First Soil Grow: aMaphondo 2020

[Stefan]

@Onion this was such a great read. I like how confident you are in exactly what you need to combat all these environmental challenges!

As a beginner organic farmer(very loosely titled but got to claim what you want), I really enjoyed how you explained your rationale behind your methods. I’m forced to watch many YouTube videos often just being able obtain a grain of info per video as many don’t explain why and rather ‘I use this’.

Will definitely be anticipating each update. Thanks for sharing 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Stefan

[Onion]

23 hours ago, Stefan said:

@Onion this was such a great read. I like how confident you are in exactly what you need to combat all these environmental challenges!

As a beginner organic farmer(very loosely titled but got to claim what you want), I really enjoyed how you explained your rationale behind your methods. I’m forced to watch many YouTube videos often just being able obtain a grain of info per video as many don’t explain why and rather ‘I use this’.

Will definitely be anticipating each update. Thanks for sharing 

Thank you Stefan, this is very kind of you to say. I hope you do very well with your organic growing!

[Onion]

Weekly Update: Four months to the day that Holly's seed went into paper towel. The plants are in varying stages of development with a couple of late starters. I got some shots of node activity, to see if I can sex them all. I think they are all female except for Molly which might be a boy. I am still doing a foliar spray for pest control every 2 days. The neem will be phased out and I will use only BB and BT during flower. I have changed their feeding routine and the seem good on the following: -

Monday - Molasses water

Tuesday - water

Wednesday - Epic 5:2 (humic and fulvic acids and kelp)

Thursday - water

Friday - Seagro (gentle general plant food from fish)

Saturday - water

Sunday - Cape Seaweed (kelp)

Holly (Transkei origin grown in my soil mix in the ground)

 

Molly (Transkei origin in my soil mix in the ground)

 

Mystery purple (in Orgasoilux in a bag)

 

Inzane In The Membrane (in Orgasoilux in a bag) - clone

 

To be continued in the next post

Edited January 9, 2021 by Onion

[Onion]

Weekly update cont...

Wedding Cake (In Orgasoilux in a bag) - clone

 

Double Wild Durban (In my soil mix in the ground)

 

LC-18 x Transkei (In mixed soil remnants in a bag)

[Onion]

Weekly Update:

The plants had a bit of rain this week and that always perks them up. Between them I am currently bottle feeding 20 litres of water twice a day. Holly gets 10 litres and the others get 5 litres each. If it is a feed day, they get that in the morning watering. They seem relatively pest free and I have been spraying them every two days. I have run out of the BT and I am going to see how it goes with the BB and neem until flower and monitor the efficacy of the BB on its own. It's going to be a mission when the rest of the plants demand more water too... trickle to fill, and up the hill lol. Otherwise nothing to report. I was probably premature getting excited at potential sexing. The Wedding Cake is not showing any further signs of sex, so I remain hopeful. The plants are all just bigger. Holly is shoulder height now for some perspective. I have a couple of cuttings each of the IITM and the DWD.

Photos from the top:

1. Holly
2. Molly (left), Mystery Purple (right)
3. Inzane ITM
4. Wedding Cake
5. DWD
6. L-18 x TK

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

Awesome grow space...⚘

[Onion]

1 hour ago, GreenGrow Garden Route said:

Awesome grow space...⚘

Thank you. It hasn't been without its challenges. The grasshoppers and locusts had a good go in the early days. The wind on the mountain is also challenging. The soil is bad and needed a lot of amendment, and it gets terribly hot with all the rock. It is such a beautiful space though  I wouldn't grow in the ground under these conditions again.

[Onion]

I'm not breeding this year, so Molly got the chop today. I'm outdoors and not set up for pollen collection at present. His sibling Holly is looking good though 

[Onion]

Weekly Update:
Molly grew balls and got the chop
I am now carrying 60 litres of water up the hill per day, compared with a week ago when I was on about 40 litres a day with 7 plants and I'm now down to 6. I will put a DWD clone out in a pot to take the place of Molly. I am pleased with their progress, have no major pest issues to report and no pest management / feed changes.
Photos as follows:
Holly - Transkei origin
Mystery Purple - bag seed Purple Haze
Inzane ITM - clone
DWD (my only plant that has serious pest problems is stunted)
LC-18 x Transkei
Wedding Cake - clone

Edited January 23, 2021 by Onion

[ORGANinc.]

