The Oregon Weed Thread -Grows, News and Laws and Whatever

[Big Sur]

Actually most of the people I have talked to at the county here are civil engineers. They gave me all the requirements needed for building to snow codes here, as well as footing and ridge beam calculations, and they gave me tips on how to avoid future violations. It was the same in Monterey County when I lived there in California. The inspectors were mostly degreed civil engineers.

Now, in Southern Oregon, even though they were degreed engineers, some of the county engineers there were just plain stupid. At least in Douglas County. A guy came out and insisted that our pasture water supply be made of one inch steel pipe running across our creek on the metal RR bridge. I advised him that it would fail, but he insisted to get a final. Well, temps got down to 10 deg. F that winter and the pipe froze solid and burst. That one inch steel pipe was mangled lime it was popcorn. The engineer came out and looked at it in awe. He asked me if he could see a section of mangled pipe, and I handed it to him and said, "Keep it". So he then asked me what I would do to avert it... so I redesigned the bridge run using a poly pipe inside a steel pipe (to avoid sunlight degradation) with freeze drains on either side of the bridge. He approved it and I installed it. Whallah! That system survived a -10 deg. F blast 3 years ago. Any ice left in the pipe just expanded the plastic, and it retracted when it thawed. No breaks. No explosions. Ice can wreak havoc on just about anything rigid, even thick steel.

Thats right, you know - as an electrical engineer. Give yourself some credit for being unusually well educated. The regulators that come are probably gonna be dudes who went through school without cracking a book and scored a sweet state gov job because his uncle got it for him. I bet you could talk circles around him and explain your systems in a way even an OLCC layman could understand. Its risky though. On one hand you could get busted & on the other hand if you do pull it off you save a bunch of money, but you'd probably die of laughter.
Thanks for the compliment on my homegrown, the guy who breeds the seeds is local and staggeringly skilled at it (or very lucky) and I did a pretty nice job with the growing end of things this last summer. Shockingly potent bud, probably should be illegal. Or maybe the weed sucks and I'm just like this naturally, hard to tell from my perspective.

More reasonably, it seems like if you do pay for the reduced ceiling "with lights" license, you're still allowed to take advantage of available sunlight, that could save you some of the $22,000/y electricity bill, but sun grown cannabis fetches a lower price too.

 

[Big Sur]

Big Sur you state at a current indoor premium of $1600 per unit. Just last year going rate was $2200 per. What's the future hold if the big guys can make it work for them only profiting $50 or less per unit? I saw a model in here somewhere that stated their goal was to stay above $5 per lb after all costs involved. They figured they were big enough to pull it off. I would think the only way you could compete with that is great marketing of a superior product with excellent management. That's where most will stumble.

The money made during the Gold Rush went to the guy selling the shovels.

Well, my system is a one-man micro grow show. No employees, little overhead, and I live on the property which is paid for. So my overhead is low (electricity, license fees, testing fees, ROI, my pay and no need to pay employee benefits). Last week the price per pound has actually gone UP in Oregon, due to the bad outdoor weather we had here in October, and due to the new testing bottleneck. Oregon indoor is at about $1,800 an elbow now. No telling what the future will hold after more growing comes on line. But in Oregon at least, they are not increasing the grow canopy limits like they will in California. And for the time being anyway, there is no interstate transport of weed. If the Feds were to legalize that, prices will plummet for sure, and California outdoor growing will dominate the industry along with Eastern Washington and Colorado. All of the good Eastern Oregon outdoor growing areas are in counties that have banned rec weed. Southern Oregon could also grow a reasonable amount in a good year, weather depending.

Also my grows would be 100% boutique land race and heirloom strains. I have a large seed collection from the 70s and 80s in the deep freeze. They are still viable. I think Big Sur Holy, Panama Red and Punto Rojo would sell really well. And my volume would be low enough that I would be under the radar, producing under 100 pounds a year. The real money would be to sell this place with the licensed and expandable micro grow and move to Eugene or someplace a lot cheaper and start over again with my Oaxacan, Santa Marta, and Lombo Gold strains. Or maybe my Early Haze strain from Santa Cruz? I have 30 some odd strains of seeds.

The difference between the gold rush and the green rush is that gold does not grow on trees, whereas MJ does. Shovels are useful in both, but they are all from China now and there is only a really small margin in that. The gold here I guess is in the land that can be grown on with the right zoning in a county that allows it? I read about people that bought huge tracts of land in Marion County just south of me for a large sums. That county voted to opt out of rec weed of any kind, so those buyers are SOL now. The lesson from that in this green rush is not to rush in too fast. I can wait and see what happens.

