Cali Cajun Indoor Grow #2: Chemdog

Cali Cajun · Sep 6, 2018

The injured branch looks like it's going to make it - the canopy is mostly even (about as even as my clumsy fingers can do) and plants are filling out horizontally nicely in the tent. All the girls have had some time to adjust to transplanting; I think I'm going to flip tomorrow.

I just ordered a couple of plastic containers and 1,000 red wigglers from a local worm farmer in the next county; excited to give a worm bin a try! For my next grow I want to move away from super soil and start putting together my own with my own home-grown compost and vermicompost. My wife and I tore out our back lawn last year, and I'm gearing up to start conditioning the soil once it gets a bit cooler. Our house was built in the late 50's with a partially below ground garage / storage area. When they originally excavated the house it looks like they dumped all the clay from digging out the garage on the back lawn - which would explain why we always had terrible drainage issues with the lawn. The ground currently is a mess - concrete-like clay, tons of rocks, and root infiltration from an oak growing up on the hill. I want to dig 8 or so inches down and start working compost into the soil - hoping to do a winter crop of crimson clover to start healing the soil.

DankTankerous · Sep 7, 2018

Cali Cajun said:
The injured branch looks like it's going to make it - the canopy is mostly even (about as even as my clumsy fingers can do) and plants are filling out horizontally nicely in the tent. All the girls have had some time to adjust to transplanting; I think I'm going to flip tomorrow.

I just ordered a couple of plastic containers and 1,000 red wigglers from a local worm farmer in the next county; excited to give a worm bin a try! For my next grow I want to move away from super soil and start putting together my own with my own home-grown compost and vermicompost. My wife and I tore out our back lawn last year, and I'm gearing up to start conditioning the soil once it gets a bit cooler. Our house was built in the late 50's with a partially below ground garage / storage area. When they originally excavated the house it looks like they dumped all the clay from digging out the garage on the back lawn - which would explain why we always had terrible drainage issues with the lawn. The ground currently is a mess - concrete-like clay, tons of rocks, and root infiltration from an oak growing up on the hill. I want to dig 8 or so inches down and start working compost into the soil - hoping to do a winter crop of crimson clover to start healing the soil.

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Worm bins are fun, simple, and easy to take care off. I would avoid a bin with a spout, you’re vermicompost won’t ever get that moist and if you do, your are adding too many “wet” items. Good luck!

Cali Cajun · Sep 7, 2018

DankTankerous said:
Worm bins are fun, simple, and easy to take care off. I would avoid a bin with a spout, you’re vermicompost won’t ever get that moist and if you do, your are adding too many “wet” items. Good luck!

I was thinking about stacking two bins together, with holes in the top one to drain into the bottom bin. Is that what you do, or do you recommend something else? I'm also still debating whether I want to put inside or keep outside - we've been battling a bit of a fruit fly colony in our kitchen the last few weeks, so I'm leaning towards keeping outside at this point.

DankTankerous · Sep 7, 2018

Cali Cajun said:
I was thinking about stacking two bins together, with holes in the top one to drain into the bottom bin. Is that what you do, or do you recommend something else? I'm also still debating whether I want to put inside or keep outside - we've been battling a bit of a fruit fly colony in our kitchen the last few weeks, so I'm leaning towards keeping outside at this point.

I got my bin and worms from a company that taught me how to use it. It’s a very simple design. As long as the temperatures does not go above 85

Cali Cajun · Sep 8, 2018

Sounds good - it gets hotter here in the summer, but I think there is an area under the side eves that always stays shady and probably doesn't get over that even on days when it gets to 100.

DankTankerous · Sep 8, 2018

There is a thread in Organics where people talk about their worm bins, but it’s pretty slow

Cali Cajun · Sep 12, 2018

DankTankerous said:
There is a thread in Organics where people talk about their worm bins, but it’s pretty slow

I saw that - I just got my worms setup a couple of days ago, and have been meaning to take some pictures to post. Mine is not very impressive so far - a couple of plastic totes with screening and a pound of hungry red wigglers.

