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Hi fellow growers, It’s rainy and cold in the Cape and it seems like the next outdoor grow is still eternities away. So I decided to do a little write up about my first outdoor grow in South Africa (used to do indoor in my home country). I think it might be beneficial for a first time grower. I hope it’s fine to post it here as this is a grow from 2016. I want to start off with a little background story. After 4 years of not consuming cannabis I decided that it’s about time for cannabis to be part of my life again. I didn’t have connections whatsoever in SA and buying from strangers wasn’t an option for me. I started to do some online research hoping to find seed vendors within South Africa because I didn’t want to risk being caught importing seeds. By that time the only online vendor I could find was Green Smoke Room but I was still very hesitant to order some seeds from them. By coincidence I found a guy on Gumtree who sold San Pedro Cacti and Salvia plants. I figured that he surely knows where to find some cannabis/seeds. My plan was to meet him to buy a San Pedro and then casually ask him if he also has some weed for me. That’s what I did and it all worked out as I hoped it would. I went home with a San Pedro cactus and a little bag with seeded weed. I was so happy to finally have some seeds even though these were bag seeds. Next thing I did was getting some good soil. I went to Stodels (yes I know what you think) as Freedom Farms either didn’t exist back then or I just didn’t have them on my radar. I think I was very lucky to find some awesome soil in a garden center with a PH of 6.3 I think. It might have been the soil from Floragard but I am not too sure about that. As friends and family had some funny ideas about cannabis I decided to do an extra stealthy grow… On our roof . I didn’t fertilize a lot before she went into flower. Only the last weeks of veg I fed her with some Seagrow and in flower I fed her only Biobizz Bloom. The total costs for that grow were something like 300-400 Rand. Below you’ll find some pictures. I only started to document my grow around week 3 after germination. As I was growing on the roof I needed to train the plant quite a lot so she’ll have a low grow profile. The plant got camouflaged by the grapevines pretty well. You see my growspot evolved slowly to counter problems like gale force winds or to keep it invisible to our neighbor. I even watered the plant before the sun came up to make sure nobody sees me. Once the buds fattened up I decided to play it save and build a little cover made from Plexiglas to ensure that rain won’t cause bud rot. Unfortunately the picture below is the last pic I made of the whole plant. This lady actually continued to grow another two weeks before I chopped it. As I harvested more than I expected I had to make a plan where to dry the buds. I figured the attic would be the safest place to dry my plant unnoticed. It worked out quite well, but if you can don’t dry it up there. It can get hot in there which will cause the plant to dry too quickly and also the heat is bad for the terpenes. This plant must have been a Sativa dominant hybrid. I can remember the first time I smoked it I was so full of energy that I had to mow the lawn. It was an awesome high. I decided to post this to show that it’s possible to grow some decent bud even on a very tight budget. I have to add that I was lucky the plant turned out to be female and that she was such a beauty. Bagseed is always a lottery and I think I won the jackpot that summer. I hope you enjoyed my little write-up and I look forward to start a proper grow diary this season.

Hello all my name is Madgiant I'm going to be journaling my first grow. I'd love to have community input and share my growing experience. I've ordered 5 autoflower seeds from @Biltong and Budz and will be germinating 4, I'm using FF 10L pots with FF Premium soil. Planning on feeding bio fish during veg and bloom during flower. Genetics I'm planning on growing: Gelato - Fastbuds Flowering Time: 56 Days Wild Dwarf- Bulk Seeds Bank Harvest: 70 Days (This one is for fun) OG Kush- Victory Seeds Flowering Time: 70-77 Days Stardawg-Fastbuds Flowering Time: 70-77 Days Looking forward to share my journey! Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

30 days in flower. @Totemic bubble berry glue pheno expressions are beaut! Sativa pulling through on that second image.

Had a ride out to the farm this morning for a visit. This winter hunt is almost at an end, and I'm really happy with how these girls have survived the winter. They are small but beefy plants. This has been a great run for cold and wpm resistance selection. 3 of the girls clearly stand out to me, and will be left to reveg to clone from. The spring run is around the corner, and I'll be doing male selections next.

Hey Guys.. Would like to know your experiences germinating dinafem seeds ? What was your method and what was your success rate with them? I use the paper towel method in a plastic container with a heating mat underneath I personally have germinated alot with them and my rate seems to be around 50 -60% Fastbuds I had 100% germination, also big buddha seeds 100% all seeds germinated I have found dinafem seeds to be absolutely difficult to germ and they seem like they are not eager to live while the others are true weeds in that they are fighting to sprout if that makes sense to you guys.. I popped 10 dinafem seeds which I had kept for a year in a dark cool cupboard in their original packaging and i germinated 5 fastbuds seeds on Friday Dinafem seeds have not germed or cracked open as yet while all 5 fastbuds are already in jiffy pellets taking roots and have de shelled.. Have any of you guys had the same experience with dinafem seeds ? Will post pics later today

