RQS Watermelon Automatic Grow 🍉

17.12.24: Seedling is looking nice and healthy, good green colour 👌 I didn't use a humidity dome this time, as the other Seedlings damped off. It has clearly done very well without it, so I don't need it at all really, as my humidity is very high on it's own. It's about 75% currently. 19.12.24: Ok so the powdery Mildew has appeared again, I have not watered, and the plants are doing well. They seem to have recovered significantly since last week. I have scooped out the top layer of soil to get rid of the Mildew, again. I then top dressed with;- Biobizz Light Mix, cinnamon, extra perlite, Vitalink Bat guano, and worm castings. Very pleased with the progress of Watermelon 🍉 Watered in with 100ml containing;- 1ml per litre of Biobizz Bio-Grow and 1ml of Ecothrive Flourish Fingers crossed 🤞 Thanks for checking out my diary 🍃 ✌️

24.12.24 Looking very well to me 😃 we're leaning slightly, towards the light. Otherwise I'm pleased with this one especially. I got a pack of 10 seeds, Which RQS added an extra 2 for me some seeds are very small, so I chose the biggest seed I had, of them all. Thanks for checking out my diary 🍃 ✌️

30.12.24: So I finally became brave enough last night to use LST on my grow for the first time. Watermelon 🍉 is doing much better than the other plants were at this stage, and still better than one that's 7 weeks old already! I'm very pleased with this strain and phenotype so far. As I've implemented the LST much earlier for her, I'm very excited to see what happens in the next couple of weeks 😃 Thanks for checking out my diary 🙂🍃✌️

7.1.25: Not too much to report, plant is still growing, slowly. I hope I didn't start LST too early. Plenty of time to go hopefully. Thanks for checking out my diary 🍃 ✌️

9.1.25: Watermelon 🍉 is doing well, slowed down a bit, but at least I got the LST going earlier on her. Which will hopefully stand her in good stead going forward. I've been readjusting the LST. I just took all the pegs out and reshaped her. Watering with 1ltr of dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.0 with the following nutrients;- ♡ 4ml Biobizz Bio-Grow ♡ 2ml Biobizz Bloom ♡ 2ml Biobizz Top Max ♡ 2ml Cal-Mag ♡ 2ml Ecothrive Flourish. I water with this every 3 days. Thanks for checking out my diary 🍃 ✌️

14.1.25: I've been readjusting the LST. I just took all the pegs out and reshaped her. I got some new LST equipment in the mail today, have been glad to have more pegs. I got some clips too, but they don't seem to stay on 😕 I'm currently only using the pegs, I have some thicker soft wire, but I forgot I don't have pliers to cut it! Also I'm running very low on Biobizz nutrients, so that could be bad 🤞 18.1.25: I have done another large defoliation on PPP1 and PPP2. Also, moderate defoliation on all other plants today. All LST ties and pegs are readjusted. I have turned up the light to 90%. Same distance of between 24-28 inches, depending on height of specific plant. I have increased the dosage of Biobizz Bio-Grow and Fish Mix to give an extra boost of Nitrogen as several plants were showing yellowing. They have responded very well to this. Unfortunately I ran out of my Biobizz nutrients and PH UP. I'm currently using Bicarbonate of Soda to increase the PH after the nutes PH comes out to about 4.1. Obviously, that uses a lot and I only had a 250ml bottle, which I used last run too. This run I have 9 plants. The only thing I'm worried about is the salt build up. Have you used it before? Or any other natural way to increase PH? Please let me know! I've also added Biobizz Fish Mix to help with the extra Nitrogen needed. Watering with 1ltr of dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.3 with the following nutrients;- ♡ 4ml Biobizz Fish Mix ♡ 4ml Biobizz Bio-Grow ♡ 2ml Biobizz Bloom ♡ 2ml Biobizz Top Max ♡ 2ml Cal-Mag ♡ 2ml Ecothrive Flourish. I water with this every 3 days. I did order some more Biobizz Bio-Grow and Bio Bloom. I found some at a reasonable price on Amazon. I still have about 800 ml of Biobizz Fish Mix left, too. It is fairly expensive this time as the plants are hungrier this run. I also got a new bag of Canna coco, which I may use to add a top dress with some dry amendments. Which hopefully will save some cash on the bottled nutrients and stretch out until the end of this run without having to buy anymore. I have purchased a funnel to pour the water. It is difficult, due to the shape of my LST, to water precisely. I have spilt it all over the tent several times 🙄 I've also ordered a 2 litre jug. Currently, I'm mixing water for 9 plants individually in a 1 litre jug. It's tideous. Hopefully, this will solve the issues. Cleaning the tent after watering every time isn't my idea of efficiency 😅 Thanks for checking out my diary 🍃 ✌️

