Maine 4-Season Greenhouse Grow

[Blew Hiller]

How doesn't an alternative choice work in my state??

Maine is hilarious in their legislative ineptitude (and our idiot Governor). Two years after legalization and they still don't have legal sales figured out...but home cultivation is stronger than ever...people that haven't bought weed in 25 years (yours truly included) are growing just because they can. I posted the below pic a few days ago...a "thank you" for my local home supply guy that is helping me get A+ service. Same for my car service manager. And Post Office Staff...

There is so much gift cannabis flowing locals would laugh if you actually went somewhere and bought it.

Sampler.jpg

• Blew Hiller
• Oct 27, 2018

 

[andIhalped]

Hold on there sunny, take a puff or 3.

Me and Jeff Sessions have nothing in common.... BTW Jeff Sessions is from a state that is steeped in black market just about everything even religion. They were experts at black market slave trade, cotton just about everything back in the day.

So your not aware of anything going on behind closed doors? I've purchased a fair share of seeds out of Oregon and I'm in a non-legal state.

In order for me to grow, I'd have to pony up $100K for an APPLICATION for a license in my state. Dispensary shelves here are short stocked and the weed is terrible and there's 1 hour lines.

How doesn't an alternative choice work in my state??

The way to make this work without a alternative market, is to let craft /hobbyist growers grow, and let them sell to the dispensaries/stores that have a license to sell to the public. (of course following "the rules").


If there's no outlet for the craft/hobbyist, the legal market will stall eventually. The craft/hobbyist growers are where all the change is going to happen. It's happening in Canada now.

How would the Oregon growers with all that quality work and stringent rules gonna feel when another state like say Texas legalizes and there are no rules or very few because of politics? How will the market play out?

Jimmy Cracklin Corn - makes good moonshine. All his friends think so. It's been a thing since before the USA. I will always be a thing. Pretty sure about that.

I'm not a Republican just to clarify. Just an example of a market thats been in play and always will be. The canna market is A LOT older and worldwide. Nixon <spit> thought of it as a threat, I see it as an opportunity.

Howdy cloudy,

1. You may not be fond of Jeff Sessions, but your unfounded assertions regarding OR dispensaries feeding the black market echoes one of his & his minions' consistent talking points regarding OR’s legal weed.

2. Online seed stores are not dispensaries whether they’re in a legal state or not. Very few dispensaries that I know of sell seeds & they certainly won’t ship them or any of their other cannabis products.

Any seed purchase involving interstate shipping is illegal & black market. Legal weed sales in dispensaries don’t affect this & they certainly don’t abet the black market in seeds.

Most folks that buy seeds, whether they live in legal or illegal states, are probably buying seeds from major suppliers, which are not in legal states.

3. While there’s little doubt that some vestigial black market probably still operates in legal states, legal sales from dispensaries don’t help the black market, especially in OR where legal weed is far cheaper & much better than black market weed.

To be sure, Cali & the Pacific NW have had a well-developed black market supply chain in place for many years prior to legalization, so it’s not going to completely disappear, but it’s damn sure shrinking in OR—I’ve lived, smoked, & grown here for 30+ years, so I have a pretty good notion of what’s gone on & is going on.

But one example: The younger set that’s blowing up Portland’s population via inmigration largely doesn’t connect with the black market at all & why should they? These newcomers don’t need to find any connection when they can load up on quite good & legal dispensary weed for $60/oz, usually within walking distance (there’s almost 200 dispensaries in Portland). This will be the trend for the foreseeable.

So dispensaries sure as heck ain’t boosting or propping up black markets. Legalization has also taken a lot of money out of the economics of the instate black market--Since legalization, good legal weed costs less than 25% of what good illegal weed did before legalization. Legal weed's dirt cheap in OR, now. (Great for consumers, very rugged for commercial legal growers, especially small operation craft growers).

For this & other reasons, the black market’s going to continue to atrophy, as it has mightily in OR since legislation. I’ve known many black market growers over the decades here & they’ve all moved on to other things, because there’s no real money in it anymore.

