Hi all, I'm growing manala and they are in veg now but I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge to share? First off how much do they stretch?

Alright mate,

I am also very much interested in Malana, but dont know how it stretchs as aint grown it yet. But i guess as its a mostly sativa i would probally think it would atleast double in height or double&half. You could always bend if you tight for space.

I will be purchasing some malana,sheberghan and the pahari around the new year, although i only have 1.3m max height, but can work around that with bit of lst. Currently doing some african sativas from Afropips called Senegal Haze, the guy from there says no more than ten days veg as large strech, so i went 12/12 from seed. Also i have a mostly sative strain which is Thai-Tanic, but they are vegging. So cant really help with your thread would like to hear what others reply, as i will be doing indoors too.

Sticky!

i just put in an order for the malana and the kerala today, also very interested in the stature of this plant, i'm going to go under the assumption that there might be different phenotypes within the malana landrace, shorter and taller versions, which might vary in bud density as well. i bet there will be some that have a 2.5 time stretch, and others that show more than 3 times, and some in between. i'm very excited to find out about the growth habbits of these indian strains, hope to see some pics in the future, i will post pics when i grow them. i'm expecting the kerala to be a monster, cant wait to get them.
peace

I've done 12/12 from seed with tropical sats in the same height room as you ........ but this is a not a tropical strain and closer in latitude to indica strains areas I think so I doubt I will try instant 12/12 but stretch is a puzzle

Know one person who flowered it and was surprised by the stretch as it has fairly wide leaves in veg, they didn't finish it for whatever reason but it's very stretchy apparently. I'd guess it would be very similar to the Pahari, check out Pantagruelion's pics in the thread, looks manageable enough.

Its stretchy then!.....thanks for the info.... still not convinced it will do 12/12 vegin as its not from the tropics but maybe worth an experiment....

btw Dr B I've got some Haze x White Russian's thanks to your advice last year! recently found the seeds at the bottom of a jar and germinated them going to 12/12 them and see what happens

alrite mate,

nice to here u gt same size head space as no i can refer back to your diary wen i consider getting mine.

i agree that sativa hybrids you would defently veg but in our space max i would say 4weeks max, 2 of the first weeks under cfl and some light lst for min stretch, as these are outdoor plants they are prown to stretch.

cant wait to order! going for quite a varity this time, malana,sheberghan,pharhi farmhouse,nepxjam and OE. i am very interested in charrs,hand rubbe, oils and abit of ofcouse some nice stickyblack, the stuff that mels in your hands, bit like sissor hash.

neways goooood luck. will pop back soon, at work at the mo

nice1
sticky!

alrite mate,

nice to here u gt same size head space as no i can refer back to your diary wen i consider getting mine.

i agree that sativa hybrids you would defently veg but in our space max i would say 4weeks max, 2 of the first weeks under cfl and some light lst for min stretch, as these are outdoor plants they are prown to stretch.

cant wait to order! going for quite a varity this time, malana,sheberghan,pharhi farmhouse,nepxjam and OE. i am very interested in hand rubbed hash love it, its all for the taste! and of ofcouse some nice stickyblack, the stuff that melts in warm hands, bit like sissor hash, oh and bit of jelly!

neways goooood luck. will pop back soon, at work at the mo

nice1
sticky!

Yeah I wouldn't veg under 12/12, would probably freak them out a bit. Got to say that HazexRussian can only really be fucking amazing can't wait to see them grown out, should be unbelievably strong and resinous.

That's a nice selection Sticky you'll have fun smoking that.

hey - I would expect them to stretch like a sativa --- best started in small pots on long light hours, then transferred to larger pots in the first or second week of 12/12

they will be likely to have very low N requirements - and also like many landraces to be sensitive to any chemicals and sprays --- I know of two people who's Malana died after being sprayed with mite-spray, and a few more who said that though they started out very well (strong taproot, vigorous in veg) they seemed to give up as they entered flowering

as soon as I can get some pics of flowering plants I will

we have a new batch of Malana collected, so if it turns out that there is something up with our first batch (there is a slim possibility of this) we will have to send out replacement packs to anyone who has had problems with them... I think when it comes down it to it they are just not used to being indoors and would rather be 3000m up in the Himalaya

Thanks for the tip namkha, so far so good they seem like strong vigorous seedlings, aside from 2 stunted ones and 3 which didn't germinate

hey - how many seeds did you put down? just that I am surprised 3 didn't germinate, the Malana and Parvati when we tested them had awesome germ rates and really fast too

Hey Namka I put a full packet down think there were 18 seeds in total from that I have 12 going into flower now, it would have been 13 but I forgot to water them and one didn't pick up again... 2 runts have only the first set of leaves still and will be ditched... of the 3 that didn't germ they didn't crack either so it could be my lack of patience maybe they would have made it had I waited longer, I've had staged germination once before with a packet of seeds... I've kept them back for a rainy day anyway...... really happy with them and looking forward to seeing how they like 12/12

hey - ah yeah ok one of the 18 packs from winning Cream of the Crop, great - do you have any pics of how they look? did the leaves get thinner as the growth progressed? how about the smell?

