Malawi Gold, Chamba, Organic, Daylight Shifting, 2017

[HopHead]

Day 95, Day 23 Clones(from the day I took the cuttings)

The seeds from Queen Sativa that I planted haven't germinated and are next to my compost. I dug up 2 pots to see if I could find the seeds but only found a piece of the outer shell. It's now obvious to me that the seeds were green when I planted them and they rotted. A lesson learnt. I should have allowed them to dry for a week or two before planting. And I should put them in the fridge for a couple of days as well. I collect a lot of seeds from herbs, flowers, vegetables, etc., but I always dry them for storing until the next planting. This time I was impatient; I wanted to get some plants to pollinate the clones and maybe Queen Sativa. So I'll have to wait awhile for new 2nd generation plants from Queen Sativa.

Here is Queen Sativa at 38" having grown 3" in the last week. That's less than last week so it appears she's slowing down. Starting to water more frequently, an indication her roots are filling the pot and probably and hopefully starting to increase flowering. She will be 14 weeks in 3 days so she should be harvested in a month according to my research. She is my first sativa so I don't have experience with their flowering period, but it looks to me that she will have to grow at least a couple of months before there are buds of any value. So, I'm expecting a couple more months which should help me in my quest for new plants from her seeds. I'll probably repot her to a 8 or 12" pot soon to allow her roots to wander and provide whatever the flowers want. Her leaves are a dark green and she appears very healthy but buds aren't noticeable to me yet. Would like to see some buds so I can use the pollen in the freezer to get more seeds from her.

Here's The Queen of Sheba at 18.5" having grown 0.5" in the last week. That growth is all bud and I'm wandering if it will fatten up like afghani does in the last 2-3 weeks. Watering regularly so she hasn't slowed down yet.

She's putting out lots of stigmata and the smell is very pleasant, fruity and sweet.

Lots of seeds, no sign of amber trichomes yet.

Here's MG2, the last remaining Sextuplet. There's very little amber trichome so far. I looked yesterday and found slightly amber so she has a little longer to go. Watering regularly, maybe starting to slow down slightly.

Still flowering, although slower than The Queen of Sheba and with stigmata tips turning brown/amber.

Here's the clones doing well. #1 and 2 are starting to stretch between nodes and putting out new vibrant leaves and branches. They're on the right and leading the pack. The others are 2-5 days behind the leaders. I think I'll put 3 in 8" pots and keep 3 in 4" pots for as long as I can; with a target of 40-60 days.

Here's a pic of the yield from 5 of The Sextuplets. I culled any under-developed seeds and composted them. I divided the remaining seeds into two grades: A and B. The A seeds are in the smaller containers and the B seeds are in the large container. I will keep the A seeds separated when I package and freeze them. I'll keep the B seeds in the fridge in case a friend shows up wanting a few seeds. Approx. 70% of the seeds are A and 30% B. Seed count (A) is: MG3 - 138, MG5 - 97, MG6 - 166, MG8 - 190 and MG9 - 130 for a total of 721. Seed count of B is 319 making a total seed count of A+B = 1040. That works out to approx. 200 seeds per plant. Considering the fact that the plants were only approx. 12" tall and unbranched that's a lot of seeds. I was expecting at least 100 so 200 is pretty good.

I ended up with 12 grams of bud which is very green and very fresh. The hygrometer read 77% when I opened it today after about 12 hrs. I tried 1 joint and found the taste completely different than the Afghani which is what I'm most accustomed to. I'm terrible at describing taste and smell and I'm not sure I can at this point. Being very green I'm sure the smell and taste will change as it cures. At this point what stands out to me is the smoothness and a rather clean aftertaste in the mouth. It's not menthol but that is the closest resemblance I can think of. It's not the taste but the feeling in the mouth. It leaves a bit on the lips you can taste afterwards. Wintergreen maybe. The high is a high not a stone. Energetic, clearheaded, light are what comes to mind. The high lasts about 2-3 hrs. This is my impression after smoking a half of a joint yesterday and the other half today. The bud was heavily handled to remove the seeds so, much resin was rolled off the fingers. I found it very resinous and I'll try and age it a little bit(a couple of weeks) before smoking it again.

So, at this point I'm very pleased with the grow so far. I'm disappointed with the loss of the 8 seeds from Queen Sativa but that is merely a setback. I should be able to get plants from Queen Sativa to pollinate her clones. It will just be a little later.

The seed count from The Sextuplets gives me lots of hybrid plants. The original seeds gave me 3 distinct phenotypes and one of them is safely harvested. The other hybrid ('Gigantica' or The 'Queen of Sheba') is looking very good for seeds as well. That bodes well for growing her again to try and isolate and lock in the 'Gigantica' trait. That should make for an interesting grow.

Queen Sativa is now my priority. Her clones can flower and hopefully produce some good bud if no sativa males pollinate them so they wouldn't be wasted but Queen Sativa isn't showing a significant seed count yet. There's a few seeds but I doubt she has more than 6-8 that look viable. I'm glad I froze a vial of pollen; I hope it still has life. I reset the timer to start 1 min later tomorrow morning so the daylight is beginning to lessen.

