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So, since I started my current grow setup, I've been trying to find those "one hit" buds. I've been on the medical program in my state for a couple years and have gotten pretty spoiled on the 25-30% top shelf bud. I've gotten used to taking only one or two small hits to get me to my happy place. Sadly, with all of my current harvests, there was only one plant that really seems to have a decent buzz - and it still takes a good 4 hits to get the party started. That plant is one of the only ones I haven't created a diary for on this site .... the third plant I put in the ground (after my Gorilla Cookies and Wedding Cheesecake) was a Strawberry Banana from FastBuds. I promise I'll get that diary up one of these days ... it actually has some of the best photos I've every taken (not to my credit - the buds were just gorgeous on her). Regardless, I figure it might take a while to get the primo bud - just need to get lucky with a good bean carrying some good genes ... fingers crossed!
I don't know if there is an "official" way to post the "weeks" ... IMO, week 1 of veg starts when the first serrated leaves start to form (usually day 2 or 3 after popping her head out of the soil). Regardless, she sprouted several days ago, so I'm going to call this "week 1". Got a problem with that??? come at me bruuuhhh :P (we'll sit down, smoke a joint, and talk through both sides!)
No problems as of yet ... /knockonwood ... not much to say but I'll keep typing until the site is happy that I've typed enough ... it should be soon ... ahhh ... there it is. Thanks GD!
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.
She is growing nicely ... seems to be fast/vigorous growth ... time for some LST, I think.
And, like a dumbass ... snap! one of the top branches (the node I topped her at) snapped when I was tying it down. I tried to get it back on - but it's location makes it harder to get a good seal on the branch. So, it'll need to heal on its own ... hoping I didn't screw her too much.
Damnit! I was a little too aggressive with my LST and snapped the top branch(es) (meaning, it split where the branches forked at the point where I'd topped her). Ughhhhh ... only snapped off halfway though ... a little triage and she should heal up nicely.
Everything did bounce back quickly. There weren't any major delays from snapping the top branch. Not much more vertical growth, though ... she is a shorty!
It looks like the preflower phase is pretty much over - shame, I'd hoped it would last another week and give me some more stretch in the process. I think she's going to stay short and bushy ... OMG sooooo bushy. This strain has SOOOooooo many leaves :) I've already done some light defoliation with some of the upper fan leaves in the middle area - but you still can't see anything beneath the canopy.
I think she's starting to smell a little bit, too ... hoping to have a more distinct smell by next week.
This little lady is ... well ... little :) I guess "little" is the wrong word ... she's short - very short. The node spacing is virtually non-existent ... and she also has sooooo many leaves. The canopy is so thick and full - half the bud sites can't get much light ... but I don't want to do any heavy defoliating (she doesn't seem to have liked being topped - wouldn't want to piss her off any more than I already have).
The tops are looking promising as far as frostiness goes ... it's still early, but the frost is starting to creep ... :)
I'm just letting this little lady do her thang ... the sugar is looking nice ... still early and it's creeping out all over the sugar/fan leaves ... my last Strawberry Banana looked like this - so, that's a good sign - and it's exactly what I was hoping for ... another pheno close to the one I had before - because damn that's some good smoke. I can already smell the strawberries from this one, too ... exciting :)
Starting week 8 ... I decided to do a little LST today ... VERY carefully. Shortly after I topped her (week 2/3) I snapped one of the top branches - tied it back together and let it heal up ... but decided not to touch her after that .... well, bit of a mistake. This girl didn't grow tall at all ... stayed short ... which is fine - normally with LST she'd be "wide" rather than "tall" ... but since I didn't bend down the outer branches, it's just a massive clusterfuck of buds in the middle of the plant. And the leaves ... OMG .... I noticed with my first SB, but this one seems to have twice as many leaves as other plants - lots of tiny little fan leaves on short compact bud sites .. I didn't even realize how many bud sites were hidden under all that mess (and note that I had already done a couple rounds of defoliation, too)
So, I carefully tied on to the very top of each stem and gently pulled them back a bit. It at least reveals/uncovers some of the buds sites lower on that branch (which were completely covered over by the leaves on the top bud sites).
Just look at those overhead photos ... there are a ton of buds sites - but twice as many are still not visible under that canopy. I might do some lollipoppin' at some point ... we'll wait and see!
Week 9 ... She's doing great .... buds are thickening ... smell is still pretty sweet ... frost isn't getting a lot thicker, though ... but my previous SB had a nice peach fuzz to her and still smoked great, so I'm not too worried. Her bud shape is just gorgeous ... perfect pine cone shape, and when she's around this age - the lighter shade of green with a perfect mix of orange/white hairs ... just lovely. She makes for lovely photos!
Week 10 ... still going great. Buds are thicker ... but, just like my last SB, they are fairly fluffy/airy. This one is a little more dense than my last, but that could be due to the different nute line. In either case, she still takes gorgeous photos and smells like candy :)
Just waiting on her to finish up ... trichomes look almost ready ... not very thick frost on this one (compared to my first SB) ... the close-ups look nice, but it's just "peach fuzz" from a distance. We'll see if that means lower potency ... the first one was pretty frosty and had an excellent buzz ... so, I'm still expecting this to be "good" regardless.
Theopen
