[zamalito]

Here's some pics of some ghanaian herb. It is very bitter and mouth numbing and needs a very long cure. Also with African strains they either need to be thoroughly flushed indoors or outdoors I like to girdle the stem removing 50% of the circumference on a 3-5" segment of stem at the bottom of the plant about a month before harvest. I know 50% sounds like a lot of stem to remove but the plants survive and carry on their life processes just fine without wilting. The plants act just as if they've been thoroughly flushed. It not only evens ripening but also improves the flavor substantially. The plants will also require external support. I discovered this accidentally after a rodent had girdled a large number of african sativas and hybrids about 6 wks before harvest. I thought the plants not going to survive but I kept them going. The ones that were girdled not only had a drastically improved flavor but also had increased resin and finished earlier.

Ghanaian Sativa

Thats very interesting info about girdling zam, indoors what would you consider a sufficient flush for an African like Malawi Gold or Swazi Redbeard as I am going to do those soon, I am expecting them to take 12-14 weeks so would you say a 4 week flush? Also, would you say African sativas like these should not be given any nitrogen at all in flowering?

hey herbalistic ...
we grew a bunch of african sativas a few years back ... durban poison , swazi , and transeki ..
id agree that with most there was something lacking .. but the odd plant did stand out above the others ..
we particularly had success with some of the swazi , and i really enjoyed the high .. quite shocked me actually how euphoric and tingly the high was ...
most of the plants didnt have solid fat buds , but again some swazi was really chunky ...
we thought the smell was like fresh carrots ... ive grown some seeds from columbian weed that was quite similar in smell and high ...

[Closet Funk]

African strains are a must for my collection. I'm trying to have strains from all over the world. I got a Ethiopian Highland Sativa crossed with a Indian Sativa. I also got some Afghoo crossed with Durban. The one African strain I want most is probally Malawi Gold and of course the infamous Black Magic.

[zamalito]

Bh, you def have more experience than I flowering under 250w lamps but in flowering I wouldn't use anything stronger than worm castings for nitrogen and no N after flowering growth is fully kicked in. I flush 3-4 weeks weeks before finish for smoking material. If I'm growing for seed I don't flush.

[Highlighter]

I've read elsewhere of you doing that girdling technique, zam. Essentially, you're removing the cambium layer? Might have to do a comparison try-out myself.
Have you grown out S.A. herb as well? Wondering just how much difference there is between the Ghania/Congo/Nigerian strains and that of the Durban, Swazi, Malawi ones. Such a vast continent, one would think the variety would be staggering. Great pics btw!
Alfred-cannaria, are your pics of something w/ the Uzbekisten in it? Such wide leaves for an african. Thanks for showing those!
Wally, thx for your input as well!

[Alfred-cannaria]

Highlighter, These Banguis has a parental Chitral (Pakistan), for that reason has some wide leaves. But the coloration is own of African´s Bangui.












Pics of a African´s lanrace, mozambique (Black Maconde). This one is a sativa "sativa".

[zamalito]

So far the the stem cores of the plants I have girdled were neither hollow or pith filled but more wooden. I meant to say remove 50% of the diameter not circumerence. Definitely be careful as there are variations in stem structure that are a result of both environment and genetics. Firstly I'd check the consistency and make sure it isn't the type of plant with one of those super delicate extremely hollow stems. Then I'd try to remove the material from a low spot on the stem where it shares more structural traits with the tap root which tends to be more wooden. I'd then scrape with a broken piece of glass removing the cambium layer. If after some time that doesn't appear to be restricting the nutrient flow I'd either remove a longer portion or go deeper. Its by no means an exact science and some plants seem very determined to transport those nutrients up the stem. If you feel you've gone too deep you can always bandage the wound with tape and pruning compound which does seem to help.

I actually wish there was another way but I personally feel with the african sats the quality of herb really is improved when you can pull a lot of the chlorophyl out of the plant before harvest but sadly when you're dealing with a monster with a huge root system there really isn't any other way to flush the plant that I can think of. I have heard that spraying the plant with plain water every day has been shown to pull a lot of nutrient and chlorophyl out of the plant but I've never seen it work.

[Highlighter]

Thanks zam! Also wondering if you followed thru making any "cobs"?

Alfred-cannaria, thx for the specifics! I'm growing out LMN's Angola X Banghi and 'Cantarela'. (Lesotho X Uzbekisten) Your photos are inspiring!

[Herbalistic]

Hola!!!

I would like to thank everyone for their input!! Im so happy to see that there was clear order to African strains thread

Zamalito, I havent never heard about the technique you use, but it sure does sound interesting. The same kind of technique im aware is to hit an nail through the main stem about two weeks before the plant is harvest ready. This will cause the plant pump much more resin and it ripes the plant little faster. Yeah, I know it sounds odd & harsh, but it really can help someone who needs to harvest his plants little earlier... Only thing with these kind of techniques is that they must been practised in the end of flowering. If you do it in the mid flower, there are great possibility that flowering takes longer & yeild suffers, because the plants need to heal themselfs! <- Oh really Thanks for the pics also! Those Ghanaian sativas look like they are perfect in small spaces indoors! -lol- What a trees you are growing man!

I would love to see your Africans in this thread Muddy!

I dont know did you notice Highlighter, but I have been visiting your thread already. Your plants look great and im sure they are going to look much tastier when they go into flowermode

It´s nice to see that you have accuired such a nice sativas after your incident British Hempire. Although your Nirvana Swazi is a hybrid, she really look like a sativa, so enjoy her when she is ready.

Mr Alfred cannaria, your Mozambiquen landrace looks very exotic and is very sativaish. I would love to hear more about this strain. Have you ever smoked her?

Nice that you liked your African herb WallyDuck. I love that energetic euphoria you got from many African sativas! (not from all) They really can go inside your head... Are you working any African lines currently?

You got quite nice bean collection Closet Funk! (not just the African ones) Have you smoked that highland Ethiopian yet?

I think the biggest difference in S.A herb & C.A herb is the psychoactivity. While S.A herb is quite energetic the C.A herb goes more into your mind. This is the info I have received from C.A friends. However, I believe there are many strains that aint known by many and mislabeled some other strain.

Ok, thats about it this time, let´s keep the good info flowin guys & gals!!!