Is it the weekend yet?

Anyone else wishing today was Friday???

I mean Seriously...!

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MM's

Big Data suggests Marijuana Users Can't Name their Favorite Strains and that's okay

Big data / Analytics firms like Highyieldinsights are finding that marijuana user's regardless of frequency are having a hard time naming their favorite strains. At face value that sounds like something out of a stoner movie.

Like Dave's not here man, and dude where'd you park your car, level i dunno's...

Northern Lights - 3 days after harvest 11/2017

But their numbers were actually fairly high.

Approximately 1 in 3 users who smoke a couple times a week could not name their favorite strain. Most were at best able to say they liked, sativa, indica, or hybrid types. And only 1 in 4 infrequent users could name a favorite strain (but if you're not a frequent user, should you really be expected to know this?).

This is largely just free promo for what they are capable of providing consumers of data and analytics. I for one eat this stuff up faster then OG kush brownies. Sorry for the pun. But it's interesting and that statistics they provide are pretty easy to understand.

It's crazy to think that frequent users wouldn't know their brand, right? Maybe not.

Legal marijuana has been around for such a short time and the industry does not have the best track record for being able to provide a product over and over again. Which doesn't set a good standard for consumers to be selective and recalling which brand/strain was good a couple times ago.

In fact people can go into a shop and find that the product or flower they had come to purchase is no longer be available.

And there is research which shows strains can vary wildly genetically speaking between shops. So patrons may get different experiences from the same strain purchased at different stores.

This isn't like beer, cigarettes or other consumer products.

You can't just go into a store any store in the country and expect to get the same product, the same quality/potency, the same experience, and yes the same price each and every time you shop.

What's your point?

I've been throwing a lot of shade on all of the bass ackwards strain names. Getting all sorts of frustrated over how the strain names tell you nothing about the type of cannabis or expected effects.

But I came to realize that the names of these strains are not the problem. They are the creative draw for the consumer.

Like when you go into a liquor store, to buy beer. Say you want IPA, there are going to be a lot of brands to choose from. The average IPA drinker has a general idea about the taste and potency.

This over time will become a norm for cannabis users.

With better practices, improved branding, and genetic / potency testing labeling. Users are going to get a better handle on which types of cannabis they prefer.

I will agree that there are some truly offensive pot strains out there, and I'd like to see that change. But really it all comes down to luck, which strains become popular and which don't.

And I'm okay with all the crazy names that are out there. There are sites online that will tell you the lineage and effects of most strains.

I think they have it wrong that strain names are meaningless. They obviously serve a purpose in helping catch the eye of consumers.

I don't see why people can't simply start by identifying their favorite type as, Indica, Sativa, hybrid, or even CBD types. Those 4 classes in my mind are a great starting point. I don't see how we can create a new naming convention for marijuana strains, nor is it necessary.

I for one don't need to say my favorite strain is x, y or z. I think it's best to have a couple options from each type (I, S, H, C).

What do you think?


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Marijuana Use In Married Couples Reduces Likelihood Of Domestic Abuse

An article from 2014 published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, "Couples' marijuana use is inversely related to their intimate partner violence over the first 9 years of marriage.", has been circulating through a ton of popular websites.

I don't want to get of track so i'll keep my rant about how/why this happens brief.

But seriously think about that or a second. This article was published in 2014. So why are all the attention now? I don't have that answer, aside from assuming all of these sites are copying each other for clicks to their sites. I mean that's fine it's something that happens on probably all social websites.

Here are all the sites that were running this 2014 article:

Washington post - Christopher Ingraham - 26Aug2014 (Awesome time to report this article)

High Times - Samantha Cashin - 09Apr2018 (4 years later...)

Fatherly.com - Lauren Vinopal - 12Jul2018 (4 years later and now you can borrow from other sites)

So these are just a few that cite this study, and yet all of them simply re-state the findings in the study. Which is fine but again it's just a puff piece. It's click bait for getting people to your website so you can generate ad revenue. 

--- deep breath --- 

...rant over...

Back to the article

I certainly do not want to downplay the conclusions made from this study, looking at marijuana use and rates of intimate partner violence (IPV). It's pretty awesome that they were able to follow so many couples 634 to be exact and for 9 years!!! (here is the full article: link)

Here are the amazing findings they were able to conclude:

• about 1 in 5 married women and 1 in 3 married men admitted to using marijuana
• IPV rates were lower where at lease one spouse used marijuana
• Marijuana use hinted towards less frequent IPV, with the lowest IPV group being the couples who both used marijuana frequently
• Important to note: subjects were all heterosexual, newly married, and first time married couples

Aside from the results supporting fewer incidence of domestic violence in couples that use marijuana. There was a lot of unpleasant information in that article.

