The Holistic Choice Salem Dispensary 2015 Flashback

The Holistic Choice Salem Dispensary, 1045 Commercial St. Salem, OR. Visit The Holistic Choice #TeamTHC on Facebook, @theholisticchoice on Instagram and @Holisticthc on Twitter.

2016 Cannabis Flowers from The Holistic Choice #TeamTHC

AK-48 Update: Super Cropping, Topping, and Watering

The AK-48 mother was having a drinking issue that I had mentioned in past blogs. I began to water the sides of the bag with the hose before watering. This kept the ph’d water from leaking out. She got a good drink so I decided to super crop one more time. I did some training early in veg but I went with a hard snap super crop. She bounced right back with lots of new tops. I have since topped her again and this is the video of her recovery 2 days later.

Oregon Outdoor Grow July 1st Update

Here in the Willamette Valley the heat is always welcome but the thing most complained about in the summer is the humidity. This year I’m not so restless in the outdoors knowing my garden is loving the moisture in the air. Temps outside have been in the 90’s to mid 90’s for about 2 weeks now. The occasional overcast in the morning is just enough to keep the air heavy, just how the plants like it. Keeping hydrated is a must not only for myself but for my big grow bags. They dry up a little faster then traditional pots and have to be checked routinely. I have no regrets making the bags because the air flow also helps keep the heat from building up around the roots.

A lot has changed since my first grow blog. Mostly the plant count in the greenhouse. The test Mystery Indica that I placed outside in the greenhouse as a seedling is thriving and developed a nice trunk and thick stems. The main lining was going great but when the roots took to the soil the bottom growth blow up so fast I decided to keep about five of the off shoots. I still gave an early veg trim just so I can focus the growth on the new tops and the off shoots. I had topped the main lines during the first week it was outside and now I have five new top off the main line. It differently isn’t the two cola plant I visioned when I started but the more the merrier.  Since I had the off shoots I decided to super crop the tops for an even canopy. I couldn’t help myself.

Last night my patient came through to say hi and I noticed my AK48 was looking droopy. Lucky I had my water barrels all filled for the morning plus 5 gallons of tea. I got up before the sun and headed out to the greenhouse and along with me was a clone of the AK48 mother that was getting stressed in it’s little orange pot. My plan is to let the clone adjust to the conditions and dry up before I transplant. I watered the AK48 mother with 3 gallons of tea and 2 gallons of ph’d water. I believe the AK48 plant is drying out faster because of it’s placement in the greenhouse and channels have formed causing the water to stream to the side of the bags. So I did the slow approach. I only use milk jugs, I know I know, but I am stuck in my ways. I sat there and did a slow watering that took about 20 mins and didn’t start coming out the bag till last gallon mid bag.  I think I mentioned this in my previous blog  but I keep my plants searching for water. I don’t keep them thirsty I just don’t water more then soil volume. I have these plants in 50 gallon bags and water 5 gallons of water every 2-3 days. Luckily flushing my plant has not been needed and I am upping the water the bigger the plants are getting.

 

The PineSol is the beast of the ball and broke out of her cage… literally. I had a tomato cage around the plant but I noticed the plant was lifting the cage as it grew. When I tried to anchor it down the plant began to lean so I decided to let the beast free. It was a delicate endeavor but by  late June I got some pliers and opened up the cage and finessed the stems through the holes. There was zero recovery time; the PineSol mother took off and it was a much need change. I am glad I had on at the start. It helped let the middle fill out and was a great trainer but I am glad I was able to remove it. With the summer solstice  just a few days ago plus the heat I noticed some rapid growth causing smaller leaf development. Today the new leafs are filling out and the girls are drinking it up.

