Ace Malawi

[Tangwena]

Hi Sprinkle I agree, also the high from malawi is special I reckon 15 to 16 weeks if you want the narcotic effect as well. I find indicas to heavy couch locked. This stuff has you running around getting creative during the trippy high.
I also think ceramic metal halide is essential for sativas, the extra red and uv they put out keeps them compact. The buds I got were like I get in he sun running along the whole branch and dense for a sativa as well.
Tangwena

 

[boobman]

Tangwena:

Hey man, what a great thread. I am reading this for research as I have forty female seeds of Malawi and I am going to grow them outside far removed from each other. I have never grown out a sativa and this is truly going to be an education for me. I have been told that with an Australian summer these things will grow to 4 to 5 meters. Is this true? Right now I have to pay $25 for 1 small bud in a plastic bag and I don't know what strain it is so I want to go from that to having my own stuff that I didn't have to pay a ridiculous price for. Can you tell me anything about the end product? Is your opinion after you cured it that it was still dense? What was it like to trim up? What's the behaviour of the plant as it grows? Does it require tonnes of water and feedings? When do I plant in the soil mix outdoors and when should I expect to harvest outdoors? I'm in Western Australia. Thanks for your feedback. Enjoy your smoke.

 

[bushweed]

If I may respond boobman, I spent many years in WA and know the climate well - very hot dry Mediterranean summers, with sandy soils and afternoon trade winds. A lot of exceptional ganja was grown in West Oz when I was there, much of it South African, Indonesian and Thai. I also have some familiarity with Malawis, enough to know that they are a durable cultivar and can handle a variety of conditions, except they do originate from volcanic mountain ranges. So you will need to mix some aged organic shit into the soil - worm, cow, chicken, seaweed - not too much, and keep up the water over summer. Again not too much water if you don't want them to reach 5 meters (they may anyway). Ace Malawi will produce large dense colas that will eclipse any commercial you can buy in a little baggy.

 

[boobman]

Thank you bushweed. I was going to order bags of coco coir with all the additives and go out and use that. Maybe planting forty of these Malawi's is to much of a job. I think i'll scale that idea back. If you've grown that strain outdoors and you've seen them grow that tall, how was the yield? A good commercial strain...that's excellent to know. What was trimming like though on Malawi? Is it difficult to trim up? Thank you Bushweed. Have a good day!

 

[bushweed]

I'm familiar with Afropips Malawi which grows to 5 meters in NSW. I suspect the Ace Malawi will be smaller because it's selected for early flowering (along with large colas and a powerful narcotic high). It's also true that Malawi's flower earlier and more quickly than most landrace sativas. There's a lot of information on Ace's Malawi on their seed boutique vendor page. For Malawi's growing in Australia there is a thread called "Afropips Malawi Gold alive and well" that is worth a look.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=235967

Coco is good, but for outdoors some aged shit would help and is easy to find. If you want to do it right, and have 40 separate plants, it will be a lot of hard work, carrying, digging etc. But it is a healthy antidote to smoking and guerilla farmers are always fit and strong because of it. Done properly you might get 1-2 pounds per plant, but you have to accept the reality that you may lose half the plants along the way to various external factors - thieves, storms, police, marsupials etc. I'd be inclined to do fewer plants, better, it depends on what you want. For instance, 20 plants with a good hole and soil amendments for each one, with some rain catchment system if possible (pros use pipes and pumps - I'm not one) will produce more than you can smoke and pocket money besides. For personal smoke try 12, then you'll still get some males to ensure you have enough seeds for future seasons. You might also look into water crystals which retain water in the soil if it gets dry. Trimming is always a pain. For personal smoke just trim the fan leaves.

 

[Tangwena]

Hi Boobman everything bushweed said is spot on, I use aged cow shit manure, blended chicken and sheep, mixed in the sandy soil 50/50. I also dig a grave 1mtr wide by 500mm deep by 2mtrs long. Line with plastic sheet, punch some overflow holes halfway up from the bottom. I use a hand full of water saver crystals in the bottom per plant. Fill in the grave cover it with another sheet of plastic to keep moisture in, and plant 2 plants per grave. In the summer you need heaps of water, so I grow in the winter in the Pilbara.4to 5 mtrs no worries, but you can bend them over and tie them down 2lbs easy per plant.
I grow 3 or 4 at a time and its a lot of work and a lot of dope.
Tangwena

 

[boobman]

Those were excellent replies guys so thank you for your guidance. I can't get over that you can grow during the Australian winter? And then again in the summer. Yeah the water problem is there and so is the fire problem. I remember walking into home built water reservoirs that were above grown. Almost square small swimming pools is how big I came across covered in sticks. Pretty cool. I'll probably go for personal numbers now that I have had time to think. I also ordered some panama and taskenti on the advice of another member. Sure is cool seeing the buds from your pictures. Just to sound like a dumbass, what month do I plant these and what month should I expect to harvest in Western Australia?

