Hyena's Never-Ending Adventures In Growing

[Hyena Merica]

I've read this journal from the get go and I am blown away by the detail and information that you have kindly shared.
The methodology that you use and write about as well your vision for the grow is refreshing, most journals are too similar.
It makes me want to try hydro again!

THANK YOU so much for that. You are very kind. (Plus a motivated reader, that's a lot to take in!)

I hope you will stick around for the rest of the show, and tell a friend. Plenty of room!

Peace, Hyena

 

[Hyena Merica]

Oh yeah, it's Tuesday! The 108th day of Project 24.

And the first day of Project 25!

First the update...

Yep, it's crazy.

Less coffee today so steadier pictures...

There's some taller ones that I clipped, maybe back building is appropriate on these. This pheno looks soooo Sativa.

Looking at my current grow I realize there's...too much. I may have built a density that has a diminishing return since there's only so many colas that can develop in a given space and what I'm saying is I may have this too thick. Never, ever thought I would even think that thought. There. I literally made up something to worry about. Don't tell me pot doesn't make you paranoid.

Now to the new generation. I use a pill organizer to keep everybody straight when we splash 'em.

I have twelve spots in the nursery and nine spots in my main grow area. I can double up a few too but no sense wasting beans, nine is ideal, twelve can be accommodated.

Going to do a seed grow for the most part. Six of the buckets will contain my Original Blue Hyena (Amnesia [Ripper] Haze x Blue Dream). I want 5,000 seeds. Game on. Hard to believe six of those beans in the left-hand bag could turn into that!

Also in buckets 7 and 8 I will run a couple other crosses, two each of the Black Hyena (Widow Mix x Blue Dream), and the as-yet-ungrown White Hyena (White Widow x Blue Dream).

The first grew and produced a lot of seeds but wasn't a spectacular plant. I don't think it ever had a fair shot since it got so knocked up so early. But the weed was stellar so I'm trying a couple more to really see the quality. I feel the second cross has the most potential of the three yet I have not even grown one yet. Hopefully Black Hyena White Hyena will be worthy varieties and give birth to their own lines next! I will splash two beans of each, and then double them up if I get all 4 to sprout.

Last bucket: I will run a couple AUTOS! Hey, why not a parallel learning experiment combined with my first taste of autos. I have a selection of donated auto seeds from Seedsman and Crop King (THANK YOU BOTH!!), let's run two different ones and see what happens.

I will go with World of Seeds Wild Thailand Ryder and Nirvana Seeds Bubblelicious.

I figure they will be ready to chop around the time I flip the lights, or just after, so I may even have a chance to also see if shortening the light hours affects the finish of the autos. So much to learn. Got to squeeze every bit of new knowledge out of each grow.

Break into the nursery and clear away the cobwebs!

Refilled the bubblers, got the lights back on, and even found a bag of rooting plugs. Looks like we are ready!

SPLASH!!

Should get good now.

Peace, Hyena

 

[Hyena Merica]

It's Saturday! Hope yours is fantastic!

Mine began at 5 am with a bowl of Blue Hyena. So delicious. It's cool to smoke very early in the morning because you get so high. Especially this wacky weed, the almost-psychedelic head high with zero body stone is a trip.

Then scrubs and gloves for the very early-morning insertion of my new (mostly-sprouted) beans for Project 25 into rooter plugs, then a wetting down and placement into the now-ready nursery, on a heat mat. Should see sprouts break the surface within a couple days.

Checking out Grizzwald's thread (one of my favorites, he and his friends down under know what they are talking about), I noticed a bit of a discussion ongoing about LEDs vs. HIDs. Got some thoughts on that because I'm tired of only having anecdotal data and sales data to compare the two technologies.

If LED's are better I want to switch over to all-LED. But I don't know yet, even after using them for part of my lighting for several years. I'm a science guy so here goes.

Regarding the performance of LEDs vs. HIDs...

HIDs, on paper, make no sense. Boiling industry data down, it's clear that the LED technology produces about twice the lumens per watt consumed. Plus way less heat. But so far actually using them I don't feel like I get the punch from the LEDs that I clearly get from the HIDs. Big question mark. My suspicion at this point is, the somewhat misleading names of LED lights have simply led me to have inaccurate expectations.

