Specifics of Growing in Australia

Cabri said:

Hello Aussies, You Wanted to tell you that your pot scene sucks for tourists getting taken in Nimbin and Byron like sitting Ducks. No one helps cept to help themselves.
Your product is mostly lower grade and expensive.Same for a lot of the Motels too.
Where the hell are you well, We came, We saw and we spent a lot for nothing better then you can anywhere. Wake up Australia.
Aye.

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I am so afraid you are right cabri Nimbin has certainly gone down hill since the closing of the HEMP Bar and also it depends on the time of year you come here. at the moment (early feb) there isnt much about,(except for airborne rippers in blue and their choppers) and this will be untill harvest april /june, altho there may be some indica based crops coming in soon. unfortunately as soon as we get any decent gear the tourists snap it up !!

here in Nimbin we have been trying to get the laws changed for the last 30 odd years, first there was MardiGrass and the HEMP Embassy then the HEMP Bar http://www.nimbinhempbar.com/mission.html,
and now Tony Bower Has stepped up to the crease and hitting sixes http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=156358
When the HEMP Bar was open in its original concept as a "cannabis cafe demonstration model" we had many satisfied customers, they would get very good deals and could even smoke some on the premises .if you want tosee just how popular it became...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doNDDoorF4w
and more http://www.undatoka.com/movies.html

since those halcyon days there have been much harrassment by policehttp://soulstream1.sptel.com.au/NBN_News/lnimbinfools.wmv and as a result things just aren't the same. However Mardi Grass is just around the corner and a chance for those who want to get the laws changed to do something about it
well since i am preaching to the converted i think i shall fire up the vapouriser again and read more of these posts and gain more knowledge
peace
Dave Cannabis aka UndaToka
www.undatoka.com

nice stuff mate!

Ah another fine IC thread.

so if i wanted to start beans now inside to go outdoors by the end of september what light cycle would be best?i was thinking 14 and a half hours of light per day ??i dont want them to start flowering soon as i put them outside where i live is still a bit to cold to plant outside yet

in-the-pines, if you put them in a bright enough place, they will grow through with time. They might bud up, but if there is 'enough plant' left, it will re-shoot.

But 14 1/2 Hrs sounds pretty reasonable, try it and see.

Make sure your plants are at least 1ft (30cm) tall, if you can. I do this to 'insure' myself against critters, (e.g. if the plants were tiny, one munch and they'd be gone) and to help get more light (taller plant gets more light...)

Hi guys, if you're growing in SE QLD or NSW, my advice is to germinate a couple of days before the dark moon in September and plant anytime after that with the waxing moon i.e this year that is from 1st - 4th September. This is the most propitious time to plant with highest female to male ratios ensuing.

I've made the mistake of planting in August in an endeavour to get the biggest plants possible, unfortunately by the time the plant hits xmas its well over ten foot tall and just doesn't have the structure to support itself - particularly in the wind and wet.

In any case a plant beginning in September will grow larger, but be stronger. Kangativa grows Mullumbimby Madness to 20 feet in that timeslot....and some SE Asian varieties grow even beyond that that!!!

Where do you pick up a novel project that has been on hiatus due to an ever increasingly complex life.
This will eventually form a conglomerate of Australian knowledge, hopefully~!

Two things that through testing have occurred to me;
Due to the inherently infertile soils of Australia, by and large the majority of Australia is infertile, with few fertile areas like valleys and river banks, many growers must make do with areas that are sandy and for the most part unforgiving. What has been found to help this is the use of two things, firstly inoculation of your seedlings with mycorrhizal inoculant and biological charcoal.

Mycorrhizal fungi form a mutualistic relationship with terrestrial plants and are ubiquitous within a broad range of Ecosystems (Rillig, 2004).There are three eco-types of mycorrhizal fungi that are differentiated by their growth characteristics and fungal structures. Ectomycorrhizal fungi, Endomycorrhizal fungi and ericoid fungi.

