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Hi all , here we are for another fun run with a some of Fast Buds most delicious looking ladies to harvest. With each strain having it's own amazing appearance and buds , i am hoping to spoil them like a rich kid at the seaside with this new FC3000 provided by the generous sponsors at Mars Hydro. Thanks Susie. It is a 300w draw with a full spectrum of gloriousblumens to develop and create some hard , chunky and downright delectable buds.
Easy to set up with a removable driver too. Very handy of the heat builds up and we need to reduce it somehow. There is more than enough extension chord(2m) to re hang the driver out of the growing area. It has a dimmer to allow it to offer seed to harvest capabilities all in one unit. No need for separate lights for each stage of the grow. The unit size is more than big enough to cover the 6 plants and the 100L x2 beds that they are going to be grown in. It is nice and light too so no worries about the hangers being stressed. It came with a hanging kit too so nothing to stop you getting it on out of the box. At 100% it really kicks some light out and has even worried the more than capable sp3000 sat next to it. A beautiful piece of kit that will no doubt be a good as it looks too.
Having had a few issues with germination over the summer and totally failing seeds , I went back to plugs. They hold the perfect amount of moisture and dont fall apart when lifted either. Again they proved excellent with 100% success of these genetically brilliant seeds . Seeing them poking their heads up on 2 already only only day 3 was a pleasant surprise as i have had these in waiting a while now. No soaking the seed just straight into the cube from the packet..
Now fully germinated with no helmets for the unwary seedling either. ( can occur using cubes for.me!) We are officially in veg I think!.
7th Oct veg started......
I hope you will join me on this run to see what this light unit can do with 6 genetic wonders and 200L of well composted living soil/coco in newly set up No-till beds. I have been trying to use the living organic soil but find that in mid to late flower , I had to supplement to keep the hungry girls green and mean which i feel was due to only 60L of soil to work in effectively. With 3 plants sharing the 100L i am hoping they communicate via the root system and keep each other happy and healthy. I do intend to add some wrigglers and also some myco and a cover crop too. (Inspired by UKPersonal420 ).
The ladies are domed and comfortable ar present and I am hoping to remove the domes in a day or 2 but temps here have dropped a fair bit so I will have to be mindful of the delicate girls getting too cold .
Plan is to train them into the light with as many mains as I can manipulate using l.s.t , supercropping , topping or maybe a f.i.m or 2.
Any comments, advice , observations or just chat for the hell of it are more than welcome . Be safe and well. Welcome to some fun
INFO ON THE LIGHT AND SPECIFICATIONS BELOW
https://marshydroled.co.uk/products/fc-3000-led-grow-light-samsung-osram-commercial-greenhouse-medical-indoor-hydroponics-lamp/
Hi all. I hope to are all as interested as I am to see what this light can really do. I have been learning g to use l.e.d for the past 3 years and the majority of that has been using Mars Hydro lights. I originally grew for a few decades in HPS 600 watt bulbs and laughed at the new kid on the block ( l.e.d) and its fancy boxing and blurple colours and never saw a tine I could afford the kind of L.e.d that was being used by industrial and pharmaceutical grade growers worldwide. These were always way too expensive to make the conversion worth the benefits to my home growing. I started on the Mars Tsl2000 and soon had 2 , then added an sp250 followed by the very good sp3000 . Having the chance to try this new 300w beauty and its sexy framework too , was an opportunity too good to miss so here we are.It has been a lesson in training for a slight penetration difference mainly between the hps and l.e.d and keeping them in light as direct as I can. They are running at 50% for now as the ladies are just adjusting to the soil mix . The 2 Mexican airline are having a slight issue with the soils strength I think so have only just really started to settle down. I thought one was going to die of toxicity but it has kept going . The Strawberry Pie seem the most settled so far and are beginning to put their next leaf sets out but the six Shooter also has signs of disliking the initial soil mix. A few more days to settle in and a good watering cycle should sort them out better. So not much to really report this early on except we got 6 from 6 as a start lets hope it stays productive. Be well folks
DAY 14 VEG. Hi growmies. I hope the green gods have been present in your grows this week. It has been a fairly good week for some of the girls this week but the tiny little Mexican airline had me convinced it would give in. Thankfully she hasn't and has now started to really begin growing with some healthy looking new growth pushing through in the last few days. Similar with the Strawberry Pie #2 and her toxic shocked look , she has got over the soils strength ow j think and begun to form normal leaves without the twist and darker colour ( clear sign of not liking something!) All of the plants have settled in fully now and the soil has started to work its magic hopefully. Trying to get the water cycle on point is the next task with it. I have been using 10L watering sessions to get it moist and will use a cheap soil probe to check the bottom for waterlogging . Next watering I will add the biosys tea again to support the soil life. The amendments should have all broken down nicely now so it is just watering from here in in hopefully. With ising 1 bed for 3 plants , I will be watching for the leaf green shade lightening , especially in flowering , and if needed use Megacrop as an additional feed.
