Starting a Malawi grow

[blondie]

I am literally just starting a grow and wanted to keep a detailed thread going. Comments are welcome! I’m going to pop two beans, both Malawi. Father was a big strong raging male from a standard 10 pack. The mother was also from a standard 10 pack and was tall, thin/lanky, and finished in about 14 weeks. I seeded one bud and got 12 seeds from it. I have a ton of bud laying around so am only going to pop 2 beans and the rest of the space is going to be growing bok Choy, kale, peppers. Shit like this.

I mixed up soil months ago, though my outdoor summer grow using this mix needed something. Here is my mix and quantities. This mix does well, though I Have never really tried hard to maximize yield. I’m going to try and adjust the mix some going forward to increase yield.

Coast of Maine - lobster blend 1 quart
coast of Maine Penobscot blend 1 quart
fox farm happy frog potting soil 1 quart (usually I use coast of Maine potting soil)
earth worm castings 1 quart (usually less, maybe 1/4 quart)
perlite 1 quart , this depend on the soil and I adjust based on the feel
espoma tomato tone - 3 tablespoons
espoma potash - 1 teaspoon.
Espoma garden lime - 3 tablespoons.

I mix the above into a large 30 or so gallon tub and let sit for months. It’s roughly a gallon. hand toss it after each round of the mix above. Espoma is everywhere and easy. Coast of Maine is now much harder to get for me so I am going to be switching up. Fox farms and espoma soil are available easily, so thinking this is on the future.

Tonight seeds are put in a glass jar with paper towel.

 

[Hempy McNoodle]

Hi blondie,

Sounds awesome! Indoors or out? I have some Afropips Malawi seeds from TRSC. Are these the same thing? I only know of the Ace and Afropips. When you say "standard 10 pack" is "standard" the seed co's name?

Good luck with the grow!

 

[dubi]

Best wishes for your new Malawi grow blondie

Hi Hempy McNoodle, 'standard' is the way we name our regular seeds. Our Malawi line has nothing to do with Afropips line.

 

[Hempy McNoodle]

Best wishes for your new Malawi grow blondie

Hi Hempy McNoodle, 'standard' is the way we name our regular seeds. Our Malawi line has nothing to do with Afropips line.

Oh, duh! I should have known that since I have packs of Handuras Standard and PCK Standard.

Cheers!

 

[blondie]

Last night put my seeds into peat pellet after a 24 hour soak in the paper towel glass method. I actually should have transferred a bit sooner or just even sown direct Into peat pellet. The seeds popped some and I can see a bit of white root poking out of the seed shell. Don’t love touching the seed when it’s in this state. Should be good though. Took a pair of small needle nose plyers and gently extracted the seeds. End of the needlenose was used to poke a hole in the peat pellet where the seeds were placed. I’m expecting both these seeds to poke through any time. This is an indoor grow. 600 hps in a 4x4 tent. My bok choy seeds are up already, one lettuce poked up through the soil. A bit early for pics yet.

 

[blondie]

Things are moving along well in the grow tent. Both Malawi seeds popped and are doing well. They were transplanted last night into my self watering setup and actually grew noticeably overnight. All my green leafy veggies are also in good shape.

Wondering if if anyone has suggestions for additional Nutes?

 

[blondie]

My grow tent is starting to come alive. My two Malawi’s are growing, maybe a bit slow but they look good. Some greens are doing well. Most of my lettuce died for some reason though. I’m going to put down a few more seeds and try to get some to take.

 

[cough_cough_eer]

Good luck with your Malawi's. I just finished 2.I found them very challenging to grow. buds are kind of fluffy. I haven't smoked any yet, but I expect they will be better than the last run. I'm going to get more seeds, as third times a charm.
Looks like you have some catnip too.

