Please Tell Us About Your Experiences At 420 Magazine

I discovered 420 Magazine about 8 years ago after the voters in my state approved medical cannabis and I got grow rights. I learned so much from lurking here and reading the forums. From what I learned here I had a pretty nice little grow room set up with a reliable supply of cannabis to treat my multiple physical and mental health issues related to serving 21 years in the Army.

The medical cannabis law was written and financed by people who wanted to open dispensaries, so they put in the law that you could only have grow rights if you lived more than 25 miles from a dispensary. After about a year of having grow rights a dispensary opened in the area and I had my grow rights taken away and had to shut down my grow room.

Fast forward to last November and the voters approved recreational cannabis so that now anyone over the age of 21 can grow up to 12 plants. So the irony is I can't grow medical cannabis but I can grow recreational cannabis, but we all know they are one in the same.

With all that said, I'm putting my grow room back together, and back to lurking the 420 Magazine forums that are filled with a wealth of information for anyone wanting to learn the art and science of cannabis cultivation.
 
The support i got and i am still getting from 420 members in the worst time of my life is amazing , i am not the best at writing as you all know so i wont be leaving a long message here
I want to thank the 420 staff for giving me a second chance to redeem my self ( my word of the day ) :cheesygrinsmiley:

Every thing about :420: is good :thumb: i cant fault


Love and peace :green_heart:

NP
 
I cannot recall when I joined, but it has been a while back.

Blame Rick Simpson. Because of the way he stirred this pot(pardon the pun) I got interested in learning about cannabis.
Though I had been smoking since my early teens, in South Africa cannabis was pretty much under cover despite the fact that we were never short of weed. We were getting pretty good stuff namely: Swazi gold, Durban Poison, Malawi gold, Afghan kush, Moroccan hybrids and even some strains from the Himalayas. I thought I knew enough.

During searches for good sites 420 became my favourite go to. It blew my mind with the amount of info available. New strains, different extraction methods etc. Now my mind was expanding and the knowledge I acquired was useful. I'm thankful for 420. I now make ointment for the older folk with arthritis and eczema and build simple vaporizers for those suffering from various ailments. These are also used for collecting oil over time which then get converted into tinctures. 420 made it possible.

We now allowed to smoke indoors recreationally and can grow up to 10 plants.
 
I joined in Oct '16 as was on my first grow and was trying to get a better idea of when to harvest, found this place with a web search and liked the vibe here more than any other site/FB group I had wandered into. Mix of opinion w/o all the baloney and other crap that goes on other places coupled with better advice here than the usual folks parroting crap w/o knowing any specifics, as most of us know some problems can be a variety of issues and w/o knowing what you are doing can't give a good opinion (why we ask for "how to ask for support" link a lot).

At the time I joined the Asian Spambots were going bonkers here, you could log in and see literally pages of threads with only a couple from normal people as they were posting them 50 threads in an hour. I had been a Moderator on a couple other types of Forums, so I offered my help dealing with the Bots (as Staff is a smaller group here than some places, but that has advantages too as more consistent on the way things are handled than a place with 15 different Mods handling things). So here I am still as a volunteer because I love this place for the grow support but also for the mission on changing the laws on this plant we all love.

:peace: :Namaste: :ganjamon::bong:
 
From the first time I ever successfully used the plant in 1992, I knew it was going to be a big part of my life. I grew my first plant in 1991 before I had ever used cannabis. It had always fascinated me as a plant, not only for its stigma and reputation, but for its beauty.

@Carcass taught me the basics about NPK early in life. Having been somewhat of a grower himself in the 70’s, he knew what to feed and why, there wasn’t much to it back then. Get a seed, grow some weed.
Unfortunately my mom didn’t share my love of cannabis botany, and I soon moved out to be independent and smoke my weed whenever I wanted to. I didn’t like rules.

I always treated weed like it was the right of everyone to smoke it, and depriving the world of its medicinal and industrial uses would be a travesty. Did I just want to get high? Maybe back then I just wanted to escape. But I made it my mission to smoke weed whenever and wherever I wanted to. I really was that guy that made sure I was stoned for everything.

My love of plants/gardening ended up landing me a job in 2000 with Spectracide (maker of Hot Shot no pest strips) a fertilizer and pesticide company based in St. Louis, MO.