 

[Big Sur]

Big business can't get their hands on the kinda seeds some people have. Nor do they care to flower a plant that takes 12+ weeks. People are too easy mode in this world. One seed that comes to mind is the Original Skunk #1 seeds I have from the 80's. I'm thinking 3-4k a pound maybe. .

I do not know what the value of boutique weed would be. I do not see it going for 2x the going rate of Amsterdam and California Heirloom strains though. I would be happy just to get in a good crop and find a steady buyer. Indoors I could run 8 harvests a year in 2 rooms in my microgrow setup. That would produce a steady supply of 9 pounds every 6 and a half weeks. Manageable and likely saleable.

 

[Big Sur]

Well, the weed that they grow will be taxed and sold here, and the employees growing it will be paid here and pay Oregon income taxes.

Also the future doom of Oregon is a lot more complicated and has little to do with weed. What killed and is still killing off all the Oregon rural communities is the green line that was voted in back in '72. No building or development possible here outside the green lines, and full development inside the green lines. I have lived in or near half a dozen ghost towns in Oregon that are dead or dying now simply because people cannot move to rural areas and build. No build, no labor pool. No labor pool, no can do anything. And yes, logging is all but gone here, and old world weed will be gone soon as well. And Douglas Co. banned rec weed as well. I see no future for that county. I lived there for 4 years. I grew some INCREDIBLE weed when I was living there too.

That company is based out of Florida. So the profits will not stay in this state but go elsewhere. Sorry if I sound like a whiny broken record but wouldn't it have been better to have local only? Then the profits and taxes work together within the state. I imagine that most black market (prior to legalization) money made here stayed here to be spent in the local economies. That in itself generated more money via taxes for the state than the current model. Seems that the state is content just getting a 15% cut and cares not where the rest goes.

I'm seeing some rural areas that were already depressed now in a free fall. When the Timber left the weed took over, now those small communities are specializing in making meth. Growers spent money when they went to town. Money spent here generated taxes. Sure the shop owners talked crap about them but loved it when they went shopping. It's not just Walmart that took out small town Oregon. I wish something could bring it back as those rural communities are the backbone of this state. Just bringing the Timber Industry back would be a huge boom.

I know there are a lot of outsiders who frequent this thread, I have nothing against you. I'm all for free market capitalization, provided it is truly a free market.

 

[Big Sur]

Rain, possibly mixed with snow, freezing rain, and sleet.

The Pineapple Express now heading our way. Prepare for a rapid thaw and melt with lots of rain and gobs of snow in the Cascades. I still have 6 inches of snow here from last week with a half inch of ice glazed on top of it. Good thing I decided not to grow through this winter like I did last year. My power keeps going out here.

Which is another issue with an indoor grow operation here. Need generator backups for minimal sustained plant survival lighting and fans... raised half-lighting would be 35 x 400w = 14kwatts. A 16Kw Generac LP genny is $4,000 and sucks down 2.75 gallons per hour at full load, meaning I would also need a 250 gallon LP tank to get through a 3 day power outage here (say about $750 for the tank, and $350 for a fill up at today's LP rate). I need to add the backup generator and LP tank to my indoor micro grow design plans. Not a huge cost, and definitely needed here.

Now if I could only design in a retractable roof to save electricity in summer...

 

[Bradley_Danks]

Whats the quality of weed out in eastern Oregon in the banned counties bordering Idaho? Are there big medical grows out there?

@bigsur You think its possible that commercial rec growing will be recalled during the trump administration? I wonder if the feds will start raiding them like they do medical producers/retailers.

 

[Robrites]

Whats the quality of weed out in eastern Oregon in the banned counties bordering Idaho? Are there big medical grows out there?

@bigsur You think its possible that commercial rec growing will be recalled during the trump administration? I wonder if the feds will start raiding them like they do medical producers/retailers.

The quality seems to keep going up as growers lose their fear and learn about where to get top-notch seeds and clones. They say Idaho is an easy double your dough proposition. IF you don't get caught. In the last 30 days I have heard of busts of 15, 30 and 40 units. None of them residents. Law enforcement over there is on game and I don't recommend testing them.
E-O is so rural and properties so large it is hard to tell what is growing where. You can bet there are some nice medical grows though.

