Oregon Med Pot Room

Almost two years ago I became an authorized caregiver and grower for legal medical marijuana patients in Oregon. A caregiver has the right to transport marijuana and a grower has a location to grow the plants. The Department of Human Resources/Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (DHS/OMMP) regulates everything, and the police, as of January 2006, were given the right to call in and find out if an address in question is, in fact, a registered grow site. All of the information from the DHS/OMMP says designated growers should not let police into a growing location without a warrant that mentions something other than marijuana, and they should get their attorney on the phone immediately. As for security against grow-rippers/thieves, I am very rural, own a gun, and have numerous locks on the doors. However, the most important key to security is the #1 golden rule of growing: Tell no one!

My legal boundaries are simple enough. I can provide for a maximum of four patients, and for each patient I can possess one and a half pounds, grow six adult plants, and keep 18 small plants measurable within a cubic foot. This means I have six pounds, 24 adult plants, and 72 babies within my legal charge. I have improved my room and techniques to grow specifically within this state’s laws, so this means that I maximize output within set parameters.

I have always used soil as my growing medium. I now use two parts Fox Farm Ocean Forest, one part Fox Farm Light Warrior, and some additional Perlite. I run twelve 1,000-watt Eye Hortilux Enhanced Spectrum Super High Pressure Sodium (HPS) bulbs in air-cooled hoods made exclusively from www.americanag.com – the only hoods I can find that have four ports for six-inch ductwork – which are attached to the ceiling with rigging that allows them to be raised and lowered. I run one 12-inch inline fan per four hoods, three in total. Each fan pushes 1060 cubic feet of air per minute (cfm) through the enclosed hoods and into a 25-foot long, one-foot wide duct in the attic, which vents out at both ends. There is one twelve-inch 1,060cfm fan for exhaust, and the same for fresh air intake.

In warmer weather, I use air-conditioning to exhaust the air from the room, so it’s not worth running CO2 at that time, but during the more accommodating seasons, I like to use CO2 at 1,000 parts per million (ppm) with a Gen 2 eight-burner propane CO2 generator. (Normally ambient CO2 is 300-375 ppm – CC editor) I could raise that to a maximum of 1,300 ppm – the most a plant can absorb – but keeping it down conserves propane. The temperature dictates when the propane, exhaust, and fresh air intakes turn on; the CO2 raises the temperature to 82 degrees, then the CO2 regulator shuts off and the intake and exhaust fans turn on. Once the fans bring the room down to 74 degrees, the CO2 generator reignites and the cycle continues.
C02 + temperature controls
I make my plants push as many kolas to the top of the canopy as possible and strip the underside. The branches that don’t see the light of day “don’t belong”. I want all available energy from photosynthesis to go to cell and resin production in the topmost buds. I groom away most of the “wispy” material early in the flowering cycle so only kolas have to be manicured… This is much easier!

Early in the plant’s life, starting when they get about 12 inches tall, I begin pinching the topmost branches. This stresses that branch, making it focus on mending the damage that I have done, and promotes other branches to strive toward the canopy. “Pinching” is just what it sounds like: I gently squeeze and twist the branch until the flesh becomes pliable then bend the branch over. Depending on the fertilization cycle, the stems may even break as branches and stems become increasingly hollow after a flush.
However, as long as the stem did not break off entirely, it will survive. In the meantime, many other branches are coming up to the top of the canopy. After about two weeks into the flowering cycle I stop pinching and strip off all of the bottom branches, but leave the leaf that grows at the base of the branch. The branch itself, which will have small buds beginning to develop, comes off.

After these preparations have been made it’s a waiting game for harvest. The strains that I run with – G-13 (Sensi Seeds), Berry Bonds (local), New York City Diesel (Soma Seeds), and SWOK – have a flowering cycle of six to seven weeks, so this leaves me about four to five weeks to allow them to finish. I like to flush the plants for the last week to ten days so the final medicine doesn’t taste like fertilizer.
When the plants are ready to be harvested, consider a few things about how to dry and cure the buds. Curing in a dry, cool, dark area is best, but also takes quite a while. If a strain produces light, fluffy buds, dry the plant hanging as a whole. Strains that grow large, dense buds take a long time to dry. To help speed up the process for these big-budded plants, cut off the branches and hang the plants in pieces. Branches with buds that are four to five inches thick should be dried with the larger shade leaves snipped off. Running a dehumidifier for the first couple of days, then occasionally for a few minutes thereafter, maintains reasonable humidity during the drying process. Dehumidifiers exhaust warm, moist air, so I aim the exhaust out the door. Mold becomes a concern with large buds during a prolonged cure because moisture in the centre takes much longer to evaporate completely.

Once the stems of drying buds pass the readiness test – they snap rather than bend – I begin the manicure, trimming away dried leaves and collecting the main kolas and buds. I recommend staying heavily medicated through this tedious chore, even more so than any other! After the manicuring is done you have the final step of the entire process – grind up a bud, roll a joint or pack a bowl, torch it up, and enjoy!