I had a sales territory in Southern California Home Depot’s from Simi Valley to just south of San Francisco. I made great money for a guy with only a very partial college education, the company paid for everything, even my car. It was a great gig...and I was high the entire time. It really held me back, too- out of 200 salesmen I was #11 my first year, got every bonus possible, totally poised for promotion. But I really hated corporate America. I just needed a reason to leave.

Then something great happened. The company was bought by BAYER, aka the Devil.

And so I gave my notice and left. My plan- Not work for Bayer... and take what $ I had and start growing weed, cause that’s what I loved doing.

An ill-conceived plan that actually worked, until it didn’t. In 2005 I had been growing for about 3 years straight in California. This was $3-400 an ounce times and it was good. I grew Hydro/Aero and had between 60-100 plants at a time in my own 4 bedroom house. I taught myself breeding, cloning, hydro and aeroponics, and of course more sales…

The sales eventually landed me in hot water with the local law enforcement. Even though I had legal CA medical growers license, I was way over on my legal #, and selling it. Long story short, I did 4 months in county jail and lost my rights for a long time. I lost everything during that time and came out to nothing but what I had in my hands.
I have always painted houses during unemployed times, so I did that off and on. Eventually I moved out of CA and up to WA. With a few family members, I started a BBQ catering company. For about 7 years I did BBQ semi-full time. During the off season I would still paint houses.

For several years I drifted away from cannabis and just became a lousy old drunk. I started fucking up jobs and losing friends and making enemies until it was time to stop, which I didn’t want. Cannabis has been one of the biggest things to help me stay away from booze and other bad things. For the past few years I haven’t had any drinks, only smoke. Cannabis has saved my life in that way. And most of it was grown by me, because I hate paying retail for weed.

So after years of growing, some right, some horribly wrong- I got back into it with a different attitude.
Seeing @Carcass growing his autoflowers for the first time, I felt slapped in the face. Like something was telling me “Hey dummy, look what this guy is getting with a 1 part food and an $80 light” and it clicked. As much as I hate to copy, that’s just what I needed to do. And it worked. After that it's just honing down the technique. He told me I should meet the growers here.

I joined 420 Mag last year right when this pandemic started. That was right around when I’d usually start getting calls to start painting houses again. But not in 2020. I mostly just grew weed (and I sold vinyl LP's). Luckily I was one of the people who did manage to get by without making much money last year, and just dove head first into this hobby instead. My growing has kept my mind and a lot of my time occupied. Literally everything has changed in the last year. New tents, lights, foods, seeds, plans. Now it's even ok to stay home and talk to my plants!

My mission of having lots of extra time, and growing all the weed I can eat and smoke is upon me. This was the year I was waiting for. I’m finally growing for the greater good.

Now I can spread the word about cannabis, help people grow, and have a community to relate to. I can write about my experiences, take pictures, and pass on knowledge to others. I can give away weed to whoever I want, and smoke as much as I could possibly smoke. And every crop gets a little better.

I originally just came here to learn a few things and post a few pics. Look at me now, actually doing what I love. And some might even say I do a pretty decent job of it.

That’s why I joined 420, because cannabis is something to be used and learned from. Our brain has an entire section related to cannabinoids, and we barely know anything about it yet! I'm done listening to the tired argument that cannabis is harmful and not helpful, coming from people who themselves are harmful and not helpful. Do what makes you happy.

Next on my list, let's do the same thing with psychedelics.
 
About a year ago a friend with weed (a friend indeed) turned me onto a few plants to grow. I had no clue. He helped me quite a bit, but drying indoors was not an option for me, and it is too hot where I live to dry outdoors. So I googled drying in a refrigerator and ended up on the DrZiggy's Low And Slow thread. Goldmine! I learned so much in that one thread, and have been checking in periodically ever since.

I have perused a few other cannabis blogs but none compare with the kind, compassionate, EDUCATED, and humorous members who post here. There are experts here right alongside newbies - and everyone is cool. No drama.

I appreciate how the threads are organized and content is easily searchable. A veritable 'weed-o-pedia'.Keep up the great work!
 
There is no other site that has the true 420 state of mind.
We give out knowledge, knowing that we were noobies once...

