Milky Way F1 Automatic by RQS

tjaym Week 1: Seedling Stage & Perfect Environment 🌿 Day of Emergence: Day 5 Light Setup: Spider Farmer SE3000 @ 40 cm distance Light Schedule: 18/6 (560 µmol/m²/s | 36.29 DLI) Environment: 25–27°C (Day) / 22–24°C (Night) | ~75% RH (Under dome) Medium & pH: Plagron Lightmix | Water adjusted to pH 6.0 Height: ~3 cm at the end of the week Diary Entry: On day 5, the Milky Way F1 broke through the surface! She started her life looking incredibly strong, short, and beautifully compact. No stretching at all, just sitting perfectly upright. By the end of the week, she reached a height of about 3 cm. To give her the absolute best start, I placed her under a humidity dome, keeping the relative humidity at a steady 75% both day and night. Temperatures stayed dialed in at a warm 25–27°C during the day and dropped slightly to a comfortable 22–24°C at night. For lighting, I have the Spider Farmer SE3000 hanging at a distance of 40 cm from the plant. Running on an 18/6 schedule, this provides a PPFD of 560 µmol/m²/s, which translates to a solid DLI of 36.29. She seems to love this light intensity. Regarding medium and watering: I am growing in Plagron Lightmix. Before planting the germinated seed, I brought the soil to field capacity. Because the Lightmix contains enough initial nutrients for the first week and I want the roots to seek out moisture, I didn't add any extra nutrients. From day 3 through day 7, I only gave plain water carefully adjusted to a pH of 6.0. An amazing, stress-free start for this F1 hybrid!

tjaym Week 2: Steady Growth & Dialing in the VPD 📈 Environment: 27°C (Day) / 22°C (Night) | ~75% RH (Higher at night) VPD Targets: 0.8 – 1.0 kPa (Day) / 0.4 – 0.6 kPa (Night) Light Setup: Spider Farmer SE3000 | Ramping up +40 µmol/m²/s daily Nutrients: 400 PPM (0.8 EC) | Plagron Roots, Alga Grow, and Power Roots/Zym Height: ~7 cm at the end of the week Diary Entry: Week 2 is in the books, and she is moving along nicely! At the start of this week, she officially outgrew the humidity dome, so it was removed. She adjusted to the open air effortlessly and grew to a healthy 7 cm by the end of the week. This week, my main focus was environmental control, specifically targeting the VPD (Vapor Pressure Deficit). During the day, temperatures stayed at a steady 27°C with 75% RH, allowing me to hit a perfect daytime VPD of 0.8 to 1.0 kPa. At night, the temperature dropped to 22°C, and without a dehumidifier running yet, the RH spiked a bit higher. This pushed the nighttime VPD down to around 0.4 to 0.6 kPa, but she is handling it well. For lighting, I kept the Spider Farmer SE3000 at the same height, but I started gently pushing her limits by ramping up the light intensity by 40 µmol/m²/s per day to steadily increase the DLI. Near the end of the week, her leaves started showing a slightly lighter green hue, signaling that she had used up the light buffers in the Plagron Lightmix and was hungry for more. I immediately introduced a light feeding schedule at 400 PPM (0.8 EC), using a mix of Plagron Roots, Grow, and Zym to kickstart root development and vegetative growth. She is looking strong and ready for the explosive growth phase!

