Starting a Malawi grow

[aliceklar]

Agree with RED . The Malawi's look like they are worth saving, but I would compost everything else & nuke your grow-tent - literally wash the plants clean under the tap, being as gentle as you can with getting most of the soil off the roots - and repot into smaller pots with new medium until plants are growing well again. It may help reduce transplant shock if you also remove the largest fan leaves. You might find the Malawi's are more manageable in smaller pots anyway - a bit of rootbinding will restrict their height and shorten flowering time.

Good luck!

 

[blondie]

Actually reading the above I think I didn’t say things clearly. So.... under side of my greens leaves were loaded with thrips. They were not worth saving so tossed them. It was amazing just how infested they were. My Malawi’s though do not show any thrips, nor any of the little black fuckers any longer. They look clean and bug free at the moment. They are worth saving. I had stopped the fan early on in hopes that it may keep bugs from the Malawi’s. Also hoped that big red tub might act slightly as a barrier. At this point it seems something has kept aphids from the Malawi’s.

Sad to admit, I’m not the best grower as I always seem to over water. I bought the grow bags and did an experiment with Cinderella xx and copper orgi. I popped them in peat pellets and sowed direct into grow bags after I saw roots coming out, maybe second leaf or so. I wasn’t sure if they would grow well or not in such a large pot at first. They grew excellent and i got a huge amount of bud. (Sadly the Cindy turned serious herm on me). But the experiment was a success. So.. this time around I put the Malawi’s direct into the 5 gallon grow bag. Still a bit of an experiment, it seems they are now coming along, after getting rid of the infestation. I have this idea to try some sort of espalier training.

So... given all this. Do aphids live in the soil and on the roots? I had thought they are above ground creatures. I could gently extract the plants and wash. I don’t have soil at the moment though so would need to put back in same soil.

Here is one one pic of the black things that were under the Malawi leaves some weeks ago.

 

[Cactus Squatter]

So one little trick I’ve found is plants that are healthy get less attention from bugs. If a plant is sick, stressed or deficient in something, bugs go at it like crazy.

It’s impossible to avoid bugs. Even with clean room conditions bugs and mold happen. Healthy plants can get through it, stressed out plants will take the brunt of the assault. I’ve had clones of the same plant side by side that one was healthy and one was ill and stunted due to a severe overwatering mishap. The white flys and spider mites came out of no where and just beat that plant into the ground, completely leaving it’s clone beside it alone.
I’ve been fighting spider mites all season outdoors. They barely touched the mj plants that I focused on and kept healthy, but decorative yard plants and some unattended pumpkins just got hammered over and over again no matter what I tried spraying on them.

Just keep hanging some yellow sticky traps, keep the plants healthy and enjoy the grow. Your Malawi will come out beautifully.
If you have non stop problems or a severe infestation you’ll have to sterilize things, but if it’s just a few bugs here and there squish them and move on. I’ve never had a grow in soil or hydro that didn’t somehow get thrips. What’s really shitty is those little bastards can actually bite and I’m allergic to them. I get huge rashes from 1 little bite.

 

[blondie]

Today I have time to clean, disinfect, etc. I have incorrectly used the terms aphid and thrip interchangeably in the above posts. I looked up today and I clearly have (had?) light greenish colored aphids. Also quite certain the flying creatures are fungus gnats. I’m going to do some work and more spraying shortly, floor walls, red tub, etc..hopefully last round. at this point I don’t think I will pull the Malawi’s as they seem to be starting to take off. Im going to put the magnifying glass on them to make sure no creepy crawlies hanging around. On the white fly front, the baking soda mix eliminated 99.9% I had three or four land on the yellow sticky early on just after the baking soda spray but nothing since. If I only had those, I would be in good shape.

These two malawis came from standard male and standard female cross I made. My note in the seed container said ...”tall thin Malawi”. I e got about 10 seeds. Her sister next to her was shorter fatter Malawi. I’ve only got 4 of those seeds. These were back before I had this watering system and grow bags in place. I think I had them in the grow bags Toward the end. They didn’t do so well really and I’m hoping now I’ve got things dialed in. The male was a beast. It did well somehow despite my black thumb. Things should really start to get interesting now. I do want to try a different type of training, bending the main stalk horizontal and letting it grow. Not sure how possible this is but it would address height issues. Any thoughts on this type of idea?

 

[aliceklar]

If you cant change the soil, there's no point root-washing the plant and putting it back. But you're right to get rid of all the other plants in there and thoroughly disinfect the tent. I'd go very easy on the watering in those huge pots until the plants have bulked up and reached their roots all the way through - resist the urge to water daily, or even every couple of days - if you have been watering daily, I would leave it a few days before watering again - until the compost is not only dry on top but dry down to the depth of a couple of knuckles. Plants are just not big enough to drink it all at the moment and you will saturate the compost if you water more frequently - which will drown the roots (no oxygen) and provide perfect breeding conditions for fungus gnat larvae. those yellow sticky traps will show you soon enough if you have fungus gnats in the compost.

