I'm Back! (Sponsored by FastBuds)

| FORWARD | Hello there my friends and those new to my channel! I have exciting news, my first sponsored grow here on GD has begun! :) Before getting into the nitty gritty I’ll update you on my absence from Grow Diaries and the Discord I started. My mother was fighting triple negative cancer that metastasized and developed more than 16 masses in her brain. I feel that my last year with her was important, and since I was her primary caretaker I didn’t have the time or energy to update GD or Discord. It’s been a hard year so far for many reasons, one I don’t have to name which you’re all familiar with. I’ve handled all the business I’ve had to and processed the passing of my late mother. I want to say thank you to those who supported me through this time, sincerely I thank you all. Now that I’ve given you an idea of my absence I’ll get into what we’re here for. First things first a huge thank you to Heather from Fastbuds going the extra mile and accepting the sponsorship for this grow, normally you have to be an active member here on grow diaries to receive sponsorship. Thanks again Heather, you made this happen! What a way to start rolling back on GD :) | WEEK 3 UPDATE | My last computer failed on me so I had to make a new one, took a bit of time to save up the money so I ended up a bit behind on my update to GD. I was sent four strains from Fast Buds, Purple Lemonade, Wedding Cheesecake, Orange Sherbert, and Stardawg. Now unfortunately the Stardag didn’t make it passed germination. The others had a ⅔ success rate which is passable, especially since they’re vigorous growers. It’s only week 3 and seeing good signs with these girls. I’m growing some photoperiods and clones to make a comparison on how autos grow since I’m new to auto genetics. | PURPLE LEMONADE | The Purple Lemonade is the tallest and most consistent of the 3 strains. They’re about the same height as my pure sativa landrace Maui Wowie that’s a week ahead. This is great to see, I’m surprised how consistent the growth rate and features are with the PL, if I didn’t know better I’d say they’re one in the same. This consistency shows how well this strain has been stabilized before sale. Well done FastBuds! I can’t wait to see how these two lovely plants mature. | WEDDING CHEESECAKE | This strain is expressing bushy, stout growth so far. I’m impressed with how filled out WC 1 and WC 2 are. Though there is a difference in height, I’m assuming that I got two different phenos expressing themselves. WC 1 is almost as bushy as my Afgan Landrace, good sign. I’m curious what the terpene profile will be in late weg during the transition to flower. I’ll keep an eye on these two. | ORANGE SHERBERT | Orange Sherbert is expressing two phenos like the Wedding Cheesecake I mentioned above, and about the same growth and development. At this time I can’t tell if it’s the ruderalis donor or the way they were bred and selected since these strains look so similar in these early weeks. I’ll find out in about 2-3 weeks once they fill out more and start producing terpenes for a stem rub test. | STARDAWG | Like I mentioned above in the forward the seeds I received were not viable, one was underdeveloped and had an indent on the side. The remaining two were small and pale, a sign of immature seeds. I’m not too worried about it, though it would be nice to test this strain at a later time since this is the one I was looking forward to the most. | SUMMARY | It’s been an interesting 3 weeks so far. The PL started stretching the past week and I assume will only grow taller, LST may have to be used to limit height. As for the others I’m happy they are full and vigorous, The strong survive. I’m looking forward to next week, by then I will have a new intro for my vlogs unique to the FastBuds sponsorship, thank you for your time and stay safe out there! Meus

| WEEK FOUR UPDATE | Week four my friends, this came fast and furious and blew me away. I’m going to toss up a few more photos showing what I’m so surprised about. GROWTH! I was worried about a couple of the girls, and wasn't sure how to react to their progress until now. Autos have a completely different rhythm compared to what I’m used to handling (photo periods). I feel that autos can have an awkward stage appearance wise during week 3-5 (time may vary depending on seedbank) since a lot of hormonal changes are happening at an accelerated rate. Well done Fast Buds, these are truly living up to the name. Compared to other autos I grew from a different company (Growers Choice) which took over 100 days for flowering to kick in adding up to roughly 133 days till harvest. I could fit several grows of Fast Buds genetics in that time frame. If you’re someone who is looking to increase the amount of potential grows yearly, I’d recommend these genetics. These girls have just started flower so It’ll be a bit before I give my final thoughts on these genetics from Fast Buds, but I won’t deny that I’m impressed. I moved the plants around so the shortest are on one side so I can set individual light height for each side. I didn’t want to lose energy for smaller plants that could be utilized by lowering one of the lights. Now onto the details :) | ORANGE SHERBET | There are two phenotypes that are expressing themselves. One (#2) is medium height of 11 inches, stocky, and full of bud sites. The other (#1) is the smallest of all the plants, 8 ½ inches but honestly has a really good structure despite its size. I love the citrus dominant terpenes in both girls, 2# smell like mandarin orange zest which admittedly I have a weakness for. | WEDDING CHEESECAKE | This strain is also expressing two phenotypes. #1 is 9 ½ inches tall with a solid structure. #2 is 16 inches, a decent height and great limb proportions. She has the best structure of all the strains I’m growing from Fast Buds. Looks amazing, and is taking a bit more time to flower than some the others, which is fine considering how healthy and strong she looks. | PURPLE LEMONADE | When life gives you lemons, stretch! These two are the tallest of the strains resting at a height of 19 - 20 inches. #1 has limited limbs, if anything she’s all stem and bud sites making up one massive cola site that’s going to consume most of the energy and nutrients. So I expect this girl to have the largest buds of the others. She’s also the first to flower and currently ahead by almost a week. #2 has more limbs but less bud sites on the main cola than her sister. I’m curious how these two will develop in the next few weeks. | FINAL THOUGHTS | Another week has gone by my friends, time flies these days. This week was productive and informative. I’m learning a lot from growing these girls, and look forward to the coming weeks. I’m happy with what I’m seeing so far, especially WC #2, and OS #2, these two are the stars of this grow! On a side note I was contacted by Heather from Fast Buds, she offered to send another batch of Stardawg since they didn’t make it. I didn’t expect this, so I was surprised when I read the email. Thanks Heather, your approach to customer service is spot on! Having dealt with shady Customer service before this is a real treat. Thanks again Heather and Fast Buds, loving what I’m seeing! That’s the end, I’ll see you guys next week. Much love, Meus

