Malawi Indoor- CFL/Hempy/3sqft space

[BCJohn]

I hope that the title makes sense to everyone...

I have had this grow going for several weeks now and it is time that I put up a thread for others to see and participate in. I would love to hear peoples thoughts and opinions on what I have done and how they are doing. I am new to growing MJ and could always use peoples experience to improve what I am doing. I am an experienced gardener but not with MJ and not with hydro.

So lets go for a short description:

• Tent- 3 sqft, adjustable grow height 12-24" depending on type of grow.
• Lights- CFL, adjustable watts from 23-276, max 460 but that creates heat issues.
• Ventilation- Active and passive. Internal circulation included.
• Air Filtration- DIY carbon scrubbers, one can be attached to the other along with an additional booster fan if smell becomes an issue.
• Nutrients- GH Floranova Bloom, 500-800ppm, changed once a week or so.
• PH 5.5-7.0 slow swing over 7 days
• Seeds- 1 Ace Malawi FEM started first, followed by 2 Seeds of Africa Malawi Gold

Lets go for some Pics and the story now that we have gone over the introductory information.


So I popped the Ace Malawi FEM on January 18th. Quick and easy. It started well and looked good for the first few days.



I was misting it regularly and did not feed it at first. When I started to add nutrients I kept it very light.Burn happened anyway. No matter how low I made it I kept getting burn on all of the new leaves after a few days of emerging. After losing 3 sets of leaves I ripped it our of the mini Hempy that it was in a transplanted it into the final container to give it one more chance.

 

[BCJohn]

Surprisingly enough it actually continued to grow and the nute burn got better for some reason. I don't know if I was having a PH problem and didn't realize it or what, but it resolved.



As you can see in the pictures I am not using a normal Hempy system. I have set up an automated Hempy. So here is a basic breakdown of the system... 13 litre hempy filled with perlite. I only had a fairly fine perlite so it isn't exactly what I wanted but it works. The bucket is connected to a 43 litre reservoir. Continuous bubbler in the res to circulate and aerate. Pump moves solution up to a drip hose that can be changed to different sizes as the plant grows. The pump is connected to a timer with 15 minute intervals so that feeding schedule can adjusted based on the plants needs.


So this is where I was at after 4 weeks... Not where I wanted to be.

 

[BCJohn]

Because of the slow and stunted growth I decided that I needed a little assurance that I would actually grow something... SO I popped a couple of more seeds; Seeds of Africa Malawi Gold. Cheap and very different from the Ace version but better than nothing, especially since I only had the one Ace seed. I have since gotten more but at that point I only had the Gold seeds as backup. Here is day 2 after pop. They are in 1 litre perlite Hempys with 1.5" soil caps. They were sprouted directly in the soil caps.



So I got them going and doing well. They are vigourous and grow quite well in the Hempys.




In just 2 weeks the Malawi Gold had outgrown the Ace easily.

 

[BCJohn]

Since then all three plants have continued to grow fairly well. I am not having anymore problems with nute burn or anything else really. I FIM'd all three plants once, and the MG a second time. I will likely top all of the branches soon to control the growth more. I have begun Supercropping all of the main branches as well. All in the name of growth control. If you look at a couple of the picks you will notice that I supercropped the stock on one of the MG as well. Pinched then bent over. It has been tickening nicely and I don't see any negative side effects yet. The first FIM didn't seem to slow the MG down at all, but it did cause the AM to hesitate for a couple of days before starting to grow again.

 

[BCJohn]

SOA Malawi Gold

 

[BCJohn]

Over all things are going quite well.



Now if I can just keep it going and control the growth at the same time.

I flipped to 13 hours of darkness over a week ago. They have begun to stretch and spread. I am hoping that by doing a lot of LST/Supercropping, and topping of the branches I will be able to keep the growth reasonable. Only time will tell.

 

[BCJohn]

I may have to cull the Malawi Gold. If that is needed then fine. I don't really care about them. I have 10 seeds that I can use later if I want. It is the AM that I wanted in the first place.

I might try to take a cutting of her to keep her going.

 

[tjo]

im happy for that you have better growth with AM..
my advices is to cull the others-like you said- and SCROG the AM
and no much nutrients...dont loose the game because of stretch
you space is enough to fill with buds with 1 plant.
good luck

 

[Claude Hopper]

BCJohn,

I've had other seedlings -and not just cannabis- that were stunted badly at the beginning. They do take a long time to catch up and generally never get as big.

This may be perfect for the smaller size of your grow; an unintentional but beneficial bonzai.

I like the recirculating hempy!

 

[BCJohn]

Thank you both for stopping by.
An accidental bonzai is exactly what I need. It is a small space to be working with when the plant wants to 10x the size I need it to be. But that is part of the fun. The challenge.

tjo, my original plan was to do a modified SCROG with the one plant and maximize my space as much as I could. It looks like I could go back to that plan. I have time before I need to actually decide, but decide I must. In another week I will be running out of space and I'll need to increase my lighting.

 

[BCJohn]

Update: all three of the Malawi have started to put out flowers and they are all FEMALE!!

So I took cuts from all of them and I pulled one of the MG out to reveg for a bit. It's just sitting in the window so it can do whatever it wants for a couple of weeks while I watch the cuttings and the flowering girls.

The Ace Malawi is actually stretching more than the MG I have kept in the tent. 10 branches are growing well but are still in control. It's about 10 inches tall and wide. Looking better than I expected. I topped the plant initially and all but a couple of the lowest branches. As much as they are still quite small I may have to pull the MG out anyway. There are a lot of weeks of flowering still to go.

I might try to see if I can reverse one of the cuttings and create some FEM seeds. I have seeds from Ace so I don't really need to but it might be fun. I'll have to create a second grow tent though. Cardboard boxes here I come.

 

[dubi]

Hi BCJohn,

It will be nice to see both malawi versions growing together, i'm glad the malawi fem is finally recovered, the seedlings look nice and under control Best wishes!

 

[BCJohn]

Thank you dubi,
It is interesting to see the differences.
The MG is darker in colour, with purple stems and veins. Leaves are wider as well. It started to flower faster but I'm not accepting that as anything since the Ace M was stunted for so long.

I have more pics that I need to post. Got to get to a computer though.

 

[BCJohn]

Update:

So here they are 6 days ago...


Ace Malawi


SOA Malawi Gold


Doing fairly well. The MG is clawing a bit which I don't like, but the AM is looking good.

 

[BCJohn]

Update:

And here they are today...




AM flowers forming and the stretch still happening.


And the MG. She is staying very small with basically zero stretch. I took cuttings from her and she never grew any further. Very strange since I was expecting her to grow like crazy.


Her flowers are nice so far at this very early stage. I'm just not happy about the clawing of the new leaves.

 

[tjo]

looks nice
maybe you have to lower the food.they dont need a lot.
how about the AM growth now?

 

[BCJohn]

I'm very happy with the growth. It is vigorous but not out of control. I am just about at the point when I will need to put in my screen to better control all of the branches. There are too manny for me to continue with basic LST. I need more control. Maybe tomorrow.

It is possible I am feeding the MG a little too much. It gets some well water which has a mixture of things in it. The AM gets distilled with nutes.

 

[unregistered190]

Looking good! Thanks for sharing