 

[goingrey]

I do want to try a different type of training, bending the main stalk horizontal and letting it grow. Not sure how possible this is but it would address height issues. Any thoughts on this type of idea?

It's called LST or low stress training and it works great. How I like to do it is to have bamboo stalks in different corners of the pot. First bend and tie the plant to one of them, let the top grow again until it is long enough to reach the next bamboo stalk, then bend and tie again, then the next...

 

[blondie]

Nice. All good stuff here. So I haven’t watered much at all since putting in the huge pots. My theory is that the soil will slowly dry some and the roots will reach deeper when they need more water. The soil will wick up water as needed from the lava rocks and water line below. It seems to work fairly well. Maybe slower, though I’m not certain on that. This is a good way I’ve found to not over water and essentially leave it alone. Once and done is my thinking here. No need to up pot, no need to disturb roots.. just plant and let it go. It takes quite a bit of effort and potential pitfalls out of the grow game, in my opinion. Well see if this experiment works. I did this outside, minus the tub and lava rocks, with the last grow and it worked fairly well. I got three or four quart mason jars out of a plant without doing much more than watering occasionally. For a one man show, this is adequate. I didn’t want to be outside messing around all the time and attracting neighbors attention.

Ill check out LST. Sounds close to what I have in mind. I usually just let them Grow however they grow. Right now I’ve got a pile of bud, more than I can go through so I’m kind of using this grow to have some fun, experiment to a point, see if any of my ideas work. I’m giving away to people as it’s sitting around.

Just looked again at all plants. I think I found one last aphid on the greens and a molt shell on one malawi. Damn... one more batch of dead bug brew sprayed liberally. I found more black spots under the Malawi leaves, though it’s hard to tell if it’s soil spots or bugs. When I spray the plant tips and flops over into the soil, since the fan is not blowing stems are weakish. The spots don’t seem to move, but I get cross eyed staring for long time. If these black spots are something, any guesses as to what and if dead bug brew will take them down?

Also so here is what my grow bags are sitting on in the tub thing. You can see old roots on this one. I’ve yet to clean it off and reuse.

 

[Skunkfox]

Ace seeds come with bugs, got it. Very first thing I've heard about them. Lol I don't think this is how advertising works in the outside world.

You'd think these magic beans would come with instructions. Word of mouth is weird in Canna "No skunk, I need to buy more packs" "Sickly plants, highly recommend"

 

[blondie]

Ace seeds come with bugs, got it. Very first thing I've heard about them. Lol I don't think this is how advertising works in the outside world.

You'd think these magic beans would come with instructions. Word of mouth is weird in Canna "No skunk, I need to buy more packs" "Sickly plants, highly recommend"

Not sure exactly what this means, but the beans I popped were my cross, sitting in my fridge for 2+ years. NOT from ACE. My ACE seeds didn’t come with bugs when I bought 4 or so years ago. I’ve never heard of seeds coming with bugs. What an odd comment.

 

[RED 1]

Nice. All good stuff here. So I haven’t watered much at all since putting in the huge pots. My theory is that the soil will slowly dry some and the roots will reach deeper when they need more water. The soil will wick up water as needed from the lava rocks and water line below. It seems to work fairly well. Maybe slower, though I’m not certain on that. This is a good way I’ve found to not over water and essentially leave it alone. Once and done is my thinking here. No need to up pot, no need to disturb roots.. just plant and let it go. It takes quite a bit of effort and potential pitfalls out of the grow game, in my opinion. Well see if this experiment works. I did this outside, minus the tub and lava rocks, with the last grow and it worked fairly well. I got three or four quart mason jars out of a plant without doing much more than watering occasionally. For a one man show, this is adequate. I didn’t want to be outside messing around all the time and attracting neighbors attention.

Ill check out LST. Sounds close to what I have in mind. I usually just let them Grow however they grow. Right now I’ve got a pile of bud, more than I can go through so I’m kind of using this grow to have some fun, experiment to a point, see if any of my ideas work. I’m giving away to people as it’s sitting around.

Just looked again at all plants. I think I found one last aphid on the greens and a molt shell on one malawi. Damn... one more batch of dead bug brew sprayed liberally. I found more black spots under the Malawi leaves, though it’s hard to tell if it’s soil spots or bugs. When I spray the plant tips and flops over into the soil, since the fan is not blowing stems are weakish. The spots don’t seem to move, but I get cross eyed staring for long time. If these black spots are something, any guesses as to what and if dead bug brew will take them down?

Also so here is what my grow bags are sitting on in the tub thing. You can see old roots on this one. I’ve yet to clean it off and reuse.

A plant outdoors, even in a pot or a bag, apart from "bad" bugs, it is exposed to "good" bugs to help them with a healthy grow
You are fighting nature on your own,indoors,which makes the task harder, that's why I suggested to re pot,and,not to up pot
You have to "cheat" and let them think they are still growing,instead of them thinking,I'm fighting bugs and I'm getting even more stressed

 

[aliceklar]

Ill check out LST. Sounds close to what I have in mind. I usually just let them Grow however they grow. Right now I’ve got a pile of bud, more than I can go through so I’m kind of using this grow to have some fun, experiment to a point, see if any of my ideas work. I’m giving away to people as it’s sitting around.