The leaves do seem to be thinning a bit but they aren't as thin as the other sat they are in with which is a haze hopefully crossed with WR but may turn out to be a self pollinated haze!

There is no smell yet... too small.... I'm gambling on a very short "veg" with a good response to 12/12 vegging..... I've got four lucky/unlucky volunteers in 12/12 already to see how they respond, they appear to be bigger already than their siblings which I hope is because they like all the extra lumens and is not because 12/12 has kicked off stretch like you get in hybrids! Time will tell on that one though

I'll post a pic later

The 12/12 plant is at the back & after 3 days they do seem to have grown, hopefully because they have gone from edge of a 250w flouro to loads of hps
Click to view attachment
the 12/12 was repotted at the switch

hey - nice leaf shape on them, looking pretty - I would still anticipate that they will do quite a stretch when they hit flowering

did the pack you get have a red sticker with No. 2 written on it? curious whether these are from our first or second batch....

I think the packet had a little red dot with 2 on it.

ok great, so these are our new Malana stock, different farmer

I am also considering trying the malana indoor in my next grow. But how is the smoke from it ? Does the bud taste good, even if i dont make hashish out of the outcome ??

Hey Matsi --- indoors Malana will certainly require experience to control stretch - it will also need attention to nutrients and sprays as this will be its first generation indoors

ACE Seeds had a hybrid Jamaican x Malana called Canela which was meant to be great but recommended for outdoors only - people ran it indoors and said it was great rushy smoke

The guys in Malana said you could make good ganja from these strains - it's just that the charas is so out-of-this-world that's what they use it for

basically to answer your question - I don't know from experience what the smoke will be like, but it should be good esp. for breeding and hybridisation

Thx Namkha:) I already ordered the seeds...they should be here in a weeks time. No guts no glory right

I will make a full diary of the grow

Hey Matsi - I've been smoking some fluro grown bud a friend made from the Pahari Farmhouse which is also a charas strain like the Malana --- I can tell you the bud tastes and smells fantastic, very sweet, carroty and floral --- and the high is very strong and very nice too --- it's had a two month cure, and after two pipes I'm flying.... so yeah, I would think the Malana should make great ganja too ----

Thx for the report namkha I cant wait to start those babys up...a happy new year to you

Today i recived my 12 seeds of malana...gonna put them for sprouding very soon

Just to update my own efforts with this strain. Very early 12-12 tropical sativa style appears to be a non starter, but I think that was probably the general consensus before I started given the latitude.

So they are sensitive to photo period and rushed into sexual maturity or at least so it seemed... the males showed weeks ago and only 4-5" high, with big clusters of balls but the "girls" showed nothing at all. They are now in 24-0 to veg up properly as I have abandoned the 12-12 but interestingly the "girls" are still to show sex and have taken to 24-0 with no apparent problems, it certainly hasn't set them back at all anyway or forced sex..... strange.... I'll post pics once there is something to see!

I just finnished sprouding the malana seeds...10 out of 12 came op already on day 2 the last 2 have have not showed anything yet (day 6 )

I will make a thread when i get further in the grow

Hi

My manalas have just sprouted nicely, small set of leaves appearing

How do you grow these sats then, is there a guide available? I've seen people switch to 11/13 and 14/10 (i have no idea why?)

So I clone them when established, wait for them to root and then go 12/12 asap? Like sea of green?
What is the approx flowering time on these? 12 wks - 16 wks? or longer?

Any help please, looking foward to this. Will be using compost, as I fiquire I'll be needing the headroom

PS billious, are those clones or seedlings that you have started to flower?

I think the general consensus is that Malana plants can be pretty tricky indoors

I would suggest giving it a long veg period under 24 or 18 hours light - until well after they have shown sex

then slowly lower the light hours - don't just whack them straight into 12/12

they seem to get stressed quite easily - also watch the sprays, and go easy on the nutes esp. nitrogen

I am considering tacking "outdoors only" onto the description of the strain - they will be absolute beauties outdoors, but they don't seem too happy under HPS

Hemster also got 12 out of 12 to pop on his Malana

I would suggest you keep some pollen if you get males, then dust some of that onto an indoor strain you like - if you're lucky you will get that Malana high to show itself on a strain which is better adapted to flowering under artificial light

all best,

Namkha

Thanks for the advice Namkha Will definately hold back a male and try a few crosses if i can

I was just reading a few sat diary's, where 4 weeks after germinating, they were switched to 12/12 (embalmers diary) - I might try this on a few of them as an experiment (as i intend to flower my other plants in a months time anyways, so it will be interesting to see if it will work or not)

Will definately be trying it in my greenhouse this year Don't know if I'll get around to a guerrilla grow, but i'll try my best to find a tidy spot soon.

