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Welcome to the thunderdome, boijies. In this diary I will be recording my grow for the year 2022, blunders, wins, alas. I have recently made some very nice improvements to my overall setup since my last diary and I think equipment wise there won't be much else to upgrade, so from this point on the focus is going to be on refinement of the setup, efficiency of the process and perfecting the strains in my stable. Speaking of strains, my stable/veg tent currently consists of the following strains which I have collected over the years: Zkittlez x Purple Punch - Ripper Seeds (ZxP) KmintZ - Ripper Seeds (KM) Gorilla Zkittlez - Barneys Farm (GZ) Aurora Indica - Nirvana Seeds (AI) Grand Daddy Purple - Blimburn Seeds (GDP) Tortoni F1 - Totemic (T1) Wedding Cake - 1000 Hills Nursery (WC) A solid seven strains. At the moment if I wanted another strain, I would try my best to swap it out rather than accommodate it. The space in the veg tent is comfortable enough to hold at least one mother plant of each strain, enough plants for the next round in the flower tent, and also enough unrooted clones to replace the plants that go into the flower tent. It's called perpetual growing, china. The veg tent is a 1.2mx1.2mx2m LiteHouse LITE grow tent with a 120W QB LED (set to 80W) at about 1.2m high from the ground, light schedule is 18/6 from 6pm to 12pm. I have found this to be the sweet spot all year round for all the veg plants, mothers, clones, they all good. I can get my plants to a nice 1m height before popping them in the flower tent. In addition, I also have a 59W 4 inch extraction fan set on low which exhausts air from inside the tent to outside the room through a window. The window has a custom fitted duct port which allows the room to remain sealed even with the exhaust venting outside. Lastly I have a 425W heat panel which I fixed to a wooden frame to allow it to sit upright at the back of the tent. This heater is connected to a Sonoff switch which is connected to the WiFi and regulates the heat within the tent automatically at a minimum of 22C. The average currently is about 25C (mid Jan) but sometimes, especially with the rains lately, the temp can dip but it will never dip below 22C in this tent. Humidity sits at an average of 70%. The flower tent is a 1.2mx2.4mx2m LiteHouse LITE grow tent. I have also upgraded to AutoPots. From what used to take me 1-2 hours every 2-3 days to water my plants by hand now takes me 20mins once a week. This has been an absolute gamechanger as I can now really focus on timing my veg tent and perfecting the strains going into the flower tent. Not getting absolutely sticky with resin every time I water is a nice plus too I have harvested 6 plants (ZxP) once already about two weeks ago as a test run using the AutoPots. I have another 6 plants (ZxP) currently going which are due to be harvested by the end of this month and I have also just recently planted 6 more ZxP which are the younger looking plants to the left of the flowering plants. First impressions have been fantastic. Compared to using fabric pots, I can see all the benefits and more. I have also installed each AutoPot with an airdome and I pump fresh warm air to the root zone for 12 hours a day following the same time as the light time schedule. I can see the same kind of growth that I used to see back when I grew using DWC. When I investigated the roots after the first harvest, the airdomes were just smothered in healthy white roots. Very nice. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that my pH pen was whack and I fear the last harvest may have been deficient during the ripening stage due to incorrect pH of the feeding nutrient. This will be one area of focus going forward to improve the overall grow. I have also invested in two new 35W Sansui Box Fans which I have attached to the ceiling of the flower tent. I had a few spots of bud rot due to the fokin heavy rains in the Highveld this Summer so improvements needed to be made to make it through humid times. I obtained a 450W GMC 26 Litre Dehumidifier that I keep running within the grow room outside of the tents. From these upgrades, my flower tent humidity has gone from 70%+ to sub 49%. I can also run my 62W 6 inch extraction fan on low (same setup as veg tent i.e. exhaust outside via duct in window) just to simply move stale air from inside the flower tent to outside and slowly bring fresh air in via the gaps in the door to the room through negative pressure created from the flower and veg tent fans exhausting air outside. The lighting power is three 240W QB LEDs (set to 160W) that I pair with 6 plants each on a 12/12 light schedule from 9pm to 9am. Initially when I transplant into the flower tent I will start at about 60cm from the canopy and over a week or two move the LEDs closer to about 30cm to the canopy. I find this enough to give the plants used to the higher light intensity without having to change my wattage settings every time I do a transplant. The idea is to grow and harvest in sets of six. Each set of 6 AutoPots have their own 46L reservoir containers so I can regulate the food to each set of six independently, which allows me to do plants at different stages and also different strains. Harvests are also only 6 plants at a time and not a solid 18 at a time. I am still getting the timing right to get a harvest consistently timed between each other, so that will be fun also to figure out. Something like once a month or so would be hot. The flowers have gotten big enough in the last few harvests that they flop around like big 'ol dicks, so I will be adding a net across the tent after I have harvested these last 6 plants and have planted new plants into all the empty AutoPots. Tying up the buds has been a mission so I'm hoping the net will help in that regard. I haven't gotten a chance to fully utilise the nets yet so that will be a first. In the empty set of six AutoPots I have at the moment I will be doing a round of Gorilla Zkittlez. To replace the current 6 flowering ZxP that will be harvested soon I have 4x KmintZ which are being grown for the first time from seed and are the latest addition to the stable. I will also substitute 2x ZxP plants to total that set of 6. The KmintZ are a supposed 'upgrade' to the lineage associated with ZxP, so pairing them shouldn't be a problem. I just recently took another batch of ZxP clones to replace the Gorilla Zkittlez when those harvest. After that however, it's a roll of the dice. Maybe we decide together what comes next from the stable, maybe I throw a dart on a board, who knows. Whatever is decided, I need to take those clones in at least 3 weeks time from now in order to be ready to plant into the flower tent come harvest time. I'll have a good idea of how to really time everything perfectly as we go so that as I harvest I already have a batch ready to go to replace those plants. Right now, taking at least 6+ clones every 3 weeks has worked out quite well. When I have things dialed in, I will write up a rough formula for all to enjoy! Or perish! It's ya boi. ***Harvest Dates - Weigh-Ins*** 2022 05 January - 87g ZxP 18 January - 136g ZxP 28 February - 257g ZxP 04 March - 173g GZ 12 April - 65g ZxP 12 April - 159g KM 06 May - 188g ZxP 12 May - 215g WC 06 June - 168g ZxP 27 August - 796g ZxP 21 October - 377g ZxP - 80g WC - 135g OMG 28 November - 827g ZxP

