Transplant Sativa's during flowering?

[Thunderbrain]

I just started flowering 2 mixed grows. One is upstairs in 2-gallon pots under household cfl's, the other is in the basement in 5-gal pots under led's. Both grows are mixed... there are a few White Widows, which should finish in 9 weeks or so, and a few pure sativa's (Malawi Gold and Purple Nepalese) which can take anywhere from 12-16 weeks to finish, so I've heard. I've never grown them before and there's not much info online so I'll have to see what happens.

Oncer I harvest the WW's, can I transplant the sativa's that are under the cfl's into 5-gal pots and move them under the led's or would that stress them too much after already flowering for 9 weeks or so? I understand sativa's can be sensitive and I'd hate to mess 'em up after they're already so far along.

 

[OlderGrower]

By chance are they in smart pots? If they are, you could just place the 2 gallon smart pot inside a 5 or 7 gallon smart pot and add soil. I have done that before with success.

 

[Thunderbrain]

No, thanks for the suggestion, but they're in plastic buckets from Lowe's.

 

[OlderGrower]

No, thanks for the suggestion, but they're in plastic buckets from Lowe's.

if they are 9 weeks old into flower and even if they go a full 16 I would think that the stretch would be over with and I am not really sure what you would want to accomplish by up potting that late in the game.
By the way I am growing Malawi Gold myself, how much stretch have you gotten from yours in 9 weeks? I am kind of curious since I plan on growing at least 2 of them indoors.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I grow a couple sativas, including Malawi gold. I transplant when necessary, usually meaning when the plant has outgrown its pot, and generally don't find any issues. But- I can't see any reason why you would transplant at any time later than the first few weeks of flowering. By nine weeks flowering the plant is almost finished and transplanting it isn't going to help it in any way that I can see.

 

[Weaselcracker]

That was great simultaneous posting OG. Mine is the Ace Malawi. It's not all that stretchy. Just three weeks or so and it's settled down. After that point I wouldn't expect to have much root expansion happening or any need to transplant.
This is my second round, with three phenos growing. I harvested mine at about 13 weeks last time around. I like to flower long and harvest late, and I was surprised at how quickly the Malawi finished. I would have left it longer, but after checking and rechecking- it was obviously finished.

 

[OlderGrower]

That was great simultaneous posting OG. Mine is the Ace Malawi. It's not all that stretchy. Just three weeks or so and it's settled down. After that point I wouldn't expect to have much root expansion happening or any need to transplant.
This is my second round, with three phenos growing. I harvested mine at about 13 weeks last time around. I like to flower long and harvest late, and I was surprised at how quickly the Malawi finished. I would have left it longer, but after checking and rechecking- it was obviously finished.

I am not to concerned with the 2 I plan on growing outdoors, they can stretch all they like, just trying to decide if I break out the scrog for the indoor or not. I am swaying towards putting at least one under a scrod and let the other go el-natural with just some LST

 

[Thunderbrain]

By the way I am growing Malawi Gold myself, how much stretch have you gotten from yours in 9 weeks? I am kind of curious since I plan on growing at least 2 of them indoors.

I have one I planted on Feb 17th from seed and just put it into flower today. It would probably be about 24" tall by now but I lst'd it to keep the stretch down. I wish I'd put it into a 5-gal instead of one of the PN's (I have 5 of those), but oh well!

I saw the Ace Malawi and they look good, but I got mine as a freebie from HGS. If I like it, maybe I'll buy some from Ace next time.

Oh, well, even if transplanting won't help at least they'll benefit from being moved under the led's. That shouldn't be a problem, should it?

 

[Weaselcracker]

I'm scrogging mine. I don't know which Malawi you guys are growing- but if it helps, here are links to a couple pics from my last round of them. Last round was kind of a trial run, under 14 month old hps bulbs, lol. I flowered them a little small because I wasn't sure how much they'd stretch. This time around they've filled out the screens much better and are growing far better in general.

The Hexapus's Garden - Page 7

The Hexapus's Garden

 

[Thunderbrain]

I hope mine look half that good when they're done!

It's the first time I've flowered with led's, too.

 

[Weaselcracker]

It you just started flowering now, and think it needs more room- by all means transplant into 5 gallon. That sounds like a decent size. I thought you meant that they were 9 weeks along in flowering. The lighting switch should be fine. Just be careful at first to feel out the proper distance between the plant and the light.

EDIT. Ok - I went back and reread your post. Still a bit confused though. Anyway- the time to transplant would be now- they put out a lot of new growth during early flowering, as I'm sure you know.
And- probably my input re the stretch isn't much help since you have a different strain than me. I'm not sure how different it is...

 

[Thunderbrain]

That's the problem... there's no room for another 5-gal without sacrificing one of the ww's or pn's. I was going to transplant when I harvested the ww's and a space for another 5 gal became free. Since it was a freebie, I didn't give it the respect it apparently deserves, but that's OK. Maybe next time I'll get some more seeds and plan for 5 gal pots from the beginning.

Do you really think it's worth all the extra time, supplies and effort?

 

[Weaselcracker]

Do you really think it's worth all the extra time, supplies and effort?

Is it worth it to transplant you mean? Yes normally, but given the obstacles you have, I think you'll be ok if you don't. You'll probably have to water it quite often. I can't say whether or not it will hurt the plant much. Even if it yields less, I think it will be ok, and it will give you an idea what to do next time. I've read some threads about people purposely growing sativas in small containers to stunt them and keep their height down. Right now I'm finishing up some plants I grew to finish in 16 oz cups, and they did fine. I had to set up an autowatering system though because I'm not around every day.

 

[Thunderbrain]

No, I meant is Malawi Gold worth it? Sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm used to plants that finish in 8-9 weeks. Yours went 5 weeks beyond that, using your time, skills, nutes and electricity.

Is the smoke that much better, to be worth all those extra resources?

 

[Weaselcracker]

Well- all the strains I've been growing for the last few years take 12 -14 weeks to flower and I'm used to it. I don't like indica strains at all, they tend to disagree with me, and the Ace Malawi is quite short flowering for a sativa. It's also probably the best herb I've ever smoked. Definitely the best in the last ten years. I have a perpetual grow going and it supplies all I need and more, so I'm not really worried about how long they take. I just keep feeding the flowering room with plants from the veg room, and plants seem to keep coming up for harvest. Usually more often than I feel like doing the trimming, to be honest. So I don't care at all how long they take to flower.
So I suppose it's just a matter of taste. For me it's worth it no question, but maybe if I liked some of the short flowering strains I would feel differently.