Malawi Gold, Chamba, Organic, Daylight Shifting, 2017

[HopHead]

I think I would get rid of the Hermie. If I was after seed stock I wouldn't want Hermie's in the gene pool.

You're absolutely right. Very good point. I'm kinda torn between keeping or getting rid of him. Ideally, If I could isolate him then his seeds would be of interest to a friend of mine and myself. But for the sake of the seeds I harvest keeping him around is a disadvantage. I expect I'll get rid of him or at least separate him from the rest when I repot. I can blow off a lot of the pollen and then spray them with water. That way I might get some of his genes on the bottom buds of all the females and not have his genes in the rest of the buds. If I could separate him and his pollen from the rest then I could get seeds from him as well. Which might be interesting. Not the easiest thing to do but possible.

I'm expecting more hermies because they will be stressed throughout the grow. They won't like being pot bound so they will probably revolt. If some females don't then they will have genes that resists and I could clone them for that attribute. Put the clone/s through another grow with pollen from a male that resists as well if there are any. Lots of possibilities. I love growing this plant.

If this grow succeeds then I will have a ton of seeds. I may never grow MG again for seeds. But then again, I might. It would be nice to miniaturize them so that growing them indoors is easier.

 

[HopHead]

Day 39

A group photo under natural light. I took your advice Killian and removed Hermie. Thank you for the sound advice. That leaves 3 males which I situated in the corners to try and spread their pollen evenly amongst the females. Some stigmata have darkened which indicates to me that they've been pollinated. It appears to me that some of the calyses are fattening up as well.

A side photo showing heights. I took measurements of all the plants and they range from 9-11.5" for the females and 18-19.5" for the males. They probably won't fit in this tray much longer.

Because of MG10F's claws I tried a couple of things. First I put 3 bowls of water with a couple of strips of cloth surrounding her to increase humidity. That hasn't had any affect as far as I can tell. Then I repotted her into a slightly larger pot. Again, there doesn't appear to be any change. I may let her dry out to see if the tips straighten out. She has a nice root ball and I was expecting the roots to be circling around the pot but they weren't. So I think leaving the others as is will be fine for another week.

Here is MG8F's flower coming along nicely. On close inspection trichs are showing up on the calyses.

MG8F's stems showing the red coloring.

Tonight I'll be setting lights on 5 mins earlier and next week 4 mins earlier for a couple of weeks. The daylight time shift will lessen from 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 and then start moving in the opposite direction. I'm about 1 month behind the actual time in Malawi so the longest daylight day will be towards the end of January.

 

[HopHead]

Day 41 Repotting

I've decided it's time to repot. The leaves seemed to lose their vibrancy becoming dull. A little yellowing but primarily dulling. Because the soil wasn't freshly mixed but was previously used it's no wonder that it would start to show signs of being depleted of its nutrients. So, yesterday I mixed a batch of fresh soil with lots of goodies. See Post #1. I repotted all 11 plants to 4" pots stepping them up from the 2" pots except for MG10F who was in a 3" pot. The roots looked good on all the plants. The pots were full of roots with no circling around which kind of surprised me.

Repotted and back under lights. I raised the lights so as to give the plants a bit of time to adjust to the roots being disturbed. They weren't disturbed that much but I still expect the plants felt a little shock.

Now that the plants have more room for the roots to grow I'm expecting them to grow taller and start to spread by extending their branches. They have begun to branch but seem to be holding back. That should change now. I'll also be expecting the leaves to regain their shine.

At 41 days the grow maybe 1/3 done. It's at least 1/4 way through the grow. So a 2" pot for the first 1/3rd, a 4" pot for the 2/3rd and a 6" pot for the 3/3rd. Seems like it may work.

 

[HopHead]

Day 46

Plants are doing well picking up nutrients since the repotting and getting their luster back. Healthy green at all the tips of stems and branches. It looks like they're getting settled into the new soil and extra room the roots have to roam. I took height measurements 1 week ago, 5 days ago (the day of repotting) and today. I find the results quite interesting.

In the 2 days up to repotting the males #1, 4 & 11 grew 1", 0.5" & 1" respectfully.
The females #2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 &12 grew 1", 0.5", 1", 0.5", 0.5", 0.5", 1", 1.5" & 1" respectfully.

In the 5 days since being repotted the males grew 0.5", 1" and 1".
The females grew 1.5", 1.5", 1", 1.5", 1.5", 1", 2" & 2".

The males slowed down a bit while the females have sped up since the repotting. The females may catch up to the males if this pattern continues. The males are 20 - 21" tall. The females range from 11.5 - 14" tall.

The following pics were taken after I gave the females a shower. Each day I shake the pollen over the females so I thought it would be a good idea to clean them off. After I shake one of the males I wait a couple of hours before shaking the next male. I've been doing a rotation of who is shaken first. I figure all males will have the same opportunity to have their genes in the seed pool.
Here's a couple of pics of the 6 females who appear to be near identical phenotypes. Their branches are tight to the main stem not growing out yet. Their leaves are all very similar; the older leaves are wider than the newer ones and the color is fairly uniform. They are forming nice buds with lots of trichs on the calyces and now on some of the leaves. From left to right they are #2, 3, 5, 6, 8 & 9.

The lower leaves are yellowing and drying up as the plant prepares to branch out. Some people remove these leaves while I allow the plant to draw whatever it wants from the leaves. I give the leaf a very light tug to see if it comes off. If it doesn't then I wait for it to drop. The way I look at it is the leaf is like a factory the plant built and equipped with machinery and supplied with materials. After it serves its purpose the plant removes the machinery, materials and anything else of value to be used elsewhere. When everything of value is removed then the plant discards the dried up leaf. It can then breakdown and feed the roots. By picking off the leaves before they're ready to drop I believe the plant is being robbed so I leave them on until the plant drops them. When the leaves are completely dry the stem may still have value to the plant.

The buds are frosting up a bit. Looking pretty good.

It may not be apparent from the pic but the calyces are swollen with seeds growing. I'm happy to see lots of seed forming on all these 6 females.

Here's a pic of the other two females bordered by two females from the earlier pic for comparison. So from left to right they are #8, 10, 12 & 9. It appears to me that #10 and #12 are a little different from the other six.

#12 is quite similar to the other six but has darker green leaves than the other six. Her leaves have been darker from the beginning. Her leaves also seem to be a little longer and wider as well. I haven't measured them but I may do that in the future.

