my outdoor grow in india (12 latitude)

Hi folks, first off thanks for all the great information shared and spirit shown on here.

this is my first post since i joined. Sprouted some sativa bagseed in the great indian plains (2.5 hours flying time from BLR straight north) between mid-june and august first week. Had 12 plants when i stopped sprouting more seeds. Today I have 8 females and 1 hermie. Killed the males.

Created a darkroom in my house and have been following 11/13 regimen for almost 4 weeks now (exactly 4 weeks tommorrow). Flowering has commenced on the oldest plant. (sprouted 12-15 June) All others have shown preflowers.

some details:
- 100% organic, outdoor, balcony grow
- variety of pot sizes and of earthen and plastic types
- plain dirt soil with generous helping of cow manure
- SAOSIS based supplementation at lower strength than indicated on bottle applied twice as frequently. Also weak diluted yogurt water mix for lactobacillus in soil.
- no grow logs this time around - just playing - will be more serious feb 14 onwards - winter is a good time to score local stuff. (marginally better than usual - greener fresher)
- 11/13 since 3 sept.

Now plants looking good - nice green leaves, big fan leaves, minor burns in 2-3 places else all green. My issue is given latitude, orientation of building and balconies I am approaching a serious limitation of usable, direct on plant sunlight just when they have started flowering. I kinda anticipated this when I setup the darkroom and started the 11/13 in sept.

Am chasing the light from one balcony to another whenever am home to maximize light. Else plenty of indirect light around all day. Am wondering that if I step up the light cycle to 10/14 will it make the plants more desperate to flower sooner? And hence allow me to get done within the small window of remaining light?? We are losing almost 1min and 40sec of daylight everyday these days

And yes have read the entire post - and tons of forums and guides and books before this post. Am a pretty decent gardener and the other plants provide some camouflage for the weed plants.

Pics to follow soon. Questions/Comments???

Cheers.......

if you're losing 1min 40s of light every day these days, or even more than 1min 30s of light, you're not in india. if you're losing around 1min 30s of light every day, you're north of srinagar, J&K, which means your plants will be unlikely to survive the winter outdoors.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=176

There u go - New Delhi India. This is the site I have been using to figure out the natural variations in daylight and to schedule my own flowering schedule with the darkroom.

Dont go on my usage of language and words like 'kinda" and in future "hella".

Studied lived and worked in the good ol sf bay area long enough before returning home. Exactly why am growing at home - because i know better is possible!

I figured:
- if the (most probably) wild grown, in bred lines, badly processed and transported weed (primary goal being stealth and profit) gets me buzzed it has some semi decent genetics.(not 27% THC maybe 10 to 15%, who knows??)
- if same genotype is grown with care and processed properly - would lead to a much superior smoke - not cali greens but better than what I took the seed from!
Am on sabbatical - have all the time in the world - decided to start a mini project on growing!
- in a little over few hundred bucks if I can run the experiment - why not?? (especialy when its my fav topic in the whole wide world)

mate i'm not going on your usage of anything, i lived in bay area for 13 years...

for some reason, i thought that the amount of change in light schedule was the same every day, that would be the effect of supercream getting to my head...my apologies, but the goodies that parvati valley has to offer certainly comes in the way at times...

moving on, i'm still trying to understand your setup...so you keep the plants in the sunlight every day for 11 hours and transfer them to the darkroom for 13 hours?
.
i wouldn't ever put a plant's light schedule at 10/14 unless it's the last week of flowering...once you bring it down to a certain period of light, you can continue reducing the light period but you never want to increase it or else you run the risk of getting a hermy plant...
at 10/14 vs 12/12, since our indian strains flower for a very rare 16 weeks to an equally rare 24 weeks, even if you assume an average of 20 weeks of flowering, you're losing out on 2 hours of light each day which is 280 hours of light for the duration of the plants life...that's a full 280 hours that the plant could have put its energy into bud growth but doesn't get to..
now that you've set it to 11/13, keep it on that schedule for the rest of the cycle. remember that you're growing indian sativas. this means that:
a) small plants are out of the question (99%) of the time if you're doing a good job of growing
b) light of low intensity levels will cause your plants to stretch like rubberbands and grow really airy buds. as it is these are tropical genetics that are used to a shitton of light every day from an evolutionary standpoint/
c) a short flowering period is also out of the question. like i said, the average is 20 weeks, so if you get it done in less than that time period, be happy. it's unlikely you'[ll finish before 18 weeks of flowering.