Endomycorrhizal AM fungi have been found to form mutualistic relationships with a majority of terrestrial plants including those of commercial importance, such as wheat, rye and lupins (Rillig, 2004). Arbuscular mycorhizzae are formed only by the fungi from division Glomeramycota, the fungal hyphae penetrate the root forming a branched network of hyphae that permeates throughout root cell membranes. The branching configuration of hyphae increases the surface area for exchange of materials between the host and arbuscular mycrorrhizal fungi. This mutualistic relationship is therefore characterized by the plant providing the mycorrhizae with a constant and direct supply of carbohydrates, and in return the plant gains the higher mineral nutrient and water absorptive capacity of the mycorrhizae hyphal network. The ubiquitous nature of mycorrhizae relationships and possible plant benefits, such as increased yield, protection against certain root pathogens and decreased fertilizer inputs, has highlighted the value of using mycorrhizae as a tool for agricultural systems. There have been several studies that concluded mycorrhizae increased the growth rate of plants in phosphorus deficient soils, which is particularly relevant to Australian agriculture.

The second thing is a little more controversial, which is the use of biological charcoal. While personal tests run have found that bio-char only provides benefits in particular soils. That said bio-char provides several benefits in conjunction with mycorrhizal fungi.

Biochar has been used to increase soil fertility in agriculural crops, most noteably in tradiational farming techniques used in Asia employing biochar derived from rice husks (Ogawa & Okimori, 2010). The reported benefits of biochar are numerous. Biochar has been found to act as a porous body retaining both water and nutrients, absorb and detoxify alleochemicals (Warnock, Lehmann, Kuyper, & Rillig, 2007), reduce bioavailability and phytotoxicity of heavy metals (Park, Choppala, Bolan, Chung, & Chuasavathi, 2011) and promote the establishment and functioning of mycorrhizal plant associations (Warnock, et al, 2007; Ogawa & Okimori, 2010; Solaiman, Sarcheshmehpour, Abbott, & Blackwell, 2010). However, studies into the efficacy of agricultural bio-char amendments have resulted in both increased, negligible and decreased crop yeilds. Several studies have investigate the mechanism by which bio-char affects plants but the most interesting proposed mechanisms involved bio-char promoting bacterial populations that both promote mycorrhizal growth and plant growth.

Just some black carbon and chitin for thought.
refs on request

bt

silica based mineral i use a handful of diatomaceous earth per plant in the ground. Also adds alot of taste if you grow your own veges. Pretty cheap. Make sure you get food grade.
May kill worms though.

don't want to water down the excellent advice from Brushtail above ... just put his advice re Char on a more common level ...

the hideous practice by cattle farmers of burning their native pastures annually presents a snapshot of the gains given by Char. the new grass gets a (short term) burst of growth from the Char produced by the Winter or early Spring burn. the grass is sweet and cattle love it.

similarly I have guerrilla grown in the mountains near here using Turkeys Nest comprised of leaf mould and char-laden sand washed down from the wattle slopes that surround the cattle mens' paddocks. the grass grew surprisingly well in my garden.

so Char is the GO!

Hey guys just got a flowering
Question that i didnt think warranted a new thread, im located in fnq and recently moved some ladies outside, og kush, tora bora and kandy kush. they are currently in week 5 and am expecting to pick week 9-10. obviously havin them outside with increasing daylight isnt ideal they currently have 12 1/4 hrs light and will have 12 3/4hrs upon harvest should i be worried about reveg? Just want a second opinion before i build some covers for light deprivatio ! Thanks

As for red soils you see alot in the far northern qld table lands and
Rainforests although the table lands stuff has better structure and
Less clay. Im stuck with inert sand dune
Crap and rock hard clay

Question that i didnt think warranted a new thread, im located in fnq and recently moved some ladies outside, og kush, tora bora and kandy kush. they are currently in week 5 and am expecting to pick week 9-10. obviously havin them outside with increasing daylight isnt ideal they currently have 12 1/4 hrs light and will have 12 3/4hrs upon harvest should i be worried about reveg?

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from my experience i have had only one strain (long flowering landrace sativa) that wanted to reveg as the days got longer but all other strains just kept on flowering...

Possum proof your garden.

Possum proof your garden.

I was put on to this style of fencing by Silver Surfer OG who directed me to a web site. and lately Saibai has had trouble with beasties eating his garden so here's my variation of what's on the web:

it's pretty easy to see how I 've done things ... but you can ask me for any details.

