Mephisto-Strawberry Nuggets

Week #1 (veg)-Dec 4-Dec 10 12/7-This one is supposed to be a short and stocky strain that needs to get off to a good start. Keeping the nute load light to start. So far so good. 12/9-Good progress. 12/10-First week gets off to a good start. Seedling appears to be healthy with no signs of stress. Next week I'll start to increase the nutes.

Week #2-Dec 11-17 12/11-Increased nute load slightly. Will increase steadily this week if no adverse effects. 12/13-No adverse effects from increased nute load so far. Plant leaves are getting wider. She seems to have gotten a bit taller as well. Hints of the 3rd node are starting. 12/17-First 2 weeks have gone well. The plant is growing wider than higher as advertised.

Week #3-Dec 18-25 12/22-Increased the nute load with no adverse effects. She looks to be starting to grow up instead of sideways (but not much). This is going to be a tough one to get light on the growth beneath these huge wide leaves.

Week #4-Dec 25-31 12/26-After looking at a number of Strawberry Nuggets diaries I decided to be a little proactive and try to open up the plant to more light earlier rather than later. So I decided to cut 4 huge leaves that were literally covering up everything below them. I'm hoping this will encourage a bit more upward growth. We shall see. 12/28-This plant is a strange bird. It's growing very low and tight to the ground. Branches don't seem to want to grow out.Only 4 inches tall so far. More LST trying to get light on lower leaves. 12/31-Starting to get a bit taller. Up to 4.5 inches. No signs yet of any pre-flowering so I'll likely stay with same feed recipe for at least the next few days. Overall though the plant looks very healthy but because the top leaves are so big and saggy it's not allowing any light on the branches underneath. So I decided to be a bit more aggressive and I cut the largest top leaves and some of the leaves/branches at the very bottom. I'm looking forward to seeing how she reacts over the next few days.

Week #5-Jan 1-Jan 7 1/4-Moved plant to big tent with Forgotten Cookies. Plant is starting to grow up instead of sideways but its still only 5 inches after almost 5 weeks. Also none of the branches below the top are getting any light. I just don't know how this one works out. I've had great success with Mephisto seeds but I'm worried about this one.

Week #6-Jan 8-Jan 14 1/10-Went to bloom feeding schedule after 5 weeks of veg even though I only see just a tiny pistil or 2 showing. This strain is supposed to bloom quickly so I'm getting a bit worried. It also just does not want to grow upwards and all the growth below top leaves is so dense and bunched up its hard to imagine how any buds can grow there. 1/12-Small sign of hope for this one. The plant looks like it grew a bit over the last couple of days to 7 inches. I attempted to do some LST and pulled down some of the new growth that had been severely bunched together and it looks like it may be paying off. Some of the lower stuff has started to spread out and it looks like there is a little more breathing room in there. However, I still don't see any signs of pre-flowering and we are 40 days in. All the other grows I've seen with this strain were well into pre-flower at this stage. I'm going to give it another week or so to show some signs of flowering and then decide what to do. Had this issue once before and I'm wondering if somehow this seed did not get the autoflowering gene in which case I may try going to 12/12 on the lights to see if that triggers flowering. If not I'm going to turn the lights out permanently on this one. 1/14-Plant looks healthy but still no hint of flowering. Last night I put it on 12/12 to see if I can trick into flowering by treating it like a photoperiod (which is what its acting like). We'll see what happens. This plant has been disappointing/perplexing so far but my gut tells me to hang in there a bit longer.

