I propose a "Drive of Shame" (DOS) experiment

[BR2K]

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!!! For those of you who don't know, a DOS is when you succumb to going to a dispensary before your harvest is ready.

I have noticed that my purchased bud is MUCH less sparkly than any of my homegrown product.

It makes sense that cannabis producers will maximize their profits. It's also reality that us growers are the minority of consumers. This results in a customer base that has NO clue about what they're purchasing and how it arrived in their possession.

I strongly suspect my closest vendor sifts their buds, before packaging.

If I may request, please compare your homegrown efforts with what is coming from the professionals. Give us a side by side comparison.

I will, once my current crop is ready (late Jan/early Feb.)

[OldManGrower]

Living in a backward State, I don't have the luxury of going to a dispensary and therefore cannot do a side by side comparison. However, when I have visited friends in legal States, and we have swapped weed, they couldn't believe how good my homegrown was compared to their uniformly mediocre local dispensary ditch weed.

[SoOrbudgal]

I completly agree with you BR2K i only wish i had my tent up an had plants growing to help with your project. I just have so much weed from my outdoor harvest from the summer my closet is full of jars.

[BR2K]

No worries SoOrbudgal This project should be an ongoing, perpetual update. The industry will continue to change and our results will too.

Maybe they'd consider making it a sticky, if it's useful?

I'm madly jealous of your stash! I'm down to some kief I discovered in my trim bin

[SoOrbudgal]

Soon as these holidays are over an not so many overnighters at the house i plan on getting my 3x3x63" going at least and run a tent full of autos.

[Blowdout2269]

OldManGrower - I'm with ya there.

[BU2B]

I think it’s a great idea I’m interested to see the outcome - which I think we can pretty much already consider a given to the homegrown. I rarely if ever go to a dispensary; not only because it’s a 300 mile round trip to the closest one but for the very reasons you mention - My homegrown is ALWAYS better than the same strain at the dispensary!
✌️

[3Berries]

`I bought a smaller veg tent to go with my bigger flower tent and got 4 grows out of photos and two out of autos in one year. The last auto is still going for another couple weeks at least. I wanted to see how many cyclers I could get in a year and avoid the flower tent during the dead of winter.

Got the next round of photos scheduled to start the seeds in a couple weeks. Freezer is full though. I ran out of jars.

[SoOrbudgal]

That's what i do also use my 3x3 for autos and vegging my photos then transfer.

[3Berries]

I usually run two plants at a time. But kept getting dead seedlings so stopped with just one auto. It has completely filled that tent though and the tent is not tall enough for the Bubba Kush auto. Had to really bend down the tops even after fimming. I usually don't flower in this tent as it's in and vents to the bedroom. The Bubba is full of fat buds and it's an interesting room odorizer.

[Going2fast]

Never been in one. My state will have them soon but Washington DC might as well be a giant dispensary. You can literally open up a shop and sell your homegrown under the guise of it being a gift for buying a sticker or button or some shit. They will rent a warehouse and you pay a fee to set up a table. It's a literal weed flea market.
Of course there are shady people that will do anything to make an extra dollar. And a dispensary fits that bill. You know they probably water down the liquor at your local watering hole too.
buuuuuut I've seen it. It felt hard as a marble and had very little smell. Straight from a dispensary in Alaska. Learned from a friend how they get them soon hard. Didn't try it but I'm sure it did the job.

[Puglover1]

Not sharing? My best dispo bud are only a couple brands that I'll buy, hard, break one open and trichs shine at me.

[Franklin]

In Washington State the commercial weed seems pretty good really, only two complaints are that they are far too dense--how do they do that, Going2fast?-- I like a bud with the crystals 360 degrees around not just on the out surface of a golf ball, and they generally seem too dry/crumbly. But I've had great tasting and well cured commercial buds for sure, definitely better than some of my efforts (and sometimes definitely worse).

