Fat Banana Automatic Grow

All looking promising, as this is my first time growing absolutely anything, I'm very nervous and the stakes for me are very high! No pun intended. :)

All is doing well despite my absolute panic fearing that it's not. ;)

Everything is looking good. Very happy so far 😊

Looking all good, very happy and excited to see things get filled out a bit more :) stems are getting stronger. Preparing for some LST. Slowly increasing the amount of water per plant per day. May need to adjust the light height and distance, depending on how much they grow, soon. More detailed report, always in the photos section, for day by day progress.

As mentioned, I may've overwatered with too many nutrients. I'm still not sure what has caused the tips and further yellowing of the bottom leaves on plant FBP2. It's much worse on this one, as opposed to the others. I'm probably going to cut these leaves off. Have purchased some Neem oil to lightly foliar spray, diluted very well. Also have some seaweed liquid, and fish mix from Biobizz. I'm not using these until I see any recovery from the plants. Accidentally forgot to dechlorinate the water on FBP2 & FBP3, on the last watering of 1 litre. I've also noticed on FBP1 that one of the top leaves has started to droop. The Royal Critical is looking better, stronger, but has not grown as much foliage as the other plants. I was going to implement some LST, but I don't want to stress the plants, or worse, snap any branches, as this is my first grow, and I am just learning as I grow. My second light should be arriving tomorrow, so I'll install that to give more coverage, which they'll definitely need going into the flowering stage. Just trying now to leave them alone as best as possible, to avoid doing anymore damage! Thanks for reading my diary 😊

Plants have just flipped into flower, pistils are showing. Have given each pot 2 litres with black strap molasses and 2ml per litre of Biobizz fish mix. On second day I gave an extra 1ltr to FBP3 PH'd to 6.1. I also gave a litre of water PH'd to 6.3 with 1ml of Silicon.

Plants have gone wild. I have increased the biobizz nutrients to accommodate the flowering stage. I overwatered 2 of the plants, the leaves were puffy and droopy. I have not watered these two since. I have only watered the tallest (FBP1). This one is growing upwards rapidly, and pot was extremely light. This is the one I started the flowering nutrients on. The other plants won't be watered again for another 2-4 days, until they need it. I have defoliated the bottom leaves, and the ones showing signs of stress, brown tips etc. I have moved the plants around to maximise light exposure to all bud sites. I've also moved the light up as far as I can, as there are early light burn symptoms on the canopies. The tallest plant is still growing upwards rapidly, the lights are at 80%. The pistils are coming in properly. More bud sites are appearing and developing. Overall I'm happy with the progress in the last 2 weeks.

Plants have exploded in growth, getting extremely tall with the tallest over 100cm already. Planning to top dress with Bat guano again in the next few days. Continuing to defoliate as necessary to redirect the growth of prime bud sites. Plants are not showing signs of distress due to the defoliation. Which is good news I'm only removing a few leaves per day. Keeping the tent open and large oscillating fan on the lowest setting going throughout the day to prevent mould, as the humidity is high and it's difficult to control. The largest plant is drinking the most, understandably, so I just address the watering schedule to each individual plant. My dehumidifier is broken, so I'm currently using the dehumidifier bags which I hang on the tent pole. I will hopefully replace the dehumidifier soon, as I will definitely need to utilise it during the drying process, to prevent bud rot. There are some purple stems towards the top of some plants, which I have attributed to possible magnesium deficiency, after careful consideration of different literature. Life is getting me extremely down, as I lost my dog last Thursday. I'm trying to preoccupy myself with this project, as it's my first grow. Overall I'm pleased with the current progress. The plants are taking longer than expected, due to a prolonged vegetative period, but trying not to stress too much about it. Anyway thanks for taking the time to read this, and indulging in my emotional outlet. I appreciate it.

