She'll be the first FastBuds strain that I've topped ... had always read that was a no-no with FB beans, but most of that "gossip" is from several years ago - and I'm betting the strains have smoothed out a bit. FB buds always seem to be nice and frosty (not necessarily very potent, though). I've grown this strain once before (several months ago) and she is the best smoke of all the plants I've harvested (only FB and Mephisto straings at this point). I've learned a lot in that time - hoping I can give this girl a little extra love and care.
After being topped ... she shows no signs of slowing down - don't even think it phased her one bit. Still just using some staples to keep the fan leaves down - let some of the "shoots" have more exposure early on - get them to grow past the fan leaves and they'll be on their own after that.
Going to start adding in nutes on a regular basis - at low doses to start (she is still feeding off the hot FFOF soil, so don't want to overload her). This is just to ensure she has all the nitrogen she needs when that explosion of growth happens in the next week or so. Also, trying to establish a nice root base early on.
I'm growing this strain right now for my first grow! I was a bit disappointed to hear you didn't find this strain very strong the first time you grew it since others have said otherwise. I'm wondering if you aren't letting your flowers go long enough, I know more amber trichomes should make a more powerful high. I'm a noob so take it for what it's worth but just a thought
@Nigs4200, first ... I appreciate you taking the time to write out your thoughts - not everyone does :) I think you actually misunderstood ... out of all the plants I'd grown so far (around 8, I think), the Strawberry Banana was the BEST out of all of them. It's actually the only plant that gives me a noticeable buzz ... it's my favorite at the moment. The strawberry banana also produced the most attractive buds, at least in my opinion ... they were a bit airy - but they puffed out nice like little pine cones. As for the trichomes, the general consensus is that more amber = more sedative ... I like a "speedier" high (better for creative activities, like playing guitar) - but not a paranoid high ... so, I try to go for as much cloudy trichomes as I can (some amber is fine - just don't want much of the glassy trichomes). In either case, I wish you best of luck on your grow - I'm sure you will enjoy this strain :)