Marijuana is flower and nursery seed

            

A marijuana seedling grown from "flower seed"

            In order to rule that homegrown marijuana is not protected by the Seed Bill, SB 863 (2013), Judge Wolke had to show that marijuana is not any of the seed crops listed in it.  We said that it fits in the categories of flower seed and nursery seed; the City and Judge Wolke said that it does not.

          The City’s attorney perhaps led Judge Wolke astray when he said at the hearing that the definition of flower seed was a “three-part test” and it did not fit all three parts.  Indeed, we were so taken aback by that argument that we did not even argue it, but moved on to nursery seed.  So in his ruling, Judge Wolke dismissed flower seed with this: 

          “Flower seed is defined in ORS 633.511(6) as follows:

‘Flower seed’ means seeds of herbaceous plants grown for their blooms, ornamental foliage, or other ornamental parts, and commonly known and sold in this state under the name of flower or wildflower seed.

“Homegrown marijuana is not grown for its blooms or ornamental value, and therefore is not covered by this definition.”

But this is not a three-part test and Wolke does not say that it is; it has “or” between the last two parts, not “and.” Then comes the “and:” “and commonly sold in this state under the name of flower seed or wildflower seed.”

Marijuana is most certainly grown for its flowers, the most valuable part of the plant, with the most medicinal/recreational value.  “Blooms” in this definition is not modified by “ornamental” as “leaves” or “parts” are.  Petals are not necessary to the common definition of “bloom,” which is synonymous with “flower.”  And most flower and wildflower seed in this state are sold under their common names, not generic terms.

Perhaps Judge Wolke was misled by the term “buds,” commonly used to describe the flowers of marijuana because they have no petals and are packed tightly together the way immature flowers of broccoli and cauliflower are when harvested for vegetable use.  But saleable marijuana is mature flowers, even seeded in some cases. 

A big, fat clone (rooted cutting), newly planted.  I prefer smaller plants for best growth.

Most of Judge Wolke’s ruling is dedicated to showing that homegrown marijuana, in particular, is not “nursery seed.”  He starts right off admitting that the legislature defined marijuana as a “propagent” of nursery stock in medical marijuana regulations, but refuses to admit that homegrown is as well, though we are buying the same for our home gardens.

He starts with the legislative intent of the Seed Bill, which says that seed crops are of “substantial economic benefit” to the state and so the state seeks to protect those “industries” by reserving regulation of them to itself.  He plays down the economic benefit to homegrowers and does not recognize the benefit of homegrown production to the whole marijuana industry, other markets, or the legislature’s intent to suppress the black market, as homegrown would keep the price down.  Allowing local regulation of homegrown would work against all those benefits.

But his beliefs about the impropriety of excluding homegrown marijuana from most state and all local regulation (as is the case with all homegrown crops, except that the state actually regulates homegrown marijuana) is moot if it fits the actual definitions of either flower seed or nursery seed, so he tackles the definition of nursery stock:

“’Nursery stock includes all botanically classified plants or any part thereof, such as floral stock, herbaceous plants, bulbs, buds, corms, culms, roots, scions, grafts, cuttings, fruit pits, seeds of fruits, forest and ornamental trees and shrubs, berry plants, and all trees, shrubs and vines and plants collected in the wild that are grown or kept for propagation or sale.’ (Emphasis added)

“The question becomes, does the final modifier, ‘...that are grow or kept for propagation or sale’ apply to all nursery stock or just to ‘...all trees, shrubs and vines plants collected in the wild...’”

          Judge Wolke immediately misquoted what he had just quoted, leaving out the “and” between “vines” and “plants.”  It is a very important “and,” as it separates “plants collected in the wild” from everything before it.  The final modifier, “that are grown or kept for propagation or sale” applies to “plants collected in the wild,” not to “all nursery stock” or non-wild “trees, shrubs and vines.”

         But he hangs his argument on that false question, and declares that the modifier must apply to all nursery stock, as otherwise, "virtually all botanically classified plants in Oregon would be nursery stock... to be regulated by the State Department of Agriculture,” raising the absurdity of a “nursery cop” knocking on his door because he is raising trees, vines, and shrubs in his yard.  Actually, the definition of nursery stock is followed by a list of major exceptions to it, but the Department of Agriculture does regulate most, if not all, plants grown commercially under other sections.  They don’t regulate home gardens; neither does the OLCC.

