Fast Buds Cream Cookies Outdoor v Indoor

DudeGrowsWeed Back again!!! After 2 rounds of Spider Mites in my old grow area, I moved my grow area to a completely opposite area of my house - from the attic to the basement. I'm near the end of the first crop of autos that have grown in the basement and I've had NO bug issues at all! 😁 This diary is primarily to see what happens when growing Fast Buds Cream Cookies outdoors and to enter in their 2020 outdoor grow contest. I started 4 Cream Cookies seeds indoors a week ago and they all popped. I started the seeds directly in soil. Personally, I find starting directly in soil works best for me. I'm going to take 2 of the seedlings outdoors in about a week and keep 2 indoors. Indoors they will be growing under a 315w CMH (LEC) in my 2' x 4' tent. Outdoors they will get full sun in our garden. They will be growing in ProMix and I will be feeding Fox Farm nutes as well as Recharge. I'll be feeding at 1/2 strength from the recommended feeding schedule. I'm excited to have a new diary up on GD again. And excited to see how the outdoor crop compares to the indoor. My prediction is that the outdoor crop will grow larger and faster. I've been seeing insane growth spurts outdoors in the past week. I almost took the seedlings outdoors over the weekend, but I'm glad I didn't - it got down to 34 degrees last night. That probably would have killed the seedlings. Stay tuned... p.s. The big girls in the tent are almost ready to harvest and include Seedsman Sour Diesel Haze Auto (nice fat, dense cola), Fast Buds Gelato, Dinafem Critical+ Auto and Female Seeds Auto Bubble. I also have Basil, Oregano, Mint and Chives growing in the tent acting as bug deterrents.

DudeGrowsWeed Week 2- All 4 Cream Cookies are looking good. Very similar looking seeedings at this point. I harvested the larger plants that were in last weeks diary and moved all seedlings under my 315w CMH fixture. The fixture is 24" above the plants. I'm going to keep all 4 indoors in my tent for another week, then move 2 to the outdoor garden. I'd like to see 2-3 nodes before transplanting. I also have 3 gallon self-watering pots ready for transplanting the 2 that are staying in the tent. I've never used self-watering pots before, but 'The Rev' (from Skunk magazine and True Living Organics) swears by them. They don't actually water themselves, I'll still have to add water manually. But there is a reservoir at the bottom for the roots to be able to feed off of. Supposedly, once the root network is established to the bottom I'll be able to add water to the reservoir only. I'm following the Fox Farm feeding schedule, but at 1/2 strength. So this week is Big Bloom only. I also added CalMag and some Recharge. I'm starting another diary in a few minutes for the other plants I have going on. Look for it soon! 😉

DudeGrowsWeed Transplanted into bigger pots and moved 2 of the Cream Cookies outdoors. Outdoors I'm growing in 5 gallon buckets filled with ProMix. There are holes drilled at the bottom of the buckets for drainage and the buckets are wrapped with copper tape to help prevent slugs and snails (it works). In the outdoor pics the Cream Cookies are on the right and left (in the middle is Dinafem Quick Critical+). The transplanting didn't stunt anything, seeing significant growth the next day both outdoors and indoors. Still feeding on the Fox Farm schedule at 1/2 strength. This week adds Grow Big to the mix, still feeding Big Bloom, Recharge and CALiMAGic. Totally psyched to see how things develop and compare the outdoor with the indoor. Let the fun begin!!! 😃

DudeGrowsWeed Lots of growth this week! 😃 So far, the indoor girls are looking fuller to me. They seem shorter with tighter nodes and more nodes than the outdoor girls. Also one of the outdoor girls seems to be a little bit of a runt. I'm hoping she catches up eventually, but I'm noticing the runty looking girl is also not symmetrical for some reason. I think this is a good comparison. I'm glad I'm growing 2 outdoors and 2 indoors so we can see a more fair comparison. If I only had one of each it might be a genetic thing causing the differences. Btw... the indoor plants are under 315w CMH on a 19/5 light cycle, 24" from the canopy. The outdoors are obviously dependent on the sunlight which is between 15-16 hours here now. I don't care that the outdoor girls have stretched more than the indoor - they don't have a ceiling to deal with, nor will they grow too close to the light (unless I'm really lucky 😉 ). I am very happy that so far I do not see any damage due to bugs on any of the plants. I'm still feeding at 75% of the Fox Farm schedule. That seems to be the right level to me. I'm almost out of Big Bloom, just ordered another gallon. What do you guys think? Please comment! Thanks!!!

