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fahtster
Now With 33%More Faht



Registered: 06/17/06
Posts: 9,266
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Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) 54
#27280275 - 04/24/21 10:08 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Yoyoyo party peeps... I’m sure plenty have done this before (Sandman420’s sandbag tek or joey_megabucks) or are currently doing it and there’s nothing new under the sun, as they say, but I’ve been using ziplocks a lot lately and thought I’d make a thread about it... maybe give others ideas of their own.
I like ziplocks because they’re: available almost everywhere, cheap, come in various sizes, reusable, FAE holes can easily be added to them, allows for lots of headroom for fruit growth, and they act as a built in liner when used for fruiting sub blocks.
The one downfall is that they’re obviously not stackable, but you can hang them... I haven’t had a need to hang them so I don’t have any pics of that but you can imagine that’d be pretty easy and with some strategically placed coat rods, you could fill a closet space up with hanging ziplocks.
Let’s get the show on the road, shall we?
1 myco quart of spawn to 2 quarts of Coir/Verm (CV) in a 2 gallon ziplock blocks. AKA the ZIPBLOCK
UPDATE: recently I’ve been doing 1qt to 3qts where I overstuff the 8cup container (kind of a muffin top) with no top layer of any kind.. it’s been working great with melmak

I use these just like you would a shoe box... small 1qt spawn grows either for testing out a culture or if you have suspect bacterial spawn etc.
Items needed:
- 1 x 2 gallon freezer ziplock

- 1 x gladware 8 cup deep dish rectangular food container

- 16g syringe needle
- 1 myco quart colonized grain spawn
- 2 quarts prepared coir/verm (I still use verm because I like it, but if you use just coir, that’s obviously fine). I use the standard 650g coir, 2 quarts verm, 1 gallon water, bucketed recipe. If you want to make just enough for one of these bags: 80g coir, 2 cups water, 1 cup verm as per here
These are stupid fast to make... if you’re using a new bag, there’s nothing to wash or clean except for your hands
1. Break up your jar of colonized grain and add it to the 2 gallon bag.. you can break up the grain more to individual grains once in the bag

2. Add 2 qts of CV to the bag and zip it up with as much air in the bag as you can (don’t blow into it lol. There’ll be plenty of air if you just push the sides out and zip it up). Bunch up the zipper end with one hand and shake the shit out of it to mix the grain and CV thoroughly.

3. The ziplocks aren’t gusseted so we’re going to make it so the sides are flatter... do this by taping over about 2.5” of each corner like so:

^^^ I do that on both corners (fold one to the left, the other to the right). this is basically to reduce the size of the bag at the bottom so I can fit it in the 8 cup container better... if you don’t do that, those corners have to go somewhere and you’ll end up with them bunched up and small amounts of sub will get trapped in the little crevices. But you can get creative with the size container you use... I just like those containers because I like the thicker sub with a smaller fruiting surface.. I feel like I get bigger fruits that way. I know that’s debatable but that’s how I roll.
EDIT (10/20/23) OMC member “Nerd” from discord came up with a nifty way to square/rectanglize the bottoms of ziplocks by using a sealer to create a rectangle gusset in the bags. Like so (pics courtesy of Nerd—thanks man!)
 4. Put the bag with sub into the 8 cup container.. the container is simply to form the sub into a block shape

Alternatively, you don’t have to use a container, you can simply have the substrate in the bottom of the bag and fruit it that way (like a sandbag). I’d suggest putting a rubber band around the outside of the bag near the fruiting surface to close off the gap between the sub and bag… this’ll help keep side pinning to a minimum because the bag stays attached to the sub
5. I even out the top and lightly tap the container on the table to compress it slightly and add a top layer. You can also play around with the amount you compress. It’s come about in the last few years that a lot of compression isn’t a bad thing but you want to make sure your spawn is clean… compressing a lot squeezes the air out of the sub and can block off the micro airways to the grains near/at the bottom of your sub block. If your grains are already bacterial, the anaerobic environment at the bottom of the sub block is perfect for those grains to have bacteria grow faster than the myc is able to recover and you’ll end up with a bacterial infection that’ll eventually end up molding out and ruin your grow.
6. Take the syringe needle and poke FAE holes every 2” all over the bag (above sub level). For the two inches at and above sub level, I double up in the holes and go every 1” like this: ‘ . ‘ . ‘ . ‘ . ‘ in a band all around the bag. I usually have a unpoked bag that I use/reuse (wash it if you’re reusing obv) for the mixing and then I reuse already poked bags for the actual FC
Here’s a pic by mycgemini to show hole placement

