Lemon Cherry DieselP

Matthew Rockwell isolated the Lemon Tree in the Santa Cruz mountains, a region that sheltered elite genetics for a generation before legalization, and it circulated as a guarded insider cut for years before it took Best Hybrid at the 2014 Seattle Cup. Marcel’s Platinum Lemon Cherry Gelato comes at it from Michigan. Santa Cruz meets LA.

The Cross

Three decisions went into this pairing.

First, stretch. Both parents are among the stretchiest plants in their respective lines, and rather than tame that the cross doubles down. The payoff is canopy coverage for anybody who knows how to manage vigor.

Second, resin structure. The Lemon Tree runs greasy, high in volatile oils but short on the trichome density the current market expects. The Platinum selection was chosen to fix exactly that.

Third, the sequence. Lemon Tree runs one way through its Sour Diesel heritage and PLCG runs another, and together they read in stages rather than all at once.

The Parents

Lemon Tree is Lemon Skunk crossed to Sour Diesel, selected by Matthew Rockwell in the Santa Cruz mountains. That region ran its own culture of selection for a generation before anybody was allowed to talk about it, and the plant moved inside that circle for years before the rest of the market heard the name. It took first prize for Best Hybrid at the 2014 Seattle Cannabis Cup and stacked further wins in San Francisco.

Platinum Lemon Cherry Gelato is Marcel’s phenotype selection, known as TheLeafDocta, out of Lemon Cherry Gelato, which is Gelato crossed to Super Lemon Haze.

Approximate composition: 37% Lemon Skunk, 25% Sour Diesel, 14% OG Kush, 13% Super Silver Haze, with traces of Granddaddy Purple, Durban Poison and Burmese.

What’s In The Pack

Six feminized photoperiod seeds. A full spectrum hunt rather than a narrow one, built for breeders chasing the point where Santa Cruz meets modern LA refinement.

In The Garden

62-75 days, phenotype dependent. Moderate difficulty, medium to high yield when trellised. Trellising is mandatory rather than advisable, because both parents run hard during transition. Plan the training before the stretch starts.