GOOD HEAVENS! POT CROP IN DOUBT: EMERY

There's little hope for this dope.

B.C.'s outdoor pot crop will rot if the sun remains a no-show, says
marijuana activist and seed-seller Marc Emery.

"A couple more days of cold and rain and you can get root rot, or
powdery mildew, or the plants washing away," said Emery, the so-called
Prince of Pot.

He estimates the outdoor crop in B.C. is worth about $1
billion.

Big outdoor crops are harvested in the Kootenays, the Okanagan and on
Vancouver Island.

"If you grow outdoors, you need the sun to dry off the moisture in the
ground and dry off the surface of the plants," he said.

"People are starting to lose their crops.

"Overcast is terrible. You need sunny, hot and clear conditions and
we've had just the opposite."

The record cold and wet conditions "came at the very worst time when
the plants are so small."

Emery points out the growing season is short. Typically, outdoor
growers need to have the buds picked by early October before the
return of steady rain.

"Once it starts raining in October you have to bring in the plants,"
he said.

Emery notes that about 15 per cent of the total amount of pot grown in
B.C. is grown outdoors.

A pound of outdoor pot now goes for $1,200 to $1,800, down from 10
years ago when it could fetch $2,400 a pound.

Berry farmers in the Fraser Valley are also complaining about the
soggy conditions. Their crops are about a month late due to the cold
and wet weather of the past two months.