 

[boobman]

I forgot to mention that the seeds I have are all feminised. I am preying that whatever I decide to grow, they will all stay as females.

 

[Tangwena]

Hi Boobman I will be planting my clones out end of March, but thats just because I am only going to be in the area then, earlier would be better, But I will veg them indoors at 18/6 for 3 to 4 weeks before planting them out. They should then flower straight away. In winter they should double or triple in size, but be under 2m by harvest end of July. Up north you get 11hrs good sun just about every day but not much rain at all.
Its just the same as having them under lights on 11/13. Only they taste better.
Tangwena

 

[Tangwena]

6 week cob cure

6 week cob cure

Hi guys for anyone interested in the cob cure method here are some picks of an early cob. The buds have started to break down almost rot, but not quite, it smells amazing very sweet, oily and sweet wood.
From this stage it goes on to mature into a very hard stick like a piece of biltong (beef jerky). You can cut it like salami and the buds have become blended to the stage where they are one.
The color will lighten to a golden red color as it cures further,
Its like smoking hash in a way but total sativa. You can carry little rocks around twisted in brown paper to mull up a spliff any time.
I hope you enjoy it. Also some bud pawn.
Tangwena

 

[boobman]

Very cool. So what do you do...you cut down a branch full of bud and roll it up and compress it in some kind of bamboo wrap like with a sushi roll? Then you tie it up and leave it to dry out. However many weeks later you undo it and its ready for a spliff? Is that also a good method to story it for longer than six months? Another option to glass jars?

Those dates you said back to me, is that for winter growing? If so when would I plant for summer? When would I cut down?

 

[Tangwena]

No mate that is compressed heads about 20mm thick I posted how to do it in my diary I think somewhere. It sounds like you need to practice a bit before you waste all those good seeds. You plant in the Spring and harvest in the Autumn ( April/May/June) you harvest when they are ripe not by the calender, some strains can be ready earlier than others you have to watch and observe your plant.
Saying that if you cheat nature by fooling the plant into thinking its summer, inside under lights, then put her outside in winter she will flower just as if you flipped the lights from 18/6 to 12/12.
You only need some warm sunshine the more the better. Hence growing north of the tropic of Capricorn if possible. But it will work further south they just wont get as big.
I hope this helps, but as bushweed said, try a few less to begin with they are really good seeds dont waste them.
Tangwena

 

[Tangwena]

cob cured malawi

cob cured malawi

Hi guys I have just opened a cob I have sweat cured for 8 weeks, from here she will just get harder.
At the moment the cob is as hard as a stick of beef jerky.
When sliced with a sharp knife the surface is shiny.
The texture is like fresh hash, you need to cut it you cant break it up with your fingers you just cut it into rocks and grind them together to break some crumbs off.
It smokes clean, and smooth. The rocks burn like charcoal or lumps of hash in a hooker.
No coughing or sore throats.
The smell is sweet mary jane, its the only way to describe it.
The high is sensational and very strong you only need 2 or 3 hits and matchstick joints.

For anyone interested this is how I do it.
I use green maize husks ( for the sugar content)
The buds are dried to just smokeable. (the storks dont snap)
I bind them up tight in the maize husk then leave them in a cool dark place for 2 days. This gets the microbes working on the fermentation.
Then I vacuum seal them in plastic bag for 2 weeks. Stored in a cool dark place.
After 2 weeks sweating I remove them from the vacuum sealed bag and allow them fresh air to breath.
I keep them a further 4 weeks in the bag but not closed.
After that they can be kept for years in a cool dry place.
They will be hard as a piece of wood by then and need to be carved into slices.


