Fat Banana

Week 1 Veg 🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌 THE FAT BANANA HAS LANDED! I'm growing this girl on behalf of Royal Queen Seeds 🦁 thanks again guys ✌️👍 This is one of the two brand new strains by RQS. The Purple Queen will soon be popped too, but the people of IG voted for this girl to be first in The Fox's Den 🐺 She was popped in a wet paper towel, which was folded and placed in an open plastic bag and put in a dark drawer. Once she popped a nice hairy tail she was transplanted into a cup and sprayed with 5.8pH tap water. Once she was in the cup, her germination bag was used to cover the top of the cup, acting as a humidity dome for her first full day above the coco. It was just my luck that I had to get my steady hands to work so soon again. This little one didn't want to leave her old home, forcing me to very gently prise her seed case open from where it was split underneath. It was extremely hard to do this without either pulling the seedling out of the coco, snapping her or pulling her leaves off in the process, but yet again the operation was a success! She was given her first light nutrient feeding on Day 5. Quick tip if you accidentally add a bit too much pH down to the mix (like I did); add a few drops of liquid silicon to raise the pH, it's better to do this than to add pH up. After only 7 days she's a happy, healthy looking seedling. I can't wait to get this girl going! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 2 Veg Week 2 and the Fat Banana is looking healthy, although very slightly p*ssed off at me for feeding her too much water too early. When they're this young and small, their roots haven't filled the cup yet so it's best not to feed for a run off; at least until she's filled her cup a bit more and can withstand a heavier volume feeding. She's not deficient, she's just been a slow feeder. She wasn't ready for another feed until day 14, so I increased her nutrient strength slightly. Now her roots have filled the cup more, she should start drinking quicker and looking happier 🍌 Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 3 Veg Earlier in the week this girl was recovering from my over watering and still taking a while to dry. She was given the full veg feed once she'd dried out properly. Silicon has also been introduced to her feed. I would have transplanted her at this time, but I wanted her to be perfectly happy before doing so. I was right in doing this as she's bounced right back and showing a much better colour. I'm slightly annoyed that I've given her a slow start, but if necessary I don't mind given her an extra week. Although I don't think she'll need it. Next week she's be transplanted and topped ✂️ (forgot to take photo on D21 so included a pic from D22) Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 4 Veg She was transplanted into a 3ltr pot on day 23 and given a slightly weaker feed than shown above. She was also "topped", which later turned into a FIM 😂 I usually bend the very top, which snaps it off for the perfect topping, but recently I've just been pinching the top off as it's quicker. No one can complain about more tops, but it does take a little bit longer to recover and grow 3-4 new tops. Now she's been fimmed it'll encourage her lower side branches to grow quicker. I'll also be bending her main stem (possibly tying) to create a nice even canopy out of this little banana 🍌 (forgot pic on D28 so 1 pic from D29 included) Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 5 Veg Towards the end of the week the Fat Banana 🍌 was given a maintenance flush and given another dose of nutrients straight after. But before that, she's was tied down by the top of her main stem. It's important that you tie from the top and not the middle of her (I've seen some do this before), because you don't want to angle the plants stem, rather literally bend her. Doing this from the top will create a bend in the middle. If she does lean a little, you can always tie her from her base pulling in the opposite direction from the one above. The reason for this is because it puts her roots in an incredible amount of stress when her main stem is leaning at an angle that she didn't originally grow at. As she's been growing this week it's become apparent that my pinch was a "FIM", not a "top". As you can see from the photo's. She's looking happy, healthy and looking forward to next week! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 6 Veg The Fat Banana has now been transplanted into a 5gal Root Pouch. This will be her final pot, so she'll soon be thrown into the flower tent! When transplanting (even when growing in coco), it's better to let the pot dry a little bit more than usual as it keeps the coco from falling apart. I also try not to over water her once she's in her new pot. I find doing this will slow her recovery and growth, and prevents her roots from growing into the new substrate sooner in search of water/nutrients. It's important to still give plenty of water, but not quite enough to create a run off. Overall she's looking happy and healthy and looking forward to next week! I didn't realise I didn't take many pics of this girl this week, so more to come next update. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 7 Veg This week the Fat Banana has been recovering from her recent transplant. When top feeding, it's important not to over water after transplanting. If the coco is soaking wet her roots won't grow and travel throughout her new pot. After the initial watering from the transplant, I wait until the coco is as dry as you'd want it for transplanting before watering again. This girl wasn't watered again until near the end of the week. After this, I notice the coco dries out a lot sooner because there are more roots to uptake more water/nutrients. All week I've been carefully bending and pushing her main tops down in order to open her up a bit. I also like to take off all big fan leaves that grow towards her centre. This ensures direct light penetrates inside her to encourage more sidebranching and more tops to reach the canopy. She'll be given one more week to veg before being flipped to flower! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 8 Veg This one is a short week as she was thrown into the flower tent on Day 54 (Day 0 flower). Before then nothing has changed. She is given the same veg nutrients while in veg and being left to grow bigger and stronger before going into the flower tent. This girl's got very thick branches, which will hopefully mean thick flowers! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 1 Flower She was finally thrown in the flower tent on Day 54 Veg/0 Flower. Now she's flipped to flower, her base nutrients have been increased overall, with a ratio of 1:1:1. This is to transition her gradually into her flower nutrinets while she's stretching. Once she starts to slow her stretch and produce flowers I'll adjust the ratio for full bloom. Liquid Silicon is increased a bit in order to compensate for the extra growth throughout stretch. You want to keep her thick and strong so she can keep those Fat Bananas upright. Cal-Mag and Epsom Salts have been increased too. I opened her up in the same fashion that I usually do; with a half hearted scrog as I'd call it. It's a simple way to open her up and give support, whilst also being able to harvest a single quarter of the tent at the end of the cycle without ruining one big net with other plants still in it. At the end of the week, on day 7, she was given a thorough lollipop and defoliation in order to slow her stretch. From how thick her branches are I can tell she wants to grow pretty tall. A good way to try to keep an even canopy throughout stretch is to pinch the tallest branches towards the top until you hear a little pop. Be careful not to completely crush it though as this can be excessive. Doing this will slow the selected branches down, giving the other tops time to reach the same height, giving you an even canopy. Don't worry about the damage, she will repair the pinched area and strengthen it further, creating a "knuckle". Overall she's a stunning girl with beautiful big green leaves. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 2 Flower This week she was given the same as last weeks transitional feed, until day 13 where she was given a maintenance flush. I was aware that she had a lower pH than I'd like her to have (around 5.6pH), so I flushed her with approx 6.2/6.3pH water, which brought her up to around 6.0pH. Since doing this she's had a perfect pH. It's always good to check the run off, even if you're not flushing, so you're always aware of what's going on in the pot. As soon as she was flushed she was topped up with the feeding above, which is gradually adjusting to the full bloom feed as she's still stretching. She was also given a thorough lollipop and leaf strip to attempt to slow her stretch. I opened her up with the string to increase light penetration within her. Doing this is a must if using a 315w CMH, otherwise they don't penetrate as far as a HPS. She's still a happy and healthy looking girl. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 3 Flower This week her base nutrients are now at an approx 1:2:3 G:M:B ratio, but slightly favouring FloraBloom. I've increased the amounts of each than I usually give in flower too, just as a test. I've started adding a small dose of bud explosion by greenleaf nutrients, and also sweet candy for an enhanced flavour/aroma. She's stretched a lot more than expected, so she's a bit too close to the light, but she still has plenty of bud sites stacked up each branch. The light has been raised slightly, but not too much as I have other strains in the tent that are at a lower, even canopy level. Because of this, the tops of the buds closest to the light may become a bit pale/bleached, but we'll see. I pluck any big fan leaves shading any tops and/or a lot of bud sites. She's now concentrating on building her flowers. I'm glad to see her finally stop stretching! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 4 Flower Not much has changed this week, apart from adding Greenleaf Nutrinets Bud Explosion (bloom booster) and Sweet Candy (sweetener). I'm using bud explosion to see how it goes as it's a more potent PK booster. I'm adding sweet candy to see if it really adds to the flavour/aroma. It's not a good test for them on a new strain, but I'm also running a Bubble Kush clone by RQS that I'm testing them with for a true comparison. (Measured in gr/ltr, not ml). Silicon was stopped by day 28 to ensure it is completely flushed out of the plant by the end of her cycle. This girl's slowly building, but looking good so far considering she's close to the light and a few cola's are getting hit by the fan. She's frosting up nicely too. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 5 Flower This week she's looking a bit toxic and showing light stress from being close to the light. As you can see from her tallest cola, her leaves are showing the claw. She's looking pretty dark green all round too, so she's definitely had too much nitrogen. All of her other beanches are looking ok, but because of this I've stopped all N (apart from a small dose of Cal-Mag up until day 31). Although it's looking as it is, it's still carrying the fattest buds on the plant. If I run her again I'll be giving her a lower strength feed in flower and then take it from there. Epsom Salts were stopped by day 31. She's covered in trichomes and smelling like tropical fruit peel/rind. Her buds are thickening up and still building. Her top buds aren't the biggest, but her lower buds are definitely swelling up nicely. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 6 Flower Nutrient levels have been lowered overall and she'll soon be starting her flush. She's fattening up nicely now and looking super frosty. Her top buds have thickened too, but her lower buds are really building well and looking like half peeled bananas! 🍌 Her flowers are extremely dense too. Not the strongest smelling girl still, but I think with this strain it's all about the flavour. From how she's looking, I think I'll take her a little bit further than the originally planned 8 weeks. This should give her more time to swell up even more. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 7 Flower Week 7 and the flush is on 💦 she's quickly fading into a nice burgundy/purple under the full spectrum CMH. Covered in trichomes, her buds are swelling and growing in size each day. The temp has risen from the heat wave but it's still within an acceptable level and hasn't had a negative affect on her, considering how close she is to the light. Flush commenced on Day 45, where she saw 30ltr run through her pot to remove a good amount of nutrients left in the coco. This brings the EC/PPM in the coco down considerably, and ensures she starts to fade sooner by needing to feed on her stored nutrients as there's a not many left in her pot. All of my girls in the flower tent are raised on wooden benches which helps dry them quicker and also gets more oxygen to the roots. Because of this, and also with having fabric pots, I can flush them much more often than if they were sat on the floor. I'm able to flush the left over nutrients and salt build up very quickly, taking it down to 100ppm or less after 7 days. Now to sit back and watch her eat herself! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 8 Flower Flush flush flush 💦🚽💦🚽💦 It's extremely important to flush for at least 14 days when using synthetic nutes, or any bottled nutes in my opinion. The aim is to make her cannibalize (fade) as much as possible before she's chopped. By doing this, she's using up her stored nutrients, causing the leaves to eventually die. The better the flush the cleaner the smoke 👌💨 even when in an organic set up, the plant needs to be nicely faded before being harvested. Otherwise she's still full of nutrients. I still feel I'll be able to get an even better flush when I eventually make the switch to RO water, as my tap water holds a ppm value of approx 150. It's not too much, but 0 is always better. She was taken down on Day 57 flower, after a 16 Day flush. I didn't want to take her any further as she was quite stressed being so close to the light. So to avoid getting seeds I waited until she had a beautiful fade before giving her the chop ✂️ I always take my girls down about 30mins before the light turns on so there is minimal chlorophyll production in the plant. This is to ensure the best smell, taste and overall burn after drying and curing. A subtle but very sweet-ish tropical fruit skin kind of smell to her. Her buds are super dense and covered in trichomes. I trimmed off all fan leaves and then each branch was hung in my drying box and placed in a cool area. She was dry after 6 days and ready to be dry trimmed and jarred for curing. I'll post those pics with the harvest update! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Thanks once again to RQS for sending me this girl. She's not the most fruity smoke, but more of a pine with a unique tropical/banana peel to it. A nice strain for the cannasseur, and one I'm really enjoying, especially for my back. Thank you to everyone who follows, likes, comments and supports in any way. In means a lot and keeps the passion to grow and continue uploading content on here and IG. Because I have 4 seperate plants/strains in one tent, under one light, I've had to calculate these by dividing the conditions by 4 (4 plants in total sharing same conditions). This is the fairest and only way to work it out on average as a full tent. Happy growing! 🐺