What is Green Greed?

by Chip Baker | Jun 29, 2019 | 420, Blog, Broscience Mythbusters, Business, Culture

Green greed! It has plagued the cannabis industry for years. But today it doesn’t mean what it used to.

In our current legal cannabis industry, I have run across so many contractors and vendors that attempt to charge cannabis people more money than their “normal “clients. Maybe this is because they were overcharged for a not-so-great sack years ago. Maybe they’re just greedy.

I’ve been quoted $6,000 for a $1,000 job. I’ve been quoted $3,800 for a $900 job. Now, the joke is on both of those assholes because they didn’t get my money. But for someone not as skilled as me in construction and operating a business, you might get taken advantage of by some dubious contractors.

Here are signs that you might be dealing with a green greedy asshole.

Signs of Green Greed

1. If you tell a contractor you’re in the cannabis business and they clap their hands and say, “You guys must make really good money”…

2. Or they put on a greedy smile and say, “This is going to be expensive, but you can afford it”…

3. They tell you that working with cannabis businesses is too risky, and that they have to charge more to account for the risk.

The reality is that these people are probably all just jealous. We all choose our own lines of work, and they chose theirs. Remember, we’ll only work with them if we get fair rates and quality work.

Countering Green Greed

If you are in the cannabis industry and you get the slightest psychic vibe that you’re getting a high quote from a contractor, immediately tell them, “No, that’s too much, I can’t afford that.“

Immediately asked them for a discount when they give you their quote. Upon meeting these contractors, call out other green greed that you have already had to deal with to show them you won’t be tricked into overpaying. Demand that you get the best price and the best service.

The cannabis industry makes a lot of money, but the people who try to take advantage from the outside don’t know where all that money actually goes. Operating costs, testing, licensing. There isn’t that much left over. Make that clear too.

It started as growers in the private market’s green greed driving up prices in tough times. Now that it’s legal, everybody can try and take a cut. Which is why it’s so important to be mindful as a cannabis business owner.

Next time you’re talking to a contractor and you hear a number that sounds a little high, don’t be afraid to call it out. As long as people get away with taking advantage of new cannabis businesses, they’ll keep taking advantage. Be cautious, be mindful and always get a second quote.

Illinois Legalization: Illinois becomes 11th state to legalize cannabis

by Travis C | Jun 26, 2019 | 420, 420 News, Blog, Cannabis Law, Culture

Illinois residents can soon enjoy cannabis freely in their home state, they just have to wait a while.

Illinois has become the 11th state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis for recreational use after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that will allow the licensed growth, sales, possession and consumption of cannabis for adults 21 and older. One of Pritzker’s campaign promises, the bill also implements the nation’s first comprehensive statewide cannabis marketplace designed by legislators.

Suffice to say the governor was excited to sign the bill into law, and said that it was long overdue in the state. However Illinoisans will still need to wait a while to start working in the cannabis industry in the state.

Illinois Legalization

With this new bill comes a few big steps for the state of Illinois. The bill will allow the licensed growth, sales, possession and consumption of cannabis for adults 21 and older, allowing possession of up to an ounce for residents, and 15 grams for non residents.

Illinois is also the first state to fully legalize commercial sales of cannabis through the legislature, rather than through referendum. But one aspect of this bill that will start impacting individuals immediately, is the expungement clause.

Pritzker emphasized that the law provides for automatic expungement of arrests for marijuana possession under 30 grams, and that he will pardon those with convictions for possession up to 30 grams. Individuals and prosecutors may go to court to seek expungement of cases involving up to 500 grams.

“Today we are giving hundreds of thousands of people the chance at a better life,” Pritzker said.

Once the market grows to maturity, the program is estimated to generate $500 million a year in taxes. That would come from a 10% tax on products with up to 35% THC, the component of the plant that gets users high; 20% for cannabis-infused products such as edibles; and 25% for THC concentrations of more than 35% — plus local sales taxes.

In a concession to law enforcement, an earlier provision to allow adults to grow five plants each at home was eliminated. Instead, only certified medical marijuana patients would be allowed to grow up to five plants each at home.

Now What?

While the bill has been signed into law, Illinois won’t be selling recreational cannabis to its citizens anytime soon. The permits the sale of legal cannabis products starting in January of 2019. So while not that far away, Illinoisans still have over 6 months to wait before they can purchase or grow their own cannabis.

The governor emphasized that 25% of the revenue from marijuana taxes will go to marijuana business ownership in black and brown communities that were disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. In addition, 20% will go to substance abuse treatment and prevention and mental health care, with additional funds going to pay the state’s bills, law enforcement and public education on marijuana health issues.

