1st Mephisto Grow: 3 strains

Aloha! This is my first autoflower grow and I'm so excited to dive into the Mephisto line. I must admit: having spent the past ~20 years working with photoperiod cannabis, I'm in LOVE with not having to do any light management. I haven't even hit flowering yet but the ease of the whole process is just oh so nice. I had 100% success with germination, soaking in 4oz water + 1T H2O2. I lost one Double Grape due to lag time to transplant (grower error) -- it shot out two embryos! 1 of 2 Wedding Cake stalled out just after popping cotyledon. All 3 Forum Stomper have made it, with one being the runt of the lot. I sowed them in the basic 5-3-1-1 substrate mix above (no amendments) into Solo cups. Gave them about 2 weeks, then TP'd into the 3 gal pots with amendments, which will be their home for the remainder of their lives. My program is very simple. Plain water and compost tea 1x/week (more frequent if I have the time to make it). If you haven't made/used compost tea, I highly recommend you try using it for one full growth cycle. It will save you so much headache because your plants will be very healthy and much more resilient. I was an organic soil grower for years tolerating mediocre results in terms of yield and overall vigor. Honestly, I was stubborn because nobody I knew had impressive results with their teas (I learned later they weren't doing it correctly). As soon as I read Jeff Lowenfel's book "Teaming with Microbes" and followed his basic compost tea recipe, I was a total convert. I won't grow without it. Fungus gnats? Not an issue. Heat stress? Meh. Nutrient lockout? Nope. Toss the expensive bottled products aside -- they're wasting your money. Thus far, I'm stoked about Mephisto's genetics. I stocked up on most of their catalog and will be growing them out as time allows. All I want is fine herb and to share my journey with the hopes of informing and inspiring whoever stumbles upon these diaries. All my best to you and your gardens! Grow with love and gratitude 😃

Aloha! Day 28 today. The kids are cruising along. More LST the past week + very light defoliation of the lowest fan leaves and nodes. With the training, theyre all keeping a very low profile, ranging 6”-8” in height. Watered with basic compost tea 2x this week: 2 cups compost + 1/4 cup alfalfa meal to 2.5 gal water. One full day outside when it was sunny but otherwise in the tent. Getting 650-700umol. Double Grape looks to be transitioning to bloom ahead of everyone else. It’s supposed to finish in 65-70 days, so that tracks relative to the 75-85 day timeline of WC and FS. I still can’t wrap my head around these finishing so quickly 😂. Can’t wait to see it all unfold! Autos are fun.

Aloha! Day 36. Flowering has begun! They've been going through a nice stretch since my last entry. Drinking more, needing more LST to manage their structures with light defoliation here and there (I don't do rounds of heavy defoliation, just pluck here and there as things progress). They're doing great. I'm glad I cut my usual amendment ratio by 25%. They've got plenty to eat by the looks of it. Double Grape is starting to smell -- musky/skunky, touch of fruit, hints of peanut butter. While she's doing just fine with LST, I think I'll try topping it next round or just letting it grow without manipulation to open it up a bit more. LST doesn't seem the best fit (for this particular pheno anyway). Wedding Cake is smelling sweet! Like vanilla frosting. Maybe it's just the power of suggestion but right now she smells like a box of white cake mix. She's staying squat at 11" but she's got plenty of tops, as you can see. And she's progressing very nicely. I'm hopeful she's on the shorter side of flowering, 65-70 days. Forum Stomper 2 is the tallest at 22" now. She's leggy and sparse on foliage, lending to a lot of light penetration throughout the entire plant. Forum Stomper 3 (the runt) has been blasting off! She was so slow and small in the beginning I thought, "Well, this just happens with seeds some times." If her current structure is any indicator, she looks like what Mephisto describes as "branches on branches". I hope so! They specifically call out that pheno as a "real treat". We shall see! She looks to be the most behind in development. Forum Stomper 1 is filling out nicely and I'm trying to manage her branching as best I can. All in all, a solid week! I'll return with another update next week. Grow with gratitude!

Aloha! Things are progressing nicely overall. I likely overwatered for Double Grape and Forum Stomper 3. It’s been sunny and hot this week so I’ve put everyone outside a few days. The pots felt light so I’ve watered more than normal, plain H2O and compost tea. Nevertheless, I’m optimistic and enjoying the process. Growing autos is super fun and easy! This is the future of cannabis for the hobbyist. So much easier to manage compared to photoperiod strains. I work 60-80 hrs/wk and I can still pull off a grow to restock the medicine cabinet with relative ease. This coming week: bloom enhancement. Will begin using rock phosphate in the compost tea + adding HPK to the finished brew just before watering.

Aloha! Day 56 from sprout. Things took a hard nose dive into deficiencies the past 2 weeks. I really undershot their nutritional needs and haven’t been responsive in time. I’ve been too busy to give the kids the proper attention they need to correct. Nevertheless, they’re hardy and pushing through. Really nice aromas are developing, especially with Wedding Cake — very chemical, burning rubber pungency with just a touch of vanilla sweetness. Double Grape looks like it has a couple weeks left. The rest likely have 3-4. Hopefully I can correct the issues, at least in part

Aloha! Day 63. Using Roots Soul Grow high N has helped correct the N deficiency. HPK has certainly aided in bract growth and resin production. Most have turned around and recovered well. The yield isn’t looking great but it’s plenty for me. I love having 5 different flavors — variety (and quality) is my thing! Letting Double Grape go one more week. The rest will be harvested the following week. Until next time, stay with it and happy gardening!

As mentioned above, she grew easily despite being underfed and hitting deficiencies in the middle of flowering. She recovered quickly and produced some beautiful, intensely aromatic and potent flowers. I love the high, flavor and aroma. And this was my first grow in over 10+ years with NO MOLD! Not sure if that's just an artifact of lower humidity due to the lights being on more than with photoperiod strains or if it's hardiness due to the ruderalis genetics. But I'm beyond stoked to have ZERO mold or pest issues with this and every other Mehpisto plant in this grow.