Cali Cajun · Sep 12, 2018

Flipped a few days ago - girls seem happy but haven't started to stretch yet. I've seen the first white pistils starting to form. The two biggest plants have been at the front of the tent; I decided to move one to the back to even out available horizontal growth space.

CrudeDude · Sep 16, 2018

Grow looks good mate. I’m about to start a chemdog and blue cheese grow soon as seeds pop. I only germinated for a day and then tossed them in some starter plugs around som FFOF in a Pete cup. Kinda an experiment so we shall see lol. Only doing one of each and will probably scrog it but idk yet. May just too a couple times and LsT them.

Cali Cajun · Oct 1, 2018

CrudeDude said:
Grow looks good mate. I’m about to start a chemdog and blue cheese grow soon as seeds pop. I only germinated for a day and then tossed them in some starter plugs around som FFOF in a Pete cup. Kinda an experiment so we shall see lol. Only doing one of each and will probably scrog it but idk yet. May just too a couple times and LsT them.

Thank you brother! Sorry for the delayed response; I've been out of work caring for an elderly parent but have been busy ramping up a job search / updating my portfolio the last couple of weeks. Just now coming back up for air. I'll keep my eyes out for your grow and follow along!

Cali Cajun · Oct 1, 2018

Busy couple of weeks on the home-front, so I haven't been on Rollitup in a while...here's some pictures from week 9, as the first little buds are beginning to form. These Chemdog plants are growing much differently than my first grow (Gorilla Glue #4): the foliage is much denser, and I'm continuing to have an issue with the bottom fan leaves yellowing, I believe due to lack of light. Other than that the grow is going well - not much vertical height (plants are still all under a foot), but filling out nicely horizontally. I'm continuing to do some light LST to attempt to keep the canopy even.

Cali Cajun · Oct 1, 2018

Week 10 photos, demonstrating my lousy topping technique.

Over half the time I end up FIMing. One plant this batch has developed a crazy number of colas, and has responded well to LST which really has opened the plant up and even the smaller central colas seem to be getting plenty of light. The two smaller plants didn't respond as well to LST and I broke one of the branches just prior to flipping (luckily managed to save it), but since then I've backed off on trying to train down the branches any more and the light penetration isn't as good on those smaller plants. Overall everything looks good / healthy and environmental conditions are extremely stable - night time temps of 68 degrees, day time highs of 78 with an average humidity hovering around 50%.

Cali Cajun · Oct 27, 2018

Well I've done a lousy job of keeping this journal up-to-date: I'm limping towards the finish line with this grow. I'm a bit disappointed with how this one has turned out - I still have a lot to learn about how to get the best out of these plants. I've decided this will be my last grow using Kind soil (a blend of super soil) - I've had issues with it both grows, and much more pronounced this time with incessant yellowing of bottom leaves nearly from the start. I've started a new Acapulco Gold grow and will be using Buildasoil's Clackamas Coot blend. A couple of more weeks on this grow before I pull the girls.

Cali Cajun · Oct 27, 2018

A few more...

CrudeDude · Oct 27, 2018

Grow looks pretty good man. Mines only 6 weeks in from seed so still got some times. Scrogging so got another 3-4 weeks probably till the flip. So far plants look healthy. The blue cheese is a little lanky and thin but that’s the strain. The chem dogs are hella fluffy though. How’s the odor on it?

Cali Cajun · Oct 27, 2018

Thank you brother! The odor is very nice - until flowering it had a very chemical / diesel type of smell. Once it started to flower, though, it's had a sweet odor layered on top of it that I can't quite describe. I like it, though!

Cali Cajun · Nov 2, 2018

Heading into the home stretch - I'll probably be harvesting next week. Ironically now that I'm about to harvest, my leaf yellowing issue seems to be improving / slowing down. I'm wondering if it possibly could be caused by my water pH?? I checked my county water report a few weeks back and the pH is 8.4. I've been lowering the pH with citric acid the last couple of waterings - could I possibly have been having some sort of lockout issue?