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The man that kept a legendary cannabis strain alive for 20 years.

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“Call Jim. He has questions for you.”
I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed the number in the email.
A quiet, gravelly voice answered. It sounded just like the one from the documentary. 

It was Jim Ross. 

Jim is 59 years old and lives in Wasilla, Alaska.
“How are you doing Jim?” I ask.
“Oh you know, I’m hanging in there,” he replies.
In 2001, Jim was diagnosed with myositis, a rare, incurable condition that causes chronic inflammation and degradation of the muscles.
“I was meant to be gone 2 years ago, but I’m still kicking and walking,” Jim laughs as he tells me about how the disease has attacked every joint and muscle in his body.
“I’m just nothing but skin and bone. In the last two and a half years I’ve dropped 60 pounds. I’m on my last leg. But I make a medicine out of this MTF and my doctor says ‘keep doing what you’re doing. Do not stop!’”
He laughs again and starts explaining how he makes his medicine.
“I take 2 ounces of ground-up bud and one 5th of 100-proof vodka, put it in a canning jar, shake it, and after 3 months I strain it with cheesecloth and take little doses a couple of times a day,” says Jim. 

The MTF he uses to make his medicine is Matanuska Thunder Fuck, a mysterious cannabis strain bred in the 1980s in Trapper Creek, on the foothills of the Alaska Range.
Jim first smoked MTF when he moved from Oregon to Alaska in 1987.
“I came up here on vacation, went fishing, and never left. It’s so beautiful, and I swear to god it’s the best fishing in the world,” he says.
Back then, MTF was originally known as the Trapper Creek Hash Plant to Jim and his buddies. It was bred by a guy known only as Tiny.
In 1988, Tiny suspected he was going to be raided by the cops. He abandoned his grow and asked his friend Jeff Payton to rescue his plants once the coast was clear.
In 1997, Jeff passed the strain to Jim, who has been keeping it alive ever since. 

A Strain Like No Other

“What’s MTF like in the grow room?” I ask Jim.
“It’s just an unbelievable strain,” he replies.
Even over a crackly phone line 13,000km away, I can hear the excitement build in his voice.
“It’s just completely different. It has fangs that grow out of the fan leaves. And the fan leaves are bigger than your hand. I counted 13 fingers on a fan leaf once and a triple-fanged leaf growing out of that,” Jim says.
“Oh, and one time,” he goes on, barely giving me time to type out my notes, “I even got a stem growing out of one of my fan leaves!” 

Since 1997, Jim has been growing his prized strain at home, always using clones taken either from a mother or healthy vegging plants. “I’ve never grown from seed. This is essentially the same plant since 1987,” he says.
Ever since he first got MTF from Jeff Payton, Jim has been passing clones around to his closest friends.
“I even ended up giving the strain back to Tiny and Jeff, who had stopped growing it for a while,” he says.
Jim even gave the strain back to Cameron van Ryn, a licensed grower frm Wasilla, who originally got the strain from Tiny but lost it to some spider mites.
Unfortunately, Tiny passed away recently. But thanks to Jim and his friends, the legendary Trapper Creek Hash Plant lives on. 

Storm Chasers – The Search For Real Matanuska Thunder

In 2017, Ron Bass, a licensed grower from Houston, published an article in the Anchorage Daily claiming he’d struck gold and found Alaska’s fabled strain.
“I took one look at those plants in the pictures in the paper and knew it wasn’t MTF,” says Jim. “I can be in a room with 100 different strains and tell you exactly which one is MTF.”
And he was right; Ron’s plant turned out to be an MTF cross.
Jim eventually gave his strain to Ron, who promised to grow and process it for medicinal purposes.
“I didn’t want any money, I didn’t want any of the fame or glory. I told Ron that if he could save somebody or make a cure with it, I’d be satisfied. Because that’s what it’s been for me,” says Jim.
Over a period of 18 months, Jim gave Ron a total of 40 rooted clones of his prized plant. Ron has since trademarked MTF and commercialized the strain, even making it the theme of a rap song with Afroman.
Cameron Van Ryn is also growing it commercially and supplies Jim’s MTF to dispensaries in Alaska.
“They get a pound from him and it’s gone in a week. He can’t keep up with the demand,” Jim chuckles. 

But Jim prefers to lay low. He’s in the middle of selling his house and moving to one of the 4 corner states with his wife.
“As you get older, the winters get harder,” he says. For the first time in our hour-long call, I hear Jim sigh.
“I can’t go snowmobiling or four-wheeling or skiing anymore. But, you know, it is what it is.”
I ask him about his wife, Teena, and Jim’s voice immediately picks back up.
“Oh, we’ve been married for 25 years. I met her in Alaska, and she’s from Oregon too,” he laughs again. “We were just friends for the longest time. Then, when we both became single, things started happening.”
“Some would call that fate,” I tell Jim.
“Yeah!” he replies. “And it’s been great ever since.”

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CBD, THC et sommeil : le guide

Avec ses vertus relaxantes, anxiolytiques et apaisantes, le chanvre est un formidable moyen de trouver le sommeil.  Mais qu’il s’agisse

Uruguay: A Hidden Seed Treasure?

