Dinachem Grow Report: Whether clone or seed – always a perfect breed!

Master grower Cloudz was overjoyed when he took second place in the indica category of the IC420 Growers Cup 2015 with his homegrown Dinachem weed. That superb prize-winning marijuana he had gained from a Dinachem clone which had previously been selected by Growolf, a big fan of Dinafem genetics. In the hands of the professional grower team Dick & Freerk, in that year Dinachem also started a career as a commercial strain. This "ruthless killer marijuana" (quote from one of their buyers) proved so popular with Dick's and Freerk's customers that very soon they couldn't imagine their business without it any longer.

However, effect-wise that specially selected clone was clearly on the indica side, solely providing a tremendous indica punch which after a few tokes sent the smoker tumbling into the ropes - there wasn't any trace of an initial activating sativa buzz (which is stated by Dinafem). But Cloudz wanted to discover that aspect of Dinachem, too, and check himself how well that strain performs if one grows an entire bag of seeds.

In Dinachem, legendary US American strain ChemDawg 91 lives on. Years ago, Dinafem received original ChemDawg 91 clone genetics directly from breeder ChemDog, and in addition, plenty of GuavaChem seeds, a stabilised great-great-grandchild of ChemDawg 91 with a lot of genetic resemblance. Due its age of a quarter century, that ChemDawg 91 clone had lost quite some vigour over the decades, nowadays growing only slowly and not yielding very well any longer.

That's why Dinafem gave it a rejuvenating cure by crossing it with GuavaChem, over several generations creating the revitalised, highly productive and highly potent "Dinachem" strain (65% sativa, 35% indica). In doing so, they successfully pursued the goal to preserve ChemDawg's typically penetrant fuel/petroleum aroma which in Dinachem got enriched with hints of citrus and pinewood. As for the effect, it's immensely strong and complex: initially uplifting and euphoric, but then changing into a deeply relaxing heavyweight indica stone. Flowering time is about 60 days, after which growers are rewarded with up to a pound of top-class nuggets heavily coated with resin. Which despite their 2/3 sativa genetics look much more like indica than sativa - fat, roundish and succulent as they are.

Cloudz got himself a package of five feminised Dinachem seeds. After they had quickly sprouted in Jiffy Pots, he put these into 11 litre containers filled with soil mix. Together with Bubba Kush and OG Kush seedlings, the five Dinachems were grown under a 600 W HPS lamp with a light cycle of 18 hours a day. Cloudz left them in the veggie stage for four weeks, and during this period, they thrived and prospered, developing a solid branching pattern and indica-style dark green shade leaves. It was evident at that stage already though that Cloudz would end up with two phenotypes later on because two of the Dinachem plants exhibited taller, more elongated growth and started to branch out later than the other three.

At the time Cloudz initiated flowering, the plants measured between 46-63 cm. During the blooming period, phenotype differentiation continued, with the two taller Dinachem plants being subject to a stronger stem elongation effect than their sisters. Most evidently, they were driven by a higher share of sativa, and Cloudz supposed that this would have an impact on the kind of high they'd deliver later on.

Flowering quickly gathered pace – three weeks after he had cut down the light cycle to 12/12, Cloudz already saw plenty of white flower clusters on all the five plants, and one week later, there was a promising sparkle all over the plants as resin gland production kicked into full gear. Said Cloudz, "wow, real resin avalanches seem to be coming down soon… and these flower clusters are looking amazingly thick already. 'Big things a gwaan!', my rasta friend Jerry would say."

Indeed, all the five plants looked sensationally resinous after some more weeks, blinding white with trichomes so that Cloudz almost had to pull out his snow goggles… And also in terms of size, the flower clusters had prospered as magnificently as Cloudz had supposed, with the main and side shoots sporting voluminous shapely buds which looked so gorgeous as if they'd apply for a cannabis model contest. Those two plants with a stronger touch of sativa had developed longer head buds than their indica-dominant sisters, but this was the only obvious difference as the buds' flower structure was very similar otherwise: They had a very high calyx-to-leaf ratio and in the end become extremely dense and hard, "they felt like hardened cement", as Cloudz put it.

Also, the smell of every single plant also fully matched Dinafem's official strain description, because their incredibly penetrant aroma was dominated by a heavy petroleum/fuel note and refined with subtle hints of citrus and pinewood. Cheered Cloudz, "an awesome odour with a complex aroma profile, I just love it!" As for maturity, all went according to plan as well. The five Dinachem plants needed between 59 and 63 flowering days to fully ripen. Their – pretty handy - final heights were 68, 73, 74, 83 and 87 cm. These figures translated into yields of 64, 69, 77, 79 and 82 grams – 74 grams on the average. Which made Cloudz very satisfied, and when I dropped in to take some pics, he proudly presented his tupper boxes filled with super crystalline Dinachem buds. The oily smell that came out of the box once opened was so overwhelmingly intense that it provided an almost anaesthetic sensation already, as if one sniffed petrol from a canister and got high on that.

But probably it rather was the anticipation of a tremendously powerful smoke that made Cloudz and me feel numb from merely sniffing at Dinachem… He first tested the indica pheno and after a few puffs from a big joint didn't have to wait long until the mighty Dinachem indica champion put on its mental boxing gloves and fired a broadside at him. It was that kind of "brute" indica force that makes one's jaw drop from lack of muscle tone – a state that Cloudz, aptly, uses to call "facial narcosis".

After a while though he managed to recover himself and started to do something against the munchies that had meanwhile come over him, raiding the fridge… when he had become sleepy from his massive food intake, he rolled his second Dinachem spliff, this time filled with the more sativa-oriented pheno. And whoops – it felt as if someone had turned on the light, filled the glasses with bubbly and put on an oompah-oompah music record! Because Cloudz now did feel that activating sativa kick-off buzz flooding his bloodstream, a fresh euphoric breeze was blowing through his head and considerably quickened his pulse.

He used that fresh impetus to harvest some cocktail tomatoes on his balcony, for a healthy dessert snack. However, that up-high condition lasted only approximately 20 minutes, then Cloudz noticed that Dinachem was about to haul off again, preparing to plant another heavy indica punch on his head. Which kept him wonderfully stoned for another two hours, providing deep relaxation that eased his muscles and mind like a sauna session.

Flavour-wise, the two highly palatable Dinachem samples proved to be almost identical, delivering a pleasantly spicy full-bodied taste with a sweetish-savory pine aftertaste remaining on the palate for a longer time. As a matter of course, Cloudz arrived at a very praising conclusion: "Dinafem's Dinachem strain has proven impressively that it does not only perform extremely well in the form of a specially selected clone, but also over the entirety of a commercially available seed bag. Dinachem: whether clone or seed – always a perfect breed!"

Green Born Identity – G.B.I.

 

Cultivation data:

 

• Genetics: ChemDawg 91 x GuavaChem (65% Sativa, 35% Indica)
• Vegetative stage here: 4 weeks
• Flowering stage here: 59-63 days, 60 days in general
• Medium: Plagron Growmix, 11 litre pots
• pH: 6.5-6.8
• EC: max. 1.6 mS
• Light approx: 500 W HPS/m2
• Temperature day: 26-28°C / night: 18-20°C
• Air humidity: 60% (veggie stage), 40% (flowering stage)
• Watering: by hand
• Fertilisation: HeSi TNT-Complex, HeSi Blüte-Complex, HeSi Phosphor Plus from the 4th week of flowering
• Additives/stimulants: HeSi SuperVit, HeSi Wurzel-Complex
• Height: 68, 73, 74, 83 and 87 cm
• Yield: 64, 69, 77, 79 and 82 g