LED lights are all named for their "equivalent" vs HID, but the name of an LED typically doesn't reflect the actual output in lumens. In other words, a "1000-something" LED is representing that it emits the equivalent of a 1000w HID and I think a lot of those are overstated. I have been using "300w" LED lights that actually draw about half that and frankly emit about half the lumens that the same power would give me using HID but believed they were putting out more. They probably are more efficient. I have simply been comparing them inaccurately.

This over-stated output labeling problem isn't limited to LEDs. HID's are also misleading because they exhibit a surprising drop in output after only 6 months.

Many people think their MH or HPS bulb is giving them the rated output.

DID YOU KNOW, after six months, a Metal Halide bulb that is rated 36,000 lumens has permanently leveled off at just over 20,000? Plus, about ten percent is added by the ballast meaning a 400w MH actually pulls almost 450 while only emitting 60% of its initial (rated) light for most of its lifespan.

By comparison, LED's last more than five times longer with far less lumen dropoff. It should be a no-brainer.

So, I want to know. The only fair way to compare lights, from all companies really, is to compare them based on what they actually consume (watts) and what they actually produce (lumens).

I'm going to do a comparison.

Twilight LED, a 420 sponsor, approached me about a comparison test to gather data for their LED lights. They are sending me a light they call GSW1000 which draws 400w. I'm going to replace my 400w HID with this and we will have a chance to compare the proven performance parameters of a 400w HID against an LED unit that draws the same amount of electricity. I am also leaving my 600w HID as-is for a control, and we will see very clearly how well an LED unit can hold its own side-by-side against a more powerful HID.

The defined nature of my grow system allows me to compare things very accurately from grow to grow. I am interested in seeing if the productive canopy depth will be the same. That's my doubt about LEDs from my own use of them for 3 grows now (in tandem with two HIDs)...the plants don't seem to grow quite as tall nor develop quite as much density in the secondary level and I have always thought the light just doesn't penetrate as far.

But science tells us light is light, so a lumen is a lumen and regardless of the source it will penetrate the same.

I will re-configure the lighting when we bring Project 25 into the main grow room. Then in about six months we will have the results from a zero-bullshit comparison and we will finally know for sure.

Have a great day.

Peace, Hyena

 

[Rifleman]

COB lights are the future I believe. LED diode lights are going to be a discount item in the near future.

 

[AngryBird]

Looks like a huge garden is on its way... make it a jungle

 

[mouser]

Just picked up 4 Citizen CLU48-1212s for about $11 each. Going to run them with 4 Vero29s and see how they do. Even the CBX chips are down in the $35 range now. The future is looking very very very bright

 

[COgrower]

Good comments and observations about LEDs, it has been what I have seen too. I think the problem is with the 3w and 5w blurple LEDs not being as powerful, but the future looks bright with the COB LED lights. Just like when the burple LEDs first came out, the COBs are expensive, but with a couple different companies making chips, the price should come down over time. Good luck with your experiment, comparison is a good way to test.

 

[mouser]

The real benefit as I see it is running them very soft...700ma or so...Thats where the efficiency crushes HID. But it also means buying more COBs to fill in the area...much higher initial cost, but the gain over time cant be ignored.

 

[Rifleman]

The real benefit as I see it is running them very soft...700ma or so...Thats where the efficiency crushes HID. But it also means buying more COBs to fill in the area...much higher initial cost, but the gain over time cant be ignored.

I've swapped all my light fixtures in my home with cob lights. Most in the 5000k range. Love them. Waiting for the cost to drop before I change my horticulture lights.

 

[Hyena Merica]

Yeah, I didn't really mention the COBs but from what I am reading that will probably be the eventual evolution. Those things are amazing.

I'm learning and progressing a step at a time, so first an accurate LED comparison then probably a first taste of COB by Fall. The very high price of premanufactured COB fixtures is currently prohibitive.

In a year the lab might have twice the light using half the electricity. That's where it's all heading. Wow.

Peace, Hyena

 

[mouser]

What are the specs on the GS1000? I was looking on Twilights page and the GS series page is blank. Nothing there.

 

[Hyena Merica]

What are the specs on the GS1000? I was looking on Twilights page and the GS series page is blank. Nothing there.

