Cannabis harvest underway

A hemp grower says:

"I could use 50 people right now, in the field and in the drying rooms."   

      

A Southern Oregon field report

Southern Oregon has an unusually good climate for growing both the CBD and THC varieties of the cannabis plant. The CBD plant, called hemp, is visible in fields. The THC-bearing plant is grown in small plots, and the state says it must be done out of public sight.

Mold: A widespread problem this year

The region had the knowledge base of highly skilled people with a decade of experience growing the plant, plus the infrastructure of venders who were scaled up to accommodate the boom. We had the irrigation companies, the security camera experts, the soil amendment people, the fertilizer experts and venders, the people to stock and sell drip tapes, hanging nets, dehumidifying machines, and tote boxes by the tens of thousands.

The untypically wet two weeks at the beginning of September created a region-wide mold problem. The nearly mature buds got wet, stayed wet, and were so dense that they did not dry out promptly. 

This photo is an example of mold, the brown part showing in this hemp bud. The worker is holding small scissors he is using to trim out mold spots before it goes into the drying room.

Although in some harvesting methods--called bio-mass--the entire plant is harvested, but the more labor intensive system of hand cutting and drying creates a more valuable product. Workers cut the bud covered tops and branches and lay them into tote boxes which are then transported to a drying room to be hung and air dried.

First, a healthy field of hemp, the openly grown CBD field.

A healthy hemp field

A close up of a bud-covered top:

A CBD top

Harvesting a THC bearing plant. Since the Oregon marijuana regulators limit the number of THC bearing plants that can be grown, the plants are planted earlier and grown for size and high THC. 

Cutting the candles:

Harvesting THC plants

The worker cuts the stalks, called colas or candles:

Using stout clippers

Then the candles are hanged in a drying room. Fans move the air around. De-humidifiers operate 24-7.  

Note the tags which separate and label the ares on the hanging racks. Each variety of THC plant has slightly different qualities, like wine varieties. They are given names by the plant breeders: "Bubble Gum," "Lemon," "Wi-Fi," "Classic O.G." and hundreds of others.

Hanging on plastic nets

Here is how one version of a drying rack looks, and then a twelve second video of an accomplished hanger of candles:

Meanwhile, many local stores are doing unprecedented volumes in items like plastic garbage bags and tote boxes to serve the harvest drying period. The candles are brought from field to drying loosely so as not to damage the buds.

Totes

Cannabis harvest requires a variety of scissors in different sizes, plus the isopropyl alcohol used to clean them. These next two photos are from two display at Hubbards Hardware in Medford, Oregon's oldest hardware store, one of many stores with huge displays like these. Isopropyl alcohol being sold in gallon and five gallon containers is new to southern Oregon.