Outdoor Garden Jamaica 2016

[Kingston]

Hmmm just to add then for Kingston that outdoor grower should always check type of soil he's dealing with. They are all very different and have different qualities. I've just read that Jamaican land is very eroded due to coffee and coconut cultivation. If you then sit on a property that exploited the soil you'll have to enrich it. Usually it's about getting microlife at the top layer, and about getting micronutrients right.

Hey conradino, thanks for your your comments! Just to explain how my feeding and soil are set up. I have put a small layer of organic compost (from our fruit waste that has been sitting for a year) and a bag of horse manure. This is mixed in with 2ft of the original soil, which has been a spot for sugar cane to grow for 15 years or so. Which I recently replaced to prepare this spot. For the transplant I dug holes (maybe only 2 inches bigger then the plants size) and covered that lightly with the same mix that my plants were sitting in, which is Lambert High Porosity which is a Peat Moss based medium 60%, I mix this in with 20% organic compost 20% topsoil from a local garden store. So as you can see on the pictures there is only a small circle around the base of each plant where the prepared soil is. Would you recommend that I mix in all the soil with this same 60/20/20 mix? Or should I mix in with the current soil 50/50?

Ow another thing, when I dug up the soil for the first time there was quite some stones and tiles in there. I asked the owner and he said that they used to have a walk path through the garden before. I took al the big stones out and thought a few small rocks won't hurt the root system, might even give some benefits? Haha

As far as testing the soil, I do have a ph meter, an old one, but it still seems to work (over time it ranged between 5 and 7.5). This soil was at 6.8. So that's all I tested, how do I test the soil?

Advice is always welcome!

Smoke up!

 

[Sejd2131]

Thanks K,
Happy to assist you with your grow.Try 1 tsp of Epson salt per gallon of water, instead of Cal/mag that should work. As for soil, start preparing now, by finding an area begin to turn the soil with your shovel and add manure, compost, worm casing, fish heads, perlite, charcoal and wood ambers,banana peel etc into and around the ground and let it sit for a few weeks, than plant and see what transpires. The soil by you is rich and should have no issues.It begins with the Prep. Anytime you grow in soil, you have to prepare it like anything else with rich nutrients and oxygen. I like adding perlite into the soil for the airy effect, it has.. Don`t go overboard with it, just moderate..Growing outdoors,especially where you are is fun and exciting.... Also, maybe buy 1 bag of Miracle Grow potting soil and mix it into yours... Couldn`t hurt...

 

[Conradino23]

Hey conradino, thanks for your your comments! Just to explain how my feeding and soil are set up. I have put a small layer of organic compost (from our fruit waste that has been sitting for a year) and a bag of horse manure. This is mixed in with 2ft of the original soil, which has been a spot for sugar cane to grow for 15 years or so. Which I recently replaced to prepare this spot. For the transplant I dug holes (maybe only 2 inches bigger then the plants size) and covered that lightly with the same mix that my plants were sitting in, which is Lambert High Porosity which is a Peat Moss based medium 60%, I mix this in with 20% organic compost 20% topsoil from a local garden store. So as you can see on the pictures there is only a small circle around the base of each plant where the prepared soil is. Would you recommend that I mix in all the soil with this same 60/20/20 mix? Or should I mix in with the current soil 50/50?

Ow another thing, when I dug up the soil for the first time there was quite some stones and tiles in there. I asked the owner and he said that they used to have a walk path through the garden before. I took al the big stones out and thought a few small rocks won't hurt the root system, might even give some benefits? Haha

As far as testing the soil, I do have a ph meter, an old one, but it still seems to work (over time it ranged between 5 and 7.5). This soil was at 6.8. So that's all I tested, how do I test the soil?

Advice is always welcome!

Smoke up!

I recommend that you start building your own soil not buy whatever there is. I hear sugar cane fields are not that bad and they're supposed to have nice layer of humus.

 

[Kingston]

Thanks K,
Happy to assist you with your grow.Try 1 tsp of Epson salt per gallon of water, instead of Cal/mag that should work. As for soil, start preparing now, by finding an area begin to turn the soil with your shovel and add manure, compost, worm casing, fish heads, perlite, charcoal and wood ambers,banana peel etc into and around the ground and let it sit for a few weeks, than plant and see what transpires. The soil by you is rich and should have no issues.It begins with the Prep. Anytime you grow in soil, you have to prepare it like anything else with rich nutrients and oxygen. I like adding perlite into the soil for the airy effect, it has.. Don`t go overboard with it, just moderate..Growing outdoors,especially where you are is fun and exciting.... Also, maybe buy 1 bag of Miracle Grow potting soil and mix it into yours... Couldn`t hurt...

On my next watering I will def add some epson salt, it has been raining a lot, so i want about 3 dry and sunny days in a row before I water them again. Thanks on the advice on prepping the soil. I will def try to get some more stuff like fish heads and fresh fruit peels. Mango season is starting and we have 7 trees in the yard, this means a lot of spoil mangos which I will be adding as well. The Perlite and the Manure I will have to buy, I still have about 2 barrels of organic compost. Worm castings I will probably have to go find them. And concerning the charcoal, that's not a problem, we use it almost every day to roast breadfruit. Thanks a lot!

 

[Kingston]

I recommend that you start building your own soil not buy whatever there is. I hear sugar cane fields are not that bad and they're supposed to have nice layer of humus.

Yes, that's what I always planned on. But now, more then ever, I will be putting in some time to prep the soil properly for the next grow.
Thanks!

