The Grow Awards 2026 🏆
Likes
Comments
Share
What a journey it has been from seed! I made a lot of mistakes in the first few weeks of this growing journey. I feel like I had a mini-crash after finishing the first year of grad school, and although I am growing cannabis as part of my research project, I haven't been the greatest at paying attention to it. This is not an excuse. It has actually been a learning opportunity. I realized that my body needs proper schedules to function and grow, just like a plant. The problems with the plant have really been my own problems. Let's just say that a plant may be the reflection of the grower. First, the light cycles were wrong and inconsistent. I thought that I could manually control the light schedule for the plants and be alright. However, I was wrong. My sleep schedule has been very inconsistent for the past few months. Mainly because we are living through a pandemic, and secondly because I am a graduate student 😂. How naive was it of me to think that a plant could follow my own rhythms? I guess it highlights my 'plant blindness.' Second, the light intensity was low and PH levels high. In the last five days, I have learned that plants are living organisms (I knew this, but my plant blindness is quick to dismiss it, I need to stop fighting these "plant voices" (signals)) that require a proper environment to grow, similar to humans. Of course, a plant is not human, but it is alive and living. It needs water, a regular schedule (light (active) /darkness (rest), oxygen, nutrients, and an overall good environment to grow. Concern about the size of my plant at five weeks, I decided to conduct a few experiments at home. Here are my notes: Friday, July 23, 2021, I took the plant out of the tent at 6:00 AM and placed it in front of my backyard window that faces the Eastside, perfect for sunrise. On that day, I had a few errands to run, and when I arrived home, it was 2:30 PM. The sun was now hitting the West side of my house, and I had to move the plant in front of my bedroom window. At around 7:00 PM, I went to look at the plant and noticed that its leaves were looking plumpy. So, I decided to take a timelapse to see what I would be able to record. During "magic hour" (sunset), I recorded and witnessed the plant moving with the rhythms of the sun. Plant, like humans, function at their best when they are synchronized with their circadian rhythm. The pandemic has definitely disoriented us to the point that it has disrupted all of our schedules. To this day, I feel tired from everything we have all been through; how could I possibly think that a plant would thrive with such a messed-up schedule? The time lapse made me realize that the plant needs some structure to thrive, and so do I. So, as much as I like to think that I can be disciplined and follow a plant's schedule, I cannot. So, I went to the store and bought the Globe Suite smart plug to automate and schedule the light cycle to 12hrs of light and 6 hours of darkness. Saturday, July 24, 2021, the plant woke up to the set schedule of the lights. I checked on the plant first thing in the morning, around 9:30 AM. The leaves look much greener and thicker than they did the day before. Sunday, July 25, 2021. I was away overnight and did not arrive home until 2 PM. The plant looks twice the size it was on Friday! Today, I will water the plant. I got a PH test kit and realized that the way that I measured the PH level, the first few weeks was wrong 🤦‍♀️🏽. I measured the PH correctly, to 5.9, and added some Reefertilizer grow nutrients to the water. I watered from the top, distributing the water evenly around the stem. My partner pointed to me that the lights seemed dim for the stage of the plant's life. So I had my lights set at 100 watts running at 20 % 😅. I realized that I had not increased the light intensity since the first few weeks of vegetation 🤦‍♀️🏽. So I increased the intensity to 100 watts running at 60%. Monday, July 26, 2021. First check-in 7:00 AM: The plant looks like it loves all of the new changes that I have made! It is finally growing 🤗 The sun is out, but it is not as intense as it should be because tiny particles of smoke are present in our air due to the wildfires, and they create a filter that makes the human eye see the sun blood red. It is quite apocalyptic. Regardless, I decided to take the plant out from the tent and record a time-lapse. It is fascinating how much movement plants have despite showing no noticeable signs of movement (to the human eye). Tuesday, July 27, 2021. It has been five days since I have made big changes to the plant's schedule and environment. The plant is finally showing good signs of growth, and its leaves colours have changed to a deep green. I am not watering the plant today, but I am spritzing it with water. I decided to take another time-lapse of the plant, but this time inside the tent. As I was setting up the tripod for my camera, I accidentally increased the humidifier 🤦‍♀️🏽. Luckily, I noticed within a reasonable timeframe and reduced the humidity and made the environment better. I increased the light intensity to 100 watts at 100%. The plant will stay in the tent all day today because it is raining ☔️.