#10 is definitely a different phenotype IMO. She has narrower (more sativa-like) leaves and is the only plant with turned-down leaf tips. She has healthy green color with only the lowest ones yellowing. Her branches are growing out unlike all the others. She was the last to show any calyces and doesn't have any trichs worth mentioning. Seeds are not apparent. So she seems to be less developed sexually than all the others. However, she is the fastest growing from my measurements. In the last week she grew 3.5".

Turned down leaf tips and lots of branching out.

Not much in the way of flowering or seeding when compared with all the others.

It appears to me that #10 is showing truer sativa characteristics when compared to the others. I've thought from the beginning that the others had indica characteristics. However, I've read that Malawi Gold leaves are more indica shaped so I'll have to wait and see what happens with this grow and what the finished product will be. I suspect #10 will be the last to be harvested and may grow the tallest. It also appears to me that her branches may have to be supported.

Today, I adjusted the timer lengthening the daylight hours by 4 mins. Today, the lights shut off 2 mins later and tomorrow the lights will come on 2 mins earlier. The daylight is now 12 hrs and 39 mins. 12 more mins will be added and the the daylight will begin lessening.

 

[HopHead]

Day 53

Plants are looking good and healthy. Their growth has been stunted from the 2" pots so they are not stretching out now that they have been settling in the 4" pots. One exception is #10 who is the most sativa-like. She is not budding like the others and she is branching out unlike the others. She grew 3" in the last week. I've named her Queen Sativa.
#12 grew 1.5" in the last week and is very similar to the other six females with slightly larger and darker green leaves. I've named her Queen of Sheba. The other six females have each grown 0.5" in the last week and I've named them The Sextuplets. The three males are Tom, Dick and Harry.

Here's a pic of all the plants under the 430 watt HPS. I've set up 3 water basins with cloth over a frame of house wire acting as a humidifier. Humidity was in the low 40's so this set-up has raised it to approx. 60% at soil level and up to 45% in the room. At the end of the trays I've introduced a 150 watt CFL to represent the setting sun. This will come on around 15 mins before lights off and remain on for about 15 mins after lights off. It's always seemed to me that lights off is too sudden. The HPS starts up slowly getting brighter for maybe a minute before the intensity reaches its peak. However, the room goes from full intensity to complete darkness in an instant. The CFL is my attempt to imitate dusk. Another thing I've started to do is to raise the temperature to 25 C. The temp goes down to around 16 C at night and has been getting 21 - 23 C during the day. Now they will get 25 C from 10:00 to 14:00 and at least 20 C while the lights are on. The HPS heats up the room to 21 - 23 C. I'm not sure if the HPS would be sufficient to keep the temp high enough throughout the winter so I've set up a programmable thermostat.

Tom, Dick and Harry looking identical. They're all 21.5" tall and they're still pollinating the females. Not sure how long they will continue before being spent. I would remove them at this point if all the females were the same but Queen Sativa isn't flowering as profusely as the others and therefore doesn't have the seed count like the others. So I'll be keeping an eye on the males and will be collecting pollen from them in the event they call it quits.

Here's #6, one of The Sextuplets who is very indicative of the group's growth. They all have plenty of seed production and forming nice little buds. The trichomes are clear and still forming with no sign of clouding. It seems to me that the odour may have decreased a bit.

Here's #10, Queen Sativa. She is unlike any of the other 11 plants that germinated and matured sexually. She isn't budding up, rather she is still growing, branching and looking like what I expect a sativa to look like. I'm thinking her offspring (seeds) should be my next grow. I would like to clone her and breed her with her offspring. Especially, if she produces a male with her sativa traits. She is producing seeds but not in the numbers like the others.

Here's 4 seeds growing at this node. So dissimilar from the others.

I was thinking the other night about odours and trichomes. The odours aren't noticeable at the beginning of any of my grows; they develop as the plant matures peaking during flowering. Like most other plants I presume the odours are produced by the plant to attract pollinators. Something I noticed with this grow was the apparent increase in odour after the lights go out. So I wondered what the pollinator would be in Malawi. I would guess air movement would always play a part but is there specific insects that pollinate cannabis? Evening primrose for example opens its flowers at night for moths to pollinate.
From what I've read it's believed that the trichome's purpose is to deter predators. That makes sense to me for a number of reasons. They form when the plant starts to flower and totally cover the buds. They also fade after the seeds ripen. I used to have pet birds and I bought seeds from a woman who had a large number and variety of birds. Her seed mixes were species specific and I noticed cannabis seeds in my mix. I looked into cannabis seeds and found out it's an industry. Cannabis seeds with little to no THC content grown for bird feed. So I'm thinking birds would love cannabis seeds in the wild. The plants defense against birds could very well be trichomes. I bet they taste terrible to birds. Perhaps, it's only after they cloud over and turn amber that the horrible taste fads and the birds can enjoy the seeds. When birds eat seeds from a plant they don't destroy all the seeds. Some seeds make it through their digestive tract and are deposited with a little manure ready to germinate and grow miles away from their mother.

I love growing cannabis; still really enjoying this grow.

 

[HopHead]

Sunset In Malawi

Not really! Here's a pic of the plants after the HPS turned off with the CFL on. I took a lot of pics to try and get a true reflection of the light conditions but was unable. The pictures all came out brighter than the actual. This was the closest but still too bright.

I adjusted the timer to lengthen the day 4 mins. Daylight starts 1 min earlier and stays on 3 mins later. Total daylight time is 12 hrs and 43 mins. Next week I'll add 3 mins.

The CFL will also lengthen the daylight hrs. I'm thinking of doing the same thing for the morning; adding another CFL to come on about 15 mins before the HPS. I may set that up for next week.

 

[HopHead]

Day 55 Repotted

I decided to repot The Sextuplets and The Queen of Sheba. Their roots were showing through the drainage holes so they had filled the pots and were looking for more root space. They're well into budding so they shouldn't gain too much height at this point. They can grow 3' colas if they want; I don't mind. I put them in 6" pots with 6-7" of depth. The 4" pots were only about 3" deep so this will give them substantially more room. Queen Sativa will remain in the 4" pot to try and limit her height. She is still in the growing stage with a few flowers at the nodes but is not budding like the others. Her roots are showing and I'm sure she would like more room but I also feel she could grow 9' tall if given a chance. I'll keep an eye on her for any signs of stress and male flowers. I don't want to push her too much because she is special and I value her the most. Tom, Dick and Harry are slowing down their pollination so I think they are getting close to the end. I didn't repot them but I am collecting their pollen. When I get enough they'll be removed and composted. I'll use the collected pollen for Queen Sativa.

