get runnier buds that aren't as fat.

Here's what I do.

Flowering weeks 1 & 2: I feed her like I'd feed a vegging plant, only with the addition of a bloom nutrient called Bio-Bloom at about half strength, and I fertilize with almost every watering but I bubble the nutrients for about 2-6 hours before feeding, which I call a "tea". I use BioBizz Fish Mix, Bio Grow, and Alg-a-mic in addition to the Bio-Bloom, but I don't combine the Alg-a-Mix or Bio-Grow, it's one or the other. I hit her hard with the Fish Mix too, she stays strong, compact, and green.

Week 3: I start the transition to flower here but starting to cut out N more and more, I know a lot of guys who like to add Molasses here, but I prefer to feed the medium using a fish emulsion, rather than the plant using Molasses. I also start using my bloom nutes, Bio-Bloom, at full strength or even 1.5X strength if she's a BIGGGGGG plant.

Week 3.5 - 4: Here I hit her hard with bat guano, typically as soon as the stretch is over, or even just tapering down. Depending on the size of the plant and container, I've done about twice the recommended dose without the slightest negative side effect. I add the guano to 5 gallon bucket of distilled water, bubble for about 10-12 hours, then feed. She takes off! Seriously, I've never seen a plant respond as well to high doses of guano as AK-47. I literally can not break 0.75g/watt without using high P bat guano.

Weeks 4 - 6: Keep it going with Bio-Bloom, which has a touch of molasses. I'll add a bit of Fish Mix as needed to keep her semi green, but I don't mind yellowing here, it's natural, normal, and part of the plan. Now, you don't want to add more guano yet, usually I won't give her anymore at all. Sometimes I will, depending on her reaction to the first dose. They say gauno doesn't wear out for 40 days, which I don't agree with AT ALL, but I still won't add it closer than 20 days to harvest, too much guano FUCKS up the burn and taste of the finished bud, so I usually hit her once with it, hard, and then not again.

Weeks 6-the end: Being organic, you don't need to and can't really flush a plant using water, unless your medium is inert like coco, and that's a whole different nutrient regimen than the above. Assuming you're in soil, just wait until the buds are about 80 - 90%% full size, and slowly start cutting back on water. So don't saturate the medium as often or as completely. This is my organic flush. She can't take up nutrients without water. At this point the yellowing will be rapid, leaves dropping every day. By the time she's done, she'll have lost a lot of fans, but the resulting buds will burn clean and the smell/taste is just killer, much of which I attribute to the guano and my "organic flush".


Anyways, I didn't meant to get off topic. The AK will not yield as well grown in a single cola as she will well trained, she just takes more time. She also needs lots of root space, more-so than other strains, which can be accomplished using either large pots, or medium sized pots designed to air-prune the roots, which I've noticed can be equivalent to a larger non-air-pruning container.

So, to recap:

1) Top her earlier than other strains, I never top less than twice, usually not more than twice either. FIMing works well also when using a screen.

2) Each time you top your plant, you'll need to flower her out in a container at least a gallon bigger than the containers you'd otherwise use. If I typically flower in a 2gallon, and I top twice, I'll finish her in a 4 gallon container. In truth though, to get 1g/watt I usually will veg my clone about 21-28 days, up-pot, put in flower room under a screen, STILL ON 18/6, let her fill about half the screen, maybe 10 days, then I flower. Some strains do well under halides in flower, some do better in fact, but not AK. My AK cannot yield as well under warm halides, Sunpulse 3K halides, or any other halide as she can under HPS. Strains that do yield as well or better under halides, in my experience, are strains that have longer flower cycles, beyond 70 days. Resin content is not light dependent. I've done side-by-side comparisons on 4 different strains. One group flowered under a 600 watt Sunpulse 3K halide, the other under a 600 watt Hortilux HPS, and have noticed differences in bud structure, but never in potency. I've done it glass in, glass out (of the reflector) and all that changed was the amount of "bolting".

