Hello everyone! I'm Warwelles, semi-new user to the forum, and I've never grown MJ before, but I'm eager to learn and I'm planning ahead to get the most out of this season. I'll try to give you a brief and detailed overview of the area I'm growing at: I live in the Canary Islands, at a fairly elevated and often cold area where the climate tends to be pretty radical. Spring usually brings with it a lot of rain and cold nights. Wind is also very present. Summer usually starts around May and it's mighty hot and very long. Thus, I'm thinking about germinating the seeds the last week of March. Is that OK or should I wait? Thermometers rise over 40ºC on July, and sand-storms from the African Sahara desert are frequent every year. It's actually a great place to grow, most times. I'm growing inside my old garden, where I've built a simple structure to provide basic protection from my cat and dog. Here you can see a picture of the "grow-zone" (still not finished since I run out of fence): http://i.imgur.com/4imLNyM.jpg?1 Other photo: http://i.imgur.com/Rc9BFgS.jpg I've got a few random seeds growing there to test the climate a bit and to study them. Those plants are about 3 almost 4 weeks old. They haven't been exposed to much sunlight over the last month, but still they're holding up against the cold outdoors. Test plants: http://i.imgur.com/qVSWsmkh.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/GUVu0pch.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/M4eY2lwh.jpg My soil has in it horse manure, worm castings and home-made compost, then a thin layer of normal soil to keep it undisrupted. Over it a mixture of nutrient rich soil and normal soil, where the plants are put. It seems to work very well as far as the top mixture goes, and there are many worms moving through the other soil from what I can tell. You can distinguish everything on the previous pictures. The few "dangers" I've noticed for the grow are: -Bugs: Tiny insects are already moving around my plants, some are eating leaves, arachnids just make random threads from leaf to leaf, a red spider was briefly sighted on a plant earlier today. I'm thinking about making a wood rectangular frame surrounding the plants, about 10 to 15 cm high. Saw a similar thing on a professional grow, although theirs was considerably taller. Do you guys think this will work? Pictures: http://i.imgur.com/CCJpCs7.jpg http://i.imgur.com/sCgydHV.jpg -Wind: It's pretty windy from time to time, that's why there's a structure surrounding the test-plants. I expect to improve said structure as soon as I'm able.*Tips on this: what will help my plants keep themselves safe from the wind?* -Sand-storms: They deliver a harsh and hot death to any marijuana plant. I plan on having greenhouse plastic to deploy over those poles when necessary. Sand storms occur once or twice every few months, but they are more frequent on the summers. Thankfully I live 800m over the sea, and the damage would be minimum. I've decided to grow the following strains: -LSD: Tried this weed a few months ago and I fell in love with it. -G13 Haze: I've only heard and read good things about this strain, and I intent to try it out. Maybe I'll do some basic "ScrOG". -Tangerine Dreams: It seems to be a fairly resistant and popular strain, and I love Barney's Farm. Also, anything that comes from the G13 must be good. -Chocolope: Found out about her a few weeks ago and Google says it's a good strain for newbies and has a big yield. -(Purple Haze/Super Skunk/Super silver haze/Maxigom): I don't know what my last choice is going to be. I could try a few Maxigom autos, for I haven't picked any other auto-flowering strains. I welcome any suggestions on strains. I have big doubts on nutrients and bug repellents: Most importantly: I know usually some extra N, P and K is needed to improve growth and yield. When should I add them, and in which form (organically achieved, bought at a grow-shop, bone/blood) is it best? -What bug repellents do you recommend? When should they be added (at what stages)? I know neem oil is a must, but what else should I get? I look forward to reading all your feedback and thoughts, and I thank you beforehand for your time, patience, comprehension and help. Also, I apologize for any grammar mistakes I may have made, English isn't my mother tongue. Cheers!
Update: Since I didn't order any seeds for it was too soon to germinate, I had some time to reconsider and I've settled on the following: 1x Martian Mean Green - Feminised 1x G13 Haze - Feminised 1x Jack Herer (Jah Herrer) - Feminised 1x Flash Back #2 - Feminised 3x Mama Thai - Regular (Expecting 3 males). 1x LSD - Feminised 2x Arjan's Haze #1 - Feminised There's way more sativa in there, no indica but for LSD. They all seemed to grow on slightly warm climates, and reviews on the internet were all very favourable. Hope I made the right choices. I'm a bit worried on space, so I'll go for 3 rows and 2 columns, with the most Indica strains in between, thus 8 plants. For nutrients I settled on bird guano, bone meal/dried blood and the humus that was already there. I used some intelligence when distributing the nutrients. About 10 cc's of nutrients for each plant. Hopefully by next Friday I'll have the seeds and hence the serious growing will begin =D Sorry for the not so exciting update.
Hey mate, Very good presentation and information, and excellent strain choice too I think you've got it down-pat man! I've just got one suggestion - if you're planning on actually leaving the plants we're they're planted now, you are not going to be happy with the result. Period. I would dig them up and space them at least 2-3 metres apart if you don't want them to kill each other and fight over food/sunlight/space/recourses. Other than that, they are some healthy looking seedlings man! Keep it up! Take it easy, CloudsOfChronic
Don't worry, those are just test plants. I'll move those when the good seeds arrive. The 7-9 final plants will have at least an area with 30 cm radius to grow.
