Strawberry Banana Auto Grow Diary and Strain Review

This was my first real grow, and I went with 3 Strawberry Banana Auto plants from Fast Buds. I’d been reading grow diaries for a while before starting, so the plan was simple enough: keep the setup manageable, learn from the plants, and not pretend I already knew everything.

The plants were grown indoors in 19l (5gal) pots. I used LST as the main training method, added some defoliation later, and tried to keep the grow steady instead of chasing every small change too hard.

27% THC

Strawberry Banana Auto (Fast Buds)

• Autoflowering
• Euphoric effect leading to relaxation
• 450 - 600 g/m² indoors
  50 - 250 g/plant outdoors

Pack (number of seeds)

1

3

5

10

$20.94 $60 62.82 Save 2.82 $92.7 104.7 Save 12 $170.89 209.41 Save 38.52

Buy

Starting the Run

Grow Notes

I didn’t come into this grow with much practical experience. The whole run was partly about learning how autos react in a real tent, not just reading about them. Strawberry Banana Auto sounded like a good first choice because the grow time looked reasonable and the profile was exactly the kind of sweet fruit direction I wanted.

Week 1

The seedlings started small and clean, with the tallest only around 2.5cm (1in). I wasn’t trying to push them yet. At this point, the main job was just keeping the young plants stable and resisting the urge to do too much.

They looked healthy enough, and the early growth gave me some confidence. For a first grow, that mattered more than speed.

Week 2

The plants moved into their 19l (5gal) pots and started looking more settled. I liked having the final containers ready early, even though it also made watering a little more intimidating at first.

Nothing dramatic happened this week. The plants were still finding their rhythm, and I was mostly watching how fast the medium dried between waterings.

Week 3

By the third week, humidity was around 75%, and the plants were about 8cm (3.1in) tall. They were still compact, but the new growth looked bright and healthy.

I kept the routine calm because they didn’t look hungry or stressed. That was probably the right call. It’s easy to start fixing problems that aren’t actually there when you’re new to this.

Veg Progress and Training

Week 4

Week 4 was when the grow started to feel more hands-on. The plants reached about 20cm (7.9in), and I began LST to spread them out instead of letting them grow straight up.

They handled the bending well. The canopy started opening up, and the side growth looked much more useful once the tops were pulled down. I did feed them this week, though later I felt plain water might have been the safer move. The leaves stayed bright green, so there was no obvious stress yet.

Week 5

This was the first week where Strawberry Banana Auto showed me I could still mess things up. One morning, I noticed small brownish spots on a few leaves, and the edges on another couple of leaves looked lightly burned.

Most likely, I let the soil get too dry and then pushed the feeding too far. It was annoying because the issue came from my own handling, not from the genetics. Apart from those marks, the plants still looked lively, and because of LST, they were getting wider rather than taller.

I became more careful with watering after that. On September 10, each plant got 1.25l (42.3fl oz) of water. On September 13, I gave the same amount again, this time with micronutrients.

Week 6

By week 6, the plants were around 30cm (11.8in), and pH was near 6.5. They were dense enough that I started removing leaves to improve light penetration and airflow.

The earlier spotting didn’t turn into a bigger disaster, which was a relief. I still didn’t feel fully in control, but the plants kept moving forward, and the structure looked better after the cleanup.

Week 7

More LST was needed this week, and the plants stayed roughly around 30cm (11.8in). The canopy was fuller now, but the tops got too close to the light and began showing stress.

That was another useful lesson. Training autos can help a lot, but it doesn’t remove the need to keep watching the distance to the lamp. The plants weren’t ruined, but they clearly weren’t happy with that part of the setup.

The Flip and Early Flower

Week 8

Flowering was underway by this point, and I tried to stop overworking the plants. After the light stress and earlier feed issue, I wanted the next part of the run to be steadier.

The plants were still filling out, and the bud sites were easier to see. I kept the canopy open enough to avoid a packed middle, but I didn’t want to strip them too hard.

Week 9

Bud development started looking more convincing in week 9. The flowers were no longer just small starts at the nodes; they were beginning to form proper tops.

Resin also started showing more clearly. That was the first point where the grow felt like it was really becoming worth the effort.

Week 10

By week 10, the structure finally made more sense. The earlier LST had paid off, and the branches were carrying flower in a way that looked fairly even for a first run.

I kept watching for stress because the plants had already shown they would react when I pushed too hard. At the same time, they didn’t seem fragile. They took the corrections and kept going.

Week 11

The buds kept building, and the resin coverage was better than it had been a week earlier. This was also the part of the grow where I started to feel less nervous every time I opened the tent.

They weren’t perfect plants, but they were clearly finishing. For a first run, that already felt like a small win.

Late Flower and Finish

Week 12

Late flower looked good overall. The buds had enough resin to make the plants feel properly mature, and the sweet fruit direction was starting to come through more clearly.

A few bananas showed up late in flower. I didn’t like seeing them, but at that stage I treated it as something to watch rather than a reason to panic. The run was already close to the end.

Strawberry Banana Auto Yield and Final Thoughts

The final dry yield came to about 225g (7.9oz). For 3 plants and a first grow, I was happy with that result, especially considering the small mistakes with watering, feeding, and light distance.

The dried flower leaned sweet, with a fruity background that matched what I hoped to get from Strawberry Banana Auto. It wasn’t just a name on the pack; the profile was actually there in the jar.

The effect felt uplifting and focused rather than heavy. That made the finished flower easy to enjoy without feeling completely knocked down.

My main takeaway is that Strawberry Banana Auto can forgive a beginner, but it still pays attention to stress. I’d grow it again, though next time I’d be calmer with nutrients and more careful about the tops getting too close to the light.

Herbies Head Shop expressly refuses to support the use, production, or supply of illegal substances. For more details, read our Legal Disclaimer.