This week, the plants have continually grown upwards, FBP2 has actually grown past the light, which is worrying, as I can't bring the light up any further. Humidity is a big problem! It is about 92% in the daytime (with the dehumidifier going 24/7. At night, the humidity goes down to about 87%. Due to the high humidity and possibly also the addition of the Bat guano, I have had mould growing in the topsoil. Obviously, that's a huge issue! I have looked up some information to try to rectify that as best I can. I found that you can use cinnamon powder. I bought several kilos of cinnamon and added a whole covering of it to the top of the soil. I mixed it in with the soil and left it to dry out. I will not water again for another day or so as it's advised to let the top soil dry out after adding it in. I've been watering the plants with seaweed extract liquid and nothing else but Ph'd water since I added the top dress with the Ecothrive life-cycle and Vitalink Bat guano. As I don't want to overdo it with the nutrients. I have continued to defoliate as necessary, especially since the mould issue arose. I have snipped off a couple of small bud branches, as they won't get enough light exposure due to the upper canopy obscuring it. Which would just be a drain on the plants' resources. Despite the lighting and mould issues, (which are pretty serious in themselves!), the buds have continued to form, mature and grow bigger. As I mentioned last week, this being my first attempt and my assumption that autoflowers were quicker, has made me aware of how much longer this is really going to take. Which is good in a way, because I can lower my expectations and relax over it a bit, whilst I try to rectify the mould concern! Thanks for reading! 🙂

I have been continually defoliating the lower canopies, and small bud stems. I am only using plain water ph'd to 6.2-6.5. This is because I top dressed with fairly heavy nutrients last week, and it will be kicking in right now. So, I want to avoid using any fertilizer until the plants have processed the top dress to avoid nutrient overload/lockout. Bud sites on the Royal Critical and FBP2 are coming in nicely, bushy and tightly clustered. The FBP1 and FBP3 are very tall, and have grown past the light, they're looking fairly sparse. I don't know how to rectify that at this stage, so I'm just going to let them be. The plants are becoming very thirsty, so I need to keep a close eye on the watering. Hopefully we're closing in on harvest time! I'm getting impatient and it's taking longer than anticipated. I've got so much going on in life right now, so I'll be very glad to get these finished.

Plants are doing well, I have noticed some purple stems at the top of 2 plants. Accordingly, I have added Black strap molasses to up the magnesium and calcium. Unfortunately I have to move the plants into the garage, due to unforseen circumstances. Only for 1 day. However I'm super stressed as they are so close to harvest, and I'm super stressed that they will be damaged! Will update again next week, if I get there! Wish me luck!

So the plants survived without light in my garage for 2 days, thank goodness! FBP2 is the best plant by far. She had stacked lots of tight buds, orange pistils coming in nice. Nice bushy structure to her. Super happy with her progress. Royal Critical is doing great, progressed further than all the others so far, lots of orange pistils, curling inwards towards the buds, still white pistils too, so not ready obviously. Not as dense a structure as FBP2, but much better than FBP1 and FBP3, which you can see are way behind both the others. They're looking super straggly. Not sure that they'll improve much at this stage unfortunately. Still I'm pleased overall with this grow, as it's my first and I have learnt a lot about the necessity for LST, and genetics being different from plant to plant. Hopefully we'll be able to harvest the Royal Critical here soon, then FBP2. As for the other 2 plants, I guess I'll have to wait and see.

I have added some bat guano for extra phosphorus during late flowering, as well as Ecothrive life cycle, to deter pests and replenish the microbial life. I also mixed in some diatomaceous earth mixed into the top dress. I have opened the two tent doors, as the humidity is at 72%. Minimum humidity with tent open is 64%. Also my tall oscillating fan can get through to the plants more effectively. FBP1 and FBP3 are well behind FBP2. I estimate they have another 3 weeks or so. While FBP2 may be ready in approximately 10+ days. I have noticed some possible Nitrogen deficiency in FBP1 and FBP3, so I will be adding extra in this coming week. The Bat guano does not contain Nitrogen. I've continued to defoliate lightly, to expose covered bud sites that are shaded by larger fan leaves. Additionally I move the plants around to adjust light exposure accordingly. The plants are drinking heavily, and I'm not letting them dry out, to preserve the microbial life. They never have run off either. Happy with the progress especially of FBP2. Thanks for reading my diary 😊

I love this strain already! Nice philosophical thoughts, very chill high. Great for my PTSD and chronic depression (no pun intended)! 😅 was finished in just over 12 weeks. Much faster than the Fat bananas. Really happy with my first smoke of my 1st grow! Royal Critical automatic: finished in 12.2 weeks. Date harvested 6/5/24. Dried and trimmed on 14th of August 14/8/24, now curing.