I took a pic of the roots and empty pots like I did when I repotted last time but unfortunately I didn't have the memory card in the camera. I didn't notice until after all the plants had been repotted.

Here they are repotted with the lights raised a bit until they get settled in. I'll lower the lights tomorrow.

So it appears to me that keeping the plants in 2" pots stunted them which is what I wanted. Now that budding is taking place and vertical growth has essentially stopped I want to provide the plants with whatever they want. I want the buds and seeds to ripen fully and healthfully. If roots appear through the drainage holes then I'm prepared to give them 8" pots. I doubt they would need 12" pots but time will tell.

 

[Mondstern]

Very interesting grow and I love your entries into your journal as well. Very pleasant to read. I am growing a Malawi too, but Mine is from Ace. I see you do not train yours. And you keep them in rather small pots to keep them from overgrowing your space huh. I have mine in 5gal and it is kind of a problem right now haha. I will share some pics of my grow tent later yo.
For now, this. Not a recent pic tho.

One thing I notice about Sativa especially pure ones is how they keep stretching beyond 3 weeks like up to 5 or 6 weeks. That photo was taken at week 4/5 flowering and now they are way beyond that trellis haha.

 

[HopHead]

Thanks Mondstern for your kind words. Glad to have a Malawi grower drop by. Your plants look good and healthy with lots of buds at the 4/5 week of flowering. Nice canopy. Malawi flowering time is reported to be 16 - 18 weeks so you may see a lot more growth. How many plants in the photo? Did you veg them first or go directly to flowering? The leaves are certainly sativa unlike my plants that are more indica looking. Queen Sativa has the sativa leaves but none of the others. I've looked online for pictures of Malawi Gold and there seems to by two distinct types. One has the sativa leaves like yours that I expected and the other has wider indica-like leaves like mine do. Some of the material I've read describes the leaves as being wide. So I'm a little confused and wondering if my plants are genuine Malawi Gold. I'm glad that at least one of my plants is definitely sativa. For all I know the others might be hybrids. I got the seeds from either Crop King or True North. The breeder is unknown to me.

When I'm growing a variety for the first time I tend to let them grow as they like. It gives me an idea of their characteristics. With 12 sativa plants under a 430 watt HPS I felt the easiest way to grow them would be to limit their size by keeping them in small pots. If I had them in an appropriately sized pot they would be too much for the available light and space. I would expect them to be leggy searching for more light and that would weaken them. So I'm very pleased with how this grow has gone so far. My primary objective is to get a seed bank and it's looking good for that. It's also looking good for some buds. The buds shouldn't be large like one would expect from a full-grown plant but 8 plants should yield a descent harvest.

It looks like you're using LEDs.

 

[Mondstern]

There are 3 plants in the photo. 1 Malawi of Ace, 1 Raspberry Cough of Nirvana and 1 Speedy Gonzales of Kannabia. Malawi is the most spread out due to the screen and training I gave them. So there is only one Malawi plant in there haha.
As a mattrr of fact Ace has been improving the landrace malawi amd got their breed to finish 10-13 weeks. I just chopped the top colas and now letting the rest fatten up for 1-2 weeks. Trichomes were mostly clear/milky almost no amber.
My lighting regiment has been 4 weeks 12/12 and 11/13 til finish.
And yes I use LED with total real watt of 400+. I use multiple panel since I didnt splur out alot of bucks at once but instead buying them one by one. Got 4 COBs, some led bulbs and 2 diy panels of red blue leds.
I forgot to take photos. Will do later k.
For now these are my lighting setup.

Also photo from that flowering week 4/5. I didnt start a journal for this run. Setup has changed recently due to another COB. So yeah Ima give you recent ones later plus the bounty photos hehe. Youre gonna love them buds pics.

 

[HopHead]

Day 60

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all.

Well, I may have reached the half point of this grow and everything seems to be going well. The humidity reached a low of 37% in the room while a 51% was showing at soil level. Obviously, too low so I removed my little trays of water with the cloths hanging over a wire rack. I went out to my outdoor garden and collected 24 bricks that were stacked out there. I brushed off any leaves and spider eggs and anything else. I soaked them in a bleach/water solution for 30 mins to kill any pathogens, eggs, etc. Then I rinsed them off, put them in the plant trays and poured in 1-2" of water. This raised the humidity in the room to about 40%. I moved a hygrometer from soil level to canopy level and got a reading of about 44%. This wasn't high enough so I set up a fan to circulate the air in the room. I positioned it so it would draw air from the plants rather than blow air towards them. I also misted the plants and the humidity at canopy level soared to 88% and about 59% in the room. This setup has now raised the humidity in the room and at canopy level to mid to high 50's. Much better. If I turn the fan off the humidity drops so I'll leave the fan on and monitor humidity levels. I plan to mist the plants once a week to clean off the pollen and clean the leaves as well as give them a high humidity moment. Here's a pic of the new setup. The fan is out of view but is to the left. You may notice another CFL in the foreground. That is the morning sun rising about 15 mins before the HPS turns on.

I've been collecting pollen from Tom, Dick and Harry this past week. I keep the pollen in a small vial in the fridge. It's almost full so I'm quite pleased because I didn't think they would still be producing at this time. I'll keep milking them to fill this vial and maybe half another vial. The full one will be stored in the freezer for future use and if I can get half another vial that would be used for Queen Sativa. Tom, Dick and Harry would then be composted making room for the others. Here's a pic of the pollen collecting utensils I use. The first thing I do is get the vial from the fridge and place it in the hole I drilled in the piece of wood. That holds the vial securely so it won't tip over. Then I tap the plant stalks over the tin foil, pick out any flower parts with the tweezers and tap them against the paint brush to shake off any pollen. By this time the vial has warmed up so I take the top off and put the funnel in and pour the pollen in. I tap the tinfoil against the funnel, use the brush to tap and sweep in as much of the pollen as possible, put the top on and then put it back in the fridge. Because the vial is cold when it comes from the fridge opening it would cause moisture to collect on the pollen inside the vial. Moisture will drastically reduce the life of the pollen so letting it warm up eliminates that problem. The room is 25 C so it doesn't take long to warm up.