‖ WEEK 5 UPDATE ‖ Hello fellow growers and cannabis enthusiasts, I hope ya’ll are having a good day. I put a bit more information this time. Below are a few things I’ll go over for this weeks update ◻️ Growth ◻️ Nutrients ◻️ Pests ◻️ Thoughts ‖ SHORT VERSION ‖ Some of the girls grew about ~12 inches or ~30 centimeters, this surprised me! Never saw that level of growth before. I gave them a bloom booster to help with their transition to week 2 - 3 of flower, this should kick in the bud development. I inspected the little ones and noticed signs of Thrips, annoying buggers. I treated them with neem oil and a time released pest fumigator strip (last 3 months). Overall I’m impressed with this week's progress so far. ‖ INDIVIDUAL GROWTH UPDATE ‖ Orange Sherbet #1 ◻️ height: 18in / 46cm ◻️ width: 15in / 40cm ◻️ node distance: 1.5in - 3in / 3.8cm - 7.6cm Orange Sherbet #2 ◻️ height: 17in / 43cm ◻️ width: 15in / 39cm ◻️ node distance: .8in - 3in / 2cm - 9.1cm Wedding Cheesecake #1 ◻️ height: 19in / 48cm ◻️ width: 16in / 41cm ◻️ node distance: 1in - 2.5in / 2.5cm - 6.3cm Wedding Cheesecake #2 ◻️ height: 31in / 79cm ◻️ width: 18in / 46cm ◻️ node distance: 1.5in - 4in / 3.8cm - 10cm Purple Lemonade #1 ◻️ height: 24in / 61cm ◻️ width: 12in / 31cm ◻️ node distance: 1.1in - 2.4in / 2.7cm - 6cm Purple Lemonade #2 ◻️ height: 26in / 66cm ◻️ width: 18in / 45cm ◻️ node distance: 1.5in - 3.1in / 3.8cm - 7.6cm ‖ NUTRIENT PLAN ‖ Next week I will amend the soil with a little nitrogen, and focus more on pk for buds. I gave all the girls Flower Fuel a granular bloom booster I got off of amazon last year. I never had issues with it though I haven’t used beastie blooms or other common bloom boosters on the market. The week after next (week 7) I’ll add powdered amendments to keep them going till harvest. I may even amend at week 6 so they get a head start on breaking down all the organic materials. Everything is ph’d to ~6.5, the girls are looking healthy and will be ready for feeding soon. ‖ PESTS ‖ Found a few thrips around, still managing the white flies okay but I’ll need to tackle the thrips immediately to prevent stunted growth and stress to the girls. I use neem oil, green cleaner (not the kitchen disinfectant) and a slow release fumigation strip that helps with most pest. ‖ FINAL THOUGHTS ‖ This week has gone well, again I was surprised with the growth rate during this week. The stretch period is still going for some of the girls so I’ll keep updating on their individual growth stats for the next couple of weeks. I’ll need to inspect my plants a bit more carefully so I don’t miss any signs of stress, pests , etc. I may be partially blind but I can still make a better effort in spotting these potential issues, I’m still learning :) Well, it’s been a great week, got some work ahead of me. Thanks for the love and hope ya’ll stay safe out there! Much love, Meus