The study only looked at one type of IPV. That being physical aggression and injury (e.g. slapping, beating up, choking). But there are at least three categories of IPV: psychological, physical, and sexual aggression.

I felt that this study was limited in the design to only look at physical IPV. I would like to see where the others ranked in this type of longitudinal study.

I also was a little upset that none of the websites actually expanded on the findings and or limitations. 

I bring this point up because there was an article from 2008 same journal (Psychol Addict Behav) out of Ohio U, showed that Marijuana use was associated with IPV by men arrested for domestic violence. In this article they were able to conclude that marijuana use was related to all three forms of IPV. 2008 Article - Marijuana related to all forms of IPV. 

One last point about the positive article. There were some pretty discouraging figures in the paper.

• Nearly 40% of all husbands conducted IPV on their wives, with an average of 4.0 times per year. And keep in mind the survey was only asking for physical forms of domestic violence.

That is just way too high. Way too high.

Again not trying to undermine the interesting findings. I just think the study was limited to a single arm of intimate partner violence. 

And then when it's picked up by websites who are going to spin the news largely on the title and summary, it's just a little frustrating.

If you read either of these articles let me know what your takeaway is!

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MM's

2018 East Coast Outdoor Growing Season Gets Tested As Temperatures Drop

Got a couple or a lot of weeks left in your flowering stage? Starting to worry if you're going to have enough days to get to the harvest before it gets too cold?

Welcome to the unpredictable world of New England weather...

This weekend brought the first real break in an otherwise long and continuous stretch of very hot and near unbearable levels of humidity. However that also meant dangerously low evening temperatures. Some parts of New England saw well into the mid-40's.

While that's not going to kill your crop. It's not going to help move things along much either.

Luckily the temperatures in the greater area appear to be coming back into the 60's and 70's.

Courtesy of https://www.news10.com/weather

If our crop was a football team (go Pats btw), we'd be looking at a hail Mary toss right about now to get to the endzone (i.e. Harvest). Case and point, we're about 2-4 weeks in of a possible 8-12 week flowering cycle. And the temps have started to drop below the 50's.

We're hoping for mild couple of months into late October. But who really knows. We read the farmer's almanac, which if accurate said something about a cold winter. But we don't need to get to winter...just to middle fall.

We aren't going to be creating any outdoor palace for these ladies. It's just fingers crossed and hope for the best.

How's everyone else managing things around dropping temperatures?




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MM's

Super Silver Haze - Bud shots

Happy Friday!!!!

Here are some bud shots from our Super Silver Haze crop.

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MM's

Quick & Easy Guide: How to turn your Kief into Hash

Here is a quick and easy guide for turning your kief into hash. The process is quite simple, it is safe, and does not take very much time. You can get this completed in just 5 steps and using about that many items.

What Supplies you will need:

• kief
• clothes iron
• wax paper / parchment paper
• paper towel

optional items:

• tape (to help hold the wax or parchment paper in place)
• scale (to compare starting weight of the kief and final weight of the hash)
• razor blade

Total time: ~ 45 - 90 minutes (depends on how long the hash is allowed to cool during step 5)

So, lets get started turning your kief into Hash

Step 1:

Carefully pour your kief onto the center of a sheet of wax / parchment paper. You do not need a large amount of paper. You want to ensure that there is enough paper to fold around the pile of kief.

For our example approximately a 12" square sheet of wax paper was more than enough for our 1 gram of kief.

Note: kief can be stubborn coming out of the contain it is being stored in. To get the last bits out of our grinder and help position the kief on the paper we used a razor. This is completely optional, and be careful if you choose to use them. They can cut the paper, the surface you are working on and even you if you are not careful.

Step 2:

Once you have the kief centered on the paper. You need to fold the paper around the kief. It is best to create a square or rectangular pocket within the paper. And then fold the excess paper around that pocket.

This can be a little tricky.

Just be careful as to not spill your kief as you are working to create the folds and the pocket out of the paper. Once you get past the first couple folds the kief will be locked in place.

Step 3: Heat, Press (flip), & Repeat

After you have folded the paper, one or two pieces of tape are helpful at holding the paper in place.

Next we wrap the wax / parchment paper in a damp paper towel. This is very important as it will help prevent you from damaging your clothes iron.

Take the hot iron and firmly and evenly press down. We like to start by doing this for a couple of seconds, then remove the iron and flip the kief so you can press the other side.

We like to do this for at least 5 minutes of each side. It is likely not necessary to heat and press for more than 10 minutes on each side.