 

[Robrites]

 

[Phenome]

Any of you guys having issues with power?
Shits getting rediculous here. Not super bad weather, I've just had power go out like 4 times in the past two days, just transplanted two days ago so it's been nerve racking
I don't have a generator
The dumb part is there is not much snow, mostly ice

 

[Robrites]

Ice wreaks havoc Saturday: 37,000 without power, MAX delayed; I-84 Gorge shut down

Ice wreaks havoc Saturday: 37,000 without power, MAX delayed; I-84 Gorge shut down

The storm was not quite ready Saturday morning to release its icy grip.

Nearly 24,000 Portland General Electric customers - 23,000 of them in Multnomah County -- remained without power, MAX lines were delayed primarily because of ice impacts on the east side of town and downed power lines closed a number of streets in the West Hills.

All lanes of Interstate 84, eastbound and westbound, were closed Saturday morning from Troutdale to Hood River, because of icy conditions.

"It's pretty wild out there," PGE spokesman Steve Corson said. "Last night, quite a bit of that accumulated ice weighed down and all of these frozen limbs started to drop."

Corson said the agency did not have a projection of when power would be restored. PGE reported 18,000 customers without power Friday night. The higher number reflected the impact of falling ice, Corson said, noting that crews had restored power to some areas only to see other lines downed throughout the night.

Approximately 12,810 Pacific Power customers in Northeast Portland were without power Saturday morning. "Because of heavy damage to our equipment, it may take until Saturday afternoon to complete repairs and restore power to all customers," the company's website says.

 

[NordVest Canna]

The guy behind the seeds just put "DM me for free seeds" on his latest IG post @cannabeizein
Am I allowed to post this here? If so, not an opportunity to be passed up.

Hey, I know the Cannabeizein folks and they're great, experienced growers. Definitely pick up some of their freebies, their vigor and quick maturation are incredible!

 

[Big Sur]

Whats the quality of weed out in eastern Oregon in the banned counties bordering Idaho? Are there big medical grows out there?

@bigsur You think its possible that commercial rec growing will be recalled during the trump administration? I wonder if the feds will start raiding them like they do medical producers/retailers.

It is a sad testament to Oregon in that all but one county east of the Cascades has banned rec weed. However, not *all* the cities there have banned it. Also all that federal BLM, reservation and national park and forest land in east Oregon is off limits to growing (or even possession).

I do not think that Trump will go after weed in states that have legalized it. He has stated many times that he is in favor of decriminalizing drugs, because the war on drugs is a giant failure. He is also a very strong advocate for medical MJ. He is also a Federalist and a state's rights advocate, and has said that he will keep the feds out of states that have legalized weed. Now, that being said, what he actually does and what the DEA does is something else. Under Obama, the Feds have been raiding the medical places in SoCal and taking the cash and making no arrests. I would hope that Trump will decriminalize weed at the federal level, and/or lower the federal schedule to class II or III. However, the Republicans are all trying to go around him already and pushing to limit Social Security and Medicaid, as well as scrapping legislation to buy American Iron and Steel, contrary to Trump's campaign positions. Trump may well wind up being an independent president and bully pulpit, more like Teddy Roosevelt was. Time will tell...

 

[Big Sur]

Any of you guys having issues with power?
Shits getting rediculous here. Not super bad weather, I've just had power go out like 4 times in the past two days, just transplanted two days ago so it's been nerve racking
I don't have a generator
The dumb part is there is not much snow, mostly ice

The power goes out here a lot. But I am up in the rural Cascades. Many trees up here and lots of ice and snow. I get a lot more snow here than the valley. But this round at least, my power has been only off for a few hours and early in the morning.

As for ice vs snow, ice is far worse for losing trees and power lines. Ice creates a lot more weight than snow does, unless its heavy wet snow.

 

[Aota1]

So the city council meeting was a success last night! It involved an ordinance allowing my shop to stay in our present location. An issue had come up that made it so we were going to have to move. I'm so incredibly thankful for common sense and a process that works! !!

 

[Sluicebox]

Anyone know if great lakes is doing a bogo on Bodhi Gear this season?

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

With respect to OLCC boss Steve Marks and his history of drunken driving arrests & convictions, this is what happens in other parts of the country when liquor board members get arrested violating state liquor laws they get fired
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...ce9a35-1ddf-4dbb-80a1-05ef8cbc6d8f_story.html

 

[Robrites]

Why Has Hashish Disappeared From Oregon Shelves?

Why Has Hashish Disappeared From Oregon Shelves?