At this point it looks like the Strawberry Pie #1 and six Shooter #2 are leading the field but I get the feeling this light will help even that race quick sharp. I have now put it to 100% power as I do think these ladies will go for it this week now. No decision on the training yet but in will let their growth guide that one . Well thsts about it for this one as not too much happening yet. Enjoy the video and any comments more than welcome. Be safe and well Growmies. God bless.
TIP SPREADING
I am using a method I learnt about a while back called tip spreading. It is a very simple process but can be very helpful if trying to control height in minutes spaces. It can also help to lessen the gap lengths between nodes on leggy strains. It is by no means a guarantee that the tall sativas will become bonsai bushes by a long shot but it does help to shorten the gaps there too. It is done while the plants are in veg and as each new pair of leaves form on the grow tips , we gently open them out so that the new emerging below gets light to it . This will encourage it to grow out quicker than waiting until the previous node has gone through the slower process of opening naturally. We are essentially rushing their growth for them. They are very delicate at this stage so it is a gentle process that must be done with a lot of caution and a slow pace. Hopefully the video will help and the effects will be shown during the growth over the next few days/weeks. Be safe growmies.
DAY 21: Hi Grow diaries Fam. Hope everyones week has gone good and your greens are deep and fed. It had been a steady week in veg for the fast buds fun crew
The Fc3000 is really feeding them some great full spectrum Ray's that are really being utilised by the big leaved ladies forming now .
I have continued using the tip spreading method to show how well it can reduce the plants overall height but to also show how it can save energy on stalk building to focus on growing tips. The end result pre flowering stretch is very easy to manage plants that I can hopefully grow buds on instead of lots of limbs and pointless leaf. The stretch period will be very helpful in building the individual colas and helping them to find their own space to grow fatt and chunky hopefully
One of the six shooters has already begun to show her female hairs quite a abundantly soni dont thinknthey will be in veg much longer besides the smaller Mexican airline , shenjas fought back so well now but is still behind the others in her growth so o expect her to flower a little later than the rest.
The spoil is delivering plenty of nutrition tonal of the ladies sp far with no signs of fade in any of the plants and lots of green growth. Some of the leaves are a great size and will be absorbing so much of this amazing spectrum in the coming weeks that I expect we will have some patties soon enough. Be well growmies. Video can explain better. Lol
UPDATE ... Tip spreading has worked really well so far with the girls stating nice and squat. The amount of growing tips that have been stacked up in such a small main stem should make a nice finish
DAY 28 : Hi all , hope your past week has been a positive one with lots of love and affection.
I am at the point now where flowering should be starting to show throughout the plants usually. Their are many tiny white pistil hairs showing their female genetics across the bracts of them all now so it looks like flowering has begun !!!!
The FC3000 has really given them plenty of light on their perfect spectrum to develop those nice fat fan leaves and now will no doubt take them through a great flowering period. It doesnt produce much heat at all and you can touch it for a while and still not feel too much heat. Ideal for stealthy gardens..
