Why Most Pot Sucks

Smokin Moose

Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex Moderator
Stop Making These Mistakes!


As my appreciation for fine cannabis grows, I have become more aware of the shortcomings of most of today’s herb. Upon careful examination, I have determined that the same four problems plague a surprisingly high percentage of today’s “kind bud.” And it’s not the genetics! Most of the strains nowadays would produce amazing medicine if grown, flushed, cured, and handled properly.

This article will address these steps that so many growers worldwide often neglect. After many years, I have concluded that due to these steps being improperly attended to, when I sample or judge herb I am ultimately judging the grower, rather than the strain itself. And most growers are not addressing these four crucial steps properly, therefore rendering their finished product inferior to what is ultimately possible.

1. Herb must be organically grown

In order for ganja to express its full dazzling array of flavor and all the subtle tones that are available, it simply must be grown organically. I know that many hydro growers would disagree until the end of time with me on this one, but it’s true. Being the author of The Cannabible 1 and 2, I have been fortunate enough to sample many different growers’ attempts at the same strain, even from clone, and with the exception of the Chem strain, the organic always tastes better. (For the full story of the Chem, see Cannabible 2.)

This is not to say that properly grown hydro can’t taste delicious. Sometimes it can be very delicious indeed. But that same strain grown organically will have a more diverse and, well, satisfying flavor, and certainly a better aftertaste. Ten or twenty years ago, I can understand why hydro growers would have been resistant to switch to organics – too heavy, stinky, and messy. Luckily, this is not the case today. There are many brands of organic fertilizers and liquified nutrients that are potent and easy to use, manageable, not too messy or smelly, and affordable as well. Any good grow store should have a selection of such products.

The big reason why most chemical hydro growers keep on using chemicals is they think their bottom line – yield – would be lower with organics. This is simply not the case. Properly grown organics will yield just as much – or more – as using chemicals. I have conducted experiments that have proven this time and time again. And even if the yield is a little less, it would still be worth it, considering the quality is greatly enhanced. Better herb is worth more money, if that’s what you’re looking for.


Bottom line is this. Plants, like humans, do not want to be fed (or treated with) chemicals. And just like a human can live (for a while) on fast food, cigarettes, and beer, they will not be thriving. It’s the same with a plant. Though chemically fed hydroponic plants might look healthy on the outside for a while, they are not thriving on the inside. All the chemicals only serve to weaken the defenses of the plant, just like they do in a human.

Nature’s way of dealing with these weakened plants is to send bugs, viruses, molds, and other pathogen to eliminate the weak specimens. (Survival of the fittest, remember?) Again, this is the same way it works with humans. The answer, contrary to what the chemical peddlers will tell you, is not to spray on more chemicals! One only needs to take a brief glimpse at what chemical agriculture has done to modern farming and farmers to understand this. Millions of acres of rich, fertile farmland have been reduced to barren, toxic, dead wasteland.


All this from being repeatedly doused (drowned) with what our government calls “safe” chemicals and fertilizers. Why repeat this destructive cycle in your grow? Consider this – one of the main techniques I use to judge herb is to roll a joint (with a Club rolling paper) and pay particular attention to the second half of the joint. This is where the true test comes in. Any decent herb can taste good on the first few hits of a joint, but it’s truly special herb that tastes great right down to the last hit, with the roach burning your fingers! Most of the herb I come across tastes like hot tarry smoke by the second half of a joint, and this loses major points in my books. Properly grown (and flushed!) organic herb almost always tastes great down to the end of a joint. Chemically grown herb almost always tastes like ‘schwill’ by the second half. Try this experiment yourself, and I think you will agree.

The second half of a bowl or bong hit also clearly reveals the benefits of organics. With chemically fed hydro, you end up with a black cruddy ball of harsh carcinogens by the second half of your bowl. With properly grown organics, it tastes delicious down to the last hit, when it will easily blow away as a clean gray ash.


