Outdoor Latin American/African Sativas in S.E. Asia or Other Areas in the Tropics

[Herbert Chickybaby]

I've been advised by Angus from Real Seeds Company that traditional time to grow cannabis in Laos and the rest of Southeast Asia is between August-ish and March. I too am in this area where I have lived for several decades and yes, that makes perfect sense, more sense than trying to harvest in December with a June-ish plantation, because you get the least rain in Jan-April when you'd have flowering started if all went well.

I've also gotten a taste of the reality of June planted plants here, yes, mold is an issue in November even when there isn't much rain, it can be quite humid and without a breeze. But I still managed to get two decent plants harvested in the last week of November with nothing more than a minor case of powdery mildew and botryitis, though I can see it still seems less than ideal to try and harvest in December/late November here which is when most of the world harvests their outdoor crops.

So, what i was wondering about is the possibility of growing other sativa strains, say from Latin America or Africa. I'm interested in the old Mexican, Central American and Colombians and say the Ace seeds Africans. What I would like to ideally do is plant them according to the Laos/Thailand growing season, does anyone have any experience with that, does that work or do those strains mostly only work with a December harvest?

 

[Swamp Thang]

I grow a couple of degrees north of the Equator as well. By trial and error, I found that planting right when the first seasonal rains arrive works best for my neck of the woods. That means the month of April is the ideal time to put out seedlings, whereby fast flowering varieties are going to be ready for the chop round about late August when there is a one-month break in the rains. Too bad I cannot plant at home because all that skulking around in the swamp does get old after a few years, especially with the various nasty insects waiting to ruin my day down there in the forest.

All told, there is no substitute for growing your own stash organically, for residents of countries where black market weed that is most likely tainted is the only option available. Even in Europe right now there is an epidemic of weed contaminated with deadly and highly addictive synthetic THC. Growing one's own supply is now a vital aspect of safe weed procurement.

 

[Herbert Chickybaby]

I grow a couple of degrees north of the Equator as well. By trial and error, I found that planting right when the first seasonal rains arrive works best for my neck of the woods. That means the month of April is the ideal time to put out seedlings, whereby fast flowering varieties are going to be ready for the chop round about late August when there is a one-month break in the rains. Too bad I cannot plant at home because all that skulking around in the swamp does get old after a few years, especially with the various nasty insects waiting to ruin my day down there in the forest.

All told, there is no substitute for growing your own stash organically, for residents of countries where black market weed that is most likely tainted is the only option available. Even in Europe right now there is an epidemic of weed contaminated with deadly and highly addictive synthetic THC. Growing one's own supply is now a vital aspect of safe weed procurement.

We start getting hammered by rain in August, but that sounds ideal you get a break in August. You never know around here, you might get a break in August you might not. Safer to plant in late June here. But around here, People whose plants have just gone into flowering this season may not have the greatest harvests this December/January, which I have heard is the second best time to harvest outdoors. I think it won't be good because its been drizzling rain off and on, its unseasonably humid, not many sunny days when its supposed to be sunny. My autoflowers are doing well though so far but I have been babying them with umbrellas to keep the rain off hopefully it is not going to be too cold for them, dropped down into the low 50's farenheit last night. The ones in flower now are supposed to be a tough strain, but I have a gaggle of other hot weather lovers that are still just a few inches tall and I hope te cold isn't going to retard them. I'm the one who wants to get retarded smoking them, so we'll see who the retard is in the end I guess, heheh.

 

[goingrey]

Always a gamble when growing something not acclimatized to your area outdoors.

But in general you should be fine. Can't think of a reason why Central American strains would need to be grown to a December harvest if your seasons don't support that.

 

[Herbert Chickybaby]

Always a gamble when growing something not acclimatized to your area outdoors.

But in general you should be fine. Can't think of a reason why Central American strains would need to be grown to a December harvest if your seasons don't support that.

Perhaps Central American strains need the decrease in daylight hours to trigger flowering. I'm worried that perhaps they would not flower in March if planted in August, even if they don't mind the hotter wetter climate in northeast Thailand.