:green_heart::green_heart:
My experience here, although I m not at all active, for now, is 5*** Love you guys to bits:thanks::love:
 
I stumbled onto the forum looking for advice about when to harvest. I was ready to chop & about to proceed but was persuaded to wait. Turned out to be great advice. That was my first indoor grow flying solo & I’ve been on here almost every day since.

I grow because I like to get high but I also enjoy pain relief, stress relief, I sleep better & I’m actually more productive. I can determine what I need to get those things & grow it & I get expert advice here plus a crowd cheering me on!
 
In my 420 experience I've gained everything and lost nothing. Even when I do loose, I win cause all the good out weights the bad. Here at 420 Magazine I became an active member last year and made it official. There are so many different walks of life here and all seem to be helpful and enthusiastic about what we are all doing here. I've personally witnessed the community come together and help where they can, I've witnessed this not only once but over and over again. I've been reading 420 Magazine for as long as they've been publishing and I dreamed about being apart of the community I am now part of. An since joining the community it has allowed me to start dreaming again. So I reached my dream I had just to dream and fulfill another. My new dream is not only be apart of this community, but work for 420 Magazine and further my future within the cannabis field. I want to thank everyone who is apart of this thing we call family and allowing me to be here and excepting me with open arms.
 
Well, a hundred and eleven years ago, when I was ten....oops wrong story :lot-o-toke:

Uhm :hmmmm: oh yeah, I'm here cuz the noobs make me feel better about my growing skills :rofl::rofl::popcorn:and I like bud porn :goof:
 
Just reading the founders story in the first post and how traumatized he and his family were, now make our problems insignificant.

I too have been in trouble with the police due to possession and growing. But I did not receive the same abuse as the founder did.

I personally started growing to help my wife who has a multitude of problems with her health. She went from a high flying career to being in bed 24/7. It's a long and convoluted story but it all stemmed from a spider bite.

The doctors pumped her with opiates and that's when her deep depression started but I cured or alleviated 90% of her symptoms with cannabis.

We felt alone, growing and using it, as the UK laws do not permit it. We were even reluctant to search for information on the internet, just incase we left a digital foot print.

But now we have found this forum and realized the entire world has been in our situation, it has relieved an unbelievable amount of stress from our lives. We are not alone and there has been a lot of people in a worse position than our own, as was the founder and his family of this forum. I read a triumphant tale of a member who was just like my wife, but managed to turn life around by using cannabis @Bill284 :peace: i have been able to read and connect with this forums members in a way that we could have never imagined last year.

So not only has cannabis turned our life around, but so has this forum by bringing awareness to these situations others have faced and are busy dealing with. We do not now feel alone on this planet, thanks to 420Magazine and it's members

Thank you so much

Squiggz and his wife
 
Just reading the founders story in the first post and how traumatized he and his family were, now make our problems insignificant.
I too have been in trouble with the police due to possession and growing. But I did not receive the same abuse as the founder did.
I personally started growing to help my wife who has a multitude of problems with her health. She went from a high flying career to being in bed 24/7. It's a long convoluted story but it all stemmed from a spider bite.
The doctors pumped her with opiates and that's when her deep depression started but I cured or alleviated 90% of her symptoms with cannabis.
We felt alone growing and using it, as the UK laws do not permit it. We were even reluctant to search for information on the internet, just incase we left a digital foot print.
But now we have found this forum and realised the entire world has been in our situation, it has relieved an unbelievable amount of stress from our lives. We are not alone and there has been a lot of people in a worse position than our own, as was the founder and his family of this forum. I read a triumphant tale of a member who was just like my wife, but managed to turn life around by using cannabis @Bill284 :peace: i have been able to read and connect with this forums members in a way that we could have never imagined last year.
So not only has cannabis turned our life around, but so has this forum by bringing awareness to these situations others have faced and are busy dealing with. We do not now feel alone on this planet thanks to 420magazine and it's members

Thank you so much


Squiggz and his wife
:green_heart:
 
Ahoy There,

Looking at the top of the page @420 wants us to tell them about our experiences at 420.

I got plenty but this one might be hard to top. Today a courier driver dropped of a brand new Magic Butter Machine (MB2e) that was gifted to me from another member. This member and myself have never personally met and do not know each other outside the scope of 420 Magazine. :love:

They do not know it yet, but some great folks up in the VA hospice ward will soon have a reason to smile.
Passing the love (and gummies) forward, backward, and sideways until we get it done.
 
