Help with my tropics outdoor grow...

[tropicanna]

Hi Folks

Down in the tropics daylight span varies by a mere 2 hours and 13 minutes between the solstices and the temperature by an average of 10 degrees. Trying to get a perpetual cycle system outdoors. 100W 5000K CFL on a timer that turns "on" for three hours overlapping with the sunrise, then shuts off and turns "on" again for an additional 3 hours overlapped with the sunset for a total of 18 hours uninterrupted light. The goal is to veg them long enough to take enough clones get a nice patch going on a hill nearby. By the time they are ready for cuttings daylight span will be increasing rather than decreasing, from about 12 and a half hours to the peak of 13hours and 14 minutes in june 20th.
Will taking them off CFLs induce flowering or will they sense the slight increase in daylight span and revert to veg until the end of june?
Here are pics of some of specimens for this experiment, alleged Mozambiquen Poison (left)and Johnny BlazeXChemdawg(right) form Malberry and Beanhorder respectively.
Feedback, suggestions, comments are welcomed and appreciated.
Peace!

 

[J.V]

Hey Tropicanna, I'd say this is where finding the correct genetics comes into play.....Finding a plant that wants to thrive in your enviroment..

I went thru a phase a few years ago, raising up seeds in rockwool cubes indoors under flouro's. Giving them an 18/6 light cycle.
After 3 to 4 weeks, they would be potted up outside into 1 gal pots.
Never had any go straight to flower.....The maximum amount of light during our summer is around 14 hours.

This was due to the bagseed I was growing....Seed that was acclimated to my area....I've had some poor results with import strains...Hashberry, C99 , etc...Plants ended up 10 to 12 inches tall fully flowered up....

I've recently got some cuttings happening under 15 hours of light, 9 hours off....Personally I'd roll with the same light schedule for your mother plants than do the same with your cuts....18/6 maybe too long a day......Depending on the genetics...Hope that makes sense.

 

[vostok]

Stick them straight to bud ..12x12 still take cuttings but use another light on 18/6 inside perhaps in a cloner or hood, and warm

 

[tropicanna]

The Mozambiquen Poison was a freebie included with the Johnny Blaze x Chem Dawg, neither would be considered native to the regions on the parallel. Johnny Blaze was a suggestion made by DJ Short, due to its cross of nevil's haze with a blueberry leaning sativa (india,mexico,thailand are all near the same parallel)but it seems that variety is no longer offered so this was the closest option.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[tropicanna]

Yeah the clones might will come indoors for a few days just cause the temperature is on the rise. Today was 82 F, sunny with no rains for the first time in like two weeks and the first day of spring here feels more like the first day of summer in say…pacific northwest.

 

[Swamp Thang]

Hello Tropicana I also live close to the equator with that 12-12 light schedule, and, like JV, I too tried out some indica hybrids, and wound up with miniature buds on a stick, standing less than a foot tall.

Reverting to local pure sativa bagseed, I see normal stretches before flower, though there has been a high incidence of hermies this past couple of years, several of them having started out as certified females until well into the flower phase, when all of a sudden I'd spot pollen sacks, wind up having to yank the offending plants before they ruin the rest of the crop by pollinating every plant.

You are lucky in that you have a constant electricity supply that makes it possible for you to experiment with artificial light schedules. With very unreliable mains power in my neck of the woods, I am pretty much forced to avoid all indical hybrids, to avoid that instant flower syndrome.

I'll be checking up on your progress as the months roll by. Best of luck !

 

[Dirtboy808]

I'm at 19.5 north and all my clones grow about a few weeks then go into bud year round after I bring them out of 18/6. If you have a pure sat she may keep growing but most don't. Mold is a big problem for me so I try to stick to crosses that have been here for awhile. A buddy of mine gave me a South Ca MK x Molokai Frost she handles and just now got some rot after 2 weeks of rain. Aloha DB

 

[tropicanna]

Well, time will tell DB….cause that JBxCD sure looks pretty indica, the MP which is supposed to be a landrace sativa looks the part a bit more, at least based on images found on the inter webs. Would super cropping the crap out of them be the way to go for maximized propagation (amount of clones)?
Swamp Thang, during last summer there was a lot of issues with power outages around the area, some lasted seconds ,some up to a few hours.You would think the power company is trying to cripple the small time growers. This 100WCFL is hooked up to a computer UPS that should do the trick if a short outage occurs.The timer is hooked up to the UPS so there should be no issues with schedule offset if an outage during the "off" time occurs, you might want to try that.
This is a very organic project in terms of how it will evolve and hopefully flow, the prospect of mold could be a factor if it becomes a rainy summer, but last year drought was the big headline. If thats the case irrigation logistics will be the name of the game since none of the spots being looked at have a source thats conveniently located.
Thanks to everyone for their insight, next update within a week.