regarding indian genetics, here are some pics of what i feel was one of the best indian plants i grew. a very fuel/mango smell, really nice buds that got me unbelievably high. she was on the lower yielding side of the gene pool but man did the quality make up for it. on par if not better than the neville's haze grown by a friend in cali, albeit totally different taste and much more sativa in nature.

the spiked weed gets you high, and it always will. for one, the shit in it (whether it's chemically altered or simply developed mould/fungus due to being compressed) will cause a shortage of oxygen to your brain if no other psychoactive effects. Secondly that mild buzz is due to THC, yes, but more due to the less psychoactive cannabinoids present in younger incompletely flowered plants which makes you feel more lazy and tired than anything imho. but yes, the genetics at the bottom of it, there are a few goodies to be found.

elchupacabra said:

if you're losing 1min 40s of light every day these days, or even more than 1min 30s of light, you're not in india. if you're losing around 1min 30s of light every day, you're north of srinagar, J&K, which means your plants will be unlikely to survive the winter outdoors.

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what makes u think i am not in india??

thanks dude for all the info!!! I learnt a lot off of ytour experience. let see what happens in my own unique circumstances. will posrt pics asap! not my first grow technically, hve grown stuff in CA in the backyard of my house before. did not understand as much about the plant those days lucky to have had a female ------ 1 of 1 female


sorry scotlands finest is causing issues - am a little high off of single malts n hash!!!!

I'm in the Caribbean bvi,and we 're probably only sightlier higher than you from the equator,the conditions are similar,my 1st grow here was in a pot.miracle grow soil...miracle grow "nutes" and when flowering a soup spoon of molasses per gallon a day til a week before harvest.i had a great yield,top smoke/taste/stone/smell.
we moved places,and keeping it on the balcony wasnt an option so i thought we 'd be cool to plant 3 plants out in the wild near the house considering we'll be in hurricane season and i wouldn't have to water them since it would be raining often,but i guess the excessive rain(intensity)washed out a lot of the soil or the soil's stored nutes and the fact i had to leave for a week(i wasnt there after the big rain to fix any problem),the buds were big but some of them had started to go brown(15%),some of them hve been dried and are being cured as we speak,they don't smell that much,as if they had been water cured(maybe the rain did that ??),i tasted it and i got stoned but didn't taste a thing...maybe the curing will give some taste....
moral of the story ( for me anyways) grow in pots where you can control the soil...big ones...
next grow on the way hehehe

i'm having trouble getting seeds to germinate. i'm in a new part of india that's very very humid and after my first few african landraces that germed perfectly, i'm having trouble germinating anything else properly. this was the LAST of the problems i expected. Just to make sure it's not somethin with me, i've ordered sannie's spongepots to see if that makes a diff. if it works in those then i'll know i'm an idiot and will have to hit the drawing board again

Looks pretty great i guess.

Tupperware with damp toilet paper? i don't put the cover on,and keep it in a cupboard...takes usually 2 days before anything happens...if anything humidity should help.

Indran said:

Tupperware with damp toilet paper? i don't put the cover on,and keep it in a cupboard...takes usually 2 days before anything happens...if anything humidity should help.

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Im normally against doin it out of the dirt but I may have to try it....what's the r/h like where you grow?

Hello elchupacabra ! First of all I would like to say that you are a big inspiration to me ! I have been reading your journal since day 1 I live in mumbai and im planning to do a grow on my terrace .the spot gets about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight. I have been planning this op since months!! I have stacked up everything from soil to AN from plant genome sciences ..the only thing left are the seeds ...I have ordered seeds from the single seed centre ....mandala white magic and green house thai . It has been 15 days since I have got the shipping confirmation but I still haven't received my order ! Im starting to get really worried ...I would like to know how much time does an order take to be delivered to you?

