New Grower ChemDawg4 600w soil

dab farmer

Member
New grower just getting set up in my basement room. For my first grow I have decided to give some Chemdawg4 seeds I came across a shot. I have 5 seeds total and have already germinated 3 of them. As they have been doing their thing under a simple floro fixture I have been preparing the actual grow room for them. Here is a little detail on the room. Its a 2 room area with room #1 being 53x60x86=157cf and room #2 being 53x110x86=285cf.

Room #1 is where I will be doing by vegging under a 600W MH then switching to a 600W HPS for flower. Using a Lumewing openhood and a 600w Quantum Digi Ballast. This room has a 6" S-line Vortex 347 cfm fan w/ Phresh Carbon filter exhausting out the ceiling. For fresh air I have a passive air intake cut into the wall. Just added a 5000 BTU ac window unit with boxed in exhaust. I also used a small 6" duct booster fan to suck the air out of the A/C box attachment and out of the room separate from the main room exhaust. Temps now in the high 70's and holding for the last few hours. There is a Vornado fan on the floor pointing up at the bulb. Last thing added was a Sunbeam Cool Mist Tower Humidifier. I still have some timers to fine tune but I think it is ready to veg some plants!

I am trying for an organic soil grow. My current soil mix is a mixture of 2 parts roots organic soil, 5 parts Natural Guard organic soil, 1 part perlite, 1/2 part worm castings. This mix is what I planned on moving all of my seedlings into for vegging but I had what appears to be a small amount of chem burn on plant #1. It has since grown out of it and plant #2 did not have the same issue so I am keeping a close eye on them. Right now they are in 1 gallon pots and I will move them 5-gallon buckets when they are about 30-40 days old and switch to flower. I plan on using one of the supersoil mixtures for the 5 gallon bucket into flowering. Shot on time for organic cooking so will need a variant that can be whipped up fairly quickly.

Made the mistake of starting one of the seeds in a peat pot but was able to transplant it early. Otherwise the two that are about 10 days old look good and the new one just came up today will hopefully follow suit. Planting the other 2 seeds tonight......Would like to hear everyone feedback, suggestions, flames, stokes....whatever.

Chemdawg4-Plant #1 (note the chem burns on tips in second and third pics)
chemdawg4-#1-02.jpg chemdawg4-#1-03.jpg Chemdawg4-#1-04.JPG


Chemdawg4-Plant #2
Chemdawg4-#2-01.jpg chemdawg4-#2-02.jpg chemdawg4-#2-03.JPG Chemdawg4-#2-04.JPG


Chemdawg4-Plant #3
Chemdawg4-#3-01.JPG Chemdawg4-#3-02.JPG
 
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dab farmer

Member
Tonight I have moved both of my 2 week old Chemdawg4 seedlings under the 600w MH to begin vegging. I am keeping a close eye on them to see if they respond badly to the light change. Gave them plenty of water before setting them under the MH. Still have one Chemdawg4 seedling a few days old yet to come over and yet still 2 other Chemdawg4 seeds I just put down last night so still waiting on them to germinate. I also put down a couple Diesel Maui Dawg seeds last night to increase my chances of coming out with a few females. Wishing I had done them all two weeks ago when I did the first 2. Lesson learned.

Yeah, I learned another lesson on the those friggin board pots.....hard to transplant out of since the roots attach to the pot pretty fast. I got lucky and only the tip of one root had attached but otherwise I would have had to leave it in the board pot. I suppose in time they would root out OK enough but just assumed they would be slowed by it. For everything else since that first seedling I have been using the soaked peat plugs then transplanting them into the 1 gallon pot as soon as they have opened and stretched an inch or two.

Chemdawg4-Plant #1 ( It appears to be over the tip burn issue )
Chemdawg4-#1-005.jpg

Chemdawg4-Plant #2
chemdawg4-#2-005.jpg
 

dab farmer

Member
Moving along I suppose. They have been under the 600w MH for 2 days now. Overall things with these two seem a little slow. I have 4 others I hope to move from floro veg to the MH in the coming days. Wish I had planted all seeds at the same time instead of being timid about it and spacing them out.