2. Herb must be flushed properly

In order for ganja to reach its ultimate potential quality, the plants must be cut off from food and thoroughly flushed with clean water for several weeks or more before harvest. Of course this step is much more important when harsh chemical fertilizers are used than with organics. But if ultimate quality is to be reached it is necessary with any setup. The amount of flush time varies depending on the situation, but I generally recommend stopping all feeding and switching to pure water approximately one month before harvest. This timing can be shortened for indoor plants or lengthened for outdoor plants, depending on container size, the fertilizers used, the strains grown, and a number of other things. This gives the plant time to finish all remaining food, and the leaves will then start changing colors and the plant yellowing. Yes, you might be able to crank out another few grams or so by feeding them up to the end or close to it, but we are going for ultimate quality here, not quantity. Cannabis plants that are allowed to yellow on their path to senescence have a much more beautiful and complex flavor when smoked or vaporized than plants that are fed and are bright green right up to harvest. Again, I have done experiments that have proven this again and again. Skipping this step is one of the main factors that has ruined most Canadian and Dutch herb. There are many connoisseurs who completely agree with me on this point!


3. Herb must be cured properly

Curing is such an important step to producing fine herb, but sadly it is so often ignored or neglected. I believe this is because the demand for ganja is so great that people will buy herb that hasn’t even been dried properly, let alone cured! Also, I believe many growers are ignorant not only of the importance of this step, but how to do it as well. I am constantly amazed at how often I see herb that is genetically excellent, grown very well, harvested properly, dried properly, then sold and/or consumed without being cured and therefore half as tasty as it could have been. The curing process is quite simple. Here is how it’s done.

After the herb is done drying, when a stem will snap if bent, the medicine is transferred to glass jars, preferably. (Plastic Tupperware or other clean and sealable containers can be used if the quantity is too large to jar.) Over the next couple of weeks, at least several times per day if possible, the jars are opened briefly. This allows the trapped gasses inside the jar to escape, essentially ‘sweating’ the nugs to golden perfection. This process also allows the last moisture deep inside the buds to find its way out. During the curing process, the ganja’s smell will change from a slightly vegetative stink to a near-orgasmic and lusciously diverse aroma (depending on the strain of course)!

Not only is the flavor greatly enhanced by curing, but the high also improves. The medicine will smoke better as well, burning more evenly. Most importantly, a multitude of delicious flavors will reveal themselves that otherwise would have gone unnoticed and unappreciated.


One last point – herb that has been cured properly doesn’t even need to be squeezed, and therefore degraded, to smell its best. Just opening a jar of properly cured cannabis and smelling the jar will make your mouth water!


4. Herb must be handled delicately

Don’t even get me started on this one! Cannabis flowers are INCREDIBLY fragile and delicate. I cannot stress this point enough.

This is the single biggest reason that most pot sucks. By the time it reaches the smoker’s lungs, most herb has been manhandled to the point where it is probably half as potent and tasty as it would have been if handled properly. This degradation usually starts when the plants are still alive, as people will squeeze the buds to get a smell, bump into them, drag them along the ground, etc. During and after harvest they are manhandled even more as they are broken down, transported, hung, trimmed, moved around, dropped, etc. Every time they are touched they degrade. It’s that simple.

In order to produce what I call connoiseur-grade herb, incredible care must be taken at every single step of the process to ensure that the flowers are touched, disturbed, and molested as little as possible. This means all the way to the bong, joint, or vaporizer, where most people will roll up a little ball and put it in the bowl, getting their fingers nice and sticky in the process. That lovely smelling sticky feeling on your fingers, that’s the best part of your hit, which will now be wasted. Take it from me: I spend a lot of time looking at fine cannabis under the microscope at high magnification, so I have become hyper-aware of just how delicate the flowers are, noticing how each time they are even just barely touched, that so many resin glands are knocked off or explode. And what is the first thing most people do when packed a bong hit? They stick their finger on it and smash it down into the bowl, even if it didn’t need it, thereby removing pretty much all the resin from the top! (This is my pet peeve!)

Believe it or not, most of the compressed shwaggy herb from Mexico, Jamaica, Africa, and many other commercial herb centers of the world would have been absolutely fantastic if you or I would have harvested them and cared for them from that point on.