The story with Possums is that they will eat yr plants at any stage. if yr plants are large they will, in the manner of american Beavers, chew the stem halfway thru, and then climb up the stem so that their weight breaks the plant down to ground level where they feel nice and safe while chewing.

so even tho possums are good climbers they die easily from falls and are afraid to climb anything that seems unsteady. when they climb this fence they reach out to the overhang and when they find the overhang sags and wobbles when they touch it they return to ground.

in my experience this style of fence works even when there is a drought and the local beasties are VERY hungry.

the fence pictured is of high tensile mesh 1200 high but this is not necessary. chicken wire 900 high will do the trick equally well. bear in mind yr looking for FLOPPY, not strength or even height.

the mesh fixed horizontally is chicken wire cut in half longways. if you cut it so that there are 'loose ends' those ends can easily be bent around the vertical fencing and no elaborate fasteners are needed. if you use chickenwire instead of high tensile mesh you will have to thread a plain wire thru the top of the mesh and pull it taut between star pickets at the corners to have something to tie yr halfmesh to.

good imfo SAT, POSSOMS ARE LIL BUGGERS, MAKE GOOD DAVEY CROCKET HATS. THIS THREAD STARTED IN 2007= MUST READ WILL BE LIKE HISTORY BOOK.

Possums suck!

Floppy fences rule!!

Hello guys ,im jeans91 from italy , i post here bexause i think its inappropriate to open a new thread for my question...
Well i'm plannig to come in australia for one here with a working -holiday visa ,im a grower here in italy where its forbbiden to grow cannabis .
Now im choosing a place in australia where its confortable to grow cannabis now my question is :
Is it legal to grow cannabis there ?
Whats are the rules of growing cannabis ?
What are the risk overthere about growing?
Sorry if all the questions are stupid but im addicted from growing this amazing plant hope in a reply from you guys ...

jeans91 said:

Hello guys ,im jeans91 from italy , i post here bexause i think its inappropriate to open a new thread for my question...
Well i'm plannig to come in australia for one here with a working -holiday visa ,im a grower here in italy where its forbbiden to grow cannabis .
Now im choosing a place in australia where its confortable to grow cannabis now my question is :
Is it legal to grow cannabis there ?
Whats are the rules of growing cannabis ?
What are the risk overthere about growing?
Sorry if all the questions are stupid but im addicted from growing this amazing plant hope in a reply from you guys ...

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No. Highly illegal.

In some states possession of up to 14gms only gets you a warning. But the cops still steal your smoke. If you're from overseas they might send you home.

If you grow indoors there may be a charge of "enhanced cultivation". The cops and court are so stupid they think growing under lights makes plants automatically highly potent. Turns hemp into kush apparently (joke).

The risks are the same as any where. Many people don't like police and consider snitching or "dogging" a very bad thing but some people are stupid and will call police. Especially in Queensland.

Its a big country with lots of bush and the cops cant be everywhere at once. How big are your balls?

Good luck mate. Hope you enjoy your adventure.

Sound design for climbers. Does the fencing also go into ground to deter burrowers, rats, mice ...?

Saw your grow in that enclosure in another thread, very nice work.

Sat X RB said:

I was put on to this style of fencing by Silver Surfer OG who directed me to a web site. and lately Saibai has had trouble with beasties eating his garden so here's my variation of what's on the web:

it's pretty easy to see how I 've done things ... but you can ask me for any details.

The story with Possums is that they will eat yr plants at any stage. if yr plants are large they will, in the manner of american Beavers, chew the stem halfway thru, and then climb up the stem so that their weight breaks the plant down to ground level where they feel nice and safe while chewing.

so even tho possums are good climbers they die easily from falls and are afraid to climb anything that seems unsteady. when they climb this fence they reach out to the overhang and when they find the overhang sags and wobbles when they touch it they return to ground.

in my experience this style of fence works even when there is a drought and the local beasties are VERY hungry.

the fence pictured is of high tensile mesh 1200 high but this is not necessary. chicken wire 900 high will do the trick equally well. bear in mind yr looking for FLOPPY, not strength or even height.

the mesh fixed horizontally is chicken wire cut in half longways. if you cut it so that there are 'loose ends' those ends can easily be bent around the vertical fencing and no elaborate fasteners are needed. if you use chickenwire instead of high tensile mesh you will have to thread a plain wire thru the top of the mesh and pull it taut between star pickets at the corners to have something to tie yr halfmesh to.

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rexamus616 said:

This info is from Cannabis Culture mag #58, in an article called "Australian Bush Paradise" By Joe Walsh.
(copyrighted, sorry joe.)
--------------------------------

enjoy.

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Good article... but no mention of possums!
Possums are my no.1 problem...

Yeah, i hear, i'm a bastard