It's going tropical! Papayton - Fastbuds

MrGoonai 09/01/2025 - Day 7 Short Facts: - 6cm tall - Was under a humidity dome for the first week - Roots have reached the wall of the pot - Light @ 20% ----------------------------------------------------- As you can see, everything is going well. Growth is strong, and the roots have already reached the wall of the pot. Since she’s getting too big for the humidity dome, I removed it. I adjusted the VPD on the AC Infinity Controller AI+ to 0.7 with a buffer of 0.1. That should be a good range for the next 14 days. To be safe, I watered in more nematodes. I really hope there won’t be another infestation of fungus gnats or thrips. It almost feels like I’ve developed PTSD after the last grow. Sometime in the next 7 days, I’ll transplant her into the final 30L fabric pot.

MrGoonai 09/08/2025 - Day 14 Short Facts: - 9cm tall - Roots are really good developed - Light @ 30% - increased by 10% - Culinex Tab Plus is used - Thrips seem to be gone or dead - Hardly any gnats left ----------------------------------------------------- Everything is going well, she’s growing nicely. She’s still a bit more developed than the Gush Mints 1:1, with noticeably bigger leaves. I should have repotted her a few days ago, but I’m waiting a little longer to give the Gush Mints a chance to catch up. As you can see, the roots are really healthy and well developed. I applied more nematodes and also added some Culinex Tab Plus, watering it in. Culinex contains a specific type of bacteria that produces a toxin which kills young gnats. I dissolved half a tablet into about 5 liters of reverse osmosis water and will try to keep the top of the soil moist. Right now, things are looking really good. I’ve only seen one gnat in the past few days, and I haven’t spotted a thrip for quite some time. It looks like everything is going smoothly.

MrGoonai 09/15/2025 - Day 21 Short Facts: - 13cm tall - VPD increased to 0.9, often it is a little less than 0.9 - Light @ 30% - around 340ppfd - Gnats seem to be gone - Transplanted into the final pot - Added a layer of mulch ----------------------------------------------------- Before transplanting, I added an organic fertilizer from Grundstoff Shop that is currently in development, along with Organic Nutrients CalMag Alga and Biolit rock dust, mixed them into the soil, and watered thoroughly. After that, the roots were inoculated with TNC Mycorr Max before transplanting, and I covered the soil with a 2–3 cm layer of mulch (Sonnenerde Biofaser). I haven’t seen any fungus gnats anymore, but I did spot three thrips on the Papayton over the last week. Because of that, I spray both plants with a little neem oil from time to time. Although I installed the Blumat drip irrigation system, it isn’t running yet because the soil is still quite moist. I watered in the fertilizers with too much water, and the mulch layer is also retaining the moisture very well. The Papayton doesn’t seem to enjoy the overly wet soil, as she looks a little unhappy. For now, I just have to wait a few more days until the soil moisture balances out to the right level.

MrGoonai 09/22/2025 - Day 28 Short Facts: - 14cm tall - VPD increased to 1.0 - Light @ 40% - increased by 10% - 400 to 480ppfd - Topped - Starting LST - Blumat drip irrigation is now active ----------------------------------------------------- IIt was definitely time to top the plant. I did so, as you can see in the before and after pictures above. I want to keep the plant more compact this time, so I plan to top her twice, which should be enough. I also started a bit of LST, bending the side branches about twice a day until they’re long enough for my 3D-printed LST sticks. I increased the light by 10% and raised the VPD to 1.0. Later this week, I’ll increase it further to 1.1. I also had to start using my dehumidifier to keep the humidity in check. Hopefully, AC Infinity finally releases their dehumidifier soon. I’d really like to buy that one. By the way, the mulch layer has been fantastic. It makes it so much easier to keep the humidity in the grow tent stable. Plus, it seems to have helped against thrips and fungus gnats, both are gone. I’ll probably veg them for another one to two weeks before switching to 12/12.

MrGoonai 09/29/2025 - Day 35 Short Facts: - 15cm tall - VPD increased to 1.1 - increased by 0.1 - Light @ 40% - 400 to 480ppfd ----------------------------------------------------- The Papayton has definitely caught up! I started some LST, using my 3D-printed LST sticks to stretch her out more. Her internodal spacing looks great, making her the perfect candidate for another round of topping. I’ve never topped a plant more than once, so I’m curious to see the effect. I’ll probably let both plants grow for another week before switching them to flower. Right now everything is going smoothly, and the pests are completely gone! I really hope this is going to be a nice and relaxed run.

MrGoonai 10/07/2025 - Day 42 Short Facts: - 25cm tall - VPD increased to 1.2 - increased by 0.1 - but really hard to reach and hold. - Light @ 50% - increased by 10% - 540 to 720ppfd ----------------------------------------------------- The Papayton was topped a second time, and she didn’t show any signs of stress! She immediately started pushing new side branches and has already reached 25 cm this week. A great plant, perfect internodal spacing and very easy to train! I’m really happy with the Papayton so far. This week, I also increased the light intensity by 10%, bringing it up to 50% on the AC IONFRAME EVO 3. She’s currently getting between 540 and 720 PPFD. I’m not too happy about the large difference in readings, though — I’ll probably switch to two Sanlights for the next grow (around March or April) to get a more uniform light distribution. On Tuesday, I’ll defoliate her for the last time during veg. On Wednesday, both plants will be switched to flower, using a 13/11 schedule. Before the flowering phase, I’ll switch to the fertilizer for bloom. The Grundstoff fertilizer for the veg stage worked really well! I’ll also remove the additional drippers I attached to the Blumat sensors. I’m hoping this will improve the soil moisture regulation. It’s been acting strange lately, and I’m not sure why. Maybe running just two sensors and letting them drip naturally will work better. I also bought the AC Infinity Thermoforge, since it’s getting quite cold (winter is coming). It should help keep the tent warm, hopefully above 24 °C most of the time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work well with the AI+ Controller in AI mode yet, so I had to set the temperature manually. I’d really like to get the AC Infinity dehumidifier, but it’s still not available in Europe.

MrGoonai 10/13/2025 - Day 49 Short Facts: - 39cm tall - VPD @ 1.2 - Light @ 50% - 540 to 720ppfd - Initiated the floweringphase with 13/11 ----------------------------------------------------- The Papayton is pure joy! Honestly, she’s the easiest plant I’ve grown so far, absolutely no problems at all. As I mentioned last week, I top-dressed her with the bloom fertilizer from Grundstoff (the veg fertilizer was great!). After that, I switched the light cycle to 13 hours of light and 11 hours of darkness. I hope to see the first signs of flowering sometime this week. Her growth has been so vigorous that the Gush Mints doesn’t stand a chance to catch up in height. I defoliated her again — you can see the before and after pictures above. After that, I installed the first SCROG net.

MrGoonai 10/19/2025 - Day 49 Short Facts: - 60cm tall - VPD @ 1.2 - Light @ 60% - increased by another 10% - Already started to form flowers. ----------------------------------------------------- The Papayton is pure joy! She’s perfect, probably the best and easiest plant I’ve had so far! She’s already forming flowers, so next week will officially count as the first week of flowering. I should also add the next net soon to keep her growth a bit more in check. Fun fact: I set up two new sticky traps directly above the soil, and they only caught two gnats during the entire week. 😂