Equitorial Swamp Jungle Float-Garden

[Swamp Thang]

It has been a losing battle here, what with only getting to weed out the males when I paddle out to the grow once a week, so it looks like I'll be getting seeded buds as usual. Pulled five males today, but instead of tossing them out, I intend to use them to make canna coconut oil, as I learnt to do from this forum.

My closeup bud shots are nowhere near the quality of the high-resolution photographs that I drool over in the outdoor grow forum, but hey, at least the narrow, Thai-like leaves, and airy popcorn buds are clear enough in these amateur pictures.

Water levels in the swamp are dropping as the last of the season's rains rumble through, and as I took these shots, a troop of monkeys lined up to take trapeze jumps high in the canopy, grunting their disapproval of my presence as they sat awaiting their turns to get airborne and soar, spread-eagle across the river to the next tree along their commute, where each landing shook loose showers of rain drops, cascading to the forest floor.

The last picture shows the hole in the undergrowth that I wade through, to reach the garden. The things I do, to stay out of the pokey.

 

[HIMALAYAN GANJA]

high swamp thang i luv your wor i read as much as i can of your posts on here. i hope to see you on here as much as possible since i am doing a a swamp thing this coming season.

 

[meizzwang]

what a beautiful grow site, thanks so much for sharing your unique and fascinating hobby grow!

 

[JustSumTomatoes]

Very cool grow man, I love how that cannabis can even be grown in water! There is some marsh land near me I just might have to experiment with...

 

[Swamp Thang]

Tried to start a new thread but my computer is acting up, so I'll just add my latest 2019 swamp grow to the thread I ran back in 2017. Planting all lemon strains this year, of which only Don Lemon glue is in flower thus far.

Included some pictures of the surrounding swamp forest that I traverse to get to the promised land.

In the next few days I will update this grow report with some pictures of the smaller lemon flavored plants that I planted out just yesterday. Those include Golden Lemon Haze from SeedStockers, Supreme Lemon from Vision Seeds, and Lemon Haze from Royal Queen Seeds. I got a lemon fiesta in the making out here y'all.

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Planting on white sand with pretty much zero nutrients, I had to really beef up my soil additives, including vast amount of worm castings gathered in the woods, and for the first time ever, I added a couple of mackerel sea fish, and bone meal, to address some of the deficiencies that plagued my first grow of ACE gear, in this location.

With that mineral-laden sea fish in the mix, I am hoping to see some explosive growth with those new seedlings, right out the gate. I'll update with more pictures and grow details, as events warrant.

 

[Swamp Thang]

Went to the grow site to check on the seedlings I transplanted out 2 days ago, and all 16 of them are doing very well with no signs of stress.

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The tropical sun is blazing down as seasonal rains give way to the annual dry season, when swamp water levels drop, though never so low as to make watering necessary once the seedling stage over.

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The Don Lemon trees are just starting to produce popcorn budlets, and already there is a strong aroma of fresh brewing coffee wafting off these plants even at this early stage of flower. With an advertised THC payload of 30%, I expect my smoke test of these Don Lemon buds, will be a revelation of sorts.

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For the first time in my growing experience over the years, I was finally able, after some arduous scouting, to find a totally inaccessible site that has unobstructed sunlight most of the day, which is way better than any of the locations where I constructed swamp tubes in the past.

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The worm castings I used in this grow were gathered in the shade of trees for free, and some of them are a pretty good size. Decided to keep them whole, and not grind them up, so that they function like pearlite in the soil, allowing aeration, but also delivering those vital time-release nutrients that are so beneficial to plant roots.

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With a couple of fresh mackerel buried beneath each plant for nitrogen and mineral supplements during the very short vegetative growth phase, I look forward to some buds on steroids, come harvest time.

Over my many hours of reading up here, I learnt so much from the IC Mag forum, that I am just glad nobody is presenting me with a bill for all those gardening tips I found along the way.

 

[Mikell]

How big are the damn worms down there?

 

[Swamp Thang]

The worms aren't that big at about five inches at most. Pretty skinny too, as you can see from the tiny hole down the center of the casting, that the worm must pass through to get to the top of his ever growing "sky-scraper" of dung.

If it wouldn't be considered too far off topic, I could try to take and post here the picture of a "city-scape" of these castings, which exist ONLY on the surface of the soil, and never underground.

The castings stand upright, crowded together in large numbers, each with that narrow hole down the center, through which the worm periodically climbs to the surface to add more height to the structure with each deposit. The deposits are the consistency of soft mud when first added to the top of the pile by the worm, but then they quickly harden to where the castings feel like pebbles to the touch.

It was right here in the IC Mag forum that I got to understand that those castings that I can harvest by the bag-full for free, are ideal sources of slow-release plant nutrients that are especially beneficial for the health of root systems. Looked up the cost of worm castings stateside, and they are not cheap, at about one dollar per pound weight of castings. I was surrounded by these treasures for all this time, and never knew them for what they are.

 

[gorilla ganja]

Good to see you back in the swamp. Looks like a great set up this season.
The best gorilla growers use the bounty of free amendments that surround every site.
Seems you have a gold mine of quality supplies with those worm castings.
Always a pleasure to see you do your Swamp Thang.

Best of luck this season and may all your Buds be Huge.

Peace GG

 

[Swamp Thang]

Good to see you back in the swamp. Looks like a great set up this season.
The best gorilla growers use the bounty of free amendments that surround every site.
Seems you have a gold mine of quality supplies with those worm castings.
Always a pleasure to see you do your Swamp Thang.