A pic to show the relative size of the vial to a bic lighter.

Here you can see that the vial is almost full. One or two more days of milking should fill it.

Today I measured the heights of all the plants and compared them to last weeks measurements. Tom, Dick and Harry remain at 21.5"; no surprise. #3 of The Sextuplets has grown 0.5" while the other 5 have remained the same. The Queen of Sheba grew 0.5". And Queen Sativa has grown 6.5". She is now the tallest at 23" with no sign of stopping. She seems to be checked from spreading out horizontally by the pot size. Tonight I'll set the timers to lengthen the daylight by 3 mins to 12 hrs 46 mins.

The plants have a good color and lustre so the soil is full of nutrients and this makes me confident that the seeds should be healthy and the buds should be tasty. The buds are growing well and starting to fill in the gaps between the nodes. I will take some pics next week to show bud and trich growth. I love growing cannabis.

 

[HopHead]

Day 67

Everything seems to be going well here. I filled a 1ml vial with pollen from Tom, Dick and Harry. I packaged, labeled and stored it in the freezer for possible future use. I also have 0.5ml of pollen in a vial in the fridge for Queen Sativa. I removed Tom, Dick and Harry today and have them next to my compost bin. I'll cut them up and add them to the compost when I get a chance. They did their job and their genes are now growing in the many seeds developing in The Sextuplets and The Queen of Sheba and to a much lesser degree in Queen Sativa.

Outside temps have plunged which has lowered the humidity in the grow room. I've been misting the plants quite a bit this week to try and keep the humidity around the 50% mark. Queen Sativa absorbs the water on her leaves very quickly when compared to the others. I'm thinking that Queen Sativa is perhaps 100% sativa or at least a very high percentage. The others appear to be hybrids IMO. Their leaf tips were starting to curl up and down like Queen Sativa's as the humidity dropped in the room. With frequent mistings they seemed to straighten out. I've had company the last couple of days so I haven't been able to maintain the misting and leaves have gone back to clawing. Queen Sativa's really haven't ceased to claw. My thought is the leaves curl due to low humidity and Queen Sativa being the highest percentage of sativa is more prone to clawing. The others being part indica are less prone to clawing. I may get a chance to test this theory out later on. The misting seems to be enjoyed by the plants because they really shine after drying and the odour is strong and delicious; fruity, spicey and sweet. One thing I've noticed is the stigmata are very short when compared to a normal stigma. When these gals started to flower they had normal sized stigmata. I would shake the male pollen over the females every day saturating the female flowers. There's been an abundance of pollen for the females and because of that I think they figured out they didn't have to put much effort into growing stigmata; they would get pollinated with very short stigmata. I expect they diverted that energy elsewhere; perhaps to seed development. Plants are efficient and don't waste energy IMO.

I'm providing some pics of the gals to show comparisons and their general stage of development. The Sextuplets are growing buds and hopefully will fill in the spaces between the nodes. #5 remained at 12.5". The others grew 0.5". I believe that is the bud growth although it could be some stretching between the nodes. The Queen of Sheba grew 1" and is now 17" tall. She has a higher leaf to bud ratio than the others. Queen Sativa grew 4.5" and is now the tallest by far at 27.5". She's also the only plant that is in a 4" pot. I expect she's feeling constrained and is finding it difficult to grow at a faster rate like she would like. I'll try and keep her restrained until either she shows signs of nutrient depletion or she starts to form buds or The Sextuplets are harvested.

Here are 3 of The Sextuplets: #2, 3 and 5. Notice the clawing of the leaf tips; some up some down. Also, there's no branching; just buds. It would be nice if it fills in and looks like Thai Stick.

This is #3 with fairly dense buds that should thicken up nicely.

This is #5 with fairly good trichome production spreading to the leaves. Trichs are all crystal clear at this point.

Here's the other 3 Sextuplets: #6, 8 and 9.

Here's #8. Very short stigmata.

Here's #9. A couple stigmata of normal size that's become kinda rare. Trich production is pretty consistent among The Sextuplets.

For size comparison #10(Queen Sativa), 12(The Queen of Sheba) and 9. It's very obvious that Queen Sativa is a different species. She has differeny leaves, is branching freely and not budding yet. She was also the last female to show her flowers.

Here's #12 - The Queen of Sheba. Very similar to The Sextuplets except a little larger.

Here's #10 - Queen Sativa. The differences between her and the others are obvious. Trichomes are in their infancy beginning to appear on the calyces. I'll take some pics next week. I'd like to see her start to form some buds at this point. The longer she wait to do so the farther away harvest time is and the taller she will get.

Tonight, the daylight will last 1 min longer and tomorrow morning the lights will come on 1 min earlier for an additional 2 mins more daylight hours. Total daylight hours will be 12h 48m. Next week I'll add another 2 mins. The week after that I'll add 1 min to make 12h 51m; the longest daylight hr day. It'll stay at that time for 2 weeks and then start to decrease.

So, if everything goes according to plan, I hope to harvest The Sextuplets and possibly The Queen of Sheba when I see the first trichomes turn amber. There should be plenty of fully ripened seeds by that time. Depending on how soon that happens I may decide to leave The Queen of Sheba to ripen longer until there's more amber trichomes. As that time approaches, I want to take some cuttings from Queen Sativa to clone. I want the clones to remain unpollinated so pollination of Queen Sativa will cease. I would like to plant some of her seeds to see if there are plants with definite sativa-like leaves. Hopefully, there will be males with sativa-like leaves. I would then like them to pollinate Queen of Sativa's clones. Hopefully, that would lock in the sativa strain and add to my seed bank. It's still relatively early so anything can happen. Man, I like growing cannabis.

 

[HopHead]

Day 74

Here's a pic of the girls under the HPS. I put The Queen of Sheba in the center getting the best light with The Sextuplets surrounding her and Queen Sativa in the corner where she gets good lighting without fear of burn. With this setup the light doesn't need to be raised for Queen Sativa who gained 2.5" in the last week. She is now 30" tall and has slowed down. Maybe she's beginning to bud - I hope. All the others have remained the same height. The Queen of Sheba measured out at 17" with no height gain but I swear she added some bud at the tip so I don't know if my measurements were correct. The first thing I do when I check in on the plants is to pick up the pot to see if it needs watering and I rotate it 1/4 turn clockwise to try and ensure even growth. I've resorted to stacking bricks and 2" styrofoam to raise the shorter plants to level off the canopy. The outside temp got much milder this past week so the humidity in the room increased to the mid 50's - so I didn't have to mist the plants. I took the opportunity to take some cuttings of Queen Sativa and then paint her with some pollen from the fridge. I took her out of the room for pollination and tried to gently place her back in the room without spreading any pollen to the others.