All the best

As I posted above I tried the early sat treatment and they didn't respond well and sexed far too quickly to be treated as you would more tropical sats IMO, I've got mine back in veg and I was going to clone them and treat them like a dutch style sativa. Saying that, as I won't do the gradual light period drop that Namkha suggests, then I am unsure if it's worth starting, I may just clone them for outdoors.....

hi all

my malanas all poped lats time i checked 5 of them had lost the seed shel
my hindu kush so far 2 have poped 1 is in soil still has seed shel

hopefuly il find a couple of keepers and breeders

good luck everyone

thanks for the post bill

will keep that in mind

cheers mate

might try just the one then as an experiment, see how it goes in a weeks time.

that's good news herbmister, well done

no sign on my kush's though hopefully something will pop up in a few days fingers crossed

here are my malana´s on the 5th day above ground The malanas is the ones with red straws


Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

They will go under 400w Mh soon, and i will try my 600w HPS for flowering. lets hope they last that far

hey there - yeh, Billious if you have the option of putting them outdoors I would go for it myself --- still, the gradual light reduction is just a suggestion, not meant to imply that I know for a fact that they have issues with going to straight 12/12, but a gradual transition will likely be less likely to stress them I would think --- still, as you will find if you run them outdoors or a greenhouse they are not in any way fragile plants - they will have heaps of vigour and have the capacity to make a good 1.5kg to 2kg of bud per plant (about 3m tall given space) -- I'd still appreciate people giving them a shot under lights though if they fancy it, as the more people who give it a try the more we can see if they should be sold as outdoors/greenhouse only or if there is a knack to getting them to perform indoors

hey Smokey - which Kushes are you trying - Yarkhun or Laspur? with the Yarkhun I think you have a good chance of getting a couple of plants

nice matsi, those look kind of like mint sprigs, pretty cool, i just threw a couple malana, kerala, malawi gold, and swazi red into wet paper towel, to get an idea of how they all grow, glad to see someone else a week ahead of me, it will help me allot, . actually, i'm debating on how big to veg these to before flipping, i thought i would start on 12, see how big they get before preflower, then veg them out more if they need it, but i might veg them up 6 inches, then flip, since they might not stretch as much as the malawi or kerala.
peace

good advice namhka, i will probably veg to 4 inches at 18 hrs, then gradually reduce the hours of light, two hours per week, till i'm running 12/12. i got one malana popped and in soil, and both kerala that i took out popped today, so thats cool, but the kerala, i'm gonna run from 12 hrs to start.

hey - I just checked and Malana is at 32N latitude, significantly north of the tropics, and will mean they are accustomed to long day hours during their veg stage --- the latitude of Malana is only just to the south of Kashmir - and likewise Afghanistan, which is at 33N on the other side of the Karakoram and the Hindu Kush ranges

still, just to complicate things, in case you think that implies anything, I think you will find the Malana will stretch just as much as the Kerala or Malawi

hi mate, yes you sent me the Yarkhums
cheers again for the seeds namkha

hope they will pop up soon love these interesting genetics
will try the rest soon, gotta get some fresh compost

fingers crossed

about the manalas
can you keep them short in a greenhouse then? like under 5ft? do they respond ok to topping/training? perhaps i could just bend the top and accross greenhouse vicinity, should be ok, i'll wing it

i might do what rabbit is doing indoors too, i was thinking about the experiment.

so i got 6-8 weeks before I switch my room to 12/12(other plants), so after i give the manala 4 weeks of 20/4, i'll start reducing the photo period during the 2nd month...

right then maths

4 weeks - 20hrs to 12hrs, thats a 2hr light drop per week like rabbit

thanks for the advice

right on, thanks namkha, that bit of info might save me allot of trouble, maybe i'll give them a bit less veg than i was thinking, it will be interesting to see how they turn out, i only plan on running one female for now, but just so i can decide how to run the rest, so i don't make a mess of things, if they can be grown well indoors, i will figure it out.

hey - you can keep them short just by keeping them in pots - in 7.5 litre or so they ought to stay about 5ft I reckon --- I don't know how they will respond to topping --- left to their own devices they will grow in a christmas tree shape, with a heavy main cola and thick candelabra side branching

awesome, cheers namkha

oh yeah, forgot you can restrict grow by restricting the root system (done that by accident before)

in fact, on my eygption landraces, the pot restriction actually triggered flowering under 20/4 lighting

Malana at about 5 weeks 12/12.