The Tip Spreading has been continued up to this point and it is clear to see how it works on keeping the heights down. By using additional l.s.t that wont slow growth down like the leaf tucking and threading the growing tips above the larger fan leaves that are still being used like solar factories producing copious amounts of food for the developing growth tips. The stems on the majority are nice and thick from the close stacking of the nodes and their is very little popcorn to remove from lower down. I will be keeping them all as open as I can now that we are going into the stretch periods pre flower. The potential is there now to create very chunky bud stacks but I think the Strawberry Pie have ideas of bursting out more . !
They are certainly all a lot more happy than the bonsai Mexican that has emerged in #1. Still very short and half the size ( or less!) than her sister in the next bed. She looks happy and healthy now but her initial shock at the soils make up had a negative impact very early on.
Overall it has been a good week for their tip spreading l.s.t and setting them up for flowering and I hope that our next update will be the bud porn early stages. Be well and prosperous growmies
day 7 Flowering: Hi all . It has been the start of their flowering this week and the initial stages of their stretch period. Time to exploit the burst of growth and set them in position for full light absorbing relaxation. The less stress to get light , the more focus on creating the beauty in flowering hopefully. I took some time to do a clear out of the small scrappy growth low down the stems to focus on the happy growing bud sites higher up. With their shape and size , the flowers would have been within the ball shapes and unable to develop properly. The shape of the plants from the tip spreading is very helpful now. I am able to tuck the really big powerhouse fans , underneath the developing lowers. This supports the lower growth to head higher but also keeps the main stem powered by the very important big fans. As these are autoflowers and able to use the available light through the huge fans , it can only be beneficial to keep them as long as possible while they are not blocking anything.
The difference between the strains is noticable more now with the Strawberry Pie wanting to spread her branching more . Tip spreading has kept them smaller but their nature still has them wanting the long node lengths and cluster bud structures as opposed to long donkey di#ks. The other strains have benefited more from it and in particular, the #2 Six Shooter has an amazing amount of hopeful mains all fighting for focus so should be a good example of how tip spreading really works to create productive , squat beasts. Fingers crossed.lol
They are still being fed just water with no additional boosts beside the last top dressings. I will be watering again with the biosys tea but they look so happy and green that I wont be adding any other products unless I notice a need. Cal.mag being the exception as I want to avoid the expected deficits from using l.e.d , before it can slow anything down in repair/recovery.
The light is covering them all perfectly and with the height still to be lowered after the stretch is done , I know from previous Mars lights, the big solid nugs will appear....
I have used a video to show the past weeks growth rather than the usual pics and hope this will be more interesting than having to scroll pics.
I also noticed a few leaf miners among the other plants and suspect we have some migration here too. Not too serious as yet but before it gets too bad , I used a store bought spray ( organic) to hopefully get to grips before they do. Failing this , a good smoke bomb might be used.
Until the next time , be well and loved.
DAY 14 F: Hi all. I hope we are all coping and navigating this tumultuous time in the "other world" . It has been a really good week for the ladies this week and even the little chica has improved slightly from her attempted poisoning by hands yet unknown ????. Lol
They have all been really productive in their stretch periods and i had to move the fc3000 up a fair bit to stop them reaching the panel. I want to avoid any supercropping to use the plants natural structures on this final auto run. The tip spreading has been effective at stopping them over growing the height restriction and has now used the stretch period to space all the budsites into good positions for light and air movement. I want to also avoid having to remove any of the powerhouse fan leaves that are going to help convert and store all those sugars and goodies for the bud development soon. Inwill tet to keep them from light blocking lower leaves and growth by tucking them away where I can.
They are around 2ft in height with the Strawberry Pie being the taller of the 3 strains. All have fairly long node gaps whichb had hoped to avoid so they would stack the buds rather than grow in small clusters but I know from previously growing them all that they make some very nice harvested and cured nugs. I am still only feeding water but will be doing another tea of biosys and a top dressing of life-cycle too this week to give the biosphere a hand and the girls a boost from that. The light is really doing them justice with plenty of deep penetration to the soil bed in places too. There are no signs of hot spots or too much intensity so far so an even spread of those light ranges has fed them perfectly. With the convenience of the soil beds , In the tent I have from Mars being the perfect size for this light , it could be a match made in heaven for the upcoming photoperiod run with the FC3000 too. Just need to find a way to hang the tent with my horrible apex roof first..... lol
With Bud Porn on order for next weeks update , I bid you all farewell or as we say in the UK, "tatty bye for now" growmies. Be lucky
DAY 21 F: Hi all. Another productive week for the fast buds jungle and the #Fc3000 . The room is full of limbs , leaves and chunky stalks all rounded off with sexy little budlets dancing in the wind for me every time I open the tent . Makes me feel like Hugh Heffner !!!.