The apparent potassium deficiency has got me worried about how to get some into the plants ASAP. Therefore, I have purchased some Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster, courtesy of Amazon Prime! Sadly, this seems to be of inorganic nature. However, I need to rectify the issue quickly, so this seemed the best option. Another possibility is light burn, as the plants have grown as tall as my tent! 6ft! So I have turned down the lighting to 60%. This seems quite likely as my FBP2 is considerably shorter than FBP1 and FBP3, and this plant does not have the same issues. The new dehumidifier has managed to get the RH down to around 49%. Considering it was up to 99% this week. I definitely am trying my best to avoid the dreaded bud rot! I added a large amount of Silica as the stems are decreasing in strength under the weight, so hopefully that will help. Additionally a Potassium deficiency itself can cause weaker stems, so I'm trying everything, (possibly overkill) to correct my oversights on this. All in all I've learnt many things from this 1st grow. Most importantly the necessity of LST, to prevent the plants from getting so tall, and that will avoid the light stress. The trichomes are still mostly clear through the jewellers loupe. From what I can tell as my eyesight isn't too good. It's difficult to tell milky from clear to me. 21.8.24; I just did a defoliation, I removed many more leaves today 🍃 things are getting super crowded in the 4x4, even with both tent doors open. I adjusted the plants, alternating so that each side of each plant gets correct lighting (as best I can manage)! I gave the plants each; *1ml in 1ltr of dechlorinated water, of Ecothrive Flourish. **2ml in 1ltr of dechlorinated water of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster. ****2ml in 1ltr of dechlorinated water, of Cal-Mag. My fan also broke, so I moved my lounge fan into the grow room. It's a lot more powerful, even on the lowest setting, so I tried to disperse it trying as best as possible. Thanks for reading my diary 🙂

23.08.24: I've done considerable defoliation. Also, FBP1 and FBP3 have grown all over the place. The stems are also relatively weaker as they've grown so much. (Photos above). Being as the plants were looking a bit delicate, I added some string and tied the side branches lightly to keep them a bit more compact. Additionally, FBP2 has a considerable amount of buds on the main cola. So I've added a plant stake, and I just tied string around the stake and the main stalk. The humidity has been able to stay under 53%. That's with 3 dehumidifiers. So I'm pretty sure that's about as good as it will probably be. I've had to lower the watering frequency on FBP3, as I overwatered only this plant. and also added too much Nitrogen in. As a result all the leaves are looking droopy. I'm really not sure how this will pan out, as they all still look like they're weeks away from harvest. Anyway, I'll update throughout the week. 25.8.24: I was tending to the garden a majority of the day, and realised that a branch had broken on FBP2. I acted quickly to insert plant stakes, to provide the heavily laden branches additional support. See photos above. The branch was bent or snapped, but still in one piece. I used duct tape to carefully put it back together. Before making a stake for it. Silica, apparently wasn't quite enough to get the FBP2 through the whole way. The flowers are very heavy and dense. I have also given the plants water yesterday with concentrations of the following nutrients, per plant. ● 9ltr of dechlorinated tap water with 6ml of cal-mag, 3ml of Ecothrive Flourish, 6ml of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster. I have also added cinnamon top dress after watering, as I have noticed some fungus gnats. I checked the trichomes through one of my loupes yesterday too, and nearly all are still glass like in appearance, with some cloudy here and there. I'm definitely going to have some time left on these girls. I did check the PH if my soil on all plants as I was concerned about nutrient lock out on FBP3. All pots tested out at 7.0 Ph exactly, before and after watering. Thanks for reading my diary 😊