To address concerns that cannabis retail shops will end up concentrated in minority neighborhoods, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a co-sponsor of the bill, said there are minimum distances between shops to avoid a “liquor store on every corner“ phenomenon.

Local governments can still ban marijuana businesses or set rules to determine where they are allowed. While municipalities cannot prohibit people from possessing marijuana, landlords can still keep it off their property and employers can prohibit use by their employees.

It’s going to be an intense 6 months in the Illinois legislature as application processes begin and citizens start applying en masse. The state will need to establish how many applications it approve, and how many licenses will be given out to commercial growers, processors and retailers.

Stay tuned on The Real Dirt for updates about Illinois legalization and what’s happening with the cannabis industry development in the state.

Do’s and Don’ts of Outdoor Cannabis Clones

by Travis C | Jun 14, 2019 | 420, Blog, Broscience Mythbusters, Growing, Hemp

A listener had some questions about planting outdoor cannabis clones. So let’s dive in.

A recent episode of The Real Dirt Podcast went in depth about the best techniques for planting outdoor cannabis clones. Some listeners have never had any issues transitioning their clones outside, but others are doing it for the first time this season.

While the main focus of the episode is about preventing early flowering in clones, a listener from Oklahoma who is new to growing wanted to know why early flowering is such a bad thing in the first place, and some other questions about planting outdoor cannabis clones.

Outdoor Cannabis Clones and Early Flowering

A lot of new growers might plant some clones outside, come back a couple weeks later to find them already flowering, and think they struck gold. If you could grow a cannabis plant in half the time and still have it produce flowers, why wouldn’t you? But that’s not really how it works.

Here’s how it usually goes: You take the plant out in May. Two weeks later you notice those pretty flowers. Two weeks after that, you get small buds. But then the plant stalls for two weeks to a month and begins to grow weird shaped leaves out of the buds. The plant then reverts back to vegetative growth.

At this point however, it’s already the middle of July, so your plant only has two or three more weeks before it goes into flower again under the natural light of the sun. In the end, you end up with less cannabis that doesn’t look as good.

There are a few things you can do to ensure that your clones thrive outside, but there’s also plenty of things to avoid.

The Do’s of Outdoor Cannabis Clones

Know your clones – Certain clones just don’t perform well outdoors. If they come from a strain that was bred indoors and is mostly cultivated indoors, you’re more likely to encounter problems. Before you just buy an exotic strain clone from your local nursery, do some research into its growth patterns and traits, so you can be sure to avoid strains more prone to problems.

Know your light cycles – Different areas of the United States have short and longer light cycles throughout the year. You can easily look up the light cycles of where you live to determine when you should plant your outdoor cannabis clones. In Oklahoma for example, May 1 has 13 and a half hours of daylight. By June 1, there is 14 hours and 23 min of daylight. Then by June 21, the longest day of the year, Oklahoma gets over 14 and half hours of sunlight. Most clones will want to flower at this point, which you don’t want.

Keep some backups – It’s always good to keep some backup clones on hand that you don’t plant outside right away. Especially if it is your first time growing outdoor cannabis clones, start with planting half to two-thirds of your clones outdoors after ensuring they aren’t prone to problems. Should they flower early by chance, you’ll at least have some plants you can salvage and continue to grow.

Transition your clones – Use a shade cloth or a greenhouse to acclimate your plants to the sun. As they adjust to natural light you can wane them off of supplemental lights until they are ready to transplant. If you want to keep it as simple as possible, you can keep your plants under tree cover and shade and then move them out into the sun when they are ready. With this method you most likely won’t have any supplemental lighting.

Keep an eye on them – Clones are extremely sensitive to transplants, and it’s common for outdoor cannabis clones to have issues when they are transplanted from a controlled indoor or greenhouse environment to an outdoor bed or pot. You need to check on your clones regularly to ensure none of them are suffering from transplant shock or other problems.

Seems simple enough, but there’s some things you need to avoid to increase your outdoor cannabis clones’ chances.

The Don’ts of Outdoor Cannabis Clones

Don’t put them out too early – Unless you are using supplemental lighting outdoors, you need to keep your clones in a greenhouse where you can control their light schedule to help them adjust to natural light over time. When the longest days in late May and early June only have 13-14 hours of light, your clones will begin flowering if not adjusted.

Don’t let your clones become root bound – The last thing you want is for your clones to become comfortable in their nursery pots, with roots wrapped around its base, only to strain those roots when you transplant them. If you transplant outdoors before your clones have rooted, it will be easier for them to adjust and root into their new medium.

