AK-47 Strain Profile: Origins, Awards, Buds and How It Behaves Outdoors

AK-47 is an F1 hybrid from Dutch seed bank Serious Seeds, created in 1992. Its exact lineage is still a mystery to fans, but breeder and owner Simon has shared that it's roughly a 65:35 sativa/indica hybrid with Colombian, Mexican, Thai and Afghan ancestry. Expect a strong, steady cerebral high, skunky-citrus buds loaded with resin and a lot of vigor in the grow.

Serious Seeds sells AK-47 in both regular and feminized versions. According to the breeder, AK-47 buds have a strong, fruity aroma that plenty of people love, along with a potent, long-lasting high.

AK-47 made its name worldwide by winning 16 cannabis awards, including first place for hash at the 2005 Highlife Cup in Barcelona, first place for sativa at the 2011 Treating Yourself Expo in Toronto and third place for hybrid at the 2011 High Times Cannabis Cup.

AK-47 Plant Characteristics

It's a sativa-leaning plant that takes roughly 75 to 80 days to fully finish flowering indoors. As it grows, you see its vigor right away: it stretches day by day and puts out long, flexible branches. Its main stem keeps getting tougher, so it can easily handle the full weight of the plant. When flowering kicks in, you won't have to worry about branches drooping, because the buds won't faze it.

The wild thing about AK-47 is how early the resin shows up once it starts flowering. Even when there are only a few pistils clustered at the tips, the smell can already be intense, sharp and unmistakable. By around day 30 of flower, you'll walk into your grow and smell the potency of your future harvest hanging in the air.

Switching the Light Schedule on AK-47

When you flip the light schedule, the plant takes a little longer than usual to start flowering. That's especially true if you're running a SCROG (screen of green, where you weave the canopy through a net), so stay on top of it if you don't want plants that outgrow your space and a canopy that gets too crowded.

If you grow it as-is, without training, flip to 12/12 early, at around 15 days of veg, if you don't want it shooting all the way up into the light in your grow tent.

What Do AK-47 Buds Look and Smell Like?

AK-47 produces dark, juicy, compact buds with an intense, spicy, skunky aroma. The cool part is the layer of pine, sandalwood and citrus notes that'll blow your mind. Smoked, it brings a punchy, refreshing citrus flavor with a skunky aftertaste.

By the end of flowering you'll have fat buds packed with resin. Even the bigger leaves end up totally frosted with trichomes and loaded with THC, very psychoactive and cerebral, for anyone who wants a high that can rattle your head with just a few hits.

What Are the Effects of AK-47?

The effect of this strain is powerful, but in a relaxed, pleasant way. AK-47 delivers a steady, long-lasting head high that keeps you alert and absorbed in whatever you're doing, usually something creative or social. The result is a genuinely balanced high that can relax and recharge you at the same time.

That's why many patients report it helps with anxiety, low mood, chronic pain and stress. There's a reason AK-47 is known as a "one-hit wonder." And as the name suggests, it can be very potent, so if you're less experienced, take it slow the first time you try it.

How Does AK-47 Grow Outdoors?

Grow AK-47 from seed outdoors and you'll really see what this plant is made of. At first it seems slow, for the first 20 to 25 days, but one day it suddenly takes off and doesn't stop. In a single season it can easily reach 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) without much effort on your part.

It starts out with broad leaves, but as it matures they get narrower and its sativa side comes through. During flowering it makes its genetics obvious, and by the end of the grow its buds tend to be on the airy side.

Picture a big fir tree, except this one has dense buds running along practically the whole length of every branch, top to bottom. The main cola stands out a bit from the branch tips and ends up the most productive, whether you top it to make the most of the side branches or leave it alone.

Outdoor Heads-Up

If you're aiming for a low-key grow, watch out: outdoor AK-47 is very smelly, so think carefully about where you put it so it blends in. And if you don't want a monster plant, planting out late, around late May in the Northern Hemisphere (November in the Southern Hemisphere), is a classic move for keeping sativas from turning into giants.

Once you grow it, you'll see it was one of your best calls: even with little or no experience, you can pull potent, heavy plants without breaking a sweat.