HopHead
Well-Known Member
After a 2 year absence I'm back to share this journal and hopefully learn from your experiences. Any and all suggestions, critiques, questions etc. are invited.
About 2 years ago I purchased a few cannabis varieties from a few suppliers and packed them away in the freezer.
On Oct 24, 2017 I removed the Malawi Gold seeds from the freezer and was pleasantly surprised to find 17 seeds instead of 10, which is what I had ordered. The seeds are regular; hopefully an equal number of male and female for my purpose of acquiring lots of seeds with as big a gene pool as possible.
I planted the 17 seeds in separate 2" pots with my composted soil. The pots were placed on a heating mat and placed in front of an east-facing window. The east-facing window wasn't a preference; it just happened to have the room for the plant tray.
Oct 27 - MG1 and MG2 germinated and had their first look around.
Oct 28 - I placed MG1 & 2 under 4' fluorescent lights (4 tubes). MG3-9 germinated.
Oct 29 - Placed MG3-9 under the fluorescents. MG10-16 germinated and were placed under the fluorescents about an hour before shut-off time.
Over the next 2 days MG6,13,2 &16 failed. Not sure why but I'm thinking they may have been weak or maybe the conditions were less than ideal. Temperature was about 17C at night and 19-20C during the day. A day temp of 25C would have been ideal according to my research. The soil wasn't too damp in my opinion but with this African sativa maybe it could have been dryer. The 17th seed did not germinate. In any case there are 12 sativas that appear strong and I'm looking forward to this grow. Yee ha !!
MY SOIL:I mix my own soil using a peat base. I use a peat based soil(no particular brand), compost from my basement garbage can(I have a plastic garbage can in the basement where I recycle my soil and houseplant debris), worm castings, seafood meal, blood meal, bone meal, bat guano, cow or sheep manure compost, wood ashes and lime. This soil supplies the plants with all the nutrients they need from start to finish without any need to fertilize. And the taste is so good. I don't like the taste of chemically grown bud.
LIGHTING:The seedlings are under 4-4' fluorescent tubes. 2 are T12's and 2 are T8's. Originally they were all T12's but as the ballast wear out I replace them with T8's. I am working on a dedicated grow room where the lighting will be either a 400W MH or a 430W HPS. I'll probably use the HPS because it is a horizontal bulb that gives more light than the vertical MH bulb. After this grow I plan to divide the room into a vegging room and a flowering room. I have my eye on a LED but I don't know if I'll purchase it for this grow.
DAYLIGHT SHIFTING:So, this will be new to me. I plan to alter the day length while the plants grow. My fluorescents were on a 12/12 timer from the very beginning. After 1 week I moved one of the pins of the timer to lengthen the day. I'm not sure how much actual time was added to the daylight but I'm guessing approx. 5 min. I'll take a closer look and try to figure that out. When I move the plants to the new grow room I'll be using a digital timer that will allow a more exact program. My plan is to try and duplicate the day length of Malawi. That means the days will get a little longer each week until Dec 22 at which time the day length will shorten a bit each week until June 22. I have a record of the sunrises, sunsets and day lengths for Nkohotakota, Malawi for a year. I plan to adjust the timer each Sunday to reflect the day length in Malawi.
MALAWI GOLD:I've done some research on this variety to try and understand its needs and wants so that this grow will be successful. My goal is to harvest seeds and bud; seeds being the priority with bud being a very close 2nd. So, here is what I've learnt online.
Temp - 25C day / 15C night
Humidity - high, sub tropical, high resistance to mold
Soil - fertile, organic
Water - long dry periods requiring watering
Height - very tall with many branches, Christmas tree shape
Flowering length - 14-16 weeks, even 18 wks
Harvested, dried in full sunshine and then packed in banana leaves (cobs)
Can adapt to almost any environment; very hardy and easily cultivated
To try and keep these sativas from growing too tall I will limit the size of the pots. If the plants are kept in small pots I hope the plants will be somewhat pot bound. This should limit the height as well as speed up the flowering. Time will tell.
