Why The Difference In THC?

[Ponky]

Sounds like you need to find some new friends. Sounds lame to me we smoke everything where Im from LOL

It's sort of different for us. We are all growers and brokers and smugglers. It's kind of a weird group. It's frustrating to be the only guy that likes weird smoke. They don't even like OG kush. No matter how authentic.

 

[Ponky]

lol weed snobs are so cool.

Yeah you grow these new strains. Slave over them. Make them perfect. And they take one puff. And light up a kush bat. Like trying to share good bourbon with vodka drinkers.

 

[GNick55]

Sounds like you need to find some new friends. Sounds lame to me we smoke everything where Im from LOL

i

It's sort of different for us. We are all growers and brokers and smugglers. It's kind of a weird group. It's frustrating to be the only guy that likes weird smoke. They don't even like OG kush. No matter how authentic.

the exact type of people that shouldn’t be in the business.
more about their image than what’s right..
i have no time for people like that anymore..

 

[Ponky]

i

the exact type of people that shouldn’t be in the business.
more about their image than what’s right..
i have no time for people like that anymore..

Well to be fair the task is looking at a bag and smelling it. And saying yes or no. They do know what the buyer wants. And they are effective at it. It's regional. It's mostly about what it looks and smells like. You don't even smoke it first. Just look and smell matter. And innovation doesn't make any money. When people want their Marlboro they want Marlboro. Thats led me on a hunt for something new. And it's been rough. Once you've seen millions of packs you end up just smoking one of a handful of kinds from a handful of people. It is very limiting. But when a new strain gets hot it's worth the effort.

 

[Tasty Buds]

I've read through the thread but I have to comment on this ... Michigan Resident. All dispensary products are supposed to be tested and THC content is supposed to be displayed on the label after you purchase your weed ... BUT ... There is great incentive for the testing lab and the dispensary to inflate these numbers. It's happened. People have gotten caught and labs have lost their license.

I gave up on dispensary weed. It's cost has gotten outrageously high and the quality of the product is frequently below expectations.

At the beginning the topic seemed to be about the amount of THC, and how hi it will get ya.
There's a couple factors that go into THC%, and how high it gets ya.
Back when WW, or even WR came out they had the strains at 12-14%. The Rhino I'd get in the 90's would knock me in my ass! It wasn't tested, as it was a friend who grew it un an unenlightened state.
To this day, I'd say I haven't gotten dispensary bud that had that strong of an effect.
The amount of CBD could really kill the effect. The conclusion I could come to is they were FOS.
Way back in 2012 I had 3 strains tested. One of the strains hit 25.14, just dried, not cured or anything. The 25%er was definitely stronger than the others, however that Rhino from the 90's blew it away. I can't explain why, except possibly tolerance?
Here's what the tests looked like back 2012.
To see strains being tagged as testing at 30%, or more is very hard to believe.
1/3rd of the buds weight was thc? That would look more like a gewy mass

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Well. Most are. But it's mostly becuase around here kush is king. And all the exotics end up being terrible. All they want to do is eat chicken and rice and smoke kush. Some guys will only smoke blunts. Sometimes guys will only do dabs unless you have a specific kush strain. It's just weird. I grew awesome chemdawg, bruce banner and a lemon garlic. Had all three tasting and looking great. And they literally looked at the stuff with disgust. It's like I'm the only guy still trying to find new smokes. They just refuse. Makes it super hard to get anything new going on.

Why are you worried about what they like?

 

[Ponky]

Why are you worried about what they like?

That's the money part. If we find something really good. It becomes part of the regular rotation and then we have loads of it to offer. And when your bring something new and hot you can get top dollar for at least a year or two. Like when Pink Kush became popular. It's fine to grow personal and find some strains. But it's also really valuable when you find a solid Kush that grows easy and yields well. Like having a hit single. I just want to be the one to find that next big hit. And I want there to be more options. I'm alone on this quest though. Everyone else sticks to what they know. I did get the Bruce Banner to be available. But it was never popular. But it's a start.

 

[Tasty Buds]

That's the money part. If we find something really good. It becomes part of the regular rotation and then we have loads of it to offer. And when your bring something new and hot you can get top dollar for at least a year or two. Like when Pink Kush became popular. It's fine to grow personal and find some strains. But it's also really valuable when you find a solid Kush that grows easy and yields well. Like having a hit single. I just want to be the one to find that next big hit. And I want there to be more options. I'm alone on this quest though. Everyone else sticks to what they know. I did get the Bruce Banner to be available. But it was never popular. But it's a start.

