Is Cali Still Flooded?

Dan Kone said:

The odds of getting .75g/w the first time expanding to a bigger system than what you're used to is very slim especially if at the same time you're growing a strain you have no experience with. A realistic goal for a first run would be .5g/w.

When I first expanded into my new system it took me over a year to get above .5g/w. I had some disaster harvests where I didn't even yield enough to cover expenses.

It seems like it should be simple enough. You've done a few smaller scale grows very successfully and are getting consistent results, so doing a bigger grow should just be a matter of reproducing what you're doing on a larger scale, right? Wrong. It doesn't work that way. I thought it did, but it didn't. I actually yielded significantly less even though I was using better equipment in a more optimal environment. Financially I barely survived my first big expansion. A lot of people don't make it through that though.

It'll most likely take a solid year if not longer to produce good results after an expansion like that. You may have a successful crop here or there but it will be hit or miss for a while. And perpetual grows have their own issues which add difficulty.

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ditto everything dan says.
i still only go for .5g/watt. That way if I'm over I'll be surprised. mostly because i grow from seed and shit is different every time.

RawBudzski said:

If you have the Space, getting a Gram/Watt is very easy. getting over a gram per watt is not too hard..

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I disagree. At least getting a G per Watt of bud that is acceptable to dispensaries in Cali. Maybe I'm doin it wrong, but I don't think I am.

Simply add more plants around your lighting, they may not get the best light if any, but sure enough they will bud.. & even fluffy bud is bud. <3

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If it's for you to smoke personally, sure. If it's for a dispensary, I disagree. Fluff is unacceptable.

Dan Kone said:

I disagree. At least getting a G per Watt of bud that is acceptable to dispensaries in Cali. Maybe I'm doin it wrong, but I don't think I am.

If it's for you to smoke personally, sure. If it's for a dispensary, I disagree. Fluff is unacceptable.

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yup yup, fluff gets extracted.
you are not doing anything wrong DK

phishtank said:

Yeah but quality > quantity. And luckily my financial well being isnt effected by a poor harvest since all of my income comes from my current job. Luckily I make enough that an increase in the electric bill wont effect me at all either. I know generally the problem you guys run into alot with new folks is they come on here with pipe dreams of spending their life savings on growing equipments and hitting it big. I also don't expect .75 g per watt right off the bat because I know the learning curve will be huge. I'm going to be using a new soilless mix...new nutrients...strains I've never had experience with....but over time things will get better...and that's the goal.

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That's a good attitude to have.

Dan Kone said:

I disagree. At least getting a G per Watt of bud that is acceptable to dispensaries in Cali. Maybe I'm doin it wrong, but I don't think I am.



If it's for you to smoke personally, sure. If it's for a dispensary, I disagree. Fluff is unacceptable.

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Bud that is on par with your standards maybe not.. But I am no guru, and I have hit a gram/watt just by adding plants around the edges I would normally not have. My buddy hit 1.5/watt with blue dream under his 6x 1000watt lights.


If you consistantly get .5/watt with your setup.. & have space around your girls.. lets say a ft or two..like I do, if you were to add smaller plants, that would automatically bump your gram/watt ratio up.. & it's not like the buds are super fluff and useless.. I get dense buds even when shaded.

RawBudzski said:

Bud that is on par with your standards maybe not..

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He's growing to vend. My standards are what is acceptable to dispensaries.

But I am no guru, and I have hit a gram/watt just by adding plants around the edges I would normally not have. My buddy hit 1.5/watt with blue dream under his 6x 1000watt lights.

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I've almost hit .9 G per watt with blue dream. That's the best I've done with any strain in my system.

I suspect we have different definitions of what a bud is. For all practical purposes in Cali, if it's squishy, it's not a bud. If it's smaller than a nickel, it's not a bud. That is hash material out here. And that's after a tight trim to the buds.

If you consistantly get .5/watt with your setup.. & have space around your girls.. lets say a ft or two..like I do, if you were to add smaller plants, that would auto matically bump your gram/watt ratio up.. & it's not like the buds are super fluff and useless.. I get dense buds even when shaded.

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Yeah, that's a good idea to get personal smoke and more concentrate material. But one shouldn't expect a bud grown 5 feet away from a 600w bulb to be anything you can vend to a dispensary.

I have 5x girls under 2x 600w taking up 4x8 of space, I have another 4x8 of open room to add more if I wanted, but I like my space to move around. I am aiming for .75/watt, which should be like 6oz per plant. Trees in 10gal airpots. If I added 1-2 more & began rotating them on a regular basis.. I would hit my 1gram/watt. Hopefully this does not = Counting eggs, since this is round 2, I am expecting same or better results.



I understand what you are saying, but technically.. It is bud, Regardless of how you look @ it. Not as dense, penny size.. still bud

No, I know my buds. All I am saying is that if you add plants that you otherwise would not have had, your gram/watt ratio will go up. Has nothing todo with the quality of 90% of my bud. Even if you sell to dispense, having extra buds is never bad..weather they are small, fluffy.. just make hash, then give that to the dispense, whala you would have more hash than usual.

