The Tribulations of Growing in Uruguay - Help Needed

Hello Everyone

I’ve been living in Uruguay for a year now and have done one very small outdoor grow with got results but the yield per plant was very very small.

After this, I bought a BC Northern Lights Bloom Box with the intention of doing all year round indoor soil grows, thinking it will pay for itself quite quickly as the ‘street options’ available down here are just Paraguayan brick week.....therefore not really an option !!

I tried a few grows in the bloom box and everything died (think clueless idiot not really knowing anything and jumping around from idea to idea – i.e. basically panicking !) so I started to look at exactly what I can get in Uruguay on an ongoing / regular basis to grow with, so I could do this post with as much info as possible and ask for help.

The first major problem is that there are no real soil options like Fox Farm available here and with regards to nutrients, I have just tried to import some chemical only nutrients (Terra Flores and Terra Vega) - I chose these because they are 100% chemical (you can’t important anything with organic matter into Uruguay) thinking they would get through customs, but just found out today that.......I need an importation certificate that will take 3-6 months to obtain etc etc etc.

So, here’s what I CAN GET in Uruguay and what I already have:

The grow Cabinet (as mentioned) is a BC Northern Lights Bloom Box – nothing Hydro inside though, just the lights and the fans (because I cant import any Nutrients etc).

It has one compartment for Veg and one for Flowering and it works with an auto timer for the lights and also each compartment has a air fan (two in the flowering side) that are 'on' all the time the lights are on to keep the air flowing, but only during this time, not when the lights go off. For the veg side the maximum lights it permits is an 18/6 schedule.

Lights wise, for the Veg side its a Maxibright 2700k Red / 6400k Blue, 125W. The Flowering Light is an Artemis LU400W Enhanced Spectrum HPS Grow Lamp.

Next, here’s what growing mediums I can get:

Worm Castings
Seabird Guano
Perlite (Miracle Grow)
Vermiculite
Kudras Peat Moss, type KB. It says it is peat material, based on lightly decomposed oligotrophic peat moss with ph adjustment of 5.5-6.5. It also says that it contains nearly no fertilizer and liquid feeding should start after 2 weeks. It lists the nutrition content (mg/ltr) as follows:

N 50-90 / P 60-100 / K 70-110 / Mg 10-40 / Cu < 1 / B < 1 / Mo < 1 / Zn < 5 / Fe < 15


So the grow Medium I use, can ONLY be a combination of the above 5 things – I can’t get anything else in Uruguay !

Moving on to the Nutrients all I can get are the following 2 for Veg:

Vigoro (feeds 2 x stronger it says), water soluble NPK – 24-8-16. (www.vigoro.com). It says feeding with it should take place every 14-28 days with 1 tablespoon per gallon of water. Its called an all purpose plant food.

OR.....

Miracle Grow All Purpose Plant Food : 24-8-16. Quantity to administer, same as the first one

And For Flowering, only one is available. Its made by Schultz and is 8-14-9 – its called African Violet plus and it says 7 drops per quart.

Try as I might I can’t get any other Nutes here and as already stated, CANNOT bring any more into the country (when I fly to the UK and back in two weeks as I’ve been told NOT to travel with anything like this as it sets off the explosive scanners even in checked luggage) !!!!!

Also I have no PH UP or down (well they have it here but its powdered and I think for swimming pools only !!)

Water wise I can use tap water (really !), Salus Mineral Water (local to Uruguay) and I also have a unit that makes distilled water.

Other things I have coming in the next week (these DID make it through customs !!):

PH Pen
EC Pen
Heated Propagator
Mix/Max Thermometer, also measures humidity
Humidity Domes for plant pots
Mister / Fogger to help with Humidity


Finally, seeds wise, I have the following strains from Nirvana:

Blue Mystic / Crystal / Jock Horror / Snow White / Urban Poison / White Rhino / Wonder Woman

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So, bearing in mind all the above (and also that I am totally new to indoor growing), is it possible to actually get something going and actually get regular, quality yields ??

And if so, how.....What growing medium mix.....what about the nutrients I can get here – are they usable ??

Should it be totally organic......what about making organic teas for example ??

Which Nirvana seeds would be the easiest to grow for a newbie bearing in mid the ‘tools’ I have available ??

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Needless to say, any and all help is greatly appreciated – I just want to get a system going that works (bearing in mind the limitations of the nutrients I can get here) and produces a regular crop of 4-6 plants and yields 4-6oz every 4 months !

you should go look at organics and read some articles from sub cool at the top of the page on how to make your own organic soil . underneath that article there are other articles on how to compost your soil forever if you wanted to..you will have the best soil always with just a few inexpensive local ingredients that will grow healthy BIG weed.time to start reading

simonh said:

Try as I might I can’t get any other Nutes here and as already stated, CANNOT bring any more into the country (when I fly to the UK and back in two weeks as I’ve been told NOT to travel with anything like this as it sets off the explosive scanners even in checked luggage) !!!!!

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how about researching what you can bring into the country & when in UK,pick up what you need & switch bottles,then mail it to yourself -a case of Irish wiskey for example filled w/ organic bloom juice. or better yet,mail it to a safe address so it wont lead to your grow.
if not,you can use what is available to pull off a grow.many yrs ago & long b4 I knew anything about growing, a girlfriend grew plants on her back patio using dirt from her back yard & MG products. it wasn't killer,but at least as good as the sensimillia sold on the streets back then & better than the brown brickweed.

I live in Uruguay too, and growing outdoors is quite easy. The worst thing that can happen is hail.
make your own soil, composting, etc. you can get from 350g or more per plant.

How is the genetics and indoor bud scene in Uruguay?

worm castings and seabird guano are ferts not grow mediums. perilite isnt really a grow medium either, more of an additive to your medium. same thing as vermiculite, it is used as a soil conditioner. Between all these things if you had to you can get some dirt from outside or a bag of any old soil and use the 5 additives you listed. get a 5 gallon bucket with lid and throw all your old food in it. no meat, just fruit peels/cores, breads and that kinda stuff and make compost tea, there are plenty more detailed instructions out there. the peat is also used as as part of the mix in a lot of soils!

surely you can find some fresh organic compost every plant shop.

ive been told (but never tried) that you can use this with perlite 30:70, add some of the other organic stuff you got (guano etc.), and you'll have a very nice grow. keep your plants small for their containers and you won't have to use any other fertilizers. or just a bit at the end.