Ahoy There,

Looking at the top of the page @420 wants us to tell them about our experiences at 420.

I got plenty but this one might be hard to top. Today a courier driver dropped of a brand new Magic Butter Machine (MB2e) that was gifted to me from another member. This member and myself have never personally met and do not know each other outside the scope of 420 Magazine. :love:

They do not know it yet, but some great folks up in the VA hospice ward will soon have a reason to smile.
Passing the love (and gummies) forward, backward, and sideways until we get it done.
Awesome :green_heart:
 
Wow , Where do I start ? I could write a journal on this topic alone. I came to 420 Mag by invite from a Great Grower & my Grow Tutor; @Emilya. Thank You Emilya! Emilya & I were on another site along with some other good growers. I was invited to several sites by these guys & I tried at least 5 of them before choosing 420 Mag. as my home. Some of the people on the other sites seem to think they're grow gods & like to talk a lot of smack instead of helping others learn to grow. So when I landed here & received more help in way less time & everyone made me feel comfortable.... I knew this was where I'd stay.

So I've been here about 2 years now. I've learned way more then I can even remember. So much knowledge in every possible way of growing here; it simply amazes me. I've had help through my Coco, DWC & Soil grows without even asking for it. People here are always willing to point you in the right direction. When I first came to this site I was averaging 2 - 4 oz. per plant. With all I've learned from all you great growers I've managed to increase my yields to 8 - 12 oz. per plant & that's still going up. Thank You All for that!

Somehow, last year I got GJOTM. It was a total shock. I'll be honest & say I don't know if I deserved it because I wasn't reading other peoples journals at the time. Never the less I was quite proud to receive it. Thank You 420 Mag.

I got some really great prizes including the Next Light. Unfortunately, One of the corners got broke on it when Dum Dum (ME) dropped it.

The contests here can be fun. But expect some really tough competition if you enter. Especially on the photo of the month pics.

I think some of these guys are photographers for a living. At least their pics look that way. If I could take pics like that I'd do Calendars, Posters & Framed Art to sell. I work in printing so I think that way.

A lot of good Sponsors. I've bought from a few. The Mars Hydro Lights are really great lights for the price. I'll be purchasing my 5th one this week since I like them so much.

I never even heard of a perpetual grow before coming to this site. Now I have 3 tents & a Flower Room. Came a long way from the Foil lined cardboard box & 4 - 85 watt CFL's I started with. Yeah, it's true.... lol

So a Big Thank You to 420 Mag & all the Great Growers on this site.
 
In early 2001ish, I contracted meningitis. I went unconscious after battling it for weeks, thinking it was a bad cold. A nasal infection broke through my nasal cavity and infected the meningi sac around our brain. The bacteria reproduced and the added mass caused a constriction on my brain that started cutting off blood flow. I woke up a week later after a spinal tap revealed the sickness.

The doctors said I almost died and should of had brain damage. I woke up and seemed okay. I seem to have developed a type of anxiety which cannabis seems to settle.

Later in life I had to quit smoking to pursue a job in the oil refining industry. I became an operator at Phillips66 and loaded rail cars with butane, steam power plant, sulfur plant and tank farm. I was also on the fire brigade and rescue team. I was making gobs of money and started hitting the gym plus had a personal trainer.

I was buying all the "good stuff" from GNC. Specifically using N.O.Xplod & SuperPump. The latter specifcially stated it would make a user test "dirty" for any testing program. (!) I wanted THAT! I used multiple supplements at once and either a sole product or a combo of it all ruined my eye. Yes...EYE!

As it turns out, I was getting my eyes checked for new eye glasses and the doctor and nurses confronted me. Yeah...i have never used them, but steroids are no joke!

Once the doctor gave me my "eye poof" test, he walked out for a second. Then a series of nurses walked in after. They acted nonchalant and meandered in...looked around (ROFL)...then would ask..."what's your experience with steroids?"

"What the hell? Uhh...no experince?"

The nurse replies "okay, okay". They walk out. Next nurse...same thing.

