COBs, Blumats, Mega Crop, and Mephisto

4x Mephisto Genetics - Sweet n Sour Illuminauto #31. 4x4 Mars Hydro Grow Tent Lighting: 5x60w 3500k DIY COBs 2x65w 2700k Autocobs Greenleaf Nutrients: Mega Crop Sweet Candy CalMag Bud Explosion PK Booster Substrate is Sunshine Advanced #4 with MYKOS added at transplant. 6.6gal Hercules Rootmaker Pots Using Trompf Blumat drippers to feed. Will keep substrate on the dry side. Planted seeds into Jiffy pellets. 3of4 have sprouted and are @ Day 3. All are 2-3" tall and healthy with 1st set of pointed leaves. Day 2 lights= 2x50w @48" Day 3 lights= 3x50w @48" #4 has not fully sprouted yet and wont make it. ============= DAY 7 All 3 sprouts have 2 sets of permanent leaves and are doing well. Should be in good shape to top by Day 20.

All are doing well and should be on time for topping @4th node by day 18-20. Using VPD chart. Keeping plants within VPD parameters should result in some healthy monster growth. Have added a humidity controller to maintain rh. Controller is set @75%, which means humidity is effectively maintained @70-75%. (73 avg) Currently, air temp is 80°. Allowing for a 4° difference for leaf temp in calculations, VPD should be steady @8.4 with these settings. Edit: Rh drifts past the shutoff point so will consider set point to be avg rh. Set controller to 73. Picked up a cheap lux meter. Sprouts were @9k lux. Lowered lights to 22-24". All @14,000 lux.

Humidity controller set @72% rh Temp controller set @ 78° VPD: 8-9 (consistently in this range) These are very healthy looking and growth has been very vigorous. They are on schedule to topping @4th node by Day18-20. DAY 17 Gave each a supplemental feed of Liquid Karma to help minimize the effects of topping. All are very healthy, vigorous and thriving under 22k lux. Lush and happy. DAY 19 Topped all 3 girls after the 4th node. One also lost a large fan leaf. Added PK Boost to res @1.25g/gal. Handwatered 21oz each to give a boost of P and K at the start of the stretch/flowering stage. It's reported to increase flower sites. We'll see.

Day 22 Growth has been explosive. All took well to topping and are moving forward nicely. Lowered rh to 62% Temp set @ 76° This should result in VPD of 9.5 70% humidity allows for the widest temperature range on VPD chart. The higher humidity has been great for growth and health (so far)... and less worry over temps, but such a high rh carries risks of mold. Garden will be unattended for 2 days, counting today, so lowed rh/temp should be helpful. Lights are @ 30,000 lux due to plant growth. The stretch is starting. Raised lights an inch or so to allow the plants to grow vertically while unattended without growing into the lights. DAY 24 Bud sites everywhere reaching for the lights. Growth has really been phenominal. Put the scrog net in @10" and started spreading these three out horizontally. Have noticed with a resevoir using Mega Crop that ph drifts up. (Ph has recently drifted up from 5.8 to 6.3). Will have to keep an eye on things and keep ph within range (5.8-6.4). DAY 28 Broke 2 main branches off the gal in front when the SCROG frame I instalked to stretch the net fell and they couldnt be repaired. This makes 3 large branches broken off the largest gal in the garden. She's doing well, but no longer the largest. Will let the grow finish as is.

DAY 29 Both broken branches were wilting, so they were clipped. These plants really seem to respond positively to stress as long as VPD, nutrition, and lighting are in check. Maybe she'll respond by aggressively becoming the largest once again. Sex is showing everywhere and has been...but this will be considered first week of flower. Most squares of the scrog have tops in them. Will allow vertical growth and install a 2nd elastic scrog net for support. DAY 33 Lighting: 5x50w Cree CXB3590 3500k DIY light 2x65w 2700k Autocobs 1x60w 3500k DIY autocob Total wattage: 440w (true draw) 35-40,000 Lux @ scrog level Installed 2nd elastic scrog net to help spread and support the canopy 2 days ago and lots of tops are already poking well-above the scrog so are getting more intense light. #1 (upper left) re-established a main cola structure with a dozen or more side branches not far behind. She's been topped and is now 29" tall and still growing. Blumats grow tree trunks and she has a thick stem all the way to the tip. She was the runt early on. Now she's covered in flowers and new tops opening everywhere. All 3 are filling the space nicely. #3 (front) had 3 of her largest side cola branches broken off early in life just after topping and is quite full again. DAY 35 Tried Exhale Co2 bags in the past with limited success. Had a full 20# Co2 tank available, so will attempt to supplement Co2. The controller is not hooked up but is reading Co2 levels. Will have to research its use better. Co2 release will be by manual means with a target level of 1100ppm.

