First Grow - RQS Watermelon/RQS Critical

Borealis_Cannabis Still germinating and early seedling

Borealis_Cannabis After two full weeks of water cup and covered germination station, transplanted all seedlings into 1 qt pots with Fox Farms Happy Frog soil. 13/15 plants seem to be taking well to the transplant. Two of the watermelons and one of the critical are struggling and may end of being tossed. Was struggling to keep temps up with the LED lights off so a ceramic heater set at 70 deg F was added. I also added 2 DIY C02 generators using 2 cups of sugar and 2 tsp of active dry yeast for each generator to try and boost the C02 levels is a bit.

Borealis_Cannabis Starting week 4 off with a few updates: We lost two soldiers today, 11/25/23, and pulled both of the struggling watermelons from the herd. Lowered the lights a bit as I felt they were a bit too high and to prepare for the real vegetative phase coming this week. DIY C02 bottles bubbling away nicely. Transplanted the remaining girls to their final home (5 gallon fabric pots) on 11/26/23. Used Photone app to dial in to proper PPFD at 350 as I was a bit high. Nearing end of week 4, I’m really starting to see rapid growth. Since I’m going with a SOG for this grow, I won’t be doing any topping but I will be doing some LST to start week 5 with 90 degree LST clips. (I’m calling it the 5x5 LST; 5 weeks at the 5th node pair) 😆

Borealis_Cannabis Was going to try and do some LST clips the first week but ended up breaking the main stem of the one of the Critical girls and just said screw it, I’m gonna top then all now. Did a feeding (2 gallons total) of 1-5-1-3 with CalMag and the GH Trio. 12 hours after topping/feeding and they are all recovering nicely. Did a second feeding (2 gallons) of 1-5-1-3 with CalMag and the GH Trio midweek. So far no signs of nutrient lock or burnt tips. Couldn’t get home to do a third feeding. Going to be keeping the girls in veg for another week or two.

Borealis_Cannabis Starting week 6 and keeping the girls in veg for at least this week, possibly one more. Feeding is now at 1-6-1-3 with the CALiMAGic and General Hydro Trio. Lollipopping throughout the week and did a no-nutrient flush two days before flipping.

Borealis_Cannabis Took one clone per plant on day one of week 7 and flipped to flowering. Defoliated as well and have a feeding of 1-5-2-5 of Cal Mag and General Hydro Trio. Feeding every other or third day depending on soil moisture content. Clones got Foop cloning gel and are in peat pellets in germinating rack at 85 deg F. I might have messed up by cutting off all the fan leaves, but we will see if they take root.

Borealis_Cannabis Starting off week 8 and the girls are looking great. Switched over to a 1-4-3-6 of the CaliMag and Gen Hydro Trio for feeding. The clones are looking better too. May have lost one but time will tell. Taking a trip out of town for a week so I’m hoping the girls won’t miss me too much. The dehumidifier has been doing good at keeping RH down when lights are off. Clones have officially been transplanted at the end of week 8. That will be the end of their discussion moving forward in this diary as I will be making a new diary for them.

Borealis_Cannabis Girls are really starting to explode in height this week. Went with a 1-4-4-7 nutrient schedule and the plants seem to be taking it well. Been struggling with my VIVOSUN controller failing to read humidity and temp values from the external probe so at times humidity is getting super high, but I don’t think it will be a major issue as the dehumidifier seems to work well until it gets full but if I’m at work then I’m kinda screwed until I get home.

Borealis_Cannabis Nothing new here. Lots of defoliating to finish up the week. Also did a straight water flush to finish up as well.

Borealis_Cannabis Starting to get my first issues with what appears to be calcium deficiency and perhaps nitrogen deficiency as well. Bumped up the CALiMAGic to 2mL per gallon to try and turn it around. Measured runoff ph is 6.15 so I think still ok. Did not get a PPM measurement yet though. Assume I still have a few solid weeks of flowering to go.

Borealis_Cannabis Still showing signs of some sort of either deficiency issue or lockout. Some people on forums are saying it’s normal, but same species plants aren’t behaving this way. Changed my feeding schedule to be in time with the Grow Weed Easy soil guideline and also started adding epsom salt. Going to test my soil EC and then adjust if necessary.

Borealis_Cannabis Last week of feeding. Will start flushing first day of week 14.

Borealis_Cannabis Obviously I forgot to do a harvest post. This grow I learned a lot and eventually went on to duplicate this grow and try my first attempt at clones. The harvest yield was good but I was able to do better the second go around. Since then I’ve switched to the H3AD/Lucas nutes schedule for coco and have had fantastic results. See other diaries.