 

[HopHead]

Day 102, Day 30 Clones

Everything here is good, hope everything there is too. Queen Sativa grew 3.5" which is 0.5" more than the week before. Apparently, she's not slowing down. Other than that she's pretty much the same as last week. I looked for seeds and she has at least a dozen that are forming. There's a couple of calyces that are yellowing and opening so prospects are good. I'll try and have more patience this time. Brought Tom, Dick and Harry's pollen out of the freezer today and set it in the grow room. Tomorrow I'll pollinate Queen Sativa. She has a lot of stigmata overall but it's only 2 per node. So I'm thinking I'll dump the entire vial of pollen on a warmed piece of tinfoil. I'll probably wave a paper/fan/feather yea probably a feather to blow the pollen towards/over Queen Sativa. It'll be a one shot pollination done in the bathroom. I'm hoping to keep as much pollen off the clones because they're putting out flowers. That won't be easy if Queen Sativa is saturated. If any clones are pollinated then the seeds will be in the lower growth and should be easily picked off and added to Queen Sativa's 1Generation seeds. Hoping for the best. If the pollen has caked then it might be a lost cause. I'm hoping the heated tinfoil will warm the pollen enough to drive off any moisture but not too hot to kill them. The Queen of Sheba grew 1.5" so she hasn't stopped stretching either. No sign of amber trichomes on her and only a slight blush on #2 Sextuplet. She's had that 'slight blush' for a couple of weeks now. Thought she'd have much more by now and I could harvest her; not yet.

Was thinking about packaging my seeds today, but I decided I would just prepare for it. I'm expecting the arrival of a camera for my microscope this week so I'll wait until then before packaging. They'll dry a few more days. Then, I can take a few pics through the scope before sending them to the Arctic. There's a lot that look unripe and many that look very good. I estimate a 50% success rate overall. Some batches will have less than that, maybe 25% and other batches maybe 75-90%. In any case, I shouldn't have a shortage of plants.

I pack my seeds in 'heavy-duty' tinfoil. I make a little packet/pouch by first, folding over a sheet of tinfoil to make the bottom of the packet. I don't fold it even but rather, leave about 1/4" off the top to make a tab which makes it easier to open. I don't press the bottom flat. Then I cut the folded sheet into pieces about 2-3" wide. The less seeds the smaller and the more seeds the bigger. I fold over both sides 3 times so I take that into consideration when I cut my pieces. I fold over about 1/8 and then press the tinfoil as flat as I can. I used the bic pen cap this time but I've used my fingernail in the past. Then I fold over the edge again and again for the third time, each time pressing the tinfoil as flat as possible. When you do the same for the top the packet is reported to be water-tight. Before closing the top I press lightly to expel as much air as is practical and then fold and press like I did to the sides. I little air gets trapped inside which is unavoidable; the less the better. I identify the seeds with a magic marker on the tinfoil and a piece of paper in a tiny baggie. The marking may come off the tinfoil or may become illegible over time so the little baggie with notes eliminates any mix-up. The little baggie may be kept separate or bunched together into a bigger baggie with additional notes. In this grow I will package each plant separately, batch The Sextuplets together and then batch all of the seeds from this grow together. They then get placed in a padded envelope and put in the freezer.

Here's four of the six clones. #2 on the left is the tallest at 7.5". #3 on the right is the shortest at 2". #1 and 6 (pictured) and #4 and 5 are from 4-6" tall. They are looking good and healthy and starting to take off. The humidity has dropped in the room to where I'm thinking of turning the humidifier on. The mildew was stopped in its tracks when I turned off the humidifier and turned on the fan. Now that the plants are looking healthy and growing vigorously and the humidity has dropped I don't expect a mildew problem as long as I keep the humidity below 70%. A target of 60% is probably good for these gals.

Tomorrow morning the lights will come on 2 mins later so the daylight will be 12hrs 48mins long and getting shorter.

 

[HopHead]

Day 109, Day 37 Clones

Things are fine here. On Wed I harvested MG2, the last Sextuplet and MG12, The Queen of Sheba. Both were showing amber trichomes and I was anxious to make room for the clones. They're hanging down the basement with roots attached. I'll let them hang for 7 days and then clean them. Took a few pics with the new microscope camera even though it was a little difficult to get pics of the trichomes with them still attached to the plant and in the pot.
Here's a pic of MG2. Both plants have leaf tips that have dried out like the other Sextuplets. It seems that the amber trichomes develop at the same time the leaf tips dry out.

MG2 at a little more magnification.

Here's The Queen of Sheba. This picture is a combination of pics I took using an application called EDF(extended field of depth). It worked better on the first pic above but this one is kinda cool. It was difficult because the plant was balanced on a cushion and keeping it perfectly still was next to impossible. I'll take more pics when I clean the plants.

I took a few pics of the seeds for the record and here is one of them. I think the white seed ends might indicate immature seeds that may not germinate. Like I said in my last post I'm expecting about a 50% success rate with some batches as low as 25% and others with as high as 75-90%. These seeds are from MG3 and her seeds maybe around 25%.

Here they are ready for the freezer. The pill bottle will be kept in the fridge for easy access. They're the 'B' seeds from all the sextuplets.