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For decades, The Netherlands has dominated the market for cannabis genetics. Whether you’re growing a few plants in your closet or you own a legal cannabis farm in North America, chances are you’re getting your seeds from a Dutch seed bank. 

But over 11,000km away, Uruguayan cannabis breeders are slowly, and very timidly, breaking into the market for cannabis seeds. Could Uruguay be home to a new wave of seedbanks and exotic genetics?

River Grown Genetics

It’s 4:30pm and overcast. I break up a sticky, dense, dark green bud with beautiful purple hues. As I light up and inhale, a thick, sweet smoke fills the room and I settle down to write.
I’m smoking a Blueberry Automatic from that my friend grew on his terrace under the strong Argentine sun last summer. The seeds, to the surprise of many, came from Del Plata Genetics  in Uruguay. 

In 2013, the small Latin American nation became the first country to fully legalize cannabis. If you’re a Uruguayan resident, you can now buy weed at a pharmacy or cannabis club or grow your own.
You can spark up anywhere it’s legal to smoke a cigarette, and you can even ask a police officer for a light.
But since legalizing weed almost a decade ago, the growth of the cannabis industry in Uruguay has been very, very slow.
If the US cannabis industry were a Walmart, Uruguay’s weed industry (if you can even call it that) is like a farmers market.
And while it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon, the industry is making some advances.
As of 2020, Uruguay is officially home to a handful of boutique-ish seedbanks. 

Mystery Grower

Alberto Huergo’s 25+ cannabis awards. Image: Silver River Seeds

Silver River Seeds, based in Montevideo, has an extremely impressive catalog of over 20 different feminized and automatic varieties with exotic names like Despink, Sourflash, River Haze, Apple Cookies, and more.
These strains are the work of Alberto Huergo, a mysterious cultivator and author of Sativa: Cultivo Interior (Indoor Cultivation).
Alberto claims to have 30 years of experience growing cannabis and has spent the last 2 decades breeding, preserving and crossing some of Latin America’s most prized strains.
He is the man behind Dutch Passion’s Desfran, winner of Argentina’s 2011 Copa Del Mar and Brazil’s 2012 Copa De Rio Janeiro, among many other awards.
His book, published in 2008, is a 600-page bible that covers everything there is to know about cultivating cannabis indoors, from the basics of the cannabis lifecycle to specifics on how to identify and treat nutrient deficiencies, prevent pest infestations, harvest and cure buds, and much more.
Alberto is also the head of Haze, a cannabis culture magazine published in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. 

Unfortunately, after eagerly awaiting a response from Silver River for an interview with Alberto, I got this message:
“Thanks Steve for your interest and proposal. We prefer to keep flying low to avoid detecting the presence of uncomfortable radars. It is legal to cultivate in Uruguay or to own a cannabis club and make your own seeds. However, it’s not too clear whether it is legal to advertise or sell them. If I knew that it was legal, I would go on TV and would give you several interviews. But unfortunately, this is a grey area, and not even IRCA [Uruguay’s Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis) knows what to tell you [about the legality of marketing and sellings seeds].
This lack of detailed regulation is a recurring problem in Uruguay’s approach to dealing with cannabis. 

Regulation: Uruguay’s Weak Point.

Uruguay’s laws make it so that there’s still a budding black market for weed aimed at tourists (who can’t legally buy cannabis in the country), and some of its borders are very poorly controlled, making it easy for cannabis to be smuggled into neighboring countries.
The northern city of Rivera, for example, shares a street with the Brazilian city Santana do Livramento.
Crossing from Uruguay into Brazil here is literally a matter of crossing a street which, in the 3 days I spent in Rivera in 2019, was never patrolled neither by Uruguayan nor Brazilian authorities.
Unfortunately, this lack of regulation doesn’t just make room for criminal activity, but it also affects people trying to run honest, above-board businesses with cannabis.
People like Alberto, for example, who strive to turn their experience with and passion for cannabis into a living.
But despite its many shortcomings, Uruguay still has something going for it; it was one of the first countries to officially stop arresting cannabis users for consuming or growing their own weed.
And for anyone living in a country that still criminalizes the use of cannabis, that’s worth a ton.
Hopefully, as the market and the industry around cannabis expands in Uruguay, there’ll be more clarity around legal grey areas (like the sale of seeds),  giving people like Alberto room to expand their roots and further grow their businesses. 

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Thunderstruck – Alaska’s Infamous MTF is Back, And This Time It’s Here To Stay

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Matanuska Thunderfuck, or MTF, is a cult cannabis strain born in the Matanuska Valley in the 1970s. It’s like the Pulp Fiction of weed; those lucky enough to have tried it swear that there’s no other strain like it. 

For years, MTF’s genetics were thought to be lost along with the generation that brought the strain into existence. But now, almost 50 years after MTF first hit the streets, cultivator and dispensary owner Ron Bass from Calm N Collective in Houston, Alaska, claims he’s found the real Matanuska Thunderfuck

Chasing Thunder


I was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee when the phone rang.
I ran to my desk, fumbled for my headset, and took the call.
“Hey, this is Ron Bass from Alaska,” said the friendly voice on the other end of the line.
I’d been waiting for over a week to hear back from Ron after reading his name in a 2017 article from the Anchorage Daily.
Back then, Ron and a group of old-time smokers thought they’d found the real MTF.
But it turned out they were barking up the wrong bush. 

