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I first planted the seeds in the pellet on 16/12/20 and applied a liberal amount of water. As this was my first ever grow, I didn't want to over water them. That was a mistake! After a few days of nothing something was clearly wrong. I then doused the pellets which is what I should've done on the first place. First sprout on 24/12 and all sprouted by 26/12.
The pellets were contained in a heated propagator, on a damp capillary matting sheet. The lights were on 18/6 and I used a 130w Envirogro setup (see pic).
The seedlings stayed in the propagator after I transferred the plugs (on 28/12) to the initial small pots. The lid went on fine and I continued to water as necessary (using sight and touch method).
I like to keep things as natural as possible and have the lights ready to go as soon as the plants start breaking through the surface of the soil and then give them the optimum light schedule of 18/6. This will ensure healthy growth without over taxing your plants. Any more than 18 hours of light is basically a waste of electricity as cannabis can only grow so much in any 24 hour period and this is achieved in 18 hours. Also, believe it or not, plants do actually need time to "sleep" and do certain metabolic processes that can only be done in/during the dark cycle. Plus, after Millenia of evolution, there is no plant on this planet that has ever evolved with constant 24 hours of light or other time schedules above 18 hours. Hope this helps,.... Organoman.
Still in their domes and under CFL lighting. Watering by sight and touch on alternating days. Used the a mister to spray the leaves but they're still a bit flimsy and flop under the weight of the water. By the end of the week the leaves of the bigger plants are filling out the domes.
I haven't been measuring humidity or PH which might be a mistake but the plants are a deep green and seem vibrant.
I transferred my auto seedlings in their plugs to a small, transitional pot. Is it true autos can and should go straight from germination to the big pot without a stepping stone?
Well, in every transplant you risk shocking her.
Problem is, an autoflowering strain is bound in time, not in photoperiod. If her gets shocked, you will lose precious grown time.
I almost always grow autos in final pot, taking care in water regimen.
A big week this week commencing Friday 15th January. Not sure what height the girls were on 15/01 but the pics on 15th and 18th show at least a couple of inches. By the time I started LST on 20/01 they ranged in height from 7"-11".
Main changes this week:
1) The seedlings moved from the small pots to the final 10l pots.
2) Changed the 130w CFL to a 600w dual spectrum HPS fed through a ballast set to 450w. I started the light around 30" above the canopy but realised this was too far away and lowered it to 20". The heat improved very favourably i.e. jumping from 20-22 degrees during the day to 28-32 depending on whether the central heating is on.
3) Started nutrients (see pics) according to manufacturers dilution recommendations. My routine is water/feed on alternate days. Adding the nutrients in a one feed on/one feed off schedule.
4) Included a monkey fan in the cupboard. Started off on a 30mins on/30mins off schedule over 24 hours. I then switched to continuously on during the 18 hours of light and 30 mins on/30 mins off in the 6 hours of dark.
5) LST - I drilled holes in the rim of the pots at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. I used garden twine to tie the plants down in the 6 o'clock position (see pic) wearing disposable latex gloves. They are gently bent to avoid damage this week. My intention is to rotate the position every two days (on feeding days) going clockwise from 6 to 9 to 12 to 3 etc, etc.
I started LST on day 15 and now the plants are on day 50 and now and then i still make some adjustments as the plant grow...
once youìre happy with the results and get into mid flowering keep doing LST...after that it just become harder because the stems get stiff
hope i've helped...good luck
The beginning of the week started badly. Spots on the lower leaves! I received great feedback from this website right away then a couple of days later from my grow shop.
Question was, was it nute burn or under feeding. Either way, a lot of water was the answer. I believe it was under watering!
Once the girls recovered, I continued with more frequent, higher volumes of watering with Kalong Grow added at half dosage.
Throughout the week, I continued to tie the plants down in the 3, 6, 9 & 12 o'clock positions. Changing the position every second day.
Additionally, I moved the girls position within the cupboard in a clockwise rotation every day. (Couldn't hurt so why not)
The fat bananas are ranging in height from 13-19cms and by Wednesday had obvious flower sites.
The northern light has no flower sites and is only 11cms tall. It's also extremely dense with even, consistent foliage. I stopped LST as it seemed ineffective/impractical.
By the end of the week the 'spot' issue was completely resolved.
