[anthony6969]

AM new to all this, just ordered some ak 48 seeds and was wondering if these will be ok for a beginner

[Indie]

Yes.... they stay short and are easy to care for. be carefull of the smell, they have some stinky phenos.

[anthony6969]

thanx man. does any one no a good site to buy a cheap 150 hps from. am gunna use energy savin cfl's for veg then put them under the 150 hps lamp for flower, would this be ok

[Indie]

It sounds just fine, but can\'t help you with where to order from. I have always stayed away from buying grow equipment online. I veged for years with cfl\'s and my first time flowering was with cfl\'s. Then I got wise to the HID lighting. Good luck to ya!

[hererisssh]

Originally Posted by anthony6969

150 hps lamp for flower, would this be ok

This always comes down to expectations. A 150 hps will flower the plant out and produce a better yield of more dense buds than a comparable wattage of fluorescents. I really see 400 watts as the ideal starter lamp. Not a lot of heat to deal with and the yield will be great for most personal smokers. A 400 watt lamp will last you a long time. Most people tend to buy a small 150 or 250 only to realize they wish they had bought at least a 400 pretty soon after.

I get about 1 1/2 to 3 oz per plant in soil under a 400, I also have a 4 bulb t8 fluoro setup (uses approx 144 watts) that I recently flowered some test plants under and yielded about 1/4 per plant. HPS should do better than that but still the results speak for themselves. 400 watt will do a 3ftX3ft space perfectly.

[anthony6969]

i dont really understand the electrical side of thing but does a 400 wat hps use the same electricity as 4 100w normal light bulbs

[theherbalizor]

Depending on the ballast manufacturer, it will use between 430 - 500w.

[anthony6969]

has anytone on here grown ak 48 any tips would be much appriciated, also whats the smoke like and how much bud can be expected off each plant

[maturesmoker]

Originally Posted by anthony6969

has anytone on here grown ak 48 any tips would be much appriciated, also whats the smoke like and how much bud can be expected off each plant

I grew Nirvana AK48 for about a year. Very nice stuff. Some variation in the pack, tall, short etc but all produced nice buds. Easy to root cuttings too I found. I'd say for a first grow AK48 is good, not fussy strain, just water well and feed once a week in soil, dont overdo it. Yield is up to grow method etc of course BUT you can expect a good solid dry OZ from a small plant vegged for 3/4 weeks..... veg longer/ LST/ scrog etc will push this yield up of course, I'm just trying to give you a rough guide. Most will finish in 9 weeks or slightly less!

Use good quality soil, garden centres sell quality organic soils for a fiver for 50litres and that would do fine for a first grow. Mix in some perlite (about £4 a bag). Try to use reasonable sized pots, 7 to 10litres . AK48 is a strong smelling strain as said above already. I like the hit.

Electricity usage: As the wise man said "watts is watts"! so yes, think in terms of household lightbulbs, 4 to5 x 100watt bulbs.......... my 600watt HPS/fans etc costs less than £1 a day to run on 12/12. I'd go for the 400watt as suggested, little difference in cost, big difference in output.

Good luck if you need any help on the way I'm sure you will get good advice here. I'll try to find a couple of pics.

Hope this helps you.

[anthony6969]

thanx sounds good