FastBuds - FFT#3

12/21: I'm looking very forward to trying these fast flowering photo testers from Fastbuds. Their autos are top-notch, so I've got great expectations! 12/23: I pre-soaked 2 of these beans in humic acid and concentrated mycorrhizae with trichoderma for about a minute and planted them in rapid rooters soaked with a weaker solution of the same. They both popped up about 20 hours later. I'll let them root well under the dome and transplant into some temporary seedling pots with Fox Farms Light Warrior soil mix after dusting their roots with myco. I'll let them veg for a week under some cooler color temperatures to try and encourage shorter distances between internodes, then move them into my closet under max "sun." 12/26: They were ready to transplant last night, but I was worn out and put it off until today. Both seedlings were rooted very well, so I planted them in some new, durable, 5.6" tall seedling starters. filled with Fox Farms Light Warrior seed starting soil mix, which has mycorrhizae and humic acids, plus earthworm castings. It's a very light mix. I really like it alot. It has a lot of coco coir pith and peat in it, so even when you pre-soak it, it seems very light. I am now using a killer product that contains: 7 ENDOMYCORRHIZAL Species, 17 BENEFICIAL BACTERIA Strains, 4 TRICHODERMA Species, SEA KELP EXTRACT, HUMIC ACIDS, YUCCA PLANT EXTRACT, Root Promoting VITAMINS with Vitamin B Complex and L-AMINO ACIDS (https://www.amazon.com/GreenEden-EndoBoost-Concentrated-Soluble-Mycorrhizal/dp/B07GSPVQ83/ref=sr_1_15?crid=3G7AW86ZVOF68&keywords=endo+mycorrhizae+powder&qid=1577435831&sprefix=endomy%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-15) No, I am not a paid spokesman, but I used it in my last grow and had amazing roots, so I used it again and had 100% germination rate when mixed with concentrated humic acid for a 1-minute seed soak and rapid rooter pre-soak. Needless to say, I used it again today to dust my new seedling's roots and the holes where they were planted. I also like to add a teaspoon of it to my 5-gallon batches of compost tea, about 2 hours before I'm finished brewing it. The price is about the same, but I had far better results with it than the hyped-up "king shark" stuff... I have them 24" below the 200w 3500k +660nm light for about 12 hours per day, and the 24w cold white panel with the 85w mixed white spectra light at about 15" for the other half of the day. Both of the 12w blue bulbs are hanging very close to both ends of the tray and lit all day long.

12/31: They are both coming along nicely.👍 Today was the first day in which I fed them some Big Bloom and Boomerang along with humic acid, pH'd to 6.1. 1/3: I've been letting them dry out a bit for the last two days. They've got roots coming out the bottoms now...I'll probably transplant them into 5 gallon fabric pots tomorrow or the next day. I ordered a 4' 180w tube light with 578 LEDs..it has a 360 degree beam with 3000k and a bunch of 660nm. It's waterproof, so no worries about keeping it beneath my canopy to illuminate the lower branches and hopefully increase the density of those buds that never get much top-lighting. Today, I mounted my two new 24w UVA LED lights (395-405nm) to my frame. I'll run them 6 hours a day from the time I put the plants into my closet, until harvest. It is my understanding that exposure to UVA, particularly during the vegetative stage, triggers many different plant defense hormones, which speed growth and can increase heartiness to withstand constant exposure to UVB without suffering as much cellular damage as usual. I'm also ordering a 2' Solacure FlowerPower UVB (285nm-310nm) next week to use during flowering to stress the plants and increase trichome production. 1/4: I did a few foliar feedings with big bloom and fulvic acid today. 1/5: Transplanting day. I dusted their roots with magic dust and transplanted them into 5 gallon pots today. I had some excellent compost with biochar and myco that I mixed into their soil, too. I watered them in with about 2 quarts of their first taste of full strength veg nutes, plus mycorrhizal fungi, trichoderma, beneficial bacteria, and humic acid, then I sprayed them with biotabs boomboom spray when finished. The were moved into the closet under the quantum boards, UVA's, and a pair of MiracleLED blue bulbs. I'll start adding far-red spectra to the equation in the next few days.

