So…thought it might be a good time to give the CBD Hemp thing a whirl.  The major reason being, pharmaceuticals are getting out of hand, and if CBD can help some folks get off of overpriced, nasty drugs, that’s a good thing!  Also, there might be some money to be made, and that green stuff comes in pretty handy, too.  The kids ALWAYS need shoes!  Plus…I just had a feeling it would be fun to grow.  I’ve only grown one other time in my life up in Alaska and it was very cool, so why not?

It has been quite a learning process so far, and for the record, I don’t claim to know much about growing cannabis.   So if I stand to be corrected in any of the following lines, I won’t be surprised or offended.

In mid-April, I was given trays of 72 to grow out for about a month or so, because I had the space in the greenhouse and the guy with the seeds did not.  The are the Baox variety from Centennial Seeds in Colorado.  I was lent some grow lights to install above my bench where said trays were to be grown.  The reason being that plants in the cannabis family do best in the beginning when the light cycle is at about 18 hours of light, 6 hours of darkness.  This is referred to as the vegetative stage.  When the light hits around 12/12 is when these plants start to flower…we don’t want that in the beginning.  We want them to grow fast and big.  Hence the lights on a set timer to add extra light in the evening and the morning.

Made it look like there was a big green spaceship in the greenhouse during that time!  Should’ve got a snapshot of that.

My guy compensated me for babysitting his trays, which worked out great for me, and I kept one tray for myself.

Since these ere planted from seed, there were males and females.  For those who don’t know, we’re looking for the females.  The females are the ones who produce flowers(buds).  The males produce pollen sacs which will pollenate the flowers and cause the females to produce seeds.  If we ere looking to reproduce these plants, that would be OK.  But that’s a whole other ballgame with its own set of specifics of which, again…I know nothing about.

It was suggested to put the plants on a 12/12 light cycle for 7-10 days to trick them into reproduction mode, so they would show their gender.  I did this in my darkened grow area in my basement where I start my veggie plants before the greenhouse is up and running.  After this period, my cannabis guru came by and helped to identify the males and females.  The obvious males were separated from the bunch and destroyed.  There were some that hadn’t shown their gender either way.  Here they are in their 3.5″ pots:

I ended up planting about 45 plants out of the 72.  In the end, I had about 40 females, which is about what was predicted.  I planted 3 in the greenhouse Memorial Day Weekend.  Here’s the then and now(or at least recent).

These are huge!  At least to me.  I know cannabis plants get much much bigger out in California and such warm weather climates.   I also threw in 3 plants which I had space for and pulled out of the field a couple two three weeks later.  These are nice size but not as big and far along as these.  Originally there were three of these, but one ended up being male, so we readily disposed of that joker.

Here’s the progression of the outdoor field in pictures…..

So last Sunday, 9/16, I got out and trimmed the lower branches of the plants.  I was told to do this to keep air flow moving through the plants in hopes of preventing mold, which I hear is a concern about this time when it starts to cool off.  You can see my pruning efforts in the third picture above.  Hopefully I didn’t take off too much to shock the plants.  Pretty sure shocking the plants could turn them into hermaphrodites, causing them to produce seeds as well as flowers…bad.  But not sure about that.  I do know that sudden changes in the environment will cause this to happen, but not sure about aggressive pruning at this stage.  Maybe someone will read this and chime in and let me know.   It’s been a week, and they still seem healthy, so that’s good.

So I think I’m within a week or two of harvesting.  For CBD, you want to test to make sure the THC content is not above .3%.  It has to be under this to be legal.  At the same time you want to maximize the SBD content.  Apparently, both of these rise as the season goes on.  The trick, it seems like, is to find that sweet spot here the THC content is below .3 and the CBD content is at it’s maximum.  If I understand correctly, these seeds are genetically grown to be within these parameters.

I sent out a couple samples to get tested on Thursday.  That was a learning experience.  I’m an idiot.  Here’s why.

Hemp is now legal in a bunch of states, including Vermont and Massachusetts, where the lab is that I sent the samples to.  So as I’m standing in line with my baggies of fresh, STINKY CBD Hemp bud at the US Post Offie in St Johnsbury…

….anyone see where this is going?  Hemp is not legal under FEDERAL law, which I start thinking about as about to get up to the counter.  “Hmmmm…I wonder how this is going to work?  It’s legal in Vermont, but not according to federal law.  Will they take it?  Will it make it?”  This only occurred to me as I just about to head to the counter.  Needless to say, the clerk was a bit suspect, and of course just my luck, had never heard of SBD Hemp.  I explained this wasn’t the stuff you smoke to get high.  This was medicinal, and grown to be made into tinctures and such.  This was obviously the first time he had come across this.  But he let me throw it in a envelope and mail it.  The reality is that it probably won’t get there because it smells like skunk and will probably get confiscated.  I’ll find out Monday.  Turns out the lab recommends sending it UPS or FedEx, and double or triple bagging it so it doesn’t stink.  I’m so naive.  What an idiot.

So we’ll see.

This is where I’m at right now.

We’ll see what happens.

I’m excited.

Stay tuned.

Love!