Likes
49
Share
@Roberts
Follow
FBT2401 is starting to flower. She was stunned early on. So I think that has really messed her up for overall size. She is growing well now. Thank you Medic Grow, and Fast Buds. 🤜🏻🤛🏻🌱🌱🌱 so grow diaries crashed on me mid update. I am redoing the update a day later. Thank you grow diaries community for the 👇likes👇, follows, comments, and subscriptions on my YouTube channel👇. ❄️🌱🍻 Happy Growing 🌱🌱🌱 https://youtube.com/channel/UCAhN7yRzWLpcaRHhMIQ7X4g If anyone needs to purchase fastbuds here is a link for my affiliate program https://myfastbuds.com/?a_aid=60910eaff2419
Likes
21
Share
@BruWeed
Follow
Esta planta estuvo dos semanas en etapa de enraizamiento, tres en crecimiento y ocho semanas en floración. No tuvo ningún problema con nada, me resultó de fácil cultivo. En esta cosecha obtuve ciento cuarenta y siete g en total. Utilice una maceta Root House de 10L. El sustracto que utilice fue de Nube Verde, en su composición se incluye turba de categoría, perlita, humus, compost, tierra, dolomita y vermiculita. Sin duda volvería a probar esta genética otra vez, supero mis expectativas.
Likes
2
Share
The last one started to bloom now. I started LST with my topped flower and startet to change my nutrients from grow to bloom. The weather was realy bad here. I think they had 3 days outdoor, the other days where just to cold. The smallest one looks realy bad. I think about getting it out and making space for a new one.
Likes
12
Share
@Sundance
Follow
The weak plant is a disaster but learning making the masters, right. The healthy plant is fantastic, smell well and flowers are growing.
Processing
Likes
13
Share
FRIDAY 11/9: I rotated them and increased blue spectra for their 6-hour "nighttime." Added another 25w 15.0 UVB with reflector over them. Lowered all the lights about 2 inches. SATURDAY: Today was their last feeding. I went heavy with the cha ching, terpinator, bembe, and bud candy, and just a little big bloom and tiger bloom, plus calimagic. I'll let them dry out for a couple days and start flushing. SUNDAY: Rotated them and plucked some necrotic stuff. Need a close look at her trichromes, but all three of them are about ready to be flushed. Super stinky!😋 MONDAY: I took some photos and zoomed in on them with my PC..they are definitely ready for flushing. They'll be ready for a big clear drink of water tomorrow.👍 TUESDAY: Today, I douched all three remaining bloomers with a few gallons of ph'd water each and plucked some dead shit. I'm so glad this crop is almost finished! Can't wait to clean out the big tent and get it ready for the new crop. They'll start flowering any day now.. WEDNESDAY: I did nothing really except for taking a few photos and re-positioning the UVB lights a little.