          Homegrowers can now legally propagate their own marijuana cuttings and are likely to as they have for decades, so homegrown marijuana would fit his faulty interpretation of the definition of nursery stock.  Regardless, it is obvious that homegrown marijuana is either flower seed or nursery seed, depending on whether it is propagated by seed or cuttings, and thus is protected by the Seed Bill from local regulations.  Therefore, Grants Pass Municipal Code 5.72.030, “Homegrown and Medical Marijuana,” is void in regard to homegrown marijuana. 

Medical growers will have to make their own case that the regulation in this code is not reasonable, but that is not difficult, with a definition of “indoors” that does not fit a house or any structure with windows and vague “signs of cultivation” that mostly have nothing to do with growing marijuana.  See “We are all living outdoors in Grants Pass.”

Read the ordinance at http://gardengrantspass.blogspot.com/2015/09/chapter-572-homegrown-and-medical.html.

Read the ruling at http://gardengrantspass.blogspot.com/2016/03/judge-wolkes-ruling-in-my-lawsuit.html.
Read the Seed Bill at http://gardengrantspass.blogspot.com/2015/12/senate-bill-863-2013-is-two-statutes.html

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

Water is Wealth

Oregon has had a great El Nino this winter, recharging our lowered wells, and banking water in our mountains in the form of snow that will be feeding our rivers throughout the summer, allowing us to use it or lose it. 

If we don’t use it, we may well lose more of that snow over the summer than if we don’t.  Water that evaporates from summer sprinkler use makes clouds and rain uphill and downwind, cooling the air and melting the snow more slowly than if it is dry and hot in the mountains.

Water is wealth and is a lot like money: we less we keep it in circulation, the less we have to use.  Water vapor made by sprinklers moves east with the wind and makes rain not only in our hills, but over the mountains in the deserts and plains.  The less confidence that we have in its supply, the less we use it and the less is available to use.

We likely had 4 years of drought on the West Coast because we didn’t keep it circulating like we used to.  For the last 30 years, we have been told that the world has a limited supply of water, and we must save it regardless of local supplies, although it is the most automatically recycled resource on earth.  We have plenty of water in our river and its reservoir, which got us through the last 4 years of drought regardless of snow lack; we can afford to use it and should.

When I was here in the ‘80s, we were irrigating whole cities and the vast majority of our farmland and had summer thunderstorms nearly every weekend.  Our creeks ran all summer.  There was more summer rain in Medford than here and more in Klamath Falls than in Medford, which could happen only by keeping the water moving downwind and uphill, adding to it along the way.  We had larger rain events in July and August than in June and September because we kept the water moving uphill.  Both situations have reversed since the ‘90s as we watered less and many farms and yards went dry in summer.

Many cities, including Grants Pass, have instituted tiered water rates that charge more for higher tiers of use, which is bad for the finances of both our water plant and its customers.  People have responded by using less water, which meant that the rates had to be hiked even more to pay for plant overhead, which is most of the cost of providing clean water.  

Tiered rates are actually illegal, charging larger families more for a public service than it costs to provide it, and charging single-person households less.  Ironically, we all end up paying more for less water, because they discourage higher use that would cover the overhead.

Many people have saved water and money by not watering, and thus have stopped sharing water vapor, which otherwise would cool the air and make rain, filling creeks which do not get snow melt and have gone dry in late summer over the last two decades. 

Our river water is our wealth.  Use it and keep it circulating or lose it to the ocean.

                   

April 2016, online at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com.  Like Garden Grants Pass on Facebook.

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

Water Wisely and Well

A round, yellow Pound O' Rain.  They come in dark green and square as well.  

The square does not water as evenly.

          Proper watering has become controversial, as many people think that sprinkler watering is optional and wasteful of water that someone somewhere else can use.  You cannot waste water in Grants Pass by irrigating properly, which means all over the ground and plants.  The water either evaporates from plants and soil, is sucked up by plants and transpires into the air, or sinks into the water table and recharges wells and the river.  That which evaporates or transpires humidifies the air, cools it, and makes rain.  This is the only practical way for ordinary people to share water with other places.  Sprinkler irrigation is loving your neighbor, near and far.  Our river has plenty.