Photos to follow
About 2 years ago I purchased a few cannabis varieties from a few suppliers and packed them away in the freezer.
On Oct 24, 2017 I removed the Malawi Gold seeds from the freezer and was pleasantly surprised to find 17 seeds instead of 10, which is what I had ordered. The seeds are regular; hopefully an equal number of male and female for my purpose of acquiring lots of seeds with as big a gene pool as possible.
I planted the 17 seeds in separate 2" pots with my composted soil. The pots were placed on a heating mat and placed in front of an east-facing window. The east-facing window wasn't a preference; it just happened to have the room for the plant tray.
Oct 27 - MG1 and MG2 germinated and had their first look around.
Oct 28 - I placed MG1 & 2 under 4' fluorescent lights (4 tubes). MG3-9 germinated.
Oct 29 - Placed MG3-9 under the fluorescents. MG10-16 germinated and were placed under the fluorescents about an hour before shut-off time.
Over the next 2 days MG6,13,2 &16 failed. Not sure why but I'm thinking they may have been weak or maybe the conditions were less than ideal. Temperature was about 17C at night and 19-20C during the day. A day temp of 25C would have been ideal according to my research. The soil wasn't too damp in my opinion but with this African sativa maybe it could have been dryer. The 17th seed did not germinate. In any case there are 12 sativas that appear strong and I'm looking forward to this grow. Yee ha !!
MY SOIL:I mix my own soil using a peat base. I use a peat based soil(no particular brand), compost from my basement garbage can(I have a plastic garbage can in the basement where I recycle my soil and houseplant debris), worm castings, seafood meal, blood meal, bone meal, bat guano, cow or sheep manure compost, wood ashes and lime. This soil supplies the plants with all the nutrients they need from start to finish without any need to fertilize. And the taste is so good. I don't like the taste of chemically grown bud.
LIGHTING:The seedlings are under 4-4' fluorescent tubes. 2 are T12's and 2 are T8's. Originally they were all T12's but as the ballast wear out I replace them with T8's. I am working on a dedicated grow room where the lighting will be either a 400W MH or a 430W HPS. I'll probably use the HPS because it is a horizontal bulb that gives more light than the vertical MH bulb. After this grow I plan to divide the room into a vegging room and a flowering room. I have my eye on a LED but I don't know if I'll purchase it for this grow.
DAYLIGHT SHIFTING:So, this will be new to me. I plan to alter the day length while the plants grow. My fluorescents were on a 12/12 timer from the very beginning. After 1 week I moved one of the pins of the timer to lengthen the day. I'm not sure how much actual time was added to the daylight but I'm guessing approx. 5 min. I'll take a closer look and try to figure that out. When I move the plants to the new grow room I'll be using a digital timer that will allow a more exact program. My plan is to try and duplicate the day length of Malawi. That means the days will get a little longer each week until Dec 22 at which time the day length will shorten a bit each week until June 22. I have a record of the sunrises, sunsets and day lengths for Nkohotakota, Malawi for a year. I plan to adjust the timer each Sunday to reflect the day length in Malawi.
MALAWI GOLD:I've done some research on this variety to try and understand its needs and wants so that this grow will be successful. My goal is to harvest seeds and bud; seeds being the priority with bud being a very close 2nd. So, here is what I've learnt online.
Temp - 25C day / 15C night
Humidity - high, sub tropical, high resistance to mold
Soil - fertile, organic
Water - long dry periods requiring watering
Height - very tall with many branches, Christmas tree shape
Flowering length - 14-16 weeks, even 18 wks
Harvested, dried in full sunshine and then packed in banana leaves (cobs)
Can adapt to almost any environment; very hardy and easily cultivated
To try and keep these sativas from growing too tall I will limit the size of the pots. If the plants are kept in small pots I hope the plants will be somewhat pot bound. This should limit the height as well as speed up the flowering. Time will tell.
Photos to follow
