Dancing with Mephisto

Greetings! I am looking forward to this run as I have heard nothing but great things about the cultivars offered by Mephisto Genetics. With that said, I thought it best to start with some of their oldest and most stable genetics and, from the looks of other diaries here, I am sure the effort with 24 Carat will be well rewarded! Here's some background and details for week 1: Like my previous run (also documented here), I'll be using coco coir as my medium. I am recycling the coco from my last run using a process where I thoroughly rinsed the coco with tap water outside and strained off the coco peat (fine dust) that had built up over the last cycle. Once I was satisfied with the flush and filter, I did two 8 hour soaks in a fertigation solution of 125% Cal/Mag made with filtered tap water. Each soak was followed by a drain without rinsing the fiber. This process ensures the coco is properly buffered with calcium/magnesium so the cation exchange rate will be as close to optimal levels as possible from the outset. Details on the process I used are described here: https://cocoforcannabis.com/how-to-prepare-and-buffer-coco-coir/ Once the coco was buffered it was split evenly into 7gal fabric pots and covered to prevent dehydration while the seeds were started in a separate container. The first seed above ground appeared on day 5 from seed, the second on day 6, and the last one has yet to break ground but I can see the top of the seed casing a few millimeters below the surface. For now, I am watering with a light cal/mag low EC solution to keep the soil hydrated. Seedling strength fertigation will begin in earnest within the next 24 hours and will be documented in the week 2 udpate. As always, thanks for your interest!

Week two went smoothly and without issue. Plants have established healthy growth and environmental conditions have been within ideal ranges. Runoff EC from the fertigation solution veered a little higher than I would have liked midweek but a healthy dose of rain in my town left me with about 7 gallons of 0 EC rainwater solution that aided in correcting the course as I headed into week 3. The other big drawback of the week was that plant #3 did not germinate. Luckily, the 3 pack I bought came with 5 as the boys at Mephisto were feeling generous; that said I have germinated the other two toward the end of the week and will hopefully get at least one to pop. If both sprout I will start one of them outdoors, for science. I continue to water the empty pot with light fertigation solution of mostly calmag to ensure EC does not get too high and coco remains properly buffered for when #3 decides to show up. More updates to come, soon!

Week 3 saw stable and steady growth and I am pleased with how things are proceeding so far. As an update to the EC spike mentioned in the last update, which saw peak outflow at ~ 700ppm, I definitely started to notice the leaves on the bigger girl (#2) start to get a bit of a sandpapery texture which prompted me to increase the amount of solution given at each fertigation and lower the overall salinity of that inflow solution. As one might expect, this quickly saw the outflow EC drop to levels more appropriate for this stage of growth. I admit I am still trying to find the sweet spot for autoflowers. Things are now stable in the 400-550ppm range and the leaves are taking on a more fleshy/waxy texture so I'm not too worried; I'll just need to be mindful as I seem to err on the high end of fertigation solution EC and it has been determinantal to my garden in the past. I am still benefitting greatly from a deluge of 0 EC rainwater in my locale which has been a tremendous help getting things in control while allowing me to maintain a decent strength nutrient solution. Unfortunately, the remainder of my 24 carat beans did not germinate which, while they have never failed me in the past, has me calling into question my methods (starting 1.25cm deep in rapid rooter and keeping covered and moist in a ~25C environment). I will also note that the beans themselves were very small and a bit on the puny side. That said, 2 of those 5 were freebies so I consider it to be 2 out of 3 success rate for my 24 carat run. I will also point out that I purchased another 3 pack which came with 5 and they tossed in a 5 pack of Northern Cheese Haze so Mephisto more than made up for the loss. I started one of those NCH beans to fill the third spot in the tent and will make a separate diary for that grow as I learned my lesson about mixed strain diaries the first time around… Last thing worth mentioning is that I have added a thin layer of hydroton pellets covering the coco to slow evaporation and ward off a few fungus gnats I saw knocking around. To be safe I gave the girls two doses of Gnatrol because fungus gnats are the bane of my existence. That's it for now. Let me know if you have questions or thoughts in the comments section!

Week two went mostly well with vegetative growth taking off and remaining steady despite a bit of a calmag deficiency due to the use of 0 EC rainwater. I am still dialing my nutrient schedule to Mephisto's genetics which seem to be more true to autoflower heritage than other breeders. So far they are a delight to grow,

Week 5 went well but saw a swing to the high side of the EC spectrum which neither pheno appreciated. I say high but I should say specifically with EC reaching a max of around 750ppm on the outflow midweek. I dont necessarily consider this to be high but, again, this particular strain appears to be very true to its autoflower root and does not require much in the way of nutrients. I saw a bit of clawing but things seemed to get back on track within a few fertigations. With flowering underway I did some light defoliation on lollipopping of both girls midweek. They didn't seem to mind at all but I wasn't terribly invasive either. It has been interesting to see the very distinct differences between the two phenotypes although one is a few days younger than the other. PK 13/14 doses with every feeding during this week will be replaced by Canna Boost at each feeding next week. That's all for now. Thanks for following along!

Week 6 wrapped up OK with flowering progressing well for these two. I am still struggling with a bit of a magnesium issue but I hope to have that back on track now heading into week 7. I will say, these girls dont drink much but they definitely are picky about what they take in. There is a very fine line with regard to your nutrient solution with this strain and they seem to like things between 500-600ppm. I have been performing light defoliation as needed to keep buds bathed in light and remove unnecessary fan leaves from the lower portion of the plant. They does not seem to mind the removal in the least but, again, I keep it light. Lastly, she is starting to smell quite strongly of skunk, I highly recommend a good carbon filter for this variety. Thanks for checking out my garden!

Things progressed as expected for both plants during this week. I let them spend some time outdoors getting some summer sun which they seemed to enjoy.

I really struggled with calmag issues during this grow. I couldnt seem to add enough to overcome the leeching from the coir without pushing my EC into dangerously high ppms. I am definitely doing soil for my next run.

Getting closer to harvest. It's staggering the difference between the two 24carat phenos next to the NCH on the right that is about 14 days younger. I think the 24c were a bit stunted.

This week is finally harvest week. The plants smell great and the trichs are predominantly cloudy with a small percentage beginning to show amber.

Strangely, I pulled down exactly 2 ounces from each plant. She was a bit finicky to grow and I dont know that 'ill run her again but the meds it yielded are definitely good. Apologies for the late updates and so much missing data for this grow. I had some life shit crop up midway and didnt get as many photos or metrics as I normally would have liked. I'll make up for it next time.