Now before I begin I would like to state that I am not simply posting this to flame the dispensary, I am posting this because the information herein is of great concern to area patients with compromised immune systems.
The visit itself went well, the staff is friendly, though not very unprofessional and visibly wickedly stoned (I for one don't mind that, I think the lab coats and over lit white/sterile decor alot of clubs rock is pretty corny). I visited six weeks ago and purchased 25 Afghan Kush clones, 2 prerolls (a cheapo, and a top shelf) and a gram of OG Kush 'full melt'. I would have only bought the clones but the weekly sale gave me a few extra bucks to spread around. One of the pre rolls, the top shelf, Purple Urkle, was decent, however not top shelf. The other pre roll, a sativa of some sort, was just useless. The OG Kush full melt wasn't full melt and tasted like absolute garbage; I'm guessing it was the product of a badly screwed up grow that couldn't be sold as buds. You know what though, all that is nothing; it poses no danger to anything besides a few wallets, and that's free enterprise so power to them for staying open with that junk.
My problem comes with their clone stock. They assured me that the stock was disease and pest free (my examination bearing this out) and all came from a single, very professional and large scale gardener. My specific strain of choice was Afghan Kush. My research has indicated it is a notably short indica with very tight internodes by nature, almost no stretch in flowering, a moderate to heavy yield, heavy and early resin production, a tolerance for moderate to insane nutrient levels, and a resistance to pests and molds that rivals no other. Whatever I've got on my hands it isn't that. It stretched to obsurd levels LATE in flower (like 3 weeks the stretch STARTS), fries with any solution level over 900ppm, and even has leaves indicative of a sativa-heavy hybrid. So they fucked up the strain. I'm still NOT furious. It kind of sucks because I bought a good few, but hey it IS at least a marijuana plant. What's not cool is the disease free gaurantee.
Now, when I was there the esteemed Granny herself spent a few minutes explaining their wonderful 3 day return policy on clones; I left the club confident in my little gals, especially considering the careful examination I regularly do with new clones. I bring them home, dunk them all in a 3ml/gal solution of bifenezate and neem, water them and give 'em a good rest before transplantation. Their immediate stress response to transplantation was unbelievable, they almost fell over. The same method used on two crops purchased at Harborside San Jose resulted in no stress and a return to vigorous veg growth in three days. This worried me. Low and behold, 3 and ONE FREAKING HALF days after I've bought them, I notice a batch of white spots I had to have missed for at least a day and a half hiding deep in the back. Unmistakable Powdery Mildew. Those of you unfamiliar with this irksome little shithead of a fungus may not know that the white spots on the surface of some of the more tender leaves is the final stage of the fungus's growth; it's flowering period so to say. It only occurs AT LEAST seven days after the plant has succumbed to the systematic infection. A closer examination of the still stressed plants showed a serious problem, one that had to have been noticed at least a few weeks ago. I know this because of my own experience cultivating clones cut from mothers infected with PM by these very plants. NOW THIS IS A PROBLEM. This means that GP staff noticed the PM and instead of culling them and taking measures to make sure no patients are dispensed MOLDY CLONES, they went and wiped the spots off, put on a grin and told us they were clean. In other words, they lie. They don't even toss them! Also it is worth mentioning that the problem showed so strongly on so many plants in such a short period of time
This isn't a huge problem for me; it's a set back, but my immune system is fine so I can at least smoke the shit. But what if it wasn't? Even with heavy applications of serenade and regular sulphur burns (something I didn't do lightly with two flowering crops already occupying my single room perpetual op) throughout my garden the PM still took hold; only one crop made it out unscathed and it was only around for a week before harvest. I'm out a whole pound crop of Jilly Bean and a whole pound crop of Afghan Kush. I absolutely cannot sell either, I won't. That's 5g's minimum no matter how you look at it, most likely more. But you know what, loss is a part of business. What if I had AIDS? Cancer or any number of medical issues that hinder the immune system? What if I, a physically healthy patient who medicates for anxiety and mild pain relief, were to smoke a moldy joint with his mother, a patient with advanced cancer? It could have easily shortened her life quite significantly.