This gets you there.

Growstar 1000w

When you click it, you see they claim their lights "replace a 1000 watt" yet they draw 400w and 250w respectively. With due respect for Twilight, that isn't possible...science says an LED can produce nearly twice the light per watt as HID, but not 3 or 4 times. I think right now a lot of Chinese companies are exaggerating the utility of their lights because it's a competitive marketplace.

With that said, if their "GS1000", which pulls 400w, gives me more light than the previous HID that also uses 400w, we have improved. My experience has been most of these light units are pretty well-made. So I throw out the hype, it's to be expected but hopefully an experiment will show it is still a better solution.

Peace, Hyena

 

[Latitude17]

...With that said, if their "GS1000", which pulls 400w, gives me more light than the previous HID that also uses 400w, we have improved. My experience has been most of these light units are pretty well-made. So I throw out the hype, it's to be expected but hopefully an experiment will show it is still a better solution.

Peace, Hyena

Using a LUX or PAR meter will tell you everything you need to know, right at the canopy. Using the power consumption as a means of comparison is only one very small part of the equation. Being a photographer I'd assume you have a LUX meter handy?

If these manufacturers would state PAR levels instead of lumens, it would save us all a lot of guesswork!

Mad props to your grows so far, I've read everything and continue to enjoy the updates (and the ninja Christmas made me laugh!)


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[Hyena Merica]

Using a LUX or PAR meter will tell you everything you need to know, right at the canopy. Using the power consumption as a means of comparison is only one very small part of the equation. Being a photographer I'd assume you have a LUX meter handy?

If these manufacturers would state PAR levels instead of lumens, it would save us all a lot of guesswork!

Mad props to your grows so far, I've read everything and continue to enjoy the updates (and the ninja Christmas made me laugh!)


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

You're right, I have a light meter and all that stuff but like you said, PAR wold be the better comparison tool.

Thanks so much amigo!

Peace, Hyena

 

[Hyena Merica]

It's Monday. Oh joy.

Monday is my golf-all-day day, and this morning the only storm in North America is sitting squarely over my town. Washout.

So I'm sitting here thinking...always dangerous. Let's open our mouth, shall we?

In the past year I have realized how many folks who use cannabis have gone to dabs. Especially the younger ones.

I'm 57 so I've been around awhile, seen a lot. I truly don't like what I'm seeing regarding concentrates.

The dabs thing in my opinion is a negative thing. Takes cannabis smoking and turns it into Opium addiction. Changes getting high from an enjoyably social thing with a moderate physical effect to a sort of desperate thing where people get absolutely rocked and lay around drooling.

In my opinion, with concentrates, a lot of the innocuous aspect of smoking pot morph into creating and serving next-level dependency, and the goal becomes the seeking of a much deeper level of intoxication. When I went to the Cannabis Cup I saw it very clearly. People everywhere pulling out their little tubs of wax and stumbling around to use the dab rigs for hit after hit, many so stoned I could clearly see it was 100% about getting smashed and very little about hanging out, talking, laughing and being sociable. This is what Opium addicts are like, and also most Heroin junkies from my experience.

It's the difference between being a social drinker and being a drunk.

When the goal becomes just getting wiped out you are an addict, regardless of the substance. Even within our little online community there are those who use cannabis wisely, and stay in control, and others who openly admit they need to be very stoned 110% of the time.

I love cannabis so much I am regarded as the Guru of Ganja by my friends, but when it's not appropriate to be high I am able to refrain. I own a business and have a family and those things direct my path and priorities in life. With regular marijuana this line is hard to cross, but concentrates change the game, making it totally easy to use THC at levels that in my opinion change the activity from a casual one to a very serious one with a lot of negative karma.

In the last 5 months I have hiked completely through the concentrate jungle...started with making cannabutter and made great brownies and cookies with it. Then moved to tinctures, making a series of stronger-and-stronger elixers, first using PG/VG to create excellent vape juice, then adding wax to subsequent batches to make the concentrate even stronger. Finally BHO extraction, putting in even more time and work to attain the highest levels of purity.