“The stories surrounding that plant didn’t add up, and I also got it tested and it’s genetics didn’t match those of real MTF,” said Ron.
Matanuska Thunderfuck is rumored to be a cross of two landrace strains from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Most importantly, says Ron, it’s a grafted plant; while cannabis strains are typically the product of cross-pollination, MTF was created by combining the roots of one plant (known as the rootstock) with the top of another plant (known as the scion). 

1975 – The Birth Of A Legend

High Times 1st Anniversary Edition (1975)

In 1975, following the Supreme Court decision Ravin vs. State, Alaska became the first and only US state to claim that it’s residents, under their constitutional privacy rights, had the right to possess and use small amounts of cannabis.
That same year, High Times writer Blair Sachs-Benedict traveled to Alaska to cover the landmark decision and, together with her mysterious source Nordhoff, birthed the MTF legend with these paragraphs:

“Nordhoff carefully cleans out the bowl of a fossilized walrus tusk pipe and fills it with green leaf. The buds are huge, the size of a Malemute’s paw. He carefully picks one apart and crumbles it. ‘Matanuska Thunderfuck’ he declares, firing it up. ‘The finest pot grown in the 50 states.’
‘This weed is so strong it grows through the snow to find the sun,’ Nordhoff said. ‘Farmers in the Valley plant it alongside patches of cabbage so big it takes two men to carry them, tomatoes so big you have to cut them off with a chainsaw.’”

As is the norm with cannabis strains, the exact origins of MTF are shrouded in mystery.
Rumor has it that the grower who created this iconic strain went down in a drug bust in the late 1980s and that a handful of growers kept the strain alive for years to come.
After appearing in the Anchorage Daily, Ron Bass got a call from Jim Ross, one of these low-key growers.
“I got the strain in 1997 or 1998 from a friend,” said Jim in a 2018 documentary. “I just grew enough of it to keep me going.”
For the last 20 years, Jim had been growing MTF in his closet.
He would take large amounts of clones, preserve the strongest one as a mother plant, and cull the rest. He’d repeat this process roughly every 2 years.
It’s this process, says Ron, that has helped turn MTF into the powerhouse strain it is. 

“MTF grows really weird. It can grow both really tall or short and bushy, so you need to know what you’re doing. It develops massive leaves with up to 8 fingers. Sometimes it’ll grow 2 or 3 leaves right on top of each other, and it’s done in roughly 7-8 weeks,” says Ron. “It smells like dank cat piss and cheese:”

Jim Ross passed his MTF strain on to Ron Bass and Cameron Van Ryn of Van Geer Enterprises, another cannabis cultivation facility in Wasilla, Alaska.
Together, they submitted their samples for genetic testing to Phylos Bioscience in Portland, Oregon, creators of the largest digital 3D database of cannabis genetics. 

So far, they are the only MTF samples on that database, and Ron is working hard to milk that competitive advantage; he’s trademarked MTF in all of Alaska and even dropped a music video and rap song with Afroman titled “Thunderfuck.”
And Ron has his own unique of dealing with anyone who doesn’t think he’s MTF is the real deal:
“I’ve had people talk shit, and I always tell them the same thing; bring me the oldest dude you can find and I’ll let them smell my shit in the dispensary. Their fucking face will melt off,” he laughs. 

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From Brick To Bud: Argentina’s Slow Transition Away From Brickweed

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In South America, weed is not what it use to be. And that’s probably a good thing, as our correspondant in Argentina explains.

“I’m buying weed. Want me to hook you up?”
About a month after moving from Melbourne, Australia to Buenos Aires, a new work colleague signed off his email with that question and made my day.
I typed an emphatic “YES!!!” on my keyboard and, a few days later, I was at his downtown apartment, eager to get my hands on my first batch of 25g of Argentine weed.

“It’s in the kitchen, inside a pack of Marlboro,” he said.
Instantly I felt my face change; while I still didn’t know what to expect, I knew this wasn’t going to be the lush, green 25g I’d pictured in my head for days.
I flipped open the Marlboro pack and there it was: A thick, brown brick riddled with sticks and stems and reeking of ammonia.

“How do I cut this thing?” I shouted to my friend in the living room.

After sawing through that brick with a serrated steak knife, I managed to roll a thin, lumpy joint and stepped out onto the balcony to smoke.
As I stood out in the thick air of an early Buenos Aires summer evening, I got my first taste of paraguayo; my head got heavy, my body felt numb, and I followed every drag with a sip of beer to wash the dirt flavor from my mouth.
Paraguayo or prensado, as it’s sold locally, is a type of brick weed that has dominated the Argentine cannabis market for years.
It’s shipped over the border from Paraguay, the second-largest cannabis producer in Latin America, and is sold in bricks of 25g.

