Welcome to News Joint Grow Journal 2.0: Five Signature Strains. After a longer delay than expected, I’m back with Jilly Bean by MzJill Genetics. I left off with the last Jilly Bean entry with my first attempt at a FIM top. FIM is an acronym for “fuck, I missed,” a term used to refer to a specific trimming or pruning method involving the removal of 75-80% of the foliage tip at the very end of the branch or stem.

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A friend suggested I use my fingertips and rip the plant instead of cutting with pruning scissors to help better fray the top. I remembered a few seconds too late, but I think the scissors allowed me better precision than I would have had by using my fingertips. I wanted immediate feedback to whether I’d accomplished the FIM top correctly, but that’s not how growing works. I had no choice but to wait and watch to see how the Jilly Bean grew afterward.

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For the first few weeks, I had no idea if the FIM top worked, but once the cola started to bud, I could tell it would be a good one. The Jilly Bean had a symmetrical structure with four large branches reaching up the side and one huge cola on the middle branch. The plant had that normal kush smell during vegetation, but once the Jilly Bean started to flower, a sweet aroma kicked in and thickened as the buds thickened.

The plant was susceptible and welcomed low stress training and was low maintenance during the vegetation and flowering stages. I pruned the leaves three weeks into flower, and then pruned more closely around the buds during the last ten days or so. The leaves at the top cola faded purple during the last few weeks of flowering.

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I probably let the Jilly Bean go a few days longer than I should have because I wanted to make sure the lower buds were ripe. I chopped on day 68 and dried for 12 days. Once trimmed, I cured the Jilly Bean in Grove Bags.

I forgot to measure the dry flower before smoking some of it, but the overall harvest was more than two ounces. I tested buds every few weeks, and each time, the candy flavor became more dominant, so I left the harvest alone until 60 days of curing. And I’m glad I did.

Jilly Bean’s aroma is a medley of candied fruit, including orange, mango, pineapple, and citrus, with slight back notes of earthy skunk. The flavor matched the Jilly Bean name with candied citrus and a fruit medley topped with sweet Jellybeans.

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I prefer the citrus and candy flavor to the earthy, so I closed my Grove Bag and am going to wait for a extra long cure on this batch to see how sweet it gets. I can’t get enough of those hits that feel like I’m inhaling a candy store and so far the longer the cure the more candy terps I get.

The effects are exactly what I was looking for in a Work Sativa. The award-winning strain is an uplifting, euphoric, and happy cerebral high that counters my ADD and allows me to focus on work for hours at a time. The body buzz relieves my daily muscle cramps but still keeps me in the right frame of mind to get work done with a smile on my face.

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Some of the top buds also includes a little sedative effect later in the buzz and a little less focus, but I think that’s because I chopped the plant a few days later than I should have and allowed more amber trichomes on the top buds compared to the bottom buds.

Overall, Jilly Bean was easy to grow, even for an amateur like myself, and has offered the exact flavors and effects I expected from the strain for my work/medical needs. I feel extremely lucky to be able to run MzJill Genetics, especially her Jilly Bean (S1).

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Find MzJill on Instagram at @mzjill420, @mzjillbrands, @tgagenetics_, and @mzjillgenetics_, and on Twitter @MzJill420.

Stay tuned for Grow Journal 33 (Peanut Butter Cookies by Tastebudz) and Grow Journal 34 (Strawberry Coughby Kyle Kushman [Homegrown Cannabis Co.]). Follow all of our Grow Journals here. Or click here to follow News Joint Grow Journal. A Prairie State of Mind.

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FDA Disclaimer: The statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here is not meant as a substitute for or alternative to information from healthcare practitioners. Please consult your healthcare professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product.

Effects & Medical Attributes are based on anecdotal evidence. Individual experiences can be varied.