Chemdawg4 Plant #1
chemdawg4-#1-006.jpg


Chemdawg4 Plant #2 ( note the little bit of burn at one of the leaf's edges )
chemdawg4-#2-006.jpg
 

dab farmer

Member
Here we are at day 20 for plant #1 and day 18 for plant #2. Judging by some other grower journals I have been reading I am thinking these could be a whole lot bigger than they are. Opinions welcomed!

My initial thought is my soil mix does not dry out fast enough. It seems to stay moist for 3 days or more and its only in a single gallon pot. I do plan to transplant them into 5 gallon pots as soon as the stems thicken up a little more. Other than a bigger pot and getting the roots a little more air in between waterings I am not sure what else to do. Maybe they might be right where they should be and everything is going fine and I just need some chill out....this would be the best outcome no doubt!

I have 3 other Chemdawg4 plants going at this time but they are in their early days. After they are transplanted and out under the MH I will add them to the journal. Also put down 2 Diesel Maui Dawg seeds but only one popped. I will add it into the journal once it has been transplanted and put under the MH.



Chemdawg4-Plant #1
chemdawg4-#1-007.JPG

Chemdawg4-Plant #2
chemdawg4-#2-07.JPG
 

dab farmer

Member
So I had to run into Denver for a bit and left the plants with the wife for 3 days. When I returned things were still green but a wee bit droopy.

Chemdawg4 Plant #2 on the left at 23 days old and Chemdawg4 Plant #1 on the right at 25 days old
chems1&2-02.jpg

Soil was moist but not bone dry and not knowing how much water they had gotten over the last 3 days I gave them 1/2 of a watering to see if they would respond. Over the next 5 hours things got worse quickly for plant #1 as the night wore on. Plant #2 stayed pretty much the same. I transplanted Plant #1 into the only large pot I had which was a 3 gallon with a new soil mixture I hope is a little more balanced on the moisture retention / dry out cycle. I plan on transplanting plant #2 in to a larger pot as well. I plan on 5 gallon instead of three but I kinda freaked out last night after seeing the plant begin to sag like Mr. Grinch so grabbed whatever I had thinking maybe the roots were having issues in the smaller pot. Getting five gallon today.

Things looked better in the morning for both. Look much healthy but very short and compact.

Chemdawg4 Plant #2 on the left at 24 days old and Chemdawg4 Plant #1 on the right at 26 days old.
chems1&2-03.jpg

I think once they are put into the 5 gallon pot tonight and I will veg them for another 10-15 days or so then switch 12/12 and check sex. I am going to bring the 4 other plants I mentioned in a previous update into the journal this evening. They are far enough along and appear healthy enough to keep.
 

dab farmer

Member
Both plants #1 and #2 have been put into 5 gallon pots
chems1&2-03.jpg

Chemdawg4 Plant #1 @ 26 days
chemdawg4-#1-008.jpg

Chemdawg4 Plant #2 @ 24 days
chemdawg4-#2-008.jpg

Chemdawg4 Plant #3 @ 13 days. It has been under floros and tonight has been moved under the 600MH. It is still in a 1 gallon pot.
chemdawg4-#3-004.jpg


Now here are the last of the seeds I have planted for this grow. They are still being vegged under the floros but instead of putting the peat plugs straight into one gallon pots I am going to put them into 4 inch pots. Once they are around 13-15 days old I will put them in larger pots and move them under the 600 MH.

