Powerline blog has an article up regarding the increased electrical usage in Colorado. Pot growing leads to increased usage due to indoor marijuana grow operations. Power companies are expecting to bill 11 billion dollars a year just from pot growing. This puts a strain on an already stressed power grid. I’m guessing green energy won’t meet the demand.
Apologists point out that the increased usage must be from illegal operations. Now that marijuana growing is legal in Colorado, peaceful hippies, roaming idyllic farms can plant their crop outdoors and there is no need to stress the grid. Bullshit!
The first thing you have to know about Colorado marijuana is that it is not your daddy’s weed. On a good day in the 60’s a connoisseur might have found weed with 5% THC content. Most Mexican marijuana even today won’t touch 5% THC. THC is the active ingredient for the high. Present day marijuana in a Colorado style grow operation is probably coming in at 14% with some hitting (anecdotally 28%). Contrary to the crap apologists are spewing, one doesn’t get yields like that by scattering seeds and letting nature take its course over four months.
Talented growers can bring off a crop every 60 days. I know one that claimed 49 days but since he lied to me about everything else I see no reason to believe that claim. The only way to achieve those results is to plant crops under highly controlled conditions. That means indoors.
An indoor growing operation requires lights. The type and number of lights are dictated by the square footage of the grow area and the purpose of the space. Starter plants, growing plants, maturing and harvesting require different lights, for different times and different intensities. Some of these lights can be on up to eighteen hours a day. The lights and the plants generate heat, which must be dissipated this means fans, air conditioning or some other ventilation scheme. Add in pumps for hydroponic or semi-hydroponic operations and your average grow operation is an electricity hog.
The first step is to have “motherplants” that possess the qualities one desires. The includes, potency, the size of the plant, and overall appearance. Once a grower has a motherplant, cuttings are taken and clones are planted in trays. There are no seeds for two reasons. Seeds take too long to mature compared to a cutting. Second, there are no seeds. Only the female marijuana plant is valued. A male plant has no THC and if it is allowed to pollinate a female plant it will diminish the quality of the marijuana. If pollination doesn’t take place, there are no seeds. How do you spot a male plant? Get a magnifying glass and look for the balls.
Since they haven’t yet developed a chastity belt for female marijuana plants, an indoor growing environment is preferred. The theory is that the female plants, as they reach maturity, produce flowers in an attempt to be pollinated. With no male plants, no pesky insects or random winds the indoor environment is ideal for preventing pollination. The females plants put out bigger and bigger buds to attract pollen that will never come. These buds are the whole object of the growers.
As plants develop they are moved around the grow room. This is referred to as the “Sea of Green”, the idea being that the cycle of planting, growing, and harvesting is constant and ongoing. The plants can be manipulated by subjecting them to different periods and spectrums of light. Longer periods of light mimic prime growing time. Shorter periods tell the plant that harvest time is coming. It is the manipulation of the environment that knocks the growing time down from four months to sixty days.
The other difference one will see between a Colorado style marijuana and Mexican marijuana is the quality. Colorado marijuana can come in a variety of colors, and is just the bud. Mexican marijuana, they hang the whole plant to dry. Once dry toss it into the hay baler, the buyer gets stems, seeds, buds, leaves and whatever else falls into the baler. The final proof is in the cost. That 20 dollar 4 finger bag one so fondly remembers from college, (about an ounce) is now going for $285-$350 an ounce in Denver. Course the new weed comes with colorful names and descriptions of the type of high one can expect.
It is ironic that the same crowd that condemns Monsanto for genetically manipulating food is singing high praise to guys doing the same thing to pot. Now the marijuana must be good because it’s natural crowd has to contend with their favorite crop being produced in a most unnatural manner. I might use a term like hypocritical, but I think you have to drive a Prius before that is allowed.