Growing in 3rd World Conditions.

[Zerberus]

well you want to have air inside your growing medium. with a high sand content it will compress when wet and remove those air pockets. i wonder what things are available to you locally to add.

do you have access to compost? the reason i ask about location is depending where you live maybe we can help you find things to bring home to make a crude medium.

love to see different grows in different ways

do you have any local areas that have natural veg growth? a bucket or a bag and your hands is all you need to get some soil if your determined.




i am like a lot of people on this forum. where you come from, your color, language, ethnicity , religion will have 0 negative bearing. a lot of us are very curious about our fellow growers.

Got the forest soil, cleaned it from roots, grass, rocks, and added shredded and crumbs of pine bark... Would this soil be better than the one i currently have my Plants in? This is probably the best soil i can make in this country the pine bark looks in picture larger than it really is...

 

[Cirroji]

so much better than what you have. !

 

[Zerberus]

so much better than what you have. !

Awesome should i change the soil now? How do I go about doing that obviously with care but is there a trick, to not harming the root?

 

[Cirroji]

Awesome should i change the soil now? How do I go about doing that obviously with care but is there a trick, to not harming the root?

Well with that soil I would scoop around it and lay the clump on its side. It should fall apart enough to see the root/s

I would make sure the new soil is in a container, air holes in it like 2bad suggested and make sure the medium is moist first before transplanting it

Be gentle as heck

 

[Zerberus]

Well with that soil I would scoop around it and lay the clump on its side. It should fall apart enough to see the root/s

I would make sure the new soil is in a container, air holes in it like 2bad suggested and make sure the medium is moist first before transplanting it

Be gentle as heck

Container with air holes in it? What does that mean? (Please explain)


Can't i just use the cups for now? I would need a lot more soil if I'm going to place them in a larger pot right now and the light configuration i have wouldn't be able to supply the bigger pots because i have it on top of my desk in my home office i will begin working this weekend on new lighting fixtures in a separate room of the house for the Veg/Flower stages. Should have the set up done by Monday but for now I gotta keep them where they are, I'll just change the soil for now. Over the weekend I'll make a proper 3rd world set up

 

[MDK]

I've grown in really wet packed soil before and what I can say, and this may sound weird maybe someone else can educate me....but I took coat hangers and poked holes down to the bottom of my pots and kind of wiggled it around in there. Aeration? Idk but it seemed to allow the soil to dry a bit better....if you find your dirt not drying out well, try that

To explain better I'd do this in the soil straight down waller out the holes and pull my coat hangers out...and leave those holes. When I'd water...it would go down in there and when she stopped drinking I'd stop watering

 

[Zerberus]

March 25th - Last night i changed the soil on both plants but opted to keep them in the mugs for now since i don't have a proper light set-up for bigger containers. The plants look good, "Sephora" the one in the pink mug, stretched last night, i don't know why, i was keeping it at 2 inches away from the light. The other one in the green mug "Kali" moved a little towards the light but mostly unchanged when it comes to stem length. Both did open up their tiny leaves which i think is a good sign and they look cool. To be honest i would love for at least one of them to be Female so that I can enjoy a good smoke at the end, but if they turn out to both be male then i think i won't mind, the important thing is that I'm learning everyday and I'm having fun with them. I'm paying more attention to those little fuckers than to my own girlfriend anyways here are some pictures of how they are now...

This is Sephora

This is Kali below

 

[Zerberus]

I did as you said, opened a couple oh holes with a toothpick. around the plants but far enough not to damage any root/s.

I've grown in really wet packed soil before and what I can say, and this may sound weird maybe someone else can educate me....but I took coat hangers and poked holes down to the bottom of my pots and kind of wiggled it around in there. Aeration? Idk but it seemed to allow the soil to dry a bit better....if you find your dirt not drying out well, try that

To explain better I'd do this in the soil straight down waller out the holes and pull my coat hangers out...and leave those holes. When I'd water...it would go down in there and when she stopped drinking I'd stop watering.

 

[Shaded_One]

are you not able to get perlite or rice hulls? would be nice to add something to increase porosity

 

[Cirroji]

March 25th - Last night i changed the soil on both plants but opted to keep them in the mugs for now since i don't have a proper light set-up for bigger containers. The plants look good, "Sephora" the one in the pink mug, stretched last night, i don't know why, i was keeping it at 2 inches away from the light. The other one in the green mug "Kali" moved a little towards the light but mostly unchanged when it comes to stem length. Both did open up their tiny leaves which i think is a good sign and they look cool. To be honest i would love for at least one of them to be Female so that I can enjoy a good smoke at the end, but if they turn out to both be male then i think i won't mind, the important thing is that I'm learning everyday and I'm having fun with them. I'm paying more attention to those little fuckers than to my own girlfriend anyways here are some pictures of how they are now...