 

I don’t usually deal with clones. I find them to be a liability to seedlings especially clones from other growers. I know there are a lot great growers out there but I am doubly safe with my garden.  I was gifted two clones of Critical Mass from a follow ommp grower. Luckily I had constructed a baby hoop house for my herb garden.  I transplanted the cloned into my seedling soil which is Pro-Mix Organic from Down to Earth and placed them in my mini greenhouse separate from the mothers. I also acquired a clone of one my favorite strains of flower, Cinex. This is a big nug producer that is super earthy and frosty. I was gifted the last Cinex clone that was the runt in my local dispensary. Shout out to The Holistic Choice for letting me save this baby. If you read my previous blog you may know I like to experiment and try to stay as organic as possible. That being said I gave outdoor, direct to soil cloning a shot. I got 3 cuttings of both the AK mother and PineSol Mother dunked them in some local honey from a mile away and stuck them into the soil. I used no cloner or plastic bags or humidifier. They all straight up wilted and played dead for the first two days. Slowly they up righted but still continued to shrivel up from the heat and lack of moisture coming through. That thirst helped the cuttings root and new growth started sprouting. The older leaves will have to die off sadly but I got rooted clones with honey, water, and soil.

The plant count hasn’t stopped there. With recreational grows now legal as of today here in Oregon plus the success of my Mystery Indica seedling I have transplanted one of my clones I had cut early in the season and used old school water rooting technique where I placed the cutting in ph’d water for a week and pow a root poked out. It’s now topped and in a 10 gallon pot in the green house and doing great. I also have my two single colas of Blue Mountain and Big Skunk out in the greenhouse as well. With all these plants vegging with the summer solstice and still early in development I have to make plans for bigger grow pots. It’s to late in the season to hope for beasts like the mothers but I still want them grow to their max potential. I am back on the grow bag sweat shop line. I went and got more glue sticks and still have plenty of material for another 6 bags. I’m aiming for 50 gallon bags because of the success of my AK bag. It’s seams are clean and haven’t given and its round and solid. My 60-70 gallon bag for my PineSol mother did have a minor rip that I made worst when I tried to fix. I stopped stepped back and made a bandaid instead. Using extra plastic I had laying around I stapled the opening of the bag shut. The bag has a little bulge on the bottom but it’s still level and solid.

I had a scare with my other Blue Mountain. New growth pods had me thinking male but they sprouted new leafs and its still vegging nicely.  Over all this grow has been super fun and really educational. My patient has been awesome and been very encouraging. We have done some reviews on The Holistic Choice in the greenhouse and I will be giving tours to friends and family during our 4th of July party. I protect my grow because my patient’s medicine is important and I do have different levels of security around our property. That being said my grow is a learning tool not only for myself but for anyone interested in growing. The cannabis plant and the hemp plant are very important to our future. The more we learn the more we can benefit from it and find alternative eco-friendly products.

Patients to Friends and Family at The Holistic Choice

It’s almost been a year since I last wrote a blog about the The Holistic Choice dispensary. A lot has happened since then both good and bad but they conitnue to fight the good fight. In my OMMP outings I’ve had the opportunity to visit a large number of dispensaries from Portland to Veneta and I have never met such devoted people to their patients.  The Holistic Choice has a strong following in Salem and Polk County because of their down to earth approach to medical marijuana.

The Holistic Choice, also known as THC, has some of the Willamette Valley’s best top shelf cannabis flowers that are all tested and cured to perfection. The jars of crystallized nugz decorate the back wall of the dispensary room like a forest shinny green. Edibles are available and some of the best vendors are showcased like ComaTreats with their wide selection of goodies. 1st place winner at the Oregon Cannabis Cup, Miss Mack’s, products are always flying off the shelves with her vegan , gluten, and sugar free treats.

I’ve built up a good relationship with the operators of The Holistic Choice and every time I see them I am revived and see the world brighter then when I came in. A genuine caring and respect radiates from this family run dispensary. Patients you never met before suddenly become friends. From a 50 yr old vet laughing it up with 20 something patient too old high school buddies reuniting after 20 years whatever it is The Holistic Choice is the spot. Guards and walls drop because of the friendly and knowledge staff behind the counter and the comfort you feel the second you step in the door. 

The entry lobby has an awesome decor and if you’ve read my past blogs you’ve seen the artwork on the walls. House plants keep patients company and occasionally the dispensary therapy dog visits the lobby. Of course what would an Oregon dispensary be without an ATM and a stack of free weed mags. I suggest people pick those mags up their are some great stories and ads in there. The more you educate yourself on the culture the more the culture will open up for you. Also it’s a good resource for new strains and growing ideas. T-shirts and hemp necklaces are for sale for non OMMP or the impulse shopper that sees that funny tee they just gotta have.