 

[Conradino23]

Soil should be prepared 6 to 4 weeks before planting, but in your case you should start thinking about it a little bit ahead which means how much you can enrich it till next season, and how good it can be in 2 or 3 seasons. It's not that difficult really, and if you're gonna go the right just listening to what your plants need, then you're gonna quickly start growing high quality shit. And this is really full circle in terms of profit return, cause if you have the best stuff you can think of then you're done

 

[Kingston]

UPDATE:

Last week it rained a lot with a big rainfall last Sunday, there were small puddles of water sitting on top of the soil. It has been dry for a week now and I am planning on watering them tomorrow and mixing some Epsalt with it. They are starting to be really sticky, it's crazy! I have to wash my hand 5x times before going to work and I still smell it on my sticky fingertips, haha. The pistils are starting to turn more amber colored here and there for about a week or 2. I really can't wait to harvest, I'm moving the 1st of April for a new job about 1.5 hour drive away. I will only have 1 day per week where I can come visit my plants.

Here is the photo update:

Here is the Silver Haze, a very nice smell comes from these buds, I really can't wait to smoke this one.

Here are the 2 Jack Herer,

And last but probably the healthiest plants/colas are the 2 NY Diesel.

 

[Sejd2131]

What a difference a week makes, huh? Plants looking very healthy and Mother Nature is taking good care of them... Since, these girls are flowering, i would leave well enough alone and not give them Epson salt. Trim, the yellow leaves and stop over thinking. This grow is in good soil, and now its time to step back and watch them yield you a nice return....

 

[Kingston]

A little photo update on how the buds are looking. I try to inspect them thoroughly every day for caterpillars, spiders, eggs etc. they are growing nice but slowly and starting to get a bit heavier.

Last is the Silver Haze, here one part of the plants is turning/has turned yellow. Not sure what/if I should do something about it.

 

[Conradino23]

These are quite nice buds, so keep up the good work

 

[Sejd2131]

Ya Mon!!!!I would feed HAZE some Nutes... She`s hungry and feeding off herself....I told you everything would be alright....

 

[Kingston]

Ya Mon!!!!I would feed HAZE some Nutes... She`s hungry and feeding off herself....I told you everything would be alright....

Yes they are looking nice thanks to Mother Nature . When u talk about some Nutes, what can you recommend? Some more coconut water? I don't want to be using Miracle Gro or some crap like that. I Want to keep it all organic if possible.

 

[HiddenGrow]

How many weeks has the Haze been flowering? I went back and you may be a month into the process about. I think f your want to keep it organic you should add some kelp extract which would help your plant. You may have the beginnings of a N deficiency.
The Tropical sun is doing wonders for your plants.

 

[Kingston]

How many weeks has the Haze been flowering? I went back and you may be a month into the process about. I think f your want to keep it organic you should add some kelp extract which would help your plant. You may have the beginnings of a N deficiency.
The Tropical sun is doing wonders for your plants.

Since I live in Jamaica I would be able to get some seaweed from the ocean, I have no idea if this is good or not. But I found a video on YouTube where they show real simple how to make kelp fertilizer; blend fresh seaweed with water in a blender and feed that to the plants (

). Would that be a good thing to do?

The plants were actually put out (to flower) on the 10th of February. This means that they are at almost 7 weeks. 2 of the 5 (the mic stand (NY Diesel) and the V shape (Jack Herrer)) we're put out to flower on the 17th of February. I'm guessing (since all of them are 50% sativas or more) that they need to flower for about 12 weeks. I could be wrong and maybe in the Jamaican sun everything goes quicker...???

 

[Kingston]

The previous update was actually from 2 days ago, I found some time before sunset to take some new pictures and from the entire plants:


Jack Herrer 1 (day 47 of flowering)

Jack Herrer 2 (day 40 of flowering)

Right side: NY Diesel 1 ( day 47 of flowering), left side: NY Diesel 2 (day 40 of flowering)

Silver Haze (day 47 of flowering)

Family picture.

 

[Conradino23]

Yep seaweed is a good idea.

 

[Sejd2131]

I would use epson salt (1/2tsp) mixed with coconut water and water for final nute feed....

 

[Jedthedog]

Very nice work there Kinston. Lots of great advice and I would agree that you need to build the soil up. Start composting all of your coffee grounds,veggie and fruit scraps . With the tropical sun and heat you will have great compost in no time. Save a little compost off to the side and make a tea.. That is all you will ever need to feed your plants as we have been growing our veggie garden like this for years,and have since growing cannabis like this.. Supplement the compost and tea with bat guano and other natural additives. Many years ago I lived around Negril Beautiful area and good luck ...

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[Kingston]

Apologies for the lack of updates. I started a new job which required me to move to the north coast (a 2 hour drive from where my grow is).

After returning after my first week away I found my buds to start getting mildew. It had been raining every day and the forecast was more rain all week. I decided to cut the plants and start the drying process. At this point they actually seemed to be ripe anyway.

I cut the whole plants and cut off all the fan leaves and hang them up on a wash line inside ( the plants were cut into small pieces, not what you see in the picture). Also I cut off the buds that had mildew, luckily that was not too much.The plants were about 5lbs at this point.

After drying for 2 weeks I cut off the small leaves and the weight was 0.72lbs (300gram) at this point. The smell was very nice and I would notice a nice difference between the strains.

At the moment I am drying the buds in glass jars and open them every day for about half an hour.

A smoke report will follow in about 2 weeks.