Likes
56
Share
@Prilyfe13
Follow
April 12, 2024 Day 57 This week we will be focusing on defoliation. The last defoliation until flower to be exact. I don't plan on doing it all at once, but I'll be doing it throughout the week or when it's done. Whichever comes first. Banana Purple Punch A is about 22" in most spots with a few colas standing an inch or two higher. I believe she has for the most part finished her stretch. Not as tall as I had hoped, but there's tons of bud sites throughout, so it should be a pretty decent yield for her size. Banana Purple Punch B is slightly shorter at 21" tall with 2 colas being 23". Her buds are huge and fat. I'm expecting a really nice yield from her regardless of her size. I'm pretty sure her stretch has stopped now and this is the final size she will be. She may stretch another half inch or so in the next week, but that's it. Both ladies got a partial leaf cut today. Just cleaning up some clusters and larger overshadowing leaves. There's a couple more areas to work on, but I'll save those for the next trimming in 2 days. It honestly should only be about 6 days for the whole thing to be good. With Banana Purple Punch A having less to work on, she may be done next trimming session. Let's hope. It's really time to focus on bud production. The nutrients are going to change with the next watering. Banana Purple Punch A got a full reservoir refill, while Banana Purple Punch B needs another day. I'll top her off tomorrow. I'll be switching Big Bud with Overdrive and removing Sensizym. Tasty Terpenes will remain as well as B-52. I'll keep the new setup for about 2 weeks. Then I'll cut the dose in half for one watering before the flush. I'll be using Flawless Finish for the flushing cycle. I decided to increase the light power back up to 90%. It's the best place for the DLI. The center is about 50 mol/m²/d while the surrounding area is 45 mol/m²/d. The very edges are about 42 mol/m²/d. Overall it's a really nice position and I get to keep the 24" distance. I'm really enjoying this footprint. Also, depending on what happens over the next week, I may have to drop the power back down or lift the light up as high as it can go. I may lose an inch, but that's perfectly fine. The environment was a bit wonky for the last couple days, but now it's back to an acceptable range. Today it's at 76° with a humidity of 55%. The VPD is 1.33 kPa. Again, not the most ideal for this stage. It's fine though. The humidity will drop later this afternoon and the VPD will raise up to about 1.42 kPa. So everything is good there. April 13, 2024 Absolutely nothing to do today. No clipping of leaves, no watering, no light lifting, nothing. Just took some pictures, checked over the plants and that was it. I'll look for leaves to trim tomorrow. If I even decide to trim anymore leaves at all. I might just leave Banana Purple Punch A alone. She seems to be done stretching along with Banana Purple Punch B. So I guess from here on out, I should probably just leave them alone. So tomorrow with be the last day. As I said earlier, the lighting need not be changed. The ladies are praying. I think this is where the light will be for the rest of the grow. Updated Correction: I ended up cutting some leaves off today. Not a whole lot, but there were clusters I missed and a couple massive leaves that were overshadowing several bud sites. It's all about the angle of view. I only have one way I can look, so it makes trimming a bit of a pain. But that should be it from now on. Maybe a bit more tomorrow. We shall see. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.5° RH: 52.0% VPD: 1.32 kPa April 14, 2024 As I said yesterday, today is the last day of defoliation. So I dug nice and deep. I didn't take off as much as I thought I would, but I'm sure I'll find more this afternoon. Anyway, I had the intention of doing a full defoliation, so I was looking for anything that could be done away with. Lots of power clusters from the younger foliage growing and spreading. I think I will end up removing the SCroG net today or tomorrow. I may do it this afternoon before I check for more leaves and pull each plant out and finish the defoliation then. I'll also clean up the outsides of each plant to help keep them more compact. Mostly leaves that are sticking out too far. Those that touch the walls and overlap each others bud sites. It's early afternoon and I have removed the SCroG net and did a nice defoliation. Both plants got a decent amount of leaves taken off. Nothing crazy, maybe 15% came off each plant. With the net off and the ladies trimmed up, there is plenty of deep light penetration and air flow. Banana Purple Punch A is actually filled in the center now. For the most part. After removing the net, the middle branches came in a bit, offering ample light penetration for the tops that were behind the middles. I've also noticed that the internodal spacing is pretty long on her. Very spread out. But all the buds are big and fat and covered in trichomes. Not quite super frosty yet, but getting there. Banana Purple Punch B opened up quite nicely with her defoliation. Not