DAY 36 Co2 supplementation put on hold. DAY 40 The tallest gal is now 41". She has 15-20 individual, very long side colas that are all just a few inches behind her (re-established) main cola. Not stretchy. She's going to be a big, thick girl. Others are getting thick as well. Currently there is 440w of light in the tent. DAY 42 After removing the largest, most sickly (mag def) looking leaves the canopy looks pretty good. Rather than a massive amount of defoliation, will continue removing leaves enough to help light fall on her thickening juicy parts.

Preparing for week 7 *Co2 has been set @800-1500ppm. *Added 2 Autocobs (560w total) *Raised exhaust temp Adjusted existing lighting and added 2 more Autocobs for a total of 560w. Intensity increased to 50-65,000 lux. Buds absolutely everywhere and filling-in nicely. Will continue (slowly) removing large leaves as necessary to assist airflow and light penetration. Magnesium deficiency has cleared up with a large dose of Epsom salts added to resevoir. Should notice some explosive growth this week with the additiom of Co2 and continued good health. Day 42 Resevoir replenished w/2gal feed w/ 50% extra MegaCrop base. Ppm is a bit high @1100, but its a measurement of total ppm, including ppm of well water, added calmag in addition to mag sulfate. Co2 should require higher ppm in addition to higher temps. Will dilute if necessary. All have long arms of colas that look to be filling in with bud matetial. #1 has 15-20 of them... 8-12 inched long Day 45 Due to the high ppm (1100), emptied the resevoir. Cleaned and flushed all lines with bleach. Mixed fresh res with extra added calmag. (940ppm) Bent EVERYTHING to fit under trellis. All of the long branches bent under the scrog, and supercropped the 43" stem. The canopy looks very rough...as if a tornado ripped through, but is a more uniform level. Lux 55k avg. With continued good health, these should snap right back vigorous growth. Will try to not open tent until the end of week 7. Day 49 will be 4d in Co2-enriched sauna-like conditions. Will allow those conditions to help the canopy recover and move ahead like a jungle. DAY 47 The flattened canopy has recovered remarkably. Posted early pic. DAY 49 Canopy looks good. Have some spots that are showing some signs of light and heat stress, while some areas are more lush and healthier.

DAY 50 Overall health is good, but some "tiredness" is starting to show. Tacoing, accumilation of burnt leaf tips and an (improving) magnesium deficiency. Makes it feel like a race to keep them healthy until harvest. 5 weeks left. DAY 53 User error - left unattended for several (3)days and Blumat on the big girl clogged. The only 1 of 3 that was not cleaned before the unattended spell. She is dry, wilted and yellowed. Gave her 40oz of resevoir feed. 2 hrs later gave an additional 2qts w/epsom salts. Removed a lot of yellow dying leaves. Buds are still alive, and will try to treat this as a forced defoliation and continue to selectively defoliate anything that's not contributing to the overall health. The other 2 girls combined don't make as much of the canopy as #1, but they have always had more mature (thicker) buds and continue to develop and look healthy.

Starting Week 9 The big girl has stabilized. She's yellowed all over but buds look good and continue swelling. All are fattening every day. The buds are hairy and greasy. The smell is pungently sour and fruity. 4 weeks remain. DAY 58 Have switched to hand-watering for the final push to the end. 64oz plain water drench to runoff for each. Continue removing anything that is not adding to the overall health. Will harvest in stages. Everything above the top net is getting thick and greasy and will be taken first...near the breeders package date of 80 days. There is a lot of nice material between the nets. Will open this lower area up and intensify the light for 2 weeks more...taking the total time to the 95-100 day range. There's no hurry and there is a healthy root system in place to give this lower material a chance to fatten. She's so dense and greasy up top...hoping to get her lower flowers there as well. Trimming will be a breeze. The flower to leaf ratio is incredible. DAY 60 SCROG wasn't set-up or managed well from the start. Plant #2 was hard to get at to keep pruned. Removed both nets and cleared out a lot of dead/dying undergrowth from the back of the tent. Preference is to have full 360° access to all. Did not want to extend this to 100 days. Removing the scrog allows access to all this popcorn with intense light. All material will be allowed to fatten until Day 80. DAY 62 Big girl has so many bud sites from being horizontal that are now standing up and getting fat. Her color has improved since drying out. She's s packing on some healthy, strawberry shaped/sized buds The other 2 ladies are greener and have more well-developed colas. The larger colas are very greasy-looking and dense.

