MOB Rules: The Mother of Berries

It’s time to report on a truly legendary strain known throughout North America as MOB (a.k.a. the Mother of Berries), bred and released by the renowned seed company T.H. Seeds. The origin story of this stalwart variety has never been revealed—until now. 

As T.H. Seeds co-founder Doug explains, “In the mid- to late ’90s, a big bag of Cali weed ended up in Boston which had a few seeds—no one knew the strain name. This true bomb weed, apparently 100 percent indica, was originally called MOD, as these were the initials of the guy who grew it out, mothered it and got it going. But since it was getting too popular and they wanted to hide his identity, they changed the name to MOB. The crew that got it out there was the old Boston skateboarding community. The original guy gave a cutting to a friend of mine who brought it to me, and it was originally grown on my rooftop, flowering super-fast. Then we sent it down to Spain for further selection and feminized seed production.”

Once again, the excellent US connections of the long-established Dutch seed company had, literally, come to fruition.

MOB is described as a short, compact plant that performs the miracle of producing its exquisite berrylike and highly resinous buds within a mere 42-55 days of flowering. Quickness and quality aren’t the plant’s only strengths, though; it’s got quantity too. Thanks to their handy size, robust branching and easy management, MOB plants are perfect for novice growers. And, very conveniently, their fat, hard buds possess good mold resistance as well. 

Additionally, MOB’s pink to purple flower coloration brings variety into the usually green cannabis scenery. The typical MOB effect, fueled by a THC count of up to more than 20 percent, is a very strong indica stone providing deep relaxation, often followed by heavy sleepiness. That’s why this variety is praised and used by many as a very effective sleeping aid. Generally regarded as a strong medical strain, it’s also being successfully used to treat stress disorders and chronic pain conditions. 

With regard to its heavy, drowsy indica effect, The T.H. Seeds crew also refers to MOB as “stupid bud,” because when they smoked it for the first time it was fun all the way, but everyone forgot their keys in the end! According to the T.H. Seeds crew, there’s something unique to its flavor, “like nothing you’ve ever smelled or tasted before.” 

Growing MOB

Soon after it had been launched, it didn’t take long for MOB to clinch its first award, winning second place in the indica category at the prestigious Expo Grow Cannabis Cup 2015 in Irun, Spain. Being the ardent T.H. Seeds fan that he is, the Doc was highly excited about this new strain release and promptly ordered a package with five feminized seeds, of which he used four for a cultivation test. 

After a quick germination time of only two and a half days, the four seedlings stood upright in the bright light emitted by a SANlight S4W LED module. The MOB’s growth habit entirely lived up to the official description, with the four plants growing super-compact and squat, like an indica straight from a picture book, except for one difference: Their shade leaves were not as wide-fingered as those of a classic indica plant. 

But internodal stacking was immensely dense, and when the Doc triggered them into flowering four weeks after germination, his extremely bushy four MOB plants were only 28, 30, 31 and 34 centimeters tall—wonderfully uniform once again, just as the Doc is accustomed to from T.H. Seeds. “In my grow room,” the Doc says, “T.H. Seeds set the gold standard for strain uniformity a long time ago, and they’ve kept it until today—quite amazing!”

Two weeks after the light-cycle switch from 18/6-hour light/dark to 12/12, the four plants had already busily begun to bloom—“as fast as an express train,” reported the Doc. The MOB turned out to be the fastest of five varieties growing in his room. “Already at this early stage,” the Doc wrote in his grow diary after four weeks of flowering, “the four plants are looking impressive. Still very homogeneous and still that extraordinarily compact as stem elongation during flowering has been only moderate, with a height gain of merely 60-70 percent. It’s evident that all the buds—top and side colas alike—are about to become thick and chubby. I also love the fact that as early as now, they’re plentifully bestrewn with resin glands. Keep it coming, Mother of Berries!” 

The four MOB plants kept their fast flowering speed until the end and reached maturity after 46-52 days of flowering—well within the harvest window stated by T.H. Seeds. Said the Doc: “One of the four plants remained green, but the other three are displaying attractive purples hues, indeed, absolutely nice! Also, the buds have become as bulbous, dense and super-tight as expected. And they’ve put on a splendorous resin vestment lined with myriads of majestically glistening trichomes.” 

However, the buds not only looked gorgeous, but they also fulfilled the promise of an exquisite berry fragrance that made the Doc rejoice: “Ahhh… These aromatic wafts of a fruity-sweet scent are a most enticing treat to my nose. You just have to inhale them deeply! The berry aroma is so smooth, so caressing to my nose, it makes me think of some fruity kind of perfume infused with different forest berries. The Mother of Berries has really lived up to its name here.” 

MOB Yield 

The total dry yield tipped the scales at 273 grams, an average of 68 grams per plant. Compared with the yield level generally achieved by the Doc, the MOB wasn’t a smasher in absolute terms, but in view of the small plant sizes with final heights of 46, 49, 54 and 58 centimeters, the yield-to-size ratio was superior. After thorough drying and curing, the chlorophyll had vanished from the buds and their delicious berrylike nature had become even more pronounced and sophisticated—“a fine example of a fruity cannabis delicacy,” according to the Doc.

The Doc swooned over the MOB. For the smoke test, he rolled himself a spliff with more weed in it than tobacco. “My new motto is ‘Put the berries in your tank!’” he commented with a broad grin. Holding it under his nose, the entire joint smelled sugar-sweet. When he took the first hit, a sweet stack of smoke wafted into his mouth that made his taste buds dance with joy. “Incredible how this fruity berry flavor accumulates in my mouth!” he exclaimed. “Three tokes and you think you’ve chewed a Hubba Bubba.”

Winding down from a hard day with many quandaries to be solved, the Doc began seeing things through rose-colored (or rather, green-tinted) glasses, his view upon life and its problems becoming relaxed and serene. This mellow wave of tranquility made his head feel light, but not long after that his “mental wadding” thickened heavily and turned into a numbing, mighty cushion that seemed to blanket all his senses. His eyes, his jaw, his limbs—everything went slack, and although he actually never takes a nap during the day, he now felt a strong desire to do so. 

Unstoppably, the Sandman drew closer, and once the Doc’s eyes were closed, it wasn’t long before he entered the realm of sleep. What was intended as a short nap lasted for two solid hours, and when the Doc woke up in the early evening, he still felt quite spaced-out. Which didn’t keep him from preparing another MOB spliff, though, which led to a long-lasting couchlock with tremendous stonedness, but without putting him to sleep this time. Instead, he happily indulged in his passion for listening to Pink Floyd. 

Concluded the Doc: “MOB has wowed me with its beautiful appearance, short flowering time and nevertheless high productivity. And its tremendous indica potency makes it a highly effective natural sleep-inducing drug. I’ve called it Sandman’s favorite indica—by means of this stuff, he’ll lull even the most severe insomniacs to sleep. And oh, the icing on the cake is MOB’s mouth-watering sweet berry flavor!” 

Cultivation Data

This article was originally published in the January 2019 issue. Click here to get a subscription!

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