Footsteps In Becoming an Expert Grower

[Biosystem]

@Bona Fortuna I really do need to figure out a reliable way to test the soil pH. With all the stuff in there, there's no telling what it is at this point.
I'll almost certainly try Zamaldelica someday. I want to try a lot of Ace Seeds's stuff, and when I start picking up new genetics, I'll almost certainly go with them. I used to scroll through grows of their plants back in the day, and I recall Dubi was always responsive to people which seemed like a great sign of company quality although I never had any idea what his function was at the company. Re: hydroponics - Man, maybe you go on a journey with me once I get everything together, and we'll try it at the same time.

@JanKowalski Dayum, son. That plant looks killer. Buds that size always surprise me on a full sativa as I'm used to seeing them with thinner colas. I can't wait to pick up some seeds for that strain, but I gotta find out from more folks who've grown it what kinds of phenos to look out for and how frequent they are so I can save enough money to get enough seeds to statistically be guaranteed to get the pheno I want.

 

[Bona Fortuna]

Haha definitely understand the desire to try all/most of Ace’s genetics. Most of the varieties are amazingly easy growers and produce some fine buds/hash.

I might try Coco one of these days, that seems to be a fairly easy way to do a soilless grow. It will be hard to shake my love for soil though haha.

The Malawi Fems and regs are fairly uniform. 2-3 main expressions with 1-2 very rare expressions. Just my experience from 2017:
1) shorter, oilier, denser, darker and earthier smells. 9-12 weeks flower, knockout stone.
2) taller, oily/woody scents, dense flowers, and similar flowering 9-12 weeks, knockout stone.
3) taller, sweeter and woodier smell, slightly airier flowers, 9-12 weeks, knockout stone.

The rarer tended to be somewhat fruitier/sweeter and all carried that similar knockout stone to me. Very powerful, cerebral, burnout stone.

 

[Biosystem]

I appreciate you takin' the time to type all that out. It really helps with getting a handle on what to expect. I'm really hoping you're right about the flower times for that strain, or rather that those flowering times are still accurate for the way the strain is bred and distributed nowadays. There's another skilled grower on here, @OZZ_ who produced some stunning Malawi flowers within the last ~1 years, and if I recall correctly all his phenos went to about the 13 week mark.

Come to think of it, I have a hard time imagining the magnitude of work that would have to be done to take a 100% landrace-type Sativa and breed it's flowering time down to below 10 weeks' time without introducing other genetics, specifically indica or ruderalis. Maybe I'll get lucky and Dubi will shed some light on that in a thread one of these days.

 

[Bona Fortuna]

I appreciate you takin' the time to type all that out. It really helps with getting a handle on what to expect. I'm really hoping you're right about the flower times for that strain, or rather that those flowering times are still accurate for the way the strain is bred and distributed nowadays. There's another skilled grower on here, @OZZ_ who produced some stunning Malawi flowers within the last ~1 years, and if I recall correctly all his phenos went to about the 13 week mark.

Come to think of it, I have a hard time imagining the magnitude of work that would have to be done to take a 100% landrace-type Sativa and breed it's flowering time down to below 10 weeks' time without introducing other genetics, specifically indica or ruderalis. Maybe I'll get lucky and Dubi will shed some light on that in a thread one of these days.

There are some earlyish ones to be had. My #1 expression was the earlier one could go 9 weeks if you wanted type.
The rest were within the 10-12ish week mark.
Again, that’s just my experience. Your results may vary.

Ozz has some fantastic representations of Ace genetics, really awesome threads to peruse through.

 

[Biosystem]

Definitely. Did you find the earlier flowering phenos had any drawbacks to 'em? Lower yield/potency? Less "sativa-ey" effects?

 

[Bona Fortuna]

Definitely. Did you find the earlier flowering phenos had any drawbacks to 'em? Lower yield/potency? Less "sativa-ey" effects?

From memory, no real drawbacks due to the expression. Yield and potency ended up roughly similar, each side having their own minor nuances. The stone was fairly consistent across the board. The Malawi has a whole has a different stone to say the zamaldelica, GT or OTH.

Best way to describe the Malawi stone from my perspective is, BAM! Punch drunk, high octane. In your face with long legs. Usually followed by a small nap.

 

[Biosystem]

Haha that sounds more like an indica than anything. Seems like there's no reason not to simply chase the fastest flowering phenos.
So, I take it you prefer the Zamaldelica, GT, and OTH?