You’ll probably end up having to put a few more holes in (I usually do) depending on what your climate is at the time of growing but that’s a good starting point. And that goes for any size bag (1.5-2” spacing w/doubled up holes at the sub level). I should say, the holes placement is on both sides of the bag. If you’re poking a new bag, the easiest way is to poke the needle though the bag before it’s been opened so it’s mirrored on both sides.
7. It even has a built-in label!

8. For colonizing, I just fold the bag top over EDIT: April 2023. You can pull the bag up right away if you’re finding it’s faster or if you’re working with questionable spawn. Nowadays, I just pull the bag flap up right away. I use to have a fan running in my grow area so the bags tended to dry out a bit too much unless I folded them over. Now I have no fan running so the flap stays up from the start. If you’re working with questionable spawn, the more FAE during grain recovery after spawning, the better (ofc to a point but you don’t want to provide an anaerobic environment for bacteria to overcome the exposed grain surface)

9. After the 4-6 days it takes to colonize, I pull the bag top up to start fruiting.. you can take the container off the bottom if you want (the bag will be stuck to the sides of the sub and act as a liner). I tend to leave them on

That’s it! You may have to dial them in a bit with the amount of holes you poke in the bags depending on your climate. You can also unzip the top whatever amount you want if you need to introduce a lot if FAE, like mid-fruiting or if the weather changes drastically for example. The bags are definitely washable and reusable. They’re pretty easy to wash if you turn them inside out and put them on a big cutting board in your sink.. really fast that way. If you’re reusing one, obviously you can’t use ones with holes in them to mix your sub and grain... just have a non-modified one that you mix in and then transfer to the one you’re reusing.
One of the best features of using an oversized bag for the container to shape the sub block is that side pins are no problem at all... if you see a bunch of side pins coming in, you simply untape the corners and pull the bag away from the sub sides/ends and allow those fruits to grow into normal plump fruits!
Edit: So I stumbled upon a little hack yesterday.. instead of untaping the bags when there’s side pins, just pull the bag away from the top ends of the sub block and push down on the top of the bag.. the bag should have enough air in it to pull the bag away from the sides of the sub block but stop so when there’s still ~an inch of the bag still stuck to the bottom of the block… this shortens the height of the bag and creates a bubble around the block for the fruits to grow in..
You have to keep at least some of the bag attached to the block otherwise the bag will fall over, but when you keep it attached, the bag stays nice and supported

Another nice feature is that if you get a lot of water pooling before fruiting, just take grab the bag by the sub block and turn it upside down over the sink and the water drains out. Ez pz!
Here’s some results...
Apeu MS:

FP+ f7 clone:

Mak 118 (2 bags)


PE/RW f6 ms

2nd flush

Yeti first and second flush

PE/pfrs clone:

2nd flush:

Another PE/pfrs f1 clone

2nd flush

PE/pfrs f2 zipblock

2nd flush (2 blocks)


7 bags of Pea+ f1 clone (these had lots of side pins and I just pulled the bag away from the sub and let them do their thing):







2nd flush:





2 bags of Pea+ F2 MS:

3 bags of Pea+ f3 MS (with these, I used the prints the next day after taking them and they were slightly bacterial... I should’ve waited at least a few days for them to dry)

Took 1 of them to a second flush:

PE/RW F2

PE/RW f6 blob culture (all same bag 1st, 2nd, 3rd flushes)

2 Gandalf (only one full bag is shown but both bags dried down to 2.25oz combined for the first flush)

For rehydrating, I usually soak for a couple hours in a 1 gallon ziplock
And Cleaning the 2.5 gallon for reuse is super easy.. pull inside out and put on large cutting board in the sink and wipe clean.. clean in seconds

Fruiting 16qt Substrates in 2.5 Gallon Ziplocks for Second Flushes and Beyond
This is as easy as it sounds... when I did 16qt tub grows, I sometimes ran out of tubs to put new subs into so if I had a tub that was finished with its 1st flush, I take that sub and put it into a 2.5 gallon ziplock and poke needle holes every 2” on the top and fruit the 2nd flush that way.. worked well:



Fruiting 3 or Less Cakes in a 2.5 Gallon Ziplock
I use to use 2 gallon but that extra bag is nice for fruit space. Pretty simple.. I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.. an 8 cup container with ~3” of perlite with cakes sitting in 4oz jar lid that are DEC. I found using CV leftovers from bucketed sub works better than just verm for the cake recipe (obviously still use brf). And then needle holes poked every 2” and double that up at cake level... here’s a good shot showing how many needle holes I use..