What I have found is these things take my favorite thing, which is smoking cannabis to enjoy the flavor and taste with the resultant reasonable buzz, and turn it into something that feels more like doing coke. I remember doing coke in my 20's. I remember a Friday night with six of my friends, getting all dolled up to go out clubbing and we got an eight-ball with the idea of starting the night out right. Five hours later, all the coke gone, all of us still sitting in our living roon, three people on the phone trying to score more coke. That was the night I realized the difference between doing drugs, and drugs doing you. I have never done coke since. And hey, I'm no pussy...I once ate 5 2-inch fresh peyote buttons...at once. I have achieved the ultimate levels of intoxication that it is possible to achieve and not die.

But now I advocate for sensible recreational use, of all things. I'm not in rehab because I have seen that side of drug use and made the life decision I'm not going there. Now I grow weed and ceaselessly advocate for it...irony? No, there are simply a few lines humans cannot cross or they lose the glow of life itself and hard drug use is one of those lines.

To my observations and experience, concentrates are on their way to turning pot use into something more like heroin use. I find that sad, for the overall culture of cannabis, and for many of the individuals who have become unable to enjoy a moderate buzz anymore without getting destroyed all day.

Strange that a guy churning out marijuana would sound a cautionary and even critical note. Sorry, it's how I feel because it's what I am seeing. I have always loved cannabis but IMHO concentrates are ruining it.

I have officially become my Dad. Wow.

Peace, Hyena

 

[Hyena Merica]

Wow, I just re-read my last post and it is quite the editorial.

I hope nobody took offense but I stand by every word. All I'm really saying is the best piece of advice I ever got is look at yourself in the mirror every day and strive to do the most difficult thing a human can do...be honest about who you see.

So now, BACK to growing flowers! This morning I was able to get a precious few moments with my babies and they look like this:

Hope you were sitting down for that one...this mass of fiber, chlorophyll and terpines is getting serious!

The frostation is REALLY becoming apparent as flowering wave number two comes in, right on schedule.

These are all still baby buds. Still three or even four weeks to go I'm thinking. Trichs all still clear as diamonds...sticky, sticky diamonds.

PH stable at 5.7...not so much as one distressed leaf anywhere. This grow has been so seamless...I see it as luck but it's probably just the inevitable result of more experience. Not going to mess with a thing. Four weeks to three pounds...? Maybe!

The only limiter is, once I have cracked new beans the clock is ticking so to speak. I found out last time they can only get so big in the nursery and then they become very difficult to move. The last time I really thought I might have done more damage to the roots since I had to literally tear them apart they were so huge and interweaved. The amazing resilience of healthy plants. They are the ultimate life form in so many ways.

Here come the new babies!!

Nothing as precious as a baby! They're soooo cute!

This is the view into the nursery chamber from the main lab. A complete micro-environment all its own.

As soon as everybody's heads-up we will put them in the bubblers. This time I will put the first group to emerge over, then the next ones a few days later, rather than wait to do it all at once, so every sprout will be in the new container before it gets too tall. Skinny sprout = skinny plant. Okay that's not science but maybe and we're taking no chances!

I close the lab and retire to my office, hitting a nug of their mother, Blue Hyena. I try not to do that in front of the kids so I won't scare them...

It does the job. Have a great green day!

Peace, Hyena

 

[425jesse]

It's Monday. Oh joy.

Monday is my golf-all-day day, and this morning the only storm in North America is sitting squarely over my town. Washout.

So I'm sitting here thinking...always dangerous. Let's open our mouth, shall we?

In the past year I have realized how many folks who use cannabis have gone to dabs. Especially the younger ones.

I'm 57 so I've been around awhile, seen a lot. I truly don't like what I'm seeing regarding concentrates.

The dabs thing in my opinion is a negative thing. Takes cannabis smoking and turns it into Opium addiction. Changes getting high from an enjoyably social thing with a moderate physical effect to a sort of desperate thing where people get absolutely rocked and lay around drooling.

In my opinion, with concentrates, a lot of the innocuous aspect of smoking pot morph into creating and serving next-level dependency, and the goal becomes the seeking of a much deeper level of intoxication. When I went to the Cannabis Cup I saw it very clearly. People everywhere pulling out their little tubs of wax and stumbling around to use the dab rigs for hit after hit, many so stoned I could clearly see it was 100% about getting smashed and very little about hanging out, talking, laughing and being sociable. This is what Opium addicts are like, and also most Heroin junkies from my experience.