Here's Queen Sativa with her curled leaf tips. She's slowing her growth due to being confined in the 4" pot I'm sure. I removed the 3 bottom pairs of branches and put them in the cloner. Node 1 had no branching just some leaf and flower growth which doesn't amount to much. Node 2 had small, thin diameter branches which I'm trying to clone but I don't expect to survive. I figured I would try and see what happens. Node 3 had better branches which may survive and Node 4 had even better cuttings.

Here's a pic of one of the calyces containing a seed with some trichomes starting to pop up on Queen Sativa.

Here's the cloner with the 6 cuttings after 48 hrs. I've tried different things when it comes to cloning and have never been totally satisfied with my results. I've never had a 100% success rate but usually end up with about 75%. Before getting the Turbo Kloner I had hit or miss attempts. With the cloner I've had better luck. So, for this attempt I'm trying a few new things. Each cutting was dipped in Clonex Rooting Hormone first. I used to dip them in water first and then the hormone. I only applied about 1/8" coating on the very tip ensuring to cover the slanted cut. I have scraped the stem in the past and applied hormone to the entire scraped area of the stem. The water in the reservoir was pH adjusted down to 5.8 and the temp was adjusted to 23 C. After placing in the cloner I misted the leaves, placed the dome and turned on the pump sprayer. I put the cloner under 4 4' fluorescents T8 bulbs and checked on them after about 30 mins. The lighting was too intense even 8" above the foliage so I removed 3 of the bulbs leaving the plants under one 32W bulb. The plants seemed fine with this setup. The next day I checked the pH - 6.3 and temp - 20 C. I then took each cutting and redipped the stem tips in rooting hormone. This time the gel was diluted 1:1 with water. I placed the cuttings with a drop of the hormone solution on the stem tip back in the cloner, placed the dome back on and allowed them to sit there under the 1 light without the sprayer for 30 mins. I checked one of the cuttings and it appeared to me that the drop had been mostly absorbed by the cutting. I then turned on the sprayer but unplugged the fan in the front of the cloner. The fan removes air from the reservoir which can cool and allow fresh air to be introduced to the roots - a very nice feature IMO. My reason for unplugging the fan was to try and maintain the temp of the water. So I'm unplugging it for the night and turning it back on during the day. The pump sprayer is on continually and the lights are on 18/6. I used to clone with 24 hr lights but I believe all living things need some sleep so I give them 6 hrs. I didn't trim the leaves this time as I usually do. I figured I could trim them later on if the need arose. I'll be monitoring these cuttings closely checking water pH and temp and the lighting. I'll be adding another T8 soon.

Here's The Queen of Sheba who is impressing me with her vigor. Unlike The Sextuplets she is producing more stigmata and appears to continue to grow. I think she has the potential to grow really nice colas with proper lighting.

And something I've never noticed before on any plant I've grown is trichomes on the leaf stems. Malawi Gold is reputed to have trichomes with long stems. You can see a few in this pic.

Tonight the lights in the grow room will stay on 1 minute longer and will come on 1 minute earlier tomorrow morning resulting in a 12hr 50min daylight day. Next week I'll add 1 more minute to make the longest daylight day before starting to decrease.

I'm hoping The Sextuplets will start showing amber trichomes soon so I can harvest them. With any luck they'll make room for the clones. That is, if the cuttings succeed in rooting. Here's hoping.

 

[HopHead]

Day 81

I had planned to take a lot more pictures but I woke up to find 1 tree down and another uprooted and leaning in the backyard. So today was cleanup day. Tomorrow will be another busy one; not sure what I'll wake up to.

Aside from the outside emergency everything inside is going well. The 6 cuttings are all alive and appearing to me to be capable of making it. I've split the cloning process into 4 day blocks. I'm changing the water in the cloner every 4 days vs every 7 days like I used to. It's paying off because the stems are looking healthy with little chance for pathogens to get a foothold. All 6 cuttings have new growth emerging from the tips. They are emerging very slowly but as they begin growing roots they should pick up. They are under 2 fluorescent bulbs and the dome has been removed for a few days now. I plan to dedicate an entire post to cloning to detail my methods. I think I've finally figured out a way that works for me. I'm hoping they don't fail. The yellowing is from the damage they suffered from the 4 fluorescent bulbs. A mistake that shouldn't have occurred. Other than that the leaves have remained green.

Yesterday was day 80, time to repot Queen Sativa to a 6" pot. She was holding on in the 4" pot, getting watered twice daily and not showing any signs of nutrient deficiency. Her roots were all going down and not circling but they were coiling like ringlets on the bottom. If I had been bottom watering I think they would have grown out of the drainage holes. I pressed on the surface of the soil before I removed her from the pot and it was very firm. Today, she looks eager, not wanting to waste a minute to have a better look at that ceiling up there. My hope is she's started to bud and wasn't just waiting for a bigger pot. She has a few seeds that appear to be almost ready to plant. The calyces have yellowed and are opening. I'll take pictures when I get a chance. One of the sextuplets has seeds that are peering out of their calyces as well. Here's a pic of the ladies during dusk. Queen Sativa looking down from above.

5 of The Sextuplets and The Queen of Sheba. They're growing stigmata again now that pollination has ceased. I wasn't sure if they had stopped flowering altogether because it took a few days for the stigmata to appear. The Queen of Sheba never really stopped.

Queen Sativa looking very happy in her larger pot. She has the potential to be a very beautiful and full plant. Hopefully, The Sextuplets will be finished sooner than later. The trichomes are still crystal clear so they probably have as many as 4 weeks to go. I hope no longer. If the cuttings take hold then I'm going to need the room. Also, it's going to be difficult to raise 7 pots up to hang out with Queen Sativa.

The base of Queen Sativa's trunk, roots are ready. "Give me some soil, buddy."