Chemdawg4-Plant #4 & Plant #5 , Maui Diesel Dawg ( Left to Right ) All of them are @ 8 days.
new chems and the dd.jpg

Overall my plan is a MINI SOG. I am thinking I will probably have room for 9-12 plants but I have a lot more research to do before I will know exactly how many I can get away with for my space. Depending on max size of the pot needed for flower will determine how many plants I end up with SOGin. From the first, older plants ( #1 & #2 ) I am hoping to get at least one female to become a mother to provide the clones. The 4 younger plants at this point are backups to provide addition chances of coming up with a female.
 

DesertGrow89

Well-Known Member
New grower just getting set up in my basement room. For my first grow I have decided to give some Chemdawg4 seeds I came across a shot. I have 5 seeds total and have already germinated 3 of them. As they have been doing their thing under a simple floro fixture I have been preparing the actual grow room for them. Here is a little detail on the room. Its a 2 room area with room #1 being 53x60x86=157cf and room #2 being 53x110x86=285cf.

Room #1 is where I will be doing by vegging under a 600W MH then switching to a 600W HPS for flower. Using a Lumewing openhood and a 600w Quantum Digi Ballast. This room has a 6" S-line Vortex 347 cfm fan w/ Phresh Carbon filter exhausting out the ceiling. For fresh air I have a passive air intake cut into the wall. Just added a 5000 BTU ac window unit with boxed in exhaust. I also used a small 6" duct booster fan to suck the air out of the A/C box attachment and out of the room separate from the main room exhaust. Temps now in the high 70's and holding for the last few hours. There is a Vornado fan on the floor pointing up at the bulb. Last thing added was a Sunbeam Cool Mist Tower Humidifier. I still have some timers to fine tune but I think it is ready to veg some plants!

I am trying for an organic soil grow. My current soil mix is a mixture of 2 parts roots organic soil, 5 parts Natural Guard organic soil, 1 part perlite, 1/2 part worm castings. This mix is what I planned on moving all of my seedlings into for vegging but I had what appears to be a small amount of chem burn on plant #1. It has since grown out of it and plant #2 did not have the same issue so I am keeping a close eye on them. Right now they are in 1 gallon pots and I will move them 5-gallon buckets when they are about 30-40 days old and switch to flower. I plan on using one of the supersoil mixtures for the 5 gallon bucket into flowering. Shot on time for organic cooking so will need a variant that can be whipped up fairly quickly.

Made the mistake of starting one of the seeds in a peat pot but was able to transplant it early. Otherwise the two that are about 10 days old look good and the new one just came up today will hopefully follow suit. Planting the other 2 seeds tonight......Would like to hear everyone feedback, suggestions, flames, stokes....whatever.

Chemdawg4-Plant #1 (note the chem burns on tips in second and third pics)
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Chemdawg4-Plant #2
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Chemdawg4-Plant #3
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Looking good make sure your soil level is near the top when germinating seeds (and in general) so the taproot has enough room for growth. As the cotyledon emerges it's root is already ~4 " long!
 

dab farmer

Member
Dodged a bullet tonight. I had a timer fail. Luckily I could hear one of the fans running when it should have been much quieter so I checked and sure enough the timer for the lights and fans crapped out and will not shut off. This was a 15a appliance timer so it should have had no problems handling the load it had. Unfortunately, the A/C cooling system is on a separate 15a timer , which worked, so it got pretty hot in there for about 25 mins until I found it. I will be installing a redundant mechanical timer to cut power to both timers 5 minutes after and 5 minutes before they are scheduled to come on. Could have been really bad....someone was looking out for me tonight.
 

dab farmer

Member
If anyone is looking at these could I get a yay or nay on if I am where I should be, within reason. The look of these plants #1 and #2 seem to change daily. Last night some one the fan leave started to claw downwards. I know this usually means overwatering and I am prepared to accept that however that would be a huge concern since the clawing happened after the soil began to dry out.....at the end of the cycle. It does not appear to be overly wet. It actually would appear dry by weight of the pots and appearance of the soil and was preparing to water them again. So I do not want to put more water in them pots if they are gonna start doing the grinch thing again.