 

[blondie]

Mother Frigger!!!! I have a massive whitefly infestation. I saw one flying and started looking under leaves. Eggs all over the place. I also see black shit under the Malawi leaves. I’m about to mix up captain jacks dead bug for the Malawi’s and a baking soda mix for my greens. Shitttttttt. I’m going to hand crunch all eggs I can find then spray. I think the bitches hitched a ride on my kale. It was freezing a few times before I brought them in. Guess that didn’t matter. Lesson learned. Hopefully i can recover. I don’t see any eggs yet under the Malawi leaves so hopefully none there.

No catnip, but some several Asian greens and spinach. I’m not sure what will survive this. I may need to cleanse the tent and start over.

 

[blondie]

Holy shit!!! Massive massive infestation. I was spraying white flies out of the air, no exaggeration. One would fly up I’d spray it til it fell. I did this maybe 30 times? Like playing old school duck hunt. Actually it was kind of fun at first.

Sooooooo many eggs. Luckily my plants are small so not bad to spray. Also fucking thrips everywhere. It’s a nightmare in my tent. I hope baking soda mix gets rid of thrips. I didn’t end up using captain jacks. I might rethink that though if the thrips aren’t killed with baking soda. Anyone know?

 

[Budz Lightyear]

Holy shit!!! Massive massive infestation. I was spraying white flies out of the air, no exaggeration. One would fly up I’d spray it til it fell. I did this maybe 30 times? Like playing old school duck hunt. Actually it was kind of fun at first.

Sooooooo many eggs. Luckily my plants are small so not bad to spray. Also fucking thrips everywhere. It’s a nightmare in my tent. I hope baking soda mix gets rid of thrips. I didn’t end up using captain jacks. I might rethink that though if the thrips aren’t killed with baking soda. Anyone know?

Spinosad. Then later a bunch of predator mites.

or petrol and a match. Do you have insurance? Lol

 

[Budz Lightyear]

I brought some outdoor plants in to a space one time,.. I've never done it again, I can tell you lol.
I've tried myself to battle through a full cycle with pests and by the end I just wished I had cut my losses and started over sooner. I had to anyway. The cycle was wasted because the plants had to battle which obv stunted their developement etc etc Waste of 12 weeks.). Either way, whether you start over or battle on I'd recommend Spinosad for the thrips and also predator mites . Also, you could mix coco into your pots at a rate of 2parts soil to 1 part coco to enhance root developement noticeably over soil alone Some Bat guano mixed in or as a top dress during bloom for organic bottled nutrients you cant go wrong with Biobizz (grow, bloom, top max) Some Epsom salt on standby in case of any mag def (I use in week 3 bloom before any show up). And a little touch of mollasses in the feed here and there always helps in soil grows
If you're starting over and going back to veg then I'd also reccomend biobizz fish mix (although the bio-grow is nearly the same) and also a little milk in your feed/waterings, 150ml per litre.

Hope some of this is of use to you ☺ If you dont mind I'm gonna pull up a seat and see how this goes ☺

 

[blondie]

I started the thread for everyone’s viewing pleasure.. just didn’t think it would be quite this interesting. I put yellow sticky trap up and after the soak I got two whiteflies on it already. I think my Malawi’s should recover as long as I can get everything killed. Might pull the plug on the greens though. Ill have to see how the next few days go.

 

[Budz Lightyear]

I started the thread for everyone’s viewing pleasure.. just didn’t think it would be quite this interesting. I put yellow sticky trap up and after the soak I got two whiteflies on it already. I think my Malawi’s should recover as long as I can get everything killed. Might pull the plug on the greens though. Ill have to see how the next few days go.

