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Breeding for drought and crappy soil...

gorilla ganja

Well-known member
Veteran
And for the first ones, from the beginning of March, it's still just as difficult.
What are your average temperatures? I find a late plant out in warm weather to be much better than a very early one in cool temperatures. Even with photoperiods last year, I planted a month later than usual, wanting smaller plants, but they ended up about the same size anyway.
 

Artistick Seeds

Well-known member
What are your average temperatures? I find a late plant out in warm weather to be much better than a very early one in cool temperatures. Even with photoperiods last year, I planted a month later than usual, wanting smaller plants, but they ended up about the same size anyway.
During March, night temperatures were between 7 and 13 degrees Celsius, during the day between 13 and 22. In April, between 9 and 14 at night and 17 to 27 during the day. I see the big difference in development with the plants sown 1 month later.

Next year I will start the first sowings between the last week of March and the first of April. Of the 60 starting plants, I think only two will be pollinated. The duration of sunshine and the temperatures were not optimal for sowing directly in the ground so early. But I think the soil type was also an important factor in the poor performance.

I'll do a sowing in July to test the offspring and I hope I'll see a small improvement in tolerance to bad conditions.
 

Artistick Seeds

Well-known member
Today:

Biggest "Straight into native ground" Maestro:
20250427_152201.jpg

She shows pistils today

Look at the huge difference between the others:
20250427_152204.jpg


The newest but bigger Blueberry Haze:
20250427_151331.jpg

20250427_151715.jpg

They had better soil, and better timing for sowing, with more pleasant temperatures and better sunshine.
 

Old Piney

Well-known member
Today:

Biggest "Straight into native ground" Maestro:
View attachment 19192237
She shows pistils today

Look at the huge difference between the others:
View attachment 19192238

The newest but bigger Blueberry Haze:
View attachment 19192239
View attachment 19192240
They had better soil, and better timing for sowing, with more pleasant temperatures and better sunshine.
Well isn’t that something ! They had no transplant shock , I wish I could direct sow
 

Old Piney

Well-known member
Why can't you direct sow?
Cut worms I’m lucky if I get 1 out of 30 to survive. I’ve tried cardboard loops , Damascus earth even Cayenne pepper. Just starting outside in cell packs is challenging even up on a bench the the little bastards climb up and chomp, one bite it’s down and move on to the next .I have to use a water filled tray with them on an island in the middle,a sort of worm mote
 

Landfein

Well-known member
Cut worms I’m lucky if I get 1 out of 30 to survive. I’ve tried cardboard loops , Damascus earth even Cayenne pepper. Just starting outside in cell packs is challenging even up on a bench the the little bastards climb up and chomp, one bite it’s down and move on to the next .I have to use a water filled tray with them on an island in the middle,a sort of worm mote
"One time, I threw down thousands of Purple Satellite seeds (my grow reproduction of the original line) at one spot — straight into the dirt. And I'm not even exaggerating: it really was thousands. They all sprouted like a dream. The ground was covered in tiny hemp babies. But not a single one made it. The damn slugs ate everything. I can't stand those filthy beasts.":bow:
 

Old Piney

Well-known member
"One time, I threw down thousands of Purple Satellite seeds (my grow reproduction of the original line) at one spot — straight into the dirt. And I'm not even exaggerating: it really was thousands. They all sprouted like a dream. The ground was covered in tiny hemp babies. But not a single one made it. The damn slugs ate everything. I can't stand those filthy beasts.":bow:
yeah thats sucks I fought them with my sunflowers and zinnias the will eat it all up , slimy little bastards .With the cut worms it really is they just take one bite that cuts it at the bace thats it and move on .WHY??? As soon as they got one or two sets of true leaves they are not a problem
 

Landfein

Well-known member
yeah thats sucks I fought them with my sunflowers and zinnias the will eat it all up , slimy little bastards .With the cut worms it really is they just take one bite that cuts it at the bace thats it and move on .WHY??? As soon as they got one or two sets of true leaves they are not a problem
"Whether you believe it or not, I’ve had plants up to 1.20 meters tall topped by snails. They actually crawled all the way to the top to eat the freshly sprouting leaves. They practically decapitated my plants. And this happened even though the plants were already up to waist height. At other times, the large fan leaves broke off because so many snails were hanging on the underside that the plant's support could no longer hold the weight. I find that the appearance on-site works without issues, but the snails were a problem for me, as hardly any of the directly sown seeds made it to flowering. Actually, what bothers me most about guerrilla growing is the snails and ticks" :ROFLMAO:
 

Landfein

Well-known member
1745918853364.jpeg

"Hey friend, I don’t want to annoy you, but if you cover the soil around the plants with a thick layer of stones, like mulch, your soil would retain water better. The micro life could also function more effectively. Plus, this stone carpet would protect your plants. And animals wouldn’t be able to dig around in it. And so on and so forth."
 

Artistick Seeds

Well-known member
They have 8 weeks now...
View attachment 19193396
"Hey friend, I don’t want to annoy you, but if you cover the soil around the plants with a thick layer of stones, like mulch, your soil would retain water better. The micro life could also function more effectively. Plus, this stone carpet would protect your plants. And animals wouldn’t be able to dig around in it. And so on and so forth."
You're right, I just mulched the vegetable garden... But also I didn't mulch before because in March and April I have a risk of snails, and they like the protection of a cover. But it's time! Thank you... I'll try tomorrow the stones mulch
PXL_20250429_074109341.jpg
 

Landfein

Well-known member
"Sure, no problem. I think if you mulch the soil first like you showed in your last picture, and then add a layer of stones on top, it’ll work even better. Even if it does rain now and then in your area :bow: — which, from what I can tell, isn’t too often — the water won’t run off as quickly. Same goes for your irrigation water. Also, at least in my case, I found that in dry spots, it helps to make the bed slightly sunken into the ground. When I added organic material on top of the native soil, it didn’t work so well — the clay in the local soil just pulled the moisture out of the organic layer.

By the way, I really like your approach. Wishing you continued success with it!"
 

Artistick Seeds

Well-known member
Good to see some of them are picking up! That soil and vegetation, looks like it could be just outside my house lol.
It's a clay and stones soil, probably the same soil as most part of Spain, North Africa etc... On the first batch, only one really perform, a Maestro Auto, but the second batch is dominated by LaBuenaHierba Blueberry Haze. I'll test this summer the seeds from them.
 

revegeta

Not ICMag Donor
It's a clay and stones soil, probably the same soil as most part of Spain, North Africa etc... On the first batch, only one really perform, a Maestro Auto, but the second batch is dominated by LaBuenaHierba Blueberry Haze. I'll test this summer the seeds from them.
That's the soil and vegetation we have in the east and south coast. Most of Spain doesn't look like this.

Are the blueberry haze also auto? Sorry if you said it and missed it.

I think this is a really interesting project. Will keep following for sure 👍👍
 

Artistick Seeds

Well-known member
That's the soil and vegetation we have in the east and south coast. Most of Spain doesn't look like this.

Are the blueberry haze also auto? Sorry if you said it and missed it.

I think this is a really interesting project. Will keep following for sure 👍👍
Yes it's auto. Sure it's not the soil of Bilbao...
 
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