It took me a long time, like 4 clone runs plus three batches of ladies grown from seed, to perfectly dial in AK-47, but when you get there, you'll be rewarded with buds the size of your bicep. Trimming, which can be a bitch with the AK due to the multitude of tiny bud leaves, gets much easier when the huge buds engulf all lesser leaves.

So just remember to train early, and flower in the biggest container you can find/fit. Also, don't put her in a big container just before flower. AK doesn't expand it's roots too much after week 3-4 of flower, pheno dependent. So if you up-pot just before switching to 12/12 she won't completely root your medium, which means (in soil) they'll be tons of excess N in the medium, and towards the end of flower it'll be really hard to water-starve as the medium isn't as well rooted. I'm currently conducting experiments on soil blends to find ways to really improve yields by using layered soil blends, where I don't mix the medium together, instead I layer them together in the new pot, more on that when I have completed my current run, around mid-April. Any-hoo - I like to up pot 10-14 days before the flip, so the soil's nutritive content is more depleted by week 2-3 of flower, and she becomes more dependent on the nutrition from my teas, which gives me more control over what she gets and when.

If there's anything else you wanted to know about my experience with AK, feel free to ask.

AK-47 is easily one of the most under-rated strains out there, bar none. I know peeps in Cali, Colorado, and Oregon who have asked me to recommend a good strain, and almost laughed at me (some actually did laugh at me) when I enthusiastically recommend AK-47.

People talk about how the formula has changed, that it's not the same, or they talk about how hard it is to find a "cherry" AK. Forget about finding some cherry AK pheno, I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but a good AK pheno, which you WILL find in a 10 pack, provided you get at least 3-5 girls, is just killer.

It smells and tastes just incredible, but the real killer is how UNIQUE she smells and tastes. Even if you like Kush (which I don't), I've never smoked a Kush with a smell or taste you loved but couldn't put into words, the AK has a smell and taste all it's own, that doesn't exist (or at least not that I've encountered) elsewhere in nature. In other words, you could only desribe it by saying it smells and tastes like Serious Seed's AK-47.

A smooth smoke with a wonderfully uplifting, motivating, get-shit-done type of high that has less come down and little effect on tolerance than any other strain I've sampled, except maybe Jack Herer, and even that's a tie at best.

I've sent samples of my AK mother to friends in 6 states, three of which have medical programs, and two foriegn countries. Every single recipient was VERY impressed.

Good luck with your grow, I'd love to see some pics!

[Claude]

Originally Posted by Crowmax

it is white russian guys not ak47
grower's thread (foaf) is here
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=240957
and more detailed here:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=236270

OUPS!!

Sorry for the mistake!!

Claude

[radom]

Thank You all for the replies.

@ etinarcadiaego ,
Thank You ! Nice plants and good information.
Last round , my 4 AK47's been legy and only 3 clones made it, out of 15. No big deal ,and was my fault.

5 days a go I topped 1 of the clones (after the 3rd node) and She doesnt really liked it. But I also transplanted her the same day, and maybe the stress was too much. Anyway , I'll top one of the seedlings as well and see the response.

Will post pics soon.

@claude,

Dont know what to say to You man. But posting wrong informartion is not really cool.
(thanks to Crowmax for the heads up)
I hope You can enlighten me with some real information on this subject.

Cheers

[Herb Tarlek]

etinarcadiaego,
I must agree with the post above. That article (basically) you just wrote on AK-47 was very well crafted, excellent writing sir. The information on the hps/mh on flowering is very useful information that can only be learned from a long term study, like yours. Again, excellent post and thanks for taking the time to write it. Oh BTW your plants are spot on correct.

[radom]

Here are the twins , both trained and not topped.
Looks like they responded well to LST.

Picture taken at week 2 of 12/12 ,is showing the canopy.
Second , sisters are both at week 3 of 12/12.
Now, its 3.5 and they are still doing well.
I'll be hitting them with some guano tomorrow night and see what happens.