Hello [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]elchupacabra, i like this thread a lot and i like your grow style.
As many others here.. i too got inspired to grow on my terrace, I saw how you grew your Papaya and thought thats the exact right kind of plant to grow on my terrace, because Indicas are short and more discreet, so.. i went ahead and ordered 10 regular Aurora Indica from Nirvana.. thinking it would be just like the Papayas you grew, will Aurora Indica grow well here in Bangalore, how potent will the Aurora Indica be compared to the stuff you get here and is this a good time to plant them?[/FONT]

boomshiva420 said:

Hello elchupacabra ! First of all I would like to say that you are a big inspiration to me ! I have been reading your journal since day 1 I live in mumbai and im planning to do a grow on my terrace .the spot gets about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight. I have been planning this op since months!! I have stacked up everything from soil to AN from plant genome sciences ..the only thing left are the seeds ...I have ordered seeds from the single seed centre ....mandala white magic and green house thai . It has been 15 days since I have got the shipping confirmation but I still haven't received my order ! Im starting to get really worried ...I would like to know how much time does an order take to be delivered to you?

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thanks man, always feels good knowing that i've convinced other people to grow their own...

plant genome sciences has now officially closed down by the way...no more advanced nutrients through them in india. i don't really think you need them at all but each to his own right?

if you're getting 4-5 hours of direct sunlight you should be okay, the sun up there in bbay is pretty intense. 15 days is probably bordering on too long, normally it gets to me within 7-10 days, regardless of the seedbank. i don't know which seed sites are not good, but the good ones are attitude seedbank, pick'n'mix seeds, and if you've got some growing experience, sannie's seedbank. i have never ever heard of single seed centre, but i wish you the best of luck.

about climate, you're going to want to be extra careful in mumbai...the humidity has caused bud rot in almost every friend's garden i helped set up a grow for, indoors or outdoors. i frankly think the best way to avoid that would be to grow some indian landrace seeds, or seeds from other equatorial regions. stay away from strong indicas.

also, my personal opinion and advice: never buy feminized seeds. feminized seeds are a lot more likely to succumb to stress than regular ones. yes, you have to pick out the males, but it's really not rocket science, you'll find out soon enough...

best luck and best vibes

ElChupa

elchupacabra said:

thanks man, always feels good knowing that i've convinced other people to grow their own...

plant genome sciences has now officially closed down by the way...no more advanced nutrients through them in india. i don't really think you need them at all but each to his own right?

if you're getting 4-5 hours of direct sunlight you should be okay, the sun up there in bbay is pretty intense. 15 days is probably bordering on too long, normally it gets to me within 7-10 days, regardless of the seedbank. i don't know which seed sites are not good, but the good ones are attitude seedbank, pick'n'mix seeds, and if you've got some growing experience, sannie's seedbank. i have never ever heard of single seed centre, but i wish you the best of luck.

about climate, you're going to want to be extra careful in mumbai...the humidity has caused bud rot in almost every friend's garden i helped set up a grow for, indoors or outdoors. i frankly think the best way to avoid that would be to grow some indian landrace seeds, or seeds from other equatorial regions. stay away from strong indicas.

also, my personal opinion and advice: never buy feminized seeds. feminized seeds are a lot more likely to succumb to stress than regular ones. yes, you have to pick out the males, but it's really not rocket science, you'll find out soon enough...

best luck and best vibes

ElChupa

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Thanks alot for the input ! An was the last thing in my check list ! You just saved my trip man ....I have just placed an order with ankurnursery.com for soil, neem oil spray and some nutes......I just hope my seeds reach as soon as possible ! Will post my harvest as soon as possible !
You rock man !

boomshiva420 said:

Thanks alot for the input ! An was the last thing in my check list ! You just saved my trip man ....I have just placed an order with ankurnursery.com for soil, neem oil spray and some nutes......I just hope my seeds reach as soon as possible ! Will post my harvest as soon as possible !
You rock man !

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Ive used stuff frm there for a friends garden...its in chembur yeah? I remember their various brands of compost were all sorta low on Mg.
Happy growing

Elchupa

elchupacabra said:

Ive used stuff frm there for a friends garden...its in chembur yeah? I remember their various brands of compost were all sorta low on Mg.
Happy growing

Elchupa

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Yes it is in chembur ! Did you use their soil less potting mix ? Is it better than red soil?
the bmc is planting plants below the metro railways so that poor people dont make chawls on them ....they have kept 50-100 packs of 50kg soil mix ...im planning to take a few lol =))
How are things your side ?