On 27th I used a PH testing kit on the bottled water I had been using. Turns out it's overly alkaline. The tap water was 6.2 so I switched to tap water. I realise the chlorine etc is not good and have ordered a water filter to remove chlorine, lead, etc, etc.
I feel flowering is going to happen within 10 days or so...
I think flowering is right around the corner with my RQS fat banana auto (x5) and northern light auto (x1). How will I know for certain that flowering has come? I need to make several adjustments when that happens.
Zoals ik kan zien is er voorbloei aanwezig in de internodes.
Dat zijn de eerste tekens.
Van zodra er witte bloeiharen in de toppen verschijnen is het dan volop gestart.
Het is alvast geen autoflower die lang op zich zal laten wachten voor ze gaat bloeien👍
Week commencing Friday 29/01/21;
- Switched from veg nutes to bloom nutes as the flowering had definitely started. Using half dosage and alternating feeds with clean water and nutrient water.
- Acquired a Brita 8.2l filter tank to remove chlorine, lead etc. Couldn't hurt!
- Dramatic height increase from the previous week.
- Strange right angle clawing on two of the fat bananas. Pretty sure it's heat stress.
- The water intake has increased to at least 750ml per plant.
- Some lower tier leaves discoloured. Again, I'm pretty sure it's heat stress.
- Stopped the LST this week. The stems have become very rigid and I don't want to risk damage.
- I have definitely run out of space and have employed SOG by default. I'll defoliate further next week as I don't want to shock the plants in the early stages of flowering.
- The heat is peaking too high and I have started opening the door for ventilation. No extraction is causing all sorts of heat regulation problems. God knows what the peaks are when I'm not here.
- I have ordered a digital hygrometer that will display 24 hour highs and lows of temp and RH.
Week Commencing 05/02/21
- On Saturday 6th inspected the garden around 5pm. Lights had been on since 1pm. Temperature was sitting at 38'!!! All the plants were limp and withered! With the benefit of hindsight, this was coming. I immediately removed them and reset the ballast to 250w. I waited for the cupboard temp to drop, watered and also sprayed to speed up rehydration. This could've destroyed the plants but lesson learned!
- After a few days of watering and feeding, the plants rebounded surprisingly well.
- I replaced my hygrometer with a digital gauge that records 24hr averages and highs and lows for temp and RH. Now I know what's happening when I'm not around.
- Using HPS lighting without effective fan extraction is a massive mistake.
- Continued to feed and monitor temps and things have stabilised. Average temp 25-26'. Although, driving a 600w HPS at a 250w setting isn't ideal.
- I have ordered a 1.2m Gorilla tent and kit to finish the grow. The cupboard will work okay for seedlings and most of veg but it isn't suitable for an entire cycle. Anyway, the new setup will half my turnaround time.
*dropped my phone and damaged the camera, so all pics have to be taken in selfie mode. This means I can't put my grow room glasses over the lens and my pics all look orange tinted now. What a great week!!!
- The Fat Bananas range in size from 45-65cms. The Northern Light, which was easily the smallest and flowered a week later now measures 51cms i.e. it has overtaken 2 Fat Bananas!
- Defoliation on 11/02 was more intensive than last time. Mostly it was removing heat stressed or lower level leaves that were badly discoloured. I did move 2-4 healthy fan leaves per plant but only those that overshadowed bud sites. I know you aren't supposed to defoliate after flower, especially autos but it'll be interesting to see how the plants respond.
Monday 15/02 I picked up the new1.2m x 1.2m Gorilla box tent with extractor and filter.
I relocated the girls to their new home right away.
The management of the environment has been far easier.
It still gets cold at night (16') but it doesn't overheat.
There's now a lot of space to fill out and there's definitely ample room for 6 autos.
The Fat Bananas range in height from 52-75cms and the Northern Light is 62cms. I have high hopes for the Northern Light. With the exception of one Fat Banana, the NL looks the best in terms of yield..
I also added a 16" fan from Argos. Probably too big but it will do for now.
I defoliated again using the system of removing dead, dying or diseased leaves. The only exception I make when a large fan leaf is covering a promising bud site.
Just hoping the girls really start to thicken up.
Started gearing up for my next grow with 2 x Fast Buds Girl Scout Cookie seeds and 2 x RQS White Widow seeds ordered. Going with autos again but after that I want to try fem Sativas!