Even the simple process of ripping off and packing a bong hit, if not done with the utmost of care, can seriously degrade the herb. Personally, I use scissors (always the same pair) to cut off the piece I am going to smoke and use the metal blade to push the herb into the bowl, not even letting my fingers/hands get sticky at all. Yes, you lose a little on the scissors but at least it stays there and builds up for easy collection, unlike if you use your fingers.

And rolling a joint? This pretty much decimates the herb if you break it up with your (very sticky) fingers. I highly recommend the use of an herb grinder (available everywhere) for breaking up the herb. Yes, it does knock off resin, but again, it builds up inside the grinder and can be collected, unlike if you use your fingers.

None of these four crucial steps costs any more money to take, yet they are so often skipped or neglected with the herb commonly grown and smoked by most people. It does not have to be this way. Please grow or demand cannabis that is organic, flushed, cured, and handled like the delicate flowers that they are, and we will watch the worldwide quality of marijuana shoot way up to the highest heights!

And lastly, please love your plants, as this has been proven to have a wonderful effect on gardens and their growers!

by Jason King
 
Yes Very Interesting and well worth the read it`s defo the demand 4 weed that makes most people cut these corners.
 
Re: fertilizer...its not a complicated concept. Plants can only absorb nutrients in their elemental form. Organic nutrients are broken down by microbes to yield inorganic elements that roots can absorb.. There is no advantage to the plant to use organic feed. It is better for microorganisms and soil health, but in a synthetic environment like growing in a container where microbiology is unstable, then inorganic could be a better way to go.
 
We all do it myself as well.
Its from 2008 ;)
Re: fertilizer...its not a complicated concept. Plants can only absorb nutrients in their elemental form. Organic nutrients are broken down by microbes to yield inorganic elements that roots can absorb.. There is no advantage to the plant to use organic feed. It is better for microorganisms and soil health, but in a synthetic environment like growing in a container where microbiology is unstable, then inorganic could be a better way to go.
 
I think this post needs to be taken in understanding it was made 13 years ago.

In those 13 years there have been vastly improved knowledge when it comes to cultivating in general and in Cannabis the advancements have been vastly more.

This used to be the standard. However this is no longer the case. With all the advancements the 13 years have brought it's not unfeasible to go full chemical grow and end up with an award winning bud literally.

There are some great points about flushing etc but even that is being questioned with today's available nutrients and is being discussed on this exact forums.


Organic does have advantages as does using non organic. But to flat out say the bud is always better is just no longer the case and is an outdated view on the subject.
 
I still believe if you took 100 growers from each style of growing.
-100% Living Organic
-Coco and other hydrosoil
-Hydro
-And any mish mash combo.

That the percentage of quality bud in the 100% Living Organic grows would be way higher than any of the others.

You "can" get some synthetic growers that manage to get close to organic grown quality but they've sold their soul to the devil and use witchcraft.

Living Organic Soil brings out the true genetics and terpene profiles of each cultivar.

And if you apply this to what dispensaries sell then its very pronounced.
Pretty much only the artisan small growers, craft growers using 100% Living Organic methods are the ones that produce bud thats worth buying.

Its not PGR bud thats been run through auto bud trimmers that strip a bunch of trichomes then take that stripped bud and roll it around so its all packed together, dried, not cured.

Seems like the OP was talking more about the ENTIRE process more than just grow method.
And I totally agree with his view on that.
Cannabis does need to be treated well from germination to inhalation to get the best bud.

And I think most growers that choose 100% LOS are probably more likely to treat the entire process as important.
That try to get the environment, heat, humidity (VPD) exactly right, maybe play soothing music in the grow room, certainly never use any kind of pesticide, and carefully harvest, more precisely dry, delicately jar, and properly cure.
That process creates the best bud.
 
I still believe if you took 100 growers from each style of growing.
-100% Living Organic
-Coco and other hydrosoil
-Hydro
-And any mish mash combo.

That the percentage of quality bud in the 100% Living Organic grows would be way higher than any of the others.

You "can" get some synthetic growers that manage to get close to organic grown quality but they've sold their soul to the devil and use witchcraft.