The clones are racing now with fast growth, looking good. Sorry, no pics this time. They're from 10-13.5" tall having grown from 6-8.5" this past week with one exception. Clone #3, the slowpoke is 5" tall having grown 2.5" in the last week. I expect she will eventually catch up to the others. I had thoughts/plans to allow half of them to grow in larger pots but I think it is best to confine all of them in smaller pots so they don't outgrow the available space. I'm certain that the Queen of Sativa, 6 clones and whatever number of plants it takes to find a sativa dominant male will fill the available space and light. The peppers growing in there might be able to be removed once the temp outside allows for some periods of hardening off. That might start to happen in about a month. Wishful thinking. Queen Sativa grew 7" this past week and is now 48.5" tall. So much for slowing down. I think she has her eye on the ceiling so she won't get a bigger pot and will probably have to be fed some organic fertilizers to keep her well nourished. I pollinated her with the pollen from the freezer but it wasn't as I had envisioned it. The pollen caked so it wasn't powdery and couldn't be blown or waved over her so I mixed it with about 1/2 cup of water and sprayed it on with a mister. I think it may work. Time will tell. She seems to have quite a few seeds starting to grow so I think my last pollination attempt may have been successful. Here's hoping.

The daylight is shorter by 2 mins and next week it decreases by 3 mins. That's all for now.

 

[HopHead]

Day 126, Day 54 Clones

It's been over 2 weeks since my last post so I'll update what's been happening. MG2 and MG12 The Queen of Sheba have been processed and their seeds were put in the freezer today. MG2, one of The Sextuplets produced 279 seeds along with 241 seeds from The Queen of Sheba. There were also some 'B' grade seeds but less than the other 5 Sextuplets. So, I have 1000 seeds from The Sextuplets and 241 seeds from The Queen of Sheba with Queen Sativa still growing. She is finally starting to bud and her clones are budding as well, finally ! In the last two weeks there's been a lot of growth. Queen Sativa is 6' tall now. The clones are: #1 - 39", #2 - 41", #3 - 26", #4 - 37", #5 - 37" and #6 - 36". Hopefully, they will slow down now that they're budding. Queen Sativa's in a 6" pot and will remain there. I may have to start feeding her with organic fertilizers soon. There's no sign of nutrient deficiency yet but I will keep an eye on her. The clones are in 4" pots and will also remain in those. I was able to harvest 2 seeds from Queen Sativa and they have been drying for the last 10-14 days. Unfortunately, I didn't record the exact day of harvest. Today, I put them in the fridge to chill a bit. After a few days I'll sow them and hope for the best. If I'm lucky one will be a sativa dominant male. It doesn't look like Queen Sativa will produce more ripe seeds anytime soon. There are some growing but they're far from mature.

Here's a pic of MG2 and MG12 with leaves removed but before the seeds were extracted. The larger stick is the Queen of Sheba. The next time I grow her there should be a good harvest of bud. She's very resinous and I expect her to be a great producer.

MG2 & MG12 The Queen of Sheba

• HopHead
• Feb 27, 2018

Here are the sativas along with a few peppers. This picture and the next were taken after the HPS light turned off and the CFL came on at dusk. A truer color is possible that way.

Queen Sativa and clones

• HopHead
• Feb 27, 2018

And here is one of the clones with flowers starting to bud.

Queen Sativa clone budding

• HopHead
• Feb 27, 2018

I'll post a few more pictures when I get a chance. The Daylight has been reduced each weekend and now stands at 12hrs and 39mins. Last weekend daylight was reduced by 4 mins and will be reduced by that amount again this weekend.

All in all, things are going quite well from my perspective. The Malawi Gold hybrid is stacked away in the freezer for future grows. The sativa dominant is still growing with the possibility of producing seeds for future grows and breeding. And a little bit of bud is curing giving me a taste of Malawi Gold. My initial taste as reported earlier was from green bud. It's taste was probably a result of chlorophyll. That wintergreen taste has vanished now and the high has gone from about 2hrs to about 4 hrs. An energetic high and still quite clear-headed. It's what I was looking for so I'm satisfied. I expect a future harvest of seedless MG would be even better. When that happens I plan to cob it. That will be a future journal.

 

[HopHead]

Day 130, Day 58 Clones

Everything here is fine and I hope all is well with 420 Members; and everybody else too. The girls are all growing well and looking healthy. Queen Sativa is now 70" tall even though she remains in a 6" pot. I'm still waiting for her to slow down. She's budding so she may settle down. Yeah, right. If not then I may have to prune her top. I made a mistake in my last post when I said she was 6' tall. In reality she was 66" tall. Because of her branching which makes it difficult to measure her from the top of the soil I began measuring her from the floor and subtracting 6" for the height of the pot. In my last post I forgot to subtract the 6" for the pot. The clones all grew 4 - 6.5" and will probably level out due to the constraints of their 4" pots. They're all continuing to bud and the sweet, fruity aroma is once again scenting the house. I love it. Yesterday, I removed the 2 seeds (from Queen Sativa) from the fridge and sowed them. I'm hoping firstly for germination and secondly for at least 1 sativa dominant male. Not too much to ask for, I think. Whatever happens there should be some bud at the very least. Any more seeds from Queen Sativa look fairly distant and may not be ripe for sowing before the girls are finished. It may require another grow to get any sativa dominant seeds.