‖ TOC ‖ ◻️ Weekly Update ◻️ Individual Growth Update ◻️ Final Thoughts ‖ WEEKLY UPDATE ‖ It’s week seven! A lot of changes happened, and some things didn’t change much. I took a week off so I could work on a few things. I’ll mention my favorite pheno then I’ll get into the weekly update. One of the girls in particular have really outgrown the others in sheer cola size alone, that’s the Purple Lemonade #1. This pheno is green and shows almost no signs of it’s purple heritage which I find very interesting. But I’m happy to say that even though she’s about 4 weeks from harvest, she has the biggest buds I’ve had in my grows to date. As for the remaining girls I have two that have great growth structure, but lack in bud development. This is most likely a roll of the genetic dice, since the feeding and environment was the same as the purple lemonade #1. This is fine, I’m not here to criticize variables I’m not not experienced in. It’s only week seven (2-4 weeks of flower) for the girls, we’ll see what happens in the following weeks. I took action on the pest issue and have started to manage their numbers but still have some work to do. They’ve been resistant to most of my attempts at culling them, hopefully I don’t have to use a strong pesticide halfway through the flower cycle. I’ll stay vigilant and keep with my anti pests routine. Now it’s not as bad as it sounds, but I’d like to handle these guys promptly so my other tents don’t get affected since they have mother plants and new cuttings. Wish me luck :) ‖ INDIVIDUAL GROWTH UPDATE ‖ Orange Sherbet #1 ◻️ height: 24in / 60.9cm ◻️ width: 15in / 40cm Notes: About the same development as the Wedding Cheesecake #2, lanky and medium height rounding off at 2 feet / 0.6 meters. This girl had a slow start, so I’m hoping that with tlc and time she’ll stack on some weight. The terpenes are very intense, citrus, orange zest smell which I love! Orange Sherbet #2 ◻️ height: 18in / 45.7cm ◻️ width: 15in / 39cm Notes: This is the shortest girl that I have. This stocky green goddess is short but sweet. She’s stacking on bud weight now and is handling the nutes well. I’m proud of this little girl, let’s see what happens yeah? Wedding Cheesecake #1 ◻️ height: 22 ½ in / 57.1cm ◻️ width: 16in / 41cm Notes: This girl has more buds than her big sister WC#2. Though not as big as the Purple Lemonade she has a good bud structure which reminds me of Sour Diesel in early flower cycle. I’m maintaining the same nute program as the others till I need to adjust per plant values. Wedding Cheesecake #2 ◻️ height: 36in / 91.4cm ◻️ width: 18in / 46cm Notes: This pheno is tall and lanky, the buds are small and underdeveloped compared to the others. This may be due to my inexperience with autos or it could be genetic. Either way I’m very happy with her growth structure and personally I like her base structure. She has a solid proportionate vascular system, so I’m a bit at a loss to why she’s underdeveloped in the bud department. Purple Lemonade #1 ◻️ height: 24 ½ in / 61cm ◻️ width: 12in / 31cm Notes: The “Green Lemonade” dubbed by Heather is just that, a green variant of the Purple Lemonade line. This pheno expresses massive cola development and has little to no noticeable purple traits. I don’t see this as a negative. Reminds me when I studied Mendel and his peas and the way genes can jump generations whilst latent genes can be a surprise. This is my surprise, a green variant of a purple stain. I feel lucky to have had the chance to grow such a unique specimen. This pheno is smelling skunky and earthy, wasn’t expecting that either. Purple Lemonade #2 ◻️ height: 26in / 66cm ◻️ width: 18in / 45cm Notes: The Purple pheno of the two sisters, this girl is showing the prolific purple and rouge throughout the bud sites. This pheno has a unique trait too, she curls to the side and has a sway to the main stem. I love the tint, it reminds me of my mother's favorite pastel colour. I can’t wait to see how she cures and smokes, very excited about this one! The terpenes are akin to cherry filled dark chocolate. ‖ FINAL THOUGHTS ‖ It’s getting close to the final weeks for a few of the girls. They’ll stack on more weight, and develop more terps now, so all I have to do is keep 'em happy till flush then harvest. I was surprised by the “Green Lemonade” this week, she’s the heaviest producer and currently my favorite in this current grow. On another note, Heather from Fast Buds sent me replacements for the Stardawg. I received not just the Stardawg but 3 others as well! Strawberry Pie, Lemon Pie, and Gorilla Cookies. Heather continues to surprise me with prompt feedback, and going the extra mile with her level of customer service. A big thank you to her and Fast Buds for making this happen! As always stay safe out there everyone, I’ll see you next week! Much love, Meus

I really enjoyed this run! Autos are a different breed than what I'm used to but this was a great experience regardless of being new to working with auto genetics. This wedding cheesecake is no joke and stretches very high in some phenos, easily 2x taller than average auto. I did notice the larger pheno gets very hungry, and I mean HUNGRY! So I had to feed this girl separately than the others in this run. FastBuds has some skilled people in the breeding department, well done I really enjoyed this process! Much love and stay safe out there! Meus

She was easy to grow, had no issues there. Large dense buds, very purple and pleasant to smoke. I feel that this is a good starter for people getting into autos like myself. Thanks again to FastBuds for sponsoring this grow, I enjoyed this one :)

The final week is done! I've cured all the different strain for over a month to give a better review on Fastbuds product. This Orange Sherbet is very strong, to the point where I can get some anxiety 😱 ha :) Though when I treat this girl with respect, I have fantastic results. Overall Orange Sherbet is my personal favorite out of the strains I've tried from FastBuds. The smell from the terpenes is a literal bomb! Every time I open the jar the house smells like oranges and fuel ha, I love it! A huge Thanks to FastBuds and Heather for making this possible! Great services, very professional and has a lot of potential in this market. I can't wait to run more! This was a blast, thanks again for your support my friends, much love <3 and stay safe out there!