Growing in 3rd World Conditions (Cuba) att #2

[rasterman]

If I’m not mistaken, once charcoal gets wet it becomes activated carbon. Not sure if it would, but I know that activated carbon is known to absorb “impurities” etc, and I wonder if it might hijack any/some of the nutes you’d add to your soil. Im sure someone here might have tried it but that would be my word of caution I guess

Just so you know - I've been using sand for drainage since your original grow and it's okay but isn't great.

 

[GGOGZin]

Just so you know - I've been using sand for drainage since your original grow and it's okay but isn't great.

Hey bud, think you have me mistaken for someone else. I use Fox Farms Ocean Forest and wouldn’t ever use sand except in my fish tanks

 

[Zerberus]

If I’m not mistaken, once charcoal gets wet it becomes activated carbon. Not sure if it would, but I know that activated carbon is known to absorb “impurities” etc, and I wonder if it might hijack any/some of the nutes you’d add to your soil. Im sure someone here might have tried it but that would be my word of caution I guess

So I did a little reading and to activate charcoal it's a whole different process and the charcoal needs to be in powder form, I will be using small grains, kind of like the same size as perlite just to provide aeration, so from what I gathered reading I should be fine. Anyway I will test first on one plant and see how it developes, if I see the soil improves and the plant thrives then I'll mix it into the other. Trial and error I suppose, wish me luck

 

[rasterman]

Hey bud, think you have me mistaken for someone else. I use Fox Farms Ocean Forest and wouldn’t ever use sand except in my fish tanks

I replied to @Zerberus and after hitting "Post" I realized but said... You know.

Just so you know - I've been using sand for drainage since your original grow and it's okay but isn't great.

 

[Zerberus]

Day #9

So I watered and foliar sprayed the plant with rain water, mixed with q very small quantity of coconut water, about 30ml/1L. The soil has been treated for a long time with rain water and LAB, and guys I'm completely stunned by the difference between these two plants and my older ones that where just regular weed bag seeds that I bought off the streets here in Cuba. I will post a few pictures for comparison but the difference is astronomical at this point. I do know there are a few differences in environments since this time I'm using an actual grow light instead of relying on T8 tubes with sunlight, and these seeds are great quality seeds generously gifted to me by @rasterman so I think genetics also play a role, but I will let the picture speak for themselves...

These are the two Black Domina Feminized photoperiods rasterman sent me at day 9, under a Vipar Spectra V1000

and this is my last attempt (without grow light) and just a random seed I found in a bag of weed.

This was at Day #32

You can clearly see the difference in plant health, height and just in general... So it's very clear to me know that all these trinkets we buy and all the money spent to care for these plants DOES have a major impact. I know all of you already knew this but I was always "iffy" on it, I was always trying to make the best I could with what I had available, but it's very clear to me now that these plants don't just grow on pure will, love and desire, I need to invest more. Which its what I will do with all my savings from now on

 

[rasterman]

Day #9

So I watered and foliar sprayed the plant with rain water, mixed with q very small quantity of coconut water, about 30ml/1L. The soil has been treated for a long time with rain water and LAB, and guys I'm completely stunned by the difference between these two plants and my older ones that where just regular weed bag seeds that I bought off the streets here in Cuba. I will post a few pictures for comparison but the difference is astronomical at this point. I do know there are a few differences in environments since this time I'm using an actual grow light instead of relying on T8 tubes with sunlight, and these seeds are great quality seeds generously gifted to me by @rasterman so I think genetics also play a role, but I will let the picture speak for themselves...

These are the two Black Domina Feminized photoperiods rasterman sent me at day 9, under a Vipar Spectra V1000View attachment 2008352View attachment 2008353



and this is my last attempt (without grow light) and just a random seed I found in a bag of weed.

This was at Day #32



View attachment 2008364

You can clearly see the difference in plant health, height and just in general... So it's very clear to me know that all these trinkets we buy and all the money spent to care for these plants DOES have a major impact. I know all of you already knew this but I was always "iffy" on it, I was always trying to make the best I could with what I had available, but it's very clear to me now that these plants don't just grow on pure will, love and desire, I need to invest more. Which its what I will do with all my savings from now on

Yeah it does make a difference. It's a lot harder doing things on the cheap. Because of a changing job situation I have been doing a lot on the cheap over the past few months. It's a lot harder to avoid problems but I finally have things dialed in. My biggest problem was not enough nitrogen (I had to work out the correct chicken poop dosage).