tjaym Week 3: Dialing in Nutrients & Environmental Control Environment: 25–27°C (Day) / 22–24°C (Night) | 70–75% RH Nutrients: Stepped up to 1.8 EC (Plagron Roots, Grow, Zym, Sugar.) | pH 6.0 Watering: ~250 ml daily (peaking at 500 ml on one day) Plant Health: Recovered to a beautiful rich green, short and compact Diary Entry: We have wrapped up Week 3, and it has been a week of fine-tuning both the environment and her diet. She is showing off multiple sets of true leaves now while managing to stay beautifully short, tight, and compact. At the start of the week, she was still looking a bit too light green, showing me that she wanted a lot more food than the initial 0.8 EC. Over the course of the week, I gradually stepped up the nutrient dosage, eventually peaking at a solid 1.8 EC. This did the trick perfectly! The light green shade vanished, and she bounced back with a gorgeous, deep, and healthy green color. My new dehumidifier arrived this week, which was a massive game-changer. While the daytime temperatures sat at 25–27°C and nights at 22–24°C, I was finally able to control the high humidity spikes at night. Keeping the RH strictly around 70–75% around the clock has allowed me to stabilize the VPD much better. With her rapid root expansion and steady growth, her water consumption went up significantly. I was watering her almost every single day with 250 ml of pH 6.0 water, and on one high-transpiration day, she happily drank a full 500 ml. She is drinking, feeding, and growing like a champ! Day 27 - We tucked her leaves a bit to promote the newer branches to get some light + airflow.

tjaym Week 4: Vegetative Phase – Managing the Changing Seasons 🌿 Welcome to week 4! As the outdoor temperatures are starting to drop, I am focusing heavily on keeping the indoor climate perfectly dialed in for the ladies. Climate & Environment 🌤️ Daytime Temperature: 23°C – 25°C (Keeping it stable despite the colder weather outside) Soil Temperature: 22°C (Nice and warm for optimal root activity) Relative Humidity (RH): ~65%VPD: 0.9 – 1.1 kPa (Right in the sweet spot for this stage of growth!) Light Distance: Hanging steady at 40 cm from the top of the pots. Plant Development & Training 📏 The girls are looking incredibly healthy and robust. They are currently standing at a height of 12 to 15 cm. They are developing nice, thick foliage and showing great vigor. Regarding training, I kept it simple this week. No high-stress techniques yet—just some leaf tucking to open up the canopy and promote the growth of the lower, newer shoots. They responded beautifully to this. Feeding & Watering 💦 The root zone is thriving, and the plants are drinking well. Over the past week, I've been giving them at least 250 ml of water almost daily, packed with a solid Plagron cocktail to support their vegetative growth: Plagron Terra Grow (Base nutrients) Pure Zym (Enzymes for soil health) Sugar Royal (Amino acids to enhance development) Power Roots (To keep the root mass expanding) To my eyes, they look absolutely gorgeous right now. Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think! Happy growing everyone! 🚀

tjaym 📝 Grow Diaries Update: Week 5 General Status: The plants are officially entering Week 5 and are showing the first clear signs of early flowering/pre-flowering. They are growing under an 18/6 light cycle, with the lamp positioned roughly 30cm above the canopy at a light intensity of 700 PPFD. Environmental Factors: Day Temperature: 24°C – 27°C Night Temperature: 20°C – 22°C Day Humidity (RH): 60% Night Humidity (RH): 60% Feeding & Watering: Today, the plants received a total of 5 Liters of water distributed over the 4 pots. Switching over to the flowering regime using the Plagron line: Plagron Terra Bloom (2 ml/L) Power RootsPower Buds Royal SugarPure Zym Actions & Issues: Defoliation: Cleaned up the bottom of the plants by removing low-hanging leaves and small stems close to the soil to prevent issues with airflow and potential pests. PH Issues: The pH meter started acting up and refused to calibrate properly. Because of this, the plants received water based on a rough estimate regarding pH levels over the past week. Watering Adjustment: Following advice that the plants were slightly underwatered and lacking "praying leaves," the watering volume has been adjusted.