Week ending Friday 26/02/21
Week 7 over of what RQS state will be a 9-10 week grow.
Worryingly, the leaves have been seriously yellowing.
I don't know if it's under watering or just the phase the plants are going through but the buds look healthy enough (I think).
I did some defoliation but I probably shouldn't have. Mostly yellow and shading leaves removed. In future I will just leave the leaves in place and let them fall when they're dead.
I'm hoping the buds really thicken up over the last couple of weeks. The shorter plants buds look great but the taller ones look very scrawny. We'll see!
Almost two weeks with the new Gorilla tent and it's made life so much easier. Future grows will be germination and seedling/veg phase in the cupboard and flower/harvest in the tent.
Week commencing Saturday 27/02/21
The leaves continue to crisp up as the plants drain their leaves of energy.
On Monday I stopped nutes altogether as we approach harvest. Just flushing them with filtered water.
The buds are really fattening up as well. Which is nice as the taller fat bananas were looking scrawny a week ago.
The Northern Light is still lagging behind and will definitely have to go into the cupboard for a week or so when I use the tent to harvest the Fat Bananas
The trichomes are swelling up and on 06/03 I'm pretty sure I noticed some amber in the plant labelled 'Short FBA2' in my pics.
I'm going to keep a close eye on the situation but I'm thinking the harvest will happen early next week. I'll probably give them a couple of days in darkness before the chop.I'm going to cut and hang the whole plant.
I'm expecting delivery of my humidity control packs and amber mason jars on Monday or Tuesday.
Meanwhile, I have just germinated 2 x Fast Buds girl scout cookies and 2 x RQS white widow. Both autos. So diary number two will be starting on Monday!
Take a look at my pics. Only one plant is showing amber in the trichomes. RQS state harvest 9-10 weeks from germination. I’m 2 days into week 9. Do you think it’s time to harvest or wait a while? I’ve been flushing for a week.
Looking at the pics some may finish just before others. I would harvest as the tell you. Your plant will tell you when the time to harvest is. You may harvest 1 @ end of week 9 the rest at the end of week 10. Keep an eye on those Trichomes. Enjoy your harvest.
Week Commencing Satruday 6th March
This ended up being a short week for the fat bananas as they were cut down on Wednesday 10th.
I was continuing to flush with refrigerated, filtered water until Wednesday when I checked the trichomes.
The two short Fat Bananas had 10% amber trichomes and I felt they were ready.
The other Bananas didn't have any amber but, as I was going to dry in the tent, I was limited to the number of plants that could be switched back to the cupboard for finishing.
Everything I've read states that too early is better than too late and as they are all the same genes they couldn't be far behind in terms of trichome maturation.
In the end, the Northern Light was relocated and all the Fat Bananas were harvested. RQS state that the Northern Light takes an additional 1-2 weeks to harvest.
The Northern Light is now under a fluorescent bulb along with the next crop of seedlings (2 x RQS White Widow Auto and 2 x Fast Buds GSC Auto)
I will post the harvest entry in the diary when the Bananas buds are dried and weighed.
The Northern Light has 1-2 weeks to go but I'm not sure how it will react after going from 600w of HPS to 50w of CFL. Not ideal!
Week commencing Saturday 13/02/21
Just the Northern Light Auto to report on.
It really isn't fattening up. I'm continuing to flush with filtered water and as of this morning, no amber trichomes!
I'll probably give it another week but I don't think she will develop any further due to the change in lighting when I relocated her to the veg cupboard - 600w HPS down to 130w CFL.
I'm extremely happy with the harvest but I could've made life easier for myself. I encountered problems along the way and if it hadn't been for the community feedback, I would've been screwed. So thanks for all your help!
I've already started my second diary and looking forward to this journey!😀
Week ending 15/03/21
Virtually nothing to report.
Still flushing, still waiting for amber trichomes and still hanging out in the veg cupboard with the next run of seedlings.
Looks and smells the same. Buds haven't fattened but the leaves have definitely gotten crispier!
Like I said with the Fat Banana commentary, this was a real learning curve and I made a lot of mistakes. However, I'll learn from them and better to iron out the creases through experience. TBH I would've been lost without the feedback of the community. Thanks gang!
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