Oh and don't forget to turn off the iron once you are done!!!

Note 1: You are working with a very hot iron. Make sure you are working on a surface that is safe for this type of heat and that you have cleared the area. Always be careful working with a heat source, so as not to accidentally burn yourself or things in the area.

Note 2: While you are pressing the kief, monitor the wetness of the paper towel. If it appears to be drying out, stop heating it and make it damp on both sides again.

Step 4: Chill Out

Again friendly reminder. Don't forget to turn off the clothes iron.

Now onto the easiest step: put your freshly heated and pressed kief bundle into the freezer.

Possibly a slightly less easy step: wait 30-60 minutes.... (perhaps smoke a little to pass the time)

Cooling the hash will harden it and make it a little easier to handle when you unwrap your kief bundle.

Step 5: Unwrap and enjoy (and storing tips if applicable)

Once the kief bundle has properly cooled. Carefully unwrap and remove all the layers (i.e. paper towel, the tape, and inner paper).

Once you get to the hash, it should be hard enough now where it will come off the paper will very little effort.

At this point you are done. The hash is ready to be enjoyed.

Note: For storage, we recommend putting your hash in an airtight container and keeping it out of direct sunlight. It can store for a good long time for those who are able to ration out usage.

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MM's

Finally the outdoor girls are flowering (Week 1-3 of Flowering)

Finally the super silver haze plants are flowering. These ladies have been amazing growers, but all through August were acting like true sativa divas. And just would not flip from veg to flowering.

Now that we're in September, it's going to be something of a race to the finish line. Most seed vendors list this strain as having a outdoor harvest time in mid-October. The indoor flowering time is 9-11 weeks.

By our estimate these girls have naturally started flowering in the past 1-3 weeks. They also appear to have made it through their stretching phase. They didn't do anything super dramatic like a 50% stretch, but they do look lean and elongated right now. 

We're very excited to see the transition from lean to filled-in as the bud sites continue to develop.

It's pretty amazing to think that these outdoor SSH plants, started from clones that were cut way back in 2017!!!!

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MM's

Random harvest photo...making us a little nostalgic

We were cleaning out some old photos, and came across some harvesting photos. Growing your own cannabis can be a bit of a project. But when you get to the harvest it all seems worth it.

...I mean until you start worrying about curing, over/under drying, mold, etc...

Just kidding that is also a fun process and part of a larger learning curve.

Anyways as the east coast approaches harvest. We are excited for all the growers getting ready to go through their first or Nth harvest.

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MM's

More Sick Plants. What the Heck.

After a little reorganizing in the tent and moving the light over 30 inches away from the canopy, and also feeding (reduced nutes, CalMag & pH balanced water):

One day after the plants were spaced out. Starting to look a little better already. Filling out the canopy like happy little ladies ought to do:

Cannabis Seed Vendor Review: SeedSupreme.com

Cannabis Seed Vendor Review: SeedSupreme.com

Hey All,

We just wanted to talk a little about our experience with SeedSupreme. Our reaction was super positive.

This company offers seeds from probably all the major breeders, offers competitive rates, and ships to almost anywhere in the world.

Some things we have really enjoyed about this company:

This company boasts an extensive catalog of seed breeders & seed strains. They have a rewards program where you can continuously earn points for leaving reviews. Which can be used on up to 75% of the next purchase. This was enough for us to come back for more business.

They also offered guaranteed shipping, and would resend your order if it did not arrive.

Our order took about a month to arrive. This was a little longer that the previous one, and probably was due to the holidays (Christmas & New Year's).

The customer service at this site was also very available and helpful with our needs. We wanted to receive the order in their original breeder packs and they were happy to accommodate.

Our experience has been very positive and we would certainly recommend them to anyone.

If you want more. Use the code: loyalsupreme to get an additional 10% off the purchase.

Please consider using our affiliate link for any purchases you all may make at SeedSupreme:https://www.seedsupreme.com/#a_aid=MassMedicinals

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MM's

Super Silver Haze Versus Cat

This video tries to answer the age old question...What would happen if a cat and a pot plant were in the same room at the same time.

Perhaps the cat won't even notice the plant. Or may find the plant odor unpleasant.

Then again maybe the cat will appreciate it like it would catnip...

Disclaimer: One super silver haze clone may or may not have been abused in the making of this video.

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MM's

Super Silver Haze x Northern Lights x Super Hash Plant (Week 10 of Flower) - Harvest Time?

Hey Horticulture Fans!

So here we are, approaching week 11 of the flowering period and we're a bit stumped on whether these plants are ready to be harvested.

