GLOBAL HARVEST REPORT 2002

[boulder]

GLOBAL HARVEST REPORT 2002

 

HIGH TIMES brings you tales of hardship and victory from across the globe. Our roving reefer reporters give you the dope on what’s being grown, picked and smoked this harvest season. Fire up a fatty and get in touch with your bud-blowing brethren across this pot planet of ours.

 

THE NETHERLANDS

 

 

The Netherlands escaped the flood-ridden weather that plagued much of Central Europe this summer. Even though most of the summer has been gray and cool, much of August was dry. For example, Mila, of the Hemp Hotel (Amsterdam) and Pollinator fame, visited the Master’s garden just south of Amsterdam in August and reported, “His famous White Widow plants were 12’ tall and growing.” However, seed man Soma (somaseeds.com) cautions, “The weather can change at any minute in Holland.”

 

At the 52nd parallel that bisects the Netherlands, most daylight- sensitive plants start blooming the first week in September, and are hanging to dry by the end of October. To give North Americans some perspective, the 52nd parallel passes through the northern tip of Vancouver Island and just south of Calgary, Canada. Cold, rainy arctic weather gusts in off the North Atlantic by mid-September, bringing conditions perfect for the infamous gray mold (botrytis cinera), referred to as “schimmel” by Dutch growers. This is the fatal mold that pulverizes buds before harvest. The days grow short fast, and coupled with the declining angle of the sun, little light is available to ripen buds. These conditions make harvesting top-quality outdoor Dutch buds a rarity.

 

The new right-wing government has further compounded outdoor-growing woes, but the area from Amsterdam south to Rotterdam is more liberal than the rest of the country. It’s still legal to grow four plants. Nonetheless, this year you don’t see as many flowering females on Dutch balconies and rooftops as in years past.

 

Greenhouses are one of the best ways to protect plants from the harsh northern climate in this flatlander country, where nearly one-third of the land is below sea level. The Dutch are also pioneers in high-pressure sodium greenhouse lighting, which augments natural sunlight and extend short northern days. Anybody who has flown into Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport at night has surely seen large rectangles of yellow-orange light beaming upward from the greenhouses.

 

Pressure from the United States has also helped diminish formerly blatant greenhouse crops. More and more growers are moving to southern provinces and some further south to Belgium, where the weather is a bit warmer and the heat less.

 

Indoor growers are more secretive, but very, very productive. They have taken up all the slack caused by the short-lived vacuum in the lucrative Dutch cannabis market caused by the police. These ingenious, hard-working growers form the backbone of domestic production. Their professional grow operations are invisible to neighbors and authorities. The cops only act against growers if there is a complaint or if the grow show is overtly obvious. This year, just like every year for more than three decades, you will find great pot in the Netherlands. You will never leave this marvelous bastion of freedom without getting your fill of some of the finest weed in the world! —Jorge Cervantes

[BlackBeauty]

a good read....next time i get to a'dam, i'm really going to have to do a bit more exploring outside the city....

 

also interesting to learn about the 52nd parallel - when i was there in july (their summer), it was quite pleasant but we had the occassional cooler day. the best thing i could think of was that the days were long so there was lots of sunlight....