Finally the doctor comes back in and sits down. My confusion should have been evident at this point. HE asks me "...so do you use a balm?"

I had it up to here! I ask "why are all of you asking me about steroids?"

He breaks and says "The age you are, and the condition of your eye, we are only left to assume you use steroids. So, are you injecting?" I could not make them believe i never touched the stuff.

Well, steroids ruin our eye's ability to circulate the fluid in our eye. I ignore this guy's concern and recommendations and go on about my life. He wants me to start daily eye drops.

4 yrs later I am at the Walmart eye center. The doctor gets the same concern. She says "I am very concerned over your eye." She writes a recommendation and...i ignore it.

I start growing cannabis that year. I grew a couple unknowns and a Mango and a couple Blue Cheeses. I start making butter that year. I put the butter in banana bread, blue berry bread, muffins...I got FAT(TER)!

Shortly after I learn how butter can strip trichomes due to the saturated fat content and I learn that Coco Oil is even better at that. I start making my coco oil and put that in my daily coffee. I drop the "bread weight" as a result.

Just last year I went to Kaiser to get my eyes checked for new eye glasses. At this point, I figure the doctor is going to tell me that my eye is about to explode due to "high intraocular eye pressure". The doctor goes through the process...checks my eyes, does the poof test; all seemed well. As we were wrapping up the appointment, he takes a seat and says he has some bad news. I KNEW IT! He says "...you should consider bi-focals in your near future."

(Gasp) "...what about my eye? Specifically my eye pressure."

He replies "It's a little high but nothing to be concerned with. We will keep an 'eye' on it. Hahaha" (funny guy).

It seems my daily cannabis ingestion has eased my precursor symptoms of glaucoma!

There are a few other muscular issues i battle with. Using cannabis helps me to stay relaxed and not so knotted up.

I had previously seen another Kaiser doctor for an unrelated issue to all those stated above. The doctor asked if I use any other medications. I told him I use cannabis for all the reasons above. This university educated..."person"...looks at me and coldly and smuggly tells me, "your just looking for any reason to use the stuff."

Well that pissed me off.

I use cannabis for my own personal reasons. Once the wife and I got back together, she wanted to grow herb. She doesn't use it due to random tests at her job, but she should be using CBD due to inflammation. So we get my seeds from when I was a dispensary driver and start sprouting.

I grew indoors and realized that fresh air is necessary. Hahaha. Anyways...I went outdoors and I started researching building a soil and built my own from scratch. Bales of peat moss and dry amendments with perlite, EWC & compost.

I keep learning and growing. Now, my life is bereft of any individual that could remotely want to listen to all the grow info i THINK i know. No one cares about my plants, except my brother. He wants to know when its done. ;)

I joined this site after my last "grow home" became over run with SPAM. I have a passion for this plant and it's medicinal benefits. I am driven to learn and read about this plant. How to tend to it better. How to optimize aspects for better product. How it affects us. This plant alone keeps me reading and searching when nothing else ever could. What good is all that reading and absorbing if it just rattles around upstairs with what's left of my noggin?

No one in my life cares about the junk i read; it has no application outside of growing.

So I come here to 420. My experiences here have been nothing but positive. Some don't care for the rules, but I have spent enough time in a hazardous industry to have learned that ANY rule is set in place or created to keep a prior incident from happening again. We live and learn and mitigate past issues from arising again. Without rules, there is anarchy. The environment and culture here is unparalleled and inviting to even the novice grower. If members have nothing nice to say, they move on. The people here are so helpful and informative.

I have learned a ton since arriving at this site and it just keeps getting sweeter. I love the contests and the ability for the members to participate and win. The staff have been friendly, forgiving, amd ready assist if any issue arises.

This site is not just a grow forum, it's a virtual "magazine". The home page is a wealth of articles regarding this beloved plant and the list of sponsors is INSANE! There are so many products i didn't even know existed. This whole site is a totally enriching experience and has been tailored to benefit us as growers.

I love this place!
 
I learned to grow, on 420 Magazine!!! I can't emphasize those 4 words enough

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I LEARNED TO GROW!!!!!!!
I stole your reason, it is a perfect match for me too - 4 words. Powerful. :thumb:
 
inspiring stories here.

like most i have a number of reasons for being here. at the top is nowhere else will put up with me ... :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
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