Malawi & Dr. Grinspoon

Soaked for 12 hours & then plated in warm, wet paper towel. Malawi popped in 24 hours. Dr. G took 48 hours.

Started very weak cal/mg additive at Day 5. Started nutes at 7 days - 1/3 strength building up to full strength by the end of the week. Dr. G is looking like too much/too little water but very low humidity is probably the problem.

Humidity is still low @ 25% - 32%. Humidifier is running in the tent to help but with winter heating . . .😬 Raised nutes to my mild version of maximum. Final ec is 1.0 - 1.1. (I use filtered city water around ec 0.36 so my meter reads 1.4 - 1.5). I switched to daily watering around Day 16. The Dr. Grinspoon has caught up to the bushier Malawi. They are both around 5" - 6". Btw the true wattage on my mixed system is around 600W when I have it cranked up. The SolStiks are mounted on strips of 2, so I can raise & lower each strip - and the main light - independently. I can also tilt the strips to penetrate the canopy when things get really cooking in the tent. This system lights a 3 ft x 4 ft area very well. In my last grow, it yielded 20 oz dry from 4 auto plants.

Growing very well. I am still battling low humidity, so I use a small humidifier in the tent to keep it >25%. I noticed some leaf issues (tips down & some prayer) which I initially thought were either the low humidity or light-related, so I raised the lights a few inches to keep them at 18" or so. Then it dawned on me it might be an excess of nitrogen since the Remo Magnifical cal/mag additive is 3-0-0 & this might not be living well with the Canna Coco nutes. So I stopped using it 4 days ago & things are improving. Slow & sure is always better . . . The Dr. Grinspoon is growing like a weed 😄 & it is @ 1" per day now - hitting 12". The Malawi was hardest hit by the N excess I would say, so it is only 7" but very bushy. I just reprogrammed my timer for 12/12, so today is the switch (28 days). Now let's see how big they stretch . . . 😎 Edit: After researching canna coco nutes some more, I decided to add the Remo cal/mag every 4 waterings - so twice a week. In my limited growing experience, you can't rely on filtered or RO water to deliver enough minerals. I have had the classic rust calcium deficiency on my first couple of grows. The GH Cal/mag additive is 1-1-1 so I will switch to it this weekend for more frequent use without an nitrogen spike.

They have been in 12/12 for 7 days with no signs of flowering. They are both still producing leaves. And they are growing well despite my best efforts to hurt them. I have been wondering about the leaf curl etc for a few weeks. I suspected very low humidity so I kept my humidifier rolling. I suspect a nitrogen imbalanced from my cal/mag additive. Well, I am embarrassed to say, that it was a pH issue. I changed the batteries on my pH meter & I didn't re calibrate. Stupid. And I didn't question the increase in pH Down that I was using. Double stupid. But thankfully, the plants are hardy & survived. They are now at a proper pH of 5.9 or so. The Malawi is 14" & the Dr .Grinspoon is at 23". Nodal spacing on the D. G is 6", double that of the Malawi. Edit: Day 36 - Supercropped the Dr.Grinspoon main stalk to start to even things out a bit. 😉 See picture.

All is well with the ladies now that I have calmed down with nutes & additives. I cut back to the Canna A + B only. They are not showing any deficiencies & they are growing well so that is when you should always just keep doing what you are doing. EC is 0.7. I could probably push them higher but I will just coast. I just started 3 litres per plant per day yesterday so they are starting to drink more. I continue to spot defol the monster fan leaves - particularly on the bushy Malawi. I have started positioning my side light strips (lowering, tilting, moving them out a bit) to get into the foliage with the main light riding straight overhead. This system seems to work really well & it doubled my tents output in the last grow, so fingers are crossed for the same result with this one. The Malawi is at 23” so I gave it a booster to bring it up to the same height as the Dr. Grinspoon which is at 30”. Supercropping the Dr. G. leveled out the top 3 bud sites nicely which was my goal. They have been in 12/12 for 2 weeks now & only the Dr. might be showing some pre-flower. I say might, because the new leaves that emerge are so thin that they look like flower pistils.

Day 49. 3 weeks after 12/12 flip. The Dr. Grinspoon is still expanding in all directions. If I let it, it would take over the whole tent. I have started to rope it over to one side to give its tent mate some breathing room. The Dr. G is at 42” & growing well. Still no real sign of flowering. The Malawi continues to grow nicely. Its central cola is at 32”. Certainly starting to move into flower with a lot of bud site development. I continue to do minor slow defol. It was business as usual with feed, temp & environment. You know the saying. “If it ain’t broke . . . .”

Day 59 from bean. 4 weeks since flip. The Dr. Grinspoon has started to flower now – in its own strange way. Not traditional buds but they are flowers. I had to get radical with the plant this week because it was still climbing up at an alarming rate. I supercropped a half dozen of the tallest stalks to try to tame it & keep the canopy even with its smaller tent mate. Speaking of the Malawi, it is flowering well with a tall central cola & a bunch of other bud sites. And it was steady as she goes for nutes etc.

They are both in flower. I just started a 7 day PK nute addition with 1ml/l of Remo Astroflower (1-6-11) to boost flower production. The Dr. Grinspoon is now over-topping my central light with a few of the stalks hitting 58". The stalks are fairly woody & my last supercrop attempt (last week) almost killed the stalk, so I am leery to keep doing it now. I have kept doing some spot defol to keep some air flowing into the middle of the mess of the good Doctor. Other than that, its just another boring week of flowering . . . Sorry for the low quality images this week. I loaned my camera to someone who went to sample some of Jamaica's fine herb . . . 😳

The Dr Grinspoon is truly a beast over 5 ft tall now. Both plants are flowering nicely with the Malawi just starting to show a nice fine coating of trichomes in all the right places. I am stopping the PK today. The Malawi looks as though it is just past mid-flower & the Dr. Grinspoon is . . . well . . . it is interesting. 😎

The Dr. Grinspoon is officially out of control. It has hit the top of my tent (ceiling height) so the plant is around 6 ft in height. Growing well & flowering in its strange way but totally out of control. I have had to play with the position of my 3 lights to get light on both plants. I guess I am learning the hard way that Sativas can be a challenge indoors . . . The Malawi on the other hand is flowering nicely. The trichs are swelling but still clear - and they probably will be for weeks to come. Not much smell from either plant, so these are both good for stealth.

