Lemon Auto

Days 1-14, germination and early veg. Lemon generally cracks within about two days on damp kitchen paper and is above the medium by day three. The first fortnight came in even, without either racing or stalling. Four solid nodes by day 14 and the spacing that suggests the frame it will build. Keep the humidity near 70% and damping off stops being a concern.

Weeks 3-6, veg. A top at node four and a few ties produced six even leaders and a flat canopy across a 70cm square by the time it was flipped.

Bloom, weeks 1-8. The 57/43 character came through clearly. Caryophyllene was noticeable by week three and kept building; resin was obvious without a loupe from about week five. Indoor yield: 350-400 g/m2. Height: 100 cm. Tested at 18%. Rated beginner.

Weeks 4-6, mid-bloom. Loose clusters from week three closed up into defined colas. Development stayed even across the canopy, which is what the veg training was for: eight comparable colas instead of one dominant top and a set of stragglers.

Ripening, weeks 6-8. Plain water for the last ten days. Caryophyllene was strong enough by then that carbon filtration was not optional in a terraced house. Heads went clear to milky over the final fortnight, amber showing on sugar leaves first, and around 15% amber on the calyxes is a defensible place to stop.

Drying and curing. Hung whole in the dark at 17°C and 58% humidity for twelve days, both held by a dehumidifier because an October room here will hold neither. Stems snapped instead of bending, which is the only test worth trusting. Four weeks in glass after that. The 350-400 g/m2 figure held up. Limonene was far more present after the cure than at harvest — the cure makes flavour, it does not merely preserve it.

Flowering: 7-8 weeks. Indoor yield: 350-400 g/m2. Outdoor yield: 80-100 g/plant. Plant height: 100 cm. Rated beginner difficulty. Regular seeds, autoflowering.

Lemon arrives in order. The first draw at 18% THC gives peppercorn heat that lands at the back of the throat. The euphoric, creative, focused, calm character follows in minutes, as head and body together. Thinking stays clear while the muscles let go by degrees, which is what makes the dose, rather than the genetics, the thing that decides the evening. Limonene underneath contributes a lift that stops it going heavy.

Primary: Caryophyllene · Secondary: Limonene · Tertiary: Myrcene. Temperature decides how much of this profile survives. Low vaporisation at 180-188°C keeps limonene and myrcene audible over the caryophyllene; run it hotter, or burn it, and all three collapse into one note that is pleasant enough and tells you nothing.

Who does well with Lemon? Back-garden and balcony growers in Dublin, Cork and Galway. Anyone who wants a crop dry and put away before the autumn closes in. Indoor growers short of headroom. The autoflowering genetics run to their own clock, so there is no schedule to manage and no anxiety about light leaks. Rated beginner, which means a first grow with a basic setup and a bit of discipline about feeding will produce something worth having.