# Lake County clone scene: First impressions



## nvthis (Feb 1, 2009)

I hit Lake County (Clearlake) today to see for myself what the hubbub was about. After enduring a speeding ticket (I wasn't driving ) we made it to Good Karma Growers at about noon. We were an hour late but it didn't matter, the vendors had yet to arrive. Their building was very small but their great attitude made up for that. I checked in and took a look at their clones. They had a few plants and several clones in various strains. The strains they carried didn't match up with their online menu too well. *Yumyum, they did have the Querkle there* . They also had Bubba K, Master K, GDP, PK, several SS x's, Green Crack, Sour K, Sour D, Strawberry Sour D, Grape Ape, Chem D, Chem D x, Double Purp Doja, Gonzo and some others I can't remember. I picked up 4 of the cleanest looking clones I could find. Some of their clones looked pretty crushed. I ended up coming back to Good Karma later and got to meet two vendors. One had Blue Dream clones. Soo tempting... He also had Sour D and a Maui Wowie x. Cool guy. The other was the owner of No Bull Ranch Seed. Real cool dude. He handed me a fat doob of Romberry. Nice. We got to talking and I will return at some point with a couple cuts of my Romulan for him. I also walked out with 35 _free_ Purple Widow seeds. Oh yea, cool place.
I cruised to Patients Choice in Upper Lake. The door guy was real cool. Their clones looked like they were accidentally left on top of the car on the way to work, just _tore_ _back_. I asked what was going on and the owner told me he was 'having a bug problem' that he was blaming on 'someone' else. Not one single half way descent looking one in the bunch. Very poor. Wierd thing was he was still selling them??? I got a wierd vibe from this guy. He did have some interesting things, though. He had something called Purple Hotwheel. He said it was just like GDP but 3x the yielder. My B.S. alarm went off right there. Whatever. He also had Banana Goo. They were cuts on the shelf but not yet rooted. That I would loved to have been able to check out, but I wasn't dropping a dime for his crap. Sad. Interesting note: He also had two flowering (budding) plants, about 2-3 feet tall each. Next to his bug ridden clones... Never seen that one before.
From there I hit D&M Compassion. They had one clone. G13. I always thought of g13 as being sativa dom, I dunno why. These looked very indy dom. I passed.
Lakeside Herbal: No clones. Real cool dudes. Said they were trying to get back into the clone game. Said they tried before but vendors were giving them nasty, buggy cuts so they cancelled their clone program. Very responsible IMO.
Nothern Cal: Dead, dried clones on his shelf but guy assures me they are getting 30 to 50 strains in the next couple of weeks. Phhhhtt! This won't last long. Geeze they couldn't even water 2 flats worth, what the hell are they gonna do with _30 to 50 strains_??? And why wouldn't they just throw those dead ones away??? Might go back in a couple of months to see how it worked out for 'em.
Patients resource: Sign at door says:"Currently not accepting new members".??? Girl inside says:"You are not a member, can't discuss it with you" 
All in all the clone scene in Lake county boils down to: Good Karma has a good rep, seems they deserve it. No real complaints about D&M. Lakeside Herbal looks to be on the right track. The rest were shakey and questionable at best. I didn't even bother with Alternative Solutions (as they have taken a public beating of late for their 'crappy' service and shadey dealings) and Triple M was too far away.
For what it's worth, this is an accounting of my first impressions. Hope it helps anybody also going there for the first time...

Edit: One more small detail, Almost every clone I saw was rooted then planted in soil (in a seedling pot or styrofoam cup. No cuts in any _'straight'_ hydroponic medium)


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## NorCalHal (Feb 1, 2009)

Thanks nvthis. GoodKarma was the one I was really interested in. I heard they like to "swap" strains also. Sounds like they had the best cuts of all of them too huh?

As far as the Chem, did those cuts look OK?

How about the rest of the cuts @ GoodKarma, would it be worth a 4 hour drive? 

The big thing I heard about them is just what u said, real cool folks.

Glad you went and everything worked out! Thanks again for the report man!


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## yumyumbubblegum (Feb 1, 2009)

*Thanx nvthis  I will be going there in the middle of the month and will post up my results.*
*
Did you go just to check em out, or did you pick up some cuts?*


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## nvthis (Feb 1, 2009)

NCH: The variety was good. The quality? Hmm.. Hard too say what you would be tolerant of. Almost none of the cuts looked as fresh as, say, SR71 or HS cuts. But then HS and SR71 probably have a much greater 'turn around time'. You won't see anyone here wearing rubber gloves and patients are pretty much free to handle. Looked to be a bit of light burn here and there as well. I was picky but the cuts I got all showed brown leaf tips and, on closer inspection, 1 looks to have a bit of pm that I missed on the initial inspection. 
Why would this be? Could the atmospheric environment and pest problems be particularly harsh for cloning at clearlake? I don't see it being any trickier than SF would be. 
Do they just have a slightly lower standard? I suspect there is a bit of CMF (Crazy Mountain Folk) unsafistication going one here.
Do Clearlake clones end up spending too much shelf time? Probably.
The Chem looked to be somewhere in all this. Not bad, but maybe not the best. I would certainly be very on top of your initial quarantine. The best cuts I saw were (obviously) the cuts that the vendor brought in that morning.
That being said it, again, just boils down to what you are able to tolerate. If you are having a hard time pulling down that Chem or Blue Dream cut in your local, then hell yea! Road trip baby!
I have no doubt that I may loose a few days time for quality consideration, but these cuts will grow and bud and, I imagine, be just fine.

Edit: Also, Hal, Good Karma has a clone policy- Even if you are four hours away! If something is wrong with the plants, bring back the dead dried and/or dying carcass and she will force her vendors to replace it! Also, if you want the fresher cuts (and who wouldn't?) you might call a week or so in advance and make sure they have freshly cut clone waiting for you


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## nvthis (Feb 1, 2009)

Hey Yumyum, I picked up 4. Strawberry D, GC, GA & BK. Hit me up before you go and I'll update progress for you.


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