tjaym Week 6 Bloom – Finding My Own Way & Fine-Tuning the Routine Welcome to Week 6 of flowering! The tent is looking lush and filled with lovely green ladies, but this past week has been quite a learning process. Strains in the tent: 2x Milkyway F1 (Royal Queen Seeds) 2x Critical Automatic (Zamnesia Seeds) General Overview & Observations: Overall, the girls are doing well and the bud production is coming along nicely. However, they've been looking a little droopy lately. This past week was all about dialling in the watering schedule, aiming for that ideal leaf angle ("praying"), and learning how to properly read the soil meter. I’ve received a lot of advice from well-meaning growers lately. While everyone means well and tries to help, I realized that taking in too many different opinions can actually cause overthinking and uncertainty. The biggest takeaway from this week is that while advice is always appreciated, every grower ultimately needs to find their own path and figure out what works best for their specific setup. We also learned firsthand how strong LED lights increase the plants' appetite for Calcium and Magnesium. I noticed early signs of a CalMag deficiency on one of the plants, so I adjusted the feeding regimen accordingly. Setup Details: Tent: Spider Farmer 90x90x200 cm Light: Spider Farmer SE3000 Ventilation & Monitoring: Spider Farmer 6" Carbon Filter, Clip Fan, 5-in-1 Sensor, and Soil Probe Pots & Medium: 15L Fabric Pots with Plagron Lightmix Nutrient Recipe (per Liter of water): Plagron Terra Bloom: 5 ml Plagron Power Roots: 1 ml Plagron Royal Sugar: 1 ml Plagron CalMag Pro: 0.5 ml Plagron Pure Zym: 1 ml Plan for Next Week: Starting next week, I will replace Pure Zym and introduce Plagron Green Sensation to boost bud development. Excited to see how they respond!

tjaym Week 7 - Flowering Overall Status & Canopy Management Everything is moving along smoothly in the tent this week! All the ladies are progressing really well, and I’m very satisfied with their overall growth and development. Yesterday, I performed a light defoliation to clear up some excess fan leaves, opening up light penetration to the lower bud sites and improving airflow. Nutrients & Watering Strategy Green Sensation: Introduced Plagron Green Sensation for the first time yesterday alongside the base nutrients to push bloom production and resin development during this crucial phase. CalMag: Happy to report that the CalMag deficiency we picked up earlier under the Spider Farmer SE3000 LED is completely under control now. The leaves are looking much healthier and stable. Watering Schedule: Shifted to a heavy watering routine once every 3 to 4 days, allowing for better dry-back cycles and root oxygenation. CO2 Boost: Noticed that ambient CO2 levels inside the tent were running a bit low, so we are currently experimenting with CO2 boosters to keep photosynthesis running at peak efficiency. Bud & Trichome Development (Milkyway F1 & Critical Auto) The Milkyway F1 is looking fantastic! The aroma inside the tent is getting noticeably stronger and richer every day. Bud production is coming along nicely, and as you can see in the photo, trichome development is ramping up with a very clean, frosty coating forming across the sugar leaves and calyxes. The pistils are starting to show those nice warm colors as well. Overall, super happy with how this run is progressing!

tjaym 🌿 Week 8 (Days 57 – 63) Update Stage: Late Bloom / Ripening DLI: ~51.84 mol/m²/d PPFD: ~800 µmol/m²/s Nutrient Solution EC: ~2.5 (1250 PPM) Target RH: 55% Day / Night Temps: 23°C–25°C / 18°C–20°C 📋 Overview & Canopy Status The ladies are fattening up nicely and starting to swell! Milky Way F1: Starting to show her first amber trichomes on the sugar leaves. She is maturing fast and looking super frosty. Critical Automatic: Needs a bit more time compared to the Milky Way F1, but her buds are filling out heavily. Nutrient Deficiencies: The Critical in the front is showing some light signs of nitrogen fading (yellowing lower/mid leaves). At this stage of flower, natural fading is completely normal and expected, so no stress there. I'm keeping maintenance simple this week—just light defoliation to clear out completely yellowed leaves and keep air circulation optimal through the canopy. 🎛️ Climate & Environment Temperatures: Outside temps are dropping significantly, which I can notice inside the tent. The Spider Farmer heater is kicking on much more frequently during the day to maintain stability. Daytime temps are steady at 23°C – 25°C, while lights-off temps drop to 18°C – 20°C. RH & VPD: Humidity is set to 55%, keeping my target VPD comfortably between 1.2 and 1.6 kPa for ideal transpiration during late bloom. Substrate pH: Soil pH is sitting right in the sweet spot around 5.8 – 6.0. 💧 Fertigation & Feeding Schedule We feed 10 Liters total spread across all 4 plants every 3 to 4 days. I use a "Sip & Rest" method (watering in small bursts with short rest intervals) to fully saturate the substrate evenly until achieving slight runoff. The last runoff measurement came in at around 1400 PPM (~2.8 EC), which is right on target for this heavy feeding phase. Current Feed Mix (per 10L solution): Terra Bloom: 50 mL Royal Sugar: 10 mL CalMag Pro: 7 mL Green Sensation: 10 mL Power Buds: 10 mL 💡 Lighting Adjustments Since we are nearing the final stretch and still had plenty of headroom on light intensity, I've been ramping up the PPFD by +50 µmol/m²/s each day over the last few days. We are currently sitting at 800 PPFD, pushing a heavy 51.84 DLI. The canopy is taking it like a champ!

