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For the first time, I've tried putting the seed directly in the soil for germination. I've watered the soil carefully, but a clear plastic cup (aka the moisture dome) over it and waited. Only for 3 days though.
The True Leaves show some deformation on the tips. Also the tiny triploid leaves have a red discoloration. Hopefully both will turn out to be benign.
I started adding a low dose of CalMag and a recommended amount of "Schachtelhalm Extrakt", which translates to horesetail extract in english, for some silica, to benefit nutrient uptake and to strengthen the cell walls.
Growing well, so far. The added silica shows its effect - the stem is absolutely massive and solid, don't think LST is an option. I want to do either Topping or FIMing, but am not sure yet, which one. The decision will be shown in the pictures that I'll add, once the procedure is done.
UPDATE: I decided to top Banana Kush Auto, as seen in the added photos and video.
She's a bit slow in recovering from the topping. I don't mind her taking the time she needs, though. Decided to wait for her to recover more, before trimming a few lower fan leaves that seem in the way for LST.
Some new leaves show clawing, maybe from too much water? Or wind? I've adjusted the fan so it doesn't affect the plant directly.
Light distance is increased to help her stretch more to the light and grow bigger internodes.
UPDATE: Still clawing on new leaves, but other than that, she seems to recover well from the stress of topping.
I still worry about her a bit. Her internodals are getting longer, but not by much, she's growing, but not that much. She's growing plenty new leaves, but they are clawing, despite extra careful watering, adequate lighting and careful placement of the oscillating fan. It's probably not genetic, but I'm not sure what it could be.
She reacts well to LSTing, with lots of growth on the side branches.
She's growing, still too small and with slight clawing on the leaf tips, but I think I've figured out why.
The plant is growing in a fabric pot, that I used for an older grow. In that grow, the pot was standing on a metal grid, that wasn't treated and developed rust from the water - after that grow, I've cleaned the pots, even put them in the washing machine, but there's still little rust spots at the bottom. I thought the few little spots won't do any harm, but maybe I was wrong about that. From what I've read, rust is not good for plants and will stunt their growth, like in this case.
Lesson learned - Banana Kush Auto will finish this grow as good as she can, given the circumstances and I will tend to her as best as I can. After this grow, I'll discard the contaminated pots and start fresh.
She's doing pretty alright. She went into stretch as well and starts to look a little better, taller with slightly more internodal space. The aerobic compost tea I fed her last week seems to have good effects on her growth and development.
Overall she's still rather small, though.
My theory about the rust being the root cause (pun intended) for the stunted growth got confirmed and explained by ChatGPT. Take it with a grain of salt, since I'm not sure if this is absolutely accurate. But it makes sense in this context:
"The clawing leaves and short internode spacing are typical signs of root pressure or a blockage in nutrient uptake, which could be exacerbated by the rust residues in the pot. Even though the plant appears healthy overall, this stress can hinder early growth and lead to slower development during the flowering phase.
Roots in contact with rusted areas might struggle to absorb nutrients properly, which could limit the plant's overall growth. The short internodes also suggest that the plant is trying to cope with stress, possibly due to reduced uptake of phosphorus or other essential minerals."
-ChatGPT-
She's reaching the end of her stretch - despite having finally gained some height, she's still rather small. Besides that, though, she looks fantastic and overall really happy and healthy.
She's gained quite some height, although still a bit on the shorter side. She also liked the Schachtelhalmextrakt Foliar Spray, to provide some silica to the leaves right when flowering started.
Just removed few leaves and branches from the very bottom of the plant, the ones that looked too small and weak, but besides that, I just let her grow.
She's looking wonderful now. Her Buds grow into these really thick, chunky Pompoms, trichome production is ramping up and her leafs have this nice dark-ish shade of green.
I fed her some aerated compost tea two days ago. So far, she seems to react really nice to that.
What I'm not sure about (are they okay, or could they be improved?):
Her leafs are looking rather matte.
Her Sugar Leafs are relatively small and thin.
It's just in direct comparison. Fat Monkey Auto next to her has these cool shiny dark leafs and pretty big and broad sugar leafs. That's the only reason why I'm wondering.
She's a joy to look at! She looks very healthy, responds pretty well to water and nutrients, and seems to enjoy the grow environment. Her buds grew quite a bit in size, and produce this nice sweet smell, even though the trichomes still seem rather small - there's many of them, but they're kinda on the smaller side. But she still has time to mature.
I got a new microscope, just in time - there's already a bunch of amber trichomes, she's almost ready to harvest.
That was a fun grow, and I already miss having this beautiful plant around.
I was a bit surprised about the relative early end, but her trichomes were ready. I attribute her quick ripening process to the fact that there were a few little rust spots at the bottom of the fabric pot, that caused a constant mild stress on the roots, so the plant "hurried up" to get her buds ready fast. But despite that and her slower vegetation phase, she grew really nicely and with vigour. Her buds look nice and thick, she smells delicious and I'm happy to be able to taste her buds in a bit, and that I still have another seed of that cultivar, so I can grow her again soon.
The end came surprisingly fast in the end - I had to move quick. I had to improvise a drying solution, since I only have a small grow room and not much space, since Fat Monkey Auto still takes some time to mature. A little grow chamber made of foam board, with a PC fan added for some air flow.
Can't wait to trim her and let her cure before entering the next phase.
Ja, sie sieht gut aus, gesund und so, nur ist sie vergleichsweise klein - 15cm kleiner als Fat Monkey Auto. Sie erinnert mich in der Entwicklung sehr an Yuhbary Auto, aus meinem letzten Grow - die sah sehr gut aus, die Buds waren super frostig, aber sie war insgesamt sehr klein und hatte einen eher geringen Ertrag gebracht.
Ich lasse mich aber gerne von der Pflanze überraschen und eines besseren belehren 😉
Thank you, @Irati_Anesia,
That is pretty fast, right? It's my first time directly in soil, and I was genuinely surprised how much faster the seeds germinated, compared to my old method.
Aircoholic