4. There probably is weed illegally leaking out of legal states…but most of that’s not coming from legal operations or dispensaries. The legal ops have pretty stringent (& onerous!) plant to shop supply chain tracking requirements.

More to the point, though, the leakage is due to federal prohibition, not legal weed & certainly not dispensaries. When quite good weed is only wholesaling for less than $400/lb in OR, but can bring more than 4 times that amount in illegal states, there’s gonna be leakage. But again, that perverse incentive is due to federal prohibition, not legal sales via dispensaries in legal states.

5. What TX does under the current situation won’t affect other states, since interstate commerce in cannabis is illegal.

It might reduce the number of folks from TX that travel legal states to indulge in legal weed, but most are likely doing this in CO, not OR, so it won’t have much effect.

Grow on, compadre!

 

[Blew Hiller]

legal dispensary weed for $60/oz

 

[bobrown14]

Started before Nixon as well Bob, but you know that. He just ramped it up to a whole new level and then some.

Nixon Commander in Cheat.

Started the war on drugs and Drugs won.

He was a proponent world wide for the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 pushed it on thru the United Nations made countries sign and comply.

They were trying unsuccessfully, to stem the tide of opium production. When they were finally sorta successful in the 70s under Nixon, then corporate drug companies started ramping up the production of synthetic opiods. Fast forward to current times - yay no opium... but now opioid epidemic.

legal dispensary weed for $60/oz

How long can you foresee this to be sustainable specially give the fact that there is no government guarantee a farmer makes a profit (crop subsidies)??

So for $60 an ounce you get top shelf? Seriously thats a joke bro. How much did the farmer get paid? How long before farmer starts growing something other than a crop that looses money??

You've been growing for 30+ years so you know $60 aint gonna even pay the electric bill let along a food bill for the fam. Not sustainable.

The wheat will separate from the chaff eventually and the prices will rise or the market goes away. Economics 101.

Farmers dont make any money growing crop
Ask government to step in with tax dollar subsidies
Wont happen with cannabis
Farmer grows a different crop
Prices rise steeply due to decline in quality and quantity.

It's a thing that has been going on for a very long time.

Blew its probably a good thing in disguise that Main hasn't done anything to create a legal market. Change is in the wind nationally thanks to Canada. We could see something roll out very soon. This next election cycle should parse it out. Lets hope so.

I like the Canadian deal. $5/gm for the farmer and $10/gm for the consumer guaranteed and room to go up for better quality. It's a good deal.

Edit: I know nothing about Oregon's legal weed thing or dispensaries in general.
Jeff Sessions looks like a weasel.

 

[Blew Hiller]

Blew its probably a good thing in disguise that Maine hasn't done anything to create a legal market. Change is in the wind nationally thanks to Canada. We could see something roll out very soon. This next election cycle should parse it out. Lets hope so.

The lack of dispensaries is a non-issue for most I know. The right of home cultivation without any legal concerns is the significant benefit. Cheap weed will follow the path of cheap food. For now it is probably a sweet deal for consumers because they are likely getting a great product because the industry is geared to delivering one. As profits disappear corners will be cut and you'll get something akin to the industrial food industry. I don't think any of that will happen where I am am because people will continue to do their thing and grow decent home grown. Maine doesn't have the population to support a dispensary economy either...maybe in Portland but that's it. We had 40+ groups of visitors at our farm this summer and only one of them said they bought cannabis in Portland on the way to stay with us (and left me their grinder and leftovers because of TSA!).

My farmer friend, for the moment , is making a killing growing hemp so that is one aspect of legalization that is has a positive local economic impact.

hemp1.png

• Blew Hiller
• Jul 2, 2018
• hemp

Maine Industrial Hemp

 

[Tattoodlineman]

hemp1.png

• Blew Hiller
• Jul 2, 2018
• hemp

Maine Industrial Hemp

Being a farmer, i love looking at a nice clean, neat green field of row crops, so I am curious as too how your farmer friend planted their hemp fields.. Rows look nice and straight, was there a row crop planter used to seed? If so, were there specialized seed plates made for the hemp seed?
Also, how do they control weeds/grasses in those hemp row crops? How do they harvest?
Pretty cool picture..