This is Sephora

View attachment 1344283

This is Kali below

View attachment 1344284

LET"S GOOO!!!!

 

[Zerberus]

are you not able to get perlite or rice hulls? would be nice to add something to increase porosity

I'm pretty sure I can get rice hulls, probably not perlite tho. I'll have to ask around and maybe call a few local farmers but i honestly doubt it. I will get the rice hulls tomorrow for sure...

Any tips on what ratio hulls/soil i should mix in? Should I boil them first?

Should I keep the pine bark i added in yesterday and just mix in the rice hulls with it?

 

[Stonemason7767]

If you can get rice hulls just use that.leave a little bark in there but not alot.use about 1/3 rice hulls 2/3 soil.a little compost or animal manure that has sat out for awhile would help.i mix 1/3 compost 1/3 peat moss 1/3 aeration (rice hulls, or perlite,pumice, lava rock,bark)I use rice hulls.and pumice but just rice hulls will work.

 

[MDK]

Corn cob may be an option but it does contain sugars, just thinking of material

On a side note I just posted in nutrients section concerning using deer antler powder. @Shaded_One @Cirroji you fellas got any thoughts?

 

[PipeCarver]

I did as you said, opened a couple oh holes with a toothpick. around the plants but far enough not to damage any root/s.

Hey welcome to the farm, there's lots of help here and they'll help you through a grow, I know nothing on building a soil, I buy mine but I thought I'd give you a welcome.

I've been to Cuba twice in he past, We were in Veradero for 1 week and day toured Havana with a group and Guardalavaca ( spelling) we flew into Holquin

I rented a car in Guardalavaca then drove to Holquin and toured around and a moped up in Veradero stopping along the way for lunch and or beer or coffee .

Always had a blast & never with any issues just smiles and a looks of confusion with 2 obvious out of place tourists that can't speak much Spanish in their cafe / bar/ fruit stands.

 

[rasterman]

I'm pretty sure I can get rice hulls, probably not perlite tho. I'll have to ask around and maybe call a few local farmers but i honestly doubt it. I will get the rice hulls tomorrow for sure...

Any tips on what ratio hulls/soil i should mix in? Should I boil them first?

Should I keep the pine bark i added in yesterday and just mix in the rice hulls with it?

I've heard that rice hulls are good for aeration, but that hasn't been my personal experience. It doesn't take long for the rice hulls to become completely saturated. Once they do, they hang onto the water and start slowly breaking down.

Just a little warning that my attempt to use rice hulls for drainage didn't work out too well. If you can get perlite, I believe that would work much better. Without perlite you could always use sand, I think.

 

[Zerberus]

Guys is this Perlite by any chance? These just look like tiny whitish rocks to me... My wife has these in some cactus she bought a few months ago....

 

[Zerberus]

Why is one of my plants stem stretching so much? They are both at the same distance from the light, 2 inches... But the other one is not stretching.

I just moved it down to take the picture... Normally she's in the upper level with the other plant, but now I'm afraid she's getting to close to the light and might get damaged.

Can someone give me any pointers or advice? Is this normal? I did some research and from what I could find out this happens when they aren't getting enough light, but how is it that one is completely fine and the other one is stretching?

This is the other one that's not stretching.
Remember both are at the same distance from the light.

 

[rasterman]

Guys is this Perlite by any chance? These just look like tiny whitish rocks to me... My wife has these in some cactus she bought a few months ago....



View attachment 1344639

That's quartz. Do you have access to a beach?

 

[rasterman]

Why is one of my plants stem stretching so much? They are both at the same distance from the light, 2 inches... But the other one is not stretching.

I just moved it down to take the picture... Normally she's in the upper level with the other plant, but now I'm afraid she's getting to close to the light and might get damaged.

Can someone give me any pointers or advice? Is this normal? I did some research and from what I could find out this happens when they aren't getting enough light, but how is it that one is completely fine and the other one is stretching?

View attachment 1344654
This is the other one that's not stretching.
Remember both are at the same distance from the light.

View attachment 1344658

The light really isn't adequate. It looks like the second one just hasn't started yet - they both might become spindly until you get them better light. They look healthy though, otherwise. The main stem looks strong enough - if it stretches too much I'd start to worry about it falling over but it's fine for now.

 

[Zerberus]

That's quartz. Do you have access to a beach?

Closest beach is like 4 hours away