30.8.24: The plants are still developing very slowly. I may top dress with Ecothrive Life Cycle again, as it's taking longer than expected. So they can probably benefit from that. I overwatered all plants, there was run off. I watered 2 days in a row. There weren't any visual signs that this affected the plants. I'm not going to water, until the soil is dry enough to mix in the ammendments. I'm sill using the Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster, I have noticed that FBP1 and FBP3 have gotten more sizeable since using this product. It's hard to tell on my FBP2 as the buds are already huge. I have continued to defoliate today. I also moved the plants around to maximise light exposure. The branches on FBP3 and FBP1, were looking flimsy. So I tied a few more branches with string, to keep them from breaking and taking up so much room. 1.9.24: So today I added Ecothrive Life Cycle, Diatomaceous earth, also went ahead and added the Bat guano. I watered it in with 2 Tbs of Black strap molasses in 1 ltr of water, to each plant. Each plant also got 1ltr of water with 3ml of Ecothrive Flourish. Additionally I used 2ml of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster in 1ltr of water. I've noticed that there are new pistils are growing out of the top buds. I think it may be light and or heat stress. It's up to 30°C, at some points. The humidity is pretty stable at 40-50%. I've lowered the light intensity slightly, and am now using 2 fans on low settings. To try to get the heat to lower. 2.9.24: I've decided that stakes are necessary to FBP1 and FBP3. So have made some 70" tall. I also finally got round to cleaning out the bottom of the tent. It was a mess, so I disinfected it with F10. I didn't get any anywhere near the plants. The plants top soil had dried up overnight, I'm assuming the dehumidifier has something to do with it! It is is a great piece of kit. I watered each plant with 1ltr of dechlorinated water, PH'd to 6.0. Each 1ltr had 1 ml of Ecothrive Flourish. I don't want the microbial ammendments, to dry out and ruin it. So I'm thinking about watering just once a day, only 1 ltr per 5 gallon pot. Additionally my companion plant, Rosemary has some either; webbing or Mould on it, so I took it out of the tent, and will treat soil In that pot with a neem oil drench, and see what happens. I need to repot it, my mint plant in the tent also has exploded and needs repotting. 3.9.24: I've watered again, as the water is getting drank by my dehumidifier. Couldn't live without it though! I added 3ltrs of water to each plant included was;- 3ml per litre of Ecothrive Flourish, 2ml Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster. Dechlorinated to 6.2. Still haven't managed to add the extra plant stakes yet. 4.9.24 Today all the top soil was dry, and with my dehumidifier so close, I've added another 2ltrs of water each with;- 2ml of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster 2ml of Ecothrive Flourish 2ml of cal-mag. PH'd to 6.0. Had to add additional stakes in to FBP2 (my best pheno)! As the flowers are soo heavy, it's crazy actually. I've been using 6% silica, since the beginning. I am checking the trichomes daily through the jewellers loupe. They do actually still look clear / glassy. I'm glad I did top dress this week, as it looks like we're going to be going for a long while yet. 2-4 weeks. Ps. If I've made mistakes in this update, I'm 9/10 faded on my Royal Critical. 😅 5.9.24 I watered with 2 ltrs of water per plant PH'd to 6.0. For each litre, I added 1ml of Ecothrive Flourish and 2ml of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster. I accidentally bent a branch on FBP3. I have taped it together tightly with duct tape. I also added more stakes to FBP2 as the flowers are getting super heavy, which is an awesome thing, as I was prepared for staking, and tying. Can't wait to taste these when they're ready to harvest! 🤤 Ps. I'm thinking of making up a new 5 or 10 gallon pot with a super-soil mix, I did that for this run, but now I know more about ammendments, hopefully it will be better this time. I'm going to leave the soil mix as per the instructions to cook / dry, before planting this time. Will update again 🙂