much changed in branch placement with the net off, but the defoliation opened up a ton of space for ultimate light penetration and air flow. She is also covered in trichomes. Also not frosty yet, but definitely getting there. I checked the DLI today. It looks great at 43 mol/m²/d. Not the 45 I was expecting, but the center of the tent still hits 51 mol/m²/d. Not to mention that the two Tropicana Cookies I have sharing the tent several taller tops than these ladies by about 3 inches. That leads me to have a slight issue. I would prefer the light be at 45 mol/m²/d for these ladies, but if I lower it, the intensity will be too much for the other plants and their taller tops. Lifting the plants up may be the only option. However, it's tops that are taller. The canopy is still just over the net. And that's for all of the plants in the tent. So I'm just trying to figure out what to do. I'll decide this afternoon, after the net is removed and the plants are all trimmed up. I can also get a better idea of what the canopies look like and the amount of tops that are taller. Honestly, the best canopy is from Banana Purple Punch B. She's the smallest, but has the best structure. The canopy is nearly perfect compared to Banana Purple Punch A who is more spread out with tops in a range of heights. Not so level. My training may have been a bit off for her. Still nice and open though. She definitely didn't grow as I expected either. Inner branches didn't stretch as much as I would have expected. So this plant would have benefited a wider canopy. To help get those center auxiliary branches could keep up with the outers. Nothing to be done now. But for future reference. The environment is doing pretty good today with a temp of 77° and the humidity just over 54%. The DLI is looking really good as well at 1.44 kPa. Perfect for this stage. I would prefer to lower both the heat and the humidity. The heat should be around 75° with the humidity under 50%. The DLI would stay the same though. And that's the goal. 1.44 kPa and a temp of 75°. I'll match the humidity to the temp for the DLI. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.5° RH: 52.2% VPD: 1.39 kPa April 15, 2024 Not as wordy as yesterday. It's watering day! Except for Banana Purple Punch B. She is nearly full still. I soaked the bottom of her container to kick start the wick system. This kind of happened with my last run. One plant just wouldn't take water in as much as the rest. It was also the smallest of the plants. It's interesting that for some reason she started slowing down her water intake at the flowering stage. It's still way too early to do that. Anyway, with the net gone, I finally got to clean the basins out. Well, I cleaned the one for Banana Purple Punch A. It was empty. For Banana Purple Punch B, I mixed the solution and cleaned the wicks. They were definitely clogged. I changed the nutrients to 8 ml of Overdrive and removed the Big Bud. I was supposed to remove the Sensizym as well, but forgot to. I'll remove it next watering. This will be the final regimen for the rest of the grow. I am a bit concerned with the 8 ml dose of Overdrive. It may be too much to start. I should have started with 4 ml. Oh well, I'll be able to fix it pretty quickly if there are any issues. All that being said, everything looks great! The plants definitely look much better without the net. As well as being much more even around the canopy. The lighting was not changed yet again. I'll double check the light tomorrow. I may do it later this afternoon. I'll see how I feel. However, I don't think it will need any movement. The environment looks really good today. 75° and 50% humidity. Looking great! Pretty stable as well. I will say the night temps are a bit high. It's about 71° to 73°. I'd much rather see the temp at 66° to 68°. Especially during the flowering stage. Update: I lifted the light an inch and left the power alone. It's a bit all over the place with the canopy definitely not being level. Like it should be, but now it's at least in the 40's and not in the mid 50's. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.3° RH: 50.2% VPD: 1.45 kPa April 16, 2024 Not much going on today. Banana Purple Punch A looks great. She may need watering tomorrow. I'll double check this afternoon. Banana Purple Punch B on the other hand need water today. The dip in the basin worked wonders and kick-started the wick system. She's definitely drinking now. She may slow down a bit once the soil saturation rate levels out. Neither plant needs any maintenance today. I didn't bother pulling them out. I don't think it's necessary to pull them out daily if I can avoid it. I'd rather leave them to grow those buds as much as possible without any disturbances. I will pull them out tomorrow though. Just Incase they need anything done. It'll also give me a better idea of what I'm looking at when they are in the tent. It's a tight fit with 4 plants in there, and it's really hard to tell them apart where they meet up. They are all touching each wall, but definitely not as bad as it could be. Looks like a perfect fit to be honest. Their