oldscool

So, it’s been about 16 months since I planted my first mj seed, and in terms of growing it’s been pretty successful and very simple, despite the usual new outdoor organic grower mistakes. But in terms of the bigger picture, as I mentioned in one of my first posts on this forum, the window in the weed laws was likely to be short-lived, and this wasn’t based on hearsay or wishful thinking among foreigners, but on the opinions of Thais in the Dept of Health. And now it’s as certain as anything can be here that the window on weed will be closed this year. Personally, I’ve enjoyed the trip down memory lane to the high days of my youth, but it comes at a price of course – in my case, as someone who prefers the controllability of smoking, that would be lung pollution. Pretty soon the forum will be full of angst about the air quality in the hot/burning season, but I’m pretty sure it’s insignificant compared to dosing your lungs up daily for “recreation”. As I haven’t smoked anything for decades, it’s a price I no longer want to pay. Talking about those high youthful days, back then mj was part of countercultural lifestyles for most people that I knew, and I've been pretty stunned over the last year at how attitudes have changed since then, as I have not had any contact with stoners during that time. Now weed seems to be rife with petty capitalists growing in tents in their spare room. This seems completely at odds with the philosophy of alternative lifestyles or expanding consciousness (always a dubious reason for taking drugs anyway). Dedicating a bedroom to intensive factory farming? not for me thanks. But more seriously, these new growing methods have a huge carbon footprint, and on the large north American scale have been environmentally damaging on a vast scale – what makes it worse is that the massive oversupply there has resulted in mj crops being destroyed – all that environmental damage for nothing. This is all in the public domain and easily found on google. On the other hand, I have learnt over the last year that industrial hemp is one of the most highly efficient methods of carbon sequestration, and can easily be processed into thermal housebricks among other things. This kind of project interests me a lot, actually far more than creating further environmental damage just to get stoned. Having been stoned thousands of times, it’s not something I need to dabble in any more, and please let’s not kid ourselves that recreational is medicinal. So my evergrowing stash is now on the compost heap. Anyway, each to their own, happy trails….

100g Jack Hammer 1,000 baht Not a very common strain Tested and feels like 19% THC Said to be a sativa dominant hybrid, feels like it Nice bushy buds Local outdoor grown That's definitey going in my organic weedpatch when the outdoor growing starts in a few weeks up north.

Coming from big a cities background I've never tried growing anything before, so I was pleasanly unsurprised at how easy it is to grow native sativas outdoors here in Thailand. There are about 30 plants in the pic, including some green crack, all second generation grown from seeds I bred myself in the last year, the tallest is about 6 feet, most in pots and others straight into the ground, plus another 30 seedlings, and some in cure. Earlier this year some of the plants grew to over 3 metres. Here in the north the cold season nights really slow down the growth, so it's not a good time to plant seeds, but well-established plants do well in the cold season. Have a cool yule y'all, and assuming growing is still legal next year, I'd be happy to seed pool with other outdoor organic growers here.

In reply to Pinot's question about how long it takes to grow Thais sativas outdoors here. I asked 2 outdoor organic farmers, and they advise that seed to harvest is up to 9 months, with 4-6 months of veg during which time the plants will show gender, and 2-3 months of flowering. A long time compared to indoor grows, but you're only limited by the size of your garden and the permission that your Thai partner has for growing. And they grow all year round of course. There might be variations on this because Thailand is about 1,750 km north to south and has several different microclimates, and corresponding landraces, though I'm sure all Thai landraces will grow anywhere in Thailand. If you’re looking for seeds relevant to your region, Zomia offer a range of landrace seeds. I believe they have a seedbank in Bkk and offer discounts to Thai residents. They specialize in SE Asian and Asian landraces and their website is really informative (I’m not affiliated in any way). https://www.zomiacannabisco.com/ Another way to buy seeds for Thai landrace strains is to buy seedy bud via twitter or FB. I’ve found half a dozen of the Thai landraces that way, but Zomia has the full set, or did when I last checked. Anyway folks, my vacation starts tomorrow, so I’ll wish you a cool Yule etc and see you next year. Cheers.

It depends on the strain. Thai sativas are traditionally dried in barns with open eaves, thus combining natural airflow with protection from sunlight. But growing and drying indica heavy hybrids outside is most likely going to be difficult.

4 Questions 1 Answer Question 1. Why is Thai sativa so lanky? Question 2. Why are Thai sativa buds so airy? Question 3. Why are Thai sativa leaves so narrow? Question 4. Why is Thai sativa intermodal spacing so big (the distance been nodes/branch pairs). Answer: Humidity. Thai sativa has evolved and adapted over 10s or 100s of thousands of years for this hot humid climate. The overall airiness of the plant is a natural defence against humidity. This is useful for drying as well as growing (see clip below). In addition, the native landraces often have a piney fragrance that is said to repel pests. Kroeng Krawia has the airiest buds of all the Thai landrace sativas, as can be seen in the clip. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02eAy1wMBGkNJzomVMWZa4hZEzLXNM11BnPwgBybVM2fEBXPVEmtQnHFL7smsVbjr8l&id=100083200937492&eav=AfYIya1AUZmeZ_4bZUGMeD7Tkt4iyzYeysSfdMhu1ghqkEPA99h5IEYeHBC3UyLec7w&m_entstream_source=feed_mobile&paipv=0 PS For any outdoor growers (of Thai sativas or any other strains) I’d recommend neem oil mixed with water - it protects agains pests and fungus/rot. All the organic farmers in my area use neem for all sorts of crops. The neem tree is native to Thailand and the oil is widely available on lazada.