 

[goingrey]

Perhaps Central American strains need the decrease in daylight hours to trigger flowering. I'm worried that perhaps they would not flower in March if planted in August, even if they don't mind the hotter wetter climate in northeast Thailand.

Hmm could be, days getting longer is not something they'll like. But aren't the days quite short all year round in Thailand?

 

[Herbert Chickybaby]

Hmm could be, days getting longer is not something they'll like. But aren't the days quite short all year round in Thailand?

Yes, there's not as much difference between the shortest day of the year and the longest. 13 hours in the summer solstice versus eleven and a half hours today which is winter solstice the shortest day of the year. Honduras is the same latitude of where I'm at over here and the strain I am interested in is from there, its an Ace seeds a number called Honduran and is a hybrid of Mexican and Panamanian/Colombian. It seems like it would work during the time that is best here, August-March but I don't know, I don't understand why it is recommended to plant so that you'd have a harvest around November or so when its the rainy season in Honduras. Perhaps that is just what works for people in the United States and Europe or maybe fall is a good time in Honduras? Perhaps the plant isn't affected by bud rot that much. What I gather from off internet is that they have the same rainy season that we do, so it doesn't make sense then to plant in March for a harvest in September/October unless you are depending on rain to irrigate your crop. Seems they would have a lot of problems with bud rot, but maybe there are other factors. Hopefully someone who has experience growing around there or here or elsewhere at 16 degrees north or south will set us straight. I've asked my question on the Ace Seeds Honduras thread but nobody has answered yet. I don't mind just planting a few Honduras for both grow seasons a see what happens. Another thing about Honduras is there a lot of climates, though the rainy season is there for all of them. In the highlands its cooler and therefor drier so perhaps th strain is from the highlands, though its a lowland Colombian variety if I am not mistaken Punto Rojo/Panama red are not supposed to be grom up in the mountains as say some other colombian strains. Just have to do it and plant I suppose, and see what happens I don't think there is anyone on this website who has done it.

 

[Wall]

the producer gives global information... obviously each region will have its own differences. Some sativas are very long lasting but some are also very resistant to wet weather. You're not in Honduras so give it a try Do what you think is best for you! And for your region! You can also contact ACE (who are a great seed house) and ask their opinion... You can't compare your climate and another. I saw when I lived in Laos that by simply changing a landrace genetic 50Km from its natural habitat the plant comes out different!!! And yet it's the same country but just 50km away. The plant does not react as on its original soil!!! Don't worry my friend!!! Region or not region... soltice or not soltice. Culture is not mathematics with established calculations. Contact ACE seeds. They will always be in the best position to answer a few questions Without getting in their heads either! LOL! you shouldn't intellectualize too much but have fun planting... even if you make a mistake. Take care of yourself!!! And enjoy your cultures with pleasure and hindsight on all this.

 

[Herbert Chickybaby]

the producer gives global information... obviously each region will have its own differences. Some sativas are very long lasting but some are also very resistant to wet weather. You're not in Honduras so give it a try Do what you think is best for you! And for your region! You can also contact ACE (who are a great seed house) and ask their opinion... You can't compare your climate and another. I saw when I lived in Laos that by simply changing a landrace genetic 50Km from its natural habitat the plant comes out different!!! And yet it's the same country but just 50km away. The plant does not react as on its original soil!!! Don't worry my friend!!! Region or not region... soltice or not soltice. Culture is not mathematics with established calculations. Contact ACE seeds. They will always be in the best position to answer a few questions Without getting in their heads either! LOL! you shouldn't intellectualize too much but have fun planting... even if you make a mistake. Take care of yourself!!! And enjoy your cultures with pleasure and hindsight on all this.

OK, thank you, thats very interesting and enjoyable to read about your experience in Laos. Here's my overintellectualizing comment on it, maybe you were just getting different phenotypes that would have grown out in your garden even if that were in the same valley that the seed came from? Maybe that sentence gives you a headache and I'm killing your buzz by posting that.

