Mendo Purps x Lemon tree sits between Mendo Purps and Lemon Tree: the Mendocino purple that the whole Northern California purple catalogue leans on on one side, Lemon Skunk over Sour Diesel, selected out of a large hunt in the Santa Cruz mountains on the other. What CSI sell is access to their clone collection in seed form. The parents are the cuts themselves, not a line bred to resemble them.

Order matters in a cross name. In Mendo Purps x Lemon tree the Mendo Purps side supplied the seed and Lemon Tree the pollen, and the reciprocal - the same two plants the other way round - is a separate breeding decision with its own results.

Genetic Lineage

• Mother: Mendo Purps. The Mendocino purple that the whole Northern California purple catalogue leans on. The purple lines people can name mostly run back through it. Its own origin is a story rather than a pedigree - the usual account has it grown from the bagseed of a purple Afghani kept since 1977 and not planted until 1998, and no source gives a clean lineage for it. It circulated clone-only at first; BC Bud Depot later stabilised seed of it, and it took High Times Strain of the Year in 2007. It is not a heavy yielder and was never grown for that.
• Father: Lemon Tree. A Santa Cruz cross of Lemon Skunk and Sour Diesel, and the benchmark most lemon lines answer to. It traces back to Lemon Skunk x Sour Diesel.
• What the cross is reaching for. One side brings the structure and the other brings the nose. The plants worth keeping out of a pack are the ones that hold both rather than picking a side.

Flavor and Aroma Profile

The nose is where these two argue hardest.

• The Aroma. Fruity and grape-like with deep colouration from the Mendo Purps side, against sharp lemon and citrus over a fuel base from the Lemon Tree side.
• The Taste. Grape over dark berry up front, turning to zesty and sour turning heavier and more diesel-driven through the exhale.

How the two sides differ

• They are not on the same clock. Mendo Purps runs eight to nine weeks, with outdoor crops coming down in the middle of October; Lemon Tree runs eight to ten weeks. Across a pack that gap shows up as plants finishing days or weeks apart.
• Two noses, one pack. Mendo Purps contributes fruity and grape-like with deep colouration. Lemon Tree contributes sharp lemon and citrus over a fuel base. Which dominates is the main thing that varies.
• Two frames in one pack. Mendo Purps is slightly indica-dominant and not a big plant - three to four feet indoors, six to eight outdoors. It is not a beginner's plant: it wants training and trimming to yield properly. Lemon Tree is medium height, around ninety to a hundred centimetres indoors. Decide which suits your room before you flip, because you get both.
• Opposite ends. Mendo Purps is reported as settled rather than racy; Lemon Tree as bright and uplifting rather than heavy. The cross sits somewhere between and moves plant to plant.

Cultivation and Growth Traits

• Plant Structure. The two parents disagree here, so plan for range. Mendo Purps is slightly indica-dominant and not a big plant - three to four feet indoors, six to eight outdoors. It is not a beginner's plant: it wants training and trimming to yield properly. Lemon Tree is medium height, around ninety to a hundred centimetres indoors.
• Veg and stretch. Set the frame while it is cheap to do. Anything you fix after the flip costs you flower sites.
• Flowering Time. The parents are not on the same clock. Mendo Purps runs eight to nine weeks, with outdoor crops coming down in the middle of October, Lemon Tree eight to ten weeks. Judge each plant on trichomes rather than pulling the room together.

Effects and Experience

• The Mind. Growers describe Mendo Purps as settled rather than racy.
• The Body. Lemon Tree is reported as bright and uplifting rather than heavy, and that is the side supplying the weight here.

In the pack

7 feminized seeds per pack. Feminized seeds from Humboldt CSI. What they sell is preservation work: old clones reversed into seed so the line survives past whoever is currently keeping it alive. Sold as authentic Humboldt CSI.