 

[Blew Hiller]

Being a farmer, i love looking at a nice clean, neat green field of row crops, so I am curious as too how your farmer friend planted their hemp fields.. Rows look nice and straight, was there a row crop planter used to seed? If so, were there specialized seed plates made for the hemp seed?
Also, how do they control weeds/grasses in those hemp row crops? How do they harvest?
Pretty cool picture..

He planted 6 acres overall...4 to sell @ $25/lb (last year he did 3 acres and sold 6,000 lbs...and then spent a month in the Bahamas during Jan!) and the other 2 acres to use for fuel in burning his fields. He says it's the hottest burning material he's ever used. Yes, he used a row planter and he said this year he used the wrong seeder disc so there were too many plants. He literally has hundreds of lbs of seeds from his crop last year so he wasn't too bothered. He uses workers to thin the plants later in their growth...I wanted to go in October and see them in flower but I never got around to it.

Same farmer also runs a lot of other crops...strawberries, pumpkins, corn, etc. I took this picture 20 feet from my car when we went to pick strawberries...other people were oblivious to what it was.

Here are 2x more pics from that day....

hemp2.png

• Blew Hiller
• Jul 2, 2018
• hemp

Maine Industrial Hemp

hemp3.jpg

• Blew Hiller
• Jul 2, 2018
• hemp

Maine Industrial Hemp

 

[andIhalped]

How long can you foresee this to be sustainable specially give the fact that there is no government guarantee a farmer makes a profit (crop subsidies)??

So for $60 an ounce you get top shelf? Seriously thats a joke bro. How much did the farmer get paid? How long before farmer starts growing something other than a crop that looses money??

You've been growing for 30+ years so you know $60 aint gonna even pay the electric bill let along a food bill for the fam. Not sustainable.

The wheat will separate from the chaff eventually and the prices will rise or the market goes away. Economics 101.

Farmers dont make any money growing crop
Ask government to step in with tax dollar subsidies
Wont happen with cannabis
Farmer grows a different crop
Prices rise steeply due to decline in quality and quantity.

Yes, it's a bit shocking that it's not at all hard to find $60 ozs of very good legal weed at dispensaries in OR.
You are quite right:
The insane cheapness of top qual. dispensary weed isn't good at all for the budding agricultural scene, nor the dispensaries. Currently, there's not a decent living to be made at it.

A lot of growing ops have folded & many established ag enterprises, such as vineyards, that gave it a try have stopped & gone back to conventional agriculture. I know a master organic grower at the top of his game (I've been lucky to have sampled his work many times) that just gave up on his permitted & legal grow op and started managing a conventional nursery due solely to the income issue.

(I come from a farming family & my pop always used to say that the only people involved in ag that consistently make good money are the banks, regulators and those that sell ag equipment & supplies & that seems to be becoming the case cannabis ag, too)

Unfortunately, there's also a consolidation trend: lots of the small dispensaries & craft grow ops that folded have been gobbled up by bigger players.

Looks like the Oregon cannabis scene's it's going the same way as the rest of US ag: Vast amounts of mediocre product produced by agri-biz with very limited alternative being very expensive artisanal products (like $40/lb cheese from Sonoma County, Ca). A lot of processing, too: the majority of what's sold at dispensaries in OR is not flower, it's various concentrates & edibles.

Make no mistake, I personally think the consolidation is unfortunate, but it's what happens w/ our current economic system (which I think is also unfortunate, but will leave it there).

Homegrowing is here to stay, but it's quite unlikely that'll ever make it's way into the market, though it'd be cool to see colas at the farmer's markets that are heavily supported in Portland, OR.

We'll find out, though. We are all on the same road, though we're all just passing thru.

 

[andIhalped]

He planted 6 acres overall...4 to sell @ $25/lb (last year he did 3 acres and sold 6,000 lbs...and then spent a month in the Bahamas during Jan!) and the other 2 acres to use for fuel in burning his fields. He says it's the hottest burning material he's ever used. Yes, he used a row planter and he said this year he used the wrong seeder disc so there were too many plants. He literally has hundreds of lbs of seeds from his crop last year so he wasn't too bothered. He uses workers to thin the plants later in their growth...I wanted to go in October and see them in flower but I never got around to it.