DudeGrowsWeed June 30, 2020 update: Fast Buds Cream Cookies... I have a total of 4 Cream Cookies going right now - 2 outdoors and 2 indoors. All 4 have started to start showing small bud sites in the last week. I still consider this part of the vegetative stage personally. Once I've seen the stretch occur and also see dime sized buds, then I consider the plant to be in flower. The 2 indoors are bigger with more nodes and bushier overall. They are growing on a 19/5 light cycle under a 315w CMH. I feed them all the same regimen of nutrients (Fox Farm Trio at 75% recommended strength). If its raining, the indoor plants may get an extra feeding. We have gotten a lot of (much needed) rain this week so I think I've only fed once in the past week, but they seems to love the fresh rain too. The outdoor plants are 16-20" in height, the indoor are 20-22" in height. I have one indoor and one outdoor plant that both show some discoloration on the leaves. When I look it up it looks most similar to Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) and there does not seem like there is much that can be done for TMV. I'm just gonna let them rock and see how they turn out. At this point my prediction is for a larger yield indoors, but I'm hoping for a better flavor and high from the outdoor. Also, I have a separate diary comparing only the Cream Cookies - check it out!!! 😃 Anyone interested in the other girls growing along side of the Cream Cookies can check out the other diary I have going "Dudes Summer Catch All Diary" I'm looking forward to next weeks update, I'm expecting lots of growth and more buds! I may also bend them all over at a 45 degree angle this week. I'll be using LST this time, instead of HST. The HST I performed on the Lemon Cream Kush seemed to be too harsh for her and had me worried for several days afterwards. Thanks for checking in! Please comment, like and feel free to ask any questions!💪

DudeGrowsWeed July 7, 2020 update... Houston... We have lift off!!! Flowering has officially begun with all four ladies. The actual heights of the 4 ladies is as follows 24" & 26" (indoors) and 21" & 24" (outdoors). The indoor plants are also much bushier and have more nodes. The outdoor plants are looking more like old school autos just focusing on a main central cola. I gave all of the ladies a LST bend and tied them down at a 45 degree angle. This is to allow better light penetration to the lower bud sites and usually results in several branches producing fat colas, not just the top. I am starting to see some bug damage on the outdoor girls. I have been trying to use companion planting of Basil, Chives, Spearmint, and Oregano as natural bug deterrents, but that's not working as well as I had hoped. I also sprayed them once with Safer End-All. Its OMRI listed and recommended by 'The Rev' of Skunk Magazine and True Living Organic fame. I'd prefer not to spray them again, especially as they get farther into flower. Any suggestions for keeping bugs away from my girls would be appreciated - hit me up in the comments. 👍

DudeGrowsWeed July 13, 2020 update. The outdoor girls are smaller, but starting to put out much more trichome development. The indoor girls are larger and have more nodes and bud sites, but not as much trichome development, although the bud sites look super healthy. You will also notice some bug damage on the outdoor ladies. I posted a question here on GD and liked the advice I received from @Nor_Cal_Kannabliss and have ordered some Doctor Zymes Eliminator to see if that helps. I did previously spray with Safer End-All and do notice the damage getting worse since then. By the way, Doctor Zymes Eliminator is supposed to be effective against spider mites and spider mite eggs (wish I knew about this stuff a few months ago). Still feeding at 75% strength from the Fox Farm schedule. Also, I defoliated this week to allow better light penetration.

DudeGrowsWeed This is the July 13th update: So far Indoors is doing much better than outdoors. I expect a much more significant yield from the indoor ladies. I do see more trichome development on the outdoor girls, but the bud development is kind of loose and airy. I hope they taste good!

DudeGrowsWeed July 21, 2020 update. The indoor girls are looking close to harvest. Outdoors the buds still look loose and airy, but all of the hairs have curled in and are turning red/brown. I'm thinking about cutting them all down in the next few days - mainly because my existing jars are getting low. 😮

DudeGrowsWeed I tool final pictures before cutting all of my Cream Cookies down on August 2nd. They may have been a week or two premature for harvesting, but my jars are getting low and they looked to be the closest to harvest of all the plants I have going at the moment. The indoor girls are much bigger, covered in more crystals, more dense and have a much stronger smell than the outdoor girls. I have to admit I was expecting the opposite when I started this experiment. Next summer I'm going to try some of Fast Buds FFT tester strains (I still have a few of those seeds). I pulled the larger leaves off and then hung all plants to dry. I prefer a dry trim personally, much easier on the scissors. I'll hit up the harvest and smoke report after they have dried. But I'm guesstimating 2-3 oz from the indoor girls and maybe 1 oz from the outdoor girls.

DudeGrowsWeed Again, this was a fun experiment. I learned a lot and already have plans for my 2021 outdoor grow. Thanks to Fast buds for making quality auto strains and supporting the Grow Diaries community. You guys ROCK!!