Calling all experts!

[inthegorge]

Oh my goodness....what a busy few days. Just finished our inventory.....2427 established plants with sizes from 8 inches to just over 5 feet......67 different strains.....600 still in cloner's with roots nearly there.....another 700 clones just started so ready in 14-28 days. Lots of happy ladies:) Working to have our outside plants in the ground by May 1st at the very latest with some cold frames....... having 2 dump trucks of top soil and one load of compost delivered on Friday. Trying to figure out strains for that now. So much still to learn...so much fun learning:)

For the big boys in CO or even here in WA for that matter I know this is perhaps not a great achievement...but we are a mom and pop for the most part.....our total investment to date has been right under $63,000 which seems like a big number to some people....me included...but when you factor in $15,000 for rewiring, $13,000 for lighting, $7000 for rent so far, about $8,000 to home depot, $3000 for insurance, $2500 for licensing fees, $4000 total for security cameras with hard drives, $6200 for fencing, which totals to about $57,000 for all the big stuff so only about 6-7 thousand bucks for clones, supplies, every single other thing we needed that I re-purposed or found for next to nothing on Craigslist...that is just crazy that we have been able to accomplish this! We are doing it though....and our plants look good....our place is open before 99% of the other growers in the state and it is just so awesome that we are here....man oh man.....who would have ever have believed it:)

A couple of new photos....sorry they are not very good. My damn phone is not that good of a camera so I will bring a real one and try to take some better pics:)

 

[Tank333]

That's looking awesome in there, Susy!!! When are you planning on starting your first flower cycle?

 

[inthegorge]

Tomorrow:-)

 

[burn4me]

Im so happy for you. So happy period that im able to say i am alive in the days were they legalized mary jane. Thats one of those "when i was your age" stories. And yours is one of the greatest. Congratulations and i really look forward to seeing some ladies stacking nicely for you. And if i had a vote on packaging. #2 maybe because im a smoker but just something about a multi strain pack of pre rolled doobies i couldn't ever pass up.

 

[inthegorge]

Thank you so much burn4me:-) I totally agree...this is just the most exciting time....I am freaking out to go into a shop and pick out what I want to buy!!!!! For the last 31 years, since I was 26 and tried my first hit, I have longed for a choice of varieties, to be able to never have to worry...will I have smoke tomorrow because for some reason no one I knew had any available....to just know I could run to the store and pick something up!!!! I am a solid stoner.....wake and bake with my tea every morning no matter what is going on, no matter what job I have had...it is a way of life for me...I have always been open and up front about it with my family and my children...never ashamed or felt the need to conform or hide it because it was illegal.......and now to be able to do this....well...I know there are lots of people here that know exactly how it feels:-) It is just incredible and it is just beginning to sink in that my life will change in ways I never thought of because of the money that will be coming because of it! I know that is key for my partners but for me it has just been the fact that I can actually grow weed....outside in the sunshine.....inside and experiment with ideas I have had for years and with parts of other peoples ideas I have heard of.....I just get to grow weed:-) I am sorry I go off on this so much but gosh...it is remarkable to me:-)

I am absolutely making multi-strain packs of pre-rolled doobies! I don't even smoke cigs but still that is just such a luxury...to pull out a doobie that is rolled perfectly ...... maybe with a perfect crutch, to enjoy the taste and smell and affect of that particular strain and later a totally different taste and high from another that I did not even have to think about or roll or mess with....well that is a little bit of heaven in my book:-) Most of the people I have talked to are just doing sturdy zip bags or medicine type snap lid pill bottles. I can't believe that no one else has thought of this sort of thing at least no one I have come across. I have even found blank cigarette packages that I can print completely myself with a template to download and my adobe suite software. We will be printing all our own labeling and hope to get some great art work before then to use on it. Wish I was a good artist darn it but I am still looking for someone to help with that. Oh...I could go on about this for days:-)

 

[burn4me]

No need for apologies ma'am you are supposed to be able to stand back in amazement of you accomplishments thus far. I would be thru the roof. As for being open with it i fully agree. Its when its secretive that it becomes not the norm so in turn automatically shunned. Its a damn plant. And a happy one at that.