Don’t stress your clones out – Clones are already delicate. They are raised in a controlled environment, with a specific temperature, humidity and lighting. If you’re keeping your clones at a steady temperature 72-74 degrees Fahrenheit indoors, you don’t want to transplant them on a 95 degree day. While it is important to keep your keep your clones wet for the first few days after transplanting, you don’t want to stress them by overwatering either.

This list of do’s and don’ts might seem long, but making sure your outdoor cannabis clones don’t flower early isn’t difficult to avoid. You can simply keep them in an indoor or greenhouse environment and slowly adjust the lights, so when you put them outside around solstice when the day is around 15 hours, your plants will be adjusted, and will transition to flower more naturally.

Listen to the original episode all about planting outdoor cannabis clones and let us know if you have any questions we didn’t answer!

Is New York Next to Legalize Cannabis?

by Travis C | Jun 12, 2019 | 420, 420 News, Business, Cannabis Law, Culture

New support from New York’s Farm Bureau could be the final push the state needs to legalize cannabis. But will it be enough?

The New York Farm Bureau issued a memo Monday backing a bill that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in New York, which lawmakers are considering before they end their annual session June 19. And farmers have a lot to gain if this bill passes and New York decides to legalize cannabis.

This bill specifically includes measures meant to ensure struggling farmers in New York’s poorer counties get a chance to break in to the marijuana and hemp industries. While the farming industry in New York isn’t in any risk of shutting down any time soon, getting preferential treatment should the state legalize cannabis would mean big money for the industry.

What’s in the New York Bill to Legalize Cannabis

The bill, should it pass, would create a new Office of Cannabis Management to oversee the recreational and medicinal marijuana industries, as well as the hemp industry.

Only those above the age of 21 would be able to legally purchase marijuana, and local governments would have the ability to hold a public referendum to block legal sales within their borders. This has happened in states like Massachusetts, where local governments kept cannabis illegal despite the state’s decision to legalize cannabis for adult us.

The bill overall is relatively standard for states that legalized in the past. Adult use, cultivation and sale will be permitted, but until the bill passes, there won’t be an Office of Cannabis Management to begin working on the details.

Farmers Might Not Be Enough

While the Farmers Bureau represents over a thousand farms in New York state, the only votes that matter in this case are those of the Democrats in New York. 30 Democrats have gotten on board with the bill, but 32 are needed to pass without any Republican support.

However the Democrats are confident that the bill will at least have enough votes to pass the lower chamber, and Governor Cuomo of New York has pledged to sign the bill if it gets to his desk.

New York has the third largest population of any state in the country, an a legal cannabis market would bring in massive amounts of revenue to the state. While California has had a slew of problems since they legalized cannabis due to the surplus of private market growers and illegal dispensaries, New York wouldn’t have the same problem.

If done right, New York could potentially become the new cannabis hub of the world. But that is a big IF.

Should New York legalize, there’s going to be a bunch more farmers planting clones outside for the very first time. Luckily The Real Dirt has that covered.

The Problems with Planting Clones Outside

by Travis C | Jun 11, 2019 | 420, cannabis culture, growing, Season 3, The Real Dirt Podcast Episodes

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed

More states are legalizing, and that means more people are starting to grow their own cannabis compared to any other time in modern history.

While it might seem like indoor growing is the predominant method for most cannabis cultivation today, some of the largest cannabis producers in the country grow all their cannabis outdoors. Northern California supplies more than half of the countries cannabis, and a lot of that cannabis is grown in a big field outside.

While there is a place for seeds in outdoor growing, clones allow you as the grower to select the best plant in your garden and reproduce it en masse. But an inexperienced grower that plants clones outside in late May and early June might notice a serious issue. Clones flowering right away.

Planting Clones Outside

The number one mistake to avoid when planting clones outside is planting them too early. While the perfect time to plant is hotly debated, planting in early May is usually too early. Another mistake newer growers may make is using a bigger pot like a 5 gallon so they can grow a bigger plant in the end.

However, a one gallon pot will work just fine, with a clone about one foot tall. As long as your clones are not root bound already, you’re odds are good that you won’t have too many problems. For ideal results, keeping your clones in a greenhouse until they have developed sufficiently to about 4 or 5 feet tall. Once they’re stronger and in the right place, you can plant them later in the season, after the solstice and before August 1st, and see great results.

Another option is to start them a little earlier and smaller. When your clones are about 6 inches tall, they stand a better chance of acclimating to the outdoor environment, compared to larger plants that will need more help during the transition.

