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Growin' Our Own (page 2)

It's Pot Harvest Time 2002, World Celebrations, Parties, and When to Harvest

By: Bud Life in California

The fall pot harvest is coming in and the crops are better than ever. Weed is coming in from Mexico, Canada, and local home growers. North of the equator, for the outdoor growers who haven't been busted by the helicopters, fall is harvest time. For indoor growers harvest time is when plants are ready. This will celebrated for the 15th year at the trademarked High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. Nol is hosting the Haarlem Hash & Weed Festival, and Blunt Brother's the new FIRST annual BC Fall Harvest Cup. Down under its springtime and when they harvest they have Nimbin's Annual Grass March. We at Bud Life call all the harvest competitions above the equator "The all Halloweenies, Best Bud Competition." For yourselves and your friends, you can call it whatever you want. We'll explain the infighting between the biggies over the name 'Cannabis Cup' and we'll tell you when it's time to harvest. We'll tell you what to expect in the variety of available supplies.

The old Mexican crops which were pressed so thin ( 1/2") that the seeds were crushed is finally gone. Mexican bricks and pound bags are readily available. We've seen Acapulco Gold for the first time in years which cost $65 an eight. The Mexican-Amsterdam seed "high grade" crop has been seen in Arizona and the retail price was only $600 a pound. In Cali these barely pressed, high grade Mexican buds are $1,000 a pound. This weed is called Arizona Reg, or Mexican High Grade. The beautiful bud hair colors range from blond to rust, while the rest of the bud is a basil green. This high grade crop is a good stony start for the Mexicans. If you're in Arizona, we're certain that you got the first load and cuttings of this crop.

Sex and indicators - when to harvest your buds

Pot plants, as you know, have thin finger- or blade-like leaves with serrated edges. The leaves grow in odd numbers reaching up to 9 and even 11 fingers at maturity. Some reports claim leaves with 19 to 21 fingers, however we've never seen this many fingers in one leaf. The plants grow until fine blond hairs which distinguish the female plants begin to sprout out of the ends of branches and where the branches meet the stalk. These hairs range to about a ½ inch, and will eventually begin to curl. If you look closely you will notice the clear, microscopic THC trichrome tubes erupting from the hairs and smaller leaves as the female bud develops. These tubes may appear white and are called 'bud frost'. Frost is a very good sign of potency, but it isn't harvest time yet.

Another thing to look for is the hermaphrodite plant, which is a male-female in one plant. These bi-sexed plants will have both male flowers and female hairs in the one plant. We bought seeds in Amsterdam which produced about 10% of these plants. We separated them and let them grow into a sparse type bud. Next time we find these, we'll just root 'em out to have more space for the better buds.

Sinsemilla or seedless buds

Male plants are usually skinny and have small green to yellow flowers full of pollen. Male flowers open dropping pollen and the opened flowers may parachute onto the sticky female hairs. This is how Mother Nature has provided natural sex for these plants. The pollen will produce seeds in the female buds. However, if the males are separated (pulled up and disposed of) before little or no pollen has reached the sticky female hairs, the female buds will continue growing hairs and into layers of small cupped leaves. These leaves look like "green tongues" and absent pollen, the buds will produce more and more hairs and thick cupped budding leaves. Be patient. The leaf blades forming in the developing buds may reduce down in number to just one finger. The bottom leaves may shrivel and die, so you can pluck some of the big leaves to concentrate growth into the buds. The female will produce very full and heavy buds. Buds, also called "colas", vary in size from a bowl full to over a foot long. If no male has pollinated the female you will have no seeds in your buds. Buds with no seeds are in Mexican terms called "Sinsemilla," or Sensi. One must be patient during bud development and don't cut these buds until they reach full maturity. Cutting buds too soon will result in "green bud," which is usually a harsh smoke and not as stony if you had waited another week or two. The buds just keep getting taller and thicker if left alone. Many plants will have branches droop from the weight of the buds as they develop. Some growers wire up these heavy drooping buds or use twine or string to keep them from falling over. If they fall over the branch can break. We don't think this drooping matters unless less light hits the plants or the branch gets to the point of breaking. Buds do differ as some will be more hairy, spongy, light in weight; while others can be dense and heavy with small green tongues. With your fingers, you can gently press a bud to determine its density. If you try this, then take the Bud Life smell test. Smell your fingers afterwards for the aroma of your crop, and rubbing your fingers together, see how sticky they are with resin. The DEA claims that the new varieties of pot are far more potent than the varieties of 30 years ago. This is true to a certain extent, but the strength is due to the wide spread knowledge that the buds will grow and grow gaining more resin, absent pollenation.

Time to harvest

For your final observation and when it's the recommended time to harvest, you will notice that the blond hairs are changing color to an orange, rust or brown. This may or may not be optimum harvest time. However with the changes in hair color, it won't hurt to cut off a branch below the bud and hang it upside down to dry. Let it dry for about 7-10 days before smoking. Never rush the drying process by oven drying or micro waving your buds. If you consider doing a quick dry, think about popcorn. The popcorn kernel blows open and changes into very dry, popped corn. Quick drying buds is the same, as you will pop open the THC trichrome tubes and release the THC, ending up with dryer buds and a less stony, harsh smoke. Unlike popcorn, you can't pour butter on quick dried buds to correct this mistake. Let the drying process be slow and natural. The frosty tubes will slowly recede forming a solid seal for the THC inside the tubes. Slow dry won't shock the tubes and force them to pop open like when buds are quick dried. Again the change in hair colors is your best indicator of when to harvest your crop. She will change from a blond when she's ready for you. Experiment until you find the density and right hair colors for your harvest and taste. Different varieties may determine different harvests, but the noticeable change from light to dark hairs indicates the bud growth is peaking and will be timing out soon and should be taken for your harvest.