For a long time, paraguayo was the weed norm in Argentina, but that’s changed quite dramatically.
Today, cannabis consumers in Argentina are ever more actively hunting out flores (or cannabis flowers), tinctures, creams, and even extracts.

But what’s driving this sudden change in appetite?

Over the past years, Argentine cannabis activists have been fighting hard to legalize cannabis both for medicinal and recreational use.
In 2017, the federal government legalized medicinal cannabis to some extent, although it continued prosecuting and imprisoning patients growing and producing their own cannabis medicines at home.
The right to cultivate for personal use, or autocultivo, is still at the heart of the legalization debate here. It’s what NGOs like CAMEDA and Mama Cultiva are fighting so hard for.
Now, not only are more Argentines growing their own weed, but their attitudes towards cannabis are also changing.

“Today, there’s a lot more awareness and a bigger movement around cannabis, and I think the fact that the plant has medicinal properties means people are changing their perceptions of it,” says Agustin, a 32-year-old audiovisual designer.
“This summer I grew 2 plants outdoors. I didn’t want to keep buying weed; I wanted to grow my own and know what I was smoking,” he says.
Agustin represents a growing community of cannabis users in Argentina who are either growing their own plants or actively searching out quality flowers over Paraguayan brick weed.

“In general, the Paraguayans are good growers, but they make some unforgivable mistakes during the harvest and pressing processes,” writes Matías Maxx in a report about his visits to a Paraguayan cannabis farm. 

Many harvest during rainy seasons and dry their plants directly on the soil under big sheets of plastic, which creates a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi. The poorly trimmed and sometimes still humid branches are also thrown on the floor during pressing, exposed to wasps and other insects that often end up in the finished product.
“Once you learn about what goes into a prensado, you’ll never want to smoke it again,” says Frank, a 32-year-old musician who grew his first plants over the summer. “Maybe younger kids still smoke it. When I was younger flowers were hard to score and expensive.”
The fact that grow shops are popping up all around Buenos Aires has also encouraged more people to cultivate their own bud.
“There’s more access to quality flower, there’s more information about how to cultivate and more shops selling the products necessary to do so,” says Juana, who grew 10 plants on his terrace over the summer.
The fact that growing cannabis is punishable by a prison sentence doesn’t worry most Argentine growers. And soon, they might not have to worry about the law at all:
Last year, President Alberto Fernandez openly showed his support for the decriminalization of cannabis.
This year, Minister of Security Sabina Frederic announced she was studying legal markets in Uruguay, Canada, and the US for inspiration on how to approach decriminalization in Argentina.
If these measures are taken seriously, Argentines might soon have the right to grow their own cannabis, finally eradicating the market for cheap, smelly paraguayo altogether.

 

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Shortage guerilla: building a grow tent from scratch.

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The global lockdown and quarantine caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are leaving cannabis connoisseurs with little-to-nothing to toke on (except those lucky enough to live in legal states in the US or Canada).  If you’re struggling to get hooked up during COVID-19, you’re in luck; in our upcoming posts, we’ll share some of our top tips for growing great weed at home. To get started, here’s how to set up a simple grow tent using just PVC and plastic film. 

Building A Budget Grow Tent With PVC And Poly Film

What You’ll Need

  • ¾” PVC pipes in the following sizes: 
    • 4 2m-long pieces 
    • 4 1m-long pieces
    • 12 40cm-long pieces
  • ¾” PVC fittings: 
    • 8 90° degree 3-way corner fittings
    • 4 T fittings
    • 1 cross fitting
  • 3 sheets of black and white poly film (sometimes sold as Panda film) in the following sizes: 
    • 3.5m X 2.5m 
    • 2.5m X 1.5m 
    • 1.5m X 1.5m
  • Duct tape
  • 6 velcro strips

Note: These materials are enough to build a 1m X 1m X 2m grow tent, which is perfect for most small hobby growers who just want to grow a few plants. If you want to build a bigger tent, you’ll just need longer PVC pipes and more poly film.

Method

Creating the frame. 

With your PVC pipes cut into size, assembling the frame of your tent is a piece of cake. Just follow these simple instructions:

  1. Use 4 1m PVC pipes and 4 3-way cross fittings to create the square base of your tent. 
  2. Connect 4 2m PVC pipes to the corner joints of your base to create the vertical supports for the walls of your tent. 
  3. Use the remaining pieces of PVC pipe, T fittings, and cross fitting to create the roof of your tent. This should look similar to the base, just with 4 pieces of PVC running to the center of the roof to form a cross. This will provide extra support for your grow light.

Putting up the walls

To create the walls of this budget tent, we’ll just be using black and white poly film because it’s cheap, fairly durable (as long as you don’t take to it with a knife), and takes care of light leaks. 

Plus, the white side of the film is perfect for the inside walls of the tent as it will reflect plenty of light back onto your plants, while the black side of the film is perfect for absorbing light on the exterior. 

