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Dean
Its flowering season here in South Africa and today we’re going to be looking at five tips to make sure that you have a successful flowering period, we’re going to be concentrating this conversation about the outdoors. And while in South Africa, we do have varying different sort of climates within the summer period, there are some themes which we can drive through to sort of every individual grower and I’m joined today by Luke who’s going to be helping us a bit with the flowering information. So Luke in South Africa were blessed with super powerful sons long summery days, were able to grow some absolute monsters, but you know, with sunlight is it such a thing as too much sun? Or what kind of environment are you looking for specifically related to sunlight when, when flowering outside

Luke
I suppose, you know, you’re you’re always wanting to hit those PPFD so, you know, having them in the sun is always good, however you there are multiple factors that then have come into play here, you know, if it’s going to be in full sunlight for majority of the day, you’ve got to make sure that she’s got enough water that she’s drinking, she’s got enough nutrition there’s a whole bunch of factors that come into that. But you know, a little bit of shade when it’s extremely extremely hot in some places and parts of South Africa a little bit of shade, it definitely can help

Dean
a little bit of shade a little bit of like 10 or 20% shade in it and some of the really hot spots is the only way you’re going to get through and I suppose the small to little sand in the in too much the more sand the better the bigger the nags and yeah we hope everyone’s feeding those feeding those ladies

Luke
yeah 100% 100 So the next thing that also then falls under that you know we were talking a little bit about what’s happening under underground and with the roots your your soil and your your mediums that you using or you know a lot of people like to plant straight into the ground a lot of people select to grow in in parts what are your what would you say your go to soil medium is Do you do any amendments are often a feeding What is your regime for for outdoor,

Dean
there’s some big points I think if you’re straight in the ground when I’m finding the season is even though I do sort of to fall to release the barrels of compost, I’m still seeing deficiencies left right and centre on the capital plants I have in the ground. So I’m I’m feeding with a bit of sort of bottled Newt but that does get super expensive super quickly. So I’ve targeted the one or two that are looking most yellow, and I’m feeding a bit of bottled nutrients. But then as for actually Luke suggestion suggested I fed a whole bunch of worm castings couple days ago. So worm castings is always a winner, it’s cheap, you can just sort of pile it on top I made sort of a wall around each plant, fold it up, ordered it heavily and I think that’s really going to help help the ladies in the ground and then in the soil I’m growing some specialised mediums this year I’ve got some August soil lakhs which I’m which I’m running and running some classic craft, but as with all of them, once again, I’m going to be dosing we’re going to be dosing worm castings, and also I also find in the if they are in material grow bags outside they are drinking and evaporating at an absolute unit so to try and counter that I’m also something I haven’t really used that much in the past but I’ve sort of made a thick kind of 10 centimetre cap of fall for mulch on top of each of the on top of each of the pots are fed that with some synergistic microbes and some worm castings and there’s all sorts of white funghi growing on top there which is pretty pretty exciting. So yeah, I’m kind of I am noticing that compared to the side parts which I didn’t put any cap on that they were drying out a little bit slower which is always a winner for which is always a winner for the material grow bags because yeah, I think watering is a massive thing outside. So look kind of you know, how much water do you want to be giving? That’s always a hard question because it’s not like oh give 25 mils you know, but you you’re gonna lose out on a lot of this very vital time I mean a lot of people will be in stretch now already quite well into flour. So what do you what kind of tips can we give rid of with relation to watering and I suppose feeding of water based nutrients as well.

Luke
I suppose it sort of depends on what your your flowers are telling you. You know that’s something important is to watch them and see what they’re doing. If you do start to get deficiencies tackle it early on. Makes sure that you’ve got your microbial activity and your soil you know, alive and kicking you’re not allowing it to dry out too much and die back If that’s you know more for your your your organic style, style growing, you always want to make sure that your moisture content in your soil sort of doesn’t drop below 40%, I would say, because then your microbial activity and colonies start to start to suffer. With watering. Like I said, it depends on the plants, you know, some plants, it depends on how big they are, as well. We’re feeding on average, some of our outdoor plants, you know, 2020 litres, maybe more per day, especially on those super hot ones. But it’s always good to monitor them, I would also say try and start your watering morning an hour after sunlight, let the ladies wake up a little bit before and get hungry so that when you do feed them and do more to them, they drink quite exponentially. Feeding, then again, it also falls on what nutrients you are using, I always recommend staying within the schedules of them. But then at the same time monitoring, you know what your plants are telling you, it’s extremely important to, to look at the leaves and what they’re telling you look at the stem. And if you do need to add in anything, get in there and get it done early.