All of the plants have finished their stretch totally now and a huge surprise has been the midget Mexican airline now being the same height as her sister. I expected her to stay smaller due to the past growing period ect.. but she has somehow hit the same height now. Her buds are not as advanced as the #2 M.a but time should change that too. #1 is forming some very nice looking open flowers now with bundles of fresh pistils to them too.
Both of the six Shooter are looking productive in their different set ups. The #1 has reached around 2ft and has some very nice sites setting up now. #2 has been more spread horizontally and is a long distance from the light too. With the canopy height being dictated by the huge Strawberry Pie girls , I felt it would be a good way to see how far away the light can help develop buds rather than supercrop all the big girls for one squat lady. So far the amount of bud sites is promising and it does look as though they are getting enough to develop.
Both of the Strawberry pie have really hit their peak with at least 2.5ft tops. Buds are for.ing nicely and the sides are also well developed and in good positions for their own light grabs. It does give hope of some bigger buds than the long node lengths would suggest. Let's see in a few weeks shall we. Lol
They had a top dress of charge and life-cycle too to help boost the flowering stage a little. Soil is performing as expected and the watering is going well so far with no excesses either way . Until next time growmies , be safe and well.
DAY 28 flowering: Hi all
Hope we are all fine and dandy in the grow diaries world this week.
It has been a steady week this week with the ladies now focusing purely on bud site development . The only lady not really thriving is the smaller Mexican airline #1. It does seem she will be all plant and very little yield at this point but we will see it through. She isn't poor by any means but I do think she will have a inferiority complex within these beauties. Heehee
Thankfully the other five ladies are powering on and producing some potential big bud sites. The stars of the grow are the Strawberry pie girls. These plants are huge and very, very productive . The lowers are developing some nice bud sites that in themselves look like beasts developing. They have really dense looking flowers that will no doubt become thick and possibly need some support on the side growth but seeing the stem strengths , they may be ahead of that issue themselves already. A perfect strain for an outside run for sure and with no training beside the tip spreading , they have easily now reached approx 4ft tall. The buds start really low on each limb with some node spacing initially large but the growing tips and main stem have a more stacked up bud appearance forming. I think they could possibly top my personal best for the autos at this rate. Both have about the same structure and bud building so I would hazard the same phenotype too. This is the second time I have grown this strain and the last one was very similar too. Very stable and should give some top notch nugs out.
Six Shooter #1 is only slightly smaller than the Strawberry pie and has just as many productive side branches that want to show off too. Her sibling #2 was grown a lot flatter after the tip spreading and seems lost down low in the canopy now. She has a lot of buds tucked away but could easily be overgrown by the mexican#2 and Strawberry Pie #2 , if I am not pro active with her progress.
As mentioned earlier, the Mexican airlines are both healthy and happy but the #2 is far more productive than the #1 . I do expect that the #1 will harvest a little after the others and that she may come through in the end. Overall these strains are genetic perfection this run . They have done their own thing with only the tip spreading being my intervention initially , and they have produced 6 perfect looking plants that are clearly different strains . From past experiences with these 3 strains , "The best is yet to come " with the development of their unique looking buds. Here comes some down and dirty bud porn only viewable to the faithful.!!!
