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Africa Outdoor Grow 2016/2017

Hey guys and gals. This is my 1st pot here so thought id jump right in.
Here is a little grow from South Africa. Sorry i dont have the starting pics to the garden, they were on a phone i lost over December, but you i'll fill you in on it all now

Full organic garden grown in my own super soil mix.
I used a shit load of: coir, wc, horse and chicken manure mix, all the old substrate from our shroomery, including old fruits not fit for sale (unbelievable amounts of mycorrhizae in the subs), composted lucern grass as well as composted fruit and veg, bone meal, kelp meal, gypsum, dolomite lime and epsom salts and include using the red soil we have here too, as it has been tested and is very very nutritious. Its heavy so only put it at 1/3
I started the soil at the beginning of winter and had it under a tarp repeatedly turning it, usually about twice a week. When i watered the soil down i used an AACT.

I dont know how big my pots are as i made them from a fallen over water tank. They are basically just round to hold the soil in with no bottoms and they are doing great so far. i did wrap the pots in mylar as unbelievable been burnt before .. excuse the pun lol.. but you it does a great job of keeping the pots cool.
The girls in the ground are in dug out holes and filled with my soil.

I started them 1st September straight outdoors which was dumb, i could have waited until the 1st October, as we got hit with a few bad cold spells and right at the end of september got hit with a crazy hail storm. Of 54 plants up, i was left with 8 after the hail. As broken as they were, the ones that survived look ok.

Strains im grown are all pretty much home mades lol, but no complaints, ive enjoyed working with them.
The garden is made up of a mix of Cheese Dawg x Kushberry, Cheese Dawg x Master Kush, (Cheese Dawg x Kushberry) x Cataract Kush, NYC Diesel x SSH.
All plants are fenced and trellised.

Feed: i only ever fed compost teas and sprout teas as well as foliar fed with compost teas. Now going into flower i'm using a composted banana / butternut mix with with sugars in my tea. Its my 1st time trying the banana / butternut thing and i am still adding nitrogen through my lucern mix but im looking fwd to seeing the results.

Bug prevention I do what i can with what i can. I use a product called Biogrow Pyrol and Boigrow Bioneem. I also use a product for them caterpillars called Margret Roberts Dipel. Now that im in flower i wont be doing any more spraying unless i really have to. Manuel caterpillar hunting 1st thing every morning is always going to be your best option.

1st five pics.. then will reply with a follow up. Let me know what you think or if you have any advice.
 
There is hardly any pure Malawi or Swazi around anymore. Its not really worth the time to try and luck it. I grew some Malawi plants about 20 years ago that was seriously dank, but since then, the ones ive tried have just been crap. That goes for Swazi too... hevent bothered to grow it since the 90s. I enjoy the worldly genetics and like the fact that there is so much to explore. I do have some GSC going though.. thats kinda South African :D
 

Zitz

Member
Very nice garden Mike, looks like a good place to chill n smoke.
Those hybrids sound like they'l be tasty (especially under African sun).

Have you come across any Swazi gold? Reason I ask is I hear real Rooibart is near extinct and there is alot of crap swazi in general (as you mentioned), however Swazi gold may be a better bet as we sometimes get some up here in U.K - it seems the real thing and better than most Thai.
 
Very nice garden Mike, looks like a good place to chill n smoke.
Those hybrids sound like they'l be tasty (especially under African sun).

Have you come across any Swazi gold? Reason I ask is I hear real Rooibart is near extinct and there is alot of crap swazi in general (as you mentioned), however Swazi gold may be a better bet as we sometimes get some up here in U.K - it seems the real thing and better than most Thai.

Thanks Zitz. Haven't come across a pure Swazi Gold or Rooibaard strain in over a decade. With the influx of new strains being run up in Swaziland now, there has been a lot of cross pollination. I k ow of 1000 regular Jamaican Pearl seeds being dropped with a farmer .. and non of the males were pulled .. that was around 2002. Imagine how many other farms have had the same problems or had their crops pollinated with a foreign strain. The real land race still exists with some farmers and with those who came over and took seeds back with them from there. I used to love smoking Swazi, but now I don't bother. What I know we do have is Cheese x Swazi and the Pearl cross as well as some other kush stuff I know was run up there .. I have some GSC that just popped up and they are in the plan for next summer too .. See what the Durban poison does in it back home lol
 
B

BAKED_BEANZ

i noticed you wrap the pots to stop heat ? do you find one way works better than another ?

disappointed to hear your take on the local gene pool being watered down . .......
 
i noticed you wrap the pots to stop heat ? do you find one way works better than another ?

For me this ceiling insulation (mylar I think it's called) has worked the best. I've tried thick cardboard boxes taped together, that didn't work too well and haven't tried burlap. Next season i plan to have my pallet garden built up around the perimeter fence, that should help too but I'd still keep the mylar on. It's really worked like a dream .. we have scorching hot days and I'm not worried at all. I highly recommend it!!! 😃
 
B

BAKED_BEANZ

did you find that plants would force flower when the soil heated ? or flower and veg at same time and slow growth ? was this the reason for wrapping the pots
 
I think the 1st swazi crosses were done with a skunk strain if I remember correctly .. but yes a pure Swazi is hard to find these days. There were like 2 or 3 distinct swazis back in the day plus the famous "Swazi Skunk" which was distinct. These days it's nothing like that.. There are maybe 20 different varieties now.
 
i noticed you wrap the pots to stop heat ? do you find one way works better than another ?

disappointed to hear your take on the local gene pool being watered down . .......

did you find that plants would force flower when the soil heated ? or flower and veg at same time and slow growth ? was this the reason for wrapping the pots

Funny enough I have one plant half flower and half veg at the moment .. it's not wrapped and has the worst spot in the garden. It also has no smell what so ever but is covered in crystals. That plant gets hot. But I don't really bother it and half of its already been harvested. I started wrapping my pots a couple years ago just to stop any stress.. got nailed hard by heat one summer in a greenhouse and although it didn't seem to effect them going into flower.. but it roasted the roots and the plants just couldn't take it. Haven't found it forced flower as much as some bad cold spells did. Keeping my pots wrapped like this guarantees they stay cool and the roots stress free.
 
B

BAKED_BEANZ

i,m in hot climate also 100+F most days , growing in pots for the first time ....... heat/stress seemed to be making them throw pistils then stall little then take of again when cooler type days came ....so was very interested in your process and whats worked , as next season its my first job on the to do list .

i mulch wrap around the pot held in with chicken wire was suggested , but if i can keep it need and tidy will be nicer comedically for me .
thanks for sharing and will be great thread .
 

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