Pf cakes in a sandwich bag.. this really as simple as it sounds.. I put a 24h dunked cake into a bag that I poke ~6 needle holes (I use 16g syringe needles) evenly through the bag. I double end case the cakes with a healthy wet (not sopping but above field capacity) layer of CV (plain verm will work too) under and on the cake and that’s it! They do pretty well..




And a heads up.. if you do use colored baggies, don’t use the red ones… the dye that they use I believe is the one that has anti fungal properties..

The pins and substrate that was touching the bag started turning black
Sandwich baggie for clone testers and getting prints/swabs and/or growing out the glc grains that produce larger qt jars… it’s like a look into the future to see how the qts are going to perform that the glc grains inoculated. I use to use water tubs and tall 1/2 pints but these baggies are just too damn easy.
Use at least a 1:3 ratio (spawn to CV) or they can dry out or not have enough water to get a good flush.. they usually average around 3g dry but I’ve had PE baggies that dried down to 5g. I poke 3-4 needle holes (16g) at sub level and then 4-5 holes evenly in the rest of the bag flap. Roll them up in a burrito and then I push down on the top to flatten it out a bit for a nice fruiting surface. The key is to keep the bags rolled up until pins start pushing the bag up.. that keeps them from drying out.. I do pull the top of the bag away a bit like a week into it (just so the the bag isn’t stuck to the substrate and gives the sub a place to pin because there’s a small gap on the top.
If the fruits are getting too tall for the baggie, simply open the bag and slide another sandwich baggie over the top of the open one with the substrate in it.. no need to poke holes the “lid” baggie.

Soak the substrates for an hour to go for a second flush just like you would any other substrate.. I usually just pour water into the bag and dump out after a hour
Here’s some examples:
Tall 1/2 Pint Culture Tester Jars (finally, a reason to have tall 1/2 pints lol)
I actually recently used a water tub (you can find some dudes write up Here) for fruiting out ~1/3 cup grain to ~2/3 cup of CV using tall 1/2 pints. Just put 4 testers in a 8 cup container with some water in it in a 2.5 gallon ziplock with the standard needle holes:

Here’s another successful water tub




Lately I’ve been using this water tub set up that’s working well considering what I’m using them for (crossing)

I use to bury the tall 1/2 pints in perlite before I just used water:




Lastly, just get creative.. ziplocks and containers come in all different sizes. You can do a lot with a bag, a container and a needle



Then there’s the ol’ “throw two rehydrated 1/2 pint cakes in a quart jar with a sandwich baggie over the top for second flush” trick... what? There’s a ziplock involved 
Faht
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bodhisatta 
Smurf real estate agent


Registered: 04/30/13
Posts: 61,889
Loc: Milky way
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: fahtster] 2
#27280283 - 04/24/21 10:14 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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trubblesome
Stranger



Registered: 11/09/19
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: fahtster] 2
#27280284 - 04/24/21 10:15 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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love this! awesome write up.
I've been doing it with myco bags (see sig) and plastic grocery bags for heartier species for the same reasons, clones, tests, one offs etc. jars and what have you. was planning to hunt some clones from MSS on cakes but I was gonna shred to bulk in bags. I love the cake set up you did here though, much less risky than breaking up the cake, I'll have to give it a shot!
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Sockadin



Registered: 01/03/10
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: fahtster] 3
#27280295 - 04/24/21 10:32 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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This is fucking awesome.
This is such a good read and write up I actually said that out loud and my significant other said "What are you reading?" LOL
Anyway nice job Fahtster. I am gonna give this a go for Pheno hunting for sure. This is perfect for the home hunting adventure when you are not really growing for bulk or need that many. I also think this might help the RH swings I am having by maintaining proper RH levels better than a cracked lid.
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tiptrippy
The Mechanic



Registered: 09/09/20
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: trubblesome] 1
#27280296 - 04/24/21 10:34 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Such great stuff Faht! Super simple even for new growers!
+5🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄
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Crackatoa
Stranger in a strange land



Registered: 03/31/19
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: tiptrippy] 2
#27280335 - 04/24/21 11:26 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Love it
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fahtster
Now With 33%More Faht



Registered: 06/17/06
Posts: 9,266
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: Crackatoa] 2
#27280744 - 04/24/21 07:16 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Thanks yoz.. here’s one I just made.. took under 10 minutes. It’s a PE/apeu cross attempt.

