Southern Hemisphere Midsummer Grow

[SouthAfricano]

Not sure if you can see jack shit with those preflowers... Might have to wait a few weeks before it's camera visible...

I need 11 more 20l containers REALLY QUICKLY... I'm going to have to use mostly bags probably, and it should be interesting to see how it compares... With any luck I'd get 10 paint buckets but I'm betting I'm only getting another couple of them.

I seem to be running out of light space too, as the area farther back doesn't get as many hours direct sunlight as I'd like (5-6 instead of like 8.) But it seems I might need to start using some of that area as well, especially as those seedlings mature and need to be put into the 8 hour spot for vegging. But I'm sure as HELL not doing defoliation because once they go into indirect sun, the more leaves the better. Interesting to note with the lemon skunk the one side is much smaller than the other because the one side got just that big more light, so it quickly overtook the other side in development, now the smaller one has that much less root space, and also proportionately less light, so it's a quick illustration of just how important each and every hour of direct sunlight is. I still need to trim off more of that tree to ensure that my light space isn't ruined as the sun lowers. There are a lot of trees around here and I have this perfect spot at the side of the house, where people are least likely to go, with an are that can be gated up too (not that it's going to help me, I can't move the box there, but if I have to uproot 6 plants to save 20 others in an emergency I will.), and the sun just travels perfectly there, I get direct sunlight from 8am till 4pm. At night it's also the spot with the least light pollution. It's like it was made for growing weed...

 

[TheBlaze]

Those plants are looking fantastic. Nice and green and lush.

 

[SouthAfricano]

Thanks man! Yea I can't believe my eyes looking at them. Heck, they are growing so well I'm getting nervous here...

 

[TheBlaze]

LOL! Why nervous? Worried they get huge and attract attention?

 

[SouthAfricano]

Just nervous about what may happen in the off chance I get caught with them by the wrong person.

 

[SouthAfricano]

And I'm getting worried about what this whole thing is going to look like. I've got the ol man's permission to grow, but I don't think he's expecting something quite like this.

Heck... I didn't expect this. I'd have thought half of them would be dead by now, meanwhile I've got a coupla stunted ones but a nice garden of not so stunted ones. But hey lets see where this goes, he seems ok with what he is seeing thus far...

But hot damn this is a whole crap load of work. I can't wait till I have enough large containers that I can do 1 or 2 transplants not 3-4 per plant. I keep needing to use whatever I can find, and there are quite a few plants in really small containers that need transplanting, but then there are quite a few much better looking plants that need transplanting but not quite as urgently, so I go from tiny container to medium container first, and then I'll see what I can do about larger containers... And then I have 20 something seedlings coming up... That is another 20 containers... And quite frankly I hate bags. So I need like 30-40 containters... Where the fuck am I going to put 40 5gal buckets? I just can't... And I can't scrap anything till it's confirmed as male cause just ow...

I already killed most of the weaklings... I don't know how many to end up keeping...

 

[TheBlaze]

Damn dude, you don't fuck around do you. This is going to be a large grow soon.

 

[Conradino23]

Very nice, but I can see burn tips already. Hold on with nutes there cause otherwise you're gonna see this thing progressing.

 

[SouthAfricano]

Very nice, but I can see burn tips already. Hold on with nutes there cause otherwise you're gonna see this thing progressing.

That is old damage from the pH of the water. It skyrocketed to 9. I'm fixing it with lemon juice now. Getting it at 6.5 now. New growth is burn free. Most of the plants escaped it but the one got burned more than I'd have liked. I haven't given nutes to any of the burnt plants since, just plain water, and the rest are only getting nutes with one out of every 3 waterings now. I'll resume nutes on the burnt plants when the leaves start to go pale.

 

[SouthAfricano]

Damn dude, you don't fuck around do you. This is going to be a large grow soon.

