At the end of December 2022, we published a Homegrown Review of Lemon Bubblegum by 34 Mongrels Genetics, grown by the breeder himself, and the Lemon Bubblegum strain instantly vaulted to the top of my list to grow. For this next News Joint Grow Journal, I grew three lemon-heavy strains from 34 Mongrels and Squirt from Humboldt Seed Company.

Lemon Bubblegum is a cross of Lemon Skunk and Indiana Bubblegum that was then backcrossed with the Lemon Skunk. The breeder, who started breeding seeds to help those battling cancer, wanted to soften the “chemical” lemon flavor while still retaining a strong “natural” lemon. As I’ve joked before, I’m a lemon whore when it comes to preferences for terpene profiles. I’m also more interested in the natural sugar sweet and sour lemon flavor than the chemical lemon or terpinolene-heavy lemon/lime/burnt orange flavor. This Lemon Bubblegum has everything I’ve wanted and been looking for in a lemon-heavy strain (see Part II).

I popped one feminized seed in a solo cup and eventually transplanted into a 5-gallon pot. I topped the plant early, about three nodes. The plant grew symmetrical with healthy light-green leaves. During the middle of vegetation, I performed Kyle Kushman’s supercropping and “chiropractic” techniques, including when I also lollipopped the plant about a week before flipping to flower.

Because I wanted to time a short break from growing, I flipped this batch a little earlier than normal, so the chop date worked better with my schedule. During vegetation and flowering, I used Nectar for the Gods nutrient line, SLF-100, Fishshit, and Cultured Biologix no-brew microbial teas (all sponsored by The Apple House in Terre Haute) and grew under a BlackBird light sponsored by HLG. The Lemon Bubblegum grew short and bushy without much stretch, two times at most, during flowering. The plant remained healthy and green throughout and needed less water than the other plants.

The buds were also light green with bright-orange pistils flaring outward. The colas had some density to them, but the lower buds were fluffier. The aroma during flower delivered a strong mix of sweet lemon and skunk throughout. I chopped the plant on day 65 of flower. I lightly trimmed the largest sugar leaves before placing the buds inside my Cool Cure to dry. Again, the Cool Cure by Cannatrol has been the single best improvement to my grow. Instead of worrying about the space and conditions for drying the plant as I had in the past, I dried the buds in four days and cured for four days in the Cool Cure before placing the fully-trimmed buds into Grove Bags and mason jars.

For Part II of this “lemon” Grow Journal and to see how the Lemon Bubblegum smoked, visit here. For more Illinois cannabis industry news, subscribe to Illinois News Joint’s newsletter here.

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