There seems to be a small about of discoloring on the very tips of some of the upper leaves. Just the very tips. Thinking maybe my soil is nitrogen heavy and I am not watering them right. I am going to let them continue to dry out then start over on a watering cycle. Still only using aged ph'd tap water. Looking at getting into tea brewing but for now just stickin with tap water.

Plant #3 seems to be doing ok.

Chemdawg4-Plant #1 @ 30 days
View attachment 3572949



Chemdawg4-Plant #2 @ 28 days
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Chemdawg4-Plant #3 @ 17 days
chemdawg4-#3-0000000.jpg
 

dab farmer

Member
Not sure what happened to the pics above but......no matter. Seems we are past the Freddy Krueger look. I think I need to learn how to properly water my plants though.

Opinions welcomed. I need to figure out what to do with Plant #1 and Plant #2. Right now I am planning on letting them veg a week more then I will flower them check sex and clone from the lower end on any females for the next SOG grow and a one new clone to become the mother. The I will just go ahead an flower the tops of these to see how it goes and get experience.

Still only feeding aged PH'd tapwater every 3 - 4 days.
.

Chemdawg4 Plant #3 @ 33 days.
chemdawg4-#1-011.jpg





Chemdawg4 Plant #2 @ 31 Days.
chemdawg4-#2-011.jpg

Chemdawg4 Plant #3 @ 20 days. This one is growing different than its peers #1 and #2. It was under floro a week or so longer. And less transplants.
chemdawg4-#3-005.jpg
 

dab farmer

Member
If there is anyone out there reading this I could use an opinion. It appears plant 1 is showing female preflowers (See first Photo) and Plant #2 is not showing anything at all.

Plant #1 @40 days---- I am thinking this plant is showing 3 female preflowers.
Plant#1.jpg

Plant #2 @ 38 days - it appears no presex structure showing at all.
Plant#2.jpg
 

dab farmer

Member
So its looking like l both Plant 1 and 2 and showing female pre-flowers. I intend to take a couple cuttings and then flower plant 1. I have never take cutting before so last night I decided to practice on plant #2. I took the two branches on the bottom and made 6 cuttings as pictured below. I felt pretty comfortable so I plan on taking a few more. I have since trimmed the large fan leaves from the two end cuttings. Feeling pretty good about the grow today.
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dab farmer

Member
So far I am still only giving the plants PH'd water. I have kept everything 100% organic as far as I know. A recap, my current soil mix is a mixture of 2 parts roots organic soil, 5 parts Natural Guard organic soil, 1 part perlite, 1/2 part worm castings and 1 part hydrostones ( large). When I mix 1 part=gallon sized pot. I will be honest, I was just shooting for a diluted roots organic mix that I could whip up fast. I had to add the hydrostones because it was not drying out fast enough. Now it does. BUT, I have no idea what nutrients are actually in my soil or how long they will support a plant with only waterings. So far I am happy but I really don't know shit from applebutter when it comes to specifics of this stuff. Intend to learn though.

I am going to begin experimenting with some fox farm Grow Big on plant #3. I have read that this is not organic. I will be interested to see if it has any impact of the growth of #3. As for the two plants I am going to be flowering....I figure I should probably get to reading up on teas for flowering. I do have some Big Bloom that I have not ever used and I have heard it is organic so if all else fails I have that to fall back on. Honestly I have had pretty good luck so far for my first run and maybe I should save the teas for the next grow. It is hard to make some of these decisions and I would like to hear any feedback on what the experts around here would do with my two plants?? Do they look ready to flower of should I continue to veg them???