To wrap your tent, just follow these simple instructions: 

  1. Use the 3.5m X 2.5m piece of film to cover 3 of the 4 walls of your frame (the 4th will serve as the door of your tent). To do this, it might help to lay the film out flat on the floor and lay your tent on top of it. Then simply wrap the edges over the walls, cut off any excess, and secure the edges of the film to the PVC frame using duct tape. Remember, you’ll want your walls to be wrapped tightly around the frame and run all the way to the floor to keep out as much light as possible. 
  2. Next, cover the roof of your tent using the 1.5mX1.5m piece of film and trim off any excess. Remember to leave about 2-3cm of overlap on each wall, then secure everything down with duct tape. 
  3. Now it’s time to create the door for your tent. To do this, use your last piece of poly film and run it from the floor up to the middle of the roof. Cut off any excess and secure it down with duct tape. 
  4. Finally, use 3 velcro strips along the inside of the PVC frame and door flap to keep your door secured when you don’t need access to your plants. 

Tip: Once you’ve finished setting up your tent, stand inside it, and look for light leaks. Should you spot any small leaks, cover them with duct tape on the outside of your tent. 

Deck Out Your Tent With The Right Gear

Once you’ve built your tent, all that’s left to do is deck it out with the right grow equipment. Here’s a list of everything you’ll need to start growing your first batch of homegrown kush: 

  • A grow light. There are tons of grow lights on the market, but for beginner growers looking to grow just a few plants during COVID-19, this Omega kit is perfect. It comes with a programmable ballast, a 600w dual spectrum light for vegging and blooming, a reflector hood, and cable ties for easy installation. Remember to use a timer to manage your light/dark periods correctly.
  • A fan. Ventilation is really important when growing weed. Without moving fresh air in and around your grow room, you might run into heat or humidity issues that can fry your plants or create a breeding ground for pests and plagues. For the best results, invest in a small wall-mounted fan and an inline fan-filter combo like this one by iPower.
  • A thermometer/hygrometer. This Neoteck thermometer/hygrometer is perfect for measuring the temperature and humidity in your tent. 
  • Soil, nutrients, pots, and seeds. 

That’s it! Now that you have everything to start your grow, it’s time to get your hands dirty and germinate your seeds. 

Happy growing!

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Shortage Guerilla: Going Autoflowering for COVID-19

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Unless you live in certain parts of the US or Canada, chances are you’re having a hard time scoring right now. Luckily there’s a simple solution to the COVID-19 dry spell; growing autos. 

Autoflowering cannabis strains got a pretty bad rap when they first hit the market. Today’s autos, however, are capable of producing great yields and top-shelf flower that’ll give even the most celebrated photoperiod strains a serious run for their money. 

Keep reading to learn more about autoflowering cannabis and why it’s the perfect solution to the weed shortage caused by COVID-19. 

A Quick History of Autoflowering Cannabis Strains

Autoflowering cannabis varieties are crosses of cannabis ruderalis, the only cannabis variety that flowers based on maturity rather than photoperiod changes. Breeders as renowned as Nevil Schoenmakers are rumored to have experimented with ruderalis in the 1970s, but it wasn’t till the 2000s that seedbanks started offering autoflowering seeds for sale. 

Lowryder by The Joint Doctor is widely thought of as the first commercially available auto strain. According to The Joint Doctor’s website, it was bred out of a desire to create a type of “dwarf” cannabis variety “that would work for windowsills, balconies, and cramped apartments.” 

Unfortunately, Lowryder is still one of the reasons people frown at autos; despite maturing extremely quickly, some early Lowryder phenotypes produced tiny harvests of substandard bud that didn’t taste particularly good or get you very high.

Now, however, that’s all changed. Autoflowering strains have come a long way in the last 10+ years, and even The Joint Doctor’s new Lowryder phenos have improved significantly. Today, a good-quality auto produce great yields of potent bud in as little as 60 days from seed to harvest. 

Autoflowering Weed: The Answer To The COVID-19 Dry Spell

If you’ve ever been tempted to grow your own weed, there’s no better time than now. Auto strains are, by far, the best solution to the cannabis shortages caused by the quarantine and social distancing measures put in place by governments around the world in response to COVID-19; they’re easy to grow, flower quickly, and don’t require training or trimming. 

As long as you start off with some great genetics, you’re almost guaranteed a great harvest. From personal experience, some of the best autos to look out for are White Widow Automatic by Royal Queen Seeds and AK47 Automatic (Royal Queen and TNT Seeds both have great versions of this strain). Both produce dense, sticky buds with great aromas and potency. Best of all, they take about 75 days from seed to harvest and are very resistant to pests and diseases. 

Some other great auto varieties worth checking out include: 

Thanks to their short life cycle, autoflowering strains are great for beginner growers. Cannabis ruderalis is naturally very resistant to pests and plagues, and that trait tends to shine through in a quality auto hybrid. Auto strains also can’t be trained or trimmed, which is ideal for rookies who might not feel comfortable with low-stress or high-stress training techniques (like topping or super cropping). 

The fact that autos can grow well both indoors and outdoors again makes them ideal for the COVID-19 crisis; if you’re in the northern hemisphere, your autos will do great under the sun (especially in regions like the South of Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy). If you’re in the southern hemisphere, on the other hand, your autos will do equally well under a lamp or in a small grow tent. If you’re an indoor grower, consider giving your autos 20 hours of light per day throughout their entire growth cycle to maximize their potential. 

