The Skywalker auto project was something which in a sense we stumbled into, growing from feminised seeds, as breeders, is a practise we tend to shy away from, unless they have been produced by us. Of course, we know they can be produced in a decent, stable way, as we do and there can most definitely be fire lurking within. It’s just wherever possible we like to have the option to see the boys too and get our teeth stuck into the genetics. So just prior to our first outdoor season after moving countries, 4 years ago now, having little to no stability we were faced with a situation of needing to go balls to the wall and fully exploit what could possibly have been our only chance at a true summer outdoor in a good climate. I guess you could say it was our own take on freedom 35, (anyone not familiar with freedom 35, open another tab and google it please.) We raided our extensive seed collection, years and years in the making, Yes, we’re hoarders and seed addicts too, in which, amongst others, we had 5x 6 fem seed packs of Dna Genetics Reserva Privada range ‘Skywalker Kush’. We also started in excess of 50 other strains at that point in time for general and outdoor evaluation. Skip forward past the summer season which we survived, some varities stood tall and stood the test, others fell, but out of it we’d found an absolute gem of a skywalker kush mother. We hit upon an indica dominant phenotype, not too stretchy, responded well to high stress training, thick stout branches were difficult to tie down, not typical of the others we played with, but untypical is what we’re all about. She was early into flower outside, bushy as you like, and inside one of the highest quality all-round photoperiods we’ve grown. In total we ran her outdoors for 2 seasons, and successively inside, denoted by an INTENSE OG aroma, good yield for an OG derivative, hard flowers and very manageable growth pattern for an OGK, it was a no-brainer to set about making an autoflowering version. In 2014 the F1 cross was made using pollen from our Auto Triangle Kush F4. Well worthy for the inception of the Mephisto Artisanal Automatics line. The Skywalker Kush was memorable to all of our friends we shared the flowers with, we still get asked about it now, frequently. ‘….is… is…is there any Skywalker?’ Only after these few years of work can we finally answer, yes she’s back, in AUTO form. The selections for the F2 cross were made in late 2014, cropped in early 2015, We grew 30 or so of the F1’s out indoors, this was narrowed down to 9 females, from these just one was pollinated. When the on-set of flowering begins in the Skywalker, the leaves coming out of each budset appear slightly crinkled to the eye, along with distinctive aroma, and several sessions of rubbing stems, one lady was selected to carry the F2 seeds. When harvest time came, I took a seeded top cola to Tim, I made him close his eyes, not touch, and slowly placed it under his nostrils, and said ‘give me one word’, His answer: ‘Skywalker!’ Winner winner chicken dinner. Also I neglected to mention, the Bubblehash processed from our Skywalker cut was absolutely sublime, and hands down the oiliest product we have ever ran. So so melty. The F2 seeds were ran in spring 2015, 70+ were started, which gave us 10 auto skywalker females to work with, two were pollinated, a stockier hench cola’d lady, squat with thick indica/afghan leaves, and a more open elongated Skywalker, with slender buds but oozing resin and terps. This more slender girl was the candidate who’s seeds were chosen to run at f3. The seeded candidates were finished inside whilst the rejects were placed in a greenhouse to finish up the remainder of their days. The F3 seeds were ran in autumn 2015, 70+ were started, 20 females made the grade to run to completion, the finest 3 were selected for pollination to bring the F4 feminised Artisanal seeds to market.
