highchome

@CG420za is cannabutter an option for you? It is very easy to make and requires no solvents at all.

@CreX a few more questions if you have the time How often do you change the water? What daily checks and adjustments do you do? Are your three buckets connected or fully separated? Do you heat the water or is the ambient temp in the grow room enough to control this? Thanks

Interesting, I'm glad someone is testing these ideas . Like you say though it is still a big win even if there are no other advantages. Less plastic, cheaper and I can make whatever size I want (without having to go to the shops). I'm sold

I would imagine that the landscape fabric would not be strong enough for a 300L pot. The shade netting seems like a way better idea for that

Yeah, I got mine at a nursery. I suspect builders will have it too. Hopefully you can get it for R60 like @Zaskar09 said, thats way cheaper

Indeed, my wife is an expert. I can only imagine what it would look like had I tried . It would still work though even without any actual sewing skills (i..e my level), and I'm pretty sure its going to work out cheaper than even using the plastic pots. I'm thrilled with the results, now to see if my plants share my enthusiasm

I've been eyeing out fabric grow bags but the prices at the local nurseries are insane. Turns out they are really easy and cheap to make yourself I'm using landscaping fabric / weed shield. The smallest roll I could get was 20m for ~R220. I'll be able to make many pots from that. Here are some detailed instructions, if you want to try it https://northernhomestead.com/sew-grow-bag/. My wife is doing the sewing so I've got very professional looking bags now The fabric bags are great for drainage, aeration and "air pruning". I'm going to move a few clones out of the kak plastic bags and into these to see how it goes.

Thanks for the help! (It comes with calibration mixes but that is only for the first time. I've got calibration solutions arriving this week.)

And run-off water... how is that tested?

Is it possible to test soil & run off pH with an electronic pH meter? I'm assuming they test conductivity and get pH from that. If so the cloudiness of run off water should not matter. But I wanted to double check... If for some reason this would not work, what is the recommended way to test soil & run off pH. Thanks

I've got five/six Super Skunk Kush cuttings that are *just* starting to root, that I'd like to trade for anything other than White Widow or Cali Orange. I'd also be happy to give two away (one each I think) to any newbie growers that needs something to start with. I'm in Cape Town (work near CTCC, live around the Bloubergstrand area). Let me know if anyone is interested. (NB this is my first time cloning, so there is a chance they don't all make it. But I'll send photos before the trade if anyone is concerned).

I've got some bag seeds that I'd be happy to trade for pretty much any seeds/clones but also I'd be happy to give them to other newbie growers to get you started. (Personally I found buying good quality seeds for my first grow a bit daunting, as it is so expensive and I was expecting to screw quite a few things up ). I've got about 9 packs of 5 seeds of the WW and also 9 packs of 5 seeds of CO. I think 5 seeds per pack should give you a reasonable chance of getting at least one female after any germination issues / getting rid of males. NB these are bag seeds so its possible none germinate for you. However I've grown the WW and CO from this batch of bag seeds and got some really healthy females. I'm in Cape Town (work near CTCC, live around the Bloubergstrand area), though I can probably post if needed. Anyway I'd be thrilled to help someone out, and it would be a bonus if there was a trade as well but that's not required. Shout if anyone is interested.

Is humidity a problem with DWC and other hydro setups? I.e. you have bubbling water in your grow room, does that not hugely increase the humidity and mean you are more likely to get powdery mildew etc?

Hi @CreX, welcome

I randomly (*) came across https://www.periodiceffects.com, while I've not listened to any of them yet they are apparently really good. Especially the science of cannabis episodes (episode numbers: 6, 12, 19, 24, 26, 34, 39, 45, 50, 51, 61, 75, 82, 83). Are there other podcasts / videos that you like that are worth sharing? (I'm assuming we all know about 420TUBE...). Thanks * from https://forum.grasscity.com/threads/cannabis-and-anxiety.1540863/

Partly because I was just interested in the technique and wanted to try it out, and partly because I did not have a good place for a dry cure. This was my first ever grow so I was nervous to dry cure without having a better place to dry cure and ensure I did not get mold etc. But yeah, mainly just "because" (it was just a fun thing to try). No worries at all. I'm here to learn as much as possible, the more questions the better! I saw an article say that too, after I had already started. However I have not seen any real detail on that so I'm not sure how definitive that is. I'll need to read up so more. I think it worked out well enough for the cannabutter. I suspect I'll be dry curing from now on despite that. Overall I'm glad I tried something different/odd this stuff is fun :), but yes my next cure will be traditional. I've never looked into that. I'll read up. Thanks!

Yeah, it definitely does. That is the tradeoff, smother smoke, less smell but less flavour. Probably better for edibles than smoking because of that. Yeah, definitely. I've got three different strains of mothers I'm starting on now. Exciting times

Great thanks! For a while there it did not look like cannabis at all

Hi and welcome @highjinx I'm also fairly new to cannabis, but I'd 100% agree with @Dank there. Start really slowly otherwise you or your wife can end up having a bad experience and be scared off and end up missing out on the benefits. My wife takes cannabutter most days and that has worked really well for anxiety. You just need to start with a very low dose and slowly increase until you get the effect you want. Just remember with edibles it can take hours before you feel anything, so it is easy to over do it if you are not careful. Making your own oil/butter is quite easy and then you'll have a much better idea of how strong it is. Good luck, I hope your grow goes well

Interesting thanks. I've been adding new clones so I've kept it closed the whole time. But yeah at least one of the clones did not look that great after planting in soil. I'm now letting them root under very weak lighting, I'll see if that helps

I did not clone my cali-orange before it flowered. So at harvest time I cut a few stems to try reveging. It has been pretty successful but there was some really strange growth initially which I was not expecting. Firstly the plant started looking a bit unhealthy which I was expecting. What was strange was a few club shaped leaves on quite long stems and then a few leaves with very smooth edges. Is that normal? The new growth is now finally looking healthy so I'm guessing it was just while the plant was adjusting to the rather severe changes I forced on it

Quick update on the water cure. I made cannabutter from it the other day. I usually mix water + coconut oil 1:1 so that the water will wash out the minerals, chlorophyll etc. In the past that water has always ended up quite green. With the water cured buds it was almost entirely clear even after 8 hours in the slow cooker. The final cannabutter has almost no taste at all. So if the taste bugs you in any way this is a great option IMO. (And there is barely any smell when smoked either, even less when vaped. Stealth weed! )

The bubbler is way simpler and seems to be working very well. Its as ridiculously DIY as possible Small CFL light in ice cream container resting on the lid Two plastic containers of the same size make a good humidity dome Bottom one filled with water Fish tank air-stone + air-pump Fish tank heater at 21C Two ice-cream containers with holes cut in them floating in the water. I've used polystyrene to make plugs for the holes and hold the seedling stems. Stems are in the water. (I've seen it done both ways, in the water was simpler and seems to be working fine for me) I did end up using the ultrasonic mister, on for 15 mins every hour, to keep the humidity up. But I'm sure that misting by hand would work just as well My first 5 white widow clones from the bubbler about to be planted

Nope . The ultrasonic humidifier gets quite warm, the water was around 29 C, way too hot... I had to get an air pump and convert to a bubbler

I had a cover over the plants but it was not closed so there was no "humidity dome". The kush clones (top row in pic) all wilted terribly overnight. I've made a proper dome and cut the leaves in half (suggested multiple places online, to reduce transpiration). Within an hour the clones are already less droopy.