 

[tropicanna]

Well, time will tell DB….cause that JBxCD sure looks pretty indica, the MP which is supposed to be a landrace sativa looks the part a bit more, at least based on images found on the inter webs. Would super cropping the crap out of them be the way to go for maximized propagation (amount of clones)?
Swamp Thang, during last summer there was a lot of issues with power outages around the area, some lasted seconds ,some up to a few hours.You would think the power company is trying to cripple the small time growers. This 100WCFL is hooked up to a computer UPS that should do the trick if a short outage occurs.The timer is hooked up to the UPS so there should be no issues with schedule offset if an outage during the "off" time occurs, you might want to try that.
This is a very organic project in terms of how it will evolve and hopefully flow, the prospect of mold could be a factor if it becomes a rainy summer, but last year drought was the big headline. If thats the case irrigation logistics will be the name of the game since none of the spots being looked at have a source thats conveniently located.
Thanks to everyone for their insight, next update within a week.

 

[tropicanna]

Tropicrop:Week 2 update

Tropicrop:Week 2 update

Howdy

Transplanted these two and they quickly expanded. Still on 18/6 since the internodal spacing is around 2 inches. The mozambiquen poison (left) is ahead of the Johnny Blaze X Chem Dawg by a few weeks yet they are almost of the same height , hopefully that doesn't mean the JB X CD is a he.Backstory on these is that they were germinated inside a home depot moving box,under christmas LEDs,on pure vermicompost in 18/6.Conclusion... an inadequate light spectrum,lack of minimal CO2 and a medium with decent porosity the only seeds that made it hardly developed until they were taken outdoors.Not sure if the fact these survived through all those obstacles makes them the best specimens but at least the more rugged ones. Tear shaped pre flower on the MP already showing on the top node, nothing distinguishable yet on the JB X CD. First 6 cuttings to be taken from the MP early tomorrow morning.The MP got topped once and will be tied down to keep her as low as possible and contained under the light as much as possible.Still thinking of a way to let these veg as much as possible without taking too much vertical space to avoid detection from nearby terraces.Suggestions, comments are welcomed and appreciated.

 

[tropicanna]

sorry…

 

[tropicanna]

Tropicrop:Week 4 update

Tropicrop:Week 4 update

Said would be updating weekly on the progress, but between school stuff and easter recess somehow two weeks passed and had forgotten to add recent developments. As of today there's a total of 32 cuttings in transit, 13 of which are on day 14.They are spending the night outside of their dome for the first time today as they have started to yellow out and didn't seem stressed being left outside. Keeping the mothers low profile by toping them once and "pig tailing" them with LST in order to fit them in the cart. JB X CD smells pretty pungent, reminiscent of OG kush,but when you chew a topped leaf set you can distinctly taste blueberry.As soon as the clones take off these two mothers will be scrog'd for an early harvest batch and the rest of the clones will be vegg'd for a minimum of 30 days or 10 cuttings what ever comes first.

 

[bringyalungs]

tropicanna, customs doh go thru yuh mail?

 

[Belizean Dreams]

I'm at 17 North and trying to decide what will work here as well. Customs is sketchy but I have received seeds here before. Old rasta grower told me morning glory worked the best for him. Good luck

 

[tropicanna]

4/20 update...

4/20 update...

Believe it or not, a lot if not all all varieties work near the equator.Some might have to be acclimated because they've been bred for generations in a more temperate climate with distinctive seasons,frost, longer daylight periods, ect. Both of these varieties have fared well, the alleged mozambiquen poison might seem short for a sativa landrace but it's cause it got topped once and the resulting 2 main stems got tied horizontally like a girl's pig tails, but if you were to keep one main stem she would be about 5 feet tall by now and she's still in veg.The Johnny Blaze x Chem Dawg is a variety grown commonly in the higher parallels and she's doing fine too.The most important thing in order to have an indica hybrid work in the tropics outdoors is to perhaps either veg her inside for some time or supplement a few extra hours of light outside with CFLs or HIDs so that you can mimic a marked change in photoperiods (18/6>>>12/12).Thai landrace sativas are known for their long flowering cause in their natural environment they lack that definition in photoperiods, so forcing or inducing the plant to respond is a good way to go.

 

[tropicanna]

Here are some pics of how they look as of today.