Industrial Hemp in Oregon

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Thanks, this is a really fascinating topic, all sorts of odd possibilities seem to exist.
How does remediating the crop work? Do do they have specified remedies or do you just have to figure out how to remove the excess THC yourself?

 

[socioecologist]

The crop is embargoed (meaning you can harvest it, but it cannot leave the site) until you can provide an approved remediation plan. If you have true industrial hemp (type III), this simply involves mulching whole plants to achieve a 0.3% total concentration. Or extracting the active materials (CO2, ethanol, BHO, etc.) and cutting it with a useful adulterant (i.e. alcohol, olive oil, etc.) until the final "product" tests at 0.3% or below for THC, then you are allowed to do whatever you want with it. All sorts of possibilities here!

It's a hell of a lot easier to just pass your initial field THC testing though. The state allows farmers to test 30 days before harvest, and any decent plant that is 20:1 or higher will pass testing. All 5 of our farms passed this season and every single field that grew any of our four varieties of seed passed as well. If you are growing true type III seed lines, there is nothing to worry about if you test at the appropriate time. We're truly loving the law here in Oregon. For once, cannabis is REALLY legal. Love it!

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Thanks for answering all of my ridiculous questions.

 

[Robrites]

Thanks for answering all of my ridiculous questions.

I am learning a lot from your questions...Thanks.

 

[socioecologist]

Great questions. "Hemp" is a weird thing, since it is a social construct and not real--it's all cannabis--which makes a cozy understanding of the rules imperative. Keep them coming! I'm not quite finished with this white paper yet, but it might answer some questions that haven't popped up yet. We'll release the full version with significant additional information this winter ("The Hemp Farmer's Handbook").

http://oregoncbdseeds.com/THC_Content--The_White_Paper.pdf

 

[Coughie]

Looking forward to the full release, socio, thanks for the sneak peek

 

[blowingupjake]

Great questions. "Hemp" is a weird thing, since it is a social construct and not real--it's all cannabis--which makes a cozy understanding of the rules imperative. Keep them coming! I'm not quite finished with this white paper yet, but it might answer some questions that haven't popped up yet. We'll release the full version with significant additional information this winter ("The Hemp Farmer's Handbook").

http://oregoncbdseeds.com/THC_Content--The_White_Paper.pdf

Damn right man, all cannabis.

This is a great thread and awesome peek into how the "hemp" industry is working successfully in its renewed infancy.

The future looks great and you are playing a pioneering role. Right on dude. Keep up the good work.


Stay hazed,
Jake

 

[EastFortRock]

Is there a market for hemp CBD flowers and is there a State legal problem with selling CBD flowers in large amounts? I'm in Southern Oregon with 5+ acres and might consider this next summer , but I don't want to make oil.

 

[Aota1]

There's definitely demand for cbd flower. We always try to carry a low thc high cbd variety. Like under 1% and high teens cbd. Then we also carry some 1:1's that are more like 8-10%thc, 9-12% cbd.

 

[EastFortRock]

Can someone with a hemp permit sell hemp flowers to a dispensary? Or do they need a Rec permit ?

 

[socioecologist]

Hemp handlers or growers are allowed to sell to OLCC wholesalers, processors, and stores as long as their product has been lab tested the same as OLCC growers. But Oregon is a very small market...we sell and ship nationally and do so legally.

We dry our plants, strip flowers and leaf from the stem, vacuum seal in mylar bags (5 lb. lots), and ship / deliver them to oil and isolate manufacturers around the US. Our prices are based on CBD content (penny per milligram), which works out to about $405 per pound on material that is 9% CBD and 0.3% THC.

 

[socioecologist]

What a month...after 40 straight days of harvesting, we finally finished up at our primary field last week and got the last of our seed production sites into drying rooms yesterday. If there's one thing we've learned from the 2016 production season, it's that the primary bottleneck to producing large quantities of cannabis comes down to drying capacity. We had 15k square feet of floor space and 30 foot tall ceilings to work with at our main facility and it still wasn't enough--it took 4 staggered harvests to get everything in and we only produced 1/5th of what we could have with that field.

What a season....we weathered the weather (2nd wettest on record in Oregon history), major cross pollination events in the valley (lost 15 million feminized seeds due to contamination), and the ever changing Oregon + federal policy landscape to have a successful year. I can't believe what we accomplished this season and all we learned.

One of our favorite projects this year just came to an end, but damn...what a beautiful end. We grew out over 1500 F2 sister plants for a line breeding project and were rewarded with the most incredible displays of color, smell, and experiential diversity we've ever seen. It was sad to cut them all down, but such a rare treat (coming from a world where plants used to be counted and others still have to abide by canopy limits) to experience cannabis' maximum possible diversity.