I can't wait to see how you do with the Black Domina. I haven't been able to clear up space yet for her.

 

[Zerberus]

Day #13


Hi guys little update plants are still going strong, the one in the white pot is starting to lose her cotyledons, as you can see they're half way to yellow, good news is the nutrients I bought off Amazon a mule will bring them on Wednesday so I will have some food for them in time . Hope everyone had a great weekend, ohh also I took out the big fan I had in there and installed 3 small computer fans to keep air circulating in there at all times. I also rotated the plants today.


P.s I have a question, have any of you used the Photone App before?

 

[GGOGZin]

Photone is great, get the paid version so you can see full spectrum ppfd readings

 

[rasterman]

Day #13


Hi guys little update plants are still going strong, the one in the white pot is starting to lose her cotyledons, as you can see they're half way to yellow, good news is the nutrients I bought off Amazon a mule will bring them on Wednesday so I will have some food for them in time . Hope everyone had a great weekend, ohh also I took out the big fan I had in there and installed 3 small computer fans to keep air circulating in there at all times. I also rotated the plants today.


P.s I have a question, have any of you used the Photone App before?


View attachment 2009797View attachment 2009798

They're looking awesome! Congrats!

 

[HerbalEdu]

Photone app is nice but accuracy depend a lot on wich phone you use, with some phones you'll get accurate results with some other phones value are wrong

 

[GGOGZin]

Photone app is nice but accuracy depend a lot on wich phone you use, with some phones you'll get accurate results with some other phones value are wrong

Usually it’ll tell you that you need a light filter. This is easily achieved by getting regular printer paper and taping a cut piece of it over your camera lens, giving more accurate readings ( try not to cover the paper directly above or close to your lens with the tape, this will interfere with readings

 

[Zerberus]

Day 18


Cotyledons are dead now, but my nutrients still haven't arrived so I'm going to have to get creative and figure out how to feed these plants until the nutrients get here. I'll probably start working today on Hydrolyzed Fish fertilizer.

But if anyone knows of any quick release DIY food I can give them it would be appreciated

 

[rasterman]

Day 18


Cotyledons are dead now, but my nutrients still haven't arrived so I'm going to have to get creative and figure out how to feed these plants until the nutrients get here. I'll probably start working today on Hydrolyzed Fish fertilizer.

But if anyone knows of any quick release DIY food I can give them it would be appreciated


View attachment 2011845View attachment 2011846

I think you've got time - your girls look really good. But a couple teaspoons of chicken poop would give them a boost.

 

[PahPahCee]

looking good dude. Less it more at this stage. They look happy so don’t do anything crazy.

 

[Zerberus]

So I found these nutes here in country, they are sold by a Orchid Farm in Havana...


This one only has Macro labeled and the vales are NPK 17-17-17 no information about Micro so I think there's none... It's also in powder form concentrate.

This other one is called LyBofan and it's macro NPK value is 11-8-6 with traces of Micro...

I know that the one with 11-8-6 is better because it does have Micronutrientes just need to get some opinions on which you would choose... Or should I just buy both, I can buy both if they are equally beneficial... Problem is the guy selling them only has one pack left of the 17-17-17 and about 400mL of the 11-8-6

 

[rasterman]

So I found these nutes here in country, they are sold by a Orchid Farm in Havana...


This one only has Macro labeled and the vales are NPK 17-17-17 no information about Micro so I think there's none... It's also in powder form concentrate.

View attachment 2011994


This other one is called LyBofan and it's macro NPK value is 11-8-6 with traces of Micro...

View attachment 2011995
View attachment 2011996

I know that the one with 11-8-6 is better because it does have Micronutrientes just need to get some opinions on which you would choose... Or should I just buy both, I can buy both if they are equally beneficial... Problem is the guy selling them only has one pack left of the 17-17-17 and about 400mL of the 11-8-6

I'm broke right now so I'm using 10-10-10 cheapo stuff I bought a couple of years ago and I'm getting really good results from it. I've also toxified a couple of plants by overdoing it. So it'll work for you, just be careful. Keep in mind that if you're planning to grow in living soil, the two don't mix very well...