The bottom line is that no matter how you look at it, a huge PM problem instantly appearing days after bringing the clones in means it was there and somebody knew about it. I'd like to think that nobody directly involved with serving actually sick patients is in any way at fault and that the blame instead lays with an unscrupulous vendor, but who knows. Unfortunately my experience with the voracity with which PM will spread unchecked tells me that somebody at GP knew, and sold them anyhow.
I feel it's worth noting as I end that my setup is maintained at 35-45 RH, 70-85 degrees with two 10x40 cans powered by 740cfm inlines and a 400cfm inline feeding air independantly to the otherwise sealed veg and flower chambers. It's not exactly a pro-PM environment and the shit still took over despite my incredibly anal cultural practices and heavy use of deterrents (weekly stiff serenade solution sprayings with bi weekly sulphur burns). I was recently hospitalized for an emergency surgical procedure and I swear to god the nurses surgeons and doctors washed their hands less than I do on any given night.
I'll probably just get flamed or ignored for the lengthy and honestly negative post, but I wanted to be detailed and felt that I should share my experience for the health and safety of others. If in fact GP is knowingly selling moldy product while touting their stringent testing procedures and ensuring a clean product....well that's just skuzzy and I'm calling shenanigans.
I should also mention there was probably a spider mite egg hiding somewhere in there because a few weeks later I noticed the little bastards all over backside of the kush crop. The whole room was ravaged by PM at that point so I just let them eat away, spraying bifenezate and manually squishing the mofo's whenever I can but I wasn't going to invest anything in it. I hadn't gotten the perpetual routine into full swing yet so instead of losing the three crops to keep the room clean I'm just growing them out and starting back at square one with fresh mothers sourced from a local organic club I've come to admire. At least I'll have a fat head stash.
Bottom line: If you're immune system is compromised and you're a truly careful patient, stop shopping at GP. I for one wouldn't take the chance in that situation. At the very best I can promise you that one batch slipped through and I got the moldy cuts, at the very worst I can speculate that they're unscrupulously selling dirty and dangerous product to potentially seriously ill patients.
The visit itself went well, the staff is friendly, though not very unprofessional and visibly wickedly stoned (I for one don't mind that, I think the lab coats and over lit white/sterile decor alot of clubs rock is pretty corny). I visited six weeks ago and purchased 25 Afghan Kush clones, 2 prerolls (a cheapo, and a top shelf) and a gram of OG Kush 'full melt'. I would have only bought the clones but the weekly sale gave me a few extra bucks to spread around. One of the pre rolls, the top shelf, Purple Urkle, was decent, however not top shelf. The other pre roll, a sativa of some sort, was just useless. The OG Kush full melt wasn't full melt and tasted like absolute garbage; I'm guessing it was the product of a badly screwed up grow that couldn't be sold as buds. You know what though, all that is nothing; it poses no danger to anything besides a few wallets, and that's free enterprise so power to them for staying open with that junk.
My problem comes with their clone stock. They assured me that the stock was disease and pest free (my examination bearing this out) and all came from a single, very professional and large scale gardener. My specific strain of choice was Afghan Kush. My research has indicated it is a notably short indica with very tight internodes by nature, almost no stretch in flowering, a moderate to heavy yield, heavy and early resin production, a tolerance for moderate to insane nutrient levels, and a resistance to pests and molds that rivals no other. Whatever I've got on my hands it isn't that. It stretched to obsurd levels LATE in flower (like 3 weeks the stretch STARTS), fries with any solution level over 900ppm, and even has leaves indicative of a sativa-heavy hybrid. So they fucked up the strain. I'm still NOT furious. It kind of sucks because I bought a good few, but hey it IS at least a marijuana plant. What's not cool is the disease free gaurantee.