Tonight the daylight last 1 minute longer for a total of 12hrs and 51mins; the longest daylight day of the year. Next week it remains at 12hrs and 51mins and the week after will be 1 minute shorter. Not exactly sure what I will do if/when clones are added and seedlings from Queen Sativa are added. Do I backtrack the schedule or continue on? I'll have to give that some thought. I'm enjoying this grow in part due to Queen Sativa. Being my first sativa I'm trying to notice and understand the differences when compared to indica. Indicas start to flower and stop vegging from my experience, whereas this sativa started flowering as it grew. As the stem grew 4 flowers grew at each node. I think seeds would be dropped and germinating throughout the grow maybe making it a continual year round grow. Indicas die due to winter with the seeds germinating in the spring to start the process all over again. Is the sativa a perennial, I wonder?

 

[HopHead]

Day 82

I tried to take pictures of the seeds peeking out of their calyces like I described in the previous post. Queen Sativa was co-operative but I wasn't able to get pics of The Sextuplets. Their seeds are tucked in there and I would have to remove some leaves to take pics so that will have to wait. I've been looking through a loupe and the seeds look ripe. The calyces on Queen Sativa are turning from yellow to brown so I think they are viable now. She's being very helpful in my desire to plant her offspring beside her clones. Here's a couple of pics of 2 lower nodes.

 

[HopHead]

Day 82 for the Grow and Day 11 for the Clones

The intention of this post is to share my experience with cloning with the hopes that it may be of benefit to anyone who is interested. If it helps then I am happy. I started cloning in the 90's using a tub covered with plastic and using perlite and vermiculite as the growing medium. I used powder, or gel, or no rooting hormone, a mister and had them on 24hr lights. I've mainly used fluorescents for cloning; short, long, 1 or 2 bulbs. I've had lots of cuttings survive but I've also had lots of failures. I would always take more cuttings than what I needed because I knew they would not all survive. So, I've tried different things hoping to find a foolproof method. I like this latest cloning attempt and I think I have done a couple of things that will prove to be central to my success now and in future attempts.

STERILIZATION
So, the first thing I do is to compile everything I will need to clone. The 24 cell Turbo Kloner I have holds 1.75 - 2 gals of water. I add 1 cup of bleach, assemble it and plug it in. I run it for 30 mins to sterilize it and then pour the bleach solution into two 1 gal jugs for future use. I will use this solution to sterilize each time I change the water. I then fill the reservoir with water and turn it on for about 5 mins to rinse. I repeat this rinse to make sure there is no remaining bleach. Every 4 days, I repeat the bleach solution sterilization and rinse although I only run the bleach solution for about 5 mins and rinse for a couple of minutes. I think this step is very important and I think the 4 day repeat ensures a clean, sterile environment that eliminates any chance that pathogens can grow and kill the cuttings. I use the bleach solution or isopropyl alchohol to sterilize the cutting blade/knife and any other utensil that I use and rinse before using. It's much like making beer or wine. Anything that touches the beer or wine has to be sterilized.

When I sterilize I do not place the cuttings on the cloner. Rather, I place the dome over the reservoir to keep the spray confined. The clones would be damaged if sprayed with bleach; there'd be no pathogens but there'd be no clones either I suspect.


ROOTING HORMONE
So, in the past I've used powder, gel and no hormone and have had success and failure with all three. This time I only applied enough gel to coat about 1/8 - 1/4" of the tip of the stem. I make a diagonal cut on the stem, although the first cutting was cut straight across and set in the cloner before I realized I didn't cut it properly. I decided I would leave it to see what happened. It's rooting like the others. 24hrs later I inspected my cuttings and couldn't find a trace of the gel. So I took a small amount of gel and mixed it with an equal amount of water 1:1 and dipped the stem ends in the solution so a coating was visible. I placed the cuttings back in the cloner, misted the leaves, placed the dome on and allowed them to sit there with the sprayer off for 30 mins. I checked the end of one of the cuttings and it appeared to have absorbed the drop of cloning solution. I then turned the sprayer back on. I repeated this the next day both in the morning and again at night.

The next time I clone I'll sterilize a small test tube and pour a small amount of cloning gel and an equal amount of water and mix it well. I will dip each stem in the hormone solution when the cutting is taken and every 12 hrs for the first 3 days. In between applications I'll keep the test tube in the fridge. Day 4 will be sterilization day and a change of water.

NUTRIENTS
On day 4 after changing the water I add half-strength nutrients. First I adjust the temperature of the water to 20-23C and then add 1/4 teaspoon/1ml of Roots Excelurator and 30ml of Cloning Solution. This stuff is rather expensive and not necessary. An organic fish or seaweed fertilizer at half-strength would be fine I think. As long as there were no solids that might plug up the misters. I then adjusted the pH to 5.7-5.9. Four days later I repeat this step. Today, root development is obviously picking up so I added another 30ml of Cloning Solution. The next scheduled sterilizing is in two days so I will see if any cuttings are ready for soil and if any continue on in the cloner then I will repeat this step. I would probably add 1.5ml of Roots Excelurator and 75ml of Cloning Solution (full-strength).

MOISTURE
When I first take the cuttings I place them in the cloner and mist the leaves to keep them wet. I also place the dome on the cloner to keep the humidity high. After a couple of days I start removing the dome for 30 mins at a time. I want the cuttings to work to suck up water and feed the leaves for respiration. I think a little stress is good but I keep an eye open to make sure I don't overdo it. This sativa is used to high humidity in the subtropics so I'm not too concerned about mildew or mold. Indicas require a bit more vigilance. I then start to leave the dome off at night when the lights are off and after about 4-5 days take the dome off for good. So, this is what works for me but everybody's situation is different. Humidity, temperature, air flow, etc. all affect the environment so one should try to read the cuttings and adjust accordingly. They will let you know if you pay attention and with experience it will be easy.

TEMPERATURE
For cloning I try to maintain a 20-21C temp during the day and 18-20C during the night. I find the water stays in step with the room temp. Years ago I read a scientific paper on rooting plants and the relationship with temperature. Roots didn't develop at 10C, they were slow at 15C but they grew best at 18-20C. Too warm is not good and only increases the chance that pathogens will thrive.

LIGHTS
On this cloning I made a major mistake regarding the lights. Immediately after placing the cuttings in the cloner I put them under 4 4' T8 fluorescent light bulbs about 8" above the canopy. I checked on them 30 mins later and could see they were suffering. The lowest leaves had a dark green strip running down the centre of the leaf where the vein is. On either side the green was much lighter and all the leaves were slumping. They were receiving too intense lighting. So I removed 3 bulbs leaving one; much better. So, the yellowing in the pictures is the result from the damage on the first day. Otherwise, the leaves have kept their greenness; a sign to me that they have the nutrients they require.