Another Chiang Mai event this weekend - the Thai High Convention. Full details on ticketmelon, ticketmaster, and Chiang Mai Citylife. https://www.ticketmelon.com/thaihighconvention/thc2022

Nice one Britman. I'm always impressed with your many different approaches to growing and your sharing of information. None of us here can claim to be an expert outdoor grower in Thailand (assuming we started in June 2022), so experimentation and information sharing is the key. By the way, I talked to a couple of dealers and marketeers about this question last night, but I'd say their replies were optimistic marketing blurb rather than personal experience. I'm meeting an outdoor organic farmer on Monday (social not business), and I'll pop the question then. cheers

Some interesting answers here. As far as I can remember I was some years into smoking before I felt any paranoia, and I think that was with what was said to be "pure THC" liquid. This must have been about 1975, and I put "pure THC" in quotes because it obviously wasn't pure THC, but we didn't know any better back in those days because it was all on the hush hush, no internet, no liberalisation, no information. We painted (for want of a better word) this "THC" onto cigarettes. Whatever it was it wasn't an enjoyable high. At that time hash was much more widely available in my part of the world - Afghani, Pakistani, Lebanese, and I don't think I ever any paranoia on that. But grass (as we called marijuana back then) was a different story, a different kind of high that seemed to take the top of your head off, not necessarily paranoically, frequently giggly actually. Great for music which was the field I worked in back then. Hit and miss for sex.

A good question! The large outdoor grow that I know very well is unusual in that it was a sponsored research grow, and the research objectives were to assess different growing methods for different levels of CBD/THC, and they weren't just interested in flowers, so it's probably not a good guide for normal growers. Also, a lot depends on the weather conditions, which fluctuate every year, and the soil, and the amount of light etc. I started growing several Thai sativa strains outdoor from seed some time after the June liberalisation, so your plants are well ahead of mine. I'll ask around, but it might take a day or two. Do you know which strain they are? That might help to get a more accurate answer.

Google says this plant is already well established in Thailand, though I don't know anything about it myself. All farmland here is served by a network of klongs/irrigation channels/rivers. Some regions have more plentiful supplies of water than others. I have no idea for the set up costs for growing this plant, sorry.

It's pretty clear from looking at this that this batch is from the end of an outdoor (or large greenhouse) grow - hint, its full of seeds. And as I'm sure most here would know, seeds do not contain THC, so it's a bit of a mystery why anyone would buy it to test for THC. But as I've mentioned half a dozen times before, seedy Thai sativa bud is perfect for outdoor growers who want fresh seeds. By the way, Kroeng Krawia is known for having the airiest buds of all the natural Thai sativa landraces - it's nature's way of protecting against humidity and bud rot, the result of 10s or 100s of thousands of years of evolution and natural selection - no air-conditioning or tent or carbon filter or LED or electricity bills or "nute" regimes etc etc needed. Cheers all.

Hi again Bamnutsak, your question regarding “indentured labour” has prompted further musings and a bit of maths: at 7.5 baht per g retail for 20,000 plants at a notional yield per plant of 225 gm (from Leafly), the gross retail value would be THB 33,750,000 if they were all female, or THB 16,875,000 discounting the c 50% that would be male. The male plants do have economic value of course, but not as bud, so I’ve ignored that value for illustrative purposes. Also, Thai sativas (and Green Crack it seems) can be grown year round outdoors in this climate. Whichever way you cut this and whatever numbers you plug into the basic equation this is substantially more than the gross retail value for rice or other foodstuffs for the same amount of land, so the income for the farmer must also be greater. In my travels in Laos I did meet several farming families but that was before China arrived en masse, but I can’t believe all those farmers have suddenly become indentured labour. Let’s put it this way, I’d be far happier with the ethics of buying outdoor grown Laos Green Crack for 7.5 baht per g than buying Apple products produced in what have been reported to be slave factories in China. PS the 7.5 baht/g price was a special offer, the original price was 13.5 baht/g if memory serves, which would more or less double the income.

Morning Bamnutsak, in my followup to your question yesterday about costs in large outdoor grows in Laos I could only speculate as I have not visited that farm. But in the very large outdoor grows that I do know personally in Thailand I can say that the overheads are minimal: the irrigation water is free, the electricity for the irrigation pump is minimal or solar powered (solar powered pumps are commonly available as a package nowadays), the organic fertilisers and pesticides (which I’ve already mentioned in a different thread) are often home made, the labour costs are standard farm labour rates or higher. Drying and curing by traditional methods are also minimal cost – just labour actually. This assumes that the farmer owns the land of course, which is usually the case. The harvesting is staggered as you’d expect in such large grows, which is why you get the sensimilla in the first batch, and later batches are increasingly seedy. I often ask for bud from the later batches for that very reason. Of course, not all large grows here are 100% outdoor, some are large greenhouse grows, and some of these greenhouses have required substantial upfront investment. A key point to bear in mind is that Thailand is largely an agricultural country once one gets out of the tourist areas and cities, and the cultivation of native Thai sativas has been continuous for decades at least, though now enjoying a resurgence of course. One of the mistakes that we foreigners frequently make is to try to understand Thailand through the lens of our home country experience, and this inevitably leads to misunderstanding. Have a good day.

Stoner your track record here speaks for itself: you have rubbished the forum sponsor, numerous suppliers and fellow members whose growing methods disagree with yours. Thanks for the offer of a PM rendezvous, but once again I'll decline. Have a good evening.