Finally, what really sets auto strains apart from their photoperiod cousins is their ease and speed of growth. All your autos need to flourish is some good quality soil, regular feeding/watering, and a solid light source. Just give them 60-80 days to mature and you’ll be ready to harvest your very own home-grown kush during COVID-19. 

Happy growing! #stayhome

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Shortage Guerilla: Growing Organic Weed.

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Cannabis is strongly aligned with the green movement. Unfortunately, most of the weed we find in dispensaries, coffeeshops, or on the street is far from “green.” Just like other crops, cannabis is usually grown with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, bloom boosters, and more. Here’s our guide to grow a sweet healthy ganja (and survive the shortage).

If you’re worried about the impact your love for weed is having on the environment or your health, you’re in luck.
In this article, I’ll share my tips for growing your own organic weed at home using natural soil amendments, compost teas, organic pest control, and more. 

Creating Your Own Super Soil

Healthy soil is the key to healthy plants and great harvests. 

In nature, plants get all their nutrients from topsoil, which is made up of decomposed organic matter and millions of beneficial microorganisms. When growing organically at home, your focus should be on creating that same kind of rich soil using natural ingredients, rather than pumping your plants full of chemicals. 

Below I’ll share a simple recipe for creating your own organic super soil that’ll give your plants everything they need to develop great foliage and delicious buds:

1 Start with 3 parts organic starter soil. I recommend using ProMix HP because it’s been used by countless cannabis growers for years and contains mycorrhizae, a type of fungi that helps your plants absorb more nutrients. ProMix Potting Mix also works well, as will any other organic potting mix you can find at your local gardening store. 

2 Next, you’ll want to enrich your soil with the following ingredients: 

  • 1 part perlite.
  • ½ part vermiculite for water retention.
  • 1 part worm castings.
  • 65g dolomite lime. This is a natural fertilizer rich in calcium and magnesium and helps regulate soil pH.
  • 65g fishbone meal, which is rich in phosphorus and calcium to boost your plants’ vegetative growth. 
  • 45g organic guano, a plant superfood derived from bat feces that’s rich in macro and micronutrients. 
  • 30g Epsom salts to help boost nutrient uptake and chlorophyll production in your vegging plants. 

Note 1: Dampen your soil and let it sit for 1-2 days to activate it before planting. 

Note 2: Never plant seeds or seedlings directly in this soil. Instead, let your seedlings mature in a light soil made of 50% peat moss and 50% vermiculite for about 2 weeks before transplanting them to your super soil. 

Feeding Cannabis Plants With Organic Compost Tea

The super soil we described above will provide your plants with a steady flow of nutrients throughout their entire life cycle. However, you can use compost teas to keep your soil life healthy and boost the growth of your plants even further.

There are countless compost tea recipes on the internet. For beginners, however, I recommend following this basic recipe:

  • 20l of water (if you’re using tap water, let it sit for 24 hours to help evaporate chlorine)
  • 250g compost
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1 tablespoon liquid kelp
  • 1 teaspoon fish hydrolysate 

To brew your tea, you’ll need a 20l bucket and an air pump or airstone to oxygenate the water, which further helps evaporate chlorine and supports the life of the microorganisms as your tea brews.

Let your pump aerate the water for 2-3 hours, then combine your ingredients in a nylon sock or mesh bag and let them brew for 24 hours. Don’t brew your tea any longer than this or you’ll create a breeding ground for bad bacteria like salmonella and E.coli. 

When feeding your plants, use 1 cup (120ml) of tea for every liter of water. Remember to use your tea within an hour after brewing, as it will lose activity over time. I recommend feeding plants with compost tea 2-3 times a week. 

Fighting Pests And Disease Organically

Growing organically doesn’t mean you’ll be defenseless against pests or diseases. Some of the best natural pest/disease control measures to protect your cannabis plants include: 

  • Compost tea. That’s right, the same tea you use to feed your plants is also great at staving off predators and diseases. For best results, dilute 1 part tea in 2 parts water and douse your plants liberally. You’ll need multiple applications to treat infected/sick plants. 

 

  • Beneficial insects. Spiders, predator mites, ladybugs, and lacewings are great for pest control. Check your local garden superstore for mites and friendly insects.  

 

  • Neem oil. Neem oil is a natural pesticide and fungicide that deserves a spot in every garden. 

 

Remember, growing organically is all about recreating a naturally vibrant soil. And while it might seem overwhelming at first, follow the instructions above and you’ll be harvesting your own, home-grown organic weed in no time. 

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CBD, THC et sommeil : le guide

Avec ses vertus relaxantes, anxiolytiques et apaisantes, le chanvre est un formidable moyen de trouver le sommeil.  Mais qu’il s’agisse

Could Cannabis Fuel The World ?

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Besides making for great fiber and a superb smoke, cannabis can be turned into 2 types of fuel; biodiesel and ethanol. So, why aren’t we seeing hemp fuel at the pumps at Shell? Keep reading for an in-depth look at cannabis fuel, it’s advantages, disadvantages and more.