Same farmer also runs a lot of other crops...strawberries, pumpkins, corn, etc. I took this picture 20 feet from my car when we went to pick strawberries...other people were oblivious to what it was.

Here are 2x more pics from that day....

hemp2.png

• Blew Hiller
• Jul 2, 2018
• hemp

Maine Industrial Hemp

hemp3.jpg

• Blew Hiller
• Jul 2, 2018
• hemp

Maine Industrial Hemp

Hemp's the new green gold rush here...but a valid worry about the large amount that's being planted is that it will cross-pollinate with outdoor weed fer smoking, since: hemp farmers aren't concerned with culling males.

The hemp rush is partially fueled by high demand for CBD. There's now CBD only stores, which don't have to deal with many of the barriers that dispensaries do...and in Oregon, one can now buy soda pop with CBD or get a shot of CBD concentrate in your coffee in a coffee shop or a shot in your beverage at a bar...and CBD concentrates are still fairly expensive.

 

[Blew Hiller]

Hemp's the new green gold rush here...but a valid worry about the large amount that's being planted is that it will cross-pollinate with outdoor weed fer smoking, since: hemp farmers aren't concerned with culling males.

The hemp rush is partially fueled by high demand for CBD. There's now CBD only stores, which don't have to deal with many of the barriers that dispensaries do...and in Oregon, one can now buy soda pop with CBD or get a shot of CBD concentrate in your coffee in a coffee shop or a shot in your beverage at a bar...and CBD concentrates are still fairly expensive.

Yes, he mentioned some neighbors weren't too pleased with all the males. He says he sells to a middle man who immediately doubles the price for sale to the next buyer. State of Maine makes it easy for farmers as well.

 

[bobrown14]

The middle man in that hemp chain is akin to the seed re-sellers in cannabis I'm thinking.

Hemp fields and homegrown... not the best mix. OH well, I bet not the first time. I bet that's an old world problem.

 

[Blew Hiller]

"Hemp fields and Homegrown"

Isn't that a Willie Nelson Song?

 

[Blew Hiller]

Bloody Skunk has popped.

(We got 1.5" of rain in the last 48 hours and now it has switched to 35mph winds, gusting to 50...nice to have the plants buttoned up in the GH!)

 

[Blew Hiller]

Kush popped.

 

[bobrown14]

Good luck with the little ones Blew. Fun times a head.

Homegrowing is here to stay, but it's quite unlikely that'll ever make it's way into the market, though it'd be cool to see colas at the farmer's markets that are heavily supported in Portland, OR.

We'll find out, though. We are all on the same road, though we're all just passing thru.

No doubt about that. Yeah be real nice to be able to buy fresh cut flowers at the market take em home and hang dry and into jars. That'd be nice.

New look Farm to Table. Why not... its organic and good for you.


You in Portland AIH??? Nice town, loved Oregon in general, Portland one of my favorite places I've ever been to. I traveled a good bit when I was younger. Man the smoked oysters and the Salmon.... yummmmm.

 

[Blew Hiller]

Good luck with the little ones Blew. Fun times a head.

Waiting on the DDA...

 

[Blew Hiller]

Congratulations to (the people of) Michigan for legalizing recreational cannabis!

 

[StoneOtter]

Waiting on the DDA...

C'mon DDA!

 

[Blew Hiller]

C'mon DDA!

I punted on the DDA...grabbed the area of soil where the seeds were and tossed it into 2x smaller containers...if they pop, great. I germed and dropped Berry Bomb and Berry Ryder (prizes from POTM...Bomb Seeds) in the 7-gallon pots.

 

[SecurityJo]

I punted on the DDA...grabbed the area of soil where the seeds were and tossed it into 2x smaller containers...if they pop, great. I germed and dropped Berry Bomb and Berry Ryder (prizes from POTM...Bomb Seeds) in the 7-gallon pots.

Are you a seed collector or do you fly by the seat of your pants?