Now, when I was there the esteemed Granny herself spent a few minutes explaining their wonderful 3 day return policy on clones; I left the club confident in my little gals, especially considering the careful examination I regularly do with new clones. I bring them home, dunk them all in a 3ml/gal solution of bifenezate and neem, water them and give 'em a good rest before transplantation. Their immediate stress response to transplantation was unbelievable, they almost fell over. The same method used on two crops purchased at Harborside San Jose resulted in no stress and a return to vigorous veg growth in three days. This worried me. Low and behold, 3 and ONE FREAKING HALF days after I've bought them, I notice a batch of white spots I had to have missed for at least a day and a half hiding deep in the back. Unmistakable Powdery Mildew. Those of you unfamiliar with this irksome little shithead of a fungus may not know that the white spots on the surface of some of the more tender leaves is the final stage of the fungus's growth; it's flowering period so to say. It only occurs AT LEAST seven days after the plant has succumbed to the systematic infection. A closer examination of the still stressed plants showed a serious problem, one that had to have been noticed at least a few weeks ago. I know this because of my own experience cultivating clones cut from mothers infected with PM by these very plants. NOW THIS IS A PROBLEM. This means that GP staff noticed the PM and instead of culling them and taking measures to make sure no patients are dispensed MOLDY CLONES, they went and wiped the spots off, put on a grin and told us they were clean. In other words, they lie. They don't even toss them! Also it is worth mentioning that the problem showed so strongly on so many plants in such a short period of time
This isn't a huge problem for me; it's a set back, but my immune system is fine so I can at least smoke the shit. But what if it wasn't? Even with heavy applications of serenade and regular sulphur burns (something I didn't do lightly with two flowering crops already occupying my single room perpetual op) throughout my garden the PM still took hold; only one crop made it out unscathed and it was only around for a week before harvest. I'm out a whole pound crop of Jilly Bean and a whole pound crop of Afghan Kush. I absolutely cannot sell either, I won't. That's 5g's minimum no matter how you look at it, most likely more. But you know what, loss is a part of business. What if I had AIDS? Cancer or any number of medical issues that hinder the immune system? What if I, a physically healthy patient who medicates for anxiety and mild pain relief, were to smoke a moldy joint with his mother, a patient with advanced cancer? It could have easily shortened her life quite significantly.
The bottom line is that no matter how you look at it, a huge PM problem instantly appearing days after bringing the clones in means it was there and somebody knew about it. I'd like to think that nobody directly involved with serving actually sick patients is in any way at fault and that the blame instead lays with an unscrupulous vendor, but who knows. Unfortunately my experience with the voracity with which PM will spread unchecked tells me that somebody at GP knew, and sold them anyhow.
I feel it's worth noting as I end that my setup is maintained at 35-45 RH, 70-85 degrees with two 10x40 cans powered by 740cfm inlines and a 400cfm inline feeding air independantly to the otherwise sealed veg and flower chambers. It's not exactly a pro-PM environment and the shit still took over despite my incredibly anal cultural practices and heavy use of deterrents (weekly stiff serenade solution sprayings with bi weekly sulphur burns). I was recently hospitalized for an emergency surgical procedure and I swear to god the nurses surgeons and doctors washed their hands less than I do on any given night.
I'll probably just get flamed or ignored for the lengthy and honestly negative post, but I wanted to be detailed and felt that I should share my experience for the health and safety of others. If in fact GP is knowingly selling moldy product while touting their stringent testing procedures and ensuring a clean product....well that's just skuzzy and I'm calling shenanigans.
I should also mention there was probably a spider mite egg hiding somewhere in there because a few weeks later I noticed the little bastards all over backside of the kush crop. The whole room was ravaged by PM at that point so I just let them eat away, spraying bifenezate and manually squishing the mofo's whenever I can but I wasn't going to invest anything in it. I hadn't gotten the perpetual routine into full swing yet so instead of losing the three crops to keep the room clean I'm just growing them out and starting back at square one with fresh mothers sourced from a local organic club I've come to admire. At least I'll have a fat head stash.
Bottom line: If you're immune system is compromised and you're a truly careful patient, stop shopping at GP. I for one wouldn't take the chance in that situation. At the very best I can promise you that one batch slipped through and I got the moldy cuts, at the very worst I can speculate that they're unscrupulously selling dirty and dangerous product to potentially seriously ill patients.