We have been judging the maturity of the marijuana plants by trichome coloration. And unfortunately the plants in our grow room have very little amber coloring. Many of the main colas are still clear to cloudy.

The problem is that at week 10-11 we're between 7-14 days minimum over the breeders forecasted flower time for the indica. Which are said to be between 7 and 9 weeks.

That being said we welcome any input on the following photos.

Indica - Hashplant

Indica - Hashplant

Indica - Hashplant

 Indica - Northern Lights

 Indica - Northern Lights

 Indica - Northern Lights

 Indica - Hash Plant

 Indica - Northern Lights

The SSH (Super Silver Haze), is smelling actually like compost or freshly turned soil. These plants don't smell like mature pot or freshly cut marijuana. They smell very different from the indica in the grow room. However if you get the resin on your glove or scissors it smells very sweet and citrus. That had us very concerned of Bud rot.

Bud rot - is a type of mold that commonly attacks the flowering sites or buds of your plant. The mold will start near or on the stem of the plant inside the bud and spreads out destroying the bud from the inside out. It can be difficult to catch this infection at the start. So when you realize you have a problem - usually by seeing the spores on the sugar leaf - the entire cola could be lost. 

The plants [at this time] do not show any sign of mold, but the leaves have been yellowing for weeks. This is something we have not been able to control for most of the flowering cycle. Although plant leaves can turn from a health green to a less desirable yellow-green as the plant approaches the harvest time. We probably could have done better to maintain the overall health of the sativa through the flower period.

Mainly we should not have transplanted these girls from a one gallon to a five gallon plant so late in the flower cycle.

The colas have a lot of white pistils and clear trichomes. Also SSH like most Haze strains is said to require 10-12 weeks of flowering before harvest. So hopefully these girls are going to be ready in the next 14 days.

Sativa - Super Silver Haze

Sativa - Super Silver Haze

Sativa - Super Silver Haze

Sativa - Super Silver Haze

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MM's

Northern Lights Feminized Plant (Week 8 of Flower / Week 19 from seed)

We just arrived at week 8 of flowering for this solitary Northern Light plant. She was part of a package of feminized seeds, but went hermie about 5 weeks into the flowering cycle.

We're not sure if she is ready to chop. What do you think? Leave a comment below!!!

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MM's

Flowering Day 53 - Some plants are failing to thrive

Day 53 into the flowering cycle and half of the plants are starting to show signs of sickness. Possibly due to nutrient imbalance. Unfortunately this has been going on for sometime now. But we didn't realize it was not going to self-correct.

Most of the indica plants appear to be thriving. Leaves are green to dark green. But as you can see in the photos the sativa plants have light green and worse yellow green leaves.

The Sativa were transplanted somewhere around 20 - 30 days into the flowering period.  They went from a 1 gallon smart pot to a 5 gallon smart pot.

Aside from that they have received the same low stress training, topping and feeding as the indica.

Damage Control: 

We're trying to figure out what is needed to bring these beauties back to the healthy dark green color range.

History: 

All plants are being fed on an alternating schedule. Nutrients then the next time is plain pH balanced water and then back to nutrients. Both nutrients and water feedings are pH balanced to around 5.5 - 6.5.

On nutrient feeding days the plants receive, MaxBloom and CalMag. We were trying to keep things simple and not use too many supplements.

The leaves below were pulled off one of the sativa plants shown above. We are not sure at this time if this is a nutrient, light, wind or even ectoparasite issue.

Name that sickness

Seriously we would love to know what the issue is and how to correct it.

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MM's

Day 50 - Trichome close-ups | Super Silver Haze | Super Hash Plant | Northern Lights |

Just rolled past day 50. Plant pistils on many of the indica plants have changed from bleach white to red and curled. Trichomes are being monitored daily for consistency changes.

Two ways to tell when the plants are ready for harvest.

Pistil colors:

<50% darkened pistils the plant is not ripe and the harvested flowers will possess lower amounts of THC.

Many experts will say that THC concentrations have peaked when 60% - 70% of the plant pistils have darkened.

>70% darkened pistils the CBD concentration will start to climb and the high will be more couch-lock in effect.

Trichomes:

When the plant is not ripe the resin will be clear like glass. As the plant ripens the trichomes will become cloudy and then transition to amber color.

Clear Trichomes = unripe flowers, that are still building in THC concentrations

Cloudy Trichomes = highest levels of THC

Amber Trichomes = waited too long to harvest

Using both of these methods in combination is the best way to gauge when your crop is ready to be harvested.

Day 50 - Northern Lights.

Day 50 - Super Silver Haze

Day 50 - Super Hash Plant

So do you think these are ready for harvest?

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MM's