You got Bruce Banner available? That's sick. There ended up being Bruce #3, and other ways to make $ off the name
It was popular where I was for a bit. If I remember it was very potent.
The original Blue Dream was excellent quality, yielded upreal, and single handedly dropped market value on bud in general.
It was a great strain, but there was so much of it, People just didn't want it anymore.
There's now a flavor of the month, monthly.
What happened to all those "Cookie" strains? I don't know if I've seen 1 pic since I'm back around

 

[Ponky]

You got Bruce Banner available? That's sick. There ended up being Bruce #3, and other ways to make $ off the name
It was popular where I was for a bit. If I remember it was very potent.
The original Blue Dream was excellent quality, yielded upreal, and single handedly dropped market value on bud in general.
It was a great strain, but there was so much of it, People just didn't want it anymore.
There's now a flavor of the month, monthly.
What happened to all those "Cookie" strains? I don't know if I've seen 1 pic since I'm back around

I do have about 50 seeds or so of bruce banner..however .. its from a crop that is feminized. So you can grow these nice plants. But they're always going to drop some seeds..and if you let the buds get too big they're going to get root rot. The clones of the ones I did still live on as clones and mothers. But I wouldn't grow these Bruce Banner seeds. They're too feminized. Need to get regular seeds and start again. And the flavor on the batches always was too peppery and had almost too smooth a flavor.
And the cookies got mixed with the glues and now they're some glookie nonsense. It's another close but not quite.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

That's the money part. If we find something really good. It becomes part of the regular rotation and then we have loads of it to offer. And when your bring something new and hot you can get top dollar for at least a year or two. Like when Pink Kush became popular. It's fine to grow personal and find some strains. But it's also really valuable when you find a solid Kush that grows easy and yields well. Like having a hit single. I just want to be the one to find that next big hit. And I want there to be more options. I'm alone on this quest though. Everyone else sticks to what they know. I did get the Bruce Banner to be available. But it was never popular. But it's a start.

You are talking about customers?

 

[Pondracer]

In my local market there is an immense amount of corruption for lack of a better word. In terms of flavor I liken the existing cannabis market to the very early craft beer market in some ways. To break those two statements down better here is what I mean.

With regards to the "Corruption" aspect there is a significant amount of fudging on numbers when it comes to recreational cannabis. There are a limited number of testing facilities and growers shop those that are willing to give them the numbers they want. This is compounded by crop sampling for highest THC samples and then submitting those as representative of a much larger batch when in fact they are no such thing. Large corporations own multiple licenses for different types of facilities and can grow, test and market their product without any independent oversight (for the most part).

A strain does not yield a specific THC amount by genetics alone, the entire lifecycle of the plant determines this and it can vary wildly with the same seeds from grow to grow. Thats why a stable and consistent grow environment is essential for creating consistent product. It doesnt matter what seeds you buy, if you bash the grow, sometimes even slightly, you struggle to break 20%.

When I tried my very first dispensary weed I was stunned. I ended up throwing it out because it tasted like tobacco. Smell was decent but flavor... garbage. The economic pressure to quickly produce and bring to market product results in mass production shortcuts that are designed to increase profitablity - not quality. Think Budweiser. Mass produced, does the job... flavor - yeah not so much. High ABV... nah. The time and care it takes to make a great quality craft beer is vastly different than knocking out millions of gallons of average swill that many people will buy and never know the difference. Harvesting, trimming, drying and curing in the fastest, cheapest way possible is not going to yield high end results.

Thats why there is room for real craft growers somewhere in the market, but it has not matured to that point yet, at least not here. Large scale, corporate operations are going to maintain an iron grip on the distribution chain through political contributions and other shenanagins for as long as they can.

 

[Moshmen]

In my local market there is an immense amount of corruption for lack of a better word. In terms of flavor I liken the existing cannabis market to the very early craft beer market in some ways. To break those two statements down better here is what I mean.

With regards to the "Corruption" aspect there is a significant amount of fudging on numbers when it comes to recreational cannabis. There are a limited number of testing facilities and growers shop those that are willing to give them the numbers they want. This is compounded by crop sampling for highest THC samples and then submitting those as representative of a much larger batch when in fact they are no such thing. Large corporations own multiple licenses for different types of facilities and can grow, test and market their product without any independent oversight (for the most part).

A strain does not yield a specific THC amount by genetics alone, the entire lifecycle of the plant determines this and it can vary wildly with the same seeds from grow to grow. Thats why a stable and consistent grow environment is essential for creating consistent product. It doesnt matter what seeds you buy, if you bash the grow, sometimes even slightly, you struggle to break 20%.

When I tried my very first dispensary weed I was stunned. I ended up throwing it out because it tasted like tobacco. Smell was decent but flavor... garbage. The economic pressure to quickly produce and bring to market product results in mass production shortcuts that are designed to increase profitablity - not quality. Think Budweiser. Mass produced, does the job... flavor - yeah not so much. High ABV... nah. The time and care it takes to make a great quality craft beer is vastly different than knocking out millions of gallons of average swill that many people will buy and never know the difference. Harvesting, trimming, drying and curing in the fastest, cheapest way possible is not going to yield high end results.

Thats why there is room for real craft growers somewhere in the market, but it has not matured to that point yet, at least not here. Large scale, corporate operations are going to maintain an iron grip on the distribution chain through political contributions and other shenanagins for as long as they can.