The timer was adjusted today to reduce daylight hours by 4 mins to 12hrs 35mins. It's impossible for me to know if the shifting daylight has had any effect on the plants but since the daylight has been reducing the flowering has definitely increased. I was somewhat surprised when I saw the clones flowering and actually leading the way to forming buds. I was expecting Queen Sativa to start budding first. I thought the clones would have to grow and mature before budding but that's not what happened. It seems that their time clock is in synch with Queen Sativa. I guess that makes sense but I thought it would have been reset when they were detached and put under 16/8. Or was it 18/6 when they were in the cloner? The grow room is dark right now so I can't check my notes. In any case, they apparently didn't reset but continued on the same time clock. Interesting.

Here's a pic of Clone#6. She's 42.5" tall and grew 6.5" in the last 4 days. The tallest clone is 45" tall and the shortest(C3) is 31" tall.

IMG_0947.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

And here's C6's developing cola. When looked at with a x10 loupe trichomes are visible. I'll try to take some pics next time.

IMG_0946.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

This is Queen Sativa and I find these node blushings interesting. When I germinated the seeds 130 days ago there was some redness in all the stems. Some were partially red with at least 1 that was red from soil level to the first leaves.

IMG_0945.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

I took pictures of the 2 seeds that I sowed for my records. This is a side shot of seed #1. If these seeds germinate and mature then I will try and find any correlation between seed appearance and sex.

MG10_1 side edf x2mag1.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

This is the leaf end of the same #1 seed.

MG10_1 leaf end x4mag.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

And here's the root end of seed #1.

MG10_1 root end x7mag.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

This is seed #2 side shot.

MG10_2 side edf x2mag3.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

Seed #2 leaf end.

MG10_2 leaf end x4mag.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

Seed #2 root end.

MG10_2 root end edf x7mag1.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 3, 2018

The seed pics were taken the same day that they were harvested. I'm thinking now that I should have taken more pics just before sowing to see if there was any noticeable difference. Maybe next time.

 

[HopHead]

Day 137, Day 65 clones, Day 8 next generation (date of sowing = day 0)

Well the 2 seeds germinated 5 and 6 days after sowing and look healthy. The lower stems of both are red from the soil level fading to mostly green about halfway up to the first leaves (cotyledons), the same as their parents. So now I'll be looking for sativa leaves and giving them the best light location to help them grow as fast as possible. I noticed the first flowers on the original plants on day 26 so hopefully I'll be able to tell the sex of these two in 2-3 weeks. Here's hoping for at least 1 male and for both seeds having sativa leaves.
MG10 is the mother(Queen Sativa), 1G is the 1st generation and 1, 2, etc. is the order of germination/emergence from soil. Before sowing the seeds I had labeled them 1 and 2 and they happened to emerge from the soil in that order.

IMG_0948.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 10, 2018

Here are clones #4 on the left at 51" (tallest) and #3 on the right at 39" (shortest). They both grew 8" in the last week. The other clones grew from 5 - 6.5". Flowering on all the clones and Queen Sativa is pretty much identical. Queen Sativa grew 4" in the last week and is now 74" (6' 2") tall. Moving her around to get pictures under good white light is difficult so no pics for now. I'll have to take pictures when the HPS turns off and dusk occurs.

MG10_C4, 3.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 10, 2018

This is the top bud on #4. She's really wanting some pollen; hopefully, that will start happening in a couple weeks. You can see some trichomes/frosting.

MG10_C4_1.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 10, 2018

This is the top bud on #3.

MG10_C3.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 10, 2018

The timers for the lighting have been changed to reflect a 12hr 31min daylight day, 4 mins less.

One problem that exists in the grow room is aphids. I've been ridding one of the pepper plants as best as I can for months now. This particular pepper plant is one of two that is my only source of that variety. They both have immature fruit growing and I'm planning to harvest their seeds so I can't just eliminate them. Oddly, the aphids have been scarce. I will spot 1-6 maybe and they are vary rarely congregating. It appears to me that that particular variety of pepper is not liked by these aphids. Perhaps the pepper is producing a poison or unsavory sap but the aphids don't thrive on it. So, I've been taking the plant out to the kitchen and squashing any aphid I see with lights and a x10 loupe. For the last couple of months or more it seemed to work in confining a small number to 1 plant. Yesterday, I noticed a few aphid communities on a different pepper plant that's obviously much more agreeable to the little critters. I did a quick hunt and no prisoners and separated the pepper from all other plants. This pepper plant is another variety which is my only source of that variety. So, destruction is not in the cards. My battle with aphids usually ends up causing damage to the plants and sometimes death. I've kept an eye out for any aphids on the cannabis and don't see any. I'll have to stay on top of this situation and hope for warmer outside day temps. I may be able to get rid of the aphids if I can take the plants outside to spray them with water, soapy water, mineral oil water, soapy water and then water to rinse them off. Repeated weekly this method should work. The problem is how it affects the plant, flowers and any seeds developing. Some plants react poorly while others do just fine.

I've had time to try out the MG bud for a few weeks now and I find it quite strong. It's not hard to get wasted so I just take a couple of hits. I find it rather harsh now; it wasn't at first. I didn't take much care in curing so that may make a difference in its harshness. All in all it's a good energetic high that last 4 hrs. It will be interesting to see if Queen Sativa is the same or different than the indica dominant hybrids.

