Outdoor Sativa Cultivation At 39N Inland, At 2950 Feet, 900 Metres, Altitude

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

12 / 16-July-2022 :
I forgot to mention it... It keeps "improving": 45°C / 113°F in the shade, expected again...

It's hot, dry and burning... And me without air conditioning...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

Like the Coldplay song. All Yellow

And for those who like songs set in yellow wastelands, here's a little local folk from my cousin Buika:

 

[Fredwak]

Love and respect to all. Hello, You've put together quite the entertaining journal. Beautiful scenery, gorgeous plants and great commentary. I live and grow in a high desert environment. Today's the first day it hasn't reached 40c in a couple weeks. Thanks for sharing. Stay stoneder.

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-9:30am :

Here we are again...
Today, the maximum in the shade will be 44°C-111'5°F...so I'm going to have a look at the vegetable garden before the sun gains altitude.

This is the little arreate garden, which grows in front of my window, and which is the first thing I see in the morning :

I start to climb up the northern slope of my hill, on my way to the small orchard next to "The Dogs' House".
Just behind my house, up the hill, begins the dehesa/savannah:

On the way, I pass under the Canary palm tree that was visible in the first and second previous photos:

(...)

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-2022 :

In the vegetable garden, the humble zucchini attract all kinds of pollinators with their flowers.
Male flowers:

Female flowers:

(...)

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-2022 :

I have taken into the vegetable garden "The Ultimate Pest Remedy": a giant ladybird gift from my little niece and goddaughter, Ari, to "scare off" the bugs...

(...)

 

[veinz]

Very nice garden you have
Are you canary islands
Those temp would kill me I think

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

Hello, and thank you very much for your kind company, @veinz.

I am not a Canary Islander. I am between 10° and 12° north of that archipelago and on another continent, although in the same nation.

As for the summer heat here, it actually kills every summer (and this year we have a record number of deaths), both locals (outdoor workers, elderly, sick people) and foreign tourists of any age...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-2022 :

...Let's go a little further up the hill, up to "The Dogs' House"...
(44°C-111'5°F, in the shade)...

Remember that I have only 4 photodependent seedlings, two regular and two feminized, born between 15-May and 24-June. In order of birth:

Flash Back 2° ed (Flo x White Widow; Sweet Seeds; born on 15-May morning) feminized, which has the 2 lower nodes (four twigs) pruned.
She showed the first female preflowers last July-3.
Its newl eaves become more asativated as it grows. My interest in this plant (apart from being early maturing, in contrast to my other plants) is that if Flo's "pheno" was used as a mother it was the one with green flowers (although the leaves turned purple); it was wonderful, but very little came out.

...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-2022 :

King Congo (Congo Point Noire X South African Ciskei; Tropical Seeds Company; born May 15 night). The lower 4 nodes (8 twigs) have been pruned, and it showed female preflowers at one month of birth; ("Flash Back", in the background); (the whitish spots are due to diatomaceous earth):

...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-2022 :

Long pistils develop on each branch of the King Congo:

...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-2022 :

Zamaldélica fem (Zamal X Golden Tiger; Asociación de Cultivadores Españoles; born on May-19).
It has the 2 lower nodes (four twigs) pruned; white spots are diathomeaceus earth.
Its leaves begin to take on a more asativated appearance:

...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

17-July-2022 :

...And the last n' little one:
MadMac's O.Haze X (Ultra Early Love Potion X Silver Bubble) born 24-June:

Let's hope it continues to stand the hot heat so well...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

31-July-2022

Today, if you want and if you like wine (I don't drink it,), we can stop by one of the local wineries and their vineyards...; but don't overdo it with the wine (and less mixed with ganja), because then we have to go back from the plain to my hill in my sierra, lest you fall off your horse...

This is how the weather is here in 31-July; maximum temperatures in the shade have dropped slightly, giving us some respite: they are ranging between 38°C-100'5°F and 42°C-107'6°F. The atmosphere is still very dry: most of the day there is only 10% humidity (weeks ago, we were down to only 5/%):

...31-July-2022...dusk...
This is how my 4 photodependent plants are doing.