1/6: Day 15. I've got a lot of airflow in the closet (and 780w of light), and as a result, they needed water today. I had shit come up and didn't transplant them quick enough from the Light Warrior mix, so they got a little N deficient. I decided to go ahead and feed them. I mixed up 4 gallons of full strength nutes and split it amongst these two and the other 9 plants, so that's roughly 1/3 gallon each...I used my new 40-133gph submersible pump dialed all the way down, and a 1/4" hose, so it took about 2 minutes to water each plant...a slow, gentle soaking with zero run-off.👍 I also cranked up my evaporative cooler in the top of the closet, aimed down over the plants. 1/7: I sprayed them a few times with Axiom Harpin a|b proteins today...it's on.😎 1/8: I watered them today with about a half-gallon each, including the green eden endo boost, humic acid, cal-mag, liquid molasses, armour si, and a little bit of boomerang...soaked it in, nice and slow. 1/9: I took some photos, but left them alone otherwise... 1/11: I fed them with about a half-gallon each..full strength everything. 1/12: I FIM'ed both of them and sprayed with Boom Boom Spray afterwards, right before dark. This is the end of week 3, and they've made good enough progress that I'm pretty sure I'll start flowering them towards the end of next week.

1/14: This morning, I did a foliar application of big bloom and fulvic acid, then about 5 hours later I watered them with about a half-gallon of rainwater each and added armor si, humic acid, endoboost myco/tricho, liquid molasses, and a bunch of cal-mag. Today, I also I wired up and mounted my new samsung sun board strips (660nm/730nm) and my Solacure FlowerPower UVB fixture. I'm running the deep red/far red bud boosters a few hours per day right now, but will run them for the entire photoperiod once I start flowering them. I'll run the UVB for 4 * 15-minute sessions a day for the full flowering cycle, and if they don't protest too much I'll increase each session by 5 minutes and evaluate again. Some strains are more forgiving than others and I've got 5 different strains in this space...so really not sure much time I'll get away with exposing them to the deadly rays without damaging them too much...😈 1/15: I received one of the rapid led/growmau far red initiator pucks today. With the placement of my UVB light, I'm realizing I'll need another far red puck to have even and intense far red coverage, so I'm ordering another with Prime delivery and waiting to start flowering until I receive it. I sprayed them down really well with ph adjusted rainwater tonight to rinse off nutrient build-up from foliar applications. 1/16: I'm really excited to try flowering under 14/10. I grew photos indoors on an off for 15 years before I semi-retired. If I added up all the additional flowering time I could have done through the years if LED technology existed, I'd have had an extra truckload of bud to smoke. I did another application of Axiom Harpin a|b Proteins this evening, right before dark. I'm expecting a big growth burst this week, leading up to the flower stretch. I really need them to trigger under 14/10 within 4 or 5 days🙏 ...if not, I'll switch to 13/11 and wait a few more days🙏😟..if still no pistils are poppin, I'll go to 12/12 and chalk it up as bad luck or varietal indifference to Pr and Pfr manipulation. 1/17: I fed each of them about 3/4 gallon of full strength veg nutes. This will be the last. I'll go with half-strength veg and half-strength bloom for a week, then go with full strength bloom nutrients until I start flushing them in 6-8 weeks. 1/18: I installed the second far-red flowering initiator today and got all my timers configured for flowering: ========================================= timer#1 - power strip with qb's and red boosters 10:00am -12:00am timer#2 - (dual/independent setting) sideA- 3-way cube with uva bars 10am - 3pm 7pm - 11pm sideB- flowerpower uvb 1pm - 1:15pm 4pm - 4:15pm 7pm - 7:15pm 11pm - 11:15pm timer#3 - far red pucks 11:00pm - 12:15am timer#4 - sub-canopy tube 10am - 1pm 3pm - 6pm 8pm - 11pm ======================================== I also did some testing on the timers and sealed myself into the closet to check for any light leaks. All good.👌 1/19: Tonight is their first long night. It's ON!👍 1/19: Looks like the FIM job didn't take on one of them..but she's got perfect symmetry. WIll probably have to just top her again next week...gonna be a tall one I think. Tonight is their first long night. It's ON!👍 1/20: I watered them today with about a half gallon each. I'm seeing calcium and magnesium deficiences here and there, so added some boomerang and heavy cal-mag-Fe along with liquid molasses, humic acid, and endoboost myco. I also foliar fed with big bloom and fulvic acid. That's it for week 4-