Cheers, ciao, shalom.

 

[HopHead]

Day 151, Day 79 clones, Day 22 next generation

Hope everybody is good and your plants are happy. It's starting to look a little bit like a jungle around here. Queen Sativa is 78" tall, the same as last week after growing 4" the prior week. So it looks like she has stopped stretching and just growing buds. She's still in the 6" pot so I gave her some organic nutrients last weekend. No signs of any deficiency but she and her clones are losing the bottom-most leaves. That may be a sign that the time for harvesting may be closing in. It is over 21 weeks after all. I haven't looked closely for amber trichomes but from my infrequent scans I haven't detected any yet. Not sure what will happen if pollen starts to flow. I would expect the plants to extend their growth as long as seeds are developing. The seedlings are only 3 -3.5" tall and are starting to branch. I'll probably repot them into 4" pots this week to allow them unhindered growth. With any luck I'll know their sex next week. They are not looking like sativas but I'm hoping that will change. After I post this I'll go back and look at pictures of Queen Sativa to see when she began looking like a sativa.

I shortened the daylight by 5 mins today so now the daylight is 12hrs 21mins. The aroma is sweet and fruity; really nice. The aphids are behaving I think. I don't see many but the ones I see are removed. I haven't seen any on the cannabis plants so maybe they don't care for cannabis. One of the pepper plants has red, ripe-looking fruit so I think I'll get seeds no matter what happens. The outside temps should be reaching a level that will allow me to put some plants out to start the hardening off process. The cannabis won't go out, only the peppers. That will allow me to give them a good spray to clean them up.

These pics are under HPS lights so the colors are way off; I've given up trying to move them around to get white light. Queen Sativa is taller than the light so the top foot doesn't get any direct light. Doesn't seem to bother her. I was prepared to cut off the top but it doesn't look like I'll have to. The clones are raised about 1 foot so I can lower them when they get too close to the light which could be any day. The buds are very sativa, light and airy but there is plenty of trichomes so I'm expecting pretty good bud. If a male shows up then I'll have to figure out what I'll do. Seeds are the priority but I won't need seeds from 7 females so I'll probably harvest some of the girls and allow others to produce seeds. First I need a male. And I want it to be sativa-dominant. Time will tell.

This is the jungle.

IMG_0956_1.jpg

• HopHead
• Mar 24, 2018

Some of Queen Sativa's buds out of focus but you get the idea.

IMG_0958.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 24, 2018

And here are the next generation seedlings turning into saplings atop some ice cream containers to get them up to the light. They'll be lowered as they stretch.

IMG_0957_1.JPG

• HopHead
• Mar 24, 2018

Cheers!

 

[HopHead]

Day 159, Day 87 Clones, Day 30 - 2nd Gen.

Happy Easter wishes to all. Spring is here and the winter sleep is pretty much over. My favourite time of the year when nature once again displays her beauty.

​

The grow is proceeding along quite well. Queen Sativa and her clones are budding in locked step. I haven't been paying close attention to the girls for some time now. Watering, rotating and giving an occasional look through the 10x loupe to see if there's any change in the trichomes is about it. Today, I noticed a few stigmata are brown and the lower main leaves have been yellowing and being discarded for at least a week. One of the clones has substantial yellowing in the upper/newer leaves. I decided to repot the clones from 4" to 6" pots like their mother is. I mixed the soil today with the nutrients required for a normal start to finish grow. As a result the plants may find it too rich and show signs of nitrogen excess. The Malawi Gold is reputed to be a big feeder so they may be fine. They are probably getting late in the flowering and not needing much nutrients. The yellowed one will let me know. I'll watch her to see if she regains a darker green, which is what I'm expecting.

Here's the gang after being rearranged. I removed all the stacking except for the 2nd Gen which have to be boosted up for good lighting. I repotted them to 4" pots so they should stretch quite a bit fairly quickly. The colors are washed out but you can see the setup. On the right is a ripe red pepper that is finally producing some seeds for me. It's a rocoto de huerta from Peru. It's taken about 15 months. The plant has suffered from less than ideal conditions, aphids and distant light but it looks like I'll get some seeds. If she survives she'll get to go out into the vegetable garden for her 2nd summer.

IMG_0965_1.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 1, 2018

Here's the 2nd generation looking different from one another. 1G1 is a male showing 2 flower buds. He's a lighter green than 1G2 and the leaves are not as wide either. My first thought is that the leaves are indica but they may stretch and give a more sativa appearance as they grow. 1G2 is looking a lot like The Queen of Sheba. If 1G2 is female then I may very well put her outside this summer. Canada is legalizing this summer so I think I'll look around for an appropriate spot for her.

IMG_0963.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 1, 2018

IMG_0959.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 1, 2018

IMG_0960.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 1, 2018

I decreased the daylight by 5 mins to 12hrs and 16mins. Each weekend I'll be decreasing the daylight by 5 mins until the last weekend in May. Then the decrease will lessen to 4 mins for a couple of weeks and then 3 mins, etc.

