A darker side of pot growing Diesel, oil contamination a slippery, but serious problem

times-standard.com/ ^

[Behind Liberal Lines]

bump for later

[EddieB]

Another arguement for legalization???

[chance33_98]

No, I think they just made the worst enemy of all - the enviro-weenies.

[Leisler]

""If you or I changed our oil and dumped it in the back yard, we'd be in a lot of trouble," said Sgt. Wayne Hanson, who leads the Drug Enforcement Unit for the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department"

I asked my cousins’ husband who’s a MIT doctoral degreed greenie and a millionaire from consulting at trials for 20 years this question. If I own a big V-8 Suburban, and I drive out to my oil wells, and drain the oil from the engine, am I polluting? He said don’t ask him questions like that.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

When liberal world's collide...

[palmer]

Small amounts of oil and diesel will break down with bacteria. Deisel will also evaporate.

[chance33_98]

That's what they make lighters for. =)

[par4]

Mostly, the pollution is from diesel generators used to power energy-hogging sodium lights

It's time that these reporters stop trying to sound so knowledgeable without doing actual research. Sodium lights (of which there are two kinds, low pressure and high pressure, but low pressure is failrly rare these days) cannot be used to grow plants. They are commonly used as streetlights and in other applications where color rendition is not critical since the light they transmit is fairly monochromatic. In english, that's why streetlights are yellow. Also, sodium is about the most efficient (lumens per watt) lamp generally available.

Actually the growers use mainly metal halide lamps which are related to sodium only by the fact that they are discharge type lamps (fluorescent is also a discharge lamp). Anyway, my point is, if reporters can't get their facts striaght in the opening few paragraphs, the rest of their story is suspect.

I'll get off my soap box now, thank you for your attention.....

[MrLeRoy]

Another arguement for legalization???

Absolutely. If pot-growing were legal its potential pollutants could be effectively regulated.

[chance33_98]

If pot-growing were legal its potential pollutants could be effectively regulated.

Heck, why would they obey the law anymore then than they do now?

[Wolfie]

HPS lamps are commonly used for the flowering stages of cultivation. Or so I've heard.

[Wolfie]

I find it hard to believe that people engaged in an illegal activity that could get them decades of jail time, and result in the loss of their property, would have the gall to ignore environmental regulations to boot. Truly shameful.

[MrLeRoy]

If pot-growing were legal its potential pollutants could be effectively regulated.

Heck, why would they obey the law anymore then than they do now?

First, it probably wouldn't be the same people. Second, the cost-benefit situation would be changed---why risk legal profits to avoid the relatively small costs of legally handling pollutants?

[MrLeRoy]

I find it hard to believe that people engaged in an illegal activity that could get them decades of jail time, and result in the loss of their property, would have the gall to ignore environmental regulations to boot. Truly shameful.

When marijuana growing is outlawed, only outlaws will grow marijuana.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

If I own a big V-8 Suburban, and I drive out to my oil wells, and drain the oil from the engine, am I polluting?

Best case is that you run the risk of serious engine damage on the way back and become a Darwin Award winner. :-)

[cinFLA]

Ed Rosenthal's Grow Tips

Indoor Lighting for Bigger Buds
Taking a close look at lighting requirements before you start your crop can mean less disappointment at harvest.



The garden uses seven skylights and two 400-watt lamps to light the two garden sections. Plants are kept in small cups while the roots are bathed in circulated warm water.

After a successful crop in late August, Skylight Grower harvested a much smaller crop of Kali Mist (Cerebral Seeds), Skunk x Big Bud, Northern Lights x (Sensi) and Big Skunk x Northern Lights (Sensi), which matured in mid-November than expected. (Sensi and Cerebral Seeds are seed companies in Amsterdam.)

This crop yielded smaller, thinner buds in all varieties. The Northern Lights (NL) hybrids grew deformed male flowers on the colas, and there were spurts of new growth on the maturing flowers. The Skunk x Big Bud and Kali Mist matured the best, and exhibited heavy gland growth. The NL hybrids did not mature quite so definitively.

Skylight Grower opened the shutters at 6 AM. Shortly after, two 400-watt metal-halide lamps, one on each section of the garden, were turned on for three hours. They were switched on at 1:30 PM for another three hours.

What was the cause of the anemic growth, stretching and deformities on these buds? There are probably three reasons, which potentiated each other. First, there was a lack of light. During late fall, there is a precipitous drop in the intensity of light at 40 degrees latitude. In addition, cloud cover lowered the amount of light coming through the skylights. Even the supplemental light from the 400-watt lamps did not provide enough energy to promote rapid growth.
The second reason the buds were small had to do with the total number of hours per day the plants received strong light. The shutters were opened at 6 AM and closed late at night. During the last month before harvest, there was only about seven hours of strong light. Growth slowed and maturity was hastened, resulting in smaller buds at maturity.

Thirdly, light pollution from the skylights occurred in the evening before the shutters were covered. Incidental light from the street lights and other urban illumination is enough to affect the flowering response of the plants.

Adding more light would have increased growth in a linear relationship to the radiant energy the plants would have received. If the 400-watt MH lamps had been used 12 hours a day, yields would have been larger. Under this light regimen, the lights would have been on during the daylight hours, from the shutter opening at 6 AM to 6 PM

Each of the two garden sections measures a little more than 6 x 8 feet, about 50 square feet in total. By supplementing the natural light with a mere 8 watts per square foot using the MH lamps, the garden's yield would have been much larger.

Adding more light would have resulted in larger yields. The 400-watt lamps could have been replaced with 1,000-watt lamps. These lamps would have an input of about 20 watts per square foot of garden space. Many gardens use light of this intensity as their sole source. Using lamps to supplement sunlight can increase growth tremendously.

The best growth rate would be maintained using the 1,000-watt lamps for the entire day. To conserve electricity, the lights can be turned on and off several times during the day. Under one light regimen, the lights are turned off for five hours during the middle of the day. They go on at 6 AM, off at 10 AM, on at 3 PM and off at 6 PM. This would not produce the fastest growth and highest yield , but the buds would be thick and tight.

Other configurations are possible, too. For instance, each section could use two 400-watt lamps. One could be on for the full 12 hours and the other for only five hours a day.

Place extra emphasis on your lighting needs. Your plants won't get stressed and neither will you.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"HPS lamps are commonly used for the flowering stages of cultivation. Or so I've heard."

Yeah, uhhhh...that's what I "heard" also.

[chance33_98]

why risk legal profits to avoid the relatively small costs of legally handling pollutants?

Why risk massive jail time, losing everything you own, and so forth for some crack when there are plenty of legal ways to get wasted?

[MrLeRoy]

why risk legal profits to avoid the relatively small costs of legally handling pollutants?

Why risk massive jail time, losing everything you own, and so forth for some crack

Who risks that---the dealer? He's not looking to get wasted but to make big profits.

when there are plenty of legal ways to get wasted?

"Plenty"? There's alcohol, if you're looking for a depressant and don't mind vomiting and hangovers. What are some other of these "plenty of ways"?