Hi Guys.. happy to be a new member on this forum. Im pretty new to the grow scene and im currently in my prep stage to start my first few grows ( max 3 ) i have been browsing the site for the past 2 days an im blown away with the members posts. I love to DIY and have vast experience with fish keeping & aqua-phonics and hoping to apply some of that knowledge to assist me with my first grow ( Soil Conditions, PH Level, Nutrients etc) i will create a thread once i start building my grow box and start my seedlings off Cheers

Wow bro!!! Insane stuff. Ingenuity next level

Grow update Day 23 Things are very slow , but they are healthy and growing , had a problem with some pests but have sorted them out with some neem oil , I also took some clones off the fruit spirit and waiting for those to root . Now it’s just waiting for them to reach their 6th node so I do the first topping for mainling. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

HI there everyone, I've done a few illegal outdoor and a few illegal indoor grows with moderate success -=text removed=-. I have been frantically buying all the required items for my first legal indoor grow. 240 quantum board lamp, 1m x 1m tent, ducting inline fan and few other items. I will be running 4 autos for the first grow, purely to dial the tent in and get a feel for growing in such a confined space. In the past the indoor grows I've done have been in the spare bedroom using a 400 MH/HPS lamp i bought at ACDC express(LOL!!) Thanks for having me, I look forward to spending the time to read the past posts. Felix

isn't it fishmix in veg and grow + bloom during flower? I've heard that grow is just fishmix and molasses so could just mix his own.

Nice man enjoy. Loved the wedding cake last year. My autos are in the tent already. Just hope the colds gonna to let up early this year. They should start flowering in the next 3 weeks anf then they must go outside.

Well done sir, I tip my hat to you

Awesome level of stealth. Congrats on finishing as well, must have been tough.

Wow man that is an awesome guerilla grow. What are you growing thia season?

Always a pleasure bro

Hey thanks Man. I will be running some Fast buds gentics - Critical Jack, OG Kush, Amnesia Haze, as well as Dutch Passion - Colorado Cookies. I've never done autos, but I'm keen to see how they go. Will be germinating 1 seed at a time in 2-3 week intervals with the intention of creating a perpetual harvest. I'm not sure if that's going to work, guess I'll find out over the next 10-15 weeks.

Welcome to the fam @madgiant enjoy the grow

Welcome to the family bro and good luck on your upcoming grow.

I've had some issues with Dinafem Purple Afghan.

I haven't grown Dynafem for a while now, but when I did, I had no issues. 12hr soak, then in paper towel in a warm spot. Within 2 days they're ready to plant. Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

Beautifull

Dinafem seeds are hard to sprout and if they do sprout they die. I'm done with that seed bank. But it is also the luck of the draw. I sprouted seeds from the same breeders and some packs have 90 to 100 persent success rate and others 40 to 50 persent.

Looking good! They look very happy indeed.

Try adding some warmth to speed things up. Ever since I included a heating matt to my germination process i have 100% success rate.

Ideally would like a bit more zoom, but looks like mostly cloudy so she should be ready soon.

Update pics. Looks like all trichomes are whitish . Used two different cell phones to take the pictures. So hope it will help to determine when harvesting should be done.

Hi guys just an update on my plants. I had an additional led light....but seem to burn my leaves and then i switched it off. My autoflower(northen lights) flowering looks good. Think about 2.5weeks in

Week 5 flower under the @Liontree Supernova 320 (100%) We on 19 days since the true flowers started appearing so could be looking at a 10 week flowering period or more. Powdered sugar started coming out to play as well. Smooth sailing for now.

3 weeks into flower, and I'm about a week or so from pollinating.

That's fine for distance. Try getting your night-time temps up in the 20's during veg. If you're not worried about electricity costs, you can tune your lights to 24hrs in veg to help with the temps. Also, patience. The seedlings are probably working on their roots when you don't see much leaf development, then all of a sudden you see a boom in growth. Just keep them happy for now, definitely get those night temps up for now. I also assume you know a 600W HPS isn't the best for veg but if you need one bulb for a whole grow a 600W HPS will do it. Just beware you may have stretchy plants in veg by using the HPS bulb. MH bulbs keep the plants nice and short. Swazi is a sativa so it's already a stretchy plant by nature, so you will definitely have to top or something to tame her indoors.

My plan is try them all (insert evil laugh here). Then move to the next breeders stock, must explore and taste all we can in this lifetime. Hopefully find that special one, one day.

I normally do a gel dip, then a powder dip. Takes 8 - 12 days to fully root in peat pellets and around 14 days if going directly into potting soil. I mist cuttings and the inside of the tray. Seal for 3 days, then remove the hood on day 4. Days 5 - 8 I allow some fresh air, but still keeping humidity up. Day 9 it gets opened again, by this time, they should have enough root to grow without the dome, but you'll be able to see which tool and which didn't. A very light tug on the stem will give you an indication whether they rooted or not. With pear pellets the roots should have penetrated the outer walls of the pellet at this point. Currently on day 6 and quite a few of my clones have already rooted, but they will only be transplanted around day 12 - 14 to make sure the transplant doesn't stress them too much Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk