Bud size

S

seanhaarhoff

New Member
Hi dudes,
Please help.I live in Durban South Africa.Hot as hell with a lot of rain.I have lived in the UK and have grown in grow rooms with very good success .How do I increase bud size here when i don't have access to the proper bud fertilizers?
I am growing out doors in natural sunlight with wind and lots of rain,I can only use the basic normal plant fertilizers here as you cant buy the good shit here. The buds are taking soooo long to develop and its driving me nuts.Any advice will be greatly appreciated.


thanks
Sean
 
Do you have access to guanos high in Phosphorus? Making a biologically active tea out of organic material seems like your best bet outdoors and the materials are generally available anywhere.

I'm no outdoor grower, but I do know outdoor strains in the northern hemisphere finish in the fall (late Sep - Nov). I think that would put similar finishers in the late March - May range down south. If I'm not crazy I think your plant(s) still have most of their flowering period ahead of them.

Regardless, let us know what products are being sold in stores down there and we'll figure something out for you.
 
Hi HB,

Thanks for the reply.They started flowering about 3-4 weeks back but you are right,still plenty time for them to get to full size.People say out doors growing is better but i tend to disagree as Ive had more success with indoor growing(much easier to control the elements etc)It feels like out doors takes much longer if you know what I mean.

I also think my problem over here is the strains of bud that are available,very much a "lower grade bush weed",You don't get the "blue berry's and hazes etc" people here don't have a clue about removing the males and 99% of the time the stuff you buy is more seed than bud.I am tempted to order some seeds from one of the seed banks but saying that,with our 3rd world postal service, I probably would never receive them and money wasted.

I will give the organic tea a bash,quite sure I can gets my hands on some bat guano.
Will keep you posted and any more ideas will be appreciated.

Cheers
 
You may want to watch just how big/thick those buds get... w/all that rain, I'm sure mold w/not be far behind!
Since you have access to the W3... maybe you could Google up your own recipe for nutes... I have come up w/my own recipe many times back in the day! I even grew an outdoor w/human excrement... no BS... the end result w/a good one!

My point is... you don't have to spend a lot of money on nutes if you don't have access to said nutes... just do a lil reading on what makes good ferts and imitate as best/close as you can, you just might surprise us all!

PS... I just started some Durban Poison babies... are these namesake from where you live in Durban SA?
 
I agree with you 100% seanhaarhoff. Growing outdoors can be a pain in the ass with all the variables.

If you decide to go the seed route try one of the banks that sell single seeds or go with packs of TGA or Green House Seeds. They have good genetics that are cheap enough to risk with the postal service. I think GHS sells their feminized five-packs for ~$50 or less.
 
Hey sean just cruisin through and I know of a very obtainablle fertilizer. In strain hunters Malawi they use burnt ash to fertilize the plant with potasium.
YouTube - Strain Hunters - Part 2 - Green House Seed Co

Heres the youtube part 2, its the later parts where they show a fertilized field though.

I did a quick map overlook and I realize Malawi is not so close, but I realized your pretty lined up with Australia. I recommend finding an australian growers thread and that shouold help a bunch.

Also if you get seeds I think you want the biggest best sativas around.

Hope this helps, good luck:peace:
 
Hi guys,
Gonna try the burnt ash,will keep you posted on how I get on with it.

No worries on the mold issue kronic,rain tapers off towards end Feb and we generally don't have mold issues here(think the heat has some thing to do with it).Yes The Durban poison variety is from my area but quite hard to come by plus its not grown to its full potential,people are very un-educated on proper growing methods here,don't remove males etc so its not much better than the "normal stuff" you get,let me know how you get on with it,should be quite a good smoke,proper head basher from what I remember(not that my short term memory is as good as it used to be lol)
If you can get your hand on "swazi gold"(also from here),try that........very very good,golden colors hence the name.

Outdoorsman,What I would give to be in that field in Malawi............Here's I little tale I've heard on what they do in Malawi to make a natural processed hash....
Take a area say the size of a squash court,fence it off and remove any/all plant matter so its just dirt.Take 2/3 goats(yes I said goats,believe it or not)put them in that area and don't feed them any thing except water for approx a week.Any shit they produce gets discarded (as you would lol) you need to let them clean their systems out.Once you have done that,throw in a large amount of bud and let them eat their hearts out and wait till they start shitting again,that is collected and dried out in the sun and wala,natural hash.(not sure if I could smoke that "good shit" tho lol) Very interesting tho.

Keep the idea's coming guys and thanks
 
Thats a good one SC, how do you go about processing them?

I was looking for the NPK of banana peels and found a gadening website with this quote:
"A number of years ago, a local gardener who dried large quantities of bananas, composted the skins, then used that in his veggie garden.

After a while (I don't know how many years later) the plants were in serious trouble.

A soil test by professional lab showed the potassium to be sky high.

So, I suggest that moderation is the best method. Perhaps it would be wise to share the bounty with other composters."
Posted by jean001 z8aPortland, OR (My Page) on
Thu, Apr 10, 08 at 13:39
^ that thread was about someone wanting to make a banana peel only compost mix
I think bananas would be a great addition to the compost i plan on making, and in moderation should be fine for a hearty ganja strain, maybe added during a flowering soil exchange?
(ramble)
SC any knowledge on what the release time seems to be with banana peel??
 
Edit ~ reread and saw i was aimlessly rambling

Afraid I don't know the compost time on.. anything.. I've never gotten the stuff together to actually try compost yet.

Edit Again ~ speaking of compost What do you think of one made of 2 parts peas to 1 part banana peals and 1 part kelp by weight? figure if I ever get around to it that would be a very nutritious combination that should have very acceptable NPK levels and plenty of other nutrients. Would be pretty cheap to once diluted and applied.
 
Yeah Ive never personally made compost but if I were i would mix a wide array of scraps, clippings, foods, peelings and such to get a nice mulch and then I would mix that in my dirt for organic nutrients..

What do the peas supply? Adding some soil peat or coco should add nice structure and live clippings for nitrogen assist in the break down of the heap.

thats what i got to say about that:peace:
 
Hey Sean you should try and find Molasses next time you are near a grocery store or such, Blackstrap is the richest form and it supplies calcium magnesium iron and sugars to help your plant and buds swell up and get tasty. One bottle should last awhile
1-2teaspoon per gallon in veg, once a week
1+ tablespoon per gallon every 2nd or 3rd watering throughout flowering, depending on how your plant reacts to it. Mix light if ants become a problem and flush well in between feedings as lock up can occur if mixing with other nutrients or too strong. Less is better than too much, or nothing, is how I think of it when using any nutrient

Try and get the stuff study show 20% increase in bud size, plus the plants like the sugars
 
Hi Outdoorsman,
Tried that last week with plain old house hold sugar dissolved in warm water and also tried the burnt ash the day after that,I don't know if its just wishful thinking but can already see a marked improvement on the buds,they have increased in length and are getting fatter daily.Buds are creeping up the length of the stalks and looks like they will be as long as my arm from shoulder to fingers.Will post some pics soon.

Don't know what stain I am growing as you cant get the "engineered bud" strains here but it is a sativa and has quite a strong almost pepper taste too it.The bud we get here has not been bred with any other strains so its pretty "pure".It Would be very interesting to see how this would grow indoors under a controlled environment.
Got loads of seeds if any body wants some.
 
Sounds interesting, list out the growth characteristics of the plant and some pics would be swell.

An inbred sativa can have quality traits for breeding, you should for sure give a smoke report when your crop is dried and or cured:rollit:


* Also nice call on the sugar, in regulated doses Im sure the plants will love the white sugar, but the molasses has calcium and magnisium which flowering plants need for healthy flowering.

I imagine your soil is pretty fertile, no?
 
Peas are very high in both Nitrates and Phosphorus. =) Figure they would be great for evening out the amount of potassium in the banana's thus making adding discarded food stuff to the compost less of a gamble.(after all you might find another super rich potassium item and end up with to much in the mix.

also great to hear your buds are turning around Sean. Hope you give us a weight per plant once you are done harvesting =). I'm very interested in seeing how good a plant can be grown down in sub tropic South Africa.
 
Hey Outdoorsman,Managed to get my hands on some sea-grow plant fert,got fish emulsion with kelp etc,high in potassium,phosphorus and has all the micro elements,magnesium,borat,calcium etc so lets see how my babies are gonna do now.

The species is def a sativa with the very narrow,very dark green leaves while the buds are a couple shades lighter in color,Has taken quite long as I am growing out doors letting the natural lights cycles do the job.I have been fertilizing with N nutes just once a week from start to flower stage and yes soil is very fertile,I reckon the actual veg stage has taken about 5 months before I noticed bud formation but I have not been keeping proper records of days growth like most seasoned growers do(will do on the next crop)I topped the plants quite early as didn't want them to get to high but are still about 8ft in hight now(would be like trees now if I had'nt).loads of branches with inter-nodes quit close and very very bushy.Bottom branches about as long as my arm are gonna be thick with buds from almost the base were the branches join the main stalks to the top.Been flowering for about 5 weeks now and I reckon they will still probably need to go for another 5 to 7 weeks before I can harvest them.( I know,its taking fucking long,typical traits of a sativa)But saying that,I have noticed this last week that bud formation looks like its speeding up(could just be wishful thinking)Took some pics on phone camera but quite blurry so will sort that out soon and post a few.

Gonna try breed the next crop with a nice strong indica (I need to order seed's tho)Hopefully that might speed up the growth cycle and create a whole new strain.Its quiet strong in flavor and it knocks the crap out of you but does'nt lame you out,Quiet a creative buzz.

Let me know if you want some seeds,can post you some no problem.
 
Good deal, sounds like you got it under control man.
Havent had a nice sativa in awhile, sure am sick of being a lame-o-couch-potato after each sitting of half assed indicas..:bongrip::lot-o-toke:
Keep us updated with those pics
Ill keep in touch in the future on the seed thing

Oh yeah the soil thing, are they planted into the ground?
If so go light on the nitrogen and let the plant use up what is available for cleaner taste....

the real seed company has a lebanese indica that is short flowering and you should consider for crossing. I am going to be working on breeding project for this summers grow and really want that strain, it says its an excellent hash making strain
 
I grow them in large 50 lt buckets outdoors(only reason I plant in bucket is you never know who turns up,easy to move.Had a few close calls already),planted in normal potting soil (very rich and dark)I add some river sand to help with drainage and plain old grass cuttings and any veg matter from the kitchen,Work it all into the soil,water with N nutes every 3/4 days and let it sit for a couple weeks to let everything break down a bit before planting-seems to work pretty well.

The only thing is,I worry about the plant getting root bound in the buckets cause the veg stage takes so long.

Gonna read up and try some thing new for next crop.Whats your process for the soil you use-if you grow in soil that is?
 
Hell yeah brother, Im all about the soil... It depends for me on how long and where the plant is located.

My first outdoor grows I only had access to a walmart so cheap potting soil, ground hummus, perlite and some peat moss was my mix. Used fox farm liquid trio ferts.

Now that Im indoors for the winter and have access to hydroponic shops, Im using ROOTs organic potting soil.
This stuff has everything good: coco fiber, worm castings, guano, perlite, peat moss, mulch, compost. you name it.

I do bottom 2- 3 inches perlite for drainage in plastic pots

This year Im going to use smart pots ( the roots can grow right through them) place them 1/2 ways into ground.

In your case 50 lt pots(13 gal) should be alright for your big trees. Im sure they will do fine I read 1 gallon of dirt for every foot of plant, or one gallon for every month alive, over on roll-it-up . org theres a guy who was growing in 100gal smart pots and had 10ft trees with 2-3 lbs each
Depending on your potting soil it could be running out of good shit by now. watch your plant for signs of anything
and post back
This is the year of experimenting for me so I can know whether the ground or pots produce how I like it, my soil is fertile so I kind of prefer to plant in ground and let it do its thing..

If it looks like its not doing anything or rootbound try lifting your plant out the pot when its dry, if it comes out easy fluff the roots and put it in ground or bigger pot with fresh soil.
Otherwise it may be wise to just leave it alone, might go into shock since its flowering and hault growth but shouldn't if the roots are intact...
Sorry for the long fuckin post haha
 

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