Late Tropical Outdoors

[amlez]

OK - apart from my rambling post in the 'Hello/Greetings' area, this is my first post here.

 

Apart from grow journal, I will probably indulge myself in asking for a few tips, and seeking knowledge (historically I just throw some bag seed in a pot of garden soil and hope - nothing overly scientific).

 

First grow in over 20 years for me due to getting ripped off a few times, and unavailability of bag seed these days - mate recently got some seeds in from OS and flicked me a couple superfluous to his needs

 

They're Charas - predominantly Indica, so not the best choice for my part of the world (far northern OZ tropics).

 

I planted the seeds directly into peat jiffy pots 29th May. They had both sprouted & popped their heads thru within 2 days. Left them for about 10 days, then potted into 15cm pots containing an even mix of perlite, coir and cheapo Bunnings potting mix - no fertilizer.

 

They're getting about 7 hours/day full sun and an additional 4-5 hours indirect sunlight (days here ATM are roughly 11.5 hrs)

 

At about 30 days, repotted into large pots with same mix but with a good couple of hand fulls of Dynamic Lifter, and fed with 1/3 dose of Maxicrop Seaweed Extract (10ml/9ltr).

 

While they both seem healthy enough, very slow growth rate is evident, as is yellowing of the lower leaves - probably overwatered in the early days, but for the last few weeks have really been controlling watering to wait for very dry topsoil (roughly every 4th day - and only feed on second water < i.e. only every 8th day>).

 

Already in flower - appears I got pygmy's

 

Here's some fotos - would have liked to spread them out through the post with some explanatory text and timelines, but seems the file attachment 'add to post' facility don't work?? Earlier ones taken a few weeks ago at about 30days, later ones yesterday at 45 days.

 

Happy to except any comments, criticism and/or advise 

 

ps (ignore last pic - mate also gave me a couple of 'freebie' seeds, only 1 germed and has already thrown balls - not even 2 weeks old???  -  but also a pygmy ...)

Edited July 14, 2014 by amlez

[Ford Fairlane]

You should make some more seeds, should be ready right in time for the growing season! Good luck with it plenty of info around herej to help you along the way

Ford

[amlez]

Well it sort of is the growing season here (March to October)?? Two distinct seasons - wet & dry. Now in Dry season - average temps 18 to 32, clear blue skys, no rain, low humidity (however as with southern winter, shorter days - 11.5 hrs).  As opposed to Wet season - 25 to 35, monsoonal rain, high humidity, potential of weeks with no sun when the monsoon arrives (but longer days - 13hrs).

 

Thinking of ordering some seeds in myself (Sativas - maybe Haze, Aussie Blue) and have a crack over the wet season just to see if it can be done.

 

Anyone on here growing in the tropics??

[Ford Fairlane]

it is generally accepted that the Australian growing season runs over summer, harvest around April. The growing season is defined by light hours rather than by volume of precipitation. Once light hours drop to about 12/12 plants will flower, as your seedlings have.   There is a lot of outdoor cannabis grown in the tropics, so it can definatly be done.

[wannagrowbuds]

You could give them some extra light indoors to stop then flowering long enough to get some veg growth.

[amlez]

Thanks for replies guys. OK my mate flicked me another couple of seeds on the weekend which I'd planted prior to posting here (by the sounds of it, I should have held off another few mths?). One has just popped it's head through - I don't really won't to bugger around setting up any elaborate or specific lighting system. If I was to put this seedling under my outdoor backyard spotlight for an additional 3 or 4 hours each night for a few months (in addition to 7hours direct/4.5 hrs indirect sun), would that be sufficient to hold off flowering, or does it gotta be a specific colour temp?

[Ford Fairlane]

A spotlight should do the trick, you could prob use flouros

 

if you flick the light on in the middle of the night for a couple of hours you should break any chance of flowering ..  check out the following link for a decription of the method

 

http://www.cannabisdynamics.com/121-lighting-for-optimum-growth-and-savings/

[Vape]

Hi Amlez,!! welcome!!

 

good to see your giving growing in the tropics ago..

 

.  the main problem we have up in the tropics (16 deg LAT. ) is daylight hours  you only ever get 13hrs max daylight hours.. cannabis likes 16 hrs to Grow in a vegetative state.. and 12 hrs to flower..

 

you will need to supplement your outside lights to give the plant the time it needs to get to a decent size before it flowers.

 

you will only need to interrupt the dark cycle for an hour or so  and that should keep you out of flower. your outside light will do the trick, but remember the same light in flower will disrupt the flowering cycle and your plant will revege or hermie or both.. . or

 

I use a small vege tent using a 130w cfl 16/8 to vege my plants before flower..  normally 30 days as a minimum as it will take about this long to sex your seedlings.. they wont show sex until maturity which can take up to 30 days strain depending.

 

 

have fun with it.. a remember its just a plant..

 

Peace

 

 vape4life

[amlez]

OK - just ordered a reflector & CFL (never thought I'd be needing to do the lights thing in this part of the world!!).

 

Got both of these 2 later seeds popped now, so decided to have a bit of fun and let one go 'natural' as per my original plan, and the other one I'll treat exactly the same (ie 11 hours outside sun) but give it a hit up with the light each night - bit of an experiment to convince myself that this sort of $hite makes a difference

 

Is it best to throw a couple of hours of light at a later time (eg 9-10pm) after they've had some darkness, or best to add the few of light at dusk - basically prolonging the 11hrs to 13hrs - or doesn't it matter?

 

Hey Vape - are you saying you only need to do the additional light thing for around 30 days??

[louise]

The lighting will definitely make a difference... cannabis needs an unbroken night to initiate flowering. So you can either make the day too long for the plant to flower or just break the night in the middle for an hour.

 

Thus, if you add the extra light at dusk you'll need to have the light on for around 4-5 hours in the evening. Now, if you bring the plant in after it's 11 hr day, let it sit in the dark for 5 hrs and then turn on the extra light... you'll only need to have the light on for an hour. Easy enough to do if you stick the light on a timer.

 

30 days of extra light and your plants should have gained enough size to be worth flowering.