buds are huge. And haven't really started swelling quite yet. Lots of trichomes. I'll start posting trichomes pics next week as well as individual plant pics. They are too big to really tell apart in the tent, so I'll do the solo pics instead. The lighting didn't need to be changed. I believe this is where I'm keeping it for the rest of the grow. At least until the last week. I'll drop it down a bit for the first half of the week and a bit more for the last half before harvest. For now, the light stays at 45 mol/m²/d and 24" canopy distance. The environment looks great today. I finally got the temp down to 66° last night. It has climbed up to 76° today. The humidity has been stable at 51% for most of the time. It climbed a little bit yesterday, but hasn't showed signs of climbing at all today. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.5° RH: 52.3% VPD: 1.32 kPa April 17, 2024 A little to do today. Both ladies got a reservoir refill and Banana Purple Punch B needed a whole branch pulled out of the way of other tops. Looking good now. I will say this strain has some super strong branches and stalk. I didn't pull Banana Purple Punch A out today. No need. I can see through and around her. Looking good as well. I still haven't changed the light. No need at this stage. Another week or 2 before I drop the light power down to 70%. In theory, if I'm right, that should bring the DLI down to about 38 mol/m²/d. The final week will have the light power at 60%. That will be roughly 35 mol/m²/d. And that's the final light schedule. The environment is back on track with the night temp being around 67° with day temps climbing back up to around 76°. The humidity is still really stable at 51%. I'm not sure I'll be able to drop it below 50%, but I'm going to try my damnedest. 45% is where it should be now. It's just tough to get there. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.0° RH: 50.0% VPD: 1.40 kPa April 18, 2024 Not much going on today. No water needed and no sense in changing the light. Instead, I lifted Banana Purple Punch B up one more riser. Now she is perfectly level with the whole canopy. Should have done that in the first place, but you never know. I've come to the conclusion that this run isn't the best I could have had. The plants aren't up to where I would have liked them. I've been monitoring container size for a while now and I can tell you 3 gallon containers. Don't generally produce large plants. I prefer large plants to shorter ones. Even though larger is not always better, but I have learned from my mistakes and I find that 5 gallon containers are the best bet for a larger plant. I mean, I could just be doing it wrong and got lucky with a few larger plants, but I feel like I generally get better plants with the 5 gallon containers. I'll do a side by side at some point. For the next run, it's a contest, so I'm keeping all the plants in 3 gallon containers. If I have enough soil, I'll do 5 gallon containers. Anyway, Banana Purple Punch A has some taller colas, but the internodal spacing is pretty long, so the branches aren't covered in buds, but the buds that are there are getting really fat. Banana Purple Punch B has more bud development, but is significantly shorter. They have the same amount of branches, but they just grew differently. She also kept up with the wick system, so the bottom of the container is nice and moist with roots showing throughout the bottom. A little too late for that, but still good for strong bud development. As I said earlier, I didn't mess with the light, but lifted Banana Purple Punch B up to canopy height again. The light is seemingly a bit too bright in some areas, where the super tall tops are. I may decrease the power back down to 80% in a week. Then down to 70% and then 60% and maybe even 50% if need be. The DLI for these two is now finally 45 mol/m²/d. The environment is a little wonky today. Well, at least for the morning it has been. It should fix itself later today. The temp is around 75° and the humidity is a bit high at 55%. The VPD is low at 1.33 kPa. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.2° RH: 53.3% VPD: 1.33 kPa
Likes
8
Share
@THCussy8
Follow
Drip ring system cobbled together for fertigation.
Likes
8
Share
So exactly 12 weeks old today I’m checking trichomes every other day atm as there still clear!! Hopefully another week of feeding nutrients then the flush before harvest! Still happy for my first grow! The girls scout cookie auto plant has been impressive and the bcn critical has also grown steady!! Leaves are turning more yellow and bud hairs seem to be curling over more each day which is a positive! Feeding every two days, trying to starve them as much as possible! Do I reduce my light hours in the last two weeks of harvest???
Likes
3
Share
I top dressed worm castings mix with more organic soil and and gave the teas ones a week other then that a I gave them just water with 3ml silica 5ml cal-mag 10ml fish’s sh!tt.
Likes
8
Share
New experiment stay tuned. Found this old pot may be 40-60 gallons im not sure the thing is huge. I had to squeeze it in the closet.