1/21: I rotated the edge plants and foliar fed with big bloom a few times today. 1/22: I fed them about 3/4 gallon each after top-dressing their pots with a heaping tablespoon of happy frog cavern culture( bat and seabird guano). That will make some P and K available to them over the next 2 weeks as they begin to flower. Aside from that, I went with full strength veg nutes because I'm still seeing some yellowing and som cal-mag deficiencies. I also added some more liquid molasses. They're gonna need the energy as they start their stretch. I foliar fed a few times throughout the day with big bloom. 1/23: EXPLOSIVE GROWTH last night...love it...everybody is stretching...pretty sure the 14/10 photoperiod is working!! I foliar fed with big bloom a few times today. 1/24: Definitely sativa. Neither one liked the FIM job.. 1/25: I tied down the mains on both of them and watered with a half-gallon each containing bembe, cal-mag, signal, armor si, and humic acid. 1/26: Re-tied the mains again,,,strong branches! 1/27: That's it for week #5!

1/28: DId a little LST and rotated edge plants. 1/29: DId a little photo session. I appear to have two entirely different phenotypes of this strain. One looks like a typical hybrid in structure and leaf shape, whereas the other looks more sativa. I fed them about 3/4 gallon each. I backed off the veg nutes a bit and added Tiger Bloom and Open Sesame to the regimen. Tied down a few branches to further encourage lower branch growth. 1/30: Raised my lights today about 4 inches. I don't have enough space to train them outwards, and I am holding off supercropping them until I have no other options. 1/31: My canopy is getting thick, so I started running the 180w tube light below the canopy today. It's on a timer, set to run a total of 10 hours per day, in 2-hour intervals. 2/1: I pulled everybody out of the closet this morning and thoroughly sprayed down all the foliage with BoomBoom Spray, tops and bottoms of leaves. I let them dry slowly under low watt lights with no airflow. I raised the lights again another couple of inches. I have just a couple of vertical inches left before I'll have to either supercrop these girls or do some minor construction in the closet. I'm leaning towards modifying the closet to allow another foot of ceiling space for the girls.

2/4: Photo session day! Both of these girls do seem to be mostly sativa, as billed. The have a very pungent aroma..not quite normal. I removed most of the lower fan leaves. I had a total infestation of Cattus (felis) which I documented in my photos. Eradication seems impossible, so I'm opting to allow a degree of predation, but hoping trichome production will, at least, deter them soon.😁 2/5: I fed everybody today with about 3/4 gallon each and sprayed them down with Axiom harpin proteins for the last time this run. I made a DIY CO2 generator today using a 5 gallon cat litter bucket, a small aquarium pump, some air line tubing, and a bubble stone, plus 6 cups of sugar and 30 grams of wine yeast in 2 gallons of warm water. I put the tube where the CO2 is exhausted up against the back of the oscillating fan that aims down over the plants so they are being constantly forcefully bombarded with high levels of CO2(1300+ppm) from above. I set the ac infinity controller to allow the temps to climb up to 89f before the fan turns on. 2/6: These girls aren't stretching much, but continue to spend energy on their lower branches. I bought some Gro-Pro pot risers to elevate the pots so that they will dry out faster..seem pretty effective. 2/7: I foliar fed with big bloom and tiger bloom today. 2/8: I ordered a second 6" AC Infinity fan to connect to my controller, some ducting, and a diffuser which I'll mount to the wall, down near the floor. The fan unit will be in another closet, adjacent to the garden closet, and I'll run ducting up through that closet ceiling into the attic, with a filter on the end to keep bugs and particulates out. For the next 6 weeks or so, it will provide a supply of colder fresh air. I did the math, and it will now only take about 1 minute and 40 seconds to completely exchange the air in the closet. Depending on the outside air temp at the time, it should take anywhere between 8 and 20 minutes for the closet to heat back up to 80f and the fans to kick back on again. This Spring, on days when it's warmer than 72f outside, I'll disconnect the duct in the closet and stretch it into that bedroom, clipped to the window unit air conditioner output, cranked down as low as it will go. This Summer, I'm gonna just run a pair of the quantum boards and grow 4 or 5 autos in there, but this should help keep the temps cooler in summer as well, without dedicating an air conditioner to the grow op.🙏 2/9: I foliar fed them with grow big, big bloom, and tiger bloom and checked moisture in their pots. They're due for a good watering tomorrow.