The donations for flowers range from $7 to $12 a gram depending the quality and growers reimbursement needs. The edibles are always good  because of the completely different effect and the strength. The concentrates are on the higher end but not to far from wholesale donations. The justification for paying a little more is the quality, strength, and of course the selection. Where else can you go and see almost 50 different concentrates to choice from and it’s not just BHO. They have great Co2, RSO, Bubble, and Caviar nugz that all come in several strains. Ready to go vape cartridges are a good pick up if you want to keep your smoke on the low low.

Over all if your an OMMP patient, caregiver, or just a marijuana lover be sure to like The Holistic Choice on FB and review them on there Google Page. I will continue updating all of you on The Holistic Choice and other OMMP products and events. Please subcribe and follow on my FB, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google.  

Oregon Outdoor Grow Season

Growing cannabis outdoors is something a lot of growers either wish for or can’t wait year after year to let the sun to bathe over their babies. This year will be my first “outdoor” grow although technically I am in a greenhouse that I had constructed so I will reward myself by calling it an outdoor grow. Looking around on social media I have seen some amazing outdoor garden’s from 5 gallon patios to 200 gallon monsters. It’s now early June and most outdoor growers have had their plants out for about a month now but I went a little different route.

Being my first outdoor season and knowing the unpredictability of the Oregon weather I chose to go with a PVC hoop house to protect against any unforeseen storms. During the second week of May there was three days of rain and I was grateful for my planning. I transplanted my 2 ft high PineSol, Pineapple Chunk x lemon haze in a 50 gallon fabric pot I handmade. I used Down to Earth Pro Mix Soil for my vegging along with Down to Earth Bio-Live fertilizer mix. I got put on to Down to Earth product by my friend Dave at Everwood Farms in Brooks, OR. My plant was healthy right from the seed and I had topped my plant a few times and super cropped her. Along with the Down to Earth products I feed her compost tea and Epson salt along with kelp.

With the PinSol transplanted I wanted to test out how a young seedling would do vegging outside in the greenhouse so I chose a mystery Indica I had gotten from my friends at Blackbird Indica Dispensary in Independence,OR. The seedling was suffering from over heating so I 10 gallon pots ready for some single colas.

I gave the plants a good soak with straight out of the hose water. I was worried about any bugs or larvae in the outdoor dirt so I was hoping the chlorine would help clean the soil a little. A few days later both PineSol and Mystery Indica were reaching and having some new growth. The bottom leaves felt the effect of the chlorinated water with yellow and drying leaves. After removing a half dozen leaves their were looking alright and recovering fast. A big mistake I made was super cropping days after transplant. The branch on the east side never fully reached up like I hope. The tops are pointing up but the branch is still leaning. I will be putting cages in this week to help it with the weight and rapid growth.

Two weeks after test plants went out I wanted to add another plant to the mix so I transplant a 2 ft AK-48 into a 50 gallon fabric pot. This time I had 2 gallons ph water and a gallon of light compost tea. It’s been about a week and we have two new nodes on the AK. PineSol is on it’s 3rd new nodes and the bent branch has new tops coming from lower stem. My greenhouse is an open end and loose bottom hoop house to help with heat and ventilation . The 6 mil poly is not transparent and blocks about 30% of the light but I plan on going convertible later on in the summer. The heat gets up to 80’s and humidity around 60% but I think that’s ok especially by looking at the new growth. Plus the fabric pot will keep the soil temp low.

I’m not planning on filling up the greenhouse right away. I am starting a total of six strains from seed so I have a lot of decisions to make. I have my plants about  a month behind each other to spread out harvest and these later plants will be single colas and veg much faster. So far I have PineSol, AK-48, Blue Mountain, Big Skunk, Lamb Breath. and Mystery. The Mystery and Big Skunk seeds were normal so sex to be determined.

I will be making updates later in the summer and maybe visit some other ommp grow sites and see how their outdoor grows are going. Please subscribe to my Youtube, Like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, and get some grow tips on Pinterest.

Review: Blackberry Co2 Wax, Cinex, Agent Orange, and Purple Chemdog

Blackberry Co2, Cinex flower and clones, and Agent Orange available at The Holistic Choice a Salem Oregon OMMP Dispensary.