2022/2023 South African Outdoor Growers

TaoRich

TaoRich

Well-Known Member
Howzit from Cape Town !

Starting this thread to see if we can get some traction for local outdoor community sharing and support this season.

( and take our minds off the frustration of rolling power blackouts, and give us some positive feels & vibes instead )

- - -

I am in the final stretch of prep for my outdoor organic living soil.

Next weekend I will mix and pack that into 20 litre pots to give the microbes and earthworms 2 undisturbed months to settle and build a soil web and healthy diverse rhizosphere zone before I (trans) plant my sexed female seedlings at the beginning of December.

I've got several containers of different soil prep mixes, each with around 1/3 soil (last year's grow), and the remaining 2/3 volume is added amendments to revitalise and replenish. In addition to my main worm composting bin, I've added a couple of hundred red wriggler earthworms to each container so that they can break down and process the organic additions, and condition and add life to the soil.

Here's what I've added into the mix:
  • Kitchen waste from our digs - veggie & salads & fruit & peels
  • A few hundred crushed egg shells
  • A few hundred coffee brew pot remnants
  • That's all been through my main worm bin
Plus:
  • Horse manure - from Kenilworth race track
  • Rabbit poop and straw - from a neighbour's pet bunnies
  • Chicken poop - from our egg laying hens
  • Freshly sliced and diced kelp - foraged from Moullie Point beach
  • 20kg black soldier fly frass - from my researcher mate
  • 15kg spent brewers grains - same mate
  • A few kilograms of rotted forest mushrooms - from 2 forager mates
  • Garden waste from our own yard - composted for 4 months
  • All the leaves from last year's grow - my plants + a mate's
Also been topping up with occasional teas, all made with unsulphured black-strap molasses, plus:
  • Lactobacillus
  • Banana skins
  • Prickly pear cactus
  • Epsom salts
  • Potash - burnt my stems and stalks from last year
As you can see, I'm a bit of a 'bum' when it comes to ingredients :mrgreen: the only things I've paid for are the molasses and epsom salts.

Firstly, I think fresh is better, and more full of life and complexity than dessicated dried commercial stuff in containers with an alluring 'head world' brand name.

And secondly, recycle and upcycle to divert so-called 'waste' away from eco-unfriendly transport and overstressed land fills, and instead into primo healthy terpene rich bud.

- - -

I'll be growing seeds from my last year's best performing plants - luckily only an odd pip or two per Nescafé bottle of trimmed bud:
  • Lemon Haze
  • Grapefruit
  • and some unknowns
- - -

Pics to follow when I get it all under way.
 
TaoRich

TaoRich

Well-Known Member
Hey @Hotrod2

Hotrod2 said:
How do u control pests?
Click to expand...
Didn't have any pest issues last year, 'cept for one plant that got a bit of the White Powdery Mildew.

That I got under control by misting the leaves heavily with a foliar spray of milk:water @ 1:9 + Tabasco.

A couple of factors that I think contribute to the lack of pests.

Physical protection from invasion

Plants are in pots - all on a paved area around our swimming pool which is protected by high walls on 3 sides ...
... so there isn't much bug life crawling or flying around

Pots have 5cm layer of peach pips and a mesh at the bottom, and they stand on base plates ...
... so nothing can get up from the ground underneath

I mulch the top of each post with at least a 5cm of airy woody compost, which gets 500ml of microbe active tea weekly ...
... so that is a physical barrier for soil invaders, with a healthy 'living filter' up top

Microbial immune system

The richer the microbial and fungal life - especially around the root zone - the stronger the plants immune system, and the higher its resistance and resilience to pests. It's odd how life around the roots can give overall protection to the whole plant and leaves above the ground, but I have seen it for myself in practice.

My soil mixes have as much diversity as possible. I don't try to concentrate on good bacteria/microbes/fungi - instead my approach is to ferment and rot with the sole aim being to get a wide variety. My amendments end up full of mould and fungus all colours of the rainbow. I don't strain, I don't filter, I don't separate layers. If it's living organic, I chuck it in.

That way, it's the 'law of the jungle' that keeps things in check. If one population group starts to get of control, another species steps in to take advantage of the opportunity of the food bounty.

So when my pots were covered for a week before planting, I opened them to discover a sea of fungus gnats. With the lids off, it took 2 days for soil mites to rise up in massive numbers, and the gnats and eggs were gone within a week. The soil mite population dropped back to normal a few days later. Checks and balances.

Chitin and chitinase

(Any type) Plants fed Chitin will grow cells with thicker stronger walls. It is their natural way of defending themselves if they 'sense' imminent insect attacks.

Last grow before the last year's grow, I got my chitin from a bucket of shucked prawn shells and heads from my local Chinese Take-away. I vermi-composted those through my worm bin.

Last grow, and this year's grow, I'm getting it from the fresh BSF frass - also composted through my worm bin.
 
TaoRich

TaoRich

Well-Known Member
Obligatory Disclaimer to the above post:

My indiscriminate mix-it-all-up and mix-it-all-in approach works just great for me outdoors in the fresh air, under the African sun.

No recommendations to take any of this into a sterile indoor grow room!
 
Hotrod2

Hotrod2

Well-Known Member
TaoRich said:
Hey @Hotrod2



Didn't have any pest issues last year, 'cept for one plant that got a bit of the White Powdery Mildew.

That I got under control by misting the leaves heavily with a foliar spray of milk:water @ 1:9 + Tabasco.

A couple of factors that I think contribute to the lack of pests.