In veg the 11-8-6 mix is probably better but go sparingly.

Your plants don't look like they need anything right now though. Giving them a little nitrogen will make them take off, but may cause tip leaf burn or curling if you overdo it.

 

[socks4free]

It's easier said than done, I can't get any of those things here in Cuba, it's extremely difficult and expensive to bring most of the things I need, that 60$ light cost me 200$ just to get it inside the country, panda film because of its dimensions will be even more expensive, and soils or perlite, is completely out of the question for me. A 50 pound bag would easily cost me 300-500$ to bring it into the country.

Do you have a compost pile? If not do you have room somewhere to start one? Also are there any farms near you that you can get manure from? Just a couple thoughts on ways you can improve your soil without using store bought products.

Is the rice and styrofoam bits your way to replace perlite? Very interesting to see how yours doing these. Also are there any natural growing clovers in your area? You can grow clovers in the pots with your plants to increase the available nitrogen. There are a lot of other plants that also work as companion plants might be worth looking into it and seeing if anything growing in your area can be used like that.

Otherwise it's pretty interesting how you are improvising. Keep it up bro you got this!

 

[Choppr]

The baby girls are strating to perk up. Guys fyi this post is going to be like my last, super detailed in everything I'm doing inside the grow room, and the plants progress, I know to some it might seem tedious since you have done this 1000 times so if you can bare with me.

For example today I put in a about 6 bowls containing water, to raise the humidity in there since I don't have a store bought humidifier yet here. So I looked online and it was the quickest solution I could find to raising humidity, I know it probably won't help much, not even close to what I actually need, but for now I think something is better than nothing
View attachment 2003919View attachment 2003920

Look how it is with all the bowls of water sorry guys I know its an extremely rustic set-up but I gotta make the best of the conditions I'm in.View attachment 2003922

Hang a wet bath towel half in a bucket of water, wet the whole towel and tack the top of the wetted towel up on the wall or hang over a towel bar, making a wick. it'll work better having a small fan, and better than the bowls.

 

[Zerberus]

Do you have a compost pile? If not do you have room somewhere to start one? Also are there any farms near you that you can get manure from? Just a couple thoughts on ways you can improve your soil without using store bought products.

Is the rice and styrofoam bits your way to replace perlite? Very interesting to see how yours doing these. Also are there any natural growing clovers in your area? You can grow clovers in the pots with your plants to increase the available nitrogen. There are a lot of other plants that also work as companion plants might be worth looking into it and seeing if anything growing in your area can be used like that.

Otherwise it's pretty interesting how you are improvising. Keep it up bro you got this!

I do have a compost, it's been cooking for a few months, it will probably be ready for late October... I'm trying to give it 6 months at least before even thinking about using it.

And yes, I am using rice hulls and styrofoam bits to get better aeration in the soil since all the soil around here compacts easily like freaking cement , have never seen clovers around, will keep and eye out though. I did already mix dry cow manure in the soil pre planting and the final pot will have it also mixed in.

 

[Zerberus]

I'm broke right now so I'm using 10-10-10 cheapo stuff I bought a couple of years ago and I'm getting really good results from it. I've also toxified a couple of plants by overdoing it. So it'll work for you, just be careful. Keep in mind that if you're planning to grow in living soil, the two don't mix very well...

In veg the 11-8-6 mix is probably better but go sparingly.

Your plants don't look like they need anything right now though. Giving them a little nitrogen will make them take off, but may cause tip leaf burn or curling if you overdo it.

Yeah from everything I have learned through reading, it's always better to miss low than over do it with nutes. I will buy both on the 4th since it's when I can go back to Havana and just use the 11-8-6 diluted way down probably to 30% of recommended dose and just raise the doses slowly if the plant shows any Nute deficiencies.

I will keep the 17-17-17 for the future, in case I run out of nutes. Better to be safe than sorry I guess.