What Is Hemp Fuel And How Does It Hold Up Against Other Fuel Sources?

Hemp can provide 2 types of fuel; biodiesel, made from the oil of pressed hemp seeds, and ethanol, made from fermented hemp stalks. And it turns out that it might just be the most environmentally-friendly fuel source on the planet. 

Crude oil and natural gas, which together fuel almost 70% of the world’s energy consumption, are sourced from reservoirs located thousands of meters underground. Both are fossil fuels formed over millions of years by the decomposition of dead organisms. Their production is expensive and takes a huge toll on the environment. 

Hemp, on the other hand, is a plant that can be grown almost anywhere and produces high yields of biomass for fuel production in a matter of months. And while hemp fuels are about 50% less efficient than petrol, the environmental benefits of growing hemp for fuel far outnumber those of digging for crude oil or natural gas (which are exactly zero). 

Then again, finding an environmental-friendly alternative to crude oil or natural gas isn’t exactly hard. So, let’s ask a different question; how does cannabis hold up when compared to alternative fuel sources like biodiesel and ethanol? 

Biodiesel is made by mixing plant or animal fats and ethanol. According to the US Energy Information Administration, over 50% of biodiesel is made using soybean oil. Ethanol, on the other hand, is typically produced using corn or sugarcane.

As a crop, cannabis boasts a lot of advantages against all 3 of these plants. Plant per acre density for corn, sugarcane and soybean, for example, is usually around 22,000, 25,000 and 100,000, respectively. Hemp, on the other hand, can be grown at a density of up to 1,200,000 per acre, according to Manitoba Agriculture. In fact, hemp is grown at such high densities because it encourages the plants to develop bigger stems as they naturally compete for sunlight. 

Hemp also triumphs over soy, corn, and sugarcane in other ways; it’s easy to grow in a variety of climates, can be harvest-ready in just 4 months, and is particularly resistant to pests and diseases. It can even help extract heavy metals and other contaminants from polluted soils, which is a lot more than what we can say for soybean (which kills biodiversity and contributes to soil erosion). Read more on hemp’s potential as a soil remediator here.

Come harvest time, hemp produces A LOT of biomass. According to Manitoba Agriculture, industrial hemp grown for fiber can produce yields of up to 3 tonnes per acre, while grain plants (grown for seeds) produce about 500kg per acre.

So, Why Can’t I Get Hemp Fuel At Shell or BP?

With so many benefits to growing hemp for fuel (besides its countless other uses), it seems hard to fathom that we’re still not reaping the rewards of this miracle plant. What exactly is keeping the world from going green with hemp fuel? Well, the answer to that is very complicated. 

First and foremost, turning the world over to hemp biodiesel would take huge amounts of farmland. According to Medium, half the US would have to be covered in hemp just to meet the nation’s own demand. Not to mention, hemp biodiesel would retail about 13-times higher than regular diesel. There is still hope, however, for hemp ethanol which, according to some experts, could be produced for under $2 per gallon. 

Unfortunately, hemp is still being held down by the fact that it’s a niche crop that fetches its highest prices when grown for the food, cosmetics, and CBD industries. Oh, and the fact that Standard Oil, Gulf Oil, and DuPont have been linked to cannabis’ prohibition in the 1930s might also have something to do with why we’re not filling our cars with hemp fuel. But that’s a story for another day. 

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Cannabis Saves The Earth ! (But only literally)

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There’s really nothing cannabis can’t do; you can eat its seeds, treat disease with its extracts and essential oils, make clothes and paper from its fiber, and feel high and mighty after smoking its flowers. But did you know that cannabis can literally clean the earth ?

Phytoremediation is a process that uses plants to clean contaminated soil. And it turns out cannabis might be one of the best plants for phytoremediation. Keep reading to learn why.

Understanding Soil Contamination and Phytoremediation

Soil is a complex ecosystem and the heart of plant life. Unfortunately, our way of living is taking a hard toll on the ground beneath our feet.
Industry, manufacturing, land development, waste disposal, agriculture, and transport are some of the main human activities jeopardizing soil health around the globe. But even the daily use of shampoos, soaps, detergents, and toothpaste creates toxic runoff that’s detrimental to the quality of soil and the life of plants and animals. Luckily, soil remediation can help reverse some of this damage.
There are many different forms of soil remediation and they all have their respective limitations.
Offsite remediation processes (like the excavation and removal of soil from a contaminated site), for example, are very expensive and usually limited to smaller areas of land. Meanwhile, some on-site remediation processes rely on chemicals or processes that can create infertile soil.
That’s where phytoremediation comes in; by using plants to absorb contaminants from the ground, it offers a natural and extremely cost-effective way to recover the health of our soil.

Is Cannabis The Best Plant For Phytoremediation ?