You will need to use some kind of training to stop them hitting the lights. If LST doesnt do the trick, there's a more radical approach explained by Verdant Green in this thread. It looks brutal, but the plants just bounce back, and it has worked for me whilst growing Johaar indoors (Himalayan sativa, which can reach 4 metres tall outdoors)
https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijua.../377033-fimming-or-topping-for-height-control
(start at post #10)

Re the black spots... unless you can take pics with a usb microscope, its really hard to say what they might be. Greenfly eggs are also too small to see with the naked eye, so keep a close eye for any more emerging. I'm assuming that you are taking sensible precautions regarding handwashing and changing clothes/footwear before working in the tent - if you are also working with outdoor plants, it is so easy to accidentally bring pests into your growroom.

 

[Cactus Squatter]

Black spots are usually thrip poo.

 

[blondie]

Good news. I’m not able to see any aphids, no black spots, nothing. I’m thinking They are gone... my plant were growing well for the last bunch of days but today I noticed something. Thinking this is magnesium deficiency but could it be PH? I’m at the point I want to test runoff, water ph etc etc but need to educate myself on these topics. I have some drops I’ve done in the past to check tap water ph but I’m not sure how accurate it is. The 20$ China made ph meters are any good? What do others here use?

Here is leaf picture. Mag???

 

[goingrey]

Good news. I’m not able to see any aphids, no black spots, nothing. I’m thinking They are gone... my plant were growing well for the last bunch of days but today I noticed something. Thinking this is magnesium deficiency but could it be PH? I’m at the point I want to test runoff, water ph etc etc but need to educate myself on these topics. I have some drops I’ve done in the past to check tap water ph but I’m not sure how accurate it is. The 20$ China made ph meters are any good? What do others here use?

Here is leaf picture. Mag???

Hi blondie. It would be easier to diagnose the issue with a full plant photo rather than just a leaf, to get an overall view, new growth vs old growth, if there are any random spots around and so on.. but it doesn't look like a magnesium deficiency to me. Maybe, but more likely nitrogen or zinc or manganese, even iron.

By all means do check the pH coming in and going out, it's the smart thing to do.

Are you sure the plant isn't just hungry though? Are you using any grow fertilizer or just plain water? The nutrients in the soil might be all used up.

 

[blondie]

This is new soil for this grow. Not my typical mix but shouldn’t be hungry at this stage. The top has been bent over but it went very easily and I can’t imagine this has caused the issue. I haven’t had the fan on at all and the stem is not strong as usual. It fell over when I sprayed it and stayed bent for some time. Actually it’s what reminded me i better get going on the bending part of this grow. Any rate here’s the plant so far.

 

[goingrey]

Oh dear, it is all over. With some purple petioles too. And you haven't been overwatering either? You might be right about the locked magnesium due to pH.

 

[blondie]

I mixed up a batch of Epsom salts and foliar sprayed. Thinking maybe I did over water. I’m going to let it sit a bunch of days and hopefully it’ll fix itself.

 

[blondie]

Well fuck me. Looks like I’ve managed to kill one Malawi or its about to die. Not at all sure what happened. My best guess is very off PH. It doesn’t fit though. This is new batch of soil That sat for some months. I didn’t do much different except use fox farms as a base. Nutes and all are the same. I’ve never killed a plant like this before. The one was doing ok, small amount of what I thought was magnesium deficiency. I lightly foliar sprayed Epsom salts on it, along with the other. It quickly went downhill. The other is ok, not great but ok. See below. My cheap assed ph meter shows highish, but that thing was a freebie and I don’t trust it. Been looking for water soil ph tester but have not settled on one yet. Looks to me most are water ph test and not soil ph. What’s anyone use?

Advice is highly appreciated...

 

[goingrey]

Oh no It has totally wilted away. Never seen something like that.

Foxfarm you say, is it one of their hot/strong mixes? Could it be too much?

I think we must consult the master.. dubi Any idea of what is happening here?

 

[aliceklar]

Well fuck me. Looks like I’ve managed to kill one Malawi or its about to die. Not at all sure what happened. My best guess is very off PH. It doesn’t fit though. This is new batch of soil That sat for some months. I didn’t do much different except use fox farms as a base. Nutes and all are the same. I’ve never killed a plant like this before. The one was doing ok, small amount of what I thought was magnesium deficiency. I lightly foliar sprayed Epsom salts on it, along with the other. It quickly went downhill. The other is ok, not great but ok. See below. My cheap assed ph meter shows highish, but that thing was a freebie and I don’t trust it. Been looking for water soil ph tester but have not settled on one yet. Looks to me most are water ph test and not soil ph. What’s anyone use?

Dude... sorry to see your plants like that. I'm not sure what happened here, but I can recommend a decent pH meter - this is the one that I use:

http://www.plantit-growit.com/product/plantt-ph-meter/

Hope some more experienced growers can help you with your issue.

(just realised you were looking for soil test, not water test, but I think you can make a slurry with the soil?)