Living Organic Soil brings out the true genetics and terpene profiles of each cultivar.

And if you apply this to what dispensaries sell then its very pronounced.
Pretty much only the artisan small growers, craft growers using 100% Living Organic methods are the ones that produce bud thats worth buying.

Its not PGR bud thats been run through auto bud trimmers that strip a bunch of trichomes then take that stripped bud and roll it around so its all packed together, dried, not cured.

Seems like the OP was talking more about the ENTIRE process more than just grow method.
And I totally agree with his view on that.
Cannabis does need to be treated well from germination to inhalation to get the best bud.

And I think most growers that choose 100% LOS are probably more likely to treat the entire process as important.
That try to get the environment, heat, humidity (VPD) exactly right, maybe play soothing music in the grow room, certainly never use any kind of pesticide, and carefully harvest, more precisely dry, delicately jar, and properly cure.
That process creates the best bud.
@Nunyabiz I've been a coco grower for years because I never thought that I could do a soil/LOS grow my small space but seeing you pull it off in a bathtub has inspired me and I'm still considering switching...just haven't had the time or resources to redo my whole setup while dealing with Mrs. Cough's cancer stuff. But at the same time I find myself cutting corners on my coco grow because there have been too many days where I just didn't have the time to properly mix and feed my girls and just splashed enough water on them to keep them alive until the next day.
Also, really thought that Mrs Cough would be leaning hard on the cannabis to help her but developed a neuro condition that gives her severe vertigo so she can barely handle small doses of cannabis, occasionally mints from the dispensary, etc
 
I still believe if you took 100 growers from each style of growing.
-100% Living Organic
-Coco and other hydrosoil
-Hydro
-And any mish mash combo.

That the percentage of quality bud in the 100% Living Organic grows would be way higher than any of the others.

You "can" get some synthetic growers that manage to get close to organic grown quality but they've sold their soul to the devil and use witchcraft.

Living Organic Soil brings out the true genetics and terpene profiles of each cultivar.

And if you apply this to what dispensaries sell then its very pronounced.
Pretty much only the artisan small growers, craft growers using 100% Living Organic methods are the ones that produce bud thats worth buying.

Its not PGR bud thats been run through auto bud trimmers that strip a bunch of trichomes then take that stripped bud and roll it around so its all packed together, dried, not cured.

Seems like the OP was talking more about the ENTIRE process more than just grow method.
And I totally agree with his view on that.
Cannabis does need to be treated well from germination to inhalation to get the best bud.

And I think most growers that choose 100% LOS are probably more likely to treat the entire process as important.
That try to get the environment, heat, humidity (VPD) exactly right, maybe play soothing music in the grow room, certainly never use any kind of pesticide, and carefully harvest, more precisely dry, delicately jar, and properly cure.
That process creates the best bud.
To each their own opinion.
Personally I think people go to far with the whole the plant is a living aware being thing.

Some of the best results I've seen in growing have been using airoponics using a mist system. This is vastly different to anything nature could ever provide and yet using this method gives scientifically identical results in laboratory situations. Obviously harder to move to the home grow, but it's hardly the singing soothing songs to the plant method either and gives as good if not alot better results.


Really when it comes down to it the medium and delivery method are all 2nd to the plants needs. Regardless of how those needs are fulfilled.

The argument between synthetic and organic has raged on for years but if all aspects are controlled it doesn't matter how it's done.

Companies and people who use synthetic feeds aren't trying to make bad tasting bud. We also don't try to my mistreat the bud at all. Personally I don't care if I'm pulling 10 ounce or 100 it all gets trimmed by hand wearing gloves. It gets hang dryed and then cured. I don't do this because I aspire to be a "organic purist" I do this because it's the correct practices for the bud. It doesn't matter that I'm using Coco/perlite and it doesn't matter I'm using non organic fertilizer.

If you associate bad weed with non organic growers I'm afraid that's on you not on the medium.

In the same way I wouldn't buy my meat off a terrible butcher I don't buy my bud off a terrible grower and I only produce bud to sell if it would be something I'd want to buy.
 
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