19.1.25: I have watered all plants with 300ml of dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.3, with 1/3 jar of black strap molasses with Ecothrive Biosys-1g. I am looking to increase the sugars for microbial life and plant processes. It'll also add some extra Calcium, Magnesium and trace elements. I also, watered all plants with Bloom nutrients. Using dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.3 with the following nutrients: (ml/l) ;- ♡ 2ml Cal-Mag ♡ 2ml Ecothrive Flourish ♡ 2ml Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster ♡ 2ml Biobizz Bloom ♡ 2ml Biobizz Top Max ♡ 1g of Ecothrive Biosys I watered around 1-3 litres per plant. Depending on size and requirements. I'm still spilling water containing the nutrient solution. 🙄 I am using this to rub into the leaves. I think a nice foliar massage won't do any harm, make the most of the situation. The plants have become very hungry and thirsty. Increased the water by double. I ran out of my TNC cal-mag. I decided to order the Xpert Nutrients brand, as I like their products. It isn't organic as far as I can tell, but I don't think it matters too much to me, to be honest. I also want to top dress this week, so I bought some Green Leaf PK bud Booster dry amendment from Amazon, too. I'll mix it with canna coco, perlite, worm castings, and Ecothrive Life Cycle. 24.1.25: I went ahead and top dressed all the plants with 4.5 gallons of my supersoil custom mix. This consists of the following substrate and dry amendments: ♡ 60% Canna coco ♡ 20% Worm castings ♡ 15 % Perlite The remaining 5% consists of the following dry amendments;- ♡ 10g Ecothrive Biosys ♡ 1 Tsp RHS Mycorrhizal Fungi granules ♡ 3 Tsp Vitalink Bat guano ♡ 4 Tsp Diatomaceous earth ♡ 8 Tsp Ground Cinnamon ♡ 10g Green Leaf Bud Booster PK booster. ♡ 3 Tsp Ecothrive Life Cycle. •Worm castings for some all round nutrition. •Cinnamon for mildew and bug repellent. •Canna coco base substrate. •Perlite for adding oxygen to the root and soil system. •Green Leaf Bud Booster PK Booster for blooming. Building strong big buds. •Vitalink bat guano again for Bloom. •RHS Mycorrhizal Fungi granules, to boost beneficial microbes. •Ecothrive Life Cycle for lots of great benefits. •Diatomaceous earth for Silica. •Ecothrive Biosys, for an extra microbial boost. Thanks for checking out my diary 🍃 ✌️