So, I'm very pleased that there is a male and pollen will be let loose soon. I expect the pollen will be welcomed by the girls and they will respond by making seeds as a priority. At a 159 day grow so far how long will they perform? I'm hoping that the male will turn out sativa dominant. That would be perfect. If not then at least I should harvest some seeds from Queen Sativa and her clones. It would make for another grow to try and find male and female sativa dominant plants to try and lock in that trait. I love growing cannabis.

I will have to post some pics of the buds and trichomes soon.

 

[HopHead]

Day 173, Day 101 clones, Day 44 - 2nd Gen

Outside temps are inching up and the outside plant world is arousing from its slumber. Rejuvenation and garden optimism are alive and well here. I hope all things are well with you all.

Well, the Garden gods have been extremely good to me. So far, this grow has been fulfilling my aims and teaching me valuable lessons. Not mentioning the delicious aromas and energetic, pleasant highs. I'm looking forward to harvesting and tasting Queen Sativa. She's celebrating, no sorry, I'm celebrating. Maybe we're both celebrating her 173rd day. Please join in, the beers is the fridge. Her buds are fattening up a bit and she's accumulating quite a few of them. The trichomes are still crystal clear with no sign of amber. She appears to be ahead of the clones in that their buds haven't fattened up like hers. My thoughts are she's more mature and therefore she most likely has more flower capacity. Her height hasn't changed much. I haven't adjusted the height of the light and she is still the same distance above it as she was before.

The 2nd generation are doing fine. #1, the male is starting to drop his pollen and #2 turned out to be a female. Oh, them Garden gods thank you! I removed #2 and placed her in front of a south-facing window. She had started to produce flowers under the HPS so I'm curious if she'll continue doing so as the daylight gets longer. I put her outside in the shade the other day while the temp rose to 10C. I will harden her off and then plant her outside for the summer. How tall will she grow? This journal may go on for awhile I guess.

The daylight hours was reduced by 5 mins yesterday resulting in a 12 hr 01 min day. Daylight hours will continue decreasing until June 21(approx.) Surely, tell me Garden gods that the inside grow will be over. Please. No actually, do what you like. I want to learn. One clear message in my research on Malawi Gold was the unanimous one to allow an entire grow and not harvest early. "The extra wait is worth it."

It appears to me that the 6 clones are not identical. Two of them seem to have slightly larger and thicker buds. If I am so fortunate to harvest seeds from the clones then I will grade them. I love growing cannabis!

I tried something new with these pictures. I took them under the HPS and then tried adjusting the colour and tint to end up with a fairly true reflection of what the plants actually look like. I'm very pleased with the result. Hope you enjoy.

Here is my setup. Queen Sativa is in the back with her tip above the light shade. The male is in the middle of the 6 clones supported on 3' of ice cream containers (3). I will try and limit the amount of pollen that reaches Queen Sativa. I'd prefer to harvest seedless bud from her but it's not critical. The priority for me is to harvest good viable seeds.

IMG_0975_1 (2) color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

This shows how many plants are involved and the fact that they are still in 6" pots. Queen Sativa has branched out a bit giving her some spread while the clones are virtual Malawi Sticks; one stalk with buds. Man I like growing cannabis.

IMG_0976.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

This is the main stem of Queen Sativa which has surpassed the height of the lamp shade by 3".

IMG_0971 (2) color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

This shows the top 3" of the main stem which is above the lamp shade. That cola is still growing even though it receives no direct light. I presume it's a team effort.

IMG_0972_1.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

Here's a group of buds on the top clump of branches on Queen Sativa.

IMG_0966 (2)color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

And here's a pic of a bud fattening up on Queen Sativa.

IMG_0970_1 (2)color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

Some male flowers opening up. He must be in cannabis heaven. What should I name him? Solo? Yea, he's Solo.

IMG_0973 (2)color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

Many more male flowers to come.

IMG_0974 (2) color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

On the left is the female 2nd generation who is on her own now with an outdoor adventure on the horizon. On the right is Solo, the male. The leaves of both are reminiscent of the Sextuplets but may be approaching sativa-like.

IMG_0968_1.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

And to give some perspective a stout homebrew used as a sacrifice to the Garden gods. A quart of god's nectar. Cheers.

IMG_0969_1.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 15, 2018

It appears to me that the first leaves that emerge from these Malawi Gold plants are predominately indica shaped. They are broad, dark green and rather stout. As the seedling grows the leaves seem to narrow and lengthen to appear more sativa. The Queen of Sheba continued to have indica leaves while The Sextuplets had predominately indica and Queen Sativa had definite sativa leaves. My thoughts refer back to the developing stages of growth for most organisms that show primitive stages like us having a tailbone. Indica from Afghanistan/Pakistan area is supposedly the birthplace of cannabis. From there it spread around the earth dividing into 3 species; Indica (the original), Sativa and Ruderalis. So, it makes sense to me that a sativa would show early indica growth. Just a hypothesis.

This has been quite an interesting grow for me. Time to finish that stout. Cheers!

 

[Mondstern]

Awesomeness HopHead! Wow the Queen definitely stretched her limbs out. The high is surely fantastic. You grew them well. You even bred them out. If only I could do some breeding myself. I simply do not have the room for that.

