mephisto
AFN Authorized Vendor
Artisanal Automatics and the before time – by Mephisto Genetics
welcome to the artisanal age!
Here at Mephisto genetics we have been working for many years now on an intensive breeding program to create what we deem to be the pinnacle of auto-flowering genetics in the world today.
For anyone that wants a deeper insight read on!
8 years ago we began toying with automatics as they first hit the market, drawing from the then limited options of what was available (This was when you could count the varieties available on one hand, and there were at most 5 not 50 companies offering them) with the intent to create improved nicer hybrids, have fun tinkering and explore the variations within. The aim was to Determine and learn more about the auto-flowering trait. This included time taken for the plants to trigger from sprout to sexing, observing differences in pre-flowering time, recording complete cycle times, hardiness, reaction to different methods of training. It was our auto lab with nothing to lose and everything to gain and the experimentation continued.
The first wind of auto-flowers to hit the market, were very much looked down upon by the masses, as a gimmick, novelty, stupid or poor quality, or waste of time. A limiting factor in this was the genetics, In the early days of auto-flowers there was a misconception that auto's were high in cbd, there's no doubt they provided a mellow and pleasant high and some users found medicinal properties and benefits from consuming them. But as you'll read shortly we believe it was purely an outright lack of THC.
Also perhaps the biggest factor was purely that people didn't know how to handle them which led to poor results and some people swearing off them for some years if not for life.
Auto growers soon learnt some bueno techniques, and the larger companies out there began to see a rise in popularity and them as a potential cash cow, Due to this many automatics that became available in the second wave and expansion of varieties unfortunately didn't actually auto-flower, which hurt the movement again. So our approach has always been to do things properly and with transparency.
Unfortunately many auto-flowering strains available today are purely a re-branding exercise made by who knows with no attention to quality or detail, or thought to the people who will spend their hard earned money on them and to grow them, but thankfully quality is out there to be found.
Anyway back to business, we made a whole bunch of auto to auto hybrids and then inbred these new lines over multiple generations into more stable platforms to create a base of genetics we knew inside out and out to use as future auto-trait donors in fresh auto to photo projects. We developed and stabilised a range of plant structures and growth patterns, aromas and flavours, even though we had seen increases in quality of resin covering the main thing to us that was still lacking was potency.
Simultaneously we had been building a stable of fire photo-periods, either amassing and testing highly prized cuts, or buying sought after seeds from our favourite breeders, flowering out several packs at a time to find those unique keepers, or making our own f2's to explore their genetics further. We love to support our fellow breeders and always give credit where it's due as well as give a comprehensive history to our strains and their creation.
After the pre-work into both the auto and photo side of our dream projects was complete we were now ready to dot the i's and cross the t's and begin the journey of creating brand new original automatics from scratch.
We then worked our project crosses from photo-period behaving F1's to 100% automatic, typically over 4 generations of inbreeding, but sometimes it takes 5, or to repeat a generation in order to get the ideal outcome for a project.
These projects once completed formed our Mephisto Genetics Originals collection, the first step and new generation of auto's created for customers with a connoisseur's pallet. To bring photo-period quality to the fun, speed and convenience of auto growing.
At this point in time, we submitted samples for THC analysis, from the auto parents and the newly bred originals now fully auto, and we were blown away to see that out-crossing to a high quality photo-period and reworking until automatic once again had upped potency from 6-8% converted THC to between 15 and 20%. The figures of our testing submissions are on the conservative side of what's possible, as we always pollinate the best specimens, so it's the pollination rejects that we submit for testing.
Also for breeding purposes, we generally don't baby our plants too much, they get a decent environment but we also take a survival of the fittest approach, culling anything we don't like, feeding basic nutrients so the real champions of the batches shine through. Because of this technique we've seen from our clients grows the potential for their THC levels to be even higher.
Now having a whole family of Mephisto Originals to work from and use as a new improved base for projects, the idea of Artisanal Automatics was born, The culmination of all the previous years work had come together and the time was right to out-cross to photo-period strains once again, with the sole intent to escalate auto quality to the upper eschelons and we would love to have each strain consistently testing in the 20's with terpenes to match.
The Artisanal projects again involve unique genetics and each stage of breeding was carried out with ultra selectiveness to deliver the finest product possible.