Heading into week 10 This Sweet n Sour is a 70-80 day strain. Seems ready on the eve of day 64. A lower bud on the main cola of #2 was accidentally broken a few days ago. Clipped and gave a (5 snips) wet trim. There is very little leaf to flower ratio on these. Its gorgeous and dense. Covered in trichromes and orange hairs. Stinks of sweet grape candy. Everything's getting dense and continues to fill in and fatten. Have been alternating between full feed, plain water and some Liquid Karma waterings. The Big Girl gets up to a gallon and the others 64oz. DAY 64 These are in sight of the finish line and fading fast. The Big Girl(#1) has faded the most due to her earlier drying out and recovery. She will be the first to get chopped (unless all go at once). One more feed of PK boost for all, then plain water until chop. DAY 66 Aiming for chop @ Day 70-ish. The undercanopy, or what most would consider undesirable "popcorn" is very dense. There is no airy bud here. Not sure if its genetics or the lights. Most grows have done similarly...very dense smaller buds all down the branches with little to no airy popcorn. All recent Mephisto grows under these cree and bridgelux cobs have resulted in these beautiful, dense, "popcorn" nugs. Yield will be well below expectations. One of 4 seeds didn't germ and of the 3 that sprouted, #3 lost her 3 largest (oldest) branches after topping. She has grown beautifully to maturity despite being only 5/8 of her potential. She also had her main stem split (see pic). All totaled, 35% of this crop's yield was compromised for these reasons. For bloom boost, gave each a feed of Atami Bloombastic. DAY 67 These buds are the densest and meatiest I've ever grown. Odor is not loud, but when touched, is sweetly grape. So many perfect little strawberry-shaped nugs. Most in the 1-3 gram (dried), range. Struggling to "wait" until Day 70 as they are so dense and ready-looking and fading... and don't want to go too long, but would like to give them another Bloombastic feed and take them to mid-70 days for target harvest with peak development.

DAY 70 It's harvest day. Last 24 hrs before harvest was an extended dark period. May be helpful with terpene preservation. Buds are very dense and hard already. These will be real top shelf stunners if the cure goes well. All 3 have been chopped and are hanging in the tent @ 70°/55% rh. All long stem leaves have been removed. Hoping to stretch the dry time to 10 days before jarring for cure. This has 2 weeks to fully dry and begin the cure before the other areas of this review can be completed. DAY 72 (2 days drying) DAY 74 After 4 full days hanging in tent, cut branches on these gals to fit into flat drying boxes. The flat boxes create a smaller environment that is easier to control than using the entire grow tent. Currently, the material is @ 70% rh. The large single plant is @220g. The 2 others are 180g together. Estimate final yield to be 8oz total. DAY 76 6 days drying. Rh in tent is set @60%. Individual boxes are 64%. These do not have a strong odor, but do have a sweet and fruity smell. Very nice. Continue slow dry. Target 62% rh. DAY 78 After 70 days in the ground and 8 days drying these have been given a nice tight trim and are in the 1.5 gallon curing jars @61%. Buds are super dense and hard. They seem as if they were dipped in maple syrup and allowed to dry until they becsme crusty. WOW. These look and feel as if they will gush with rosin when pressed. Smell is very pungent and sweet. Final yield for the big girl was 151g. The total for all 3 is 277g. FINAL THOUGHTS: This strain was easy to grow and produced some top shelf smoke. The buds are so dense, the qt mason jars are only half full with 30g in them. Everything is @61%rh. Taste is pungent and sweet and the smell is the same. Should only get better with a nice long cure.