I work w/ dispense, I provide my best meds.. anything I feel is not up to the task is mine or hashed.. Having room for more/larger plants = more bud possible. I do not expect Every Single Nug down to the last Gram to be identical.. I grow diff strains. So if I get 32oz of my usual goodness, & an extra 3-6oz of fluff off a couple straggler plants off the back... that is 3-6oz of hash making material I would not have otherwise.

Not advising ppl to go cram more plants around, simply saying the Gram/Watt ratio thing is kinda useless in some cases, unless using it for your personal grow & keeping your own personal recs. Because two people comparing their gram/watt ratio should not count unless they have similar growing areas/methods.

phishtank said:

Yeah that's the plan sir. I figure this way the plants have plenty of room to grow...and I'm not aiming for super high numbers. Going to be using CO2 but don't know how much that will help for the first few months until i get the feel of the room.

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It'll help as long as you can keep a CONSISTENT level of co2 in the room. If you can not keep your ppm consistent the entire time your lights are on, then you shouldn't run it at all. Make sure you have an adequate AC unit. A split mini will be required for the type of system you're trying to do. But if you can keep your CO2 and temperature consistent, then co2 is definitely worth it.

If it were me, I'd do one run without co2 first. Get a feel for what running a system that size is like before you try to optimize it. Trust me, you'll have your hands full your first run no matter how well you plan it out. Co2 will just make it more difficult. And if for some reason you need to shut off your co2 half way through it's likely your plants will just stop growing or significantly slow down until co2 is brought back in the room.

Once you're confident in the ability of the system to produce consistent environmental conditions, then introduce co2. And introduce it slowly. Start at like 800ppm. That way you'll have minimal damage if you need to turn it off for any reason. Once you can keep the co2 at that level consistently, then start jacking the ppms up a little.

RawBudzski said:

I understand what you are saying, but technically.. It is bud, Regardless of how you look @ it. Not as dense, penny size.. still bud

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If it's for your personal stash, absolutely. I do think it's a great idea to put bud for your own personal stash around your grow.

Dan Kone said:

If it's for your personal stash, absolutely. I do think it's a great idea to put bud for your own personal stash around your grow.

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:] I do not discriminate against my fluff. Though I may dedicate an entire plant to hash, had a fking blast watching mattrizes vids & making bubble last month. This round is all for me.<3 Dispensaries can pack sand.

it's my first time using subcools supersoil & everything is turning out beautifully. My goal is to actually cure several jars for @ least 4-6 months. For some reason my bud never makes it that long :[

I wanna be like sub smoking one some 3yr old hash.<3

do you hang your buds to dry in the grow room to keep the humidity & temps perfect? or do you have a separate area with perfect conditions. OR do you do it like many ppl I know & let it dry anywhere..which usually dries it within 4-5days.

I have buddies with elaborate equip, 6k watts, rdwc system, co2, nice sized room.. yet they skimp out on nutrients & do not have a steady line to feed. nor do they care about curing.. It drives me nutts because they been @ this for 7 years + & only care about $$.. not the quality. I been trying to get them to care just a liiiitle more.

I wouldn't plan on being able to unload product grown from cuts you get at dispensaries. If they have the cuts, chances are the same person who sold them those cuts also already sells them the nugs. For me, I'd either breed my own strain or at the very least pick seeds with quality genetics (and that doesn't mean Can. Cup Winners lol) whose seed stock are in limited numbers. At least then there is less of a chance for someone else to be growing the same strain. On top of that flower two packs or more to find the best pheno that will separate yourself from anyone else who is growing the same strain. Give it the right growing conditions and a quality cure and you at least give yourself a chance at unloading some product.

As far as the law goes, it depends on your perspective. There will be people who are petrified of going one leaf over whatever their plant limit is or even one gram over whatever their dried material limit is. And on the other hand there are people who will fill every room in a house up with plants, whether in a medical state or not. You need to decide for yourself what risks you're willing to take. With risk comes reward, remember that. I would feel more comfortable in my own house with a 6kw unregistered grow than one that is set up as a collective with the state. I can bring all my equipment in from out of state, go to the hydro store in a vehicle not registered in my name, and even unload my product by using someone else's car. The risks that I will encounter are my heat signature from the lights, my electricity usage, and those who wish to rob me. I am not concerned for my heat signature as they need a warrant to view it legally as FLIR cameras can be considered an invasive search. My electricity is not stolen, and my bills are paid so they electric co. has no need to nudge into my business. Robbers are the only thing that scare me. In WA I went threw hoops to make sure no one fallowed me home because people will try. So for me to have a 6kw grow is not a big deal, as I have not done anything to warrant somebody to look into my affairs.

With collectives you are on a list. An even shorter list than the one they keep for registered patients. So if the police or feds want someone to bust, they already know a good place to start looking. Record keeping is great for the state, but only provides the feds with more evidence against you. Growing for profit or non-profit is illegal either way under federal law, and the IRS will not hold any pitty for you either. Not to mention that with collectives more people are involved, and more people equals more lips. More lips means more words, and word gets around fast.

