Malawi in Urbs

These sativa sprouts feel like they grow extra slowly compared to the hybrids and indicas. I thought nothing was happening, but the photos tell a bigger story. Not only is there OK growth, but I clearly have two phenotypes. One has larger leaves and different coloration. The larger-leafed one is growing like crazy, the other seems runty in comparison. I ended up yanking most of the clover cover crop because it was on-track to overtake the Malawi. So far, the living soil seems to be doing OK, though the deficiencies always seem near.

Looking at those photos, you'd never know they sprouted on the same day. Same birthday, same medium, same tent, and very different plants. The big one got topped with a no- to light-defoliation manifold in mind. When using living soil, defoliation is a bad idea because the nutrients that are stored in those leaves are what's going to carry these all the way to harvest without adding any bottled nutrients. That big one has been showing signs of light overdose with a little bit of taco shelling leaves, but nothing else in the tent is doing that. I shrug my shoulders and move forward with my eyes open for change one way or the other.

Little weirdos, these ones. One is a brute, the other a delicate flower—both from the same pack of seeds, both sprouted the same day. The roots have clearly found the living soil and are eating it up. Color has improved, growth is noticeable each day. Both have grown into the first round of topping and LST. I'll be topping again this week, I suspect. I will need to get these girls into their own tent for the flip to 11.5/12.5 soon. Malawi has a tendency to never stop stretching, so they will not be getting twelve hours of daylight during flower. Fingers still crossed we have two females, especially considering that they are very different phenotypes.

Moved them into the big tent. Remember, both are the same age, one much smaller. Topped and recovered well. Flipping the light schedule for flowering. Growth is fast, as you can see in the photos.

Dropped to 11.5 hours of light to keep the infamous Malawi stretch in check. Not much to report other than all that growth you see in the photos compared to last week. No sign of sexes on either one yet.

Growth, lots. Color is great. No sign that the flip has triggered flowering, nor sign of sex. Top-dressed with some Nature's Living Soil concentrate.

Preflower bunching began this week. The little one revealed itself as male, so the remaining one gets the whole big tent all to itself. Room for me to spread her out. I like to use stakes and ties to make a grid rather than a screen/net that will just get cut up and thrown away. I can use the rubber-coated steel stakes forever without contributing to the landfill needlessly. I'll post this next week.

This plants suddenly needs Cal Mag every day. The color started looking a bit yellow last week, which you can see in last week's closeups, but the brown spots came on fast. Budding and growth has not slowed at all, however. I'm happy but vigilant. Note my stake and tie support grid. Much easier to deal with than a net, customizable and reusable. I hate the net.

Flowers bursting out everywhere. The nutritional deficiency is cycling. I may have damaged the living soil early on by using a non-organic PH down, which is known to kill the microbes. Either way, I'm using CalMag and an organic potassium booster. If I had not topped and tied these branches down as I did, this plant would be 38 inches tall. It's around 20, as is. Note that the main stalk split as a result of a vigorous tie-down. I wrenched it together with soft ties, and the plant doesn't seem to notice that it was almost mortally wounded.

Thirsty, thirsty creature, this one. So very many colas. These look like they're going to be huge. Huge for an indoor grow in a little tent, anyway. The cal mag deficiencies continue. I suspect that its needs are greater and different during this stage, so I'm not holding back. Note the beginnings of trichomes appearing on the leaves.

I pluck a few bad leaves every few days. I will not make the mistake of using non-organic PH down in living soil ever again. Those big colas everywhere are gorgeous.

Fatty, fat flowers. Very happy with the progress. The deficiency continues and I continue to fight it. She just grows and grows. I can't imagine how stuffed this tent would have been had the other plant also been female. No complaints.

She’s really sucking the life out of herself. The living soil has to be depleted by now. Adding more concentrate didn’t help, and I feed every day. Lots of potassium and cal mag. The leaves are all dying back and drying up, but the flowers look great. I checked trichomes for the first time today and there are nearly no clear ones left. Everything is good and milky. I am keeping my eye on the yellowing to make sure it doesn’t creep into the flowers. Giving her another week or two before the chop. No more feeding.

Photos go in chronological order for the past week. Flushing this week. Totally on auto pilot. The buds keep getting bigger and more gorgeous. The trichome coverage is looking great. I would normally harvest with all the trichomes showing as cloudy, no amber ones because I hate falling asleep involuntarily, but I'm letting it go maybe one more week to let those buds swell. I don't see the undesirable amber trichomes much yet, so when I see just a little bit more, the lights will go out for a couple days, followed by the chop.

Still flushing. Still on autopilot. I thought I might have harvested by now, but the trichomes are still holding at cloudy with almost zero ambers. I do not want amber trichomes, but there’s no problem letting this go a few days. The buds keep getting heavier and branches are starting to give way. I’ve tied up one cola and staked another to keep them upright. Next time is harvest, I promise. The yield should be fantastic.

I used Nature's Living Soil concentrate as a watering-only, organic method and suspect it could have been an older batch of concentrate. I had what looked like calcium and magnesium deficiencies throughout most of the grow. Many of the larger leaves never stayed green very long. The plant didn't seem to care and grew well anyway. I topped two or three times and utilized aggressive LST, tying down branches laterally. Every single branch became a cola, at least twelve, maybe sixteen. Side branching gathered closely with the main branch and essentially became part of the main. I supplemented with CalMag, an organic potassium booster, and hi-brix molasses. The winter humidity is so low, that it was difficult to maintain an RH over 45%, so the drying only took four days. What I normally would have trimmed off with scissors simply broke off with gentle taps of my gloved fingers, so 'trim jail' was only 45 minutes instead of three hours like it was with some of my other plants. The sugar leaf trim and massive pile of resin went into my shake supply waiting to be turned into ice water hash. This is a fantastic strain and fun plant to grow. This would be a fun strain to cross with Cinderella 99, but it's so great on its own, it doesn't need anything more to make its amazing effects better.