Took cuttings off of both plant #1 (Right) and plant #2 (Left). One of the cuttings I took from plant#2 Friday night has already rooted. Are the open ended cuttings worth bothering with? I am hoping to generate 9 clones for the next grow and 3 clones for future cuttings. I converted a cheap plastic closet into my clone closet. Works well for this noob.

clones 1&2.JPG


Chemdawg4 Plant #1 @ 45 days. 5 Gallon Pot. Cuttings taken from the lowest branches. I have said it before but now I think I am actually ready to flower.
cg1.JPG


Chemdawg4 Plant #2 @ 43 days. 5 Gallon Pot. Cuttings taken from the lowest branches. Again, I think this plant is also ready to flower.
cd2.JPG

Chemdawg4 Plant 3 @ 32 days. 5 Gallon pot. So far this thing just does not seem to want to find its footing......its just kinda here. I am going to begin to experiment with light feedings on this plant and see what happens. I have mixed and ph'd 1 gallon of water with 1 tsp of Grow Big. This plant will get that on its next watering.
cd3.JPG
 

thumper60

Well-Known Member
I think u should have topped them.hope u have plenty of head space.also looks like time to start feeding
 

dab farmer

Member
Plants #1 and #2 have both begun flowering. I have found myself needing to water every other day which seems too much so the day before flower I gave them their first feeding. 48oz of 1/2 strength Big Bloom then followed up with another 48 oz of ph'd water. They have been perkier the last three days than they have been in the last 4 weeks. I have about 3 feet of space above the plants to work with before space becomes an issue. Little worried about that. As suggested I should have planned better and topped them but I just could not bring myself to do it being my first grow.

Plant #3 is indeed a female as well but I figure it is going to stay in veg and become my mother. My veg space is under a quick reconfiguration to upgrade floro lighting.

On another note, the first sets of cuttings seem to be developing a few problems. Some became very droopy, and now some have began to discolor. I noticed a film on the inside of the dome and I am thinking I accidentally filled the spray bottle with the diluted Big Bloom solution and nuked the little gals. Not sure though.....

Plants #1 @ 49 days (Left) and #2 @ 47 days (Right)
cd1-2---0014.jpg

Plant #3 @ 36 days. This is going to become my mother plant. This plant also got a feeding of 1/2 strength Big Bloom.
chemdawg4-3-014.jpg

Cuttings taken. 7 Days ago on left and 4 days ago on the right. Again, thinking chemical nukage likely.
clones2.jpg
 

dab farmer

Member
I have gone ahead and removed the ones that have rooted and potted them in 4" recycled nursery pots for now and begun to veg. Of the 12 cuttings taken I think 8 will become clones. These clones are 8 days old.
clones4.JPG
 

dab farmer

Member
Here is the $.05 update.

Plants 1&2 are on day 11 of flower under a Hortilux 600W Super HPS and plants 4 and 5 joined them yesterday so those two are on day 2. I have a total of 4 plants in flower right now. If the Maui Diesel Dawg turns out to be female then it will be added to the flower room. Aside from possible height issues, I am concerned about the health of my plants through flower. I am feeding all the flowering plants with Big Bloom 1/1 General feeding. Typically 3/4 of a gallon of water per watering every 3-4 days. I am concerned with the light color of the plant.

Plant 3 is my mother plant. It is veggin under floro next to the clone closet.

Some of the clones have developed issues. I am pretty much reserved to using this batch of clones as practice. I will let pics speak for themselves on the clones.

Chemdawg4 Plants 1 & 2 @ 11 days flowering. (Plants 4 & 5 are the smaller ones)chemdawg4 1-2 F11.JPG

Cola Development Plant 1 @ 11 days
cd4-1-c.JPG

Cola Development Plant 2 @ 11 days
cd4-2 c2.JPG

Chemdawg4 Plant 3 (Mother)
chemdawg4-3-008.JPG

Clone Closet with third shelf added
IMG_1884.JPG
Some of the clones are having issues
IMG_1886.JPG
IMG_1893.JPG
 

dab farmer

Member
So I built a little bubbler to see if I could get these clones back on track. So far they are responding well. New normal looking growth on three of them 2 days after I put them in the bubbler. Sweetness!

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