tjaym Here is the complete Week 9 update translated into English, formatted specifically for your GrowDiaries journal: 🌿 Week 9 - Bloom Update: Split Strategy & Harvest Countdown! We have reached a super exciting stage in the tent! We are running a split strategy now: the Milkyway F1 has officially entered her final stretch (estimated ~1.5 weeks until harvest) and is getting plain water to flush. Meanwhile, the Critical Automatic plants are still in full bloom and building up massive weight for another 4 to 5 weeks. It's time for those autumn colors! 💡 Climate & Light Parameters Grow Light (Spider Farmer SE3000): Dimmed at 88% PPFD: 750 µmol/m²/s DLI (Daily Light Interval): 48.6 mol/m²/d Temperature: Day: 23 - 25 °C (73 - 77 °F) Night: 20 - 22 °C (68 - 72 °F) Relative Humidity (RH): Stable around 55% (range 55–60%), keeping conditions optimal and safe from bud rot. 💧 Feeding & Irrigation (Every 3–4 Days / 10L Total across 4 Plants) Milkyway F1 (Flushing Phase): Switched to pure RO water only to drain remaining nutrients from the medium and plant tissue, ensuring a clean and rich terpene profile at harvest. 🌱 Plant Status & Observations Milkyway F1: Entering the home stretch! About 1.5 weeks remaining. Trichomes are being closely monitored under the microscope as the flush gets underway. Overall Impression: The tent looks incredible, and as soon as you step into the shed, you are greeted by an intense, sweet, mouth-watering aroma. Autumn fades are starting to show beautifully!

tjaym 🌿 Week 11 — Days 70 to 76 (Late Bloom) 📊 Environmental & Feeding Log Day / Night Temp 23°C Day / 18°C Night (Heater working overtime to keep canopy temps stable) Relative Humidity (RH)55% (Constant Day & Night) Light Schedule 18 / 6 PPFD / DLI 750 µmol/m²/s pH Target 6.3 EC Target 2.8 Nutrient Mix (per Liter) Plagron Terra Bloom: 5 ml/L Plagron Green Sensation: 1 ml/L Plagron Sugar Royal: 1 ml/L Plagron Power Buds: 1 ml/L Plagron CalMag Pro: 0.7 ml/L 🔍 Plant Status & Observations 🌌 Milkyway F1 (x2) — Final Days Status: Reaching full maturity! Trichomes are showing a beautiful mix with clear amber starting to pop through. Bud Structure & Aroma: Buds feel super dense and rock-hard to the touch, releasing a rich, heavenly scent throughout the tent. Feeding: Switched strictly to plain RO water for these ladies during their recent waterings as they prepare for harvest. ⚙️ Environment & Equipment Notes Climate Control: Nighttime ambient temperatures are dropping outside, so the heater is putting in work overtime to hold 23°C during lights-on and maintain 18°C–20°C at night. Humidity remains rock steady at 55%. CO2 Booster Box Experiment: The DIY CO2 Booster bottle remained in the tent, but tracking on the 5-in-1 sensor showed minimal measurable ppm impact (roughly a ~10–30 PPM increase per bubble). A fun test, but overall limited impact in an actively ventilated setup. Defoliation: Leaving the remaining fan leaves intact for the rest of their lifecycle to let them pull all remaining energy into flower production. Happy growing growmies!