My first sativa grow - Malawi and Bangi Haze

[jeezooz]

Yeah, decided to take the plunge. Growing in coco, from seed in final 7 gallon fabric bags, in a 1.0m x 1.0m tent, with cheap LED units and H & G nutrients.

To stop Malawi from outgrowing the tent topped it above 4th node at 2 weeks and applied LST. Similar on Bangi Haze plus light defoliation. Flipped them at 3.5 weeks - both plants were around 8" tied down. Vegged under a cool white LED light, today (4.5 weeks) added the 250W warm white flowering unit. I think the strategy worked - Malawi is currently 10" high and all cola sites are nicely separated. Bangi Haze was under-vegged so not worried about her hitting the lights.

If there is enough interest here happy to document this grow. I have no previous experience with sativas, only a few reasonably successful auto grows.

 

[bibi40]

Good start mate !!!

 

[flylowgethigh]

I'm pulling up a seat to watch. I think I may try an Ace sativa run if the one I am starting now works OK.

 

[Legalcdn]

I grew the malawi and bangi haze. Just finished in january. Great plants.

good luck.

 

[JanKowalski]

Hi,
i finished my Malawi in January, and once topped, resulted in a medium size plant. Like you describe.
​​​​​I was able to keep her with other Ace ladies who were' nt sativa as Malawi. Manageable plant.
Happy growing.

 

[jeezooz]

Cheers for your encouragement (and czesc to Jan).

Bangi haze has already formed a nice flat canopy with a bunch of secondary cola sites nicely exposed to the light in the middle. I took off up to 10 fan leaves growing into the centre and also cleaned some bottom growth. One week after the flip she is showing tiny hairs so well under control.

Malawi was harder to train. Her stems get woody early and I even broke off one stem. My first Malawi clone haha. Will end up a bit out of balance but that is ok - with two plants under two grow lights I arrange them with taller colas on the outside and a saddle in the centre where light cones overlap.

Question: Malawi has about 8-10 nicely separated colas at the moment. Would you clean all other shoots or wait till more cola show?

 

[woolybear]

Very nice! You should keep it up, years later you'll be glad you did.

 

[jeezooz]

4.5 weeks into the grow both plants are buzzing.

Malawi is tied down hard and spreading laterally. I have almost manifolded her by strapping top side branches to bamboo skewers with Velcro straps. She seems to like very low nute levels and warmer tent, at least 20C or even 22C when the fan is on higher speed setting. One week since the flip no signs of preflowers just good vegetative growth. No defoliation needed.

Bangi haze is a bit bigger and more bushy than her sister. Light defoliation applied - fan leaves shading the bud sites and bottom level shoots taken care of. Very easy plant to work with. Early signs of preflowers, cannot wait to see her start shooting pistils.

 

[Podenco]

Keep them coming Jeejoz,

I learn a lot from other grows. And yeah in 3 years you'll be glad that you can find out how long they took to flower by looking at your own updates ;-)

P

 

[jeezooz]

Day 12F

Happy times in the tent. At last I managed to nail the environment for the ladies 21-24C lights off, 24-27C lights on and 55-65% humidity. Both have been trained to fill their half of the tent with Malawi kept tied down a bit lower than Bangi haze to control her stretch later on. The plants are still only 30cm tall above pot so should be good for headroom.

My standard feed is around one half of the recommended dose of H & G coco line but Malawi is happier with one third. Starting from late veg I add banana peel tea, partly because of potassium but also for pH balance - it brings my tap water down to pH 6. Both plants very thirsty, I water to runoff twice a week and top up with a half feed in between. The circulation fan is on low speed, the ladies did not like droughts.

I took off some more leaves to keep the lower colas exposed to light but these plants are easy to look after. Both beginning to show pistils so all is good!

 

[BigBlack]

be sure to check the thread on making cobs with those sativas when they're done.
great job with the girls so far.

 

[Common Sense]

I'll definitely be watching this. Should look interesting in a couple of weeks

 

[jeezooz]

Day 15F.

Full grooming service today - watered both plants to runoff, all ties readjusted, plants rotated back to front, very light trim. The side branches spring back when ties released so LST is getting less effective as they turn woody. The timing is about right because the plants have almost filled the tent so will let them loose vertically soon. Multiple secondary shoots developing on the main branches.

Adding banana peel tea to every feed now. Potato water (no salt) egg boiling water etc also go in, along with the seaweed extract now and again. Temps and RH within range so it is a waiting game now.

 

[dubi]

Welcome jeezooz And thanks for choosing our genetics for your current grow, much appreciated!
I see you diligently check all the growing variables, paying attention to details and to the the different feeding needs of each plant, well done!
That's the way to fully understand how to get the best for your plants.

​
Both Malawi and Bangi Haze look super happy entering the flowering stage. Best wishes!

 

[jeezooz]

Day 20F

Thank you for the kind words, dubi - this grow is so much fun!

Both plants flowering now, in fact Malawi seems marginally ahead. I bumped up the nutrient level in response to vigorous growth, Malawi running at half of the H & G recommended dosage, Bangi haze at 2/3.

This is hands down the best canopy I ever created. The main colas have all been pulled to the sides and I am currently
spreading the secondary colas to fill the interior. The pics do not give it justice but the tops of all colas - main and secondary - are at the same level. From past experience, my 7g coco pots take a while to fill with the roots but then the plants just take off so watch this space!

 

[jeezooz]

Here is the defoliating strategy I developed on my previous grows. Rather than trying to achieve a certain overall plant form I prune depending on the local leaf patterns:

• Typically I start by removing the leaves which are not viable - yellow, dry, touching the coco
• Then go the fan leaves at the top level growing into the canopy. This is strategic - to allow more light to the secondary bud sites below. I try not to remove more than two leaves per branch and one leaf growing off any node in one session
• 1-2 weeks into flowering (for autos) I normally strip all the funny small leaves growing directly off the main stems, mainly to improve the air movement
• Last two weeks before harvest I remove the large sugar leaves to help air the buds
• I take off a few leaves whenever I open the tent, rather than in one session

The final form I end up with is a bunch of columnar colas with no fan leaves and only small sugar leaves left on them, a few fan leaves sticking outside the canopy and a skirt of large fan leaves right at the bottom.

 

[woolybear]

Very cool to see I trained my current Ace plant like yours! Although you did it one node earlier, which I probably should've done. Mine reached the edges of the tent too!

Thanks for the update

 

[jeezooz]

Yes, it worked a treat in the end. This is my most aggressive LST ever, learnt heaps in the process.

Did you post pics from your grow? How was the smoke?

 

[jeezooz]

Day 24F

Last few days have seen some crazy stretch in the tent. It seems to be slowing now and both plants are a comfortable 0 5m - 0.6m height above top of pots. Malawi is the harder of the two to please but both going good at the moment.

Bangi Haze gets 25% my experimental organic liquid feed - will update the other thread soon

 

[NeDank]

Really nice looking plants