Below are the latest two episodes, so what you guys think of this documentary? Some pictures taken by Simon yesterday with Natie from Qure.co.za

Sample smoke of no.12 pheno

SNAPSHOT OF THE MONTH JANUARY 2022 This month is sponsored by www.thehighco.co.za 1ST PRIZE R500-00 voucher to spend at thehighco.co.za Sponsored by TheHighCo HOW TO ENTER? Simply reply to this thread with your entries. Attach the images to your reply or embed the images from a 3rd party website. No linking to social media posts please Snapshot of The Month Rules: Original images only please. If your entries are found to have been pulled from the internet your entry will be void. Members can enter a maximum of 5 images each. Images entered this month may not be entered in future competitions. If you enter more than 5 images, the last 5 images you posted will be considered. Members can submit photos and/or graphics designs of their own. Once entries close, entries will be narrowed down to 10 nominees which will then go to a private poll with the forum's Competition Voting Panel Members who come 1st in an SOTM are only illegible for a prize again in 12 months Members who place other than 1st place may only win a prize twice in a 12 month window. Judging Criteria: Overall originality - What sets the image apart from others. Creativity & Effort - was there a good amount of creative thought and effort that went into the image. Wow factor - does the image get attention. Quality and clarity - Is the detail in the image decent. Is the photograph clear, well focused and not blurry. ENTRIES CLOSE 31/01/22 GOOD LUCK! --------------------------------------------

Just watched all 3 now and really enjoyed it. Awesome to see all the fields along the Umzimvubu and what kinda genetics they hold. So much history and legacy that sits with those growers. I must say that rafting trip they took is serious bucket list material

This was a good watch. Good discussion on the topic of landraces. I wonder with regards to the topic of licensing strains as mentioned in this series, if the landrace strains are registered in the name of the local populace, what then happens with the Exodus and Sunset Sherbet strains they are growing? Wouldn't they technically need to then pay a license fee to Green House Co just as Green House Co would have to pay them for the landrace strains? Knowing Mzansi, a system like that will be exploited. Also sad to know that our government were spraying poison so haphazardly for 18 years. Where's the commission on that?

Shot for sharing @Chris Jay! This very cool to see

Wouldn't hold my breath for that commission. I think the emergence of activists such as the Dagga Couple and the Dagga Party, coupled with social media put that BS to an end. Somebody needed to stand up for those people as they had no voice for themselves.

