Fast Buds Smoothie. Coco v LOS shootout

Welcome to my Fast Buds sponsored shootout and living organic soil v coco side by side. I also plan to use this grow to my full advantage regarding a few age old nagging questions about methods. I have had a keen interest in L.O.S ( supersoil) since reading a few threads a while back on how amazing and productive it can be. After too much research and procrastinating I had to give it a go. I have been a decades coco/nft grower and recently threw my hat in the rdwc ring too. I have avoided soil due to the overwatering worry ( heavy handed chimp brain !) and the best potting soil/feeds. Catching up on the advances in indoor soil gardening and organics led me too subcools supersoil recipes to name a few but being a town dweller with farms everywhere around me still drew blanks on a lot of the ingredients needed and where the hell I could even begin to get them from. Thankfully , commercial savvy has now made buying it in ready to use and with a full range of beneficial bacteria ect available in amendments from a grow shop here in the uk. ecothrive have realised the potential for us to dive into this medium with all the mixing , measuring and resourcing. I bit the bullet and £150 later I now have 4 x37Litre pots that will be used for as long as I want to feed the soil for without EVER needing nutrients again potentially. The coco has also had charge mixed in to encourage the bennies to colonize there too. I will be using the shogun nutes that I know do the business with coco to compare with for yield , growth and taste. I have 3 seeds each of 4 Fast Buds Strains to use as a control for the grow and am journaling each strain in their own diaries. This statement will be used to start each one as the information is identical at this point but following this I will do them individually. I am now starting their second week since opening the seed packets , straight into soaked and shook root riot cubes and into the heated propagator. They had all showed their heads by end of day 3 and a couple needed helmet surgery to open up without being hindered . I have has them in the prop for a few days but they needed to get settled as they were popping roots out all over the cubes. They have now been in their final pots for 2 days complete and starting their 3rd today at day 8 since planting in cubes. I am impressed with the speed and success of these girls already (12 of 13 germinated) . Well done fast buds. So here we go folks , any comments , ideas ,questions , advice are always welcome and I hope we can have some fun experimenting with defol v non defol , topping v fimming v bending and any other curiosities along the way. I plan on using a quadline for them all to keep a control for the comparisons too. Be green folks Welcome aboard and a huge thank you to Fast Buds for the opportunity to try autos.

Day 9 above soil: Well they survived their 1st week above the soil and are looking fairly happy among the other girls in this Fast Buds fun grow. I have a clear front runner with #3 of the girls being the most developed and certainly the largest of the entire crop.. All factors bed sides medium are the same within the room and the environment is the best control I have had for any of my previous grows so there shouldn't be any "better position" or best of the nutes situation here either. Genetics obviously plays a big role but her speed is above what I expected and even faster than her sisters. They have had their 1st coco feed today and have been given a few waters throughout the week with the biosys tea. I have no real concerns on these triplets and see them growing nicely at the moment. The slight pale issue is not bad on these three so let's see what they can do when they get that organic gold into their stems.

Day 16 ( Today 17th nov): Another week passed and now we are in to the interesting patch that is new ground for me , namely rapid growth and flowering together. Being a photo-period grower , the autos are throwing new curves at me daily. seeing how quickly they change due to their genetic traits is amazing. #1 in the LOS is still a little too pale but mottled looking now instead of bleached out looking. I reckon her roots are nice and adventurous now so should be racing round that big pot grabbing goodies like sonic the hedgehog on crack. #2 has gone through a rough patch this week and her dis-coloured leaves got worse and had another set to join them !!!. I had been conditioning the coco outside in the rain before the planting so could be something in the pots from then. #3 is the star of the show so far with great growth and no signs of slowing down. I am now starting to feed at the lower end of the coco feed each watering and being careful with the amounts I use in the LOS but am more confident of not being heavy handed. They all had a life-cycle feed too , so hopefully the pots charge additive will be awake and boost them a bit for their near flowering cycle. I am hoping to top an start their training soon too so should get interesting from this point .

Day 27 from seed: These ladies have not disappointed this week at all. Even poorly girl #2 has got busy and began growing again. I have switched nutes to Mega Crop and they have all been getting a feed of 1g per L and calmag and silica to keep the npk in balance. This stuff is great to work with and its results are brilliant . seeing some of the grows done with it and the low cost of too. This is made for us. The Los girl is doing good with the Mc so far and as it is a mineral nute, the ph is not such an issue to worry over. #3 is still the most advanced and has been topped and her limbs are staked for her lst. Love the results of the silica when training plants. An absolute must !. No signs of any pistils.yet so some growth still to go before the stretch starts and becomes a monster crop.lol I have seen some great Fast Bud autos yield amazing.

Day 33 from Seed: In general these ladies have just got on with it this week while I worried about some of the other girls. Their training has been a breeze so far and they have been made more pliable by the silica. I have now stopped using the Mega crop in the Los soil now the pot is making it's own nutes but I will keep my eye on them for any paling and need to re feed with the Mc. The coco girls are on 1g/L to see how they settle into that now. #1is doing brilliantly and her size indicates she will be a great yielder. She is quick to turn her heads back up once pinned so I will need a fast hand to keep up. #2 The runt of the whole pack. I dont know why she is so small besides some evidence of def on her initial growing leaves. Her new growth looks a lot better but I think she will need less strength feed than the others. Her structure looks good but she is very small I general compared. #3 was my expected star of the grow room but is now not in the front row anymore. She is perfect and growing great. training has been easy with her and her sites are plentiful too. I think she will be the biggest of the Smoothies. I am very happy with their progress so far . great work Fast buds.

Day 40 ( 3 in flower) : I think it is safe to say that the flowering has kicked into full gear now and her stretch is on. Been a few issues sorting the dosage of the Mega crop with the Los soul in particular. Balancing the NPK with additional silica and calmag had me worries I had been hitting them too strong but in fact the power of the 900w Led lights being too close and intense had been clawing the bigger plants at the edges and not the mc. # 1 is going for gold and looking very healthy and happy. she is spreading g out nicely and will be a nice yield I think. #2 looks like she's hating something in her soil/coco and has some obvious damage from it. she is still growing skyward but is a lot smaller than the rest in the room. #3 Growing nicely and getting ready for a good defol this week. They are good to train and now big enough to be held to the pot edges with wire. This next week will see an increase in their Mc dosage by .5g. Her flowers are coming along nicely too all over the stems, roll on bud building. Green days all

Day 47 ( 10 days flowering): Another week passes and these girls take full advantage of the available resources. #1 in the e ecothrive soil is killing it for size , bud sites and general health . Their is a clear difference between them all in the Los compared to the coco , mc fed plants. I do suspect 3 different phenos of the smoothie and others in this run but they are all 3 different. #2 is now under the TSL-2000 with her sister as she outgrew the light height in the middle. I have not out too much on her as she still looks very odd with discolouring and a cabbage look to her leaves. she is nowhere near as big overall but is straight up with no lst so should still give some decent bud. #3 Is the little lady of the three and looks like a totally different plant than the other two. very stout and robust and will no doubt produce some fatties judging by her branch sizes. I am glad I have the sp250 for the smaller ones or they would be pain to keep level canopy wise. The 20L pots could have been a mistake and bigger could have been better. I wont be sure it it was pot size or medium that gave the LOS the edge.lol I am loving the #1 girl and her size is huge. she could use a light of her own !! peace and love folks. green days.

Day 56 from seed(16flowering) Smoothie by name smoothie by nature !. She has been so easy to work with and train to this point and her smell is very sweet up close. #1 The Los girl is huge. she has sites throughout her structure that are developing nicely together. I expect she would have been a very big plant without the lst and would have outgrew my room very quickly. Buds are slowly developing and I expect she has at least another 3-4 weeks before harvest. #2 coco and mc have been keeping her happy. despite the poorly appearance of her mottled damage and some.dying lower leaf from before , she is growing well. her structure is natural and no ties or last at all so she is taller than her sisters. lots of sites on her so let's see what she does. #3 is one of the smaller girls in the grow and now moved into the middle to bathe her in more light. she has sites poking out of her low canopy so should still be a decent yield. Merry Christmas All on grow dairies and staff

Day 55 ( corrected) : Wow these ladies like to grow. This last week has them all packing their bud sites , ready for the burst of building them. I have included the pk warrior to the Mc feeds to see how it affects them. It is a complete feed bit you can add things if you balance them properly. I am hoping about 4 weeks left but think they will be done by mid January , day 77 mark. Their bud development is where I would expect it to be in a photoperiod grow so i dont feel so out of my zone now. They smell amazingly like their names says they do and at this early stage , i cannot wait to smell them near their finish. The odd girl who was mottled green has gone crazy for bud developments and has them from base to her whole 1.2m heights. Their look doesnt seem to be affecting her ability to grow buds. The small girl is looking cramped in and when I take the 2 finishing strains out , she will get prime position and a staking out for her last 3 weeks of pure light. The LOS girl is the clear leader with this strains side by side and I wonder how much the damage to number 2 has impaired its keeping up with the LOS.

Day 63: Another week passes and the girls are now building nice long Colas all over . Buds are looking good and smelling so pineapple/fruity now. Buds are looking nice and hairy without looking airy. #1 In the organic soil is overall the widest and area hungry lady but her sisters are taller . #2 has been quietly pushing her way through the middle position in the grow and has some nice fat looking buds forming. #3 Is a surprise for me as I wasnt sure it would make it this far. No matter what I do , the leaf continues to look awful but the size of her and her now forming so many stacking buds , I am glad I kept her going now !. I do think at least 3 weeks for these ladies before harvest but hope to give them room to swell when the space is opened up.

Day 70 : Now we are close to the end , the ladies ahave started to add more weight and look ready to swell. The Dragon force will give the a nice finish and power them to harvest now They are beginning to smell so pungent of a fruit stall that it makes my mouth water when I smell them up close. These girls like a lot of space and cramming #3 into the middle hasnt helped her flourish but now she has a lot more room to spread out and get light to all of her hidden budsites which are everywhere. They are all feeding well at around 2L per day now so it is a case of waiting and watching now .

Day 77 A good week for these ladies this week with the sumo boost and especially the Dragon force , doing exactly what it says in the bottle. I decided to finish with this combo as I have had good results previously with it. It has kicked some of the buds into high gear , particularly #3 the smaller girl.She has been building on top of her initial mains and has tripled the heads in places. The Buds in the organic #1 are amazing to look at and remind me of the barneys farm cookie kush . She smells amazingly tropical up close and is fading out nicely . #2 has enjoyed the extra space from a partial harvest of others in the room and been productive with her flowering bursts too. #3 the poorly girl has continued to ripen and put some new pistils out too so she seems happy to keep on a few more days too. I dont know if they will go another week as the LOS girl is calling me with her terpenes whenever I open the flaps. let's see after another week !.

Day 84:These girls are so close now that I expect the next update to be one for the drying period. The Los #1 is a totally different colour in her ripening to the other 2. She feels like she has biscuit crumbs all over her now too. Her smell is so fresh fruit and I do think days are her time left now. The #2 has continued to swell he buds for the finish and she is colouring up nice too. #3 The poorly girl is steady in her ripening now and the buds are rock solid too. They all have a very fruity smell to them now and it hits me everytime I open the flap. They are on water now for their last few days , just to signal them to start using their leaves for their last feeds. peace and blessings.

Day 92: I half expected to be still saying this but they are still only showing milky trichromes in the main. I have trimmed and started to dry the #1 L.o.s girl a few days ago as she looked ready visually. She smells amazing close up and was a pleasure to trim. I do think she could have gone another week in hindsight but it will be interesting to see the difference in the end result too. #2 is pushing new white pistil sets out still and her trichs are generally milky with a few still clear globes around , no signs of amber anywhere in her so far so at least a week I think. #3 The poorly girl has a few amber trichs knocking about so I think she will be taken down in the next few days. Despite her looking line rubbish the entire grow , she is producing some nice solid nugs. Their smell is so sweet and sickly that after the cure they will be so fruity to smoke. This week should see them finish perfectly. peace and blessings.

Day 100!!!!. All done and now drying slowly. The #1 LOS lady was harvested at day 96 ( could have gone another week !) She has made some amazing buds and her pre cure smoke is very pleasant. Her fruity sweet taste with a hint of old skool "big bud" and potent. The cure will remove this earthy undertone I think. She yielded 3.1Oz which i am happy with. let's see how the final strain yield is next update The 2 ladies I trimmed have some decent sizes to their bids and the colours of the leaf sets is out of an acid trip.lol They have a good covering of trichs and have a nice stickiness to them that should make a nice cured bud. The one I sampled from #1 los was very smooth with no harshness at all which I didnt expect so early from trim off the stalk. Harvest and report to follow.

I have enjoyed this 1st auto grow and am very impressed with the fast buds all round. . Amazing growingnplants that need very little to get a good result from. I heavily lst'ed two ladies and also tried living organic soil for the 1st time in one pot too. The soil produced less but has a lot more flavour without doubt. The untrained "poorly girl" was no doubt held back a bit by whatever was wrong throughout the grow but was still a very manageable size in my low height room. With training and space , these could produce monsters. I did feel my plant count was a little too many initially but as the room cleared from harvesting some earlier strains , the # 2 really took off in the middle with more space and light. A beautiful strain to grow and smell. Well done fast buds