Banana Purple Punch Autoflower

March 15, 2024 Day 29 I didn't end up doing a lot today. I watered in a full liter of the new nutrient regimen per plant. They seem to have taken well to it. No signs of stress yet. Took some pictures and measured the plants. I forgot to measure the light distance, which I will do at some point today. I also didn't activate the bottom feed system today. I'll do that tomorrow morning. I wanted to see if there was any stress. Nothing, so tomorrow it is. So over the last week, I had to start training and the plants grew a good 5" through the week. They are about 8" tall now, after the training, which I might add went swimmingly. The side branches took off immediately and I'll be tying those down in the next day or 2. They are both a lush green color with Banana Purple Punch B being super tight. It will definitely need a defoliation. Banana Purple Punch A is really different in stature. Not so compact, but the same leaf structure. So far I'm happy with this run. The environment is still doing quite well. I will keep the temps around 77° and the humidity down a bit lower to around 55%, if I can get it there. I'll update lighting tomorrow. Currently the PAR is 550 ppfd. However, they aren't out of veg yet. I may keep the lights as they are for the time being. Maybe til the middle of the week and then I'll increase the DLI to around 40 mol/m²/d for the rest of the week. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.7° RH: 60.9% VPD: 1.08 kPa March 16, 2024 Today was a busy day. Finished up everything I didn't do yesterday. Both plants got their bottom feed system activated. The roots aren't quite out far enough, but that should t be a problem. The containers should start absorbing through the wicks in no time. Then the concentration of water will be on the bottom half bringing the roots all the way down and spread out. It should be quite successful. They also got fully trained. All taller branches tied down. The tops were readjusted a smidge. But the main branches were tied down. Banana Purple Punch B is still really bushy and compact. Training helped quite a bit, but there still massive leaves and short nodes. Banana Purple Punch A is perfect. She has beautiful internodal spacing that helped keep the canopy opened and ready to fill in. Her leaves are massive, but were easily moved around. Both plants have beautiful colors and are the same height. So far so good. Let's hope I can keep up through the stretch. The lighting is staying the same for now. The distance is now 24" and the PAR is 600 ppfd. I may peek at 80% power today to see what the reading is. If it's around 650, I'll keep it there. If higher, I'll drop it back down. Then I'll increase it next week. Next week should be pre-flower or at some point this week. The environment is also good. It's been a bit cold the past couple of days, so the temp is hovering around 75° instead of 77° and the humidity is a little high at 61%. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.3° RH: 59.9% VPD: 1.09 kPa March 17, 2024 Not much to do today. The bottom feeding systems are running perfectly. The soil moisture level is now at 30% and that's where I'm keeping it for now. I made 2 training adjustments today on Banana Purple Punch A just a couple branches pulled back down. However, Banana Purple Punch B is too bushy already. I'm going to have to defoliate in a couple days I think. Also, the main top tie down was useless. The plant just grew more and completely knocked off the tie down. I can't do it again for now. Not until there's a bit of stretch. However, the side branches I pulled down are looking good, but still super dense. I'll most likely cut the main stalk fan leaves off. That should do the trick. The light was raised 2" today. Hopefully it helps with praying. There isn't any and I'm wondering if the light needs to be brighter. It's kind of counterintuitive, but if the lack of light doesn't induce praying, then maybe it's not bright enough. The sweet spot needs to be somewhere for this strain. I'll figure it out. Other than that, some pictures today and monitoring the water intake. Update: I decided to increase the power to 80%. That should help with the temp and humidity. The DLI is 41.5 mol/m²/d. This should be perfect for this stage in the grow. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.0° RH: 59.2% VPD: 1.14 kPa March 18, 2024 Looking great today! The bottom feed systems are fully active and the soil moisture is at 36% throughout. It's a tiny bit wetter on the bottom where the feed system is, but nothing crazy. There's about a half gallon left from the initial activation. That should last the rest of the week. Then I can add new water and nutes. Because this is a bottom feed system and the soil is more like coco coir, I will have to run a constant feeding regimen. Maybe every few waterings I'll run a half gallon of plain PHed water to 6.0. everything else with watering is fantastic. I couldn't ask for a better outcome with the startup. The ending result is a nice crust on the top soil to help lock moisture in and prevent bugs from laying eggs. Both ladies got a full training adjustment. As well as a few branches that finally got long enough to tie down. Banana Purple Punch A is looking great! The main top is doubled over like a horseshoe. But no breaks or anything. Banana Purple Punch B is also looking great. Super lunch full leaves. Still extremely short nodes, but I can deal with that in a week or so when I defoliate. These two plants are very different. Definitely different phenomes where Banana Purple Punch A is more on the hybrid side while Banana Purple Punch B is definitely a solid indica. We'll see what happens in the end. I feel I'm going to have to train Banana Purple Punch B differently. The top won't stay down, so I'm either going to top it or just defoliate and tie down the branches for light and air circulation. Hopefully because of her tight stature, she won't stretch past the other plants in the tent and the canopy stays level. We shall see. Lighting is spot on with the plants praying slightly. I guess my theory made sense. It's not the lack of light that causes praying, not too much light. I now understand the "sweet spot". I'll have to ensure it stays in the sweet spot for the rest of the grow. It should with my lighting schedule. The environment is finally adjusting back to normal, with the temp being around 76° and the humidity at 56%. Nothing to complain about here. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.8° RH: 59.8 VPD: 1.16 kPa March 19, 2024 Not much going on today. I did some minor adjustments to the plants tied downs. Rotated them slightly for a better fit in the tent. I also separated the basins and now they are in their own quadrants. No sense in watering today. The basins are still about 1/4 full. They will definitely need to be refilled in a couple days. Perfect timing. The plants themselves are looking great. Banana Purple Punch A has a bit of nitrogen toxicity. I'll have to drop the nutrients down next refill a bit. Maybe 10 ml instead of 12 ml. Banana Purple Punch B is still super bushy and tight. I might have to top her if she takes off and starts getting taller than the other plants in the canopy. I did make adjustments to the tie downs and pulled two top branches down. The plant is seriously compact, but the same size as her sister plant. When she takes off, I will be expecting a robust and strong plant. Also, I'd like to mention the stem is super thick on both plants, especially with Banana Purple Punch B. Very promising for a heavy yield. So based on my last run, if everything goes as it's going currently, I should expect 36" plants. At that size and the density this strain has, I may be expecting a good 9 oz from each plant. Unless I can get slightly bigger plants, then maybe 12 oz. Who knows. My last grow had one plant yield 21.5 oz. This run is better so far in every aspect. No accidents with topping or light issues, or environmental factors. Feeding has been really good. With the current exception having a slight nitrogen toxicity, which I will fix ASAP. Lighting is looking great! I may have to raise it an inch or so later today, if not tomorrow. I'll leave it at this power level for the next couple weeks until we are in full swing flower, then I'll increase the power again and adjust accordingly. I may not even get to 100% power. Wouldn't that be nice. The environment is looking really good. The temp is around 76° and the humidity is at a solid 57% during the day. Maybe even perfect for this week in the grow. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.8° RH: 56.5% VPD: 1.21 kPa March 20, 2024 Today was a bit busy. So far I tied down some new branches that were finally long enough to tie down. Only on Banana Purple Punch A. She needed adjustments for the whole plant. Very happy with the growth so far. Banana Purple Punch B had her branches adjusted, but now I'm really concerned with her taking off and getting taller than the rest of the canopy. I'm thinking she needs to be topped. Just in case. I may ask a question and see what the community thinks. Roots aren't showing totally yet, so I can only imagine what the root balls look like. Maybe they will get big, following big plants. Banana Purple Punch B hasn't shown any roots yet, but I expect roots to pop out any day now. We aren't in pre-flower yet, so there's still plenty of room to grow and plenty of time for me to shape my ladies. So far, the way things are going promises a bountiful yield and a full tent. The reservoirs are nearly empty. Banana Purple Punch A is actually at the bottom and just about dried up. This time around, I can let the basins dry out. In regards to nutrients, funnily enough, Banana Purple Punch A has nitrogen toxicity. It's definitely from the huge boost in nutrients. I'll drop the nutes back down to around 8 ml instead of 12 ml. This next watering will have to be with Cal/Mag. Just to get rid of the toxicity. Then back to 8 ml of base nutrients. As for lighting, I raised the light an inch to keep it at 24" from the canopy. The PAR is around 625 ppfd. I don't need to increase the power level yet, but soon I think. The environment is back to being spot on. The temp is back around 76° to 77° and the humidity is hovering around 56%. The VPD is right where it needs to be. I'm quite happy. Update: I decided to try tying down the top of Banana Purple Punch B one last time. If it doesn't take and it's standing straight up tomorrow, I'll have to top her. It should take this time. The bend is a perfect 90 degree angle. And this time I made sure to secure the tie straight down and tied it to a side branch. The side branches are super thick, so it will definitely hold. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.7° RH: 56.6% VPD: 1.20 kPa March 21, 2024 Not much going on today. Both basins were refilled today with 10 ml instead of 12 ml. I probably should have run the plain water as I originally thought, but then I don't want to lose out on precious nutrients. The nitrogen toxicity should go away. Hell, it might even go away when the plant gets bigger. Speaking of getting bigger, they are taking off now. Banana Purple Punch A is kind of a tangled mess. It's beautiful. Great color huge leaves. Some 7 finger leaves coming out. The training is working quite well with the side branches sticking out past the boundaries of the container by a good few inches all around. Banana Purple Punch B is the most well rounded plant in shape and structure. The top tie down took swimmingly. A perfect 90° bend. Each branch has its own space. Because the plants is so compact, this was the only way I could train her. The difference is that I like to tie down the whole plant at first. This plant was a no go, so it has quite a uniform shape going on. Still it's different. So the plant will turn out different than her sister plant. The light needed to be raised a half inches today. Just to get that DLI at 40 mol/m²/d. Tomorrow I'll probably increase the power to 90%. The goal is to bring the DLI to 42 mol/m²/d and gradually let the plants grow into a DLI of 45 mol/m²/d. I will try to keep the light at 24" for the whole grow. As I said weeks ago, I'll go as low as 22", but any lower than that and my footprint gets too small. I may have to increase the power to 100% in 2 weeks. And keep the light at 24" or higher. Unless of course I run out of height space, then I have to remove the exhaust fan and left the light to the ceiling of the tent.etd hope it doesn't get to that point. Plants that tall are really difficult to manage in a 3x3 tent. The environment. The effing environment. It's freezing today. Around 21° f. My room has trouble getting over 72° in turn the temp of the tent is suffering at 74°. However, the humidity is still great at 56% to 57% all day. Sometimes it pops up to 58%, but that will change when it gets warmer and I can get my heater to work properly. I like to keep the bedroom at 74° during the day, so the tent hovers around 76° to 77°. Hopefully it will fix in a day or two. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.0° RH: 56.3% VPD: 1.18 kPa