Good day.

As this is my first blog post (ever!) I will ask you, the reader, to give me a break on what will probably be an ugly first attempt!

I am Ryan Hall. I have been in the Marijuana industry since 1962 when, at the inquisitive age of 12, I planted my first marijuana plant in an old whisky barrel on my moms patio.

She was so proud! Finally I had shown an interest in a passion of hers. And I mean gardening. Of course mom actually had no idea what I was attempting to grow.

Unfortunately the man who lived across the street and worked on the local police force in our small, conservative, Southern California town, did. He had a habit of stopping by to check on me. This was bullshit actually, as my mom was a real looker and I was well aware that his real interest in my welfare was at least partially based on my mothers attire on a given day.

On one of those days my mother, with great pride, gave him a tour of her garden and my three-month-along contribution to it!

Later that day, when I was coming home from school, he met me in the front yard and complimented me on my new-found hobby. Without ever mentioning what he saw growing, he suggested I hone my skills on some other flora – carrots, I believe.

I agreed with him right away, replying that I had thought those WERE carrot seeds I had planted! He smiled and walked back across the street without another word.

Saved, by my mothers yellow sun dress, I have always surmised.

One might expect this would have served as a deterrent to my horticultural aspirations. However, this instead was a foreshadowing of what was to become a major interest throughout my life,

As a result of the neighbor’s warning, I stubbornly packed up my young charges and moved them across the viaduct fifty feet from this super cool old guy’s bee hives! Bees have never bothered me, and this new location proved to be the perfect spot for me to pull off my first crop! Four stunningly gorgeous, eight foot tall males. I was stoked! Remember, I was 12!

60 years later and wow, how the world has changed! Folks are right out in the open, growing massive fields of huge specially bred marijuana plants without being raided at gunpoint, stripped of all their possessions, having their children taken away from them and locked away with violent criminals for the majority of their life.

Honestly, I never thought I would see this!

So, now comes the reason I decided to start posting some of the things I have learned.

The art of growing high quality buds has definitely evolved in leaps and bounds over the years. Experimentation, new scientific principles, and the sheer volume of people growing now is leading to some amazing strains and growing techniques coming to the industry!

Along with these advancements ,of course, comes new equipment to help us in this field. Lighting, climate control systems, multitudes of media and nutrient options exist now. The possibilities are endless.

And yet, due primarily to the profit-motivated urgency shared by most new participants in the growing sector of the market, the post-processing phase has suffered.

From drying through to trimming and storage,the product now does not receive the attention that is required to see the true potential offered by all of these new growing techniques.

No matter how resin laden and magnificent your flower appears on the stalk in growth, it can be completely ruined in a few hours of misguided post harvest handling.

Interestingly, the larger the grow operation, the more likely the tendency seems to be to fail to plan for this crucial step in connoisseur quality cannabis!

I have spent the last 24 years, since I invented the first machine that could trim the unwanted leaf off of marijuana flowers, showing growers (who would listen), how to slow dry and then properly store and handle flower to assure the strongest aroma, flavor and appearance possible, and also to accomplish this with as much automation as is effective.

I have learned many things that only result from decades of hands on experience. Let me say with all confidence that you can use my automated trimming systems to achieve, in many ways, a flower that is superior in appearance, fragrance, and taste, compared to anything you can accomplish with hand trimming. It can also be done at a mammoth savings in time, labor, and cost.

However, as I tell every client I speak with, you must be willing to follow the proper procedures, allot the needed space for drying and trimming, and adopt the cleaning and maintenance of your equipment. Otherwise you are going to have to be satisfied with a very small hand-trimmed operation, or a vastly inferior product that, by now, I am sure most of you have figured out is not worth the time and money it took to grow!

Over the next few weeks I am going to concentrate on giving to you, my friends, what I am sure will be exceedingly valuable advice on the aspects of post harvest processing that I have accumulated over my many years of successes and failures.

Respectively yours,
Ryan Hall
Shearline