Watermelon Autoflower

August 23, 2023 Day 85 Flowering Week 8: This is the last week for these ladies. And they are now both in the main tent together alone. I harvested the other 2 plants that were in there this morning. Light is 28" from canopy and at 80% power. DLI is 45 mol/m²/d. Let's hope the better brighter light will increase trichome production for this last week. Watermelon One is looking absolutely amazing. Her fade is beautiful. Colors are coming out vibrant. Most of the pistils are orange now, just have to wait for them to shrivel up and the trichomes to catch up. So this is the last week. Well, estimated last week. I guess we will see how it all goes. So far I'm confident that it will be by the end of this week. She's still working on that one last half gallon. It'll be fine by the end of the week. Watermelon Two is also coming along nicely. No colors, but lots of frost. And big fat nugs. She now has full access to the grow light. She got her last half gallon of water today. It should last the week. I won't be doing anything else for the rest of the grow. I won't even be rotating. Because this is the last week and neither plant will need anything, I won't be doing much but taking pictures daily. Other than that, they will be completely left alone for them to finish up. They will both be dry trimmed. Although, I like wet trimming so far. Maybe I'll wet trim them. Who knows. Actually, I might have to anyway if the humidity in the tents stays in the 60s. Very excited for the rest of this grow. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.8° RH: 60.1% VPD: 1.18 kPa August 24, 2023 Watermelon One looks absolutely beautiful. She has a wonderful fade going on, colors of the buds are turning a deep purple. Lots and lots more trichomes. The sugar leaves are showing more and more amber trichomes, but not many on the buds yet. She still has a few days to go I think, maybe a bit longer. I'm looking for 20% amber trichomes. She has a ton of cloudy, some clear here and there, but still too many and no where near enough amber. However, I have learned that cloudy trichomes have a 2 week window before turning amber. If I base that on the flowering time of the strain, I should have about a week or less left. I gave her a half gallon reservoir refill. Just to get her through the rest of the week. Watermelon Two is pretty far behind. I'd say a good 3 to 4 days. Maybe even 5. She has just started the fade and it's only on one leaf. I guess she will be the last to harvest and will have to go in small tent and the drying plants into the main tent. Unless she matures faster than her sister plant, I'd say a week maybe 9 days? She has water in the reservoir still, so no watering needed for today. Maybe in 2 days. She definitely has way too many clear trichomes, no where near enough cloudy and hardly an amber trichomes on a sugar leaf. Still lots of time left. She smells really good though. And sticky. Well, both of them smell great and are super sticky. Grow System Environment: Temp: 76.6° RH: 59.7% VPD: 1.24 kPa August 25, 2023 Watermelon One is coming along quite nicely. She has finished up with one withering leaf and with more to come right behind it. The buds are super purple now. They look great! Cloudy trichomes are now super dominant. So it's just a waiting game for the amber to come in. She still has a decent amount of water left in the reservoir, so I'm not too worried about that. Nothing else to report for the day. Just a beautiful plant nearing the end of its life. Watermelon Two is still a bit behind. I didn't bother checking her trichomes as she is definitely not there yet. I'll really look at them in a few days. She will need a reservoir refill today. Another half gallon should do it. The one fading leaf is taking its sweet time to fade more. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.1° RH: 59.4% VPD: 1.19 kPa August 26, 2023 Watermelon One is looking absolutely beautiful. More leaves are dying and the others are getting lighter or more purple. I have a few leaves that might turn out like a tequila sunrise. Very pretty. The colas are all very pretty and chunky and smelling and delicious. Just a few more days and she will be ready to go. No water needed today, nor for the rest of the grow I think. Maybe I'll add a quarter gallon tomorrow to the reservoir. Maybe. Just in case. Watermelon Two has about 5 days left. Maybe a week. Her buds are very green and trichome production isn't quite as impressive as her sister plant, but still covered. She still only has that one leaf fading. We shall see. She won't be needing water for a bit if at all. Her trichomes are still not there. That's it for today. Nothing else to report. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.9° RH: 59.3% VPD: 1.22 kPa August 27, 2023 Watermelon One looks absolutely stunning now. More leaves are dying off and the buds are getting more colorful. Trichome production is still heavily underway. Still not enough amber trichomes on the buds, but there is an abundance of them on the sugar leaves. A great sign. I added about a half gallon to her reservoir for the time being. I'm not exactly sure when she'll be ready, but I'm not all that worried about it. If it's dry by harvest, good. If it's still wet, then oh well. Either way, I'm fine with it. Plus, wouldn't it make sense to have a plant with a bit more water retention to slow down the drying process? Or to just extend, but it's still a good way to get that 10 to 14 days on the dry. Just a thought. Her buds are super dense now. Maybe the last few days will pack on some extra weight. Watermelon Two is also doing quite well. As I have been saying, she is definitely behind a few days. I may actually have to swap all the plants around and turn the main tent into a dry tent and the dry tent into a running tent to finish her up. We shall see though. I found another leave that is starting to fade. It seems like this one just wants to take it's time and finish up. I guess a bit later than it should. Also, why have all of my flowering times in all of my runs extend 2 weeks. What am I doing incorrectly? Maybe fluctuating environment. Or too much handling in the flowering stage? Maybe I should just leave them completely alone in the flowering stage after week 2. Maybe that will get a better flowering time. I dunno. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.0° RH: 57.2% 1.21 kPa August 28, 2023 Watermelon One is nearly done. More dying leaves, more colors. Mostly cloudy trichomes with some amber here and there and a few more clear than I want. But very close to ready. I also managed to get some pretty decent trichome pics. She is kinda cruising through water at the moment. I may have to refill the reservoir at least with a half gallon. Today or tomorrow. I'll check her trichomes tomorrow and see how she looks. Or later on this afternoon. I've also been removing the really dead leaves to help direct energy to more important places. I'm debating if I want to wet or dry trim this one. Personally, I feel like the high humidity I am experiencing warrants a wet trim. To prevent mold. I'll have to see how the humidity is by then. Watermelon Two is starting to fade a bit more. She also has some color coming in. She still has water in her reservoir and will most likely need another half gallon tomorrow. She still has a good 5 to 7 days left before she is ready. At least based on how Watermelon One is finishing up. In that case, it should be about a week after I harvest Watermelon One. 🤔 Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.6° RH: 56.0% (finally managed to get the humidity down to something reasonable. I'd still like it below 50%) VPD: 1.23 kPa August 29, 2023 Today was supposed to be the last day for these ladies. I am now questioning everything about my growing technique. These are supposed to be a 10 week strain. However we are coming up to week 13 and I still don't have amber trichomes. At least none on the buds. And it has always been like this. I have to be doing something wrong. Anyway, no amber trichomes on any buds from either plant. Watermelon One is still working on those trichomes. The fade is strong with this one. I'm going to harvest soon either way. There's no way every single strain I grow takes 14 weeks plus. It doesn't make sense. So I'm going to give it another week or less. I really think it's too long, but again, she's just not ready. I'm not going to bother watering her anymore. I want her to stress a little bit. Maybe that will help those trichomes mature faster. Watermelon Two is starting to fade more. She looks good if not a very slow lady. She has a minimum of 7 days left. But the colors are starting to come in and her smell is getting stronger. I'll definitely have to water her this afternoon. I think a full reservoir is appropriate. That should last a few days. Maybe a 4? Maybe less. Regardless, I'm going to ensure she is happy for the rest of the grow. Update: I ended up filling the reservoir for Watermelon Two and added a half gallon to Watermelon One. Just in case. Plus she's drying up and I don't think she will be ready in 3 days. I don't get it. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.7° RH: 56.9% VPD: 1.21 kPa