 

[Bona Fortuna]

It wasn’t narcotic at all like an old afaghani, but it was so damn strong I needed a small recharge nap after indulging sometimes. It was hard to dose without overdoing it. Malawi makes some incredible hash, too. It’s worth checking out the variation in the line, regardless of flower time.

I did prefer zamaldelica, Panama/Banghi, OTH, GT and the green Panama lines out of the Ace seeds I’ve grown so far. Mostly because it was easier to smoke those throughout the day and some had an amazing flavor. Strong smokes, but they felt like soul candy. Happy go lucky if you didn’t overdo it.

The Thai expression of Zamaldelica was my favorite overall. A joint and you’re floating on a cloud, two joints and you’ve forgotten where are, three joints and that’s a joint too many. I never found a ceiling to the stone.

 

[Biosystem]

Dammit, dude. You gone an' done it now. You've now guaranteed that I will be growing Zamaldelica in the future. Not only that, but your description of Malawi is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for the pointers, man.

 

[Bona Fortuna]

Anytime!

 

[OZZ_]

Appreciate the kind words gents….. I agree with most everything said here. Only thing I’d like to clarify is on my last Malawi grow, while I did take that plant to 13 weeks it was just a tad too long imo and she got a wee stressed and start throwing another weak reflowering that wasn’t really desirable… point being I think 12 weeks would have been spot on for her which fits right in line with what’s being said here.

 

[Biosystem]

Hey, Ozz, good to see ya. You been off for a while or just not posting? I came back after recovering from when Satan's personally cultivated spider mite strain tore through my life, and I couldn't find any recent posts of yours so I thought you'd moved on. Made me sad. Throw a link of your current grow my way if you've got one going, 'cause your grows are candy to watch.

Always open to grow log links from anyone else too. This site's a little deficient on mobile, so I don't see any links in signatures, so if anyone has a grow going, pm me a link or post it here.

 

[Biosystem]

I think tomorrow's gonna be the day for at least one of these plants, boys. Microscopy pics coming tomorrow and maybe a finished photo shoot for the ladies! It'll be the 8 week mark.

 

[JanKowalski]

Waiting for porn pictures @Biosystem!

 

[Biosystem]

WEEK 8 OF FLOWER

Hats off, ladies and gentlemen. 'Tis a sad day. . . Well, not really. But I am disappointed.

Do I have gorgeous, fragrant cannabis flowers? Yes. Do I have plants that were able to survive invincible spider mites long enough to be cloned and evacuated despite their weakened state? Also yes. Am I expecting good potency and flavor? Again, yes. But this strain is supposed to flower in 6-8 weeks, and they're still going.

This first couple posts of the evening will be ONLY the fastest flowering phenotype I currently have, and the following post(s) will include pictures of the others which were not worth microscopy given they feature moderate to severe amounts of white pistils left -> obviously not ready for harvest. Also aquarium stuff.

Anyway, it appears that this strain is really a 9-12 week strain based on what I've received since the fastest one needs one more week, and the rest need 2-3. One might need 4, though hopefully not. Maybe I got a bizarre genetic lotto on my pack in a stroke of bad luck. Who knows?


I'll be throwing some photos in of some Tiger Barbs I'm breeding. The female's going to drop eggs any day now, and the male is, uh, eager. I have another green female getting ready with eggs soon, so I'll be excited to pair them together and get some nice all-green fish. Still, the current pairing will yield some weird albeit pleasing fish I reckon.

I hope you guys are all doing good out there. It's been a pleasure kinda getting to know y'all (in our weird anonymous forum way), and I look forward to your opinions and advice on these photos.

 

[Biosystem]

Plant #2 - the fastest amongst them. I'm very curious to see how she does with a real veg. They were very short at the beginning of flower 'cause I needed to get the ball rolling with pheno hunting and reducing the number of mothers I need to keep. Solo cup with strawberry seedling for scale.

 

[Biosystem]

The other plants.

 

[Biosystem]

These guys suuuck to photograph. Always flitting about.

 

[Biosystem]

WEEK 9 OF FLOWER

It's time, ladies and gentlemen. The first phenotype has made it to the finish line. I will be saving these small plants for revegging since the mother I took died. So no repotted glam shoot for this gal. Not this time. But she's getting grown again so this is just dress rehearsal. Enjoy the photos of this one, and feel free to ask questions.

I'll post photos of the other plants too though. They'll be posted afterwards.

 

[Biosystem]

TRICHOMES OF PLANT #2 (Fastest pheno)