Part 2: Determining Keeper Phenos From Watermelon Rolex Hunt By Terps, Structure, & Yield

As stated in Part 1 of this pheno hunt, this crop was vegged for a total of 16 weeks and 2 days. We chopped the Grape Melon Burst first at 7 weeks. Then the Watermelon Papaya at 7.5 weeks. The Strawguava Watermelon got harvested last right at 8 weeks. We chopped them earlier than we would if growing for flower to get the color light and the terps strong for rosin. 

We will see how they translate in a jar once everything is washed. Bold and delicious tropical fruit flavors that slap are what we are looking to find in the end.

How To Determine Which Pheno Is A Keeper

This wash will be with mixed phenos. To help us determine which phenos are best for washing and should be isolated, we will be doing a jar shake test. Then we will determine and record which phenos have the terps we want. We will then clone our favorite phenos and run those exclusively for the next run to really get the concentrated terps we’re looking for. 

For example, one of our goals is to select a defined grape terp from the Grape Melon Burst. We will take notes of which pheno smells the most like grape and then make cuts of that pheno. The jar shake will help determine if it will wash well so we don’t select a pheno that smells great but does not return great. This information will then help us determine which cut is the winning pheno for both returns and terp profile. 

Concentrated terps of the Grape Melon Burst

Conducting these kinds of tests with multiple phenos is helpful to determine how the seed stock performs from the breeding project and which crosses produce the best washers and rosin. 

Watermelon Papaya (wk 5 exactly of bloom 2.13.26)

Winning phenos #3, #5, #22

The Watermelon Papaya seed stock produced exactly what we thought, strong Papaya terps with some Watermelon Rolex influence. We were hoping to find a pheno that dumped, however, will need to test our selected phenos individually to really confirm which one has the best return + terps. The Watermelon Papaya returned the least out of the 3 Watermelon Rolex strains, which we already knew was going to happen as Papaya is known for killer terps, but a more modest return rate.

Watermelon Papaya #22

Here are the phenos we grew and observed for this project:

  • WP #9 (2.24.26): Papaya and Watermelon Rolex pheno, danky, Zkittlez Papaya
  • WP #3: Pink bubblicious bubblegum, starred, big stacker, tight internodal spacing, 
  • (2.24.26): Papaya but Papaya Z melon
  • WP #1: danky fruit
  • (2.24.26): bubblicious bubblegum papaya with dankiness, check mark
  • WP #2: sweet pink bubblegum papaya, tight internodal spacing, moderate yield, star
  • (2.24.26): straight papaya sweet fruit, check mark
  • WP #4: bubblegum papaya
  • (2.24.26): straight papaya
  • WP #8: nice papaya, tight internodal spacing, moderate yield
  • (2.24.26): papaya melon
  • WP #5: earthy fruit
  • (2.24.26): Z melon with papaya in the back
  • WP #12: nice papaya fruit, possible star, really nice papaya, papaya watermelon candy, maybe a star have to see
  • (2.24.26): check mark
  • WP #7: nice, but not straight papaya, has Watermelon Rolex terps, dank fruit but not what we’re looking for
  • WP #22: really nice fruit melon terp, star, high yielding, moderate internodal spacing, maybe the most resinous, silvery
  • (2.24.26): awesome papaya dank melon, star star

Grape Melon Burst (wk 5 exactly of bloom 2.13.26)

The Grape Melon Burst seed stock had complex fruity phenos, but we specifically wanted an undeniable grape terp. Two phenos clearly stood out with an intense grape terpene profile.

Grape Melon Burst #7; the team favorite

The winning phenos were:

  • GMB #7: artificial welch’s grape drink, moderate yield, star
  • GMB #5: grape watermelon to the t, moderate yield, super resinous

Strawguava Melon (On the plant 3/12/26, Harvest Day)

Strawguava Melon had the most consistency terp-wise throughout the phenos. Once washed, the mixed pheno batch smelled really good and almost like it came from one plant. Typically when you wash mixed phenos, you have such a variety of terps coming together that you don’t really get a defined smell. That wasn’t the case with this strain. The mix wash came out smelling really good and translated well once in a jar.

  • SGM #7: Watermelon upfront, with strawberry guava in the back, gassy, overall sweet, Watermelon structure, good yield, bigger yield than Strawguava mother, watermelon leaner
  • SGM #5: really strawberry candy aroma, good yield, strawberry grapefruit, tangy, really sticky, moderate internodal spacing
  • SGM #4 sweet strawberry candy, best one so far, little less yielding than the #5, good bud structure, sugary, little more leafy cause of the watermelon

On The Plant 3/13/26

Winning pheno #6, but #9, #5, #12 were also good

  • SGM #11: clear coat, sweet chemical, strawberry candy with fiberglass resin terps, sweet solvent, 
  • SGM #2: strawberry watermelon with sweet clear coating smell
  • SGM #8 Strawberry guava, overripe fruit with clear coat candy gas, nicest so far, sweet side, strawguava leaner
  • SGM #1: keeper, grape outlier, sweet, touch of watermelon and floral notes, but mainly strong grape
  • SGM #6: Washer, really tacky, sweet strawberry vibe, sweet berry terps, nice structure, little creamy notes, winning pheno
  • SGM #12: strawguava leaner, heavy clear coat vibe, sweet gas, strawberry leaning with watermelon and guava with a sweet gas, really tacky, possibly the best one

Future Projects

By the end of this project, we were happy to find not only one, but several keepers of each strain. Strawguava Melon had the highest return out of the 3 strains, followed by Grape Melon Burst, and then Watermelon Papaya. All of them turned out really well with impressive color and terpene profiles in the jar. We will be running the keeper phenos of Strawguava Melon and Grape Melon Burst again to then wash and highlight the terps from each selected pheno. They will also be used in future breeding projects with the Grape Melon Burst almost finished getting crossed back to our selected Grape Melon Burst male to make a Grape Melon Burst F2.

Coming soon, our Grape Melon Burst Menu

While we love hearing all the positive feedback from our community around the globe about our strains, we equally love testing and researching our own gear in projects like this one to share our findings and educate others on what we personally look for when searching for a keeper pheno.