The biggest in size is the King Congo (Congo Point Noire x Sounth African Ciskei Highlands; Tropical Seeds Company), born last May 15.
As I told you from previous experiences, being a hybrid of equatorial landrace sativa x subtropical mountain landrace sativa, it starts flowering earlier than most commercial indica hybrids: as soon as the hours of light begin to decrease.
As I also commented before, this does not mean that in my experience it has never been ready before November 15th.
The lower 5 nodes (10 twigs) have been pruned.
(The white powder is diatomaceous earth):

...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

31-July-2022; dusk.

The second in size is now Zamaldelica fem (Zamal x Golden Tiger; A.C.E.), born last 19-May.
It has the lower 3 nodes (6 twigs) pruned; the white powder is diatomaceous earth:

...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

31-July-2022; dusk

The next one is the Flash Back (Flo x White Widow; Sweet Seeds), born last 15-May.
The leaves are getting very asativated, which is pleasantly surprising me; although my favorite phenotype of Flo never seemed so sativa...
She has the 3 lower nodes (6 twigs) pruned; the white powder is diatomaceous earth:

...

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

31-July-2022; dusk :

The smallest one, still a seedling since it was born last 24-June, and without declaring sex;  MadMac's [O.Haze x (Ultra Early Love Potion x Silver Bubble)] (the white powder is diatomaceous earth:

(At least my specimen, shows excellent resistance to the dry heat of my summer.
Few varieties endure almost from birth in mother soil and under direct sun, without being shaded at least.
Almost every day of his life, the daily maximum in the shade was 40°C or more, up to 45°C (113°F) If you think that the only shade your seedling enjoys is that of some vulture lost in the heights, this little one has endured up to 54°C (129'5°F) of melting sun falling plummeting some midday...
When it gets a little taller, I will shade the soil with dried palm leaflets, like the others: now when watering, they end up covering the seedling:

She is female (pic from 6-August):

.

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

9-August-2022; 22:00 h :

Today we had a maximum temperature of 43°C-109'5°F in the shade from midday onwards.
Now at 22:00 almost at night, I have 34°C-95°F and 25% relative humidity.
Taking advantage of the "coolness" and of the full moon, I'm going for a walk with the dogs in the surroundings...

There are a couple of sayings here that I especially like:
"By day, a human's best friend is a good book; by night, a good dog"
and
"Outside the dog, the book is the human's best friend; inside the dog, it's possibly too dark to read...".

.

 

[Fredwak]

Hello. Thanks for stopping by my journal! I can't tell you how much I enjoy your posts. Not only really great looking cannabis but the beautiful scenery around your home.
With the help of a tropical storm, we've finally ended our heatwave. My plants loved it. Me not so much. Can't wait to see your girls in full bud. Have a great day and...
Stay stoneder

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

16-August-2022; dawning :

Maximum temperatures in the shade, after a refreshing rain from the north over the weekend, have dropped by 10 to 15 °C: from daily 40 to 45 °C (104 to 113 °F), we are now in the heavenly 30 to 35 °C (86 to 95 °F).
But I am afraid that met agencies predicts a return to 40 °C (104 °F) by the end of the week...

All 4 of my plants showed to be female some time ago (Flash Back and Zamaldelica are feminized), including MadMac's little one.

King Congo (as always when I've grown it before), showed sex at just over a month old, and started flowering as soon as the days started to lose minutes. I think it's a semi-flowering species that I've sometimes read reported from some specimens of both parents (Congo Point Noire x South African Ciskei), and other subtropical and tropical/equatorial Africans. But until September arrives, it is a very slow flowering, and I have never picked this variety before (the earliest pheno) from 15-November.

In the case of Flash Back (Flo x White Widow), this is the first time I have grown it.
It has started flowering later than King Congo, but it has already overtaken it as its flowering speed is that of hybrids with a good indica load.

The other two only show sex.

Flash Back (Flo x White Widow; Sweet Seeds), born last 15-May:

...