My wife went and bought Purple Urkle seeds without my “approval”, I was sceptical till I saw just how purple the bud is turning out. Hope it’s as good as it looks. Maybe two weeks to go….

I am coming to the party late on this thread but it looks like you have things under control now. Just want to add my 2c. If you have adequate water I would just dig holes add a little bit of starter soil and let the plants grow in the native soil like you have there in the Karoo. Cover the soil with compost and a thick mulch to minimise evaporation. You will get awesome results. Also breed with some seeds this winter so that the cultivars can adjust to your area. Enjoy

Time to catch up a bit. Due to the puppies my time was so low, that I didn't invest enough time in the tray of Lemon OG Haze. But we did the smoke test and 2 plants made it in the next round. I give those a bit a better run and see if there is "more" Lemon coming out. I wasn't to happy, even with the 2 winners.. I expected more. To see how far I can get.. I made a tray of JetFuel. 16 clones on a 1.2x1.2.. and see how much I get out.. I used a screen to make my life more simple and less time consuming.. watering is just a mission as I didn't tray feed.. humidity was to high, didn't wanted to add more moisture. Have a tray with Gelato and Slurricane beside, looking good too Also want to give @Bay Seeds a big Thumbs Up (This one: ) @Stinger96 left me a bud of his Strawberry Vostok and a pack of Regular Autos.. the bud was so nice and tasty.. I put the Regs over right away. There was a clear taste of Strawberry.. amazing! Their grow behavior was a bit poor.. but I had em outside at the start. Will do a nice run of more soon, if the second taste is as sexy.. I have a strain I want to keep. Local starts to impress more and more If you look for a Auto to try and cant make up your mind.. look no further give the Strawberry Vostok a chance... we smoke tested a few strains that evening.. the Strawberry Vosok won by a mile. Late addon: You saw that Eskom wants to raise price 1 April by 20.5%?

@DamDave I couldn't find that article, but I remembered the Irrazinig episodes on The Pot Cast, it's kak long and in 2 parts (like 2 hours each) but a very nice listen. He does touch on the topic of domesticated/landraces and wild plants and other very interesting topics like plant classifications etc.. https://soundcloud.com/the_pot_cast/episode-46-ft-irrazinig-of-indian-landrace-exchange

There are definitely some heavy pineapple phenos, but they run more to the sativa side. It's important for me that the keeper is 9 weeks from clone to finish. So the goal is to find a decent yielding, good tasting, good looking hybrid. I don't ask for much. LOL!

I also sit here and not sure why i grow photos Made 6 White Widow autos... 10 weeks seed to harvest... kicks any 18 weeks photo so hard in the nuts bud size wise.. I cant do that with photos dry at 62%

Piss cool to see the guys producing these seeds and their passion for cannabis. That part where they talked about humidity was very insightful. Popped 3 and only 2 germinated. Seeds just feel better than clones. You get to pick your winner and each one is slightly different.

Exactly this. GHS was the original hype in my opinion Arjan basically founded the American weed culture of hype sells, get some rappers/singers that are popular to name drop it and it will sell edit: I don't dislike them or anything, have never really grown anything from them. But I do love watching their strain hunter shows for fun and would like to try out their stuff. Would def buy a pack if they has certain strains in reg.

Watched it, not as great as the Moroccan or India one. Even in those older episodes the growers were actually growing GHS seeds and there were no landraces to be found, so even back then growers knew that growing landraces couldn't compare to the hybrids bred in labs/ basements. I miss Franco in the episodes, that guy was really passionate about cannabis, and I don't feel the new teams love for the plant. These are businessmen and it's pretty evident going by the amount of brands that GH seeds now has, (including GH medical at the end of credits) that they are pushing to get their brand out there and be number 1. End of the day, these episodes only serve to promote their existing seedbank and rightly so, it's a business, I just don't like how they sprinkle medical terms around. Are they focused on medical strains now or just here to cash in on our decriminalization? Any link to the debates going around? Sent from my SM-A715F using Tapatalk

Mostly everyone, but for decades people have looked after, shared and grown landrace seeds from remote places. They change in appearance, unstable and a bitch to grow. Watch that part again, listen to Arjan sniff and go hmmmm,OK. Watch it again. Ruben is one of the top growers in that region of PSJ, and great musician, good man. Grows some of the dankest bud I have ever seen. Its exciting to grow something unique, especially our landrace in SA. The world is looking at our local landrace because of the high prevalence of THCV, unique to our part of the world. I think studies have been done about this since the early 80's, but everyone was mostly focused on THC. I wish it was that easy for people, there are online catalogues, but only a couple that have done the real work and documented their findings. Sadly these seeds are not available with a click of a mouse button. Great discussion, opinions and debate. Have you guys seen the online debate taking place on Facebook, about biopiracy, stealing landrace and how GHS has no integrity, how do you feel about that?