2/10: I watered today with about 3/4 gallon each, plus cal-mag, signal, bembe, armor si, a little open sesame, and their final dose of endoboost. The short one is budding up nicely, but the taller one is still stretching. The short one looks to be considerably more indica than the other. 2/11: Wife home sick today....postponing construction project to raise the lights. 2/12: Today, I tackled the project to raise my ceiling another foot. In addition to that project, I installed and hooked up my new AC Infinity 6" intake fan. It's pulling in fresh air from the soffit vent on the eave of the attic, and currently feeding the garden with 46f fresh air. I'm able to easily maintain daytime temps in the lower 70f's now. I am able to drive the nighttime temps as low as I want. The only issue is that the outdoor RH varies quite a bit, so I ordered a 30-pint dehumidifier to put in the top of the closet. I sprayed everybody with boomboom spray to try and mitigate the light burn damage that is likely to ensue. 2/13: The taller one is still stretching a little bit, but the 2-footer is just budding up. 2/14: I fed them today with about 3/4 gallon each including grow big, big bloom, tiger bloom, cal-mag, signal, bembe, humic acid, and I switched over from Open Sesame to Beastie Bloomz. Raised the lights another couple of inches. I did some training on them and defo'd a little bit. 2/15: Installed the new dehumidifier and rigged the continuous drain on it...works great. 2/16: I rotated the edge plants and removed some old leaves. I added another 22w 3000k 4' bar light under the canopy. 2/17: I rearranged the garden and defoliated a little bit. That's it for week 8-

2/17: I spent a little time rearranging today. I bought some 32" x 14" plastic ventilated storage shelves and cut the legs down on two of them so I have some different-height platforms for the shorties in the garden. I should also be able to easily flush 6 plants in 5 gallon pots, or 9 plants in 3 gallon pots at a time now, that's a win!👈 2/18: I debated whether to feed or not, and settled on watering them with about 1/2 gallon each. including bembe, cal-mag, signal, humic acid, and a little beastie bloomz. The new dehumidifier is pulling about a gallon and a half per day from the air, so I should be able to feed them in a couple of days. 2/19: Rainy day outside, so I'm pulling in 99% humidity, plus the pots are still petty saturated, but the new dehumidifier is keeping up. RH is holding at about 45% today.👍 2/20: Day 31 of flower...they don't seem to be stretching any more, so they aren't a problem, but other plants have been. A semi-solution occurred to me that allowed me to raise the lights another 3-4 inches. Now I'm truly maxxed out... So far, this has been the most consistent of the FFT strains I'm growing. They actually "look" like sisters.. I took photos and videos of all the plants today since I had to empty the closet and it wasn't a feeding day. 2/21: I fed them today with about 3/4 gallon each including beastie bloomz, tiger bloom, big bloom, signal, bembe, and cal-mag...no grow big this time. 2/22: They're both looking great..no complaints at all. 2/23: I ordered some Terpinator because I'm not so sure about Signal's efficacy at this point....I'm usually dealing with odors more by now..😕 I've reached the ceiling again with my lights, but these two plants wont be a problem. They're both budding up nicely now.

