Drought-resistant strains suitable for Oz?

[Dave The Nefarious]

gday,

Im curious about which strains (or which general TYPES of strains) handle drought well?

 

I'm not too far from Perth and this will be my first outdoor grow which I'm doing with a mate. We're only growing for ourselves so we only plan to grow about 3 maybe 4 plants, but each of a different strain to help increase our chances of getting one thatll survive, so it's important for us to make educated guesses about which strains might do well here - if we get 1 plant to survive then it'll be worth it.

 

Interestingly I did a global search through the Overgrow strainguide (i downloaded the whole thing shortly before it was taken down), and strangely the word "drought" only exists twice! - with Nirvana's Afghan, and Nirvana's Top 44, neither of which I have.

[WantDaChronic]

i know alot of peeps would kill for that strain guide, especially if it is the one with all the pics, not just the information if you have the version with all the pics, i beg of you to upload it to www.yousendit.com or another file sharing site like that so it can be shared around

 

anyways back to your question, i recommend a product called rain saver crystals, they are basically crystals that are sponges that release their water content over time they are fairly cheap, do a fantastic job of keeping the plants alive in times of no rain and best of all they can make a weekly trip to the garden a monthly one which reduces the chance of you getting busted in the crop

 

alternatively i recommend looking into some sativa dominate strains as they'll handle the harsh aussie outdoor conditions a hell of alot better than an indica dominate strain and they also yield more outdoors

[Tom]

You need to look at strains that have originated from other dry countries, South African plants seen to take well over here so maybe a strain like Durban Poison would suit you.

 

[Guest KuH_De_Tah]

You should look at any thing 100% indica from afghanistan pakistan central asia. It is about as dry as it gets there and the suff thrives.

 

You could switch it around and grow something almost pure sativa. Then you could plant much later in the year like just before christmas and not have to lug heaps water to huge plants during summer but just a small amount of water while they are still small. The sativas will stretch for the sky once they want to flower and you will still get pretty big trees. the only draw back then is that they can take alot longer to flower. If your climate is good to flower till say middle may then you are all set.

If you get autumn rain in perth you will be sweet as you wont need to lug water in and sativas generally a quite airy (but no less potent) bud structure that is very mold resistant. Look for something with a 10 to 12 week flower period like kali mist or malawi gold or a haze variety.

[Frazz]

Maybe worth checking out Mandala seeds as his strains are landrace from India and that gets as hot as oz

 

 

 

Edit: ok ok my bad ... it should read ' his strains are landrace from the Indian subcontinent'

[Dave The Nefarious]

cheers for the quick replies!

 

i know alot of peeps would kill for that strain guide

Ok, I'll give you the download link, and you don't kill me - doesn't get any fairer than that

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/strainbase...inguide_win.zip (9mb)

Just do a google for Overgrow Strainguide, there are a few copies (including online website mirrors)

 

i recommend a product called rain saver crystals, they are basically crystals that are sponges that release their water content over time and best of all they can make a weekly trip to the garden a monthly one

Yes we were planning to use those water crystals, but ive never used them before so im not sure how long they last, do you know? Could we get away with just watering once a month even if there wasnt a single drop of rain? and what ratio of crystals:medium do you use?

 

Which strains have you guys grown outdoors with limited water?

[WantDaChronic]

Maybe worth checking out Mandala seeds as his strains are landrace from India and that gets as hot as oz

while india gets as hot as australia, im pretty sure they are on the total opposite sides of annual rainfall, ie. india is the wettest place on earth and australia the driest

 

Ok, I'll give you the download link, and you don't kill me - doesn't get any fairer than that

thanks for the link, shame im only on 56k or i would have downloaded it and had a look will get it later tonight though so thanks a bunch

 

Yes we were planning to use those water crystals, but ive never used them before so im not sure how long they last, do you know? Could we get away with just watering once a month even if there wasnt a single drop of rain? and what ratio of crystals:medium do you use?

im pretty sure it says they can last for upto 5 years on the label, but i still think a monthly visit will still be required of you. you'd need to make sure the crop is still there for starters + giving a monthly watering would result in much bigger plants compared to a single watering and those rain saver crystals...from what i have seen in my own garden, plants watered smaller amounts more frequently do a bit better than watering once a week with lots of water. they seem to be healthier overall + yield more which is always a bonus

 

as for the ratio of crystals to medium, i would probably go 5-10% max. i doubt you'd honestly need more than a few handfulls per plant to keep them well watered, but the trick is to make sure you dont have so much in there that the plants drown or even worse is not expanding the crystals before use which results in your plant being lifted out of the ground

[Frazz]

im pretty sure they are on the total opposite sides of annual rainfall, ie. india is the wettest place on earth

 

 

The above quote is untrue

 

Edit: Notdave, a plant can go through 10 litres of water a day in the height of summer

[Dave The Nefarious]

It seems the experts cant agree on the single wettest place, but indeed a part of India is one of them:

http://www.extremescience.com/wettest.htm

 

"It's ironic that the wettest place in the world manages to thirst for water each winter when no rain falls at all for months at a time. The type of weather phenomenon that brings so much rain to this part of the world is called the monsoons. Monsoons are seasonal winds that blow from one direction for approximately six months, bringing torrential rains, and then blow from the opposite direction for the remaining six months, during which little rain falls. During the wet season moist air is cooled as it blows over rising land, letting abundant rain fall on the windward side of mountain ranges. But because of widespread destruction of conifer forests that protected the soil, the ground does not absorb the rain that falls so heavily during the monsoon season. The city of Cherrapunji (India) is 1290 meters above sea level and much of the torrential rains run off the mountains into the valley below. The irrigation system for the town of Cherrapunji is insufficient to provide adequate amounts of clean, potable water from below during the dry season. People who live there frequently have to travel on foot for several kilometers to bathe and get drinking water."

 

Colombia also has a wet spot:

http://amazingthing.blogspot.com/2005/12/w...e-on-earth.html

"Q: Which place on Earth receive the most rain?

A: Lloro, Colombia, which averages 524 inches (13 meters or more than 40 feet) of rainfall a year."

Edited September 12, 2006 by NotDave

[Dave The Nefarious]

Ok, experiment time.

 

My friend is going to try to grow a plant in a 100% crystal mixture. This can be done with some plants, I've seen it done with Petunias before, and here's a photo of some other plant:

http://www.mariarose.com/crystals/Aug06_05.jpg

 

We don't think it'll work - guess: the plant will die from overwatering or root rot, but ...

- I don't think it's been tried before

- the initial results will be known in as little as ~3 weeks

- we've got nothing to lose apart from $2 worth of crystals.

- it's in the name of science!

He's got some Master Low (Lowryder x Master Kush) seeds which are ideal for this sort of small test - the strain is autoflowering, short in stature (30-60"), has a very short lifespan (10 weeks from sow-to-harvest), and is easy to grow so if any strain can tolerate 100% crystals then this would be one of them.

 

Like I said I dont think it'll work, but when you've got nothing to lose and a curiousity to satisfy then I say - why not?