Arnoave's Indoor Coco Tropicanna Banana - 2022

[Arnoave]

I'm growing Tropicanna Banana, it's a hybrid strain at 40/60 Indica/Sativa. Currently just reached the end of week 1 flowering stage. It was in veg for a little longer than expected (6 weeks instead of 4) because I put the scrog in a bit too late and as this strain typically reaches 110cm indoors I wasn't confident of getting enough stretch during flowering to fill out the canopy.

My grow space 140cmx140cmx180cm, growing in coco fibre as mentioned in the title. The pots I don't know exactly their capacity as nearly all my equipment was "inherited" but I think they're about 16-20 litres. The light I'm using is a 650W sodium lamp, but that may be subject to change soon (but not guaranteed).

The medium in each pot ranges from 6.2-6.5 PH and I aim for somewhere between 6.0 and 6.5 in the mix I water them with.

The tent is air-cooled with an extractor and a small fan inside to move the air around a bit.

The fertilizer regime I'm using involves some old 1.5L soda bottles, I fill each one up and put 4-6ml (4ml during veg, now 6ml during flowering) each of Canna Coco A+B fertilizers. I plan to use PK 13/14 when I reach the 3rd week of flowering.

With regards to pests, my first grow failed horrendously because the previous owner left a massive piece of dead wood inside the tent for months, as he was going to do something with it regarding his "organic only" policy. The only thing it gave me was organic spider mites and I had to literally bleach the tent and pots down to get rid of them. Currently no pest issues.

Based on the photos below, am I doing the SCROG correctly? All the pictures I look up on line look very nice and organized, one bud site per square in the mesh etc. Mine is more of a 'bushy canopy' effect and I wonder if this doesn't need more trimming?

Regarding the gaps on the edge of the canopy, this is unfortunately the best I could do, I'm hoping to get a little more stretch out of them but as mentioned, I put the screen in a little too late.

Photos were taken with the light turned off very briefly as the lamp I have causes a strobing effect in photos and also makes them look a lot yellower than they are

 

[Arnoave]

PS, I know the tent isn't very pretty but it is at least clean, the discolouration on the floor and the rust on the frame were already there when I got it

 

[Tokin Roll]

That was quick, nice start to your grow journal @Arnoave

You are doing great, and your ladies look very happy.

I will be around to see how you are coming along, and if you need me you can tag me.

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,
Tok..

 

[Arnoave]

So now that I've started, I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to continue this journal. Here are some pictures of the girls at the beginning of week 3 flowering. Please excuse the yellow colouring and "strobe" effect, this from the lights and my terrible phone camera. They are very healthy and green to the naked eye

If anyone has experience using PK 13/14 perhaps they could shed some light on when to use it? The grow schedule I am following is one I downloaded from the Canna Coco website, and it's been working fine so far, but it recommends to start using the PK 13/14 at the start of week 4 flowering, for 1 week.

This is theoretically starting next Sunday, but from what I've read the PK is for bulking up the buds and making them denser once they've developed in length already. This doesn't look like it will happen by Sunday given the stage they are at now, so any ideas or recommendations are welcome, I was debating leaving it an extra week before adding it to the mix but we'll see how they look come the weekend.

 

[Bill284]

So now that I've started, I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to continue this journal. Here are some pictures of the girls at the beginning of week 3 flowering. Please excuse the yellow colouring and "strobe" effect, this from the lights and my terrible phone camera. They are very healthy and green to the naked eye

If anyone has experience using PK 13/14 perhaps they could shed some light on when to use it? The grow schedule I am following is one I downloaded from the Canna Coco website, and it's been working fine so far, but it recommends to start using the PK 13/14 at the start of week 4 flowering, for 1 week.

This is theoretically starting next Sunday, but from what I've read the PK is for bulking up the buds and making them denser once they've developed in length already. This doesn't look like it will happen by Sunday given the stage they are at now, so any ideas or recommendations are welcome, I was debating leaving it an extra week before adding it to the mix but we'll see how they look come the weekend.

Good morning @Arnoave Welcome to 420magazine my friend.
Great start to your journal.
Don't fret about a couple stains, your setup is fantastic.
We don't judge, we all do the best we can with what we have.
As far as pk 13/14 I'd follow the schedule.
They put a lot af resources into the timing and use of their products.
Follow the recommendation.
Are you feeding full strength daily at 5.8 ph?

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Tokin Roll]

As @Bill284 mentioned I would follow the manufactures recommendation.

So now that I've started, I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to continue this journal.

All a journal is about, is telling everyone about how you are growing, what you are growing, and an easily way to get help if you need it. The 420 Magazine is all about awareness, we are not here to judge, but we are here to help you understand the benefits of growing your own medication, and how to get to harvest.

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,

 

[Arnoave]

Good morning @Arnoave Welcome to 420magazine my friend.
Great start to your journal.
Don't fret about a couple stains, your setup is fantastic.
We don't judge, we all do the best we can with what we have.
As far as pk 13/14 I'd follow the schedule.
They put a lot af resources into the timing and use of their products.
Follow the recommendation.
Are you feeding full strength daily at 5.8 ph?

Stay safe
Bill

I'm actually feeding every 2 days, with the water. I try to keep the PH more between 6.0 - 6.5, usually around 6.2 or 6.3 mark. With the watering/feeding schedule as it is, I already am seeing an increase in runoff compared to the veg phase, and I'm wary of over-watering them. Are you saying they should be getting fed every day? Because I'm not sure how I would do that without drowning them

 

[Bill284]

I'm actually feeding every 2 days, with the water. I try to keep the PH more between 6.0 - 6.5, usually around 6.2 or 6.3 mark. With the watering/feeding schedule as it is, I already am seeing an increase in runoff compared to the veg phase, and I'm wary of over-watering them. Are you saying they should be getting fed every day? Because I'm not sure how I would do that without drowning them

Coco is not soil.
It doesn't over water.
It actually repels water if not kept wet. ( hydrophobic )
So if you let it dry, the first couple liters shoot through it.
Also it works best when fed daily at 5.8 ph.
You obviously have your garden doing well so I'm not telling you to change.
To get coco to work properly that's what I do.
Check out @Jon 'S journal , he is running coco right now.
Very successful with these parameters.
Keep it wet.

Stay safe
Bill

As @Bill284 mentioned I would follow the manufactures recommendation.




All a journal is about, is telling everyone about how you are growing, what you are growing, and an easily way to get help if you need it. The 420 Magazine is all about awareness, we are not here to judge, but we are here to help you understand the benefits of growing your own medication, and how to get to harvest.

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,

Very nicely put Tok.

 

[Arnoave]

Here's another update: I've given the plants a significant haircut and exposed as many bud sites as I could find, along with clearing some of the under canopy and getting rid of any micro buds and tendrils that were developing down there away from the light

I've taken on board the advice from @Bill284 and as of today will be watering daily with the PK added to the mix. At the end of the week I will probably stop using the PK but continue with daily watering using just the basic A+B fertilizers.

 

[Arnoave]

Good morning all, here is a weekly update on the status of my grow.

The flowers are coming along very nicely, they've had a week of daily watering with the PK 13/14 included. Today I'm going to give them one more dose before I go back to just using the base fertilizers (A+B).
I've done my best to keep the PH at around 5.8, although I haven't been too strict about it so the occasional 5.7 or 5.9 may have occurred.

I'm not entirely convinced that watering every day is necessary on the other hand. There's been no noticeable increase or decrease in runoff and other growers I know locally have been of the opinion that it's a waste of nutrients if the soil isn't drying out (which it isn't).

I can definitely see the value when it's just a week of trying to get a specific additive into the plants and I wanted them to get as much phosphorus and potassium as possible for this one week, but on balance I think I will revert back to watering every 2 days with the basic nutrients unless I notice an appreciable change in absorption and they start to dry out faster etc.

Here's a couple of pics, including one with the lamp off to really show off the amount of bud sites I'm getting. Very happy with this grow so far:

 

[Arnoave]

Weekly update: The girls are growing strong, buds beginning to develop in mass and there's a nice dusting of trichomes appearing. Things are getting very sticky in there.

Pictured are the state of the canopy now and a close up of the buds.

 

[Mike Wright]

Hope all is well in your world.

How did this grow turn out?

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