Cost is a major concern for almost any human venture. In fact, you might argue that our obsession with cutting costs is one of the main factors driving the pollution of our planet. Luckily, phytoremediation with hemp might be one of the cheapest ways to start healing Mother Earth.
The term phytoremediation was first coined by Profesor Ilya Raskin in the 1990s after he and a team of researchers from Rutgers University found that hemp could remove accumulated heavy metals from the soil at Chernobyl. These results were confirmed again in 2001 by a team of German researchers.
In 2011, farmers in Puglia, Italy, put this same theory into practice again. Following years of pollution from an Ilva steel plant (which released extremely high concentrations of dioxins into the atmosphere), farmers in the area were forced to cull their livestock because it was no longer fit for human consumption. In an attempt to save their businesses, farmers started turning to hemp as a cash crop and a means to revive their highly contaminated lands. Today, Puglia is still home to countless hemp farms and shops.
But why hemp? After all, Indian mustard, willows, poplar trees, Indian grass, sunflowers, and even amaranth can absorb contaminants from soil. So, what sets cannabis apart from these other plant species?
First and foremost, cannabis is very effective at accumulating contaminants from its soil. Studies show, for example, that hemp plants can transfer several heavy metals (including arsenic, cadmium, copper, and zinc) from root to shoot. Plus, industrial hemp plants also develop especially long, complex root systems that reach much deeper into the ground than the roots of some of the plants mentioned above.
Secondly, hemp is very easy and cheap to grow. It is typically ready for harvest within 4 months and can withstand extremely poor conditions; even the plants grown at Chernobyl by Professor Raskin, for example, showed no signs of stress.
Finally, what sets hemp apart from all the other phytoremediators mentioned above is this; it produces a large and extremely versatile harvestable biomass.
Remember, hemp is and has long been a major cash crop. Not only can it be harvested for its seeds and fiber, but hemp also makes for great biofuel and can even be turned into a concrete-like construction material. It’s this versatility and potential return-on-investment that sets it apart as one of the best soil remediators on the planet.

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The Real Difference Between Sativa and Indica Cannabis

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Ever since you took your first hit of a joint, you were taught one thing; sativa strains are euphoric and uplifting, while indicas will leave you glued to the couch and sleepy. Right? Well, not really.  The terms indica and sativa tell us a lot about a plant’s genetics and morphology. However, for years cannabis users have been using these terms to generalize the effects of different strains. In this article, we’ll show you what indica/sativa really tell you about your weed.

Classifying Cannabis – A Brief History Of Weed Taxonomy

To better understand what the terms sativa and indica really tell us about cannabis, it helps to take a brief look at the history of cannabis taxonomy. 

Cannabis was first classified in 1753 by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus was working with plants grown in Europe that were tall, had narrow, bright green leaves, and took up to 3 months to flower. They also grew particularly well in warm, tropical climates close to the equator. Linnaeus eventually classified this species as Cannabis Sativa L. 

Roughly 30 years later, French biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck investigated cannabis samples brought back from India. These plants were notably different from those Linnaeus first classified; they were short, bushy, had wide, dark green leaves, and flowered very quickly (usually in under 2 months). They also originated from colder, mountainous regions with harsher climates. Lamarck eventually classified this species as Cannabis Indica Lam. 

In the 1920s, a third species of cannabis was identified in Southeast Russia. This variety, now known as Cannabis Ruderalis, is much smaller than sativa and indica varieties, and flowers automatically based on maturity rather than due to changes in its light cycle.

What Sativa And Indica Can Really Tell You About Your Weed

Carl Linnaeus and Jean Baptiste Lamarck used the words sativa and indica to describe two varieties of cannabis with very unique physical traits. Today, we can still use these terms, for example, when buying seeds and growing cannabis at home to have a better understanding of what type of plant we’re going to end up with in our grow room. 

Sativas can grow to large heights, easily reaching over 200cm. These plants have bright green foliage with narrow leaves and tend to stretch vigorously when they start flowering. Sativas produce big, airy, and whispy buds, and can take over 12 weeks of flowering to be harvest-ready. 

These plants are native to warm, tropical areas close to the equator. You can find sativas growing naturally in countries like Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia, and even parts of Africa. They likely developed their unique physical structure to deal with the long, hot, and humid summers in these areas and protect themselves against the molds and pests that also thrive in these conditions.

Indicas, on the other hand, are native to mountainous regions of Nepal, India, and Afghanistan, where the summers are naturally short and cold. They grow shorter with smaller internodal spacing, wide foliage, and dense buds. Indicas also produce a thick resin and can be ready to harvest after just 6-8 weeks of flowering. Like sativas, they likely developed these unique traits to deal with the harsh climates from where they originate.

What Sativa/Indica DOESN’T Tell You About Your Weed

It’s high time we realize that whether a strain is indica or sativa won’t dictate a specific kind of high. What affects the specific effect of a strain is the chemical makeup of that plant, your own body chemistry, and your tolerance/sensitivity to the chemicals in what you’re consuming. 

Strains with a high amount of myrcene, for example, are more likely to produce that kind of relaxing, body stone we associate with indicas. However, there’s no conclusive evidence to show that indica strains produce more myrcene than sativas.

When buying cannabis, use the terms indica and sativa to get an idea of the genetic lineage and physical properties of a particular variety. To anticipate its effects, on the other hand, look for lab reports that analyze the chemical profile of that specific strain. If you can’t find that information, consider researching the strain online or try it to gauge its effects for yourself.

Steven Mike Voser  

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