[url='https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=49641&url]

 

[Tangwena]

Hi guys I forgot to add the first pic is two buds one vacuum cured with the cob in the same bag, the other the bottom greener looking bud, jar cured for the same amount of time.
The sweat cured is red and orange the jar cured is not, the red bud is smooth and sweet.
The jar cured is a bit harsh and needs a lot more time.
Tangwena

 

[bushweed]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hi mate I love the look on the heads that have been sweat cured, cob style. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To me they look better than the conventional jar cure. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Thanks for the information on how you do it, [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I have a few Malawis in at the moment and I will be sure to give it a go. [/FONT][/FONT]I know these were indoors, but they look like outdoor buds to me; counter-intuitive to some, this is a compliment . Perhaps you could copy and paste these instructive and illustrative posts over to the Ace Malawi thread where more people will see it. It's very inspirational bro.
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After 2 weeks sweating I remove them from the vacuum sealed bag and allow them fresh air to breath.
I keep them a further 4 weeks in the bag but not closed.
After that they can be kept for years in a cool dry place.

Just to clarify, are they still in the cob when you leave them in the bag unclosed for 4 weeks?

 

[Gelado`]

Those cobs look amazing! I'd love to try a real deal Malawi cob one day. Having grown up different places, the closest I've had is Thai/Cambodian/Mexican brick. The best of them all was the sinsemilla Thai brick I had in the south of the country...still moist, but unbelievably compressed. A fat spliff between four people had me zoning out for hours and just completely lost in my own mind. Good Thai/Cambodian leaves me unable to communicate or even look at people. LOL. Then again, I was hitting it harder than anyone else, so I paid for my enthusiastic smoking.

I was just thinking that some of the really potent examples of Malawi may just be down to phenotypes; lots of variation in landrace populations. I grew several plants of a pure South Indian sativa outdoors that varied from ridiculously, giggly high off a nice pipe bowl between two people, where you'd hurt yourself if you weren't careful (lol) to barely any high at all. IMO finding a good pheno and then growing from clone from then on would be the way to go.

I may have to try running the Malawi inside, but I'm still wary about running sativas indoors. I have a Mandala Satori going right now and she seems to want to kiss the HPS!

 

[sprinkl]

Hi guys I have just opened a cob I have sweat cured for 8 weeks, from here she will just get harder.
At the moment the cob is as hard as a stick of beef jerky.
When sliced with a sharp knife the surface is shiny.
The texture is like fresh hash, you need to cut it you cant break it up with your fingers you just cut it into rocks and grind them together to break some crumbs off.
It smokes clean, and smooth. The rocks burn like charcoal or lumps of hash in a hooker.
No coughing or sore throats.
The smell is sweet mary jane, its the only way to describe it.
The high is sensational and very strong you only need 2 or 3 hits and matchstick joints.

For anyone interested this is how I do it.
I use green maize husks ( for the sugar content)
The buds are dried to just smokeable. (the storks dont snap)
I bind them up tight in the maize husk then leave them in a cool dark place for 2 days. This gets the microbes working on the fermentation.
Then I vacuum seal them in plastic bag for 2 weeks. Stored in a cool dark place.
After 2 weeks sweating I remove them from the vacuum sealed bag and allow them fresh air to breath.
I keep them a further 4 weeks in the bag but not closed.
After that they can be kept for years in a cool dry place.
They will be hard as a piece of wood by then and need to be carved into slices.


[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=49641&pictureid=1214364&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=49641&pictureid=1214368&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=49641&pictureid=1214367&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=49641&pictureid=1214365&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=49641&pictureid=1214366&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [url='https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=49641&url]

Superb post! Really interesting. I will try this on my outdoor crop this year, I'm going to grow maize as well. My outdoor from previous year needed a really long time to cure, the last buds I smoked were way better than those 2-3 months after harvest. I think because it's a bit fluffy, it gets dry too fast which slows down the curing process.
I love the fact that it becomes so compressed and hard. Seems quite useful for handling, storing and transporting.

Have you experimented with wrapping slightly wetter buds? It should ferment more but there's probably a mold risk involved?

 

[Tangwena]

Hi guys Gelado that is right on, we all just keep looking.
Sprinkle the end result can be mouldy if they are too wet, its just like wine or anything else, practice and getting a feel for it.
But its worth it, I just dont like it any other way, so mild and smooth and very powerful on your brain.
Tangwena

 

[jammie]

hey tangwena- thanks for the cob method. i really looking forward to trying this. my girls should be ready just as the fresh corn season starts. fresh corn on the cob and fresh tomatoes are the number 1 things i love about summer. when you say to use green maize, i assume you mean fresh hucks?

 

[Tangwena]

hi jammie thats right the sugar or something in the leaves sets of the microbes and they sweat which seems to break down the chlorophyl realy fast. it leaves them smelling sweat when you open them after the cure, then they just get hard like a piece of wood.
i have a piece that i cut today that was as hard as a block of blonde leb hash that had dried out, smokes smooth and hits really hard, more so than the buds it was made from.
Tangwena