Be lucky all , catch you soon
DAY 35 Flowering: A good week for bud growth this week and plenty of light to reach all those tucked away bud sets too. The room looks so full now with the monster sized Strawberry Pie dominating the canopy and pushing the height limits. All of the buds on these two girls , including the secondaries, are a good size with so much vigerous pistil growth going on now that they look like their own plants. These girls need a lot of room to benefit from their natural size proportions and this was AFTER I used tip spreading to keep them lower !!!. Not sure the plant took me serious now !!. Lol I could not be more impressed with these at this point and I can see 2 potential auto personal bests forming....
The Six Shooter #1 is a nice sized lady too. Inhave had to do a little bending and rescuing on a couple of branches as they were too far out of light and also blocking other growth but she looks good on node spacing too so should have some nicely stacked colas at harvest time. Her sister #2 is half her size but has a lot of side growth to compensate thankfully. Being so low down compared to the other 5 plants has thankfully not been too much if an issue thanks to the FC3000 being so penetrative. Even the buds at the very back of the grow ate getting ample light to really bang the weight on from feeding and converting. Both of the six shooter are starting to colour up with orange hairs now and it does look like they could be the 1st to finish at this point.
Mexican Airline are developing steadily. The #1 is rmteying toncatch upnwith bud production now but her long node lengths suggest she will be more clumps of flowers than stacks , her yield will no doubt be far lower than her sisters due to her slow start and progress but she still looks like she could pull through with some decent nugs. #2 has a lot shorter nodes and should look a little more spikes hopefully. They are showing one or two amber hairs now at just past the halfway point so we are doing ok. Lol
All in all , I am loving this run of plants and the light has performed so well considering the canopy difference. Until next time. Be well Growmies.
Day 42 Flowering: Hi all. Here we are past the halfway point and close to seeing some finished Fast Buds nugs. They have been starting to brown off the 1st pistols on most of the colas but the Six Shooter both look like they will be finished 1st. With the different growing styles used on them leading to different structures, it will be interesting to see which yields the most. The #2 has lots of nice forming shaggy looking tops and the #1 has more natural long colas.
The Mexican airline are similar to each other but # 1 is less advanced into flower I think. They have browning pistils but the # 2 is way chunkier and.developed .
What can I sat about rhe Strawberry pie that the video doesn't show ?. Wow this strain is a nice grower. The buds are nice and large with a fresh appeal to them even as they ripen. They are a 9 week (63 days) flowering strain so with so long to keep fattening and developing , I can only imagine their bounty of colas to come very soon. Well done fast buds
The fc3000 is doing a brilliant job and hasn't skipped a beat so far. The canopy has been so uneven and hard to please the needs usually but this has not held anything back now. The penetration is excellent and has helped develop some amazing buds not in direct light too. Roll on harvesting these amazing plants. Be safe and well growmies
DAY 50 f (a day late !)!: Hi all. Thankfully i am on the mend now and starting to function again so could get back to the fun that is growing. After a week of the girls going it alone with a very very light watering only . They have proven the lack of need in my help !!!. Gutting to see them not care that i was ill and just keep growing anyway ... not sure if this is a part of the disease resistant qualities or nature proving we really get in the way ?. Lol
Their week has been about ripening the pistils and trichs by the look of them now. All of the strains are really showing their proven genetics off so well . Even the stunted Mexican has added a little "something ,something " this week. They are smelling so unique between the strains with the six shootwr being the most pungent with her diesel overtones. All nice and tacky to touch with a week to add even more trichs and oils. The Strawberry An exciting ending in sight now...
DAY 56 f: well here we are folks. The final week for these girls to impress and sparkle with the build up of their trichromes.
The Six Shooter are the closest to the harvest time and i think i will be taking them out 1st. They have some beautiful purples and dark reds on their leaves and buds and the smell is so damn potent too. Very fuel terped so far but really potent to inhale. Both have different sizes but identical buds to represent the strain really well. I think their bag appeal will be top drawer.
The Mexican airline are also close now and smell.so fruity fresh that it hits your throat with a sting. Lol not the biggest ladies for production but some beautiful looking buds on them.
The Strawberry pies are another level altogether....