I promise if if find myself near where you market your pre rolled goodness i will be purchasing some. You should do color scheme like cigarettes too. Like a white pack with different white strains or a fruity pack with the fruitiest strains. Thatd be dope. Having stoner moments over here. Anyway good luck and as always keep it green

 

[inthegorge]

Don't know if anyone does the facebook thing but here is our W.O.W. Weed page link:-)

https://www.facebook.com/WOWweed

 

[tweedy]

Tweedy.....I have been part of the fight to save medical cannabis in WA state for much longer than I have been trying to get my recreational license. I am sorry but this argument is getting old and I am afraid I just have to call bullshit on making it an either/or, a medical or recreational issue! Blaming the recreational system is just a waste of your and my time man. The fact that the legislature is trying to change medical cannabis by using the recreational system does not place blame on recreational growers. I am the first person in the room to say that the WA Liquor Control Board should have NOTHING to do with medical anything! Every person on the planet should have the right to grow and consume cannabis, for medical purposes or to just get blazed because they want to. Limiting it to medical only is just as bad as limiting it to recreational only and I have used medical cannabis for years. That would be penalizing the majority of human beings for the rights of the few meaning there are literally millions and millions of people that use cannabis recreationally compared to the hundreds of thousands that use it medically although the point could be made that we all actually use it medically for one reason or another. There should be no limits.....period. You are totally right that I502 is not true legalization or anything close. It is the first step however and from this I am hoping for real and actual legalization in our future.

The fact is that WA state has one of the most un-regulated medical cannabis policies in the whole US. We have enjoyed this status for years now. To think that it would remain that way is short sighted. The WA state legislature asked the LCB, the Dept of Revenue and the WA health dept to come up with recommendations for medical weed here. How stupid is that? Neither the LCB or the Dept of Revenue has any concern for patients, only their bottom line of taxation and fees. Spend your time trying to influence those that are actually trying to reduce your freedom in regards to medical oversight! That is what I do and countless others in WA state that are trying to make a reasonable policy and get legislators to vote on it are doing. Or start a ballot measure that puts the language in stone for reasonable medical use. The door is not closed at all on medical weed here yet. We have until the legislature reconvenes in January to get something workable in place for medical. I am living proof that government can be convinced. I live in one of the most conservative counties in the state and I got the county commissioners to lift their moratoriums on weed businesses here which many thought was hopeless. If that can be done here, anything is possible:)

I am sorry that you think I am part of the problem and I am not trying to be a jerk in my response. I doubt my words will change your opinion unfortunately. I can say though that I am trying my best to make a positive difference in regards to legalization of this wonderful plant, I work towards that goal every single day for you and for everyone else that uses cannabis whether as medicine or just to relax at the end of a day.

This one squeaked by me because it wasn't a "reply" so I'm sorry for not responding immediately, didn't see it and don't want you to think I'm being disrespectful. I read through your post and while you are correct in regards to changing legislation and have appropriate views, it doesn't "change my opinion" on the situation at hand in Washington. I think dirty politics are dirty politics and this entire situation is a "one step forward, two steps back" situation for recreational AND medicinal users in a lot of ways, plain and simple.

The buds you are producing are not my concern, I want to clarify that. I am happy for you and yours and want nothing more than to see you succeed. I have an issue with how WA set up their system to essentially railroad smokers into a worse gray area than they have legally had before. With the legislation that has passed (if you have just been reading bills concerning cannabis, you are in for a real surprise with all of the moving violation/traffic stop rights they picked up) in the past two years it is open season on smokers who have to rely on cars for transportation.

With one of the primary contributors to I-502 being Progressive Insurance and the other being New Approach (Bill Gates, who owns a majority of Monsanto who is likely going to be playing the rec field here too), I think you can see why I have concern that there might be ulterior motives in why they "want to legalize it". We are puppets to them, whether we are smoking it or growing it.

I intend on getting cannabis legalized in WA, truly legalized, but I am going to do it like they did with the RAVE act and sneaking it in the Amber Alert bill, I am going to fight fire with fire and trick em. Can't say no to a bill like the Amber Alert, so on page 350 it will be a last minute amendment that bounces around from subsection to subsection and we'll get what we truly need. We just need a busy enough year for legislation that we can sneak it through.

Excuse my ramblings, I am a little stoned :) I am sure I am going to come back to this and have to explain myself but I just tried to get three years of frustration out in two minutes.