Made in very low volumes we want people to get a feel for the hand crafted nature of these seeds, organically grown, we start the highest number of plants to select from as possible, the very best candidates at 3 weeks old are picked out to reverse, we typically reverse twice as many plants as we intend to pollinate in order find the perfect one which we will select to pollinate with.
We may pollinate as little as 3 plants for each Artisanal strain, plucking one pollen sack at a time to pollinate one flower site. We opt only to pollinate the largest juiciest flowers of each plant, neglecting the bottom half, this is to intentionally not fully pollinate the plant in order to produce a smaller amount of seeds. This may sound counter-intuitive for a seed company to work this way, but less seeds, equals healthier higher quality seeds.
We allow a minimum of 5 weeks from pollination at 20/4 light period for seeds to develop and mature, at which point the seeded flowers are clipped from the plant, and carefully placed on brown paper to begin the drying process, any special notes about the plant, phenotype, aromas, unique characteristics are made at this time.
The seeded flowers are checked and turned daily as they dry, this process takes around a week to get them to the point where they are crispy enough to crumble on the outside but when busted up by hand the material will fluff up allowing easy removal of the sticks and stems which cushions the seeds and keeps them from being scratched or too roughed up from the de-seeding process.
The busted up plant material containing the seeds is placed on a screen and gently bounced and agitated by hand, until we are left with around 5% plant matter. The mostly seed mix is then re-put into brown paper for additional drying.
Several days later the seeds are fine sorted under magnification, and yes we go to bed seeing seeds, but it's a rewarding exercise.
Seeds are then ran through a counter, a proportion is kept for our future breeding, then they are bagged, refrigerated and left to settle and lose the freshness that can affect germination ratio's.
Before release they are first subject to a germination test in house, we always aim for as close to 100% as possible. They then go out to testers for a pre-release test.
The work involved for a seed-run for release can easily take 4 months or longer, so we plan to do only one run of Artisanals for release each year. So be prepared for these to be out of stock for lengthy periods of time.
We hope you enjoyed reading this insight into our new Artisanal lines, the history, the idea, the processes we are always happy to explain.
welcome to the artisanal age!
Here at Mephisto genetics we have been working for many years now on an intensive breeding program to create what we deem to be the pinnacle of auto-flowering genetics in the world today.
For anyone that wants a deeper insight read on!
8 years ago we began toying with automatics as they first hit the market, drawing from the then limited options of what was available (This was when you could count the varieties available on one hand, and there were at most 5 not 50 companies offering them) with the intent to create improved nicer hybrids, have fun tinkering and explore the variations within. The aim was to Determine and learn more about the auto-flowering trait. This included time taken for the plants to trigger from sprout to sexing, observing differences in pre-flowering time, recording complete cycle times, hardiness, reaction to different methods of training. It was our auto lab with nothing to lose and everything to gain and the experimentation continued.
The first wind of auto-flowers to hit the market, were very much looked down upon by the masses, as a gimmick, novelty, stupid or poor quality, or waste of time. A limiting factor in this was the genetics, In the early days of auto-flowers there was a misconception that auto's were high in cbd, there's no doubt they provided a mellow and pleasant high and some users found medicinal properties and benefits from consuming them. But as you'll read shortly we believe it was purely an outright lack of THC.
Also perhaps the biggest factor was purely that people didn't know how to handle them which led to poor results and some people swearing off them for some years if not for life.
Auto growers soon learnt some bueno techniques, and the larger companies out there began to see a rise in popularity and them as a potential cash cow, Due to this many automatics that became available in the second wave and expansion of varieties unfortunately didn't actually auto-flower, which hurt the movement again. So our approach has always been to do things properly and with transparency.
Unfortunately many auto-flowering strains available today are purely a re-branding exercise made by who knows with no attention to quality or detail, or thought to the people who will spend their hard earned money on them and to grow them, but thankfully quality is out there to be found.
Anyway back to business, we made a whole bunch of auto to auto hybrids and then inbred these new lines over multiple generations into more stable platforms to create a base of genetics we knew inside out and out to use as future auto-trait donors in fresh auto to photo projects. We developed and stabilised a range of plant structures and growth patterns, aromas and flavours, even though we had seen increases in quality of resin covering the main thing to us that was still lacking was potency.
