Grow 2 - Fast Buds - Banana Purple Punch - Organic

During week 2, the old saying holds true - Just Add Water. Watering a small amount in the morning just around the stem and only needed every other day really. Using a spray bottle in the morning too - a few squirts for good measure. Flipped the plants over to the veg light settings mid way through the week, and just have been watering. With the living soil mix I put together I don’t plan on feeding until the end of the 3rd week. Using a humidifier to keep RH around 65% all day and a space heater to kick on at night to keep temps above 68* Everything looking great so far. Will increase water during week 3 as plants get wider and roots expand.

Similar to last week, just added water. Started LST on the main stem. Drinking water more than before. About doubled the water given in the morning. Plant is growing much wider but not a lot taller. Big leaves forming. Feel like I will see lots of changes in this upcoming week.

Plants are looking great. Water intake is up so giving a good amount of water each morning. Gave first round of nutes at the end of week 4. Used 4 tablespoons of all purpose Down to Earth, plus 1 cup of earthworm castings to each pot. Stretching a lot now. Each day is noticeable growth. I will switch to Veg setting for lights shortly, as I am starting to see pistil hairs. Goal for week 5 is some light defoliation around the base of the plant and ‘just add water’. Need to continue raising lights above plants as they grow too.

At the start of week 5 I have switched the light settings to Flower, did some light defoliation to the base of each plant, and increased water amount. Plants seem to be doing great. I have been raising the distance of the lights each morning as the plant is stretching quite a bit now each day. Night time temps are dropping a bit more than I want, and will need to kick on the automated heater a little earlier, but plants don’t show any signs of caring that it’s a little cooler at night. Goals for week 6 - leaf tucking to give but sites more light exposure and defoliation near bottom of plant. From prior grow, I know the lowest bud sites won’t amount to much, so I’ll pick those off and not worry about it.

Plants are looking great. Just watering currently - increased amount of water being used by plant. Also watering the base of the grow bag / letting water get to the lower roots. Something new I didn’t do during my last grow but made sense to me after reading some other growers have done this. I also have been removing a couple fan leaves from time to time that are blocking bud sites and have cleaned up (lollipop) the base of the plant. Only thing I have noticed is that one seed has more purple color than the other, and the size of that plant is taller. Both look great though and buds are forming nicely. Next week will likely give the plant its Gia Green Power Bloom organic nutes, and then let it ride until harvest just adding water.

This week was just adding water and plucked off a few leaves that were covering bud sites. At beginning of week I gave nutrients likely for the last time of the grow. 1 cup worm castings and 4 Tbsp of Gaia Green power bloom per plant. May have been a little early on the nutes but wanted to be sure they had enough for the rest of the grow without giving nutes too late in the grow.

This week was a just add water week. I also did some light defoliation around the plants. Scent is very good - you get a very fruity scent. When compared to the last grow I did (Gorilla Glue #4) this is much heavier on the fruit scent. Gorilla Glue had an extremely potent scent in the house, this plant isn’t quite as strong in the house, but in the grow room it smells great. I’d recommend this plant over Gorilla Glue if you are trying to prevent such a potent scent in your home. Some leaves have started to show signs that we are nearing the end of flower, but hard to tell if it’s another 1-3 weeks, as I haven’t grown this strain before. Water intake maybe is slightly less that the last few weeks.

Just adding water until harvest. I decreased the humidity (55%) and air temp (70-75f) slightly to firm up the buds a bit. Something I have heard about but never tried. Buds seem pretty compact already, but trying something new. Looks like this strain can handle some slightly lower temps also. Started checking trichomes and looks like it may be a bit, all cloudy, no amber - but didn’t expect to see any amber yet.

This week I just added water and did some defoliation of leaves that were starting to show signs that their last nutrients were being used up (browning and curling up). From my last grow I know this means we are getting close to harvest - my guess is within the next week my post may be about harvesting, but I won’t rush it. I can also tell we are close as some of the stems are starting to have trouble holding the buds up. Trichomes are clearly still cloudy on both plants but in the last couple of days I’ve started to see some amber in the trichomes in different areas too. Cleaned the plants up real good with defoliation and will see where we are later this week.

Keeping them watered and checking trichomes. Goal is to harvest them when I see signs of amber trichomes. Currently looks like most have turned cloudy but no real signs amber except on some fan leaves/sugar leaves. Scent is super fruity and packs a punch when going into the tent. I’ve been moving air out of a side window, and if the window is closed you can smell them when you walk in the front door. Mailman probably thinks I have an Amazon rainforest in my basement. Buds feel thick and juicy. Excited to see how they turn out.

Harvest! After checking trichomes for a couple weeks I saw what I was looking for and cut my plants. I will hang dry them for at least a week until the stems ‘snap’ when I bend them. Removed most extra stuff from the tent (lights, ties, etc.) and will keep the temp between 55-65 and humidity between 45-60%, while trying to avoid direct light. Once ready, will have a trimming party and jar the buds up for the curing phase.

Total Harvest - 271 grams. 133 from Purple plant and 138 from non purple plant. Weight taken after 1 week of curing in jars. After harvest, I hung both plants upside down in the grow tent for 2 weeks until the stems made the ‘snap’ sound when bent. Tent was kept at 60 degrees and 53 RH. I trimmed everything over the course of a few days and jarred up. Once jarred l, I added a Boveda 62 RH pack to each along with a small hygrometer. I have read mixed opinions on adding a Boveda right away, but compared to a jar I left one out, it’s much easier to manage RH and I believe the scent/buds are curing just fine. For the first week I burped each jar 2x per day. For second week in jar, I switched to burp every other day. You can tell the scent is really developing and nugs seem to be nice and dense (less dense for nugs near bottom of plant). Overall I really enjoyed this strain and this grow. I will run this grow again. The only thing I would do differently is clean up the bottoms of the plants more. The buds that grew in the bottom 1/3 ended up a bit more ‘fluffy’ and not as developed. I maybe would have lost 10 grams total, but more energy could have gone elsewhere (plant energy and trimming energy). Hope you enjoyed the diary. DM with any questions on this grow, I’d be happy to answer anything.