Again, I really meant no disrespect, I just feel passionately about this plant and don't like to see it mistreated. I agree the laws have been lax, no doubt about that, but I also feel the new ones are absurdly restrictive and I hope I don't see it hold back the genetic potential of an amazing gift to humanity.

 

[inthegorge]

Looks like we are both working toward the same outcome. Best of luck in your journey to get cannabis legalized with your own methods. It is a fight many of us have been battling on for years and there is just beginning to be actual forward movement which is good for us all:-)

 

[tweedy]

Looks like we are both working toward the same outcome. Best of luck in your journey to get cannabis legalized with your own methods. It is a fight many of us have been battling on for years and there is just beginning to be actual forward movement which is good for us all:)

We are all warriors in the green army :)

 

[Seamaiden]

@tweedy -- that was a great post. Well thought out, as concise as such a sticky subject can be, and respectful. If that's the color of stoned, I'm ALL in.

 

[inthegorge]

Now this is what I call an exhaust fan! $250 on Craigslist and we got 2 of them, one for flower room, one for veg and there is no opportunity for excess heat in our rooms now at all:)

 

[Billyboat]

View attachment 398910 View attachment 398912 Now this is what I call an exhaust fan! $250 on Craigslist and we got 2 of them, one for flower room, one for veg and there is no opportunity for excess heat in our rooms now at all:)

Love what you are doin here! Best wishes!!

How ya gonna light proof that fan?

 

[inthegorge]

Shutters are already installed:-) They cost almost as much as the fans when you add in the filters we put in. It is worth its weight in gold however with 55 1000W HPS lights going in that room!

 

[fishwhistle]

Do you have any A/C at all ITG?Im wondering how you are going to filter and make light tight that huge fan,also what does your intake look like?

 

[inthegorge]

No A/C. These fans move 25,000 CFM and the flowering room is right at 22,800 cubic feet, the veg room is 23,600 cubic feet. All air is exchanged in less than a minute. There are shutters that we got for the fans and they close out the light just fine. Our intake are clean room fans, again from Craigslist) and they bring in 18,000 CFM in the flowering room and 14,000 in the Veg room... filtered just about as good as you can get. We do have smaller A/C units in the clone room, drying room, processing room and our lounge area. Otherwise...no ac. I got "expert" opinions from a few HVAC folks, 2 of them growers, one from this board (thank you very much by the way:-) and they said this should do it so I am counting on them being right:-) My guys put them in and added a thermostat switch so it does not get too chilly in there for the ladies at night. Working great so far:-)

 

[tweedy]

No A/C. These fans move 25,000 CFM and the flowering room is right at 22,800 cubic feet, the veg room is 23,600 cubic feet. All air is exchanged in less than a minute. There are shutters that we got for the fans and they close out the light just fine. Our intake are clean room fans, again from Craigslist) and they bring in 18,000 CFM in the flowering room and 14,000 in the Veg room... filtered just about as good as you can get. We do have smaller A/C units in the clone room, drying room, processing room and our lounge area. Otherwise...no ac. I got "expert" opinions from a few HVAC folks, 2 of them growers, one from this board (thank you very much by the way:) and they said this should do it so I am counting on them being right:) My guys put them in and added a thermostat switch so it does not get too chilly in there for the ladies at night. Working great so far:)

Have to love WA, I dont know how many states can say 55,000 watts and no AC in regards to it, ha. :) So mild here if properly insulated.

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

Have to love WA, I dont know how many states can say 55,000 watts and no AC in regards to it, ha. :) So mild here if properly insulated.

not so cal....

 

[Texas Kid]

The only problem with those big ass fans is when they rob you, and they will, it makes it real easy for them to crawl right into your grow space..they jam a rod into them and freeze up the motor and jump in...we even have had them kick the 5 and 10 ton roof top a/c units off their pads and come down thru the roof ala Oceans 11 style...I would be real careful about giving out to much info as to your actual location, especially on online or facebook...I speak form alot of experience, nothing good comes from telling the masses your exact location and setup..not everyone one in this world is a good ol boy

 

[fishwhistle]

Yea no AC definitely trips me out,i thought it got pretty hot in the gorge?My in laws used to have some property around pasco(tri cities?)and i remember it being pretty hot there but its been a minute since i was up that way.Also do your intakes have some sort of HEPA filtration to prevent contamination by something like powdery mildew?