I'm gonna tag along for the ride I'd definitely reccomend the Spinosad. If you cant find it, you can buy it on ebay .around £15 plus postage, for enough to make 10 litres (2 gallons). It works as a spray and also as a root drench. The plants take it up and it then works systemically. Any pests that feed on the plant will die and also any that even touch it 24 hours after spraying will die as it attacks their nervous system. Really great stuff
I look forward to seeing the Malawi's progress ☺

 

[blondie]

Just finished respraying everything. I loooked locally for spinosad but didn’t find it. My captain jacks dead bug is labeled for thrips. So I used it for now. The little bastards were hiding under the lip of some of my containers, where spray would not reach. Luckily I noticed them and sprayed down the entire container, under the lip and all. I swept the floor of the tent then laid down a hail fire spray on the floor, lower part of walls, fan, Watering bin. I tossed a bunch of dead plants, dumped the soil outside then sprayed inside and outside the empty containers. Quite a bit of work. I was pretty happy when done until... literally I was going to zip up and out of nowhere a whitefly appears and flies around. Luckily it flew into the yellow sticky. I think that is an omen of things to come. We’ll see how this plays out. The plan is to respray with the baking soda mix in a few days for any lingering whiteflies or eggs. Then a day or two after spray with spinosad for thrips. What a monsterous pain. Don’t ever bring in from outside... read the above and decide if it’s worth it. NO.....

Budz thanks for the info. Any reason why not use captain jacks?

 

[Budz Lightyear]

.....
Budz thanks for the info. Any reason why not use captain jacks?

Only because Ive never used it, so I cant recommend it. Thats the only reason. I tried a few bottled sprays but nothing worked like Spinosad, so thats why I can reccomend it as it worked for me and would be my go-to solution for the problem.☺
i hear ppl reccomend Jacks, Dr Zyme and Ed Rosenthal's spray very highly, but I've never used them myself so cant say. Spinosad definitely worked amazingly well for me though ☺

 

[FletchF.Fletch]

Good news, Captain Jack's is Spinosad. 2 treatments 48 hours apart, applied when lights are Not on should knock things back if not out.

 

[blondie]

Man oh man. I’m on a fools mission right now. I’ve had to put on captain jacks three times now and still looks like I’ve got thrips. My Malawi’s have not recovered yet. I keep expecting to see new green growth but so far nothing. The thrip ,didn’t seem to make it to them, though the under side leaves have black dots on them. Some type of creepy crawly things I’m guessing. My greens that are supposed to be my winter stash are slowly dying off. I think that spray is more harmful than advertised. I’m going to slowly let the greens die off then restart. I’ll grab some jpegs here in the next day or two.

 

[blondie]

Well the greens didn’t die off but looking under leaves showed huge numbers of aphids. I tossed all my greens except two small lettuces. Sprayed the hell out of everything and hand killed any leftovers. My Malawi’s are coming along and starting to take off. In a week or two I’ll put down some more greens seeds and fill my tent space.

Anyone reading this thread... it’s not worth trying to save. Don’t ever bring in outdoor plants. Just don’t. I’m behind like month or two. I also somehow picked up some root gnats of some kind. That was short lived though, once I tossed the greens not much more action on the yellow sticky.

 

[RED 1]

Well the greens didn’t die off but looking under leaves showed huge numbers of aphids. I tossed all my greens except two small lettuces. Sprayed the hell out of everything and hand killed any leftovers. My Malawi’s are coming along and starting to take off. In a week or two I’ll put down some more greens seeds and fill my tent space.

Anyone reading this thread... it’s not worth trying to save. Don’t ever bring in outdoor plants. Just don’t. I’m behind like month or two. I also somehow picked up some root gnats of some kind. That was short lived though, once I tossed the greens not much more action on the yellow sticky.

I would do two things, at this stage to save them, because they are worth it
Indoor space has to cleaned, sterilised,even if you have to disrupt their daily light on cycle
Plants in the meantime, far away from grow space,can be showered,under leaves also, with water as they stand,2/3 as you clean up, but have ready new soil in smaller pots to transfer seedlings after final wash(you can wash off soil from roots before transfer},and, repot again at a later stage to develop a healthier root system
Under a cleaner environment,a couple of pot changes,I'm sure they will make till the end