So rearranged and did an inventory check on my seeds last night, its time to start growing. Planting my first pips today. A little early, but the early bird catches the worm.
Officially we are legally allowed growing in South Africa as cannabis cultivation has been decriminalized for private use. I am going to try and grow within the legal parameters set out by our knowledgeable leading party. I think its something between 4-6 plants per adult, per household, and 1.2 kilograms of dry matter at home. My beds are ready!
So a couple things different this year. I will be purchasing local cattle manure compost for this season, and using my compost as a filler. I am also going to be purchasing some soil conditioners like worm castings, bone meal, rock dust and perlite for better soil mixes.
Water
We are at about 10% of our rain water levels and still waiting for the spring rains. So for now, filtered borehole water is going to have to do.
Seed
I am starting off with some homemade lemon cream kush, several auto’s and a couple cheese plants. Later on, mid-September I will plant the rest and the best.
Teas:
I have made a simple workspace to easily be able to mix soil, water and teas. Just need to put together a little bubbler system and start brewing.
@mouse935. I sometimes feed them to the chickens, mice get set free, monkeys cause havoc and have no solution except to chase them off when their large troop comes through to settle for the evening. The environment is harsh here, with lots of animals/insects looking for food, so the game plan has always been a little for you, and more than a little for me. As long as it works like that, I am cool.
I dont grow carrots anymore!! Moles, just moles, dont mess with those underground beasts. Leave them alone.
But somehow, and by some black magic god, when you get it right nothing touches your buds. Its happened a couple times. Something I will be planting loads of is chillies this year. I love them, they good at keeping pests away, not many animals eat them, they look pretty, grow well and can serve as a cash crop. Worth about $7 per kilo here.
Thanks for sharing, personally dont give two rocks about our laws.
Chatted with the Reeferman a couple days ago, and we chatted soil. I bought my first bag of supersoil in over 10 years a couple days ago. Well sucking in my pride, reeling in my ego and as good advice goes I am in the market for buying decent dirt. I have planted a couple seeds, so far but not what I said I was going to plant. So reefermans secret sauce is as follows, this soil recipe is for outdoor tropical climates but here goes:
1 part soil: buy high quality soil. The soil must have a spongy texture and vital its free from toxic substances. Dont use your garden soil!
1 part compost: composted rabbit, sheep or goat manure ( I am using cattle as that is what is available )
1 part of 50/50 perlite and coco coir mix.
Blend all in a cement mixer.
Dig 18inch deep and 18 inch wide holes, bobs your uncle. When a guy grows on a scale like this I think one has to just follow good advice from an old grower.
yes good luck with the grow this season. i have some babies in the mix but no pics sorry. for the critters i used to make netting enclosures and would always get molds or fall in or just be a pain. so now i use a local spikey weed called gorse. its everywhere and a pain to collect but for the last 10 years is all i have used with 90 percent critter repulsion. i just encirlce the plot. also one thing i havnt done for a couple of years is use a whole dead animal- i had access to fish, cattle and roadkill but the processed blood and bone just didint creatre the sweet smooth effect. just has to be 800-1000mm deep with my compost soil above. happy season
Thank you @tubular. Been a very slow start for me, seedlings popping and the first rains have just finished. Pretty plant gorse is, we have a similar plant called kakibos, works like a charm at repelling a whole range of critters. Looks similar to gorse.
Love your idea of adding dead matter, and yes it does work. used to use fish, but my dogs dig it up. Need all the luck I can get this season, just glad for rain. We were almost on empty, water is life.
Finally an update. I am not good at taking pictures and been very slow this year. Since lockdown we been working on soil and a food garden ( which cannabis is very much part of ) . So took some happy snaps this morning of updates. we currently have spinach, swiss chard, cabbage, tobacco, pumpkins, butternut, gooseberrys, spring onion, tomatoes, and plenty of herbs. I am not growing the original strains I started with, but have labelled a several canna plants. We planting sweet potato, beans, okra, spinach and kale today.
It certainly could be, enough for everyone, but politrix, crime and corruption mess it all up for the majority. But yes, I cant complain, we do live in a paradise. Its fairly peaceful and very relaxed where I live. I hope to share some tricks on here, so stay posted.
Great Grow @chrisj!
Since I am fairly new to GN, I did not know you were in South Africa.
I too think that is very cool.
Love to see the decriminalization on a global level.
Especially for all of you in South Africa.
Thanks for sharing your grow diary.
Stay Growing my friend!
Love to see the decriminalization on a global level.
Sadly it seems the net is tightening for us here. Although decriminalized not for cannabis but for adult privacy, it seems people are still being hammered for cannabis everyday in South Africa.The laws, I think will pass and can put you away for up to 15 years for growing more than 6 plants. That is for us commoners, if you have a license, or the millions to front, you can grow as much as you want, legally.
