- Legalize it all and sell it in 5 pound sacks at Safeway.
Safeway?
Posted on 10/08/2015 9:01:05 PM PDT by rey
Have you’ve noticed an influx of hitchhikers heading along 101 lately—the ones with frame backpacks, dreads and cardboard signs that say “North” or “Mendocino”? Let us put the pieces together, in case you haven’t: It’s trimming season.
Between mid-October and late November, mostly 20-somethings from all over the country flock to Northern California in hopes of getting a job trimming recently-harvested marijuana plants.
Most are headed into the Emerald Triangle, considered the largest marijuana-growing region in the world. Made up of Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity County, it’s more than 10 thousand square miles of sparsely populated forests and hills with an estimated annual cash crop of $1 billion.
It isn’t quite as easy as just showing up. This is a word of mouth type of job as most growers are weary of strangers, and 215 (medical marijuana card) is also required to get on the property—let alone trim on any legitimate grow. Being a trimmigrant means weeks of manicuring marijuana buds to eliminate leaves and stems with hand clippers. The prettier the buds, the better they sell to dispensaries, who will purchase bulk to last as much of the year as possible.
So what is it like trimming on a remote mountain somewhere in Northern California? We talked with a few career trimmers to give you an idea of what it can be like…
The money: Going rate for trimming is usually by the pound, which ranges from around $100-150 per pounds for finished product that has been pre-manicured by a machine (more or less depending on amount of pre-trim) to $200 per pound for all hand-trimmed work. An experienced and fast trimmer can trim up to two pounds a day (10+hrs.), doing it all by hand. it works out to be the same money for pre-manicured. Depending on the size of the farm and the size of the trimming crew, some trimmers will have work until late December.
The accommodations: It really varies quite a bit from place to place. Some have cabins, RV’s or houses, some you bring your own tent. Some you get fed 2-3 meals a day and some places you are responsible to bring food and cook for yourself. The worst experience a buddy told me about was working 11 hour days, living in a tent rain or shine, and eating a lot of nutritional bars, hot dogs and ramen. Usually it’s not that bad. Sleeping arrangements are usually a blow up mattress in a bedroom with a few others, or you throw a blow up mattress in the back of your car if you are easily bothered by others.
The food: Most farmers like quality food and they feel their workers work better with good food and a good night’s rest. Usually meals are simple but good, Mate and coffee are also occasionally supplied.
The hours: Be ready to sit for a long, long time. Trimmers do repetitive cutting for 8-11 (sometimes more) hours a day, in a room full of people doing hte same thing. Not everyone smells great (showers are a luxury), and inhaling weed trim isn’t as fun as it sounds. Sure you can sample the product, just don’t let it affect your work or you won’t be asked back.
The paranoia: Laws vary from county to county on how much can be grown legally, and there are still a lot of grey areas, so you may or may not be on a property that is covered under the law (here is some good info about that). That, and growers protect their property. This isn’t for the faint of heart.
Is a trimming job all it is glorified to be? Not hardly. Yes, if you are good at it you could make a decent living doing that, but be prepared to spend a lot of time away from home, in remote areas, doing a really repetitive job.
They managed to leave out that they use some pretty harsh chemicals to grow this stuff. They do not wash the product before trimming, so trimmers are exposed to the harmful effects of the chemical 10-12 hours a day. They are essentially farm laborers who are not governed by agencies that normally address farm work issues. The work is brutal. The employers are shady at best in fact nearly all the players in this are suspect at best. They also failed to mention two people have been killed in the past week who likely wandered too close to grows.
Nasty, nasty people in a nasty, nasty trade.
Then, there are the Mexican illegal gang member grows.
Legalize it all and sell it in 5 pound sacks at Safeway. The only caveat is absolutely ZERO tax money gets spent on your dumb addicted ass unless you commit a crime.
Then it’s 3 hots and a cot in jail.
I’m sick of paying to babysit people
L
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I't not unusual for them to produce, legally on their own property, 300lbs per year.
At $1k per pound, wholesale, minimum.
Their costs might be $50k per year, plus mortgage and ammo, lights, dogs etc.
On one acre.
No they dont. Most is organic.
At $1k/lb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkgmrQicXKw
The absolute malarkey on this thread
Average NORCAL or SW OREGON yield is 3-5 pounds a plant....
Colorado and Michigan outdoor grows yield about a pound a plant if you’re lucky
Forest fires this season played tricks on flowering I’d guess on the west coast or so I heard from Arcata
The acreage is kind of inconsequential up to a point....ten square foot a plant and say a 100 pound good soil hole to feed is all u need outdoors...legal grows have to be fenced and locked....
Indoors it’s all about wattage
This article is right about trim school
A good trimmer can make 200 a day in the big areas with free room and board
Safeway?
The retail markets in Oregon and Washington state and of course Colorado are like a big sucking sound acquiring all the legal weed grown everywhere legal to supply retail or medical in those states
That and the edibles and CBD markets have driven wholesale prices up double what you’re quoting on that article
Fall harvest will drop it some but probably 1700 minimum on the coast
Colorado and Michigan will remain over 2000.....pot dispensaries in Michigan today are paying 2600 to marked barcode certified growers
Denver spot market price is 2133.00 per pound which I think is accurate per Syndex
Pot stores in Denver retailing 17-28% THCA at 15-25/bucks per1.75 grams pack of bud
They basically double what they pay on average far as I can tell unless they grow it themselves in which case it’s lower baring grow issues....which are common
It’s a fascinating business window frankly
Poisons are designed to kill vermin...and these illegals are “vermin.”
Even if they DID use “harsh chemicals”, growers strive to flush the plants at the end of the growing cycle so as to use up any remaining nutrients.
Chemicals affect flavor. Any grower leaving chemicals in the plant will have an inferior product.
The vast majority of growers are criminals. They do not care about the quality. It isn’t like going to Chez Panisse or buying a bottle of Domain Leflaive. They grow in crap conditions and sell crap. The sites they grow at would be labeled a hazardous chemical site by any other industry standard.
My knowledge of this comes from the people I know in law enforcement who raid the places, and Fish and Game who are involved in the cleanup and my own experience working for ranchers who have to deal with these idiots.
Bottom line, you are gambling being around this business.
The opportunities are immense. I know several old guys that are considering getting in and they don't even smoke the stuff.
They just don't know how.
But, watching my cousin do it, it's a hard life. From August through mid-October he sleeps outside on his own property...with his two dobies and a riot gun.
He's always complaining he can't buy a vehicle that costs more than $5-8k.
He's a prisoner to his property. If he's not protecting the grow he has to protect the safe. No way to get money into the bank...yet.
He's in Sonoma County where it's legal to have 99 plants. Of course he has to PAY the county to come out and tag each one, each year. The Sheriff comes out and issues the tags, collects the money.
He's a paranoid mess.
Yep that’s an accurate description
In Trinity all the LEOs are papered up too with their own medical grows as you said up to 99 plants
But don’t try to tie several stalks together to count as one plant....they know that ruse
Michigan is 72 plants but they are considering mega licenses to medical growers for up to 1500 plants
Which is kind of like Colorado where recently I saw a 1500 plant outdoor grow in of all places Pitkin county
And yes indeed one is a prisoner to their grow
Thieves and bears
Chemicals like carbon dioxide and cellulose?
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