Leaf Morphology Diversity

F2 diversity. Leaves from sister plants. There is no such thing as "indica" or "sativa," but our research also challenges the notion of "broad leaf" vs. "narrow leaf" types as well. Like many things in science, I firmly believe these distinctions to be socially constructed rather than based on an underlying biological reality. In a population of 1500+ F2 sisters, we found plants with identical cannabinoid and terpene profiles that only varied in leaf morphology and structure; the opposite was true as well--identical morphological characteristics often had wildly varying terpene profiles.

Fall Colors

The picture doesn't do it justice.

Strange Leaf Morphology

Horrible flower structure and smelled awful too!

Lovely Lady Kept for Future Line Breeding

 

[Robrites]

I just read about something called "hemp protein". A рlаnt-bаѕеd ѕuррlеmеnt high in fiber and amino acids. Are you doing anything in this area?

 

[socioecologist]

We don't. It's derived from seed--we try to keep the seeds out of our flowers unless breeding! This season, we would have been better off growing for protein with all the pollen floating around the valley though.

 

[Robrites]

Way back I read that cannabis was a gravity pollinator - it is comparatively heavy and drops off the males to the females. Any idea what a safe distance between pollen and flower might be?

 

[socioecologist]

It's a wind pollinated crop rather than gravity--safe distances are highly dependent on local conditions. I'm pushing for 12 mile exclusion zones around grain producers. We had cross pollination occur in the Willamette valley this summer up to 14 miles away...when there are really dense stands of males (millions), pollination becomes difficult to avoid.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Check out the lab report I just found on TGA's facebook. THC is way too high for hemp usage, but I think that might be an all time record in the CBDA category.

 

[socioecologist]

I don't trust pre-ORELAP test numbers or any lab that is not externally accredited, even on our own stuff. We see crazy CBDa percentages advertised by people who are selling seed to hemp growers (particularly from Colorado)...all in the 20%+ range with "undetectable" THC. 60:1 ratios claimed for all plants in the population...buyer beware!

Great oil content on that cross from TGA for sure, thanks for sharing. ACDC kicks out the resin like crazy and crosses with her usually turn out really nice; adding some Jack the Ripper to the mix can't hurt! 50% will be 1:1 and 50% will be in the 20-25:1 range (high CBD). Great building blocks for high resin hemp, for sure.

I did something similar in 2015, crossing ACDC with Neville's Haze to create one piece of our CBG-dominant production program. Uniform results in the F1, with more resin than I've ever personally seen on hemp.

 

[Aota1]

I received a sample of acdc last week that was by far the frostiest cbd flower I've ever seen. The numbers were 8%thc and 14.9% cbd. Not viable for you but it was something to see. I gave it all to my employees but am going to get some in for sure. We do have a Harley Tsu in that's at 0.73%thc and 12% cbd. That's the first cbd strain I tried a couple years ago in Humboldt and that sample tested at >1% thc and 18% cbd. Like a shot of clean energy

 

[socioecologist]

I received a sample of acdc last week that was by far the frostiest cbd flower I've ever seen. The numbers were 8%thc and 14.9% cbd. Not viable for you but it was something to see. I gave it all to my employees but am going to get some in for sure. We do have a Harley Tsu in that's at 0.73%thc and 12% cbd. That's the first cbd strain I tried a couple years ago in Humboldt and that sample tested at >1% thc and 18% cbd. Like a shot of clean energy

Very cool and good numbers in this new era of accurate testing! What you sampled was an ACDC cross with an unknown high THC plant--but definitely a good donor. Active CBDa synthases are more efficient at converting CBGa than their THCa synthase counterparts (helpful hint: the opposite is true for inactive synthase alleles), so we end up with results skewed towards CBD in true 1:1 plants.

Good cannabis is good cannabis though, right??? I love the description you offered...it's completely on point. Terpenes are everything...they make / break the experience, regardless of whether or not your cannabinoid is "psychoactive". Our ACDC cross (ACDC x Otto II aka JH-2) that graced many, many acres of Oregon hemp fields this year gets me HIGH. Like motor-coordination issues high (and I'm usually pretty nimble when not messed up). And grumpy! It's not a good feeling for me, others love it (total paradox: I grow and breed high CBD plants but prefer THC....go figure).

We have been sampling each of the 1500 F2 ladies we ran (pictured above) fresh each day for a while now...some give me the grumps, others are EXACTLY what you described. Focused. Clear. Energetic. Happy. The plants that make this happen for me have rich, complex berry flavors, some are pineapple, others grape diesel, and one smelled like jasmine until its last week (turned floral/diesel with jasmine undertones). Some of them are touching the top 5 I've ever experienced for taste / affect. Never thought I'd say that about high CBD plants!