Results the following spring from not watering for a few years.  And perhaps using Roundup to kill weeds.

Some think that if they don’t water, they won’t have to mow or weed.  But weeds don’t care about watering, even thrive on dryness, and once they have taken over a lawn, one must mow more often to keep their flowers from seeding the neighborhood and making the yard uglier yet.  But no one likes to maintain ugly and people tend to ignore it, so such yards often go unmowed.

Some say to use plastic mulch and drip irrigation.  Plastic mulch is ugly.  Drip is unreliable and incomplete.  You can’t really tell how well drip is working if it is covered, and it’s delicate.  You can have a leak or blockage and not know it; voles chew holes in it; shovels break it; growing tree roots and rocks pinch it.   You lose the benefit of evaporation from wet plants and soil and don’t wash off the dust, which grows fungus on leaves.  Some think that it is bad to water paths, but trees, shrubs, and even large annuals like tomatoes send their roots under paths and suffer when they are not watered.  And it’s not cheap or easy to build or maintain a drip system. 

The best watering is also cheapest and easiest: sprinklers.  Automatic sprinklers are the most expensive system to build, though the most reliable.  But one can get by with hoses, sprinklers, and cheap mechanical faucet timers.   Watering by hand sprayer rarely works well; one must hold a hose too long.

 The best sprinklers are also cheap: Pound O Rain, a pound of metal with a big hole in the middle, which blows out a nice, even circle of water.  Twin-circle aluminum “owl eyes” work much the same, but not as evenly, and the lighter sprinkler flips easily.  No moving parts means a longer life, though Pound O Rain can rust out so much that it no longer holds onto a hose.

Water an inch per week for lawns, edibles and most ornamentals.  Use a tuna can to estimate the proper timing. It’s best to water any one spot only once a week, twice at most to promote deep  rooting.  You can move a sprinkler or two around a yard to hit everything once a week. 

For even watering, set the sprinkler on the edge of the previous wet spot, as no sprinkler sprays evenly.  Automatic sprinklers are set up to water to the next sprinkler to cover an area completely.  Even watering is double watering, so you only need ½ inch at a time on each spot.

To sprout seeds, water lightly every evening until they sprout, allowing the water to soak the seeds all night.  Using a hand sprayer works well here.

Last, but not least, do not skip watering because it is going to rain.  When it rains half an inch or more, skip watering for a day.   It may sound superstitious, but if you don’t water, it won’t rain enough to matter.  Call it insurance.

                   

April 2016, online at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com.  Like Garden Grants Pass on Facebook.

Gardening is easy if you do it naturally.  Litter is tagging, marking the territory of the disorderly.

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

Grow Bigger Tomato and Pepper Plants

Tomato in leaves covered with pine needles and "gabion" river rocks

Tomato plants start appearing in the markets in April, usually large, blooming plants in 6” pots first.  They are there to tempt the ignorant into planting too big, too old, and too early.  If the soil is not warm enough, they just sit and get eaten by bugs until it warms up to 70 degrees.  If that happens, replant when it is warmer.

The first step to growing a big tomato or pepper plant is to buy a small one that is not yet blooming or even budding.  Examine the tips carefully for buds.  Buds or blooms on a plant in a pot are a sign that it is root bound and has moved from growing mode to trying to make seed while it still can. 

It is getting harder to find good tomatoes and pepper plants in the markets.  You can take a budding plant and cut the roots down each side of the root ball to make them grow into the soil.  You can pinch off the flowers and fruit until the plants are a good two feet tall and get excellent results thereafter.

Peppers planted in gabion rocks. 

It pays to wait until June for peppers.  They prefer warmer soil.  Nights colder than 50 degrees will stunt them.  In recent years, I have had a hard time finding pepper plants even in 4-inch pots that are not showing buds.  4- and 6-packs are scarce.  I’ve started growing my own pepper seeds from store-bought peppers.  The seeds are fresh, sprout easily, and are unlikely to be cross bred, as they are grown in large fields of the same plant.  Tomato seeds must be fermented to sprout, which is why they volunteer so easily in your garden.