It's the difference between being a social drinker and being a drunk.

When the goal becomes just getting wiped out you are an addict, regardless of the substance. Even within our little online community there are those who use cannabis wisely, and stay in control, and others who openly admit they need to be very stoned 110% of the time.

I love cannabis so much I am regarded as the Guru of Ganja by my friends, but when it's not appropriate to be high I am able to refrain. I own a business and have a family and those things direct my path and priorities in life. With regular marijuana this line is hard to cross, but concentrates change the game, making it totally easy to use THC at levels that in my opinion change the activity from a casual one to a very serious one with a lot of negative karma.

In the last 5 months I have hiked completely through the concentrate jungle...started with making cannabutter and made great brownies and cookies with it. Then moved to tinctures, making a series of stronger-and-stronger elixers, first using PG/VG to create excellent vape juice, then adding wax to subsequent batches to make the concentrate even stronger. Finally BHO extraction, putting in even more time and work to attain the highest levels of purity.

What I have found is these things take my favorite thing, which is smoking cannabis to enjoy the flavor and taste with the resultant reasonable buzz, and turn it into something that feels more like doing coke. I remember doing coke in my 20's. I remember a Friday night with six of my friends, getting all dolled up to go out clubbing and we got an eight-ball with the idea of starting the night out right. Five hours later, all the coke gone, all of us still sitting in our living roon, three people on the phone trying to score more coke. That was the night I realized the difference between doing drugs, and drugs doing you. I have never done coke since. And hey, I'm no pussy...I once ate 5 2-inch fresh peyote buttons...at once. I have achieved the ultimate levels of intoxication that it is possible to achieve and not die.

But now I advocate for sensible recreational use, of all things. I'm not in rehab because I have seen that side of drug use and made the life decision I'm not going there. Now I grow weed and ceaselessly advocate for it...irony? No, there are simply a few lines humans cannot cross or they lose the glow of life itself and hard drug use is one of those lines.

To my observations and experience, concentrates are on their way to turning pot use into something more like heroin use. I find that sad, for the overall culture of cannabis, and for many of the individuals who have become unable to enjoy a moderate buzz anymore without getting destroyed all day.

Strange that a guy churning out marijuana would sound a cautionary and even critical note. Sorry, it's how I feel because it's what I am seeing. I have always loved cannabis but IMHO concentrates are ruining it.

I have officially become my Dad. Wow.

Peace, Hyena

Hyena, I can't thank you enough for that kind of advice on a part of our culture that is intrinsically intertwined with regular enjoyable use. I totally agree. I have made plenty of cons over my years with scraps from grower friends, spent a few years as an addict to various powdered substances, and always found that just good old flower was all I have room for in my life. It's kinda tough seeing this amazing plant being turned into something that some will consider dangerous. I hope more people share your views in this particular subject. Thanks for speaking out.

Cheers.

 

[mouser]

Thank you for your editorial. I find myself agreeing with you...though I am one of those 'pussies' you speak of. I despise not feeling completely in control and am an infrequent smoker. I use it mostly for body aches from work when they are preventing me from sleeping. I grow mostly for my niece who has epilepsy and a close friend who I am beginning to realize is addicted to oxy. She has serious pain issues as well, but I am no longer sure what is real and what is not any more :/ The point being is that they both want more than I can provide and both would be happier if I delivered concentrates. Im just not comfortable taking it to that next stage...

edit: as an after thought, kids in their teens and early 20s stumbling around like zombies or slurring all day on periscope and youtube are NOT helping the battle toward legalization at all :/

 

[MagicJim]

It's Monday. Oh joy.

Monday is my golf-all-day day, and this morning the only storm in North America is sitting squarely over my town. Washout.

There was a time when I played. My old back just can't handle it any longer.

So I'm sitting here thinking...always dangerous. Let's open our mouth, shall we?

I'm glad you did. It's always good to have a view. Mine isn't all that different actually.

In the past year I have realized how many folks who use cannabis have gone to dabs. Especially the younger ones.

I'm 57 so I've been around awhile, seen a lot. I truly don't like what I'm seeing regarding concentrates.