Physical protection from invasion

Plants are in pots - all on a paved area around our swimming pool which is protected by high walls on 3 sides ...
... so there isn't much bug life crawling or flying around

Pots have 5cm layer of peach pips and a mesh at the bottom, and they stand on base plates ...
... so nothing can get up from the ground underneath

I mulch the top of each post with at least a 5cm of airy woody compost, which gets 500ml of microbe active tea weekly ...
... so that is a physical barrier for soil invaders, with a healthy 'living filter' up top

Microbial immune system

The richer the microbial and fungal life - especially around the root zone - the stronger the plants immune system, and the higher its resistance and resilience to pests. It's odd how life around the roots can give overall protection to the whole plant and leaves above the ground, but I have seen it for myself in practice.

My soil mixes have as much diversity as possible. I don't try to concentrate on good bacteria/microbes/fungi - instead my approach is to ferment and rot with the sole aim being to get a wide variety. My amendments end up full of mould and fungus all colours of the rainbow. I don't strain, I don't filter, I don't separate layers. If it's living organic, I chuck it in.

That way, it's the 'law of the jungle' that keeps things in check. If one population group starts to get of control, another species steps in to take advantage of the opportunity of the food bounty.

So when my pots were covered for a week before planting, I opened them to discover a sea of fungus gnats. With the lids off, it took 2 days for soil mites to rise up in massive numbers, and the gnats and eggs were gone within a week. The soil mite population dropped back to normal a few days later. Checks and balances.

Chitin and chitinase

(Any type) Plants fed Chitin will grow cells with thicker stronger walls. It is their natural way of defending themselves if they 'sense' imminent insect attacks.

Last grow before the last year's grow, I got my chitin from a bucket of shucked prawn shells and heads from my local Chinese Take-away. I vermi-composted those through my worm bin.

Last grow, and this year's grow, I'm getting it from the fresh BSF frass - also composted through my worm bin.
Click to expand...
I know about microbs and fungi, Very important . I have read microbs can double the harvest.Good section on RIU about organic grows. I would follow a journal of your outdoor grow.
 
TaoRich

TaoRich

Well-Known Member
Hotrod2 said:
I have read microbs can double the harvest.
Click to expand...
I've found that living soil with microbes increased my number of bud sites and bud density.

My plants gave off a sweet fruity smell when growing, strong enough to smell from 15 metres away. That carried through to a final clean and sweet smoke taste. That wasn't specific to the strains - same regardless of seeds what I grew.

From what I have read, the microbes, bacteria and fungi increase the amount of terpenes in the soil and the plant, as well as a wider range.

Here is a pic from last year to give you an idea of how happy and healthy the plants were.
Shitty camera quality isn't that good, but you can see the stacking of the bud sites.

harvested-quart.png

(750ml beer bottle for scale)

Freshly harvested at sunrise.
Main leaves were trimmed off the plant in its pot at sunset the night before.

I am planting 6-8 weeks earlier this year, so I expect another 2 feet of height, and more lateral branchging.
 
TaoRich

TaoRich

Well-Known Member
TaoRich said:
My soil mixes have as much diversity as possible. I don't try to concentrate on good bacteria/microbes/fungi - instead my approach is to ferment and rot with the sole aim being to get a wide variety. My amendments end up full of mould and fungus all colours of the rainbow. I don't strain, I don't filter, I don't separate layers. If it's living organic, I chuck it in.
Click to expand...
And just to comment here ... for a sanity check on the 'mad scientist':

I don't throw my unholy stinking mouldy rotting colourful concoctions directly onto my plants.
I don't plant directly into soil mixes that look and smell like this.

The 'raw' ingredients have all been cooking and rotting and breaking down for 6 to 8 months or more. It's all just dark brown to black loamy nutrient rich soil by now. Each prep container is home to a few hundred healthy worms cruising around happily, eating the last of what is left of the fresh ingredients, as well as a monthly top-up of cardboard, pizza boxes, and toilet roll inners.

What's also important - as I explained earlier - that I will pot this weekend, and wait a full 2 months for the soil web life to settle before my seedlings get planted. I am also going to pop in 10 worms per 20 litre pot to live for the duration of the grow, to provide fresh ewc and to keep my soil aerated.
 
Last edited:
Side ways Onion

Side ways Onion

Member
TaoRich said:
I've found that living soil with microbes increased my number of bud sites and bud density.

My plants gave off a sweet fruity smell when growing, strong enough to smell from 15 metres away. That carried through to a final clean and sweet smoke taste. That wasn't specific to the strains - same regardless of seeds what I grew.

From what I have read, the microbes, bacteria and fungi increase the amount of terpenes in the soil and the plant, as well as a wider range.

Here is a pic from last year to give you an idea of how happy and healthy the plants were.
Shitty camera quality isn't that good, but you can see the stacking of the bud sites.

View attachment 5204890

(750ml beer bottle for scale)

Freshly harvested at sunrise.
Main leaves were trimmed off the plant in its pot at sunset the night before.

I am planting 6-8 weeks earlier this year, so I expect another 2 feet of height, and more lateral branchging.
Click to expand...


Howzit Tao,
Thank you for the time you take to share your info. I grow in Noordhoek, Cape Town, in a very similar style to what you have explained in your posts, 100% organically, in 200 ltr bags with my own home made soil and my own vermicompost. I have also come to the conclusion after doing a few test grows over the years it is better to start earlier than later.

Here is my question - when you say your are planting 6 - 8 weeks earlier, can you give me an idea when you germinate, and if you germinate indoors and when do you move the ladies outdoors?

Thanks Sideways
 
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