Hey everyone,
A lot’s been going on in real life lately, and this winter has been rough. No matter how much insulation I add, when temps hit 0°C or below, my grow space takes a hit. I usually run autos in winter to help manage temps with long light hours, but this is my first winter with LEDs—and it’s been a challenge. I’m seriously considering going back to HPS for the cold months next year.
For those not familiar with what I’m playing with: I’m crossing Mephisto’s Livers BX1 with three Killer Skunk males. The goal is to create a first F1 gen that’s 99.9% photoperiod, then move to F2 and eventually work toward an S1. I’m hoping to uncover as much of that Livers/Blues gene pool as I can.
Ironically, I’ve never even smoked a true Blues—but I’m still diving in, driven by the love of hacking and experimenting with a clear purpose.
Mephisto recently dropped a bunch of crosses and special editions based on Livers BX1 and their old-school Blues cross with Mr. Nice’s SSH. I decided to explore some of these, aiming to build a collection that captures the full range of “Shades of Blues.”
In earlier trials, I worked with a White Widow cut from Spain and an ESB by Fleur du Mal, crossed with three Killer Skunk males (#5, #6, and #7), plus F2s from four selected Killer Skunk females (#1 through #4).
Right now, my 2x4 tent is packed. I’ve added the mother plants of the selected KS #5 and #6 males and the #3 female I kept from earlier selections (see previous posts). I’ve got six plants in 3L coco and four more in soil, started 2–3 weeks later.
Two Livers BX1 in coco are still small at day 85. According to Mephisto, flowering should finish around day 70–80, and I’m about 5.5 weeks post-pollination (done around day 45, two weeks into flower).
I also had a Stilton Special and a Vader’s Musk (Sour Livers × Northern Cheese Haze and Livers BX1 × Grape Walker Kush, respectively), but they stayed too small and passed their prime. I culled all four to make space for the moms and a few autos in soil.
Truth is, being away from home so often makes it hard to keep everything in sync—veg, flower, parents, pollination. Managing it all with just two rooms has been rough.
Still, I pollinated the full room using only the three selected males, so I at least have confidence in the genetic outcome of the seeds.
To me, this is all about learning the art of seed-making, experimenting with selection, and setting the stage for future fem runs. I'd love to be a "hacker," but really, I’m just some fool figuring it out one step at a time.
Quick setup recap for anyone new:
I run an Ionframe Evo 3 (280W) in a 2×4 tent with a 6" exhaust and several fans to manage humidity. Passive intake. I also have a second grow room, currently in 12/12, where I’m pollinating an Erba del Diavolo (a.k.a. Calabrese Rossa) with the Killer Skunk pollen.
The main tent runs on a 20/4 cycle for autos. During lights on: 28–30°C, RH 60–70%. Lights off: 20–22°C, RH 55–60%, with a dehumidifier set at 55%.
And yes—as they say, the cold keeps your dick small. Unfortunately, the same goes for the ladies.
That’s where I’m at today.
I have 50mm around the space and other 50 around the bloom tent, but not grow tent, where I started everything wrongly 
( as usual