Hehe thanks. Yea I figure if I am going to take the chance and grow I better capitalize on it. I'm basically going recluse for half a year here, I want to get some serious yield. I smoke 2-3g a day, and I like sharing... Especially with the friends I unceremoniously cut off. (I basically just slowly but surely stopped coming over, and my car broke too so that helped.) Let's just say I can't wait to see what is going to come of this.

 

[Conradino23]

So far it looks very good

 

[ui3ywer8y3]

OMG, a freakin' forest! You and I grow almost identically. I keep mine in the 1.5 gal. pales, though, until sexing, and from there all females go in white 5 gal. buckets, nothing less. I don't leave my girls in one spot, I chase the sun and turn the buckets a quarter turn every day so all sides get benefit. Within the next week we'll already be having temps in the 80s(F) so by this time next month I know I'll be moving all to shade around 2 p.m.

Bro, keep on doing what you're doing because everything is looking good. I just want to thank you for sharing your journal. I've been waiting for other outdoor grows, but it isn't quite the right time yet around here, so it's really nice to have a grower from the Southern hemisphere in the right season to watch and learn from. I'm subbed in, this is what I call the meat & taters.

 

[KidGrow420]

 

[arteekay]

But hot damn this is a whole crap load of work.

We vastlly underestimated the work involved as well. Figured we'd put a seed in some dirt and put a light over it, simple right?

Interesting grow and backstory has me subbed up.

 

[SouthAfricano]

Ok, so I transplanted 5-6 small plants from tiny pots into the 5l bags. Should be taking off soon. One of my potting soil bags had a bit too much wood chips for my liking in it tho. I like a little bit but I'm a slight bit worried about the acidity. I'll see if I can get compost activator and water it with it, should get those chips composted by the time the roots are through them. I'll adjust the water on that one and give it some alkaline water now and again if I see problems with acidity...

To give the real backstory for this grow... Well lets just say this is my only possible ticket out of my current situation, which is good for growing but not much else. Lets just say I can't live here anymore. The old people are driving me insane, and a coupla kilos of high grade can change my life quickly. My wife and I need a place of our own, and it would be nice to have food and rent on a farm sorted for a year...

 

[SouthAfricano]

Ok so I'm getting really good at this whole transplanting thing. They all are acting like they have been in their new pots from the start. Also I'm so thinking of somehow finding a bigger pot for the guy I put in a 3 gal, but then I'd love to see what happens with a slightly stressed indica in a 3 gal. It just got transplanted from a 1/3gal pot so maybe the 3 gal is enough...

Seedlings are looking less and less like seedlings, and 4 of my last seeds sprouted. Garden is looking beautiful.

 

[Conradino23]

Good luck with finding your own place. It's an important thing that you do it at a certain point in your life.

 

[420Amard]

Fucking hell you're gonna have a forest of buds by the time they're done.
How are you going to mange the smell?? Gonna have to paint the fence a few times over LMFAO

 

[SouthAfricano]

I have many other smelly plants around... This area is surrounded with other plants, and I also live in an area with a little thing called fynbos. You think cannabis smells? LOL! This stuff gives off an aroma found nowhere else in the world. I love it. So my ganja will just be mistaken for fynbos.

Now checkit out.

If you look extremely carefully you'll see the hair.

 

[SouthAfricano]

I measured my tallest plant at 50cm (20inches) and it most of the bigger ones are a bit over a foot tall. Looking at the day/night cycle, unless I have autoflowers I'm looking at seeing them flower in about a month or so, meaning most of the little ones will be about this size when they flower, cause these babies seem mature and ready to flower as soon as the light cycle goes 12/12. Right now it's still 14/10. We had quite a few cloudy days which may have contributed to the preflowers as well. I've got a feeling that with outdoor plants the flowering cycle works more gradual than with indoor setups, with a plant that would normally take 2 months to flower, it would take 3 months outdoors... I don't see my sativa's being done before the end of may either. Maybe even in June. Lets hope the weather doesn't get wild... That can fuck up everything. My corner is semi wind-safe, but only semi... But I think it's safe from the SW storms, so it should be fine.