Click to view attachment

I’d normally be too embarrassed to post a picture of a plant in such a terrible state, but as there isn’t much info about growing this plant indoors I thought someone might find this useful.

The story so far… I grew 3 seeds of Malana, took 2 cuttings from each plant then stuffed the original plants at the end of an overcrowded grow room on 12/12. Of the three plants I had one male and two females. One very straggly ‘female’ turned out to be hermaphrodite and has been removed from the genepool. I’ve kept one cutting of the male (just in case) and the remaining female is the one pictured.

I’ve got to confess - this plant has been pretty badly treated. It’s been kept in an appallingly small pot. As I said it was stuck at the end of the grow room where it wasn’t getting enough light, it’s been fed when I’ve remembered and I’ve let the pot dry out too much a few times. And to top it off it’s got an infestation of red spider mite.
The fact that it’s survived all this maltreatment and is still producing buds suggests that it’s actually tougher than might have been thought.

Obviously the lack of light has exaggerated the stretch (mine’s about 6 foot in a tiny pot), but even so it’s clear that they’re going to stretch a lot. They also seem fairly reluctant to branch - although the size of the buds on this plant is restricted by the size of the pot, I think that at the size most of us are going to be able to grow the plant it’s not going to produce huge buds either. It seems to me that to get a decent crop indoors it would be better to start off with a plant that was well branched before going into 12/12. I’m going to try vegging probably for a bit longer than some others, but cutting back to encourage branching. I’ve got four cuttings which are just starting to show roots, which I’m planning for my next crop. Hopefully I’ll treat these decently and get a better idea of what they can do indoors.

As it was growing it looked as though the lower leaves of the plant were drastically underfed, while the top leaves looked drastically overfed, which wouldn’t have been so bad if at least a few leaves in the middle had looked about right! Anyway I think it’s going to be a tricky one to grow. Next time I think I’ll mix plenty of sharp sand into the compost so I’m feeding from a lower base.

One thing I’ve noticed is that although the plants are very vigorous growing they are not particularly robust when young - I snapped the top of one when I caught it with my sleeve, most plants would have just bent at the tip. Also the leaves seem unusually thin, though I don’t know if this is significant.
Worryingly for anyone with red spider mite, the Malanas seem to have been affected much more than any of my other plants. I’ve noticed some suggestions on the site that they’re very sensitive to sprays, but as I had plenty of seeds in reserve I decided to risk nuking the cuttings in the veg room with Westland Bug Attack plus Defence about a week ago and so far they seem fine.

Lastly I must say something about the smell of the buds! It’s a unique smell (at least in my experience), and not all that nice to be honest. Like Namkha’s original description suggests there’s a definite hint of a sickly sour milk sort of smell, but I’m sure it’ll produce some really nice flavours when smoked.

Sorry this has turned into an essay but as I said I thought someone might find it useful.

well yddraig, dont be embarassed, glad you posted the info thats not too bad tbh, at least you induced flowering and got them to 'produce' buds... so look at it as an experiment

i imagine the root restriction promoted flowering to some degree as i've found it when dealing with tricky sativas, interesting stuff

tell me mate, how many days after rooting the cuttings did you put them into 12/12? And were the cuttings sexually mature? ie preflowers from the mother

cheers mate

Hi Smokey, sorry if I didn't make it clear, what I meant was I took cuttings from each plant to keep as potential mothers then put the original plants grown from seed into 12/12. I kept the 2 cuttings from the good female in veg and have now taken 4 cuttings from them to use as my next crop. All the cuttings are still in veg at the moment, the only Malana I'm still flowering so far is the one in the picture.

I feel for ya', yddraig...

My apologies, thanks for the post mate

Yddraig, your point on branching is interesting, I've got mine in veg again and they are like pencils with the odd fan leaf, at this rate I'll only have the tops to clone...

Hey Yddraig, thanks for the report - I appreciate getting them good or bad - basically I don't think that these plants are suited to indoors - they way they perform outdoors is a world apart, totally different - they are very vigorous, prolific plants with a lot of resin and incredible aromas that create the amazing charas - we'll be looking to get the strain description updated to specify outdoors and greenhouse only --- it's an eternal pain in the arse for me that we still don't have any pictures of the plants around Malana, but we aim to get some this coming 2009 season, Shiva willing

Yddraig if you pm me I'll get some Nepalese freebies out to you