But things can go either way in this world. As an end to my rant, I'll share two life experiences. I had a friend (we no longer speak due to how he handled himself in this situation) who had some good Cali connects from his time in school there. When he moved back here, he started to have weed shipped over from Ca. to our area. Just an oz at a time, but they were coming in on a regular basis. The cops were called to a party he was having and arrested him for posession. It just so happened that this same day he recieved one of his special CA packages. Cops found it, and before they opened it he was already blabbing about his friend who worked a collective and would ship him weed per request. An investigation was opened, several packages were sent, and then the arrests were made. My friend got probation, and lives his life as normal and found someone else to send him weed. Our friends from CA, not so lucky.

On the flip side another aquaintance of mine was busted for a closet CFL grow when a a search warrant was served at his house for his girlfriend. The cops were not looking for pot, but a closed closet door can provicde space for someone to hide or in this case for plants to grow. Since it was a valid search warrant giving them permission to fully search the house, the bust stood in court and he was sentenced to two years.

It's crazy how a hand of cards can be dealt. I plan on keeping everyone as far off the radar as possible. I'm not normally a big risk taker and growing in a non medical state was nerve racking but rewarding because I enjoy growing pretty much anything. I've taken multiple horticulture classes and have always had a passion for growing anything from seed....the fact that something can go from a seed to a full grown plant still blows my mind. I also want to get into bonsai growing and plan on starting a few different trees once I get situated in a house I will stay at for more then a year.

Basically most aspects of my life are very stressful....and getting away from that and walking into a grow room will be therapeutic for my mind.

Which is why I will stay within my legal state limits & don't sell pot.<3

I get goosebumps whenever the heli flys over me. I have even had the small black choppers buzz my backyard 100ft up.. Talk about paranoia... I used to get flown over @ LEAST once a wk.. after if happened so often I hoped it was a flight path.. thinking why would they waste so much fuel & time for a state legal grow?

I remember I had a grow going in my apt in nyc....and one morning as i was getting ready for work I heard something....so I walked out onto my terrace and there was a heli literally flying about 100 ft over our building circling it. Talk about being paranoid. I still have no fcking clue why they were there either....

phishtank said:

I remember I had a grow going in my apt in nyc....and one morning as i was getting ready for work I heard something....so I walked out onto my terrace and there was a heli literally flying about 100 ft over our building circling it. Talk about being paranoid. I still have no fcking clue why they were there either....

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Matt Rize said:

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I know riight.!?. I am not even comfortable being legal.. . apt in NYC!? >.<

Yeah I spent the last 2 years in NYC...wasn't too worried. I've been in NC for the past 4 months and never even set my tent up when i got here...now my tent and stuff is in my car in the back of an auto transport on its way to cali.

RawBudzski said:

do you hang your buds to dry in the grow room to keep the humidity & temps perfect? or do you have a separate area with perfect conditions. OR do you do it like many ppl I know & let it dry anywhere..which usually dries it within 4-5days.

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My bud has it's own room for drying storage. Drying it in your grow room = exposure to light. That's the biggest no-no their is in my book. I've got a emptied out bedroom with the windows blacked out and a dehumidifier set to 50% humidity when I first harvest, then 40 during curing. When the tiny stems just start to snap a little but the bigger stems still have water weight, that's when it's time to trim it. After it's trimmed and the buds in jars are wet again, then I crank my dehumidifier down a bit for the curing process.

I have buddies with elaborate equip, 6k watts, rdwc system, co2, nice sized room.. yet they skimp out on nutrients & do not have a steady line to feed.

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I totally skimp out on nutrients. I'm pretty much a minimalist when it comes to nutrients during flowering.

I look at it this way... If I go work out and eat a steak afterwards my body will receive the protein it requires to stay in good nutritional health. If I work out and then eat 10 steaks, I'm not going to get 10x the nutritional benefit and in fact I run the risk of producing a negative consequence.

I feed my plants what they need to stay healthy, that's it. There is no magic juice in a bottle that is going to make my bud 10x more awesome or yield 10x better. Rather than waste my time with various snake oils I focus on keeping the most consistent environmental conditions possible and taking care of the plants.

nor do they care about curing..

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This I do care about, to an extent at least. I'll cure for a week or so, never more than 2. After this the buds are done. They then stay in sealed glass jar in a dark place until they are ready to go to their final destination. TBH I can't really tell the difference between bud that's been cured for a week and bud that's been slow cured for a month.

It drives me nutts because they been @ this for 7 years + & only care about $$.. not the quality. I been trying to get them to care just a liiiitle more.

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It's hard not to be cynical once you realize that 95% of the people the bud is going to can't tell the difference. Most people will buy bad grand daddy purple over good jack herer. If the people the bud was going to cared about quality, they'd care too. Unfortunately that's just not the case.

When people stop buying buds because they are big and purple, things will change. Until then I'm afraid things will get worse before they get better.