Anyway, Its all just interesting to me, I think youre picking up what I'm saying with the wrong end, like all of this about the growing season is some stressful thing, or that I think things should go according to some guidelines, I'm 60 years old so I hope I've noticed by now that you have to keep guidelines or anything anyone says about anything in proper perspective. I actually enjoy speculating pondering, I like gathering lore and info such as when growing season in Honduras is.

Also it is not fun to me to have plants die or not do very well as I am well familiar with in the case of corn, chillies, orchids, theres a real narrow range of stuff that will grow here, we have a problem of stagnant air and a lot of fungus, botryitis.There's so many kinds of pot you can choose to grow so why not choose something thats suited for your area? You think I am silly unwise because I don't consider what I want, welll thats what I want, stuff that likes to grow here. But as you probably know, having lived in Laos and tried to grow stuff, you can't go by 95% of the advice that is given, its not meant for these places but for the majority of people in temperate climates, hence the noise on here I'm making I want to hear from others, Ace Seeds doesn't have the last word, and they can chip in too, in fact, as I mentioned I think earlier in this thread, I posted this question about growing their Honduras strain in August-March.

 

[goingrey]

Yes, there's not as much difference between the shortest day of the year and the longest. 13 hours in the summer solstice versus eleven and a half hours today which is winter solstice the shortest day of the year. Honduras is the same latitude of where I'm at over here and the strain I am interested in is from there, its an Ace seeds a number called Honduran and is a hybrid of Mexican and Panamanian/Colombian. It seems like it would work during the time that is best here, August-March but I don't know, I don't understand why it is recommended to plant so that you'd have a harvest around November or so when its the rainy season in Honduras. Perhaps that is just what works for people in the United States and Europe or maybe fall is a good time in Honduras? Perhaps the plant isn't affected by bud rot that much. What I gather from off internet is that they have the same rainy season that we do, so it doesn't make sense then to plant in March for a harvest in September/October unless you are depending on rain to irrigate your crop. Seems they would have a lot of problems with bud rot, but maybe there are other factors. Hopefully someone who has experience growing around there or here or elsewhere at 16 degrees north or south will set us straight. I've asked my question on the Ace Seeds Honduras thread but nobody has answered yet. I don't mind just planting a few Honduras for both grow seasons a see what happens. Another thing about Honduras is there a lot of climates, though the rainy season is there for all of them. In the highlands its cooler and therefor drier so perhaps th strain is from the highlands, though its a lowland Colombian variety if I am not mistaken Punto Rojo/Panama red are not supposed to be grom up in the mountains as say some other colombian strains. Just have to do it and plant I suppose, and see what happens I don't think there is anyone on this website who has done it.

Yea there haven't been a lot of Thai growers on the forums over the years. Up until recently the laws were so strict, doesn't really make one chatty. Will be interesting to see how they do for you if you try it out.

 

[Herbert Chickybaby]

Yea there haven't been a lot of Thai growers on the forums over the years. Up until recently the laws were so strict, doesn't really make one chatty. Will be interesting to see how they do for you if you try it out.

Yeah, there's not any rule of law here either, even if they do become really legal, nothing is stopping a cop from busting you in theory anyway and a lot of people in the government are currently on the warpath to revoke the legalization altogether. They just removed a portion of the cannabis bill that says cannabis is not a dangerous narcotic, so there is some chipping away at the legalization, I was ignored by a few westerners who live here and displayed their seeds stash etc on this website, flat stone walled me, so it would seem some are quite paranoid, in any case no one is gong to care if I grow a few plants as long as it is out of sight and smell. I have these highland Laos and Burmese seeds to run first and I'm fascinated by these plants i harvested a month or so ago, plants I got as seedlings in the regular market (open selling of plants seems to have stopped, no one dares do that anymore) right after the semi- legalization. the plants I got hermed but producd a good amount of bud too and are well stony and nice tasting and smelling. I figure if soe poorly grown plants are that good trying again should b well worth it. I got lots of seeds from them and i am curious to plant some and see what i get not allowing my wife to take care/neglect them. But it seems to make sense you could grow South and Central Americans here in the proper Thai growing season, I am probably gonna go for it next September and plant a few, Panamanian, Honduran or Colombian something like that.