I have a AK-48 plant that was (is) beautiful. She's tall, bushy, and strong. But inso week five now and she has the buds of at 3 week old. Here's my setup: 600 wt. HPS (she's in with 2 others now so she is crowded but still maintains mosts of the space) Nutes: Was raised on Marine Cuisine, and Bat Guano In bud: Bat Guano and I think I screwed the pooch when I gave her Kelp meal. She also has had temp issue. My hot blood made me drop in house temps to the high 50's. And she grew so much that she got too close to the lights and had a minnor burn. I hand water @ 5.8. Never below 5.6 and never above 5.8. Never Now I also screwed up by cutting off CalMag when she first went to bud but have resumed since. See I've screwed up in small amounts often. Now can hit her with more Guano and get more bang? She's in a 3 gallon bagand has only had 2 TBS. the first week and 1TBS the 4th week. The only pics I have are with the lights on which of course throws off the color but I'll post those and try to get more tomorrow. The only signs of deficiency I see are nitrogen which I would expect.
When did you start counting?. When the light was changed or, when you seen the first sign of flowering. If it were at the light change your about ten days off on your count. AK can finish as early as 48 days under optimal conditions. If your three weeks in it may take longer, like 8 weeks. The last two weeks the colas will just about double in size. Another possibility is they need more phosphorus. I know your watering at the right ph, but you might want to check your runoff ph and adjust. Phosphorus gets locked out in hydro below 5.0 and above 6.0. Could very well have been a phosphorus burn and not nitrogen burn. They look pretty good so, you may be alright....
Thanks. Did start counting at 12/12 and have always gone what I called 10 weeks in peat so there ya go. Spot on as the Brits say. I'll check that run off. In aluminum pans so have to draw it off first. Messes with ph, ppm, and ec She's as big as an outdoor grow but I just keep thinking those buds should be bigger.
Guano must be broken down by microbes to make the molecules available for uptake. Without supplementing with myco/tricho/benie bacteria you're just spinning your wheels with the organic supplements. A nitrogen fixing bacteria is probably all your system really needs. With the white balance and the HPS on it's impossible to get a realistic diagnosis of your plants. When you take pictures, either do it when the lights are off or adjust the white balance on your camera to compensate for the lack of blue/green light for a more realistic depiction of the color of the leaves. My recommendation is to give your plants more structure and stability in their lives, like you would with children. Temperature fluctuations and nutrient fluctuations are setting them back. Hold steady and stick to your guns. Don't do anything drastic. Just fix up out your rhizosphere with some good microbes and keep things balanced.