Dean
Yeah, I think just a lot of people are often concerned about over watering a lot of time, but I’ve generally had more issues over watering indoors and outside. Like it’s so hot. In South Africa in a lot of places that you know, you are going to need to be watering every day, personally in this period, because you’re too little water and letting those microbes dry out there’s going to be a fat negative on on especially the stage of the stage of the growth

Luke
100% 100% When it comes to pruning and training of your outdoor plants, what would you say are your go to method words, give us a little bit about what you’ve done in your garden this summer.

Dean
Cool. So I stay next to the coast in the whole de Burgh super, super windy environment. So for me personally, you know, a lot of sort of bending and a bit of LSD goes into the outdoor ladies during the during the growth period, you know, the veg period, and then kind of coming into into the summer period, I always am scared of powdery mildew, we have kind of high humidity fluctuations within a base. And so those kind of micro factors make pm a big issue, which we’ll touch on a bit later. But it also kind of ties into the tech techniques that I use. So big amounts of Lolli popping really not being too shy on the bottom of the on the inners of the of the plant, and then also preparing them with some tie downs. You know, Alternatively, you could be using sort of big chicken wire mesh to sort of make sort of cones around the plants to allow them to grow through pets, or potentially an outdoor SCROG. You know, if you’ve got the got the space to do it, but just kind of as with if the plant can be supported, it’s definitely going to be able to produce larger nugs. And with the outdoor environment being sort of unpredictable, you could have a very windy night or a very rainy night and now all of a sudden, your plants are getting snapped off. You know, especially as they start to get a bit more a bit more weight. So support, train clean up so that you can see inside, it’s all going to help on that IPM and then also some spotty foliations You know, same as indoor maybe a day 21 defoliation baby as soon as you start to sort of think the plants are going to start flowering do the Lolli popping and cleaner if you’re already into the flowering period, day 21 You know, day 45 Those are good spots to hit maybe a bit of defoliation always larger on on day 21. And then besides that just monitoring as much as possible and removing a leaf here and there. There’s a bad being covered but really not stressing them out too much. But our main issue, I think with most growers is not it’s not the sort of, you know, training training techniques are the time sometimes you can leave an hour to three to really just grow on its aces outside. It’s got the wind and the environment to strengthen and up. But we do we are at the mercy a lot of the time to far more pests and diseases. So, pest management and disease management, especially heading into the mid to late flowering period can really make or break or grow, you know, but bad right powdery mildew, Luke, what are some popular IPM products that you’re currently using and just maybe a few tips or results that you’ve seen with relation to IPM and just controlling some of those diseases and pests

Luke
so BF when it comes to IPM I would say your prevention is always better than cure. You rather want to try and prevent the problem rather than and having to deal with it when it does, when it appears, you know or occurs. So stay on top of your pest management or IPM regimen is essential. Some of the stuff that I’m using is synergistic microbes. So this is from your, your Kaya farms range, the wetting agents, the synergistic microbes from them, and the EM five, I absolutely love those. I’ve been making use of a lot of the Margaret Roberts range, specifically the insect spray the caterpillar spray as well. Yeah. Trees. Yeah, if you’ve got any trees that are crying, yeah, you’re near your plants and any overhanging branches, I’m sure you’ve had a had a node or something die off to a caterpillar eating it. So that’s an important one. And then also just making sure that is in terms of moulds and stuff like that beneficial bacterias I suppose or big one, the centre I agree has come into play here, the AQ S F, and the AQ s f and the tracker Derma is also a good one. Sure, I find

Dean
that AQa CF, it’s quite a bit like that’s a heavy one on the prevention is better than the cure, because once you’ve got PM, it’s hard for it to really take control. But if you’ve been building up a resistance with it over a long period of time, you will see a lot of a lot less sort of pops up a lot less, especially with with a PM. And it’s also a nice prevention against against bad, right, because it can be sprayed on flowers. But a lot of you know a lot of the time, it’s really difficult to get something under under control. But if it’s if it’s sort of too far spread, and that’s why it’s important to know your products well. And to not only think of them last minute, Hey Luke, I think IPM is more important than a lot of people perceive

Luke
100%. You know, it’s, it’s almost essential, it’s like us, you know, we if we know that we’re lacking in this vitamin or this mineral, we need to make sure that we have or take some supplement to you know, ensure our health and our immune system is at all time best to fight off any negative bacterias etc. And it’s the same with your plants. So definitely IPM regimens and pest management is essential for for any grower.

Dean
Amazing. Well thanks, guys, to everyone who made it to the end of this episode. Thanks to Luke for all your knowledge and sharing all of your tips and tricks. So I mean, it’s the most exciting time of the of the grow the flowers, but it’s also where a lot of issues can creep in. But we’re nearly there. It’s nearly time for all of that super amazing flower that you’re growing in your garden to be reaped. And we’re excited for you. And also thanks to everyone who made it to the end of the show. We really appreciate every one of you for watching all of these videos. Remember to like and subscribe. Until next time, guys, peace Out