26.1.25: I have had a mistake 😕 i spilt some Fish Mix as I was experimenting with a syphon from some aquarium tubing I have. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the syphon out! Ugh 😣 However, it is fish emulsion and very thick consistency. Therefore, I was able to scrape it up with 2 of my business cards up off the counter. So added this extra into the next 2 ltr solution I mixed. All plants were watered with at least 1ltr of dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.3. Containing the following nutrients;- ♡ 3ml Seachem Seaweed ♡ 4ml Biobizz Fish Mix ♡ 4ml Biobizz Bio-Grow ♡ 3ml Biobizz Bloom ♡ 2ml Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster ♡ 2ml Xpert Nutrients Cal-Mag ♡ .25g Ecothrive Biosys. ♡ 2.5g of Bicarbonate of Soda as PH UP. Unfortunately I have broken my PH pen too. Accidentally submerged it under water, then the readings went crazy. I'm leaving it to dry by standing it up but I'm most likely going to need a new one, which is extremely annoying 😑 I'm going start implementing the Scrog net probably some point next week if I let the plants that are in flower to just grow up now, as I do believe that I stunted Watermelon 🍉 by using too strenuous LST. Hopefully the plants still are able to grow upwards at this stage during flower for all the Purple Punch P1, P2 and P3. We will soon see! 28.1.25: My PH pen has packed up 😣 I've got to wait to get another. It's super annoying 😑 so I'm just judging by memory how to regulate it. Unfortunately, that's my only choice! I'm also out of the dechlorinator 😕 things are not going very well this week so far 😅 I guess we will have to make do, until I can get replenished. 29.1.25: I removed all the plants, hoovered, and disinfected the tent. There were several accidents when watering, causing some debris and splashes. I decided to just go ahead and get a few other things done. It's crazy how quickly things can become neglected! 😣 So I defoliated moderately on all plants except Gorilla Cookies seedling. I have absolutely dropped the ball on my lighting situation! My light was much further away than I thought! I turned it up to 100% and dropped it down to just under 2 feet away. After I reset the tent, I set up my scrog net. I removed 80% of all LST pegs. I am planning on letting the scrog net take over the training from here. I really want to minimise the risk of mould, so I decided to start using my dehumidifier. It has raised up to 73% RH this week, so it's necessary. Hopefully, I will be able to get my dechlorinator and PH pen soon! That's kind of essential to me. It's been a little bit of a stressful day in the garden, to be honest 😅 30.1.25: So I am expecting the arrival of my new PH pen today, as well as my new bottle of Ecothrive neutralise. It is supposed to measure the TDS and EC in addition to the standard TEMP and PH, which I had previously. Obviously, time will tell if it's any good or not. I realise, much too late now, that my lighting is very insufficient for this many plants. I need double the watts at least, and coverage is very poor. I remembered I had an old LED floor lamp, which was in a corner being unused. I decided to take the stand off, and Zip tied the pole onto the tent pole at the back left corner. I have no idea what the wattage is, and it's quite pathetic 😅 but I mean, I might as well use it, being as I definitely cannot afford more lights! 😣 Next grow, I will probably only grow 2 plants, max 4, and just use larger 7-10 Gallon pots. Being as I ran out of dechlorinator, I only watered some plants properly because I only had enough to make 6 litres. When my pen arrives, I will get everything properly watered. 31.1.25: The leaves of several plants are showing signs of iron deficiency. This is likely due to my PH pen packing up earlier. I now have a new pen. Due to this, I decided to use my Seachem Prime, which I use for my aquariums. As I wanted to get them watered properly, and my Ecothrive Neutralise hasn't arrived yet. I watered each plant with 1ltr of dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.0. I added .25g Ecothrive Biosys to the water. May give them a breather on the nutes and just use the Cal-Mag and Biosys. Being as I've just topped dressed with rich fertilisers, I'm sure that will be OK for the next several waterings. 1.2.25: Watermelon 🍉 has started flowering. The size and shape of her is quite laughable 😅 Retrospectively I started the LST too early and went in too heavy with it too. That obviously wasn't a great idea. Still, this is my first run attempting to do LST, and I have a whole bunch to experience and learn from here! 😅 We may get lucky with a stretch. Who knows right. I remember this one was supposed to finish really early, like 10 weeks or something so hopefully will get at least a bit bigger 🤞 Also the new growth is still a little bleached out. Hopefully the switch to a functional PH meter will correct the imbalance which may have occurred due to my previous one packing up. Snipped another couple leaves which were annoying me 😅 I realised this is one of the pots I put my clay pebbles the bottom of. So I've probably not been watering enough, as she's right at the back, and assuming all was good because the pot was heavier. Removed a couple of leaves from Bubble Kush

9.2.25: The plants had a good watering, they're all still drinking a lot. Which is great, as that means growth, which, at this stage, we desperately need! I went ahead and gave all the plants a thorough watering each with: 2ltrs of dechlorinated water, PH'd to 6.5 with:- ♡ 4ml of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster ♡ 4ml of Xpert Nutrients Cal-Mag amino acids ♡ 4ml Seaweed extract liquid I don't know how this scrog net is going to work out. I think the squares are too big. It's elasticated, which I like. However, I'm extremely cautious with watering and moving the net. It's only a matter of time before I break more branches. It's such a hassle with it in there, honestly. I can't get in the tent properly to even check the weight of pots, as it's all weaved through, and again, I will snap branches. I did have a free net with the tent, which I think was smaller squares. I think I will use some other training next run. It's really not my kind of setup. I'm too interested in moving things and inspecting the plants constantly. The net is driving me up the wall. 😣 I'm considering removing it and trying something else, but it's also a bit too late for oldest plants.9.2.25: Gave the plants another good soak. I used 2ltrs of dechlorinated water PH'd to 6.4. It contained the following nutrients; ♡ 4ml of Xpert Nutrients Bloom Booster ♡ 4ml of Xpert Nutrients Cal-Mag amino acids ♡ 4ml Seaweed extract liquid ♡ 0.5g of Ecothrive Biosys. The plants are undergoing explosive growth at this stage, which I'm thrilled by! Purple Lemonade is turning purplish hues. Pink Mist has so many bud sites and is looking very healthy. Do-sì-dos is growing vigorously and looking promising, especially considering all my unfortunate mishaps! 😅 Watermelon also has considerable growth. However, my training has made a mess out of the structure. Which I consider another valuable take away. Bubble