have u got all your volunteer's yet?
As I explained to the last person who emailed me:
I only had enough substrate and ingredients to make 10 or 11 grow bags. But during the processing I (accidently) burnt out part of the drive shaft in my milling machine, with only 9 bags finished.
So I divided up the bags as best I could:
2 bags to a grower from RollItUp.org
2 bags to a grower from Cannabis.com
3 bags to an acquaintance of an acquaintance
...and two bags just sat in my garage, unwanted.
After a couple of months of no further interest I gifted these last two bags to a botanist friend for whom I have done some soil work in the past. Sort of a thank you present (he pays very well).
If he hasn't used them, and I can get them back... I'll give them to the last guy who inquired about joining the experiment.
To be honest, I think this entire endeavour has been a waste of time.
The grower from Cannabis.com forgot to add worms or moss peat to aerate the soil and somewhat stifled the roots of his plants... haven't heard from him since, so I don't know how the plants are doing.
The grower from this forum (he's posted in this thread, but I won't name anyone without their permission) made the mistake of growing two separate strains, which effectively defeats the purpose of the control group entirely... also, he was unable to water the plants for a few weeks as he was out of the country. Again, I haven't heard from him in a couple of months (he should be harvesting now) so I don't know whats going on with him either.
That's not a criticism of anyone involved, I'm still very grateful for the work put in by the volunteers, who, after all, are only amateur growers doing their best.
I just wish I had better results for my 1,200 euros of ingrediets and broken milling machine.
The acquaintance of an acquaintance (shady character whom I have never met) won't tell me how he got on at all... no pictures; no yield results; nothing. Bastard.
The only thing I know is that he wants a price quote on some sort of bulk discount on more bags... I've passed on word that the cost price is 115euro a bag, so I can't really sell bags for less than say 135euro (20 quid a bag for my work seems fair to me considering the to week processing time)... but at that price he's apparently considering a second grow with the sample bags to see how long the soil lasts.
I did offer him a deal: a set amount of bags; maybe 50 or 100 bags; at COST (115euro) in exchange for him buying me a new (or reconditioned milling machine). But he hasn't responded yet (which he will only do through a friend of a friend).
My current plan, is to get some better results (maybe even some customers) via some industrial (legal) growers in mainland Europe.
But this will be a much more expensive process:
-new milling machine
-Fed-Ex free samples to industrial growers who can do proper comparative grows against a control group
...thats gonna cost me several thousand straight off.
So if I go that route I'll probably opt for a heavy-duty industrial milling machine (which should bring down the manufacturing cost somewhat and better stabilise the product) , put up a discreet website and see if my magic dirt is a viable business in it's own right.
I certainly won't get any venure capital or investment for such a business (imagine that pitch on Dragon's Den!), so it'll probably have to be 6 or maybe 7 grand of my own money... risky.
Will keep you guys posted either way.
Let's hope for some results.
-PayDirt
PS... will gladly answer any further questions as time allows.
