I've decided to set up a thread dedicated to 'Goldfinger' - my experimental cross of Malawi Gold X Flo. I've been very impressed with both strains individually, both possessing an extremely clear and anxiety-free sativa high, with very interesting psychedelic side-effects. Whilst the Malawi was quite a dreamy, trancey high, the Flo is penetratingly sharp and chatty, and noticeably motivational. Both have a very long duration too, with a smooth come-down. As I'm fairly new to breeding hybrids, it seemed like the perfect project from which to learn the basics.
Both strains have certain down-sides, which are listed below:
Malawi Gold:
1. Can be extremely leafy, with long fluffy buds that can become shaded from the light.
2. Susceptible to spider-mites.
3. Slow to flower - 14-15 weeks.
4. Resin only appears in the last two weeks.
Flo:
1. Generally low yielder with few branches.
2. Sparsely-leafed, which can inhibit bud development.
The goal with the project was to try and combine the favourable characteristics of the two strains, whilst eliminating some of the negative points by 'cancelling' them with each other. As Flo is an extremely fast but still sativa-dominant strain, I didn't need to worry too much about losing the high I was after, and could concentrate more on the physical and flowering aspects.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to incross to F2 this time around, so the plan was to try and find the best two females from a batch of seeds, in order to get an idea of the range of phenos possible. I used two Flo males, one purple and more sativa-dominant, and one green and indica-dominant (documented elsewhere), to try and introduce a range of physical phenotypes that might produce interesting crossing parents in future.
I sprouted 20 seeds, ten of each batch, and after a few weeks was able to select two good females. Sadly, both were from the #2 batch from the indica-dom male, which I think is quite weak in terms of physical dominance. I would have liked one of each batch, but there was little physical difference in my candidates, and so I picked purely on health and general vigour. And I think I still have a good enough idea of how the two strains mix from the examples I have.
Pheno#1 is spear-shaped, with a pronounced 'head' on each cola. The buds foxtail even more dramatically, and grow away from the main stem. Pheno#2 is more like the pure Malawi, with long tapering colas, with foxtailing buds held close to the main stem. Both phenos are still predominately green, with no purpling.
The goals of the cross (viewed from the perspective of the pure Malawi female parent) were:
1. Reduce flower time from 15 weeks to 11-12 maximum
2. Increase bud density, calyx size and resin production
3. Reduce bud leaf production
4. Retain profuse branching and long cola formation
5. Maintain a reasonable height for indoor growing
6. Produce a clear, stimulating high with psychedelic effects at high doses
So far, all seems on target, given the limitations I have of a drastically reduced deadline. These plants are just reaching ten weeks, and are on a two-week flush, starting last week. I aim to harvest these next weekend at eleven weeks exactly, and they should be done.
Now that I have to move house, my incrossing plans have been seriously interrupted, and I have to pack up the growrooms. It's unlikely that this cross would really flower properly outdoors in the UK, but myself and a few friends are still going to try it, just to see what happens! But as I need to see this performing in other environments, both indoor and out, I've sent a few batches of seeds out to a few folks, and hopefully they can try them out in other setups, particularly outdoors in much hotter countries than Britain!
I'm afraid I don't have any more spare other than the ones already agreed on, so please don't bombard me for more - there aren't any. But when these do get incrossed, then I'll see what we can do. Both phenos have also been pollenated with my selected 'MoFlo' male (just to make things even more complicated), and have a huge seeded branch each.
So for now, here's just some photos of the two phenos during most of the flower period - hope people find them interesting, and hopefully this thread will develop as other folks' plants get grown out:
Both strains have certain down-sides, which are listed below:
Malawi Gold:
1. Can be extremely leafy, with long fluffy buds that can become shaded from the light.
2. Susceptible to spider-mites.
3. Slow to flower - 14-15 weeks.
4. Resin only appears in the last two weeks.
Flo:
1. Generally low yielder with few branches.
2. Sparsely-leafed, which can inhibit bud development.
The goal with the project was to try and combine the favourable characteristics of the two strains, whilst eliminating some of the negative points by 'cancelling' them with each other. As Flo is an extremely fast but still sativa-dominant strain, I didn't need to worry too much about losing the high I was after, and could concentrate more on the physical and flowering aspects.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to incross to F2 this time around, so the plan was to try and find the best two females from a batch of seeds, in order to get an idea of the range of phenos possible. I used two Flo males, one purple and more sativa-dominant, and one green and indica-dominant (documented elsewhere), to try and introduce a range of physical phenotypes that might produce interesting crossing parents in future.
I sprouted 20 seeds, ten of each batch, and after a few weeks was able to select two good females. Sadly, both were from the #2 batch from the indica-dom male, which I think is quite weak in terms of physical dominance. I would have liked one of each batch, but there was little physical difference in my candidates, and so I picked purely on health and general vigour. And I think I still have a good enough idea of how the two strains mix from the examples I have.
Pheno#1 is spear-shaped, with a pronounced 'head' on each cola. The buds foxtail even more dramatically, and grow away from the main stem. Pheno#2 is more like the pure Malawi, with long tapering colas, with foxtailing buds held close to the main stem. Both phenos are still predominately green, with no purpling.
The goals of the cross (viewed from the perspective of the pure Malawi female parent) were:
1. Reduce flower time from 15 weeks to 11-12 maximum
2. Increase bud density, calyx size and resin production
3. Reduce bud leaf production
4. Retain profuse branching and long cola formation
5. Maintain a reasonable height for indoor growing
6. Produce a clear, stimulating high with psychedelic effects at high doses
So far, all seems on target, given the limitations I have of a drastically reduced deadline. These plants are just reaching ten weeks, and are on a two-week flush, starting last week. I aim to harvest these next weekend at eleven weeks exactly, and they should be done.
Now that I have to move house, my incrossing plans have been seriously interrupted, and I have to pack up the growrooms. It's unlikely that this cross would really flower properly outdoors in the UK, but myself and a few friends are still going to try it, just to see what happens! But as I need to see this performing in other environments, both indoor and out, I've sent a few batches of seeds out to a few folks, and hopefully they can try them out in other setups, particularly outdoors in much hotter countries than Britain!
I'm afraid I don't have any more spare other than the ones already agreed on, so please don't bombard me for more - there aren't any. But when these do get incrossed, then I'll see what we can do. Both phenos have also been pollenated with my selected 'MoFlo' male (just to make things even more complicated), and have a huge seeded branch each.
So for now, here's just some photos of the two phenos during most of the flower period - hope people find them interesting, and hopefully this thread will develop as other folks' plants get grown out:
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