16 minutes ago, Onion said:

Weekly Update:
Molly grew balls and got the chop
I am now carrying 60 litres of water up the hill per day, compared with a week ago when I was on about 40 litres a day with 7 plants and I'm now down to 6. I will put a DWD clone out in a pot to take the place of Molly. I am pleased with their progress, have no major pest issues to report and no pest management / feed changes.
Photos as follows:
Holly - Transkei origin
Mystery Purple - bag seed Purple Haze
Inzane ITM - clone
DWD (my only plant that has serious pest problems is stunted)
LC-18 x Transkei
Wedding Cake - clone

Lovely, looking like flower time ☝

[GGG]

Seems like you are getting some exercise , plants look great

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

[Onion]

Mystery Purple got chopped today, into tiny pieces. Another boy.

[Onion]

Weekly Update:
I see white residue on my plants from the pest management, and I am just a tad concerned I might be mistaking PM for residue of pesticide. I am going to by some citric acid and give them a thorough spray just to be on the safe side.
Sadly, I think DWD is a boy. Please have a look and see if you think that the highlighted thingy is a nanner.
From the top:
Holly (Transkei)
Inzane ITM
Wedding Cake
DWD
LC-18 x Transkei

[Onion]

Weekly Update

I am still alternating days with plain mountain water / Cape Seaweed / Seagro / Molasses / Epic 5:2 feeds. Pest control without neem now. I am only using the BB foliar spray every 3 days.

DWD is not showing any boy parts. I jumped the gun on that. It looks as if there may be flowers on the way.


LC- 18 x Transkei is about to bloom


Holly (Transkei) and Holly close up


Wedding Cake and close up


Inzane In The Membrane and close up


Thank you for keeping me company, encouraging me and watching the progress of my journal.

[GreenGrow Garden Route]

Afternoon bud.. Wow.. they look awesome.. Healthy and happy.. That's how a outdoor grow should look like...

[Onion]

6 hours ago, GreenGrow Garden Route said:

Afternoon bud.. Wow.. they look awesome.. Healthy and happy.. That's how a outdoor grow should look like...

Wow, thanks so much!

[StonerZN]

Coming along very nicely over there by the looks of it

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[Onion]

7 hours ago, StonerZN said:

Coming along very nicely over there by the looks of it

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Thank you Stoner! They seem happy.

[Onion]

Weekly Update:

The plants are all looking in peak health with the exception of the Inzane ITM, which has some spider mites. At first I panicked because I have never had spider mites to deal with before and I have read stories of entire grows that were sacrificed because of mite infestations. I don't see webs, but I do see pock marked leaves and pin prick sized dots moving under the leaves. I am going to treat the plant with an insecticidal soap containing potassium salts of fatty acids. We are expecting rain today, so I am hoping that will wash some of it away first. I treated the Inzane for what I thought was early stage PM two days ago, using a 1 % citric acid and dishwash solution. I am not seeing any evidence of PM now. This morning I pruned off a lot of larf to open her up more.

Inzane before and after the pruning


Holly (Transkei)


Wedding Cake


LC-18 x Transkei


Double Durban Wild

[Onion]

Bud pics
Holly (Transkei) at 23 weeks from sprout
Inzane In The Membrane at approximately 6 weeks into flower (clone) (mite webs evident)

I've decided not to use that soap on my plant. It has to be rinsed off when it dries, and the tank is empty, so there is no water for the rinse. I have read that BB effectively reduced mite infestations by 98 % in trials, so I will continue with a more intensive treatment of that. The pruning and airing, and light rain have helped too I hope.

Double Wild Durban at 19 weeks from sprout
Wedding Cake at approximately 4 weeks into flower (clone)
LC-18 x Studley (Transkei) at 17 weeks from sprout

[Onion]

Some more bud pics. From the top Holly, the Transkei Sativa maybe at about 4 weeks, then Inzane at about 6 weeks, wedding cake at maybe 5 weeks. The DWD and the LC-18 x Transkei look to be in about week 1 and I didn't get pics of their bud sites.

[StonerZN]

Coming along very nicely!
Some pretty kiff pics... something about ganga plants with the ocean in the background looks cool.

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[Onion]

21 hours ago, StonerZN said:

Coming along very nicely!
Some pretty kiff pics... something about ganga plants with the ocean in the background looks cool.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
 

Thanks mate, and you are right about the ocean, they go hand in hand.

[Onion]

Progress on bud structure - starting to see some amber and still captivated by the colour of the DWD flowers
Transkei

Inzane

Wedding Cake

Double Wild Durban

LC-18 x Transkei

[Onion]

Bud update before Inzane chop tomorrow.

The landrace plants have a way to go still.


Wedding Cake has about a week to go


Inzane In The Membrane coming down tomorrow