#1 is so fresh and vibrant looking with most of her leaf left on stil. I think she may go another week before her sweet spot is here though. She has a lot of good sized mains around the plant and they look and smell line fresh chopped pineapple so far. #2 has had her main leaf taken out for the past 5 days to encourage as much light around the numerous beautiful buds she has produces. I did supercrop her main to keep her from hitting the light and have noticed how floppy she is becoming from the weight building in the bud tips. I love how she looks now with the edible looking buds everywhere. Some of the best buds I have had the pleasure of seeing in these autos. Roll on harvest time. The soil has performed brilliantly throughout the whole grow this run and with a no-till method being used in the trays , I expect it to get better each new run. The organic/vegan soil also means any edibles are as clean as can be from home growing. The lack of harshness from using nutes is very noticable in my grows now and drying really is just about the moisture removal and natural chemicals so curing is a lot shorter. Instill get the gassy , initial conversion when using jars but it is more about the potency of the hit than the harshness of residual chemicals. While there is a slight loss in yield from soil , the smoke quality certainly makes up for it. So there we have it growmies. A great final week ahead and some beautiful bud porn for you to enjoy in the pics. Have a brilliant start to your 2022 and the future. Be well.
Day 63 F: Well here we are at the end of a brilliant grow that has seen totally different mixes of heights and genetics successfully completed under the Mars Hydro fc3000 and my own mix of supersoil. Rhe light managed to keep them all at full tilt even though they were at big , differing canopy heights. If inhad used the middle of the room , I could have covered the canopy a lot better and the light would have easily reached the whole canopy despite their odd height differences. I have a Mars tent that will be perfect for this light to totally fill out with 6 plants once I am back at full production and over this slight delay upcoming.
The soil has been brilliant from the off , even the small Mexican airline #1 that seemed to struggle with the start up and strength of the mix has finished well. I only added ecothrive , eco life cycle and biosys tea throughout the grow with a couple of grams of Megacrop in flower as a booster. The watering in the beds has been very easy to maintain and keep moist and the more shallow depth has helped check at root level and bottom easily. The immobile nature of the bed has meant that using different strains as the 3 is maybe not ideal , workable , but not ideal and needs some forward planning next time out . Besides that , it has been very simple to manage.
The strains have been perfect throughout the weeks with little to no signs of any deficiency. I did remove a lot of fan leaves over the past week to really open the lower parts of the plant to more light for the ripening time . It will also help with the drying time and harvest. There is a lot of really nice colas on these ladies and I cannot recommend the genetics for autos from Fast buds enough. The Strawberry pie finished beautifully and with 2 phenos ro enjoy once dry , I am really looking forward to hitting that one. The six shooter look deadly for the unweary too with their frosty and kush looking purples and reds.
Mexican airline have done a nice job on fattening their buds at the end but the #1 is way less bountiful than her sister. Let's see what a drying period does to their overall yields now. They look so big when 1st hung to dry but it is so disheartening watching them shrink to tiny versions of the originals. The dark period has made them a little more tacky without a doubt and their smells are so obvious going through the plants cutting. Temps are at around 10°c in the room with no lights on so this will be a long ,low and slow dry . I do have the dehumidifier on its highest setting to avoid these fat buds developing any bud rot but the low temps will also be a huge help. I have a nice mix of aromas among these with lemon , fresh cut fruit , candy cane sweet and a spicy fuel . Roll on the harvest and cure now. Hopefully a harvest report will follow within 10-14 days. Be safe and well growmies. The Best Is Yet To Come !
These girls both performed really well. A medium sized natural plant that also worked well when using l.s.t to flatten the canopy a little. Feeds were not used in this grow but in living soil with only amendments to power them below the soil, they did excellent.
The strain is a medium sized plant when allowed to grow out naturally. It has had no issues with anything g along the way beside the slow start to seed 1.
A simple and willing strain. No feeding issues or deficiency problems throughout and thet were happy to find their own route to light for each growing tip. These make big girls for an auto so make sure you have room. Nice cola growth during flower and a great stretch period too. On my list of favourites. All dried perfectly now after 3 weeks very low( 8°c) and a nice air exchange ge too. They need a final trim and weigh next. Watch this space. Be well growmies
Ganjagrandaddy