 

[HopHead]

Thanks Mondstern. I appreciate your comments. I was unsure if I could contain the sativa but I think keeping them in tiny pots made the difference. I'm curious to see how tall/big the next generation female will grow outside. She won't be constrained in a pot. A friend and fellow grower visited and was impressed with how healthy they were even though they're in 6" pots after 160 days. This grow has reinforced my thoughts that the soil I mix is pretty good. I got lucky when 1 of 2 seeds turned out to be a male.

I wouldn't discount the possibility that you could do some breeding. People grow bonsai plants from trees. I can imagine growing cannabis, indica or sativa in a 2" pot and pruning roots to keep them small. I think it's doable. I moved Queen Sativa to a 6" pot thinking she had stopped stretching because I saw some flowers. I was wrong; she was still wanting to stretch.

 

[Mondstern]

That is my biggest issue with sat, pure sat because it does not simply stop stretching within 3 weeks of flowering. So yeah learned my lessons and also use it to my own advantage. I am currently sprouting a Golden Tiger for mother and luckily from 2 germinated 1 was vigorous from the get-go while the other was dead because I saturate the medium AGAIN after planting and I guess it died. But the silver lining is that the other one which survived has proven itself from the start. Yeah it is also my way of coping with the loss haha. But all good though.
So my plan with the GT is to veg it and take clones and go straight to flower after rooting. Advantage! Of course they will take forever to flower but hey in the end it is about the same with the indica or hybrid ones

 

[HopHead]

Day 179, day 107 clones, day 50 - 2nd gen.

Well, these sativas never fail to surprise me. Queen Sativa is pretty much unchanged. I expect she's producing some seeds but I haven't really checked her out or noticed any. The clones on the other hand are obviously producing seeds. They're also beginning to stretch some more. My thoughts are because pollen is becoming abundant they no longer choose to bud up. The buds have a lot of stigmata that would have a better chance of collecting pollen than if the stigmata were spaced out forming only at the nodes. By stretching out she's producing a lot of space between the nodes where there's no flowers. It's obvious to me that these sativas want to grow tall and like all plants want to produce seeds. When no pollen is available then it's time to increase the chance of pollination by stacking the stigmata. All the clones are stretching so I figure they have no intention on calling it quits anytime soon. Queen Sativa at 179 days and with her head above the light may be just working on maturing any seeds she has and then packing it up. It's hard to know what she'll ultimately do. I still have this thought that sativas could be perennial.

So, this is one of the clones that has started stretching again. You can see where the budding has stopped and the stretching begins anew. Some seeds are noticeable.

IMG_0977_1 (2) color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 21, 2018

Some more seeds on another clone with some trichomes visible.

IMG_0979_1 color adj.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 21, 2018

And here's the 2nd generation producing flowers while her daylight hours increase as she sits in front of the window away from her kin.

IMG_0980.JPG

• HopHead
• Apr 21, 2018

Tonight the daylight hours in the grow room will decrease by 5 mins resulting in 12 hr 1 min. I mistakenly said that last week. Last week the resulting daylight hours were 12 hrs 6 mins.

Mondstern, sorry to hear about your loss with the seedling. I find cannabis is not very forgiving when it comes to overwatering. Especially, when very young. I judge when it's time to water by the weight of the pot. And when very young I water sparingly and only around the edge where the soil meets the pot. I find it's better to underwater than to overwater.

 

[Mondstern]

Hey Chamba, is it normal for Sativa to go one-leaf mode? Or is that because of getting so near to the light?
I have seen such one-leaf appearance with also Sativa dom or pure.

 

[HopHead]

"Hey Chamba, is it normal for Sativa to go one-leaf mode? Or is that because of getting so near to the light?
I have seen such one-leaf appearance with also Sativa dom or pure."

Not sure what you mean "to go one-leaf mode" Mondstern. If we compare a leaf to a hand then we could say a leaf has 5 fingers. When the seedlings first start out they will often have a leaf that only has one finger. Also, the leaves usually come out as pairs - 2 leaves opposite one another at each node. As the seedlings grow they develop more fingers - 3, 5, 7 etc. Also, the leaves may eventually give up on pairing and develop one at a time alternating at each node. Perhaps a sign of maturity. When the plant starts budding and producing stigmata the leaves will narrow and the number of fingers will reduce to 1 or 2. This has been my experience with both indicas and sativas. I hope this might answer your question. If not, then a picture would help.

As far as "so near the light", the plant will let you know if you're too close to the light by burning. The leaves closest to the light will show burning and drying out but they shouldn't change their pattern as you describe.

Cheers.

 

[HopHead]

Day 200, Day 128 clones, Day 71 - 2nd Gen

Good morning 420 members. This grow just keeps going on with no end in sight. Solo is still producing pollen although he's slowing down. He's done his job and I'm grateful. I now have plenty of seeds from Queen Sativa and her clones. I suspect I'll harvest a couple of thousand seeds.