2/24: Busy day, no time for gardening.. 2/25: I watered them today with about a half-gallon each including terpinator, signal, bembe, cal-mag, armor si, beastie bloomz, and a little bit of boomerang for the organic forms of nitrogen (kelp and earthworm castings). 2/26: RH is holding at 40-45% during the day and 35-38% at night. Temps are about 78-80f during the day and about 62-65f at night. The smaller one is fattening up well now, but the tall one is just getting started.. 2/27: The garden has gotten so dense that the cool air at the bottom isn't circulating up to the canopy well enough. Temperatures on the floor are low 60'sf and about 80f at the canopy. That's not bad or anything, but over the next couple of weeks, I want to drive down the temperatures as much as possible. I'm achieving 30% RH now, two days after watering...pretty cool. I can't check the moisture level on the plants at the back of the garden without removing a bunch of others, but I'm assuming they aren't dry yet because of the airflow situation. I ordered a double 9" fan like you put in a window to circulate in or out fresh air. I'll put it under the bench that I'm using to elevate the two shortest plants at the back of the closet, facing the front of the closet and pointing slightly upwards. Hopefully this increases airflow across the pots, and moves more of the cool air up to the canopy. 2/28: The new fan came in and was taller than I thought when situated in it's feet, so I just placed it atop my lighting frame facing down into the back of the garden. Each of it's two fans are mostly unobstructed, and the little bit that is obstructed is across two of the heatsinks, so that's fine with me. I'll have to find a diff fan for under the shortie platform. 2/29: I fed everybody today with about a half-gallon each including a little grow big, big bloom, tiger bloom, beastie bloomz, terpinator, bembe, signal, cal-mag, and armor si. 3/1: Just ogled them today...they are really reeking now...👍

3/3: I watered them today with about 1/2 gallon each, including cal-mag, armor si, bembe, terpinator, signal, and a little beastie bloomz. I was short on time, so I couldn't do many glamour shots..I'll try again when I feed in a few days. 3/4: My new 14,000btu portable a/c was delivered today. I'm replacing the window unit in the bedroom where my closet is located with it so that I can roll it over to the closet and chill the girls out really well for the next couple of weeks. I can aim it at the door and just leave it cracked open and it's keeping the temps at about 75f during the day, just running on low.👌 I'm just hanging a piece of mylar over the door to keep the light in and have the exhaust set on "8" and to come on when temps exceed 75f, so it's pretty stable now. At night, I'm disconnecting the exhaust fan once it gets down to 60f and only have the intake fan pulling cold air in from outside if the temp exceeds 62f. I've determined that I'm gonna have to get another AC infinity fan controller at some point. I hate having to remember to unplug a fan and change the settings at night. I forgot to switch things this morning before I crashed, and was awakened at noon-thirty by the sound of the ac infinity high temp alarm going off...I had it set on 90f!!! If I had a separate controller for the intake, I could really dial it in and not have to remember to change settings... 3/5: I finally found a seller of BioTabs BoomBoom Spray (in Great Britain) that sells to and ships to the US for not-such-ridiculous-prices!! I ordered a 250ml bottle so I won't run out for a while! I'm almost out of Bembe and I've heard good things about Humbolt's Secret Sweet & Sticky, so I ordered a quart to give a try. 3/6: I fed them about a half-gallon of pretty much everything today. Again, I didn't have time for a full-fledged photo session, but I added a backdrop and photography lighting equipment to my cart at amazon...will pull the trigger on it soon! 3/7: Fixed up a new batch yeast and sugar for my diy CO2 generator. 3/8: Beautiful weather today, so I spent the afternoon getting ready for the spring grows (indoors and out) That's it for week 11-

3/10: I sprinkled a tablespoon of Happy Frog Cavern Culture on the tops of their pots and watered it in with about a half-gallon of water including armor si, terpinator, signal, sweet & sticky, and cal-mag. The shortie is stinking badly now! I finally had time to take some photos today- 3/11: Tonight, I plan to decrease their photoperiod down to 12/12 to hopefully get the taller one and the other slowpokes in the garden to hurry the fuck up... 3/12: They slept for 12 hours last night... 3/13: Very rainy...RH is too high! 3/14: I fed them each about 1/2 gallon today including big bloom, tiger bloom, terpinator, cal-mag, armor si, signal, sweet & sticky, and started them on cha ching. I defoliated about 5 pounds of leaves and the canopy is still almost impenetrable. Will do more when I take them out to water this week. Still raining, RH is too high!! I put the dehumidifier on "always on/clothes drying" mode and it's barely able to keep it at 50% in the closet.. 3/15: Still raining...RH is too high, damnit!!!