No real change in the last week. Both are flowering well. I reduced the nutes for the Malawi by about 1/3 but kept the Dr G at around 0.7 ec. As you can see from the Dr G plant photo, it is a mess of foxtails with small feathery buds. It doesn't look like the pearl pheno . . . The Malawi on the other hand is nice & plump. Trichomes are still clear so no rush to harvest.

No changes. I am running 1/3 lower nutes on the Malawi. The countdown to harvest has begun with it. Trichs are still clear.

The Malawi is getting close - really close. The Dr G is . . . well . . still flowering.

Easy grow & it will be a good yield once it dries. The trichs were pretty much all cloudy on chop day. The main cola stalk & most of the secondary stalks were too heavy to self support. 😋 I am doing a dry trim with this. I cut the fans off but I didn't dig for them. And I hung the plant in a closet. Airflow will be tricky so I will keep an eye on it as it dries.

The Malawi has been harvested so I switched all of the lights to a vertical array on one side of the tent pointing at the mass of the Dr Grinspoon on the other. This way, the body of this beast gets some light. It's still flowering but not mature imho. I have started gradually reducing the light by 15 minutes every 4-5 days. I also started another blast of AstroFlower for PK. I want this plant to finish.

This is a catch-up week so my calendar syncs with Grow Diaries. See next wek for update.

Day 119 – end of week 17 from seed. End of week 13 since 12/12. Keeping the plant out of my lights has become a challenge as the plant bulks out. The buds are still flowering. I have been using AstroFlower as a PK supplement for 2 weeks now as a boost. To stimulate the plant to finish, I am also reducing the light. As of today I will be 11/13. I will drop another hour of light over the next couple of weeks – gradually with 15 minutes every 4-5 days to reduce shock.

Business as usual, which no real change. I will discontinue the PK supplement (AstroFlower) today. I will continue reducing the light on times & a slight reduction in water volume - to encourage it to finish!

Still flowering slowly. I included a picture showing calyx development. Other than that, its still growing . . . 😁

Very little growth now. Buds are still developing (see pic). So, business as usual for the beast . . . the 2nd pic of looking it the door attempts to show the size of this plant. It literally falls out the door whenever I unzip the tent.

Due to the state of the plant, I have started a gradual harvest. Some branches - particularly the ones that I supercropped early in the plant's life - are starting to die slowly - probably from the bent stalk restricting flow, especially with the weight of the buds dragging it down. The leaves & the buds dry out - starting at the base of the stalk. The buds are still green inside, so it is not bud rot, just the plant saying goodbye. Obviously, these branches are getting chopped to salvage the crop in the rest of the stalk. Big laden branches with lots of leaves & tiny airy buds. There are trichs but it is not a frost monster. If I do a conventional wet trim, the result is a laughable scrawny stalk. So I will do some wet & dry - I certainly have enough monster stalks to play with. The harvest will probably stretch over a week or more as I let other branches mature more. I will update this post with results etc.

OK now . . . I started harvesting some dying branches last week. Far too early but they had to go due to the creeping dryout that started on the (long ago) supercropped branches. I had put them on an all-water diet a few days before btw. But . . . I decided to leave the rest of the plant growing & just harvest as needed. I jarred 84 grams dry & a branch I gave away was 36 grams. Bear in mind, that this is very early harvest with little calyx development. But it gets you high! A wonderful crystal clear high, which is a good thing because it is a major pain in the ass to trim. After 10 days of stall, I decided to kick start the Mofo. I hit it with full nutes again & added the Astroflower for PK. I want bulk! We shall see . . . (the pic above shows the structure with multiple small foxtail buds coming off a horizontal branch.

My Dr. Grinspoon experiment continues . . . I am back on full nutes so running 1.3 ec with PK from Remo’s AstroFlower & the Canna. The die off has stopped, as I was able to open the plant up a bit by tying it back. The flowers are bulking up a bit – ever so slowly however. In the photos you can see a bud close-up, as well as a whole branch. If this thing ever comes in, I will have a a very good yield.

I cut the nutes this week as another signal to the plant that it is time. I cut the PK (Astroflower) completely & cut the Canna by 1/3. The buds are getting a bit plumper. Sloooowly . . . . I didn't tell the plant that its namesake, Dr Lester Grinspoon, died this week. RIP. 😢

Week 25 actually finished 4 days ago but I will update this with a plant picture. A large mass with multiple arms full of buds that just won't ripen. I have cut the nutes to .4 ec in 5 l of water. And the picture isn't sideways . . . the light is vertical in the tent.

Day 189. End of Week 23 of flower, end of week 27 of the life of the plant from seed. I am throwing in the towel with this & cutting starting tomorrow for a wet trim hang. The buds are still immature but they stink & they are very sticky. I am convinced that I am not giving the plant enough room or light for it to be happy enough to mature. The inner core of some of the 'arms' are dying out as air & light don't get in & the plants veins must be slowing down food dispersion. Anyways, I want the space for something else, so this has to go. I will update with a final harvest when it has dried.

Final harvest for the Dr Grinspoon. Total dry weight is 711.11 grams with probably another 150 grams that was waste. This will make a shitload of bubble hash . . . 😂 Over & out.