RUSTED By James Bridges Herbage Magazine
Finally after hearing and reading and talking back-and-forth I am able to sit down with this once cannabis prisoner, the “Genetics Man” himself, Brandon Rust. “When I go in there I put in the contract that any genetic material is my property. “That’s the one of the reasons why some of those I help don’t sell cuts. It’s because those are my genetics. I don’t want market competition…. Brandon Rust” This is the kind of logically creative (its a term now) individual that I’ve been looking forward to talking with and getting his insights on the plant to paper. “I don’t grow you know cookies and gelatos and you know all the stuff that’s just hype. I would much rather smoke some of the stuff that we’re going to be hunting.” “I don’t grow you know cookies and gelatos and you know all the stuff that’s just hype. I would much rather smoke some of the stuff that we’re going to be hunting.” Bam! In my face was some Sour CheeseBerry day 28. My fingers instantly went for the leaf to squeeze and smudge a smell. Brandon was in his element, “ This is a very interesting strain right here. You hardly see Delta 3 carene (promotes healthy bones) and ocimene (anti-congestant/anti-inflammatory) as the top terpenes very often.” What was very interesting was that most of the varieties that
are in the room are from 20 years ago. A friend of Brandon and the gang bred these between 2001 and 2003. Brandon was laser focused, “We have some pretty super old and really good strains that work. Old blueberry, super silver haze, old stuff from San Diego, the bull rider, p91… and you can see the transition from the clones to all of these super silver haze crosses. They’re super long and sick. It’s all filling in and you can see from right there.” Brandon seemed to have been a little Rusted himself. Smacked in the face with this knowledge of what fantastic cannabis really could and should be, he pointed at his crop as we stood and looked. He talked about them all as if he were the paterfamilias. Yet he treated them as if he were their humble servant. “I want to find the ones that are best suited for our environment.” Brandon pulled down a stem. “Look how much leaf there is. So it’s not necessarily desirable based on flower production. Since we’re going to be working with different processors this might be one of those things that is excellent for washing right? This is what we do. We hunt strains. We grow the best. We have strains that are rare. If we grow some of those and they are of the same quality, but for whatever reason aren’t as “pretty” then we send them to wash.” It made perfect sense to me. Why would you throw out something that smelled exactly like the bottom of a garbage truck? The only reason I can find is if that smell were not intentional. However, this purposely grown stank smelled like the garbage truck was buried under another garbage truck for a few years. Must have been some potent stuff... Brandon also does some outside consulting in the grow space.