I have the lights on 18/6 because I believe every living thing needs sleep/rest. Creatures require sleep or they suffer and start malfunctioning so why not plants? In nature plants do go through a period of darkness so I conclude they are engineered for rest/sleep from photosynthesis. Of course there are exceptions. The far north and south have 24 hr daylight so ruderalis very well may be an exception. The downside is they don't live long. Sativa and indica both go through a sleep/rest period; sativa's being half of the 24 hr day.

Here's a pic of the Rooting Hormone gel on the left with a small test tube and a small stir stick which can be sterilized and the tube can be kept in the fridge. In the middle is the Roots Excelurator and a 1/4 teaspoon. On the right is the Cloning Solution and a 30ml measuring cup.

These are the cuttings and as mentioned the yellowing is from too intense lighting rather than a lack of nutrients. Notice the yellowing is in the lowest leaves. Plants are so efficient; when under attack they sacrifice the lower leaves so that the newer leaves will survive. You see the same thing with deficiencies. When nutrients are lacking they cannibalize the lowest most expendable leaves. Because the plants aren't growing leaves they don't need much in the way of nutrients, at least for the first week. Their effort is down in the stem where they're allocating stem cells to grow roots; so they do need some nutrients therefore the half-strength fertilizer.

And here's a few pics of the roots emerging on 4 of the 6 cuttings. I took pictures of all 6 but some were too far out of focus so I deleted them. All 6 cuttings seem to be doing fine.

So, this cloning attempt is one I'm excited about because I think I've reached a higher (pardon the pun) level. The most important change in the way I clone is the 4 day sterilizing routine. This should eliminate loses due to disease. And I think the changes to how I apply the rooting hormone will be effective. In the past I applied too much rooting hormone which I'm sure inhibited the stem's ability to absorb water. With this method I don't see much wastage and the stems should absorb plenty of hormone over 3 days.

I fully expect to tweak the nutrient aspect to try and raise efficiency. Keeping notes and trying new things can lead to progress. Man, I love growing cannabis. What an interesting plant, and rewarding. I hope this self-indulgence will be of benefit to anyone who has trouble cloning.

 

[HopHead]

I just thought of a couple of points I failed to mention in the cloning post. I have trimmed leaves in the past as well as scraped the stem. When I say trimmed the leaves I mean give the leaves that haven't been removed a trim. I didn't trim the remaining leaves nor scrape the stem this time for one reason. Cutting the stem off the plant is a very severe operation. A near fatal operation. So I felt any further damage to the plant would just cause more emergency action on the part of the cutting. She would have to deal with a cut stem and no roots, a stem that has been attacked and leaves that have open wounds. I thought I would try and limit the damage to her. When I first started growing cannabis seriously in the 90's I was given a clone. So, I cloned her and grew her for years. She was a very good afghani hybride with an energetic high and quite powerful. She made you cough though, but she was very good. Anyway, I used to have to pinch her so she would fit in the confined grow space. Eventually, I didn't have to pinch her anymore. The plant adapted to the grow area. I figured she didn't like getting pinched so she adapted her growth so she wouldn't get pinched. I concluded her genetics changed to alter her growth pattern. Scientific studies of tree genetics show that the new growth at the top of a tree is different than the lower and older growth. Plants adapt and change their genetics quickly.

 

[HopHead]

Day 84 in Grow Room and Day 13 for Clones

Well, another day and new developments. Yesterday, I harvested 8 seeds from Queen Sativa. They were the 2 lower nodes on the central stalk that are pictured in Post #35. I took pictures of the seeds from the side and both ends(root and leaf) for my records. The pictures were taken through a microscope and I have some cropping and processing to do before I post here so it may take me a little time. I've heard it said that the sex of a plant can be ascertained by looking at the seed. I'll test that proposition. I planted the 8 seeds in 2" pots with freshly mixed soil and have them on a heating pad beside an east-facing window. I'm looking for sativa-dominant plants and more specifically sativa-dominate males to pollinate Queen Sativa's clones. I've decided I will continue on with the daylight schedule as it's progressing. I've read that seeds are sown in January and June in Malawi so this grow is pretty close to that model. Here's a pic of the 8 seeds and the pots where I hope the magic happens.

Today, I checked the cuttings in the cloner and decided 3 of them were ready for planting. So I planted them in 4" pots and placed them on the floor beside the cloner. They're about 20" below 3 fluorescent bulbs. I added the 3rd bulb yesterday because the cuttings were looking ready for more light. I'll move them closer to the lights as they settle in. After settling in they'll be moved to the grow room and get HPS lighting and be cut back from the 18/6 schedule to the daylight shifting. I'm planning on giving the clones more room for the roots than I did their mother. I'm curious if they'll show any effect of their mother's confinement in small pots. I expect not, but we'll see. Here's some pics of the roots and the clones in their new adventure.

So, my labeling method is the following:
MG - Malawi Gold followed by
10 - the order of germination (the 10th seed to germinate - in this case out of 12 that germinated and survived)
C - clone followed by
1, 2 or 3 - the first and best roots (3 cuttings were ready for soil, 1 had the best root development followed by 2 and then 3)
G - generation - when the seeds germinate they will be labeled according to the order of germination. Also, the G will be preceded by 1 for the first generation.
So, the first seed to germinate and survive will be MG10_1G1. If this plant turned out to be a female and produce seeds then they would become MG10_2G# after being sowed and geminated. This is my system of keeping track of plants, seeds, etc.

Yesterday, I used the remainder of the pollen in the fridge to pollinate Queen Sativa. Any pollination going forward will be from Queen Sativa's offspring/seeds to try and lock-in the sativa traits in her clones and maybe Queen Sativa herself. The pollen from the fridge had caked so I mixed it with a little water and pointed Queen Sativa's flowers. I don't know if that will work but I figured I would try it; nothing to lose. Today, I gave her a light misting to try and loosen up any pollen that may have cemented and will probably repeat the misting tomorrow. Oh yeah, almost forgot. When I mixed my soil yesterday I chopped up Tom, Dick and Harry who were sitting next to the compost bin. I brought Queen Sativa downstairs to the basement and shook the pollen from one of the males over her. I chopped up 2 males before realizing that I probably should use the last bit of pollen from them. I'd like to get more seeds from Queen Sativa for the seed bank. The seeds I'm looking for the most are those that will be pollinated by any of Queen Sativa's male offspring that are sativa-dominant. I'm also very interested in the other phenotypes; both The Queen of Sheba and The Sextuplets. The Sextuplets don't need any further work; they are fine as is but they are also not sativa-dominate. The Sextuplets and the Queen of Sheba are hybrids IMO; not sativa-dominant. I would like to back breed the Queen of Sheba because I think she could produce huge colas and I think the THC content is quite high. She'll be a future grow for sure.

