The Red Carpet (Mendo Purps 54 x Forbidden Fruit) crosses Mendo Purps to Forbidden Fruit, the Mendocino purple that the whole Northern California purple catalogue leans on against the Cherry Pie and Tangie cross that is all about the fruit. Neither is a filler parent, which is why this pairing is worth a pack rather than a look. 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.

Mendo Purps carries a 54 because selections get numbered to stay distinguishable once they leave the room they were made in. It marks this exact mother, and it is the part of the name worth reading closely.

Mendo Purps sits on the seed side here, Forbidden Fruit on the pollen side. If you have seen these two names paired the other way round, that is a different pack and not this one.

Genetic Lineage

• Mother: Mendo Purps. Mendo Purps - the source stock Purple Urkle was selected out of. 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: Forbidden Fruit. Cherry Pie crossed to Tangie - dark cherry against bright citrus. Built from Cherry Pie x Tangie. Rated an easy grow that does not need constant attention.
• What to expect across a pack. Two distinct parents means real variation in frame, finish and nose. Select early and take cuttings off anything you would want again.

Flavor and Aroma Profile

The two halves stack rather than blend, which is the whole reason to run it.

• The Aroma. Dark grape with the colour to match from the Mendo Purps side, against dark cherry and bright orange citrus from the Forbidden Fruit side.
• The Taste. Grape and dark berry up front, turning to cherry and citrus zest with a sweet finish through the exhale.

How the two sides differ

• Timing splits the pack. One parent wants eight to nine weeks, with outdoor crops coming down in the middle of October, the other nine to ten weeks indoors. Expect the fast plants down well before the slow ones are ready.
• Where the nose comes from. One side gives fruity and grape-like with deep colouration; the other gives dark cherry and bright orange citrus. Plants landing in the middle are the keepers.
• 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. Forbidden Fruit is compact at eighty to a hundred and twenty 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; Forbidden Fruit as indica-leaning and settling. 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. Forbidden Fruit is compact, with the colour and density of its Cherry Pie side.
• Before the flip. Decide the shape now. These lines do not tidy themselves up once they are running.
• 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, Forbidden Fruit nine to ten weeks indoors. 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. Forbidden Fruit is reported as indica-leaning and settling, and that is the side supplying the weight here.

In the pack

Feminized seeds from Humboldt CSI. Nearly everything CSI put out is built from cuts they hold themselves rather than from other people's seed lines, which is why their catalogue reads like a list of clones instead of a list of brands. Genuine Humboldt CSI stock.