This guy I made 8 days ago.. it’s a PE/pesa cross attempt. Got some pin action on the left one. These are gonna be tricky to discern.. guess I’ll look for spore dropping with lots of bumps or weird caps.. idk probably just have to guess which one to print

Faht
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Samushlove
Water



Registered: 03/09/21
Posts: 248
Loc: Foothills
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: fahtster] 1
#27280780 - 04/24/21 07:45 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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I have been studying your teks in the process of my first pe run ,keep up with the good info I've got one of the 1/16 hole mono tubs and a few 2 gallon ziploc bags going now
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PitcherCrab
Crescent Fresh



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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: Samushlove] 1
#27283163 - 04/26/21 08:33 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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This is fantastic. I’m definitely going to use this to test some clones. Thanks Faht!
-------------------- PC's LAGM 2021 (TOC & TWC)P. natalensis Growlog 2021Pans for PC Fall 2021 Growlog “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
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tiptrippy
The Mechanic



Registered: 09/09/20
Posts: 1,131
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: PitcherCrab] 2
#27284071 - 04/27/21 03:57 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Would it be worth it to spend a little extra on these faht?
 They are a little larger at 3gallons and they are the stand and fill version with a handle so you wouldn't need to modify or place in a container.
5 bags for about 10$ on the zon
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fahtster
Now With 33%More Faht



Registered: 06/17/06
Posts: 9,266
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: tiptrippy] 3
#27284089 - 04/27/21 04:34 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Hell yeah! Those look perfect.. could get a decent sized sub in there. Please let me know how it goes if you give em a whirl 
Faht
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tiptrippy
The Mechanic



Registered: 09/09/20
Posts: 1,131
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: fahtster] 2
#27284096 - 04/27/21 04:46 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Gonna buy a few boxes right now
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Wall.E
Bacteria's Bitch



Registered: 06/05/20
Posts: 2,860
Loc: Fungal Void
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: tiptrippy] 3
#27284267 - 04/27/21 07:50 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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This is dope. For someone that runs small grows i dig this shit
-------------------- Life’s shit, but I’m loving it
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Samushlove
Water



Registered: 03/09/21
Posts: 248
Loc: Foothills
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: Wall.E] 2
#27289949 - 05/02/21 05:47 AM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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working like a charm ( I'm still learning to post pics will attach when I do)
Edited by Samushlove (05/02/21 02:36 PM)
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tiptrippy
The Mechanic



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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: Samushlove] 4
#27290373 - 05/02/21 12:38 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Spawned 5qts of x7x last night as a test run
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fahtster
Now With 33%More Faht



Registered: 06/17/06
Posts: 9,266
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: tiptrippy] 2
#27290379 - 05/02/21 12:41 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Awesome! Looks like those hold their shape well 
Faht
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Benson
The Kidd ⭐


Registered: 09/29/20
Posts: 837
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: fahtster] 1
#27290405 - 05/02/21 12:55 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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fahtster
Now With 33%More Faht



Registered: 06/17/06
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: Samushlove] 3
#27290409 - 05/02/21 12:58 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Samushlove said: working like a charm ( I'm still learning to post pics will attach when I do)
Cool! Here’s a how-to for pic upload
Faht
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Samushlove
Water



Registered: 03/09/21
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Loc: Foothills
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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: fahtster] 2
#27290550 - 05/02/21 02:38 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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Thanks faht !!!I've been following your tek on pe and it's def working . My third grow ever .
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TheMagicConch
MC



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Re: Using Ziplocs (Ziplocks) as Fruiting Chambers (FC) [Re: Samushlove] 2
#27290563 - 05/02/21 02:50 PM (2 years, 8 months ago) |
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This is AWESOME. Nice work Faht
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