Hey all. Can someone explain in layman's terms what landrace is. Can't seem to get my head around it. Is it just local wild cannabis. Sent from my S40 using Tapatalk

Fully agree with you. I think it might be more due to the allure of the plant in its original form, untouched by humans, that drives the hunt for landrace species. It's like someone harping on about the good old days. Fair enough that might not be the quality that you would like to smoke or use but to see a plant as close as possible to its original unaltered state must be something special to behold. For me I wouldn't want to grow or smoke it but would love to walk in a field of cannabis that is relatively untouched by hybridisation or external influence. It's like botanical archeology

It got us this far ! The industry still has a way to go, but it has come quite far in a relatively short time. We can only hope we keep moving forward and see improvement ....

couldn't have said it better myself this forum is such a select few of us out of the thousands of growers out here in SA, yet I've even seen people asking for landraces on here. couldn't keep count on all my fingers and toes how many times I've heard it in person aswell and I have yet to meet all the growers in SA. very true! this is why I love strain hunters and what they do, they're perfect for the job and I assume there are quite a few guys contributing to the preservation of genetics and for that we are all thankful, but imagine the bricky at the build site talking bout building skyscrapers and bridges in his backyard, it's possible, but sounds a little funny and is going to take some time. maybe it's just me worrying too much about nothing hahah

I get the fact that majority of home growers would not like to grow it, or would not like the experience even if they got the chance to grow lets say a African landrace that takes like 14 - 16 weeks to flower and then you end up with string weed. But when it comes to the cannabis industry they are really important, especially in terms of research for medical use even rec. For breeding I mean its always good to have them for whatever reason, they could possibly become the building blocks to something completely new in the future.

@Naughty.Psychonaut Nobody wants to grow landraces. Us humans have been trying to grow better plants (not just cannabis) for a looong time now and we have managed to get it right multiple times and have ended up with "improved" crops of all sorts over the years. Bigger fruit, better fruit, more enjoyable etc. etc. Selective breeding has been going on for a loooong time, it also takes a long time to get a crop to where you'd like it to be. I do not understand the infatuation some people have with landrace cannabis strains...

I love strain hunters and their story, I did a lot of strain hunters watching when I was much younger. I believe the existance of the show holds a lot of water when discussing the "landrace" topic... and that is that not any ol' Jimbo with a internet connection can get their hands on the stuff, if they really know what they looking for. chances are if people knew what landraces are, they probably wouldn't wana grow them... you gotta be at the tippy top of the cannabis game to be taking part in that conversation. if you have to resort to buying seeds, especially from seed banks, you'll be lucky enough if you get something that's got a landrace not too far back in its lineage and hasn't been crossed too many times to try and closely resemble something that once was a landrace. in this video alone they speak of searching for landrace, infact that's the premise of the whole show - you can go in the mountain and grab a hand full of seeds and there you go, you have landrace. but is that what you wanted? no, no one wants that. what people want is that special ONE, perhaps it doesn't even exist in the field, yet. but has to be crossed and searched out. that's why they bring landraces back to the lab, because they wana breed and cross with the stuff, they themself don't even want to grow "the landrace". landraces are only worthy when looking at some charactaristics of said race. meaning it contains some preferred genetics that still need to be isolated. not the whole plant. when you isolate genetics is it still a landrace? nope. people that have been in the game for long enough to be considered "the King of Cannabis" know this fact. even around the 15:00 mark in this video a literal seasoned mountain growing Guru tells Arjan Roskam straight to his face "we have lost the local landrace"... just let that sink in for a second. who are we to argue or deny that? what's funny to me is that those guys would spend so much time, money and effort on physically traveling to different continents for specific reasons when apparently there is a easily accessible online archive that has all the highest regarded landraces that "eeeeeeeveryone is looking for" in storage, ready to go at the click of a button

Got some dry ice and turned the Gelato cut offs into some hash. I only used 180 micron to pre sif and 120 micron for the Gelato Ball... smells freaking delicious!

left center of the Milky Way All there.. the horse head nebula with the pillars of creation all in one bid of bud, hard to get more sprinkled then that... next step is dripping buds.. find some green!