Available weed and big busts

Expensive Canadian BC buds which are available all year long are always very scarce in Cali. The high prices for BC bud ($3,000 to 5,000) will have to come down before these buds can compete with all the other available weed. Illegal Cali home grown farms have been hit hard by the feds who claim to have scored over 54,000 plants from the Central Sierra Mountains alone. The feds claimed that these plants were worth $170 million. The few large farms were allegedly run by two Mexican drug cartels. The cops made over 18 arrests, confiscating five pounds of seeds. Whether any of the seeds were part of the Amsterdam buy is still unknown. Most of these related farms had over 7,000 plants each and were found inside National Parks and in dense forest land. The theory is that it is just as easy to run these farms here in Cali as in Mexico by hiring illegal alien farm workers who camp out and guard them. Further north in Cali, many farms on fed lands have been uprooted and burned. Photos showed the piles of plants being burned by black masked cops who were DOWN wind. It's amazing that the cops who claim these crops are a safety concern stand down wind in clouds of white smoke with no breathing protection while burning up all this pot. The majority of the plants looked like Christmas trees.

Local volunteers wanted to help harvest pot crops

After discovery of one northern farm, the local cops asked for volunteers to help uproot the remote crop located in very rugged terrain. If you were a volunteer we'd like to hear about your experience helping the cops eradicate this weed. Down south, fires wiped out many thousands of plants and led to the discovery of over 30,000 more. There is a known danger to these crops as September is the start of deer hunting season. Deer hunters go to remote places and stumble across the pot farms. They report these to law enforcement to get the DEA reward. Also the helicopter flights discover areas that are too green for late summer and investigate further. Many of the crop guarding Mexican farm workers are armed with assault rifles and at least one man was killed defending a remote mountain farm. Cali pot farming is a big profit business which we attribute to the ongoing prohibition of the weed. Who would bother with all this illegal activity if the weed was allowed to grow freely along rivers and creeks? If everywhere you went the weed was growing freely the supply would be so great that nobody would bother with these illegal operations. Perhaps the federal government can't figure out how to tax and sell bud without stopping a free, natural growing supply. If the feds could control and tax weed while stopping a freely growing supply they might change their position and end the prohibition. However they know it's just a weed and that they can never monopolize a crop of weeds. So the war continues.

1 out of 10 people in the USA live in Cali. This is the 6th largest economy in the entire world. It is estimated that billions of dollars of weed are grown locally and funneled into this Cali. market. This fact alone should be reason to eliminate the profit incentive from weed. However the feds continue to attack weed and medical growers, and keep the profit incentive going.

World festivals, harvest parties, and celebrations. You are invited!!!

Nol is promoting the 30th anniversary of hash and weed acceptance in Amsterdam. This is billed as the Haarlem Hash and Weed Festival. It celebrates Wernard, who opened Mello Yellow -, the first ever coffee shop in Amsterdam - in 1972. Also featured on the party list of pioneers is Ed, an 86 year old Californian, who is a guest of honor and celebrity for designing various varieties of weed. You can go to Nol's site for information on this party which starts on Nov. 30th, the day after High Times Cannabis Cup ends. So as Wayne or somebody said: "Party on." There's still time to plan your trip for this 30 year historic event.

High Times vs. Cannabis Culture - legal issues of the name 'Cannabis Cup'

High Times has apparently trademarked the name 'Cannabis Cup'. This event was allegedly founded by former Californian and Amsterdam seed seller Doug. According to the Canadian magazine, Cannabis Culture, the name 'Cannabis Cup' has been trademarked by High Times. This name, 'Cannabis Cup', became a legal dispute between the biggies, High Times and Cannabis Culture magazines. Cannabis Culture and/or Blunt Brothers wanted to use the name 'Cannabis Cup' for a Canadian harvest festival. According to a recent Cannabis Culture article, High Times used their lawyer to threaten suit. So the 'Cannabis Cup' name under submission was changed to the BC Fall Harvest Cup. The BC sponsor Blunt Brothers apparently submitted to pressure from the High Times' attorney and changed the name to the "First" Annual BC Fall Harvest Cup.

After attorneys argued use of names, the First Annual BC Fall Harvest Cup party will commence on October 31 through November 3rd. Events planned by Blunt Brothers include: 10 minute Psychic readings, massages, smoking tour rides around Vancouver Harbor in a 34 foot boat, and smoke-ins. You may purchase a judge's pass for US $350, which includes all events. A judge's pass for 15th Annual High Times Cannabis Cup is only $225. BUD LIFE was not included in the promotional press passes to cover the BC event. After our request we were denied promotional judge passes which were readily issued to High Times and Cannabis Culture reporters. The reason given to BUD LIFE by Ginger of Blunt Brothers was that the event was already covered by High Times and Cannabis Culture and that no reporter or promotional judge passes would be issued to BUD LIFE. If we wanted to attend to report to you, our readers, we would have to drive 1,200 miles one-way and then pay the $350 fee. We considered this a snub to you, to us, and to freedom of the press. It is amazing that the confronting High Times gets promotional press passes and that BUD LIFE who just reported on Blunt Brothers, has been invited to pay. So much for the freedom of the press and reporter access to cover the event. This seems to be a greed/money issue and is totally contrary to the Vancouver-BC Marijuana Party policy statement about freedom, etc. While we're not tying these BC entities together, we just wanted to give you our side of this money vs. freedom of the press issue. We don't need to remind you that at BUD LIFE we're old Hippies who believe in FREE access and that we're not into greedy money issues.

Let us know if you attend any of these parties, and tell us what you liked and didn't like about them. If you go to the BC Fall Harvest Cup let us know if it was worth the $350.

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