New Grower My first gardening adventure

[Kartman]

I wish I had of found this forum before i started this journey, as I think I have made a few rookie mistakes. But what the heck give it a go and see how they grow. Any help comments appreciated.

Ordered seeks from overseas and they arrived in OZ 1 week later. Very impressive.

Decided to plant two seeds both Autos (of course), Mango and AK47, saved the Bubblegum for later, no logic to that idea.

Right now it is building up to our wet season so very hot and starting to get humid. Basically low 30 degrees (90 F) during the day and low 20's at night (70 F) humidity 40 to 50%. Since I am in the tropics days are usually 12 hours sunlight give or take a little.

Placed seeds in store bought potting mix (stole some from the wife's tomatoes) took care of them for a few days then went away with the fur baby and when I got home they had sprouted.

Then decided to move into their final pots and this part is my favourite peice of the exercise so faR. Took the mother-in-law shopping for all the stuff I needed, pots, potting mix, perlite etc. You have no idea how much fun it is discussing with your M-I-L about how to grow really good tomatoes.

Since I hadn't yet discovered this forum I bought two different types of tomato and herb potting mix and mixed these with a little home soil and probably 5% perlite. Pots would be about 12 - 15 Litre plastic pots (3 to 4 gal).

Spent the first few days just exposing them to the morning sun and moved them into a cooler spot in the afternoon.

Have now moved them into their final spot in the garden. They would be in direct sun for till about 2 pm then under the shade of a couple of fruit trees.

Also put some mulch around the front of the plastic pots to stop them getting too hot.

Have been watering them with about a cup of rainwater twice a day, it is pretty hot and the soil dries out very quickly, also that is what we do with real tomato seedlings so i thought that would work.

Photos are two weeks out from putting seeds in the potting mix, or about a week since they first peaked their little heads out of the soil.

 

[Ders]

Looking good buddy! Keep us posted about your tropical garden!

 

[Kartman]

Week 3 - from start.

I have to keep remembering this first planting is just for shits and giggles.....

It got pretty hot this week, low 30C and 60% humidity. So I decided to bury each of the pots to try and limit their exposure to the sun. Because of that I bought a moisture meter which then tells me that I have been over watering them so I have gone from watering twice a day to every two to three days. Not sure if it is related to that but both plants seems to have started growing much faster. For a week or so they barely grew and what growth they did have was almost straight up. They are also getting an extra little bit of sun as i moved them out a little from the bigger trees in the garden.

The end of some of the early leaves on the bigger plant got some yellow which might be either the weather or too strong soil, but it seems to be OK now and the new leaves are fine.

One of the plants fell over when i buried the pot so i just pushed the soil down and it stood up ok. Then a few days later it got a lean on it but it seems happy otherwise so i have the attitude that it wants to grow sideways so i let it be.

AK47

Mango

 

[Kartman]

Week 4

The hot weather continues still low 30's every day but now we are also having some rain. One plant had been getting a bit of a lean (chasing the sun i think) but when it rained it got a serious lean so i thought why not just go with it and train it a little. Both girls seemed to like the rain and have started filling out a bit.


AK47



Mango

 

[Kartman]

Week 5

The weather has been alternating between hot and rain.
I have tried this week moving the plants in the afternoon to catch more sunlight.
Only started a few days ago but I did notice they are both starting to really put on some size.
I have had to keep on top of the training almost daily

.
AK47


Mango

 

[Kartman]

Week 6

I think Santa has visit my plants and delivered them some flowers!

We have had more overcast than fine days this week, little bit of rain.

If the sun is out I mopve the girls in the afternoon so they get more direct sunlight, Normally in shade around 1pm, but if i move them about they can remain in full sun till 5 or 6 pm.

AK47





Had to remove some of the ties as the looked like they were interfering with the flowers

Mango





Got a nice growth spurt on this week and seemed to like a bit of bondage.

 

[Kartman]

Now I have a question.

Being it is Christmas I am heading away for a few days. In the last few days their water intake has really shot up, they have gone from needing water every couple of days to 500ml every day.

The next few days are predicted to be hot with a 50 / 50 chance of rain, what do I do?

Should I just give them a really big water before I leave, so maybe a litre or two.

Or should I put move them somewhere a little shaded so their thirst slows down while i am away.

Or just hope Santa brings some rain?

 

[Kartman]

Week 7

Happy 2020!

The plants survived their few days of being alone, luckily we got a bit of rain and a bit of sunshine.

To date I have just been using plain creek water, or rainwater when available. Now they have started to flower should I change this and feed them?

AK47



Mango

 

[Doug58]

They are far enough along to get some feed. I grew about 18 various autoflowering plants last Summer. Grew 2/3rds of them outside. I killed off a few with nutes too early but yours are past that point.

I had one photoperiod plant I grew outdoors right in soil, sandy soil amended with cheap potting soil and worm dirt from a nightcrawler grower down the road from me. I didn't think the plant would mature before freezing weather up near Canada so I didn't waste many of my expensive nutrients on it.

I fertilized that one photoperiod plant with urine by taking a leak on the ground under it while doing yard work. I had Canadian geese crapping in my yard all Summer so I'd clean it up and dump it under my plant and work it into the soil. I also had deer crapping in my yard and used some of that. I also dumped a bag of composted cow manure in the hole before transplanting.

The plant got huge and I had to bend limbs down all Summer to keep it below my six foot fence as a road goes within 30 yards from my grow area. Legal to grow but can not be seen by public. I got a pound of bud out of that plant with no special nutrients. Lost some late harvested buds to rot after 7 days of no sun and constant rain.

Next time try planting right in the ground after adding soil amendments. Easier to water the plant deeply so you don't have to water everyday and the roots can grow deeper.

 

[noone special]

Hi mate ... sorry I missed your post about going away ... one of the things I used to do if I'm going away is get a couple of 2l bottles and poke a couple of small holes in them near the bottom where the (legs?) of the bottle come down .. you then put the lid on good and tight and stick it in the pot with the holes of the bottle just below the surface ... 2 bottles will weep just enough to last you a couple of days though since your talking wet seasons get a tap timer and a sprinkler for when you go away .. set it for like 3 times a day for like 1 min or so ... whatever you reckon the girls need .. as long as it can drain away from the base and they dont get wet feet( they hate wet feet) .

ns