3/16: Rain let up for half the day, but more tonight...damnit... They are due for a watering tomorrow, but with the high RH, maybe not... 3/17: They weren't ready for water yet, so I slept for a few bonus hours! (rare) The tall one's biggest 3 colas are starting to thicken...they'll range from 14" to 18" in length. I'd like to see them get to 10" in circumference or better...👈 Rained for most for the day....again... 3/18: I watered them with about 1/2 gallon each including terpinator, signal, sweet & sticky, cal-mag, armor si, endoboost, humic acid, and a little cha ching. It rained all night again..and most of the day today. I took some photos with the qb's turned off and a 135w 5500k CFL on.. 3/19: It rained all night and several times again today...ffs....I've started building an Ark in my free time 😁 3/20: Rained again on and off today..RH still too high... 3/21: Rained again tonight.. I had to pick up a couple of them while removing a couple of other plants, and they are still heavy. I might be able to wait until Monday to feed again, which might be enough time for me to get the RH back down a little bit. 3/22: Rained again last night several times...and again today for a couple hours...ridiculous. Woke up with RH at 65%!!! Been chatting with other FFT growers and they all seem to be losing a lot of produce to botrytis...I'm starting to freak out..😳

3/23: I let them go totally dry this time and fed them with about 3/4 gallon each including terpinator, signal, sweet * sticky, cal-mag, armor si, cha ching, tiger bloom, big bloom, and humic acid. This was probably the last time the shorter one gets any nutes. She's getting closer now 😯 3/27: I gave them both 3/4 gallon with signal, sweet & sticky, terpinator, cal-mag, and a litt bit of cha ching. This will be the last nutes for the shorter one, but the taller one seems weeks from finished still.

3/30: I flushed the shorter one today with about 12 gallons of warm water and Sledgehammer. She's pretty much ready, so I may only flush her the one time and let her dry out a little before moving her to the dark tent., but the taller "tri-spire" plant still has a way to go..she'll go into the tiny tent with another plant to finish in the next several days because I've got to get the closet ready for the seedlings and clones I started today.👍 I fed her today with humic acid, cal-mag, terpinator, signal, tiger bloom, big bloom, sweet & sticky, and cha ching. 4/4: I harvested the shorter one today, washed her budsm and hung her to dry. The big girl is in the little tent with a #1 to finish.

4/8: I weighed and jarred up the shorter one today. She came in at 151g. Not bad. The taller one is still finishing in the little tent. I'll flush her next Saturday whether she's finished or not because I need the tent for other purposes. That plant is getting seriously frosty, but her colas never fattened like I was hoping. 4/11: I flushed the tall one with about 12 gallons of warm water and sledgehammer. II'll let her dry back out a little and switch off the lights for a day, then she's meeting her maker.👍 4/12: I've had my little 40-pint a day dehumidifier in the tiny tent all night and even with the two totally saturated 5-gallon pots, it kept the RH at an unbelievable 46%!! I'll leave it on full blast for these last few days and see how low it can go...

4/20: I grew two of them. One was about 3' tall (151g dry weight)and the other almost 5' tall(118g dry weight). The shorter one leaned a little more Indica instructure, but with small leaves and tighter, more dense flowers, so she weighed considerably more than her taller sister. The taller one produced some 18" buds, but they weren't as dense, and it took 2 additional weeks to finish. Both plants were very resinous, but the taller plant had the better aroma and flavor. Her terpenes are kind of like a berry-pine blend. Different. The shorter/heavier plant doesn't have much going on in the way of terpenes or flavonoids. A little bit piney, but not very pungent. Maybe that will improve with some cure time. If not, I'll run a big batch of magical butter with her or something. Both plants are very potent, and I can't honestly say I could differentiate the buzz from each plant because I smoked some from both at the same time and got all fucked up.....Head/body/both?? YES.😁 Bag-appeal: 6/10 Flavor: 6/10 Aroma: 6/10 Potency: 9/10 Yield: 8/10 Stability/consistency of strain: 4/10 Final thoughts....when rating/evaluating this strain, I am mainly comparing it to the other Fastbuds Fast Flowering Photos I tested in this crop. It is my least favorite of the testers I grew this time (#1, #3, #6, #9, #11) but far better than many other photo varieties I've grown, so consider that perspective. I still have one of these beans, but doubt I'll get around to growing it anytime soon when there are soooo many other Fastbuds varieties left for me to grow!😍