Simultaneously we had been building a stable of fire photo-periods, either amassing and testing highly prized cuts, or buying sought after seeds from our favourite breeders, flowering out several packs at a time to find those unique keepers, or making our own f2's to explore their genetics further. We love to support our fellow breeders and always give credit where it's due as well as give a comprehensive history to our strains and their creation.
After the pre-work into both the auto and photo side of our dream projects was complete we were now ready to dot the i's and cross the t's and begin the journey of creating brand new original automatics from scratch.
We then worked our project crosses from photo-period behaving F1's to 100% automatic, typically over 4 generations of inbreeding, but sometimes it takes 5, or to repeat a generation in order to get the ideal outcome for a project.
These projects once completed formed our Mephisto Genetics Originals collection, the first step and new generation of auto's created for customers with a connoisseur's pallet. To bring photo-period quality to the fun, speed and convenience of auto growing.
At this point in time, we submitted samples for THC analysis, from the auto parents and the newly bred originals now fully auto, and we were blown away to see that out-crossing to a high quality photo-period and reworking until automatic once again had upped potency from 6-8% converted THC to between 15 and 20%. The figures of our testing submissions are on the conservative side of what's possible, as we always pollinate the best specimens, so it's the pollination rejects that we submit for testing.
Also for breeding purposes, we generally don't baby our plants too much, they get a decent environment but we also take a survival of the fittest approach, culling anything we don't like, feeding basic nutrients so the real champions of the batches shine through. Because of this technique we've seen from our clients grows the potential for their THC levels to be even higher.
Now having a whole family of Mephisto Originals to work from and use as a new improved base for projects, the idea of Artisanal Automatics was born, The culmination of all the previous years work had come together and the time was right to out-cross to photo-period strains once again, with the sole intent to escalate auto quality to the upper eschelons and we would love to have each strain consistently testing in the 20's with terpenes to match.
The Artisanal projects again involve unique genetics and each stage of breeding was carried out with ultra selectiveness to deliver the finest product possible.
Made in very low volumes we want people to get a feel for the hand crafted nature of these seeds, organically grown, we start the highest number of plants to select from as possible, the very best candidates at 3 weeks old are picked out to reverse, we typically reverse twice as many plants as we intend to pollinate in order find the perfect one which we will select to pollinate with.
We may pollinate as little as 3 plants for each Artisanal strain, plucking one pollen sack at a time to pollinate one flower site. We opt only to pollinate the largest juiciest flowers of each plant, neglecting the bottom half, this is to intentionally not fully pollinate the plant in order to produce a smaller amount of seeds. This may sound counter-intuitive for a seed company to work this way, but less seeds, equals healthier higher quality seeds.
We allow a minimum of 5 weeks from pollination at 20/4 light period for seeds to develop and mature, at which point the seeded flowers are clipped from the plant, and carefully placed on brown paper to begin the drying process, any special notes about the plant, phenotype, aromas, unique characteristics are made at this time.
The seeded flowers are checked and turned daily as they dry, this process takes around a week to get them to the point where they are crispy enough to crumble on the outside but when busted up by hand the material will fluff up allowing easy removal of the sticks and stems which cushions the seeds and keeps them from being scratched or too roughed up from the de-seeding process.
The busted up plant material containing the seeds is placed on a screen and gently bounced and agitated by hand, until we are left with around 5% plant matter. The mostly seed mix is then re-put into brown paper for additional drying.
Several days later the seeds are fine sorted under magnification, and yes we go to bed seeing seeds, but it's a rewarding exercise.
Seeds are then ran through a counter, a proportion is kept for our future breeding, then they are bagged, refrigerated and left to settle and lose the freshness that can affect germination ratio's.
Before release they are first subject to a germination test in house, we always aim for as close to 100% as possible. They then go out to testers for a pre-release test.
The work involved for a seed-run for release can easily take 4 months or longer, so we plan to do only one run of Artisanals for release each year. So be prepared for these to be out of stock for lengthy periods of time.
We hope you enjoyed reading this insight into our new Artisanal lines, the history, the idea, the processes we are always happy to explain.
