Second grow journal. 1x Watermelon Zkittlez

[90Gizmo]

Only one of three Watermelon Zkittlez seeds sprouted so I'm going with one plant. The seeds are five months old, bought them same time as seeds for first grow which had 3 for 3 sprout and live. I have two more of the Watermelon Zulu that I grew first time so I'm going to look for advice sprouting older seeds and get them into dirt... I know some people germ them years later. I'll try to add them to the grow RSN.

I've added an air filter this time because I don't want to waste the heat this fall. I was venting outside. I went with an oversized filter with the thought that I'll get better filtering and longer life. Time will tell. Of course I don't really need the filter right now so I'll disconnect it to extend is life.

The one seed seems to be doing fine though I expected bigger after 8 days. Cracked 9/11. Planted 9/13. (My birthday!) I planted directly into five gallon bag.

[90Gizmo]

Day 9. Maybe I was too gentle with the light to start. I ran the lights a 200 PAR for 14 hours the first week then I upped it to 300 PAR. Yesterday I bumped it to 18 hours and now I see some internodal spacing developing. I'm thinking I'll raise the PAR by a hundred every other day. Then It'll be at 600 PAR at the end of the second week and the little girl should be in full veg about then. I've done no feeding since the cotyledons still look healthy but I'm ready...

[SoOrbudgal]

Well it's just getting adjusted to all the space she'll shoot up quickly when those roots kick in. I hate seeing wasted grow light space can't ya just toss another plant into this grow LOL

[90Gizmo]

It hurts me too. I've got two more Whiskey Zulu seeds that I'll start today

[Going2fast]

Is that an auto? How did you like the whiskey Zulu? Got a few freebies of that. I've grown trizzlers which has WS as a parent and liked it.

[90Gizmo]

Yes, this grow is an auto. I think that the Wiskey Zulu smells great but it is a very potent smell. No stealth there. I got a head spinning buzz last night with it so complaints.

[90Gizmo]

Day 12 - Started LST and gave first feeding 3-1-2 nutes + Rosemary bug repellent. pH 6.1
Started two more seeds. (freebee Whisky Zulus from first grow.) One day soak. One day on paper towel. One is showing a radicle. Haven't decided on pot size yet.

Oh yeah upped the light to 450 PAR.

[SoOrbudgal]

Cool beans good luck

[90Gizmo]

Thank you!

[90Gizmo]

Day 14: Advancing LST on Watermelon Zkittlez to a higher node. Planted x2 Whiskey Zulu sprouts in 2 gallon bags. Moved new bags off to the side where sprouts will get about 300 PAR.

[SoOrbudgal]

Sounds good

[90Gizmo]

Day 19 Watermelon Zkittlez. Appears to be in full veg. I've read that this variety is bushy, seems to be the case. I'd like to think that my LST has given lower sides better lighting. We'll see.

Day 7 x2 Whiskey Zulu. I've moved the sprouts to a separate tent to better control the lighting. Supervisor Loki approves I suspect because this setup is definitely not cat proof.

[90Gizmo]

Day 21. I have the Zkittlez growing at about a 45 degree angle. I'll put some support sticks in and try to keep it going because I think it's doing well exposing lower and inside growth sites.

Day 11 for the Whisky Zulu seedlings. I put some more dirt in and turned up the lights to try to keep the stretch in check.

[SoOrbudgal]

Looking great

[90Gizmo]

Day 22 - I thought it was my imagination two days ago but she's definitely starting to smell. I see pre flower today but looking back I see pre flower in the day 19 photos too. I've been watering with pH 6.2 water and see 6.5 runoff. I see some good vertical branches growing and will try to encourage a few more (by keeping the 45 degree trunk angle for a few more nodes.) I think it's time to figure out what those turned down leaves mean. I don't think it's over watering.

[90Gizmo]

I don't think it's pH, root rot or nitrogen toxicity so I'm guessing wind burn. I have one of those rotating tower fans in the tent that's new for this grow. I had already turned it around to blow against the tent for thinking that direct-on winds was too much. I've turned that off for now and I'll see what new growth looks like. I'm excited for the training because I see lots of good looking secondary stalks forming.

[90Gizmo]

Day 26: Plant is infested with furry-tailed leaf sniffers. I think think I'm done with the LST though I said that yesterday and still did a few adjustments today. The plant is almost four weeks old and only eight inches tall. Pretty good? I'll let stalks grow upwards now and maybe pull them outwards to let light though the middle when the get taller. So far I have fertilized twice, did Cal-Mag once and soak/flushed twice. I'm watering with pH 6.1 and runoff is about 6.5 so maybe the soil pH might be a little high for veg but okay I think when it gets to flower. Fingers crossed I think this is going to be a good one. Smells pretty good I'll give it that.

[90Gizmo]

Day 29: My buddy took one look at the plant and said "nitrogen deficiency." I can see the start of this two weeks ago but, other than bent leaves, the plant looked healthy. Experienced friends willing to help, priceless. Anyway, I've found a good source of longer training sticks today.

Got tired of buying cheap flower sticks that rot in the soil.
For (indoor) grow I use Stainless Steel TIG Welding Rod Sizes:
1/8" X 39" for support, works great, steady and reusable.
What a beautiful cat you have!

[90Gizmo]

The SS rods are a good idea. The arrow shafts are a bit chunky. Thank you for the kind words but everyone's cats are beautiful. Loki, thought, is a very good example of that. Both cats follow me to the grow room and like to stick their noses in things. It's not that I'm trying hard to get them into the pictures but mostly it would be hard not to.

[Blowdout2269]

N deficiency is possible. But she isn't that light in color.
It looks like just the tips are lighter, meaning it could be starting to flower. I also notice the leaf tips curling down. How close/strong is your lighting?

EDIT: Pic on post #9, yeah, nitrogen probably. Looks much better in #11 though. Maybe it's the angle of the photo.

[90Gizmo]

My color vision is not the best and often I press the "enhance" button so I can see colors better. I guess that's was bad idea when posting. But I'm a newbie and don't know what's normal color yet. Other than the leaf claw the plant looks very healthy... much better than first grow. Live and learn is okay by me as long as I can smoke the results. It's growing wild right now and covered with pistils.

I haven't been measuring light distance rather seeing distance and intensity to get the target PAR. Now targeting me 500 to 700 PAR. My DLI is probably high but I'm greedy.

[90Gizmo]

Day 30. I'm working on correcting nitrogen deficiency. Even so the plant is big time in pre-flower with at least a dozen stalks sprouting pistils which I hope will form fat colas. I've got some automation working with control of lights, duct fan speed and a home made swamp cooler. I'm watching the controls like as hawk as it is totally unproven. The two Whiskey Zulu sprouts are in veg now and I've moved them into the big tent and am giving them more light.

[90Gizmo]

Day 37 Watermelon Zkittlez: Another week and buds are starting to form. Plant is 16", doubled in height in 10 days. Training done, I'm letting shoots grow up now.

Day 27 x2 Whisky Zulu: Experiment in progress. No LST. Instead I trimmed the first five fingered leaves on node 3 to allow more light to reach stalk growth on node 1.

[90Gizmo]

Day 40 of wishful thinking. It looks to me like the color is improving. I spooned in 5 TBS of Gaia green power bloom and watered it in with some fish imulsion to give the flowers a potassium boost.

Day 30 of the little ones. Both are self-identifying as female.