Week #7-Jan 15-Jan 21 1/15-As the plant has stretched upwards a bit I've been able to do a little bit of LST pulling 4 of the main stems out a bit which is giving the plant a little more room to breathe. 1/16-Finally I see sign of pre-flowering. After posting a question here on GrowDiaries I got some sage advice and decided not to kill this one. After looking at a couple of Diaries I'd not seen previously where the growers were experiencing a very long time to pre-flower as well they went on to have very big and healthy harvests. I'm hoping the same happens here. Once again I learn that patience is a key element when growing cannabis. 1/18-Things are finally happening. Plant is growing TALLER each day. She is up to 10 inches now. Buds are starting to emerge within the canopy. I'm starting to think this baby might just come through after all. Did some further defoliation this evening to expose bud sites to light. As she gets taller I'm able to do a bit more LST as well pulling some branches apart to give some space. 1/20-Bud sites are breaking out everywhere now. The plant looks to have grown an inch in the last couple of days up to 11 inches now. I'm so glad I did not chop this baby down. I'm starting to think this one might wind up being great. 11/21-Plant grew another inch yesterday to 12 inches. As its grown taller its been easier to do some more LST to try to pull the branches out a bit and get some light across the whole of the plant. I figure this plant has got another 5-6 weeks of flowering ahead so I decided to be a bit more aggressive in trimming out the huge fan leaves that have been covering up the lower branches. They've been growing so wide and fast that I think the plant will be able to handle it. Based on all the other Strawberry Nuggets grows I've looked at I've definitely thinned this one out and pulled the branches the most. I hope I did not overdo it. The plant is definitely starting to take in alot more water but the runoffs have been spot on so it appears that she is uptaking the nutes nicely. Two weeks ago I was ready to give up on this one so everything good that happens in these last weeks feels like a bonus.

Week #8-Jan 22-Jan 28 1/22-Really starting to stretch. Up to 13 inches now. 1/24-Still stretching. Up to 14 inches now. Bud sites are really starting to develop on lower branches. I think some of the trimming and LST is starting to payoff. Looking very healthy and on track for good things. 1/26-Adjusted the nutes for last few weeks of flowering. Deleted Pirahna,Tarantula, B-52, Bud Ignitor and Voodoo Juice. Added Big Bud Coco and Bud Factor X. 1/28-After 8 weeks this baby is rocking now. Up to 17 inches in height now. Did a bit more trimming of the massive leaves to get light on all the bud sites. I'm interested to see how she plumps up over the next 3-4 weeks. Glad I stayed with this one!!

Week #9-Jan 29-Feb 4 1/31-Things are on autopilot now. Somehow I've managed to get this Strawberry girl to look like a real cannabis plant growing taller rather than wider now. She's up top almost 18 inches now and is drinking a ton of water now. This plant has got my vote for comeback of the year award!! Let's see how she finishes.

Week #10-Feb 5 to Feb 11 2/11-After a very slow start this plant is really finishing strong. She seems to be on autopilot now getting frostier and more dense by the day. I reckon she's go a couple more weeks in her and then I'll start flushing and harvest. One more example of why I love the Mephisto seed guys.

Week #11-Feb 12 to Feb 18 2/14-Plant keeps getting frostier and more dense 2/16-More growth of buds. Trichomes are still mostly clear with some cloudy. Still got a ways to go. I'm thinking we get to 84 days then flush if she's ready. 2/18-Plant is looking very healthy. Buds are starting to get really dense. All the main branches are nicely separated getting full light. Trichomes are still more clear than cloudy and not much amber. Given how late this plant was to enter flowering I think we have at least another 7 days of flowering before flush and harvest but I'll let the plant tell me when its time not the calendar.

Week #12-Feb 19 to Feb 25 2/19-Feels like we are heading into last week before flush and harvest based on trichomes color. Getting cloudy but not alot of amber just yet. Leaves are not turning yellow yet either. I'm continuing to gently trim leaves to expose lower buds to more light. 2/20-Started a slow flush with Ph balanced water only. Buds are getting rock hard now up top and lower buds are firming up as well. Feels like we are within a week now of harvest. 2/23-Flush continues. Down to 300 ppm. Trichomes are all cloudy and showing more and more amber. Very close now. 2/24-Did some pre-trimming on the leaves in anticipation of imminent harvest. Hard to believe that this plant got to where it is now from a slow start. She started as a stubborn short little runt and ended a beauty! 2/25-Harvest day

About 6 weeks in I was ready to give up on this one. But a timely suggestion from one of the top growers here talked me out of it and I'm glad she did. This one came home in the end but it require ALOT of time and effort. The buds look great but the wet yield is one of the smallest I've gotten with Mephisto Genetics. They have spoiled me with 5-8 oz yields but if this one smokes as good as she looked in the end it will be worth it.