Watermelon Autoflower

August 9, 2023 Day 71 This week we focus in pistils and bud swelling. Trichome production will be checked later in the week. These ladies seem to have about one to two weeks left. Their pistils are turning orange at a impressive pace. They will also be getting Flawless Finish for the rest of the grow. Watermelon One is going through about a half gallon a day? She won't be needing water until tomorrow at this rate. Her buds are super frosty and fat. They are thick and dense. The aroma is absolutely decadent. Beautiful citrus and gassy tones. Some pine and a bit of something else. When she is harvested, I may do a wet trim. At least to get all the big leaves off. I like drying plants whole. So removing some of the leaf material will help with keeping moisture from getting trapped. Not to mention with my humidity as ridiculously high as it is, I think wet trimming might be the better way to go. If I can keep the temps down in the mid 60s, I'll be happy. Humidity will certainly be a problem. I might have to put one of the small dehumidifiers in there. I think it will work out nicely and this lady will have a beautiful yield of quality bud. Trichome production is fantastic. She's super sticky. Watermelon Two has some pretty fat buds now. They definitely swelled up and are dense in most of the plant. Some of it is really fluffy and airy, but that is the product of the lighting issue. Either way, her trichome production is super impressive. She has frost all over and is extremely sticky much like her sister plant. She needs absolutely no water whatsoever. She seems to have stopped drinking and is now sipping. Her reservoir is nearly full still. So there's a few things that I have noticed for this light intensity stress. And planing these ladies into their final containers. Roots disturbed during transplant. Light intensity and over crowding. Issues: 1: Stunting 2: Single and 3 finger leaves. 3: Airy buds on Watermelon Two Watermelon One bounced back pretty quickly when she was moved to her own tent. Watermelon Two, on the other hand, stayed much the same throughout the whole grow and only just recently started showing more signs of productivity. Lesson learned is to start all ants at the same time. Follow the light intensity recommendations as well as I can. 22" from the light seems to do the trick. Then I can mess with power levels to really lock it down. The rest of the environment may have had a role in growth, but I have other plants in the tent that don't seem to mind at all. Could be the strain or maybe the Watermelons are fine from that. I don't know. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.1° RH: 64.7% VPD: 1.01 kPa August 10, 2023 Watermelon One got a new reservoir fill up with flawless finish. I have read that it's best to start flushing a little early when using soil. Mine is living soil, so the wick system will be perfect for that. That way, I'm not flooding what is good soil with a product that neutralizes other nutrients. So I can reuse this soil as well as Watermelon Two. More and more pistils are turning orange. There is that one top that is all kinds of weird. It's pistils haven't done a thing. Almost like this particular top is stressed out. Still has those weird upturned and curling leaves. The buds are really airy as well. Almost like foxtailing. Maybe it's just a weird isolated thing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. No mold, buds, pests, diseases, rot. There's nothing. Also TONS of trichomes like it's actually blocking something. Maybe that particular one doesn't like the intensity that much. Weird. Oh well. Watermelon Two is actually coming along nicely. Still not a well grown plant, still spacey between buds. Tops are dense, but the budlets are clearly separated. The structure is good though. Cone shaped and bulbous. Kinda chunky, but nothing like her sister plant. Still, trichome production is running full steam and pistils are turning orange. No watering needed today. I'd like to get her back on track with watering together. I'll wait until I have to water Watermelon One again and either fill her up or top her off. Either way, I want them at the same watering day. Oh then I can see who's taking in more water. That will help with SCIENCE. Both have developed the same way, but Watermelon One is clearly happier and bulkier. So I feel like if the plant is drinking less water, then it may be stunting or stressed. It seems to correlate with how they grew. I've also read that the less water taken in during late flower is an indicator that she is almost done. So why wouldn't it stand to reason that less water earlier in life means there is a problem of some kind. This is all based on water percentage loss based on time and volume. Actually, based on what I'm seeing, both plants are exactly at the same point. Pistils are about the same percentage of orange and trichomes are about the same in abundance. I think they have a bit more swelling to do, but not much? I'm not sure. I've read that the buds keep getting fatter and fatter until death, but I'm not seeing any real difference over the last couple of days. Like they slow down immensely or I can't see due to size ratio. I'm not sure. Any advice on that? Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.7° RH: 65.4% VPD: 0.98 (smh) August 11, 2023 Watermelon One looks great! More swelling of buds and way more trichomes coming in. I'm also seeing a bit of purple coming in. Her root mass has completely taken over the wicks. And she may have roots going directly into the reservoir. I think she will be the more potent of the 2. She also has SUPER CHONKY buds. Her pistils are steadily turning orange. That one top is coming along slowly, but still coming along. Watermelon Two is also coming along. Pistils are looking good. She has a few more orange than her sister plant. But her buds are nothing compared. It's alright. She has amazing trichome production and will certainly be ready in the next week or 2. Closer to the week I think. I'll start checking trichomes on her before the week is out. Root structure is pretty good. As with Watermelon One, her roots have completely engulfed the wicking system and roots have grown down to the reservoir. Honestly, this makes it a hydro grow than regular watering. Or even traditional bottom feeding. Must more efficient and less chance of over watering, flooding or anything that could cause an issue. The roots are perfectly white and look great under the fabric container. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.4° RH: 63.9% VPD: 1.07 kPa August 12, 2023 Watermelon One is a Chunky lady. OMG. It's like ping pong balls all over. Very much happy. I wish she would have grown to full height, but I get what I put in and I get my own mistakes. So learning is the reward for this journal. She doesn't need water yet. Her buds are starting to develop nice purple hues. I'm hoping the leaves fade. She should be a purple fade. It will be wonderful. Watermelon Two is also looking decent. Buds are getting fatter still. She hasn't shown any signs of fade or colors yet, but I'm assuming that will come in time. No watering needed. She got her half turn today and nothing else to do. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.5° RH: 61.2% VPD: 1.11 kPa August 13, 2023 Watermelon One looks absolutely delicious. Her buds are the densest I've seen so far. There isn't a ton of bud on the plant, but it makes up for it in bud size and density. She got a reservoir refill today with the flawless finish regime. Nothing else to report today. Watermelon Two is also looking pretty good. I decided to pull a couple leaves that were just causing congestion and blocking air. What I found was how thick the buds are on this lady. The stems for the leaves I pulled were deep in the bud sites. Very good news for me. Secondly, she has a profound and powerful scent. Very pleasant. No watering today, but she will need one in the next couple days. I have some left from her last watering, so I'll most likely top her off tomorrow. Just to clear out that gallon and to keep the reservoir from drying out. Lastly, I've noticed that regardless of the size of the plant, canopy spread and the depth of the canopy, I still get popcorn buds even with a 4" deep canopy. One would think the whole plant gets roughly the same growth, but I think this has more to do with the stunting and overall poor growth. Top buds are impressive though. Kinda small and not as dense as I would hope for, but hefty either way. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.7° RH: 62.3% VPD: 1.11 kPa August 14, 2023 Watermelon One is looking super healthy. Her leaves are starting to get lighter and look like will actually fade. I'd say another few days to a week left on this one. Great trichome production. They are piling up. A whole lot of cloudy and some clear. Just a few amber though, so we are looking good there. No water needed today. Watermelon Two is also looking alright. Her trichome production isn't as good as her sister plant, but still looks great. Lots of cloudy as well with a few clear. Less amber trichomes, and she seems to be a day or two behind. It doesn't matter. They'll be done within a week. No water needed today. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.8° RH: 62.2% VPD: 1.09 kPa August 15, 2023 Watermelon One looks fantastic. Her buds are super chunky, she smells wonderful and is covered in frost. And I mean covered. They are everywhere. They are a mix of clear and cloudy. I did see a few amber, but just a few. Watermelon Two is covered in trichomes as well. Buds are big and fat. Not very dense and definitely a lot of popcorn and underdeveloped buds. The very tops are pretty nice though. Not chunky really, just fat. She will be needing a reservoir refill in a day or 2. The next watering will be the last for the grow, I believe. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.9° RH: 62.3% VPD: 1.09 kPa