Malawi Gold Feminized Seeds

Malawi Gold comes from Malawi, in southeast Africa, where cannabis has been grown for generations under the local name Chamba. The strain label lists it as a landrace sativa: a plant shaped by its home climate rather than by modern breeding. The name refers to the golden colour of the traditionally sun-cured flower.

This listing is feminized and photoperiod, so the plants bloom when the light changes to 12/12.

A true African sativa

Expect the classic equatorial sativa frame: thin, finger-like leaves, long branches, wide gaps between the nodes and a tall, open, Christmas tree outline. The buds form as long, airy spears and grow resinous as they ripen. The smell is sweet and earthy with a lemon edge and some incense-like spice, and it develops further in a long cure.

Patience and headroom

African landrace sativas are slow to finish, much slower than modern hybrids, and Malawi Gold is no exception. Plan the grow around a long bloom and judge harvest by the trichomes, not by the calendar or by how the plant looks from a distance; sativa flowers keep developing late.

Height is the other thing to plan for. Keep the veg short, top early and train the branches out flat under a screen. Switch to 12/12 well before the plant reaches the height you can afford, because it will keep stretching for weeks afterwards.

Feed lightly. Landrace sativas evolved in poor soils and burn easily. The open buds resist mould better than dense ones, which helps in a long flowering run.