7.9.24 I had to some major jungle patrol! Everything is going crazy! I was adjusting the plants around to maximise light exposure. One branch bent. FBP1, the branches are getting heavier. I had to add my last 2 stakes. I used duct tape and some imagination, tying with string, for the rest of it, too. I'm not going to be able to move them again, so tick, toc ladies! I added 3ltrs of dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.2, containing the following nutrients:- ♡1ml per litre of Ecothrive Flourish ♡2ml per litre of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster. ♡2ml per litre of cal-mag. After watering each pot with 3 litres in each, with the above nutrients. FBP3. She has again spilled out, run off. I might have mixed my soil, and used less perlight or coco. I've overwatered that plant twice now, fairly recently I'll only give her 2 litres in future. Continuing to give the others 3 litres. I've continued to defoliate. The leaf in the photo was the only one and it was like halfway up the plant. Not sure what it was, so if you know, tell me in a comment please! 8.9.24 Have not needed to adjust any ties. I watered each plant with 1ltr of dechlorinated water, PH'd to 6.2. With the following nutrients. ♡1ml of Ecothrive Flourish ♡2ml of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster ♡2ml of cal-mag I don't want to overwater, I also need to not let the soil dry enough to kill the microbes. I'll keep an eye on it, and adjust it as necessary. 8.9.24 I had to adjust ties and support for several branches. The fruits are getting heavier. I really hope they get done before anything breaks under the weight. I keep checking the trichomes daily through the jewellers loupe, each plant, and different bud sites. 9.9.24 Dijons birthday 💔 Ok, today another branch on FBP1, Branch wasn't snapped open, just fell under the weight. I tied it back up. I have some potash, which arrived today. I was going to top dress, however I've decided to cut all nutes now. I'm just watering with dechlorinated water PH'd to 5.8-6.0. "Final flush". I will continue this for next watering or so, then switch to straight RO water. Also I'm slowly lowering the temperature of the water, to about 70°F. When I see any amber, I will throw into the dark period for 48h. 10.9.24 After having my last question answered, I have decided to go ahead and call it a day on this grow. The plants had a final watering last night, with regular dechlorinated tap water PH'd to 6.0. This evening I have put all equipment inside the tent, like the dehumidifier, tower fan. I have split the stems, I mean why not? 😅 I will leave in the dark period for 48h then chop the whole grow, to dry together in the tent. FBP2 I am satisfied with the readiness. FBP1 and FBP3, are mostly glassy still but they need to come down too. I need to get it done and dried, if it's not the best smoke, it's my fault for being incompetent due to inexperience. I just don't want to risk messing up my FBP2, due to waiting on the others. So it is what it is I guess. We'll have to wait and see. This was quite possibly the worst time imaginable to do this run. I've had so much personal tragedy and upheaval, (of course we never know when these things will strike); combined with the unexpected conditions, including temperature and humidity throughout the grow. This being my FIRST grow of any plant at all, and these being autoflowers was particularly stressful. Fingers crossed that it works out in the end. All I'm concerned about now is drying in the closed conditions of the tent environment, and avoiding mould issues. The finish line is in sight. I'm so glad, now I can get back to my life. Will update, when I harvest! 🙂

So I ended up leaving all plants in the dark tent, with tent mostly closed. I kept all plants in the dark for 15 days. Life just got a bit crazy, so I took a bit longer than anticipated. The plants dried in the pots. Didn't need to hang, which was fantastic! Trimming was much easier! I actually found it to be a little relaxing. I don't weigh wet. There's no point. The dry weight totalled 9oz. Over 1/2 a pound. That was the weight of all plants combined. So 4 in total. The Royal Critical automatic Didn't end up yielding much, as I probably chopped her a little too soon. FBP2 dry weight was 3.4 oz FBP1 dry weight was 3.1oz FBP3 dry weight was 2 oz Royal Critical dry weight was 17g (just over 1/2 an oz). All are curing well with Boveda humidity packs. 57% and 62%. My prized pheno is mostly in my 2 litre C vault. The others are all in jars. Popping all the lids, several times a day. It's pretty good product, my friends like it. I'm planning on running some indica dominant strains next, as that's more what my personal needs are. I'll have to look through the seeds I bought, and the specs.