It appears this hash shortage is more than a localized phenomenon—it’s a side effect of legalization.



This ain't Amsterdam, Vince. And unlike Amsterdam, if you're trying to score some old-school hash around these parts, you're in for a rough time. That's because the Portland area seems to be experiencing a sustained hash shortage.

By hash we mean hashish—the classic version, concentrated trichomes, often made from the resin glands that fall off the flower as it's trimmed and packaged. Hash has literally been around for millennia, and mixed in with your baby boomer parents' stories of separating bud from seed was probably a story about scoring some hash, doing knife hits, and getting extremely high in the process—much higher than could be achieved with the everyday brick weed of that era.

Since legalization in Oregon, hash has turned into a rather scarce commodity.

Hash is a byproduct of flower, but it's also a superior product. It's more portable, lacks a pungent smell that announces itself to people long before it's within sight, and when smoking hash, you get a smoother hit because you inhale less burnt plant matter but more terpenes.

So I called around to dispensaries in the area, asking if they had any hash in stock. After calling eight different shops, the answer was always a variation of "no." Only one shop, RKO in Westmoreland, had anything on hand—it had kief, a form of hash that's like the stuff that collects on the screen in your grinder.

In the past, you could accuse cannabis industry folks of keeping all the good stuff for themselves, since hash is often a byproduct of growing and processing.

But that doesn't seem to be the case. It appears this hash shortage is more than a localized phenomenon—it's a side effect of legalization.

Three quick calls to Denver pot shops also came up dry. Three calls north to Seattle were more promising, with one shop having kief, and the other two having hash. However, you better have deep pockets, because this Seattle hash cost up to $45 a gram, roughly double what you'd pay on the street.

On the other hand, California shops all had hash—I called shops in Fresno, San Francisco and Sacramento, which all had hash ready for the next customer. The person on the line in Fresno even tried hard-selling—which gave me the sense that not too many people call about hash and that the store was eager to send some out the door.

The common denominator for Colorado, Washington and Oregon seems to be their recreational weed markets, whereas California is still months or years away from honoring the will of voters.

Why has hash has gone the way of the buffalo? It seems the legal industry has found other, more-profitable uses for its shake.

First is the meteoric rise of dabs. Because of their potency and the fact that they can be vaporized with tiny handheld devices, dabs are a true advent in the marijuana world, where many smokers want a one-hit-and-quit experience. The trim and low quality buds from grow operations are now being converted into dabbable resin and oil using CO2 and butane.



"You can take some low-quality trim and buds and make decent hash oil," says Portland Extracts budtender Trey Hanson.

That's not the case with hash. If you take low-quality cannabis and try to make hash, it "tends to bring out the planty side of it—the stuff you really don't want," he says.

Portland Extracts hasn't had any hash since June, but Hanson notes that the bubble hash from June "sold really well."

And then there are edibles. Hanson says there's a "huge" recreational market for edible cannabis and that cannabutter is using up much of the material that would otherwise become hash.

If you don't feel like searching high and low for hash, you can simply make it yourself, and you don't even need a license from the state of Oregon, because hash is technically considered a concentrate, not an extract—a critical legal difference.

Just get all the trim you can find, or some buds, or both, and search YouTube for instructional videos. With a little bit of work, you too can feel like you're back in Amsterdam.

http://www.wweek.com/cannabis/2016/12/13/why-has-hashish-disappeared-from-oregon-shelves/

 

[Aota1]

We have some very nice full melt bubble hash in stock. The producer makes his bubble and only packages the best 10%. He takes the rest to his rosin press. So granted there's less actual hash available from him in particular, it's top grade for certain. Unfortunately, I think the demand lies in the oil.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Demand was kind of pushed into the oil market by the "Extract" and "Concentrate" definitions in the regs. How long has hashish been available to rec customers?
I know that interpretations of the regs vary from shop to shop, so the answer to that question may vary, but last time I was in the local weed stores they were selling mostly selling BHO ("extract") recreationally while hash ("concentrate") was limited to medical only.
Regardless all that, there is plenty of hashish available regionally.

 

[Big Sur]

Me loves hashish! I love it so much I am going to grow my own Lebanese land race strains and make it myself. Because they do not make Red Leb hash here like they do in Lebanon.

Also the hash making industry in Oregon is under the same crunch as all the extracts: testing is insanely expensive and challenging. There are some weird provisions separating extracts from concentrates and them being sold only at medial stores or rec stores, now that the two are splitting apart.