I’m in a seed to sell state, which means licenses are purchased by large corporations and the license requires them to be responsible from seed to sellin only in there store 100% corrupt they make up numbers as they go and the consumer smokes it up ! It’s horrible here

 

[socks4free]

I’m in a seed to sell state, which means licenses are purchased by large corporations and the license requires them to be responsible from seed to sellin only in there store 100% corrupt they make up numbers as they go and the consumer smokes it up ! It’s horrible here

Yes I've heard there is a ton of corruption in the legal weed market. Extremely inflated numbers only fool the uninformed. Most adults with half a brain know that brown weed that smells like hay is not gonna be 30% the real victim is the younger smokers who actually believe what they are smoking is that strong and then refuse to smoke anything but dispensary bud even though Its complete garbage and extremely over priced.

 

[Ponky]

You are talking about customers?

Clone houses and bulk buyers mostly. People that want lots of clones aswell.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Clone houses and bulk buyers mostly. People that want lots of clones aswell.

Gotcha.

 

[mysticepipedon]

Try Golden Goat or Lemon Sunrise if you don't think there are powerful sativa doms out there.

Lemon Sunrise has a kush grandparent. For newbies, smoking it is a little like sticking your tongue in an electric outlet.

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

Try Golden Goat or Lemon Sunrise if you don't think there are powerful sativa doms out there.

Lemon Sunrise has a kush grandparent. For newbies, smoking it is a little like sticking your tongue in an electric outlet.

Well, I wasn't a fan of the Golden Goat I had. It was dispensary weed that didn't live up to it's billing. It's quite possible some grown and cured properly might change my perspective on it. That Lemon Sunrise sounds good, and I've already been contemplating Lemon Tree by Barney's Farm in a future grow. It's not a true Sativa. It's more of a Sativa leaning hybrid. I may have to look into that Lemon Sunrise you suggested. There's not a thing wrong with a good Sativa for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon!

 

[mysticepipedon]

Well, I wasn't a fan of the Golden Goat I had. It was dispensary weed that didn't live up to it's billing. It's quite possible some grown and cured properly might change my perspective on it. That Lemon Sunrise sounds good, and I've already been contemplating Lemon Tree by Barney's Farm in a future grow. It's not a true Sativa. It's more of a Sativa leaning hybrid. I may have to look into that Lemon Sunrise you suggested. There's not a thing wrong with a good Sativa for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon!

I grew both of them. Haven't tried any from dispensaries.

LS has the edginess that seemed to have been bred out of a lot of today's sativa doms, which is one of the effects I love about it. I discovered, during the shutdown, that it is very easy to fall into a morning smoke habit with it.

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

I grew both of them. Haven't tried any from dispensaries.

LS has the edginess that seemed to have been bred out of a lot of today's sativa doms, which is one of the effects I love about it. I discovered, during the shutdown, that it is very easy to fall into a morning smoke habit with it.

I didn't get shutdown. Although during the shutdown, all travel was by corporate jet and not commercial flights and that part was very nice. I was in Chicago last spring (2020) when the city was hit hard. Dallas during the summer (2020) during some of their worst surges. I've been in Atlanta, Pennsylvania and Kentucky so far this year. Only Atlanta was a commercial flight and that was about a month ago. Fortunately, for the last few weeks and for the foreseeable future, all machine installs have been in the next town over. I've been able to stay at home.

Anyway, I'm open to deep fuely lemon tasting strain suggestions (both indica and sativa). It's my favorite taste for sure. I'm just now starting sour diesel and skywalker kush. They haven't even broken the soil yet ....

 

[Pondracer]

This thread is really timely. I don't want to nuke someone's thread, but I happened to be moving some product from dry to cure tonight and tested each plant a few times. I put everything together tomorrow with yield but as of tonight below is what I got from 4 plants, Gorilla Glue #4 x Bubblegum from Humboldt CSI. Grown in the same environment. The only difference was that I had two plants fail out of the initial 4, and I replaced those with two seedlings about 12 days later (so less time in veg). So final crop was 4 plants. One of these is dramatically lower in THC, with a variance of 7%. What is so interesting about this is that it was always the larger plant. In both veg and flower the plant was significantly bigger and looked stronger, but only came out in the 20-22% range. Here is a pic of all 4 of them in veg, and the lower THC plant is the one in the back, left side of the square.

I think it was genetics but if it was there was not a huge difference between the plants. The bud and bud structure was identical with all 4. The frosting on the buds was the same. In fact I couldn't believe this plant was low THC, the dried buds looked great. So much crystal and stickiness. I tested two different buds, 2 times each and no love above 22%. To be fair I have work to do to get my reservoir quality consistent over time and the PH did drift some. But all four plants were fed off the same reservoir, same schedule.

Watching over your genetics would be key to consistent quality across an entire large run and why so much time is put into maintaining genetics. All of which costs money. That type of program doesn't really lend itself to FOTM experiments or even just variety in general. Smaller, unique runs or growing with less discipline can still produce a high quality product, but there has to be effort put into accurately portraying it through labeling. And there has to be a customer base that wants and is willing to pay for it. I haven't seen a way yet to bring it though to distribution even if it was legal. You can bet the big corporate growers will fight that tooth and nail.