Queen Sativa is losing leaves which may be a sign that she's reaching her final stage. The leaves started turning yellow at the base and spreading upward. I haven't fed her any nutrients and I suspect she's used up the food in the soil so hopefully she'll take care of her seeds and then pack it in. She's 200 days old so she's performed wonderfully. Her clones are still green and not losing any leaves. They are still stretching their tips and not showing any signs of calling it quits yet. I'm checking trichomes daily hoping to see some amber but they're still crystal clear. I'm ready to harvest some bud but I'll try and be patient. The 2nd generation female is hardened off for the outdoors and has spent plenty of nights under the stars. I'm bringing her indoors when the temp drops to 5C. She has good color and looks very healthy and I'm starting to consider where I'll plant her. She is still producing flowers even though the daylight is getting longer. My conclusion is that sativas or at least this variety of sativa flowers once it reaches sexual maturity around 4 weeks regardless of the daylight length or whether the daylight is increasing or decreasing. I am still wondering whether sativas are perennials.

The daylight will lessen 5 mins by tomorrow resulting in a 11hr 46min daylight day. I am starting to consider adjusting the temperature to signal cooler days and nights. That may help to quicken the harvest date. Just a thought.

Here's a few pics from the grow room. I'll post some pics of the 2nd gen gal when she's moved permanently outside. Solo is in the middle front. His leaves are somewhat yellow but also covered with his white pollen.

IMG_0983.JPG

• HopHead
• May 12, 2018

IMG_0984.JPG

• HopHead
• May 12, 2018

You can see the difference between the buds and the stretching. The stretching occurred once Solo started producing pollen. The clones are stretching whereas Queen Sativa isn't.

IMG_0985.JPG

• HopHead
• May 12, 2018

The girls are producing an abundance of trichomes. Really packing them in. Beautiful.

IMG_0981.JPG

• HopHead
• May 12, 2018

The stigmata are quite short now that there's an abundance of pollen and the aroma is less prevalent as well. I love growing cannabis. Cheers!

 

[HopHead]

Day 208, day 136 clones and day 79 2nd gen

Hi folks. Well, today was a busy day. When I went in to check on the plants one of the clones had fallen over against a table. No damage but it was all I needed to cut them down and hang them to dry. The plants were all top heavy because of the big buds and small pots and had been leaning for the last couple of weeks. I've been able to adjust the pot in the saucer in such a way as to straighten the stalks somewhat but rather than start staking them I figured the grow had gone on long enough. I didn't take any pictures because of my busy schedule. I'll try and post pics after they dry for a week. Queen Sativa had to be hung horizontally because of her height. Solo was pretty much spent not producing much pollen anymore and as I removed Queen Sativa from the room he got tangled up with her as their branches intertwined in a last embrace. This grow has been great. I've learnt a lot and I harvested seeds (lots of seeds) and I will end up with a lot of bud. And it's not over yet. The female 2nd gen is outside starting her summer grow. I don't know where I'll plant her yet but I'm ready to. The weather is cooperating and we may be past the last frost date. And if there was another frost and she was in the ground she's small enough to be coverable. I took a brief look for amber trichomes but couldn't find any so they could have gone on longer. How much longer is anybody's guess. I certainly don't know. Sativa is certainly a different plant than indica.

The grow room was commandeered for this grow but is usually my brew room. Wasting no time I put on a batch of lager today because I must replenish my stores. I usually brew wine and beer all winter to fill up my yearly stash. It was getting perilously low so that's another reason why the decision to cut down the plants was easy.

Cheers.

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please feel free to start a new journal here: Journals in Progress

You can use the Report feature found at the bottom left of every post and we'll move it for you right away.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[HopHead]

So this is 3 months later and I'm finally posting the harvest results.

This is a pic from May after removing the buds from the stalks after they had hung for a week. I'm quite pleased with the harvest. The colas were not as big as I get with indicas but that was expected by me. I plan to compliment the 430 watt HPS with a 325 watt led this winter and then I would expect bigger colas and greater yields. Time will tell. All in all this grow was very successful IMO. I realized all my goals with this grow except for the fact that this Malawi Gold was not 100 % sativa as advertised.

IMG_0986.JPG

• HopHead
• Aug 22, 2018

The harvest reaped 2 liters of bud and a few seeds that dropped while cleaning.

IMG_0987.JPG

• HopHead
• Aug 22, 2018

This pic is from June of Queen Sativa's daughter in an 8" pot outside.

IMG_0993.JPG

• HopHead
• Aug 22, 2018

And this pic was taken today of Queen Sativa's daughter still in the 8" pot. She's approx. 6' 6" including the 8" pot.

IMG_1005.JPG

• HopHead
• Aug 22, 2018

I cleaned one of the 1 liter jars of bud and got 2200 seeds which are now safely tucked away in the freezer. The bud is really nice IMO. A clear-headed sativa high which a friend described as a head high with a bit of body stone. I just smoke a little bit in a water pipe so I haven't overindulged and I don't know how high I would get. I'm 65 and have smoked for over 45 years so I leave the overindulgence to others.

Queen Sativa's daughter has just recently started to stretch and is showing more flowering so I'm not sure what to expect from her. She's not in the best location and doesn't get as much sun as I would like but my options are limited. I may repot her to a 12" pot soon. She may be moved to a more hidden location soon as well. The first expected frost date is around the end of September so she has probably 1 month to do what she can.

Will post the final harvest.

 

[APAX]

Hi Guy's here's my Malawi (Chamba) growing at the moment, we still get them coming through South Africa but quite scares.