Tips for Success

Jason Miller of Kiskanu Farms has been growing the Bubblegum strain for years, a notoriously difficult strain to grow well, especially outdoors. But through his own techniques, Jason grows the best Bubblegum in Northern California. His main advice is to just keep your plants happy.

“It’s difficult when you are moving your plants from a comfortable, controlled environment out into the wild. For us, we always try to make it as easy a transition as we can, moving them into a covered greenhouse to transition from high pressure lights to regular sunlight, controlling temperature and giving them time to ‘harden off’, so they are more prepared for sunlight when we move them outside.”

Moving your clones from a controlled greenhouse environment straight into the sunlight will almost always result in your plants burning due to the rapid shift in light power.

This Week on The Real Dirt

This week’s episode has full stack of expert outdoor cultivators. Jason from Kiskanu, Chris from Cultivate OKC, Brian from Yumboldt Farms and Jeff from Little Hill Cultivators all share their best techniques for planting clones outside.

From how to transition your lighting to when you should plant your clones outside for the best results, this episode will make you confident in your first grow with clones, or help you change your game up for an ever better outdoor season than last year.

Listen to the episode right here on The Real Dirt, or Subscribe and Follow us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get the latest episodes straight to your phone for easy listening.

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Is That Botrytis? Catching Bud Rot

by Travis C | Jun 7, 2019 | 420, Blog, Broscience Mythbusters, Growing, Science & Technology

The hobby grower or casual cannabis consumer might not even know where to look for bud rot. But you don’t want to find it on your buds.

Botrytis, commonly called “bud rot”, is a type of mold that develops on the dense cores of cannabis flowers. It starts in the stems and works its way into the base of your buds, eventually consuming and destroying the whole flower.

If caught early on, bud rot can be minimized to only a few infected plants, but the only way to get rid of it entirely is to destroy the infected plants and fix your environment.

The Cause of Bud Rot

Botrytis thrives in cooler temperatures with high humidity. If you have no proper airflow in your grow room, your plants can become a breeding ground for bud rot. One of the most common causes of bud rot is a double edged sword for a lot of growers.

As cannabis flowers develop and become more dense, more moisture can collect on the flowers especially in a more humid environment. While a lot of growers try to produce the heaviest buds possible for higher yields, doing so runs an increased risk of developing bud rot if extra care is not taken.

Bud rot is also much more common in drug cultivars of cannabis (improperly called Indica today), that grow stockier with denser buds due to their origins in the kush mountains where temperature were cooler. European hemp-derived cultivars (Sativas) grow taller and more airy compared to drug cultivars, which gives them superior mold resistance with proper air flow.

How to Catch It

If a grower doesn’t catch bud rot before they send it out to the dispensary, it’s unlikely a budtender or customer will pick it up either. An observant grower should be consistently checking their plants, looking under the canopy, and getting into the base of the buds with a loupe to check for bud rot.

Botrytis can be confused for amber trichomes to an amateur, as it can have a white or brownish color that resembles dark trichomes. But the distinguishing feature of bud rot is the wispy, web-like threads that spread across the bottom of the buds. A grower can catch botrytis before harvest or after harvest during trimming. It won’t always affect every plant in the grow, which is why it’s so important to check every plant, and during trimming check all the buds for bud rot.

For the average consumer picking up cannabis at the dispensary, there are a couple ways to catch bud rot. Bigger, denser buds are more likely to develop botrytis, so these buds need to be checked first. Simply rotate the bud around, checking the base for the white to dark brown, wispy threads. Squeezing the bud softly and listening for a crunch can also help. If the bud sort of mushes together in your fingers without crumbling or breaking, there’s a chance it still has moisture in it. If the bud feels a little too sticky, check for bud rot.

How to Deal with Bud Rot

The best way to deal with botrytis is to catch it early on, or preventing it all together with environmental controllers that maintain proper temperatures and humidity in the grow. If you do encounter bud rot on your plants, the earlier the better.

Unfortunately, bud rot is most likely to develop in the later flowering stages as buds get more dense. This means the infected buds need to be thrown out, and the remaining plants moved to a stable grow environment. For the cannabis consumer, if you spot bud rot on your cannabis, you might be out of luck.

Dispensaries don’t have return policies, and it would probably take some convincing to have your infected cannabis replaced free of charge. But if you have evidence like pictures, there’s a chance the dispensary will make it right. Overall, if you are sold bud rot-ridden cannabis from any dispensary, it’s time to go somewhere else.