 

[HopHead]

Day 88

Well, the good news is all cuttings are now clones. A 100% success rate which is a first for me as far as I can remember. So the methods I used during this cloning will be my go to. Here's a pic of the 6 clones.

This is C2 who is leading the pack with new leaves pointing up at the light. As I'm looking at these pictures of the clones I'm seeing what appears to be mildew. A little trace on this one, C2 but much more apparent on the next pic, C4.

This is C4 who is trailing and showing clear signs of mildew. I hadn't noticed that until just now. I rearranged the room when the clones moved in and I replaced the water in the trays with a humidifier. I set it at 50% and had 2 hygrometers set up. One showed approx. 50% for the room and the other showed approx. 70% at canopy level. I thought the 50% was probably more accurate and the 70% to be in error. Maybe they were both accurate. In any case I unplugged the humidifier and turned on the fan. Hopefully, the mildew will dry up and won't further threaten the clones. I'll have to do a closer inspection to make sure the other plants haven't been impacted.

This is #8, one of The Sextuplets who is quite indicative of the other five. They are all very similar in appearance and development.

Some trichomes and flowers on #8. The stigmata are once again growing now that pollination has stopped.

This is the Queen of Sheba. She's bigger than The Sextuplets and still forming buds.

The Queen of Sheba's main bud, lots of stigmata and nice trichome production.

A lower bud on the Queen of Sheba. The dried up leaves may be an indication of a high nitrogen content in the soil but I think it's more of a watering issue. The soil has what I consider a sufficient nutrient content for growing plants which may be a bit rich for these flowering ladies. The plants were confined in 4" pots and then given freedom of a much deeper 6" pot. I watered her along with The Sextuplets when they were transplanted which gave the pots some weight. Being careful to not over water them I waited for them to get lighter. As long as the pots were heavy I figured they didn't need watering. And because I figured they were getting closer to harvest time I concluded they were not drinking as much. Now, I think that the root ball was thirsty but not growing down fast enough to drink the water in the soil in the bottom of the pot. So, I think it's a little nutrient burn but mostly drying from thirst. There's a little leaf drying on the other plants but not as pronounced as the Queen of Sativa. So now, I'm giving the plants a good watering if the pot is light like I usually do but I'm also giving them a sip if the top inch or two is dry even if the pots have weight.

Here's Queen Sativa in all her splendor. She grew 4" in the last week and is now 35" tall. She was starting to yellow a little bit from being pot bound and running out of nutrients. I wasn't sure even though I was watching out for it. Her new growth was a lighter green compared to the rest of her so I wasn't sure if it was just a natural event and would darken with age or if she was running out of nutrients. Since the transplant she has darkened and all new growth is a nice dark green so she had run out of nutrients. She hadn't started to cannibalise her bottom leaves for nutrients because they are still a very healthy green. So, it appears I transplanted her at an ideal time. Keeping her as long as possible in the 4" pot to limit her height but not too long to put her health in jeopardy.

A couple of pictures of the top growth. Despite the curled leaf tips she seems very healthy to me. I like her shape and growth pattern and will be watching her clones to see how they do.

So, the bad news is that the seeds from Queen Sativa that were sowed 5 days ago have not germinated yet. Or at least haven't emerged from the soil yet. Not sure why. Could be that they will take longer to germinate. Could be they were not viable; too immature. Could be they should have been dried first before sowing. I really don't know. I will give them more time but I'll also keep an eye on Queen Sativa for more seeds. She does have more seeds on the way as is evident from this pic. I also have a vial of pollen from Tom, Dick and Harry in the freezer. Before turning to that vial I'll keep an eye on Queen Sativa to see if she'll develop more seeds and if she will start to make buds. Once there is definite bud production then I'll try the pollen.

And here's a pic of the crowd in Malawi (not really). Besides the Malawi Gold there's a few peppers growing.

So, the daylight remains at 12hrs 51mins with no change until next week when it decreases 1 minute.

 

[HopHead]

Day 89

Well I saw some amber trichomes today as I was searching for mildew. A welcomed surprise. It was hard to get a good picture but you can see some amber in this pic. 89 days is the length of time from when I sowed the seeds so the Sextuplets took just over 12 weeks from when they popped out of the soil.

All the Sextuplets had amber trichomes although those with dried leaves had the most. My guess is the stress due to dry soil may have sped up the process. I decided to harvest 5 of the Sextuplets and leave MG2 to continue in the grow room. I'm thinking of letting her grow to the end. The bud may depreciate but the seeds should fully ripen. I also decided to leave the roots intact of those harvested. I've considered leaving the roots before but it was always much easier to just cut the stalk at soil level. Because these plants are so small I figured this is as good a chance as any I'll ever have. So, I removed as much soil as possible while leaving as much of the roots as I could. The roots are in the paper bags to keep the buds clean of soil.

So now there is more room for the remaining plants. This will not last long once the clones start to take off. They're in 4" pots now and I may allow then to grow unrestrained to see how big they get. Maybe. I'm curious if the fact that the mother was restrained will have any impact. Probably not. I may keep a couple of them pot bound now that I think of it. The clones are in the forefront, MG2 is in the centre, the Queen of Sheba is to the left and Queen Sativa is holding up the rear with a few pepper plants on the right.

I couldn't find any amber on the Queen of Sheba and she is still pumping out new flowers so I think she'll be around for awhile longer. I expect I'll allow her to grow well into the amber stage to ensure her seeds are ripe. I may allow her to go to the end like MG2 just to make sure her seeds are fully mature. It would be a shame to harvest her and find out the seeds aren't viable.

The humidity level has dropped a little and with the fan on I don't expect any problems with mildew. One of the benefits of taking pictures for a grow journal is you may notice something that would normally have gone unnoticed. If not for the pictures taken yesterday I would not have noticed the mildew. That could have led to some disappointment.

I think it maybe time for a beer and a taste of indica to celebrate today's harvest. Man, I love growing cannabis.