Cheese Grow Journal

Cheese Strain + Grow Setup Info

Being one of the most talked about strains of cannabis you’ve probably already heard about the Cheese strain. But even with its booming popularity, many people do not know the interesting story about the history of the cheese strain. The cheese strain is basically a very rare form of the Skunk strain that features all of the best Skunk traits but with a very different smell. Instead of an overpowering, non discreet, stench. The cheese gave off a musty cheese scent that was far less stinky (which was perfect for growers who were looking for a stealthier option).

For more details, or to purchase these seeds, check out the official strain info on the Cheese seeds page

In this Cheese grow journal the plant will be grown under these conditions:
Lighting: 250W MH for veg / 400W Dual Spectrum HPS for flower
Light Cycle: 18/6 & 12/12
Temperature: 20-27°C
Grow Space: Indoor
Medium: biobizz allmix + 25% perlite
PH level: 6.0 – 6.5
Nutrients: old timer organic bloom

Grow room setup:
100*100*180 tent
5″ Extractor fan
parabolic shade for the HPS
lumatec 250/400W dimable digital ballast

Seedling

100% successful germination rate on the Cheese seeds by Dark Wizard Genetics, all seedlings have now popped up.

Will be started under a 200W 6400K CFL @ 20/4 until the first pair of real leaves are grown. Then will swap over to a 250W MH @ 20/4 for 3 weeks of vegging. Then will swap to 400W Dual Spectrum HPS @ 12/12 for 56-63 days for flowering.

Will be using the 100*100*180 tent again and either a diamond or parabolic shade for the HPS. As usual, I’ll be using a lumatec 250/400W dimmable digital ballast, plug-n-grow timer & 1Kw contactor.

I’ve upgraded to a 125mm carbon filter but I’m using a 125-100mm reducer and the TT100 inline (with an option to swap to a 125mm RVK if the heat starts building up too much). I’ll set the seeds off in 1-litre pots of Terra seedmix + 25% perlite and repot into 10-litre pots of biobizz allmix + 25% perlite + root grow mycorrhizal fungi. I’ll feed using old timer organic bloom adjusted to pH 6.5 ish.

So that’s the plan – let’s see how it all pans out.

Vegetation

Cheese at 17 days old

I repotted the seedlings into 10-litre pots of Biobizz all mix + extra perlite. Temperatures have been a little bit low at 22 degrees which have slowed growth a bit. A heater tube has now been installed to raise the temperature to 25 degrees.

Cheese at 20 days old

Close-up of Cheese plants – they’re all like this with really tight internodes so even though I’m probably one week behind where I should be due to the previous cold temperature they had very good root-balls on them when transplanted so apart from wasting a few quids worth of electricity all’s well.

Flowering

Cheese Flowering Day 5

Had to flip the plants into flower a little earlier as I have 6 plants in a small tent and I don’t want them to get too big and lean over each other.


Above you can see a bit of stretch starting as they head into flower.

Last night I fitted this monster – 100cm diameter Sunking parabolic light shade with a 450W Dual spectrum sunmaster bulb fitted. I was using a 250w bulb before. I’m expecting the temp to increase to 28 & the humidity to drop slightly (maybe to the high 40’s).

Cheese Flowering Day 9

White pistons have started to break out!

I’ve started feeding them every other watering with 4ml of Oldtimer grow in 1 Litre of water and they take 1.5 Litres of water before I get run-off (which is PH 6.6).

It’s starting to get crowded in there and I’m considering moving a couple to my spare tent. The Cheese is branching like mad, has loads of fat indica-style leaves, and looks like they could become monsters.

Cheese Flowering Day 14

You really can get the bulb close with these parabolic shades – The tips of the plants are actually touching the shade and are starting to slide along it towards the bulb & so far I only have a couple of slightly scorched leaves. I’ve only got a foot left before the top of the shade reaches the top of the tent so I hope they stop stretching soon.

I’ve had to set up my old “Propagation tent” and will be moving some of the plants out tomorrow night – giving them a load of LST or even chopping the top 8″ off so they’ll fit into it. The only problem is I only have a 200W 6400K CFL to run in it so I will buy the flowering version tomorrow.

Cheese Flowering Day 14

I’ve switched my nutrients to Oldtimer “Bloom” as they’re well into flowering now.

Cheese Flowering Day 21

Tonight they had 2 liters of water + 6 ml of Oldtimer bloom before I got any runoff, PH was 6.5 so from that point of view all is going fine. I’m feeding them every watering and they’re showing no signs of overfeeding in fact with a few lower leaves being slightly yellow they might actually want more so I will increase it to 4 ml/litre which is the max recommended strength on the bottle.

Cheese Flowering Day 25

Nice side shoots piling weight on. In fact, they’re so heavy I’ve had to use yoyo’s to stop the plant leaning over towards the bulb. These are going to be monsters when ready.

Cheese Flowering Day 30

Now into the fourth week of flowering – They’ve developed a slight nute issue with pale leaves with some veining on lower fan leaves – think it might be the same magnesium deficiency I got last grow so I’m going to give them some Epsom salts at the weekend.

I can confirm they have definitely stopped stretching as for two weeks I haven’t had to raise the shade.

Cheese Flowering Day 35 (week 5)

Cheese Flowering Day 42 (week 6)

It’s getting full of buds in here – They have turned into monsters, who says you don’t get good yields with indoor organic soil grows? The side-shoots are so heavy they are bending right over, if I had more space I’d be tying them up all over the place but as it is they’ll just have to prop each other up as any “fiddling around” in the tent produces so much weed aroma you can smell it from the house and more worrying in the street!

Cheese Flowering Day 49 (week 7)

Looking at these beautiful trichomes I’d say the Cheese will be ready for the chop once I’ve flushed it for a week – which I started today.

Cheese Flowering Day 49 (week 8)

I will be chopping the plants tonight – it’s about 60/40 cloudy/amber and it’s a strong stinky smoke at that level. Here are a few pictures before harvest.

Harvest

Due to the stickyness & pungent smell, I had to wear latex gloves and chop the plants inside the tent putting all the fan leaves and stalks into a ziplock bag. I got up at 2 am to trim to avoid making so much smell in the day! I found that zipping myself inside the tent with the extractor on really kept the smell under control.

How much did Cheese yield?

The biggest Cheese plant gave a final dry yield of 5 ounces of super resinous bud that is sure to be a very strong smoke. The smallest plant yielded 3 ounces which is still a fantastic result.

How long did Cheese take to flower?

Cheese took 8 weeks to flower and had 60/40 cloudy to amber trichomes. Could of taken it down a little sooner if I really wanted.

How tall will Cheese grow?

My plants got a little cold in veg and did stretch a little, they ended up being quite tall at around 120 cm – 130 cm. If grown a little better they could be shorter than this.

Was Cheese easy to grow?

Cheese was very easy to grow. Didn’t require any special attention at all.