Here in the Southern Hemisphere, summer has just officially begun.
In Durban, South Africa, we can start germinating now with ease. The current temperature is around 16 min, and 28 max and humidity at 70%, and in winter the coldest recorded was 4.4 degrees so no frost worries.

This year, i am planning on testing a number of different strains. Sativas , Indicas, and hybrids, indoor, outdoor and greenhouse varieties. These will all be grown outdoors.

At 29 degrees south of the equator, Durban gets around 14 hours of sun a day during summer. We are just outside of the tropics, so the sun is pretty much directly above, and the blue spectrum is very strong.
We also have regular afternoon showers in the height of summer (temp around 22 min, 33 max, humidity 110%), and the warn ocean makes growing conditions ideal.

But, unfortunately, South Africa does have one major drawback. After the end of the apartheid system, we all thought South Africa would improve, but this has not beed the case. The black ANC government have become ultra racist against the white population. Today, as a white person in South Africa, the government has made it technically impossible for white people to get employment or start their own companies.
They developed an affirmative action points system, where government contracts and company tax is worked out according to their BEE points (Black Economic Empowerment). To get points, companies need to hire blacks, have only black people in management positions, and only do business with other BEE companies.

People like me are forced to grow and sell Cannabis just to survive.
When black cannabis growers are caught growing a field, or transporting 3 tons, they are usually given a $10 fine, or let off with a warning. But when a white grower is caught with 7 plants inside a cupboard, they get put on show-trials, accused of growing the 7 plants to fund international criminal syndicates, and charged with growing 'super cannabis' which the state expects extra punishment for. White growers are charged $1000 - $3000 bail, and then not even given a fair trial.
In South Africa, there is no trial by Jury, its a 'trial' by State-Paid-Government-Employee-judge. Every judge who has issued soft sentences against white cannabis growers are automatically demoted to the lowest courts, to deal with parking tickets for example, or by-laws, while those who issue the highest sentences are promoted to the exclusive courts, and given huge public bonuses, and accolades.
We have a constitutional court that refuses to rule on the constitutionality of the cannabis laws, and keep every part of the plant illegal. (Seed for food is even illegal when people are starving here!)

Even for industrial or medical uses, as allowed by the United Nations is 100% illegal.
Thousands of people are dying every month, but still they refuse to allow people to use any part of it.
Under President Jacob Zuma, all human rights for whites are being eroded. The minister in charge of the police told the police to 'USE DEADLY FORCE' (Bheki Cele) when fighting crime. So much for the right for life.

On the positive side, Durban Poison, the locally grown delicacy, sells for around $180. That's for a kilogram!!!
Its a 6.5 - 7 out of 10 for quality, usually with a few seeds, but not too many. The quality has improved vastly as the locals never used to remove the male plants. I have been trying to educate the local grows about this for many years, and they now leave one desirable male only to produce a small section of seeded crop (as you cant purchase seeds here legally). The rest is pretty much seed free, but not many tricomes, and is sold in newspaper.
The Sativa high means you can chain smoke it all day if you want and you never get tired.

So basically South Africa is a country of contradictions. We are a democracy that is run as an elitist, racist dictatorship that persecutes whites, and Constitution that is worthless, and helpless white South Africans, that have no choice but to sell cannabis to eat, and run the risks of being arrested, displayed to the nation as if you was Bin Laden, and put on a show-trial by government, not jury.
We have the perfect conditions to grow in and if purchased from the locals, $180 per Kg of good sativa is the best deal on earth. But at the end of the day, South Africa is going the way of Zimbabwe, with the totalitarian style of government that is based 100% on Robert Mugabe.

bummer

Wow, sorry to hear about the conditions there,, interesting to hear whats going on, on the other side of the earth though, be safe out there

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Welcome to the boards bigvalboski glad to have ya hear.Sucks to hear whats going on over there from ya but i'll be rooting for ya to pull a heavy harvest and be safe.