A few years older. I'll be 67 at the end of this month. Also, I'm a little slow at times and only noticed the dab activity for maybe four or five months now. It's also been maybe within the last 5 or 6 months that I dry sifted my first kief and pressed a few grams of hash. I smoked hash back in the 1970's and I enjoy that.

Now for the dabs, I do have an oil rig mostly used for flower but I've dabbed some shatter that I extracted with Everclear early last year. Most of that shatter I've enjoyed in a vape pen given to me by a friend. I liked that so much I bought a few china made skillets knowing that they would soon fail. So now I have no shatter left. What would you expect for MagicJim would do?

Well, the Everclear extraction was pain because NC sells Everclear with 10% too much water so while it was acceptable----it really wasn't for vaping or dabbing. I could have ordered a gallon of Extractohol from a sponsor. Cost is always an issue as I have no way to recover the alcohol without more expense. I'm almost off the track here.

So I am a little slow to dabs actually and have actually never bought any but I like the clear taste and high impact. I should further explain that I quit smoking herb around 2003 until November 2014. Prior to 2003 I tried my best to get high daily. Although street connections were not always reliable, I can claim some success for about 30 years there.

The dabs thing in my opinion is a negative thing. Takes cannabis smoking and turns it into Opium addiction. Changes getting high from an enjoyably social thing with a moderate physical effect to a sort of desperate thing where people get absolutely rocked and lay around drooling.

In my opinion, with concentrates, a lot of the innocuous aspect of smoking pot morph into creating and serving next-level dependency, and the goal becomes the seeking of a much deeper level of intoxication. When I went to the Cannabis Cup I saw it very clearly. People everywhere pulling out their little tubs of wax and stumbling around to use the dab rigs for hit after hit, many so stoned I could clearly see it was 100% about getting smashed and very little about hanging out, talking, laughing and being sociable. This is what Opium addicts are like, and also most Heroin junkies from my experience.

It's the difference between being a social drinker and being a drunk.

When the goal becomes just getting wiped out you are an addict, regardless of the substance. Even within our little online community there are those who use cannabis wisely, and stay in control, and others who openly admit they need to be very stoned 110% of the time.

I love cannabis so much I am regarded as the Guru of Ganja by my friends, but when it's not appropriate to be high I am able to refrain. I own a business and have a family and those things direct my path and priorities in life. With regular marijuana this line is hard to cross, but concentrates change the game, making it totally easy to use THC at levels that in my opinion change the activity from a casual one to a very serious one with a lot of negative karma.

In the last 5 months I have hiked completely through the concentrate jungle...started with making cannabutter and made great brownies and cookies with it. Then moved to tinctures, making a series of stronger-and-stronger elixers, first using PG/VG to create excellent vape juice, then adding wax to subsequent batches to make the concentrate even stronger. Finally BHO extraction, putting in even more time and work to attain the highest levels of purity.

What I have found is these things take my favorite thing, which is smoking cannabis to enjoy the flavor and taste with the resultant reasonable buzz, and turn it into something that feels more like doing coke. I remember doing coke in my 20's. I remember a Friday night with six of my friends, getting all dolled up to go out clubbing and we got an eight-ball with the idea of starting the night out right. Five hours later, all the coke gone, all of us still sitting in our living roon, three people on the phone trying to score more coke. That was the night I realized the difference between doing drugs, and drugs doing you. I have never done coke since. And hey, I'm no pussy...I once ate 5 2-inch fresh peyote buttons...at once. I have achieved the ultimate levels of intoxication that it is possible to achieve and not die.

But now I advocate for sensible recreational use, of all things. I'm not in rehab because I have seen that side of drug use and made the life decision I'm not going there. Now I grow weed and ceaselessly advocate for it...irony? No, there are simply a few lines humans cannot cross or they lose the glow of life itself and hard drug use is one of those lines.

To my observations and experience, concentrates are on their way to turning pot use into something more like heroin use. I find that sad, for the overall culture of cannabis, and for many of the individuals who have become unable to enjoy a moderate buzz anymore without getting destroyed all day.

Strange that a guy churning out marijuana would sound a cautionary and even critical note. Sorry, it's how I feel because it's what I am seeing. I have always loved cannabis but IMHO concentrates are ruining it.

I have officially become my Dad. Wow.

Peace, Hyena

I'm too stoned to debate or agree with any point above. As a recovering alcoholic I know much of what you speak. I was addicted to white crosses during the summer of 1971. I always loved the combination of herb and speed. I've lost a great job directly related to powdered cocaine and boozing.

Such has been my adventure with things that can be abused and were. Sometime during the Fall of 2014 and being clean and sober for 9 years for booze and a few more for marijuana I checked around and a friend gave me a couple grams. I had heard all those stories about it being 10 times more potent than when I smoked. All correct, it was quite a bit more potent than I remembered. When I began growing, I chose White Widow and Jack Herer for my first crop and was rewarded with two nice cuts and I haven't been without top shelf since then.

But what about concentrates. Clear and clean and fragrant. Huh...about a week ago, I finally decided to pull the trigger on a press with fancy electronic plates and stuff. It should be here by Wednesday.

So I'll soon be bolting it down on this table to see if I can squish some golden dabs and we'll go from there. I have a new titanium nail and enail coming too and supposedly it would be better if I had a quartz banger but that can wait.

I also have an opinion about heroin and related overdoses. Peeps just didn't have access to top shelf reef, and they moved on. They moved to heroin. Actually I hear that heroin is cheaper and easier to obtain locally. Add to that a local production facility of fentanyl and things get dangerous.

So Hyena...we shall see. I got my eyes wide open right now hoping I don't wake up with a heroin nod.

 

[Hyena Merica]

Everything you said, Jim

I appreciate all your insights and information Jim.

I'm not sure if my darker view of the horizon of cannabis use is universally applicable. I have always known people who could use potentially addictive things for many years but not abuse by any reasonable analysis.

I am not one of those people and I know it.

I'm the addictive type. I've never been addicted to anything to the point it killed me but I know myself and I sure could be.

I loved hash, always a treat and yes, a bit to a lot stonier. But I have never had an unlimited supply of hash available. It's always been rare to find some and for the last 15 years almost nonexistent. I think, for me, that's a good thing.

I got so addicted to adrenaline I did over 1,000 skydives.

There are no perfect people, and nobody is made of rock so all can be destroyed. I have felt at peace with my three primary bad habits for most of my adult life: smoking good weed, drinking light beer and smoking fine cigars on the golf course. At 57 I am fit, strong, an excellent athlete and so far have had no major illnesses or injuries. But I could die next month from any number of things that could show up tomorrow. I know that so I live every day with gusto.

The knowledge that if I had the opportunity to dive into something really bad I might keeps me from thinking that way and from believing I can try things and then put them down. I know what a taste of opiates or meth would do to me...instant addiction. I know it. I will not go there.

That was the thesis of my little diatribe...I see the cannabis culture changing into that thing I fear, going from use in ways that you can stop if you need to, to forms of use that in my opinion, many cannot. And I also never tried heroin or meth because I'm sure the high is so powerful, it would ruin my ability to be satisfied with a good cannabis buzz FOREVER. I have loved pot like a brother, it has gotten me through a lot of heavy times and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers were right: Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope. Now I have as much of both as I want but it has not diminished my healthy fear of making that one bad decision and starting down a path I can't come back from.

Last weekend I smoked from dawn to dark both days and got absolutely nothing accomplished except a lot of internet surfing and tv. It was fun. I'm not saying there isn't a place for that in life, we're simply happy, smart monkeys and we do what monkeys do, we monkey around. But I'm starting to see what dabs do to people, and it's different somehow. It's not very social, it's 100% about getting hammered and it looks, and feels, more like being a junkie. Those who do two dab hits and sit down to family game night aren't who I'm talking about. It's the growing number who intend to do that and end up just doing dabs all night. Its bad for those folks and the concentrate culture in my opinion is the main threat to expanding legalization. I think pot should be completely legal but I would still support a ban on concentrates because they are a loaded gun. Wow, the guy who is 1000% against government over-regulation just said ban something. But it's true. I watched those people at the Cannabis Cup, I listened to them and looked into their eyes. Things have changed. We will see where the evolution of all this goes.

Bottom line: you have to have a healthy respect for the addictive tendencies within yourself or drugs eventually do you. All I'm sayin'.

Peace, Hyena