Likes
25
Share
@BudHaks
Follow
I am now flushing her with plain Brita filtered water PH'd with lime juice to lower her PH. I initially first flushed her with 42L of water and now I am flushing her once a day for 8 days and then I will put her in for darkness for 3 days and then I will harvest her and dry her for 9 days and then cure her for 28-48 days.
Likes
19
Share
@DrLaggis
Follow
🌱 Day 57 - Start of the Second-to-Last Flowering Week 🌱 Hello, Grow Friends! Today marks the start of the second-to-last flowering week—Week 9 overall, and Week 5 of flowering. 🌿 I’m getting more and more excited as my first grow nears its end. As I approach harvest, I’ve decided, based on my research, to stop feeding nutrients and stick to just pH-adjusted water for the final two weeks. 💧⚖️ Watering Routine: I’ll keep the same watering schedule—1 liter every two days, which is about 10% of the pot volume. 🌱💧 This should be enough to flush out the remaining nutrients, ensuring a clean finish for the plant. Temperature & Humidity: The temperature remains stable between 19-23°C, which I believe is ideal for this stage of the grow. 🌡️🍂 No more high temperatures to worry about! The humidity is fluctuating between 45-58%, and I’m keeping a close eye on it to stay below 60%. 💧🔍 Everything seems on track for now. 🌿 Plant Health & Growth: The plant still looks very healthy overall. 🌱💪 However, I’ve noticed that in the past three days, there haven’t been any visible changes in the size of the buds. 🤔 It could just be that I’m not seeing the growth clearly, but the only noticeable change is the daily opening of new flower calyxes. 🌸 Harvest Preparation: I’m already getting my equipment ready for drying after harvest. 🛠️ Once it’s time to cut, I’ll be hanging the plant to dry for the first 10 days. 🌿✂️ I want to make sure everything is set for a smooth drying process. Stay tuned for more updates, and as always, daily photos of the plant will be posted! 📸🌱
Likes
82
Share
Heeeey guys! 👋 Sorry for the very late update! I had so many things going on but now I can finally update the diary! This is the last week before harvest and I kept an eye on my plants pretty much all the time! When I started to notice more amber trichomes were appearing I knew that my babies were finally ready! I just wanted a small amount of CBN, so probably I reached a good balance! Besides that I believe everything was quite relaxing and simple this week. Their smell was wonderful! I also trimmed by babies almost everyday, I kept removing the most ugly leaves to allow some of the lower buds to develop a little more this final week! I stopped watering them 4 days before harvest and then I gave them one day of total darkness. I hope you all enjoy the videos and photos! Thanks!
Likes
9
Share
@Murica887
Follow
Week 12 - Feb 26 - Mar 4 - Final week Feb 26 Day 78 - Watering 6.5 in - 6.6 recovery 76 ppm in - 409 recovery Feb 27 - day 79 I would really like to chop it this week but not too many amber spots yet. Mar 02 Day 82 - Watering 6.4 in - 6.5 recovery 76 ppm in - 214 recovery
Likes
4
Share
This plant plus one more started to wilt earlier on in the week, I figured it was probably time to transplant seeing as they had been in the solo cups for 2 weeks. After transplant plants seemed to be happy again. I introduced amino acids this week as well. They are getting the grease spray and drench program
Likes
51
Share
@Dunk_Junk
Follow
Wow well she's finally finished! Crispy dry so it's time to weigh up. Over 200g!!!!!!!!! That's not bad FastBuds!! Well done guys. Very strong genetics. She grew well throughout. Also I'm currently making QWISO from all the leftover trim. Lets see how much it makes when it's all evaporated off. Update: I have a solid 6g of extract from all the otherwise wasted trim from this 1 plant! Will last ages 😁
Likes
23
Share
Still having a little issue with deficiency and hoping that the top dressing takes hold soon. Getting close to finish. Possibly 3 to 4 more weeks maybe a bit more. Will be adding a top dressing schedule to my next grow after these 4 are done.