Light Requirements For Sativas

[MBVapester]

Mine are growing short and bushy right now for some reason.

Could be strain related or are they possibly hybrids?
If the leaf fingers are not real skinny but a little more wide then might have some indica in the lineage.

 

[Jimster]

Could the recommendation relate to law of inverse square ?

That is to say, if the sativa grows to twice the height of indica - the bottom of the sativa would be getting 1/4 intensity ,,,being twice as far away.

Just mumbling out loud here.

When I grow them, they usually get about 6-7 ft tall, despite training, splitting, and calling it it names. I use a vertically hanging MH and/or HPS instead of a overhead hood...it is just a white enameled reflector mounted above the bulb (which is upside down). This allows a ton of side lighting instead of just overhead lighting. The Sativa's benefit because they are tall and get a lot of side growth. The walls are painted a titanium white and reflect a majority of the light back into the room/plants. I tried the same setup for a Black Diesel and a Train Wreck, and I was disappointed in the yield compared to the taller plants. The shorter plants have a very dense canopy and don't let much light into the interior. Since they are short, they don't get much side lighting. I got a great bunch off of the top canopy, but the underbuds weren't exceptional. I'm considering trying it again but treating the shorter ones with Gibberellic acid to try to get them taller, and hopefully behave more like a Sative as far as yield and height go.

 

[damien50]

Could be strain related or are they possibly hybrids?
If the leaf fingers are not real skinny but a little more wide then might have some indica in the lineage.

Malawi x Panama supposed to be two landrace sativa strains but I'm getting really big and wide fan leaves. I super cropped and lst'd because the canopy was so thick that I had several tops being obscured completely. I'm hoping it changes because I was assuming they would be taller.

 

[Jimster]

My Malawi has fairly wide leaves, but nowhere near as wide as the Indica's. The leaves tend to get narrower as the plant gets older, but a pure Sativa should be pretty thin. I just pinched mine to split it, so it's still a little early to see how dense the canopy is going to be. One thing I've really noticed now that I've progressed into using some clones...clones grow nothing like seed started plants. Either that or the guy started them in flowering mode, creating a re-veg monster. Nothing wrong with them, and they are usually a lot shorter, more like a hybrid. I'd take some pics but my phone's battery is shot and dies as soon as I disconnect it from the charger.

 

[damien50]

My Malawi has fairly wide leaves, but nowhere near as wide as the Indica's. The leaves tend to get narrower as the plant gets older, but a pure Sativa should be pretty thin. I just pinched mine to split it, so it's still a little early to see how dense the canopy is going to be. One thing I've really noticed now that I've progressed into using some clones...clones grow nothing like seed started plants. Either that or the guy started them in flowering mode, creating a re-veg monster. Nothing wrong with them, and they are usually a lot shorter, more like a hybrid. I'd take some pics but my phone's battery is shot and dies as soon as I disconnect it from the charger.

It has wider leaves than two kush strains and a northern lights I've grow but it is also much more vigorous. I'm still contemplating monster cropping or just taking clones from the two best and vegging for 3 months. This is so new to me lol

 

[Erick31876]

Maybe they some how got the seeds mixed up. Sativas usually have very thin fan leaves compared to a indica.

 

[damien50]

Maybe they some how got the seeds mixed up. Sativas usually have very thin fan leaves compared to a indica.

I'll get some pics later tonight. Maybe they did but they send them in dated packaging but that doesn't remove error lol

 

[damien50]

All of them at 21 days except one

 

[Jimster]

All of them at 21 days except one

View attachment 864575

Those look a lot like the Matanuska ThunderF**k that I grow. I'm not sure of it's pedigree since it came from the 70s from the Alaskan oil pipeline. I know the Thunder is mostly Sativa, but not a full Sativa, at least based on the leaf width. From memory, Jamaican Landrace strains had the very narrow leaves, which I assumed were Malawi in origin. I might have to rethink this Malawi/100% Sativa issue. I'm trying to remember where I got my seeds from. Maybe they weren't Malawi after all? Pure strains are like Hen's teeth anymore. I'm going to look theu my old college record albums...we used them to separate seeds out of the smoke back then, which was usually Colombian. If I can find them and pop them, I might have something worth saving!