Hello again, I received all the seeds I bought, plus a few extra auto-flowering Speed+ and S.A.D. seeds I got at the local growshop. They are all germinating right now in the pots. I used the paper-towel method just one night to help them a bit. On the other hand, some friends came over to give me a hand digging and stuff, and the end result of the grow area is quite good: http://i.imgur.com/GKgwiCW.jpg http://i.imgur.com/M4LZX5m.jpg?1 I was being unrealistic on the size of cannabis plants, so I decided to give them way more extra space and have just 6 plants. I'll keep the other 3 seeds in the fridge for next year =] And pics of the "test-plants". Some of them with very decent frost/bug damage. http://i.imgur.com/KTGwNjI.jpg http://i.imgur.com/EAXvZT3.jpg http://i.imgur.com/lwTGIIE.jpg http://i.imgur.com/RIUknXD.jpg http://i.imgur.com/sNkkyos.jpg http://i.imgur.com/lUkQAMt.jpg Lettuce or weed? What do you prefer? http://i.imgur.com/XoZCH6w.jpg Also, seeds germinating peacefully: I found an humus made nearby which has incredible nutrient values, I'll post them as soon as I can. It's not made specially for cannabis plants but it'll sure do them good. As to the weather, last week was sunny, hot and a little windy, this week seems to be all about clouds. Thankfully temperatures have risen a bit, so no more frosty damage to plants. I'll be back as soon as the seeds have sprouted, hopefully they'll do. If my first mail-seeds don't sprout when some bud-seeds went through hell and survived... Well, I'll be damned.
Sprouts! Sprouts, sprouts sprouts. Auto-sprouts! http://i.imgur.com/meR3NM6.jpg The Arjan's Haze #1 had it's root over the soil earlier this morning. I figure the seed was flipped and the root didn't go properly into the soil. Anyway, I covered it a little and a few hours later the sprout appeared.
We've got a great storm pretty much over us. It rains a lot and the wind is passing by at 100km/h, reaching 130km/h sometimes. I did secure my plants with big flipped pots, and they haven't flown away, so it's going OK. Here's the cloud itself: And I'm at the bottom-left corner, those are the Canary Islands =D
Update time! It's been very sunny for a couple of days and the remaining test-plants have grown a lot, so I was thinking maybe I should FIM or top both of them: Is it just me or that last one looks just like a pistil (flower)? And here you see the 4 autos and the 6 main plants: Photo is a little blurry, couldn't focus right. URL: http://i.imgur.com/bQ31SCx.jpg Please, tell me if I should top or FIM the big test-plant, it seems like "she" would benefit from all the space there is around her. Best regards!
Congrats again! Looks great. I would let veg a little longer but that a personal preference thing. You are fine to fim or top the bigger plant at this point. So jealous that you can grow outside.
Hahaha! Thank you! I went ahead and FIMed both plants. About the extra veg time, I'm not really controlling anything, I didn't expect the plant to start with flowers so soon. Also I've build a stable greenhouse surrounding my grow this very morning, when the sun was going up and it was still fresh. As soon as I get the greenhouse plastic over it I'll take a picture. In my local grow-shop I found many BioBuzz products that are supposedly completely organic. Should I use some of those? Or is it better if I make my own nutrient-rich recipe (like other users in this forum)?
Organics are supposed to be really cool stuff only advice I have on organics is remember no h2o2. I grow in hydro so I don't know much sorry.
If your soil is organic you shouldnt need anything but teas i think, the organisms in your soil take care of the rest.
Your soil looks like is growing very well. Canary islands, sweet. You can grow all year some, auto's would be good for short day light time of the year and Sativa's would have time to fully develop Maybe some Thai or Indian sativa. I would also throw in some strains from Morocco. Very lucky to have a year round season. Keep us updated
Hahahaha, thank you! That was somehow comforting. I'll try to get some Jamaican plants in here too, I've been told they grow here like they do in Jamaica. Also this year's Canarian Cannabis Cup winner was a Jamaican Dream grown by a friend of mine =] I'll look on the internet for the best compost tea recipe, I'll see what I manage to get. Maybe I'll have to buy some N and P rich compost, since I don't know what values my compost has. I'm gonna buy some humid soil to mix with my garden soil, since I've noticed it gets super dry very fast. Also, I'm thinking about transplanting this Saturday, to let the plants start off in the soil early on. Also, few update photos. Judge how much longer I should leave the plants in the pots, if it's up to me they'll be there 3 more days. Greenhouse progress too: What do you think the FIM will turn out like? PD: The cat isn't fat, she's just so so very lazy.
Yesterday I went ahead and transplanted them. They're looking very good, though today's a little windy and they're dancing all around: In order: G13 Haze, LSD, Martian Mean Green, Jah Herer, Arjan's Haze #1 and Mama Thai. Also overview. Gonna follow this guide for the Compost teas: Compost Teas - Superpower your microherd. It's very well written and easily comprehensible, just the kind of reading I like. The FIM seems to have been half a success, but the plant is still growing rapidly so no worries.
Update tiem! I started using some Biobizz fishmix, which is working pretty great, and a friend brought me his MaxiGom since he doesn't get much sun at his place. Things are going very good, the only problems so far are snails. Also, one of the SAD plants has been twisted since it sprouted, I'm guessing it suffered a weird kind of stress. Probably cold damage. LSD, G13, JHerer, MMG, Arjan's #1, M Thai, SAD, MaxiGom, Overview, "Test" Girl. As you can see the FIM didn't work properly, but I topped just yesterday her and she's responded very well to it. Cheers! PD: If a mod could edit post #9 to change the big images to just URLs I would greatly appreciate it. It breaks the design very much.
So good news and bad news. The good news are self-explanatory: Order: Unknown, MMG, Mama Thai, Jah Herer, LSD, G13 Haze. They are getting huge... And the 3 Speed+ are already in their last 10 days, brilliant =D The bad news: I had to take the greenhouse down right after I was done with the plastic, it couldn't stand the wind if closed. Back to "subtle" camouflage. Also, the Arjan's Haze #1 died after being partially eaten around the stem by some evil creature.