[JuanHondo]

i give away a lot of what I grow to friends. one friend will give me dispensary 1/8ths as a thank you. all of it is quite good as far as smell/taste/effect, but it is always rock hard and a bit dry and crumbly. they must cure or package under a vacuum to get them so dense. maybe to use smaller packaging? i have some ice cream cake right now from a local dispensary that i really like. i bought some poison peaches in Las Vegas this spring that was excellent, but again it was dense/dry/crumbly. I bought one pre roll of banana kush that was awful. i'll never buy a pre roll again. the first time i bought dispensary weed was in colorado in 2016 and i remember it being amazing and not nearly as dense/dry/crumbly, but that may be the haze of time and the excitement of actually buying weed legally. i think the pros can do a much better job with environment than us home growers can ever hope to do. We can do a much better job of individual care and superior dry/trim/cure. all weed is good weed.

[BR2K]

Please add me to your garden's recipient list. Home growers here, especially the "OGs", grow their own brand of cannalove.

I would counter that you give corporations too much credit.

That said, Nebula Haze's September newsletter did offer insight how we may optimize our grows: https://www.growweedeasy.com/i-went-...u-dont-have-to

You are 100% correct about the individual care. Commercial grows are driven by schedules. We can afford to allow our plants to mature to their individual potential.

[BR2K]

Whelp, I finally couldn't take it any longer. I took my Drive of Shame. For once, I didn't come back feeling like a unwary customer of a she-male prostitute. No, it's hyperbole, just in case you were wondering.

I got two sativa's. They're labeled Sour Haze by SHANGO and Miss Poison by Green Life Productions. Both are worthy of old-school comparisons, in the best ways possible. Solid, thought-provoking and guffaw inducing.

That said, the flower itself has been trimmed to an art. Not much in the way of trichome dust in the bottom of the expensive glass jars.

Unfortunately, all I have are my ladies in waiting. My White Widows will likely be ready at the end of January. Probably more than 2 months to go on the Malawi X Panama but I read it's worth the wait.

[changeofpace2014]

I have found the dispensary bud to usually be harsh and very very small... Up here they are only required to list the package date and not the harvest date. I think it is safe to say we / most know when they are looking at and smoking OLD BUD.. Hell most of the experts growing in commercial grow probably came from other area of horticulture..

[SoOrbudgal]

I agree with you @changeofpace. We are flooded with outdoor weed being sold at dispensaries, discounted to $3-4 gram. Mine looks better and keeps it's green suger leaf. Yes i do buy occasional grams but crumbles like dust.

[changeofpace2014]

Yes Bang On - It does crumble like dust...

[Gingerbeard]

I do not have a car and refuse to do the walk-of-shame as seen so many school year Saturday and Sunday mornings up by SDSU (San Diego State University).
College girls are a hoot!
They're all, like, 'I remember getting ready to go the party, but I don't remember taking the selfies. Gotta call an Uber to get home. Wait! SDSU? I started out at UCSB! God!!! Who does my mouth taste like? I sure hope it's...'

[changeofpace2014]

there would be a real shit storm if vodka lost some of its ABV with long shelf life...sadly commercial weed up here only has a package date but no harvest date...i think thc loss is whats going on with old weed..they test thc when harvest but store it "some how" then sell it off many months or year later...not all of it but some of it.

[Rwise]

I spotted an interesting sign in Sapulpa it said "$30-$50 ounces", I did not stop and look at it.

[changeofpace2014]

1 oz thin mint 28% for 108$ plus tax...the high does not gel with 28% thc cannibis and this observation has been made on other strains too,

[Floopydoop]

I strongly suspect my closest vendor sifts their buds, before packaging.

Can verify. Called out Korova over some little buds in a sealed 1/8oz jar.
They had obviously screened the trichs off. Conveniently, next to the buds on the shelf was jars of kief.

Bitched them out online, got a supervisor, then showed him the macro pics of the screened product.
I got a free jar next time at dispo, courtesy of them admitting to it.

Kurvana, on the other hand....sells vapes that state ANY 510 battery will work.
I used to run a vape shop, my garage is full of various 510 batts.
Would not work with any of them.

After bitching them out, got a supervisor, and mailed a free (proprietary) battery from them.
After they admitted their atomizers don't work with any batteries but theirs.

They're ALL shady, keep alert.
World needs more lerts.

[Gingerbeard]

Hmm... sounds like you were dealing with Apple. Except you got results.

[BR2K]

Great work! I perceive there exists a perception of godlike power from some vendors. They think most folks won't complain due to it only being legalized recently.