Best of luck this season and may all your Buds be Huge.

Peace GG

Good to hear from ya, GG. I'd been sitting on the sidelines for too long, drooling over grows in far off lands, so I figured now that I have hopefully gotten the nute concept nailed, I ought to share my efforts with fellow outdoor stealth gardeners.

Keeping my fingers crossed that most of these trees make it until harvest day, so I can share some righteous Budzilla pictures here. I have a lot of high hopes riding on my new regime of fresh buried sea fish dinners to start of my seedlings, which I never tried in the past.

 

[gorilla ganja]

I have heard good thangs about buried fish. Keep top dressing with those worm castings and I'm guessing you are planted way to close to each other.
I predict your best season yet and I see monsters in your future.

Of course gorilla growing is never that easy and mother nature may have other plans.
All we can do is prepare the best we can and prey to the Canna Gods.

Peace GG

 

[Swamp Thang]

I have heard good thangs about buried fish. Keep top dressing with those worm castings and I'm guessing you are planted way to close to each other.
I predict your best season yet and I see monsters in your future.

Of course gorilla growing is never that easy and mother nature may have other plans.
All we can do is prepare the best we can and prey to the Canna Gods.

Peace GG

I was wondering if I might have planted them a bit too close, but even here just slightly north of the Equator, when daylight hours get a little shorter during the northern hemisphere's winter months, plants that get put outdoors are triggered to flower pretty quick, and before they can grow very tall and wide.

All the same, with this new feeding regime, I may be pleasantly surprised by how robust the growth turns out to be, in which case some tying down might help spread them out so each plant gets enough sun.

Couldn't resist taking this picture of worm castings a-la-carte, that I will caption " Breakfast of Champion Growers" he he.

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[Bluegrass Crab]

Must have some big arse worms!!!

BgC

 

[Swamp Thang]

Mid term bud growth update today on the Don Lemon Glue mini-trees. Couldn't resist snipping the main cola off a couple of the trees, purely for scientific research purposes, of course. The flavor was just mouth watering, and the buzz packed a serious punch, even with no cure in the mix yet.

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The new seedlings of various lemon strains are thriving, with the exception of three of them that went from being in perfect health, to yellowing out and drooping all within 24 hours.

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Not quite sure how long these buds will take before the plant is mature, but with my nutrients mostly sorted out now, I decided to watch for leaf yellowing all over the plant, as my final cue to harvest. This is one of the plants whose main cola I impounded early.

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The only Don Lemon Glue tree that will grow taller than about 3 feet, is also the one whose buds appear to be the least developed at this stage. I didn't top this plant, just to see how it fares in comparison to those that I nibbled the tops off.

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[gorilla ganja]

So they must flip to flower as soon as you put them out. I know your far south.
Which latitude approx? And what is your daylight hrs right now?
They look nice and healthy.

Peace GG

 

[Swamp Thang]

Any strain with even the smallest percentage of indica does go straight to flower very soon after I put them out, Gorilla Ganja, though I'm pretty sure that if I waited for the usual northern hemisphere planting season of early May, I'd probably see a lot more vegetative growth before flowering kicks in. Can't wait though, once those beans arrive ha ha.

I am about 5 degrees north of the Equator, and there is a subtle shortening of daylight hours during the winter months of the northern hemisphere, where there might be say 11 hours daylight and 13 hours darkness. While one can plant any time of year here, hybrids will definitely yield more, if planted at the normal time of early to mid May.

With the stunted growth I am seeing with this latest grow , I am going to leave these mini Xmas trees out until all the fan leaves turn yellow, before I harvest the finished product. What my harvest lacks in quantity, I hope to make up for with the quality genetics of all-lemon strains that I imported

After smoking locally grown dirt-weed for way too long already, the flavors I am experiencing for the first time smoking a couple of test buds from exotic hybrids, are just out of this world. It is only when I partake of this sort of lemon flavored, high potency weed, that I am reminded how low the quality of locally mass-produced weed has become here.

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[gorilla ganja]

I'm about 50 degrees North of you. There is over 8 hrs difference between the longest and shortest day here.
Two different worlds and yet many of the same struggles.
Keep up the good work my friend. I hear lemon strains have good resistance to mold. Is that why you choose them or strictly for flavor?

 

[Swamp Thang]

Wow, 8 hours differential between day and light is extreme for sure, compared to the very small change in daylight hours that is seen here, right close to the Equator. I should count my blessings, that I can plant year round, even if the vegetative growth is weak during the northern hemisphere's winter.

It is great to learn that many lemon scented weed strains also happen to offer good resistance to mold. This is icing on the cake for me, because I became fixated on lemon flavored weed simply for the novelty of such a food-related taste being available as a cannabis aroma and taste.

Weed is such a unique plant, to be capable of being bred for aromas and tastes that even in the recent past, were rarely ever seen.

 

[ganjaloveru]

Interesting location. Hope you are feeling good in that place. Here now is cold -7C or so.

 

[Swamp Thang]

Interesting location. Hope you are feeling good in that place. Here now is cold -7C or so.

Minus 7 degrees is brutal for sure. I've become so acclimatized to tropical weather that even a mild autumn day in say Montreal, would feel like arctic weather to me, unless I was doing something very active like snow skiing to get the blood pumping.