Spread compost 4-6 inches deep where you want them to grow unless the soil there is already rich.  If you spread 6-12 inches of leaves on the soil in the fall, an inch of compost will help warm and rot the leaves and the plants will root in the rotting leaves. Afternoon shade is good for tomatoes; peppers want full sun.  Crowding pepper plants about a foot apart can protect their fruit from sunburn, as the leaves form a canopy. 

Tomato in leaves with large rocks for warmth, maybe two weeks after planting. 

The sand in the foreground is the path cover.

Plant your starts into compost or soil no deeper than they were in their pots.  There is no need to cover the lower stem on root-bound plants to grow more roots.  Doing so just puts them that much deeper into cold soil that will slow their growth and closer to the pill bugs, slugs and snails who will eat them.

Place rounded river rock, AKA "gabion rock," available at Copeland Landscape Supply, around your starts to absorb heat and transfer it to the soil and roots.  They should be easy to pick up with one hand, but thick enough to hold heat well into the night.  Night warmth is critical to good root growth.

One year, I tried small gravel for starting plants in the ground.  We had a cloudburst on a hot afternoon, and my little seedlings boiled.  Warming rocks should be at least an inch thick, preferably two or three inches.

                               

Revised 8-25-23, published at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com.

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Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com

Grow Big Blueberries in Grants Pass

Southern and Northern blueberries at Bimart.  Note the old leaves on the Southern.

Our local stores and nurseries stock two kinds of blueberries.  Northern blueberries have large leaves, thick, stiff stems, and are deciduous; their leaves turn bright red in the fall and then fall off.  Southern Rabbiteye blueberries have thinner, more arching growth, and smaller leaves that turn various colors in winter but are semi-evergreen, holding most of their leaves through the winter in this area.  

South and North together in my garden.  The old leaves on the Southern bush didn't get cold enough to turn color.  Both plants were transplanted a few years ago; the Southern is several years older.

They don’t like to be planted into plain soil, unless it is exceedingly light and rich, like potting soil. Indeed, they grow remarkably well in potting soil in wide, large pots.  Otherwise, rather than planting them in plain dirt, it is better to set the plant on top of the ground and surround it with enough compost to surround and cover the roots, if your plant is in a #1 (6”) or smaller pot.  Young blueberries grow a sponge of roots only 4-6 inches deep in their pots, putting down a deep taproot only after 4-5 years.  Six inches of compost makes rich, light soil after worms work it in..

Unlike most other shrubs and perennials, blueberries at this size will sink into the soil as the compost is worked in by worms; most other 6” potted plants will sit on top of the soil as the compost is worked in and are left high and dry.  If your plant is in a larger pot, dig a shallow dish hole, break up the soil below and around the hole, and then surround it with a level area of compost to just cover its roots.  Having level compost is vital; a rounded mound will shed water and be dry. Blueberries love their water.

Cover that compost with coarse mulch like ¾” nugget bark, walk-on fir bark, or pine needles or straw, to keep it from drying out and keep the roots cool and moist.  An evergreen ground cover like creeping jenny or clover can keep them cool as the mulch disappears.  Two inches of soft leaves in the fall are probably the best mulch to maintain organic matter in the soil, but I like to scatter our copious coffee and tea grounds into the mulch or ground cover after the leaves are eaten.  It is vital to not let the compost be exposed to sun; they like their roots cool.  Bark protects soil when the leaves have been eaten by worms.

A standing mister. These put out a finer mist than emitters bought to attach to irrigation line.

          Southern Oregon has hot, dry summers, not the best conditions for growing blueberries, which like their heads in the sun and their roots cool and moist, but don’t like a lot of heat or dryness at any time.  Most garden plants prefer a little less heat and a lot more humidity than we have in Grants Pass. 

            Fast growth and big berries on young plants can be achieved by keeping misters running nearby through the heat of the summer days.  Leaving them on at night spreads moisture a lot farther.  Misters help many plants grow over a wide area of the garden.  Misting with well water can mineralize the soil, reducing acidity; humic acid or worm castings can counter that.  

An incident shows how vital misting is here.  A customer forgot to turn on one mister for a week near an isolated plant that had just started producing big, tasty berries.  The remaining berries all stopped growing and immediately ripened, producing little berries that were not juicy or flavorful.

                               

Revised August 2023, online at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com.  Like Garden Grants Pass on Facebook.

Gardening is easy if you do it naturally.  Litter is tagging, marking the territory of the disorderly.

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com